The UNAIDS has appreciated India for its new initiative which ensures that all HIV positive people will have access to free treatment. The policy was launched by the Union Health and Family Planning Minister J. P. Nadda on 28 April.
With 2.1 million people living with HIV, India has the third largest epidemic in the world. Prior to the change in policy, people living with HIV could only access antiretroviral (ARV) medicine for free, if their CD4 cells had decreased to less than 500 cells/mm3 –the measurement used to indicate how significantly the immune system has been affected by HIV. India already has more than one million people on treatment, which is the second largest number globally after South Africa.   
UNAIDS has called on all countries to provide ARVs to anyone who tests positive, because treatment keeps a person living with HIV healthy and has the double benefit of stopping the transmission of the virus to other people, a statement issued by UNAIDS has said.
“The Government of India is showing bold leadership and commitment to people living with HIV,” said Steve Kraus, Director of UNAIDS Regional Support Team for Asia and the Pacific. “This new policy will bring life-saving treatment within reach of all people living with HIV. It will keep individuals, families and communities healthy and productive and ensure India ends the AIDS epidemic by 2030.”
Saving lives and improving the quality of life of people living with HIV requires ensuring uninterrupted provision of ARVs. To rapidly scale-up treatment India will rely on its network of facilities, spread across the country, which provide HIV services. Rolling out the new policy will also entail strengthening the procurement and supply chain management system as well as sustained community participation, the statement added.
According to the country’s National AIDS programme, annual AIDS-related deaths declined 54%, while new HIV infections have dropped 32% between 2007 and 2015.

NEW DELHI: India on Monday strongly condemned the Pakistan Army’s barabaric act of mutilating the bodies of two Indian soldiers in the Krishna Ghati sector, vowing an appropriate response from the Indian Army.  

In a stern statement, Defence Minister Arun Jaitley said such “acts do not happen in war let alone in peace.” He described the act as “reprehensible and inhuman.” He said the whole country has full faith and confidence in Indian Army which would give an appropriate response to this barbaric act. He said the sacrifice of two soldiers would not go in vain. 

Indian Army dubbed it as “unsoldierly act “ by the Pakistan Army and vowed that such an act would be “appropriately responded.”  

On its part, Pakistan’s Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) denied the allegation of mutilating the bodies of the soldiers, terming it “false”. In a statement, ISPR said that Pakistan Army was a highly professional force and “shall never disrespect a soldier even Indian.” It also denied any ceasefire violation on the Line of Control or a Border Action Team (BAT) action. 

Indian Army said that the Pakistan Army carried out “unprovoked rocket and mortar firing on two forward posts on the Line of Control in Krishna Ghati sector”.

The martyred soldiers  – an army jawan and a constable of the Border Security Force – or BSF – were part of a patrol team between two forward posts along the LoC. The Army said that Pak Army’s Border Action Team (BAT) launched the attack on the patrol and the bodies of two soldiers in the patrol were mutilated. 

In November 2016, one jawan’s body had been mutilated after three were martyred in unprovoked Pak firing at LoC in Macchal sector in Kupwara district in Kashmir Valley. 

NEW DELHI: Ending the nine year long wait, regulation of real estate sector involving over 76,000 companies across the county became a reality from May 1 as the Real Estate (Regulation & Development) Act,2016 came into force.  
With all the 92 Sections of the Act coming into effect from May 1, developers shall get all the ongoing projects that have not received completion certificate and the new projects registered with Regulatory Authorities within three months. This enables the buyers to enforce their rights and seek redressal of grievances after such registration. 
Union Urban Poverty Alleviation and Housing Minister  M.Venkaiah Naidu, in his tweets, said; “Real Estate Act coming into force after a nine year wait marks the beginning of a new era making buyer the King while developers benefit from the confidence of the King in the regulated environment. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s personal interest in the matter made the Act a reality now. The Act ushers in the much desired accountability, transparency and efficiency in the sector with the Act defining the rights and obligations of both the buyers and developers. This important legislation gained momentum under this Government and could see the light finally”. 
Some of the major provisions of the Act, besides mandatory registration of projects and Real Estate Agents include: 
1.Depositing 70% of the funds collected from buyers in a separate bank account in case of new projects and 70% of unused funds in case of ongoing projects; 
2. Projects with plot size of minimum 500 sq.mt or 8 apartments shall be registered with Regulatory Authorities; 
3.Both developers and buyers to pay the same penal interest of SBI’s Marginal Cost of Lending Rate plus 2% in case of delays; 
4.Liability of developers for structural defects for five years; and 
5. Imprisonment of up to three years for developers and up to one year in case of agents and buyers for violation of orders of Appellate Tribunals and Regulatory Authorities. 
Several and substantial changes were made in the Real Estate Bill that was first introduced in the Rajya Sabha in 2013 to make the final Act more effective towards promotion of the sector. 
At the time of passing of the Bill in Rajya Sabha in March 2016, there were 76,044 companies operating in the real estate sector, including 17,431 in Delhi, 17,010 in West Bengal, 11,160 in Maharashtra, 7,136 in Uttar Pradesh, 3,054 in Rajasthan, 3,004 in Tamil Nadu, 2,261 in Karnataka, 2,211 in Telangana, 2,121 in Haryana, 1,956 in Madhya Pradesh, 1,270 in Kerala, 1,202 in Punjab and I,006 in Odisha. 
As per industry information, between 2011 and 2015, real estate projects in the range of 2,349 to 4,488 were launched every year amounting to a total of 17,526 projects with a total investment of Rs.13.70 lakh crore in 27 cities including 15 State capitals. About ten lakh buyers invest every year with the dream of owning a house. 

NEW DELHI: Taking a much wider world-view of his government’s motto “Sabha Saath, Sabka Vikas” (Development for All), Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said it was just not limited to the confines of India but also applied to the global context. 

In his 31st edition of Mann Ki Baat programme in All India Radio, Mr Modi said neighbouring countries should be with India in its journey of development to develop equally. 

The Prime Minister announced that India will launch the South Asia Satellite on Friday. He said the communication satellite will go a long way in addressing South Asia’s economic and developmental priorities, natural resources mapping, tele medicine, in the field of education, deeper IT connectivity and fostering people-to-people contact. 

He said, this satellite will prove to be a boon in the progress of the entire region.

Speaking about discarding the VIP hegemony, Mr Modi said, the exit of the red beacon through a government decision was part of a system and efforts should be to cleanse it out of the minds. He said, the concept of New India precisely is that in place of Very Important Person, VIP, more priority should be accorded to EPI that is Every Person is Important. 

Appealing to the youth, the Prime Minister asked them do something out of the box. He asked them to have some purpose in life. 

Saying that May 1, carries one more significance as in many parts of the world, it is observed as Labour Day, Mr Modi remembered Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar. 

Speaking about the Mann Ki Baat programme, Mr Modi said, Government made detailed analysis of the inputs received for the programme.

The arduous and tough India-China border extending over 4,056 Km has its complexities and goes far beyond the two capitals of Delhi and Beijing. The book – India China Borderlands : Conversations beyond the Centre – authored by Nimmi Kurian of the Centre for Policy Research seeks to put in perspective Sino-Indian relations at the subregional level. 

She engages in a critical comparative analysis of the developmental thrust that India’s Northeast and China’s western border regions are witnessing under the rubric of Look East Policy and the Western Development strategy. 

The book revolves on border studies along with comparative regionalism in international relations. One of the handicaps is that border studies are rare in this country. The endeavour is to introduce a borderlands perspective. 

Since 1999 Kurian has been involved in a track II initiative to promote subregional cooperation between India’s Northeast, China’s Southwest, Bangladesh and Myanmar. The border regions are steeped in romanticism of the Silk Road lore. If anything it has been a rich slice of economic and cultural history, of sinuous, well beaten tracks that carried goods, peoples, ideas, customs, religions and languages; and of the way it has shaped the daily lives of the people who live across these borders binding them together as one unit. 

An interesting policy shift currently underway in both India and China could offer the potential for just such an alternative vision. The state is today stepping into its periphery armed with a profoundly new discourse of prosperity and an even more formidable arsenal of resources. 

Both Northeast India and Western China are seeing a huge infusion of funds from their respective central governments. The Northeast vision document 2020 prepared under the auspices of the Northeast Council in 2008 sets itself the objective of closing the gap between the region and the rest of the country along with restoring the Northeast to a position of ‘national economic 

eminence’. 

There are compelling reasons for examining the immediate subregion of India and China, a neighbourhood they both share and an area of the world little known or studied. The northeastern region of India has 4500 Km of international borders with only a 22 Km link to the Indian mainland through Siliguri, West Bengal. 

The eight states that constitute Northeastern India account for 7.9 per cent of the geographical area of the country, with a population of 44 million that is only 3.65 per cent of the country’s population. The region is home to immense ethnic diversity with an estimated 160 Scheduled tribes and over 400 tribal and subtribal groupings. 

China’s western region too has a high degree of ethnic diversity where many of the 55 officially recognised ethnic minority groups besides the dominant Han ethnic group live. Ethnic minorities are largely concentrated  in 12 western provinces particularly the five autonomous provinces of Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, Tibet, Ningxia and Guangxi. 

It is essential to first locate the subregion in the national narrative, an exercise likely to be fraught with controversies. Order and stability concerns have always ranked high in the security calculus of the decision makers with separatist movements, protests and bouts of violence being endemic features. 

There are an estimated 79 active armed insurgent groups in the Northeast and transborder linkages among these groups have compounded security challenges facing the Indian state. 

The fear of external forces has been a source of constant worry for Beijing too, most evident in the aftermath of the violent protests in Lhasa in 2008 and in Urumqi in 2009. 

The external factor is particularly a salient point for India and China given their long territorial borders. There is tension at the heart of the borderlands that needs to be pushed and foregrounded into any moves to rethink borders as bridges. The problem is that any new discourse on rethinking borders is by and large foisted on an existing narrative of anxiety and insecurity. 

A remapping of the border region as a gateway will be incomplete without first critically engaging with the extant discourse. If these fractured territories are to be restored, creative ways of thinking out of the territorial trap will have to be a first. 

The manner in which India and China address this central tension will be critical to their capacity to start a conversation of change on the borders as well as with each other. Far from being the periphery, Borderlands are uniquely positioned at the intersection of national and cultural crossroads and bring several crossover disciplinary and policy insights. If these are dismissed as illegal or worse and irrelevant, such rich narratives would have no hope of finding entry points into the mainstream discourse. Border communities have to be at the centre of any new rethinking on borderlands. 

Without connecting with the lives of the people who inhabit these spaces, theoritical agendas will remain both unimaginative and reiterative. Asia is said to be ‘ripe for rivalry’ and conflict presumed to be endemic to the region on account of its legacy of unresolved disputes, weak institutional structures, militarisation and nascent state building. 

The borderlands are seen as yet another theatre of growing strategic rivalry between India and China with ethnic insurgencies potentially becoming a part of a new ‘Great Game’ between the two countries. The larger question is whether India’s democratic political alternative to the Chinese model has been a divisive one. 

But a far more fraught issue has been the concern over India as a strategic counterweight to China. 

India’s increasing engagement with the East and Southeast Asia and the implications of this strategic expansion for its national strategy are strong related concerns from China’s point of view. India’s growing role beyond South Asia is clearly perceived by many in China’s strategic community as aimed at curbing China’s role and influence in the region. By and large geo-economic feel good narrative of prosperity, the Indian China border region has tended to remain suspended in a sort of time warp.

The critical role that borders can play in communication, stemming naturally from their being points of contact between different systems, has not been apparent in either discourse or practice in the Indian-China context. 

The book has made a case for a conceptual leap from borders to borderlands and has argued that there is a strong spatial logic which must constitute the core of any conception of subregional cooperation in the region. India and China will have major stakes in how the region is imagined and the kind of order that is likely to emerge. 

Fragmented landscapes provide a wake up call for Indian and Chinese scholars. In creatively defining the signature slogan of borders as gateways will ultimately be a call for India and China to take not just as polities but also as societies. 

To realise such a vision Delhi and Beijing must first quit playing ventriloquist and recognise the ability of the borderlands to speak for itself

The Centre must show the iron will to resolutely deal with naxal terror. Union Home minister Rajnath Singh affirmed that Left Wing Extremism will be dealt a crippling blow to avenge their attack. 

Simultaneously, a detailed review of the procedures adopted so far as well as evolving fresh guidelines will be undertaken soon so that they are not caught unawares when an ambush takes place. 

Reports said some of the bodies of the CRPF men were found mutilated. For the families of the 26 Central Reserve Police Force men killed by the extremists in Sukma, Chattisgarh, the pain is not only acute but debilitating. 

CRPF men are dying across the country in the ‘red corridor’ in five states apart from those being posted in J&K as well as the Northeast. The loss in Sukma brings to the fore yet again the abject failure of successive governments to evolve an efficient policy in tackling the Maoist menace rearing its ugly head at regular intervals taking a heavy toll of police personnel. Survivors of the current attack who had served in J&K found that their posting in the sensitive border state was better than that in Chhattisgarh. They drew pointed attention to the lack of intelligence and the poor roads particularly in the thickly wooded zones. 

Amid the refrain and condemnation about the cold blooded murder of the cops, there is invariably the demand that the Army be called in to tackle the situation.

From all accounts this is a replay of the attack in April 2010 when the rebels attacked and killed 75 CRPF men who had taken a break as evidenced in the present instance as well. The discriminating believe that southern Chhattisgarh is today the most heavily patrolled place in the country barring J&K. 

The beleaguered Maoists have also lost several hundreds of their cadre as well as leaders over the years. In a fresh strategy Maoists have decided to use hundreds of their cadre for operations aimed at inflicting heavy casualties along with gathering weapons and ammunition. The Maoists want to strengthen themselves by laying siege to new areas to relieve the pressure faced by them. 

The problem in Chhattisgarh pertain to lack of coordination between the paramilitary organisation and the state police. At the time of the Sukma attack earlier this week on April 25, the CRPF was without a chief for nearly two months. It got a chief two days after the Sukhma tragedy when a 1983 batch IPS officer 

Rajiv Raj Bhatnagar was made its DG. 

Exploitation of tribals by Maoists in various ways like providing food and compelling them to act as informants. They have also been used as human shields during police operations. There are instances of tribal children being inducted by Left Wing Extremists in Chattisgarh, Odisha, Bihar and Jharkhand known as 

‘Bal Dasta’ or ‘Bal Sangham’. 

As evidenced during the stewardship of undivided Andhra Pradesh by the late chief minister Y Rajasekhar Reddy or YSR, a targetted force snuffed out the Maoist problem by sustained development particularly in areas where the rebels had been driven out. The measures encompassed building roads, police stations, schools and healthcare centres which became part of the strategy of defeating Left Wing Extremism. 

If security forces attack ordinary villages they will be playing into the hands of the Maoists. The state needs to secure law and order along with ensuring justice to all.

(T R Ramachandran is senior journalist and commentator. Views are personal.) 

An estimated 10 million children in India still miss out on full vaccinations every year. Weak health systems, poverty and social inequities also mean that large number of children under five are still not reached with life-saving vaccines.

Globally, access to immunisation has led to a dramatic decrease in deaths of children under-five years from vaccine-preventable diseases. Access to immunisation has led to a dramatic decrease in deaths of children. Between 2000 and 2015, worldwide under-five deaths due to measles declined by 85 per cent and those due to neonatal tetanus by 83 per cent, latest figures released by UNICEF to mark the Immunisation Week suggest. 

In India, the under-five mortality stands at 1.11 million deaths per year with pneumonia accounting for 13 per cent of the total under-five deaths and diarrhoea contributing to approximately 10 per cent of the under-five mortality. 

United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reached out to almost half of the world’s children under the age of 5 years in 2016, the latest figures suggest. It procured 2.5 billion doses of vaccines to children in nearly 100 countries last year making it the largest buyer of vaccines for children in the world. 

Nigeria, Pakistan and Afghanistan, the three remaining polio-endemic countries, each received more doses of vaccines than any other country, with almost 450 million doses of vaccines procured to children in Nigeria, 395 million in Pakistan and over 150 million in Afghanistan. UNICEF is the lead procurement agency for the Global Polio Eradication Initiative.

“The Government of India has demonstrated strong and effective leadership in mobilizing partners for collectively addressing maternal and child health. UNICEF is committed to working together with the Government of India and other development partners, to ensure that we  close the immunity gaps in every state, in every district and in every community, so that all boys and girls are protected  life-long  from measles, rubella, and other vaccine preventable diseases,” said Louis-Georges Arsenault, UNICEF India Representative.

Inequalities persist between rich and poor children. In countries where 80 per cent of the world’s under-five child deaths occur, over half of the poorest children are not fully vaccinated. Globally, the poorest children are nearly twice as likely to die before the age of five as compared to the richest.

“All children, no matter where they live or what their circumstances have the right to survive and thrive, safe from deadly diseases,” said Dr. Robin Nandy, Chief of Immunization at UNICEF headquarters, “Since 1990, immunization has been a major reason for the substantial drop in child mortality, but despite this progress, 1.5 million children still die from vaccine preventable diseases every year.’’

“In addition to children living in rural communities where access to services is limited, more and more children living in overcrowded cities and slum dwellings are also missing out on vital vaccinations,” said Mr Nandy. “Overcrowding, poverty, poor hygiene and sanitation as well as inadequate nutrition and health care increase the risk of diseases such as pneumonia, diarrhoea and measles in these communities; diseases that are easily preventable with vaccines.”

By 2030, an estimated 1 in 4 people will live in urban poor communities, mainly in Africa and Asia, meaning the focus and investment of immunization services must be tailored to the specific needs of these communities and children, UNICEF said.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has said called upon countries to invest in and harness the latest technological advances to reduce malaria burden, particularly in the nations with a high burden of disease which includes India. 

New vector control interventions, improved diagnostics and new anti-malarial medicines all hold out the prospect of accelerated progress. Meeting the Region-wide target to eliminate malaria by 2030 requires agile thinking and a willingness to be bold, meaning all avenues must be explored, and all effective tools embraced. This is particularly important given the threat posed by multi-drug and insecticide resistance, the WHO has said ahead of the World Malaria Day..

The world has made significant progress in reducing malaria’s deadly burden. Between 2000 and 2015 the incidence rate of malaria is estimated to have decreased by 37%. Malaria mortality was slashed by 60%, with the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of halting and reversing malaria incidence convincingly met.

The South-East Asia Region is part of this story. The Region reached the malaria-related MDG targets. More recently, between 2010 and 2015 it cut case incidence by an estimated 54% and the malaria mortality rate by an estimated 46%. In 2015 and 2016 respectively, Maldives and Sri Lanka were certified malaria-free – a stunning achievement by any standard. But further progress must be forged, says Poonam Khetrapal Singh, Regional Director, South East Asia Region, WHO. 

Malaria remains endemic in nine of the Region’s 11 countries. Multi-drug resistance – including to artemisinin-based combination therapies – is an ever-present threat, as is resistance of malaria-transmitting mosquitoes to insecticides. Across the Region, domestic funding for malaria prevention and control has declined, even as the need for more innovative and localized solutions has increased. Renewed focus is needed.  

India has a high burden of malaria with Odisha accounting for about 38% of malaria cases and 28% malaria deaths in 2015. At present, the estimated population at a high risk of malaria is 24 million. Malaria affects 22 districts of the total 30 districts of the State.

As the theme of this year’s World Malaria Day emphasizes, enhancing prevention is a critical means of closing the gap and ending malaria for good. Though policy must always respond to local needs, there are powerful strategies that can accelerate gains, Ms Khetrapal Singh says.

Key among them is vector control. By controlling the mosquitoes that transmit malaria we can significantly diminish malaria transmission and hence disease burden. Two highly effective ways to do this is by ensuring affected communities have access to long-lasting insecticidal mosquito nets, and by carrying out indoor residual spraying. In 2015 alone indoor residual spraying was estimated to protect 106 million people worldwide, including upwards of 41 million in India.    
 
Ensuring these tools reach vulnerable groups is essential. Malaria transmission in the Region occurs primarily among hard-to-reach, often disadvantaged or neglected communities, including tribal and migrant or mobile populations. These communities must be empowered to act, and must be fully engaged in programme implementation. Even within these communities, special efforts must be made to protect pregnant women and children under five years of age. There are a number of strategies that can do this and which antenatal services in high-risk areas should be in a position to deploy, the WHO has said.

The South-East Asia Region has shown what it can achieve. A malaria-free Region is possible. Through strong political commitment, integrated strategies aimed at reaching the unreached, and a willingness to harness the power of cutting-edge tools, malaria’s centuries-long burden can be lifted, believes Ms Khetrapal Singh. 

NEW DELHI: President Pranab Mukherjee conferred the 52^nd Jnanpith Award on Prof. Sankha Ghosh on Thursday. 

Speaking on the occasion, the President said that a poet and critique par excellence, a teacher of reputation, a recipient of the Sahitya Akademi award, way back in 1977, Padma Bhushan Prof. Sankha Ghosh is indeed the most deserving recipient of this award.

A professor of Bengali and an authority in his own right on the works of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore, Prof. Sankha Ghosh represents the fluid brilliance that characterizes India’s multifarious literary genius.  It is indeed an example of his brilliant fluidity that an author who strove to master Bengali academically, expressed himself in perhaps the most difficult literary genre of poetry.

The President said that in conferring the award on Prof. Sankha Ghosh the selection board noted that his poetic idiom and experiments with various poetic forms mark his greatness as a creative talent. They also observed that Prof. Ghosh’s poetry, while conveying messages, have remained free from polemics. One look at his works, be it Adim Lata- Gulmomay, Murkho Baro Samajik Noy or Baborer Prarthana, to name a few, and one would be left in no doubt about every word of the observations mentioned by the selection board to be to the point and correct.

The President said an ardent writer of Bengali poetry, his literary works reflect a rare poetic style that encompasses not only a lyrical style but also a deep reflection of the social milieu. His poetry often takes on superficiality in our society and are indeed a candid commentary on contemporary issues. He said that he was sure that as a teacher, Prof. Ghosh would have positively influenced the impressionable minds of his students, as much as enriching the readers of his literary works.

PM Modi, launched UDAN – the Regional Connectivity Scheme for civil aviation, from Shimla Airport. Under this scheme, flights have begun today from Shimla, Nanded and Kadapa Airports. 

While addressing he said the lives of the middle class are being transformed, and their aspirations are rising. He said that given the right chance, they can do wonders. He added that the aviation sector in India is filled with opportunity. Mentioning the scheme name – UDAN – Ude Desh Ka Aam Naagrik – he said that aviation was once considered the domain of a select few, but that has changed now. He said that new civil aviation policy marks an opportunity to cater to the aspirations of the people of India. Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities are becoming growth engines, and enhanced aviation connectivity between them will be beneficial. He said the UDAN scheme will help the tourism sector in Himachal Pradesh to get a boost.

The Union Minister for Civil Aviation, Shri Ashok Gajapathi Raju Pusapati, the Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh, Shri Virbhadra Singh and the Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation, Shri R.N. Choubey were also present during the launch.