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The Congress has strongly condemned the BJP Government’s politics of ‘false promises’ and appropriation of credit for previous Government’s work. The Prime Minister’s announcement on Dec 31, 2016 to provide universal maternity entitlement of Rs 6,000 to every pregnant and lactating woman is one more such instance, a statement issued by K. Raju, Chairperson of the party’s SC Department said.

Universal maternity entitlements were mandated as per the National Food Security Act 2013 passed by the outgoing UPA Government. However, the incoming NDA Government neither framed any new scheme to operationalise maternity entitlements nor did it expand the existing Indira Gandhi Matritva Sahyog Yojana running as a pilot in 53 districts. Consequently, millions of women in the unorganised sector were being denied their legal right to maternity benefits under the NDA Government, the statement said.

“”The PM’s announcement, thus, was not the introduction of a new welfare program but the belated acknowledgement of an existing entitlement,”” Mr Raju added.

It is, thus, all the more unfortunate that even now the NDA Government has provided a mere Rs 4,000 crore annually for this scheme as against the required Rs 14,000 crore annually. With India’s birth rate at 20 per 1,000, the expected number of births per year is around 26 million (population: 130 crore). Even with 10% of births covered by the formal sector, universal maternity entitlements of Rs 6,000 per birth will cost Rs 14,000 crore per year.  

However, as per the press release of the Women and Child Development Ministry, the central government’s contribution for the next three financial years is only Rs 7,348 crore, or Rs 2,449 crore per year. With a 60:40 ratio for centre/state contributions, this means a total of barely Rs 14,000 crore annually. This is a fraction of what is actually required, even assuming that only the first two births are covered by maternity entitlements, the statement said while “”strongly condemning”” the NDA Government’s dishonesty to the millions of poor women across the country and urging it to immediately allocate adequate budgetary support to ensure implementation of universal maternity entitlements.”

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JK BovaGenix, an initiative of JK Trust, one of the largest NGOs working towards “Cattle and Buffalo Breed Improvement” in India, has announced the birth of India’s first IVF calf. The male calf named Krishna was born on 8th Jan 2017, along with female and male calves with the frozen IVF embryos of Tharparkar breed of Rajasthan. The donor cow of Tharparkar breed and three of her IVF calves produced through frozen IVF embryos using crossbred cows as recipients (foster mothers) are in good health, a statement issued by JK BovaGenix said.

Two IVF calves, (one male and one female) from fresh IVF embryos were born on 23rd and 24th last year respectively. These calves were born at Dr Vijaypat Singhania Centre of Excellence for Assisted Reproductive in technologies in Livestock located at Gopalnagar in Chhattisgarh.

This latest development can be termed as a turning point in India’s growth story that would bring in a revolution in producing genetically superior Indigenous breeds and can lead to a multifold increase in milk output, the statement added.

In line with the Government of India’s Rashtriya Gokul Mission, this initiative assumes strategic significance given the pressing need for enhancing milk productivity of the various indigenous breeds. JK BovaGenix aims to establish 10,000 IVF pregnancies by the year 2020.

Speaking on this occasion, Dr Vijaypat Singhania, chairperson, JK Trust said; “JK BovaGenix is committed to bring in a revolution in producing genetically superior cattle breeds at a rapid pace, thereby enhancing the milk yield in a short period of time. This is the second initiative undertaken by JK Trust. The first initiative – “Cattle and Buffalo Breed Improvement Programme” has been undertaken in more than 40000 villages across 10 states that has delivered phenomenal outcomes. Both these projects while supplementing each other will provide sufficient milk to the villagers, not only for sale but also for household consumption.”

Further elaborating on this scientific breakthrough, dr shyam Zawar, chief Scientist, JK BovaGenix and CEO of JK Trust said: “The success of our clinical trials marks a milestone that signifies the beginning of the transformation of cattle scenario in India. Taking forward the government’s initiative of Rashtriya Gokul Mission talks are in progress with various state governments to implement a similar programme that can conserve the depleting indigenous breeds.’’

 Incepted in 2016, JK BovaGenix has set up 2 state of the art ET-IVF labs under the name `Dr Vijapat Singhania Centre of Excellence for Assisted Reproductive Technologies in Livestock’ located at Gopalnagar in Chhattisgarh and Vadgaon-Rasai in Maharashtra. JK Trust has commenced IVF (In-Vitro Fertilization) work in Cattle at its state of the art laboratory ted at Gopalnagar near Bilaspur, in Chhattisgarh. While the Gopalnagar Lab focuses on indigenous breeds like Gir, Sahiwal, Tharparkar and Ongole, the Pune Lab focuses on breeds like Red Sindhi and Rathi in addition to the breeds maintained at Gopalnagar Lab. Till date, the JK BovaGenix has successfully established 45 IVF pregnancies, out of which 28 pregnancies are from fresh IVF embryos and 17 from frozen IVF embryos.”

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The year 2017 marks the tenth anniversary of the now famous Jaipur Literature Festival which begins on January 19.  From a small idea, it has come to be known as the world’s largest free literary festival having hosted more than 1300 speakers over these years.

This year the 5-day literary extravaganza expects participation of over 25 authors, thinkers, politicians, journalists and popular cultural icons. With around 30 languages represented from India and across the world, the Festival will feature authors writing in Indian regional languages including the popular Volga in  Telugu, S.L. Bhyrappa and Vivek Shanbhag in Kannada, Kaajal Oza Vaidya in Gujarat, C.P. Deval and Hari Ram Meena in  Rajasthani, Kanak Dixit and Binod Chaudhary in Nepali, Dhrubajyoti Bora in Assamese, Gulzar and Javed Akhtar in Urdu, Jatindra K. Nayak in Oriya, Naseem Shafaie and Neerja Mattoo in Kashmiri, Arunava Sinha and Radha Chakravarty in Bengali, and Arshia Sattar, A.N.D. Haksar, and Roberto Calasso in Sanskrit. Writers in Hindi include Ajay Navaria, Anu Singh Choudhary, Manav Kaul, MrinalPande, Narendra Kohli and Yatindra Mishra.

Some more names of consequence include Sadhguru, Rishi Kapoor, Shashi Tharoor, Valmik Thapar, Amruta Patil and Nandana Sen.

In a first for the Festival, it is introducing a Vlogging Competition this year for those bitten by video bug. The Jaipur Literature Festival is looking for films of up to 1.5 minutes (90 minutes) on the themes of humour, breaking stereotypes or passion.

This year sees a host of Man Booker winners and nominees including the current and first and only American to have been awarded the prestigious prize, Paul Beatty. She was awarded the Man Booker Prize in 2016 for his caustic satire on racial politics,  The Sellout, in which he ‘plunges into the heart of contemporary American society with savage wit’. The panel of judges compared the 54 year old Los Angeles born writer to Mark Twain and Jonathan Swift, with chair Amanda Foreman called it a “novel for our times”, particularly in the context of the Black Lives Matter movement. In conversation with Meru Gokhale, Paul Beatty will be discussing comedy and controversy, racism and history, poetry and fiction.

The second Man Booker awardee Alan Hollinghurst, author of five novel, including The Swimming-Pool Library and The Line of Beauty, which won the Man Booker Prize in 2004 also joins the Festival. With a new novel due to be published in the summer of 2017, this bestselling English novelist, poet, short-story writer and translator will be talking about his life and work with Chandrahas Choudhury.

 Richard Flanagan is considered by many to be the finest Australian novelist of his generation. Each of his novels has attracted major praise and received numerous awards and honours. His six novels are published in 42 countries and he was awarded the Man Booker Prize in 2014 for The Narrow Road to the Deep North. He joins Manu Joseph to discuss his life and work as well as joining other writers in a panel which looks at whether printed fiction can compete with movies and television with David Hare, Alan Hollinghurst, Neil Jordan and Ritesh Batra.

Mei Fong is believed to be the first Malaysian to win a Pulitzer. Formerly a Wall Street Journal China correspondent, she is an award-winning writer whose commentaries on China are world leading. She makes her debut at ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival to discuss China in the 21st Century and whether through the scale of its growth it is an unstable entity waiting to explode or owner of this era globally. Fong’s book on China’s one-child policy debuted with ‘impeccable timing’ (Los Angeles Review of Books), exploring the unintended consequences of the policy through a narrative-rich story that is ‘evocatively rendered and peppered with quirky characters’ (Wall Street Journal). Fong will talk about the true cost of the controversial one-child policy drawing on eight years spent documenting its repercussions.

Naseem Shafaie was born and brought up in Kashmir and began writing Kashmiri poetry in 1988. She is the author of Open Window and Neither Shadow Nor Reflection, which won the Tagore Award for Excellence in Literature and the Sahita Akademi Award. She is the first Kashmiri female writer to receive both awards. At ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival 2017, she joins Dhrubajvoti Bora and Ornit Shani to discuss the voices of women in war zones around the world, and Neerja Mattoo and Neelesh Misra to read from their work and share their experiences of violence, strife and discord.

 Namita Gokhale, writer, publisher and co-director of the Festival says “”As the festival approaches, we are delighted by the illustrious writers who will be joining us soon in Jaipur.

Sanjoy K. Roy, Director of Teamwork Arts, Producers of the ZEE Jaipur Literatire Festival says: It is a fantastic coup to have Paul Beatty from his fresh win of the Man Booker Prize. We are delighted he will join us along so many other winners and nominees of prestigious literary awards and look forward to the debate and discussion of their life and works.”

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The Communist Party of India (Marxist) has decided to launch a campaign against the government’s decision of demonetization. All major Left parties have also extended their support for this campaign.

The decision was taken at the ongoing three day Central Committee meeting at Thiruvananthapuram where the party also demanded withdrawal of all restrictions on the withdrawal of money by people from their bank accounts. In a statement issued on the concluding day of the meeting, the CPI (M) also sought immediate debt waiver for farmers suffering due to disruption of normal agricultural activities due to shortage of money, doubling of allocation for MNREGA scheme and an immediate compensation to families of those who lost their lives standing in lines outside the banks and those who lost their jobs and livelihoods. The CPI (M) will conduct an independent campaign in the last fortnight of January exposing the real intention of the demonetization as a part of this BJP government’s commitment to neo-liberal economic reforms and on the above demands, the statement said.“The demonetization of the 1000 and 500 rupee notes announced by the Prime Minister on November 8 has caused immense loss to a large part of our economy plunging crore of people into agony and loss of livelihood. The Prime Minister’s appeal for a fifty day time frame after which he assured things will come back to normalcy is over and normalcy is far from being reached. On the contrary, the agonies of people continue to mount. The restrictions on cash withdrawals from the people’s own money deposited in banks continue,’’ the statement said.None of the four objectives – combatting black money; corruption; counterfeit currency and terrorist funding — that the Prime Minister listed as the reason for the demonetization are achievable through this move. More than 90 per cent of the black money, the Prime Minister himself publicly said is parked in tax havens abroad. Not a rupee of this has been touched nor is there any move to pursue the recovery of these monies. With almost all the demonetized currency now returning to the banking system it is clear that whatever black money was held in cash has now been converted into white money and lies deposited in the banks. Final figures for the deposits in the banks are yet to be made public. If it exceeds the value of recalled notes then it means that all the counterfeit currency in circulation has also been legitimised. The seizure of huge quantum of new notes is indicative of the fact that high level corruption exists. Far from eliminating corruption, this move has only created newer and higher forms of corruption, the CPI (M) said.
“As far as combating terrorist funding is concerned that this demonetization has not made any dent is obvious from the fact that since the September 30 Ã¢Â€Â˜surgical strikes’ happened, 33 security personnel have lost their lives due to terrorist attacks. The consequent death toll of security personnel in 2016 has been recorded as double the death toll in 2015. Lives of crores of Indians have been devastated by this demonetization. This is bound to impact upon the economic inequalities in the country. Already in the two years since this BJP government assumed office
inequality has sharply risen. In 2014, 1 per cent of India’s population, the ultra-rich held assets worth 49 per cent of our GDP. By 2016 as a result of PM Modi’s neo-liberal policies this figure went up to 58.4 per cent. With these effects of demonetization the enriching of the rich and the impoverishment of the poor is bound to intensify. With all the declared objectives not being met, the real objective of this demonetization became clear with the thrust for shifting from a cash economy into a digital economy, the statement said.
Describing as ridiculous, the talk of shifting to digital payments, the CPI (M) said in rural India only 13 per cent, 108 of the 834 million people have access to internet connections. Only 26 per cent of the people have access to smart phones. Given this predominant dependence on cash transactions, the devastation of many of the sectors has been enormous. Simultaneously, its thrust to move towards digital transactions is a bonanza for profit maximization to international finance capital and
corporates. Each digital transaction carries a transaction cost which is an additional burden on the consumer and the source of profit for the corporates. Clearly this demonetization exercise has been undertaken by this government as part of India’s subservience to it neo-liberalism, the party said.
On political corruption, the Central Committee said the Prime Minister Modi has asked all political parties to come clean on their funding and be transparent.  The Prime Minister must first answer how the BJP is funding his political rallies all across the country and public declare the expenditure on each.  Till date, the country does not know how much PM Modi spend on his 2014 election campaign.  Will the Prime Minister accept the CPI(M)’s suggestion to ban all corporate funding to political parties?  Will the Prime Minister accept that the expenditure of political parties incurred during elections will be included in the ceiling prescribed by the Election Commission on the candidates, it sought to know.
The CPI(M) considers as a completely anti-democratic suggestion to hold Assembly and General elections simultaneously. Independent India’s electoral history began with simultaneous elections in 1952.But this was disrupted by the ruling parties at the Centre indulging in gross misuse of Article 356 and dismissing democratically elected state governments.  Further, in a democracy, a coalition government can collapse making it inevitable to go back to the people.  Precluding this would mean
the denial of elementary democratic rights and gross violation of federal structure of our Constitution.”

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With the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change inviting comments on the draft notification of Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Dog Breeding and Marketing Rules), 2016, under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960, India is all set to  frame rules for breeding, sale and purchase of dogs. 

India does not have such rules or guidelines at present, and once notified are expected to prevent cruelty to dogs as well and make registration of breeders and their establishments compulsory. Basic requirements by such breeders would also be laid down.

According to the government, dog breeding and their marketing trade has mushroomed all around making its regulation necessary.  At times, some cruelty has been caused in breeding and marketing of dogs, with little or no accountability.

All dog breeders and dog breeding establishments will have to register themselves with the State Animal Welfare Board. The Rules will define breeding requirements/conditions for sale. It defines the requirements to be met by the breeders and the establishments used for breeding, or housing dogs, such as health-related requirements, housing facilities, manner of housing dogs, conditions for sale, breeding, micro-chipping, and vaccination.

An inspector authorised by the State Board can inspect the establishment. It will be mandatory for dog breeders to maintain proper records of both male and female dogs, their breed, micro-chip number, number of litters, sale, purchase, death, and rehabilitation.

Every dog breeder will be required to submit yearly report to the State Board regarding animals sold, traded, bartered, brokered, given away, boarded or exhibited during previous year or any other information asked for by the State Board.

 Non-compliance of the proposed Rules will lead to cancellation of the registration of the dog breeder.”

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The tobacco industry and its products, which have the deadly impact on people’s lives, cost the world’s economies more than US$ 1 trillion annually in healthcare expenditures and lost productivity, according to findings published in “The Economies of Tobacco and Tobacco Control.’’ Around 6 million people die annually as a result of tobacco use, with most living in developing countries.

Policies to control tobacco use, including tobacco tax and price increases, can generate significant government revenues for health and development work, according to this new landmark global report from WHO and the National Cancer Institute of the United States of America. Such measures can also greatly reduce tobacco use and protect people’s health from the world’s leading killers, such as cancers and heart disease.

The almost 700-page monograph examines existing evidence on two broad areas of the economics of tobacco control, including tobacco use and growing, manufacturing and trade, taxes and prices, control policies and other interventions to reduce tobacco use and its consequences; and the economic implications of global tobacco control efforts.

Globally, there are 1.1 billion tobacco smokers aged 15 or older, with around 80% living in low- and middle-income countries. Approximately 226 million smokers live in poverty.

Citing a 2016 study, the monograph states that the annual excise revenues from cigarettes globally could increase by 47%, or US$ 140 billion, if all countries raised excise taxes by about US$ 0.80 per pack. Additionally, this tax increase would raise cigarette retail prices on average by 42%, leading to a 9% decline in smoking rates and up to 66 million fewer adult smokers.

“”The economic impact of tobacco on countries, and the general public, is huge, as this new report shows,”” says Dr Oleg Chestnov, WHO’s Assistant Director-General for Noncommunicable Diseases (NCDs) and mental health. “”The tobacco industry produces and markets products that kill millions of people prematurely, rob households of finances that could have been used for food and education, and impose immense healthcare costs on families, communities and countries.””

“”The research summarized in this monograph confirms that evidence-based tobacco control interventions make sense from an economic as well as a public health standpoint,”” says the monograph’s co-editor, Distinguished Professor Frank Chaloupka, of the Department of Economics at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

According to the report, the global health and economic burden of tobacco use is enormous and is increasingly borne by low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Around 80% of the world’s smokers live in LMICs.

Effective policy and programmatic interventions exist to reduce demand for tobacco products and the death, disease, and economic costs resulting from their use, but these interventions are underused. The WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) provides an evidence-based framework for government action to reduce tobacco use. Demand reduction policies and programmes for tobacco products are highly cost-effective. Such interventions include significant tobacco tax and price increases; bans on tobacco industry marketing activities; prominent pictorial health warning labels; smoke-free policies and population-wide tobacco cessation programmes to help people stop smoking. In 2013-2014, global tobacco excise taxes generated nearly US$ 269 billion in government revenues. Of this, less than US$ 1 billion was invested in tobacco control, it says.

Pointing out that control of illicit trade in tobacco products is the key supply-side policy to reduce tobacco use and its health and economic consequences, the report says in many countries, high levels of corruption, lack of commitment to addressing illicit trade, and ineffective customs and tax administration, have an equal or greater role in driving tax evasion than do product tax and pricing. The WHO FCTC Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products applies tools, like an international tracking and tracing system, to secure the tobacco supply chain. Experience from many countries shows illicit trade can be successfully addressed, even when tobacco taxes and prices are raised, resulting in increased tax revenues and reduced tobacco use.

Suggesting that tobacco control does not harm economies, the report says the number of jobs dependent on tobacco has been falling in most countries, largely due to technological innovation and privatization of once state-owned manufacturing. Tobacco control measures will, therefore, have a modest impact on related employment, and not cause net job losses in the vast majority of countries. Programmes substituting tobacco for other crops offer growers alternative farming options. Importantly, tobacco control reduces the disproportionate health and economic burden that tobacco use imposes on the poor. Tobacco use is increasingly concentrated among the poor and other vulnerable groups.

Further it says, progress is being made in controlling the global tobacco epidemic, but concerted efforts are needed to ensure progress is maintained or accelerated. In most regions, tobacco use prevalence is stagnant or falling. But increasing tobacco use in some regions, and the potential for increase in others, threatens to undermine global progress in tobacco control.

Also, the market power of tobacco companies has increased in recent years, creating new challenges for tobacco control efforts. As of 2014, 5 tobacco companies accounted for 85% of the global cigarette market. Policies aimed at limiting the market power of tobacco companies are largely untested but hold promise for reducing tobacco use, the report says.

Tobacco control is a key component of WHO’s global response to the epidemic of NCDs, primarily cardiovascular disease, cancers, chronic obstructed pulmonary disease and diabetes. NCDs account for the deaths of around 16 million people prematurely (before their 70th birthdays) every year. Reducing tobacco use plays a major role in global efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal of reducing premature deaths from NCDs by one-third by 2030.”

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The countdown for the opening of the National Museum of Indian Cinema (NMIC) at the Films Division premises in Mumbai has begun with the Museum Advisory Committee chairperson, veteran film maker Shyam Benegal making a fervent appeal to the people associated with the film industry to donate rare artefacts, vintage instruments and other memorabilia for the Museum, which would chronicle the century old journey of cinema in India. When inaugurated, the NMIC will be the first of its kind national film museum in India. 

The Museum Advisory Committee, which met in Mumbai also gave its nod for the thematic display in the Phase II of the Museum. The National Council of Science Museums, Kolkata, under the Ministry of Culture, is curating the Museum.

 The NMIC is conceived in two phases. Phase I is housed in the heritage building- Gulshan Mahal, mostly displaying static artefacts and telling the story of Indian cinema in a chronological form while Phase II of the Museum, being housed in the modern building will sport over 40 interactive galleries devoted to cinema across India, journey of Indian cinema from silent era to talkies, technology and creativity in cinema as well as a children’s activity gallery. 

Chairing the meeting, Shyam Benegal said: ‘’ A visit to the film museum should be an engrossing experience and we should have a number of interactive sections, where viewers can watch clips from classics, listen to rare recordings or learn about how cinema was  made in the bygone era””.  

Veteran film makers Adoor Gopalakrishnan and Krishna Swamy, noted cinematographer A K Bir, former Director of National Film Archives of India, Suresh Chhabria, film conservationist Shivendra Dungarpur, film critic Sanjit Narvekar, DG, NCSM Anil Manekar and DG of the Chhatrapati Shivaji Vastu Sangrahalay, Mumbai Sabyasachi Mukherjee and film curator Amrit Gangar were among those who were present at the meeting, a statement by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting said.”

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Union Law, Justice and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Thursday said the government’s November 8 decision of demonetization had resulted in sharp decline in terror funding,  hawala trade, supari killings and human trafficking, particularly of young girls as sex slaves, mainly from Nepal and the North East.

Indicating that the government would not hesitate to take steps to widen the tax base, he said that development was not possible without enlarging the tax kitty. “”There is only about Rs.  Five lakh crore in the kitty of Finance Minister Arun Jaitley for development and it needs to grow,’’ he said.

Addressing a seminar, jointly organized by the Press Club of India, Indian Women Press Corps and the Supreme Court Lawyers’ Conference, he said that a new India, much stronger in its unity and integrity, was emerging, transcending the barriers of caste, creed and religion.

Former Chief Justice of India M. N. Venkatachaliah who presided over the seminar on Fundamental Duties and Economic and Judicial Reforms stressed upon social evolution and education of young minds who can build a better India.

“”Every government comes and goes. Our government is transformative government and tools of technology are actively aiding the good governance. There are 110 crore Aadhar cards and 104 crore mobile connections today. Digital governance means faster delivery and even poor and illiterate people in rural areas are showing a new confidence in embracing the digital technology which has given a new vision of hope,”” the Law and IT Minister said. He also cited examples of Imran Khan, a mathematics teacher from a school in Alwar, Rajasthan whose mobile apps had benefitted 40 lakh children and a woman  Satama Devi, a beedi worker from Telangana who had learnt how to use Skype to talk to her grandson in Dubai. “People like these are change agents. They believe in this new fast emerging India,’’ he said.

Mr. Ravi Shankar Prasad said that Aadhar enabled bank payments through smartphone would prove to be a “game changer’’ and a tool of empowerment. He said that out of 125 crore people only 3.7 crore pay taxes and 99 lakh file Income Tax returns but have no taxable income, two crore people show annual income of Rs. 6 lakh and only 24 lakh have an annual income of Rs. 10 lakh and above.

Mr. Prasad, himself an activist during JP movement, said the present government has leaders who were all student activists from the days of Emergency and reiterated that the commitment of the government for independence of judiciary is complete.

Admitting that there were issues of infrastructure and judicial appointments, he said that 126 appointments in the higher judiciary were made in the past two years which was the highest since 1999. He said that 131 High Court judges had also been confirmed. 

“”There is meaningful cooperation between the government and the new Chief Justice of India Justice Khehar and all concerns of judiciary will be addressed,’’ he added. The Minister asserted that independence of judiciary and media and individual liberty was sacrosanct for the government. He said that accountability of political establishment was a positive feature of the democracy. “”The strength of democracy lies in bringing in positive changes like eliminating poll violence from Bihar by the efforts of the Election Commission,’’ he said.

The Law and IT Minister said that a panel, led by Justice Sri Krishna, had been set up to give a report within three months on making India a hub of arbitration.

Veteran Congress leader Dr. Karan Singh, former Lok Sabha Secretary General Subhash Kashyap, former Chief Election Commissioner S Y Qureshi, former BSF chief Prakash Singh, former Governor A R Kohli and lawyer-activist Ashok Arora also participated in the seminar.  Think  Tank  for  Nation  Building  resolved  to request  authorities to create  awareness and  atmosphere for performance of Fundamental Duties. For  social  economic  political and  judicial reforms. “

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The All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA) and the Adivasi Adhikar Rashtriya Manch (AARM) has asked the National Human Rights Commission to initiate a process of district level hearings in the Naxal-affected Baster region of Chattisgarh where ordinary villagers can come and register their complaints and provide evidence on several instances of state repression and atrocities.

“”The NHRC is requested to take suo motu notice of the `state repression’ in Chhattisgarh and direct the government to disband and stop providing protection to illegal and unauthorised lumpen elements through organisations like the Samajik Ekta Manch and AGNI which has threatened to physically stop human rights activists from entering Bastar,’’ the AIDWA has said in a memorandum to the human rights panel.

While welcoming the National Human Rights Commission’s January 7, 2017 order regarding the rape cases of 16 women in Bijapur and Sukma, the AIDWA has also drawn the attention of the Commission towards several instances of assault by security forces and the SPOs which have gone unnoticed.

Some of these instances were recorded in the accompanying fact finding reports, which the AIDWA said, indepth investigation by the NHRC. The first report is by a fact finding team comprising of Prof Nandini Sundar, Prof Archana Prasad, CPI (M) Chhattisgarh Secretary Sanjay Parate, and Joshi-Adhikari Institute’s Vineet Tiwari entitled ‘Caught in an Irresponsible War: State and Maoists both Responsible’ which was released in May 2016. The second report is by All India Peoples Forum entitled ‘Bastar: Where the Constitution Stands Suspended’ released in August 2016.

The AIDWA and AARM have appealed to the NHRC to enquire into these cases and intervene to stop the atrocities of the security forces in Bastar.

A list of these cases and the memorandum was also submitted to the National Commission on Scheduled Tribes. The human rights panel on January 7 had come down heavily on the State Government and the security forces for as many as 16 sexual assaults on women by security forces.”

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Amid a global shortage of injectable inactivated polio vaccine (IPV), countries in the WHO South-East Asia Region are opting to use fractional doses of IPV, an evidence-based intervention that not only ensures continued protection of children against all types of polioviruses, but also helps save vaccine, the South East Regional Office of the World Health Organisation has said.

This move is bound to positively impact global vaccine supply in the coming years, it claimed.India became the first country globally to introduce fractional doses of IPV in childhood immunization programme in eight of its 36 states / union territories in early 2016. The initiative is now being scaled up nationwide. Sri Lanka followed suit in July 2016. Bangladesh has decided to introduce fractional IPV doses this year. Other countries in the Region are also considering a shift to the use of fractional IPV doses in their immunization schedule.Studies have confirmed that two fractional doses (one fractional dose is one-fifth of a full dose) of IPV, given twice to infants – first at the age of six weeks and then at 14 weeks – provide the same protection against all polioviruses as does one full dose of IPV.By using fractional IPV, countries are saving vaccine and vaccine cost, without compromising on the protection that the vaccine provides to children against polio, said Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, Regional Director of SEARO.Since polio-free certification on 27 March 2014, all countries in WHO South-East Asia Region have been working towards timely implementation of the global polio end game strategy to achieve a polio-free world.South-East Asia was the first WHO Region to complete the polio vaccine switch from the traditionally used trivalent oral polio vaccine (tOPV) to the bivalent vaccine (bOPV) to prevent any paralysis caused by type 2 poliovirus strain in tOPV.As a part of the global polio endgame strategy, countries in the Region have introduced IPV to supplement the oral polio vaccine (OPV), and ensure protection against all types of polioviruses, while the programme globally strives towards stopping poliovirus transmission and cessation of OPV use, Dr Khetrapal said. “The date – 13 January Ã¢Â€Â“ the last time that wild poliovirus crippled a child in WHO South-East Asia Region in the year 2011, should be a reminder to all countries of the continued need to reach every child with polio vaccines and to strengthen disease surveillance so that poliovirus does not return to cripple children in our Region’’, she said.

World Health Organization has commended countries in the Region for their continued efforts to protect children against this crippling virus and maintain the Region’s polio-free status, despite challenging conditions.”