“

The group led by U.P. Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav “is the Samajwadi Party”, the Election Commission ordered on Monday. His father Mulayam Singh Yadav who had founded the party 25 years ago will have to now look for another symbol to contest the assembly elections in U.P. which goes to seven-phase polls from February 11. 

In its 42-page order, the EC said that Akhilesh Yadav “”enjoys overwhelming majority support both among the legislative and organisational wing of the party.”” The Commission applied the test of majority support approved by the Supreme Court in the case of Sadiq Ali and consistently applied by the EC thereafter in all cases of disputes in recognized political parties.  The Commission also rejected party patriarch Mulayam SIngh Yadav”s claim to the party and the symbol. 

Earlier this month, in a special national convention called by Ramgopal Yadav in Lucknow, Mulayam Singh was removed from the president post appointing Akhilesh in his place. After it, Mualaym Singh Yadav had challenged the Akhilesh Yadav’s elevation, terming the convention as illegal.

The ruling Samajwadi Party in U.P. has been plagued by the Yadav family infighting and differences. While Mulayam Singh Yadav is supported by his brother Shivpal Singh Yadav, his another cousin brother Ramgopal Yadav, a Rajya Sabha member, has backed the young CM Akhilesh Yadav. 

With the symbol issue settled, Akhilesh Yadav will move swiftly to formalise the alliance with the Congress party as he has already hinted that SP-Congress alliance has the potential of winning over 300 seats in assembly. It would face a stiff challenge from the BJP and Mayawati’s BSP who are seeing it as a do or die battle in U.P. to grab power in India’s most crucial State politically. 

For the Samajwadi Party, Akhilesh Yadav’s wife Dimple, a Lok Sabha member, and Priyanka Vadra from the Congress party are said to be working behind the scene to put together grand alliance in the State.”

“

The art and culture hub of Jaipur – Jawahar Kala Kendra (JKK) — has been committed to promote multiple types of art ever since its inception.

On January 20 the arena of visual arts will witness a breakthrough with the reopening of the Museum Galleries which constitute the erstwhile Museum Alankar and the three art galleries which had been under renovation. Refurbished with concrete flooring, state of the  art lighting systems and walls, the Museum galleries will be ready to receive a spate of thematically curated exhibitions which will continue for a period of 2-4 months each and which will not only enrich the cultural landscape of Jaipur but also give the visitors a dynamic experience.

In the past one year, JKK has been instrumental in bringing to the Pink City high quality performing art and literary programmes with Navras (week long performing arts festival), Bookaroo (Children’s Literature Festival), Raag (an all night classical musical event) and Thirak (Classical Dance Festival) being the major highlights. 

According to Pooja Sood, Director General of JKK, creating a centre of excellence for the arts was the vision of the Chief Minister of Rajasthan, Ms. Vasundhara Raje who will inaugurate the refurbished galleries Museum gallery. The Museum galleries open with an exhibition of the moving image which will be the first of its kind event in the state.

Entitled ‘तह-सतह: A Very Deep Surface, Mani Kaul and Ranbir Singh Kaleka: Between Film and Video’, the exhibition is curated by eminent film historian and scholar Ashish Rajadhyaksha. The avant garde film maker was from Jaipur and a lot of his work references the landscape and sounds of Rajasthan.

The show is essentially a conversation between India’s leading filmmaker Mani Kaul’s classic celluloid films from the 1970s and 80s and his digital experiments in the 2000s along with several video-on-canvas works by internationally renowned artist Ranbir Singh Kaleka. Consisting of over 10 single and multichannel video installations, a sound installation which includes poetry and music alongside video projections on canvas, the exhibition is an attempt to ask new questions about the moving image in 21st century India.

A series of collateral events will unfold during the 6 week period of the exhibition.  A first full retrospective of Kaul’s films, including his rare final digital works, will be on view at JKK. There will be a series of talks by the artist Ranbir Singh Kaleka and curator Ashish Rajadhyaksha as well as by other A series of collateral events will unfold during the 6 week period of the exhibition.  A first full retrospective of Kaul’s films, including his rare final digital works, will be on view at JKK. There will be a series of talks by the artist Ranbir Singh Kaleka and curator Ashish Rajadhyaksha as well as by other eminent curators, writers and scholars. Daily walkthroughs for visitors by JKK’s curatorial staff will also be available, thus making JKK a center of learning as well as critical discourse, said Ms. Sood.

 A souvenir shop, ‘The Gallery Shop by Play Clan’ will also open simultaneously in the Museum block.”

“

The year just gone by was an eventful year for the Indian Space programme with significant successes across all domains whether it was launch vehicle, satellite, applications or space exploration.

2016 saw an unprecedented total of seven launches, which were all successful, placing 34 satellites in their planned orbit safely and securely — eight of Indian Space Research Organisation [ISRO], 22 foreign satellites, and four student satellites. The year also witnessed the maiden test flights of a technology demonstrator for a reusable launch Vehicle [[RLV-TD] and another technology demonstrator for Scramjet engine.

The RLV-TD, which was launched May 23, attained a peak altitude of 65 km and glided back to its pre-defined landing spot over Bay Bengal without any mishap. It entered the atmosphere at a speed of around Mach 5 [five times the speed of sound]. During the flight, critical technologies such as autonomous navigation, guidance and control, reusable thermal protection system and re-entry mission management were successfully validated.

India’s first experimental mission on scramjet engine was conducted on August 2. Designed by ISRO, the engine uses Hydrogen as fuel and Oxygen from the atmosphere as the oxidiser. The test was conducted with a hypersonic flight at a speed of Mach 6. ISRO’s advanced technology vehicle, which is an advanced sounding rocket, was the solid rocket booster used for the testing at supersonic conditions. With this test, India has become the fourth country to demonstrate flight testing of scramjet engine. It is an important milestone in the development of engines for ISRO’s future space transport systems.

The year had begun with the completion of the task of setting up of the Indian Regional Navigational Satellite System [IRNSS] consisting of a constellation of seven satellites. The agency’s workhorse, Polar Satellite Launch Vehicles, placed the fifth, sixth and seventh satellites of the navigational system in three launches, on January 20, March 10 and April 28 in copybook style. With this, the space segment of IRNSS has been fully deployed. Apart from these, ISRO was successful in launching 20 satellites in a single mission.

On June 22, a PSLV launch vehicle soared into the sky with 20 satellites. The payload included two satellites from two academic institutions and 17 satellites of foreign customers from Canada, Germany, Indonesia and USA. The main payload was the fourth satellite in ISRO’s Cartosat 2 series. Weighing 727 kg, the satellite is designed to help further mapping capabilities in the country. ISRO also played a significant role in handling a series of fire incidents in the hill state of Uttarakhand during the last week of April. Satellite based temperature anomalies were used for detection of active fire locations. About 1,600 active forest fire locations were recorded between April 24 and May 4.

(The writer is a Delhi-based freelance journalist.)”

“

The Union Cabinet has approved for introduction of the Repealing and Amending Bill, 2017 to repeal another 105 Acts from the law book.

A two-member committee constituted by the PMO, the Law Commission of India and the Legislative Department had identified 1,824 redundant and obsolete Central Acts for repeal.  

After careful examination and consultation with various Ministries and Departments in the Government, four Acts have been enacted to repeal 1175 Central Acts (during the period May, 2014 to August, 2016) by Parliament.

These are:  The Repealing and Amending Act, 2015 (17 of 2015) repealing 35 Acts; The Repealing and Amending (Second) Act, 2015 (19 of 2015) repealing 90 Acts; The Appropriation Acts (Repeal) Act, 2016 (22 of 2016) repealing 756;  Appropriation Acts including Appropriation (Railways) Acts; and the Repealing and Amending Act, 2016 (23 of 2016) repealing 294 Acts.

Of these identified 1,824 Acts, as many as 227 Acts (including Appropriation Acts enacted by Parliament for the States under President’s Rule) are identified to be repealed by State Governments. States have been requested to take necessary action to repeal these.

A list of the remaining 422 Central Acts was circulated among all the Ministries and Departments for their comments on repeal of Acts. As of now, 73 Ministries and Departments including Legislative Department have agreed to repeal 105 Acts and rejected repealing of 139 Acts.”

“

Post cold-war years and disintegration of erstwhile USSR have resulted into changed equations between many past friendships and India-Russia relations is one of them. Both have each other but have also found new friends in the region and beyond. The two nations since India’s independence remained on a strong footing, although defence cooperation was the fulcrum of the rapport.  But the friendship covered numerous other vital issues including space, nuclear energy, science and technology, economic, political and anti-terrorism just to name few.

Presently both countries have not only a significant joint venture in BrahMos cruise missile but also has Sukhoi Su-30 MKI, T-90 tanks, Akula-II nuclear submarine, Aircraft Carrier-INS Vikramaditya and many more Russian strike powers on land, sea and air. Besides cooperation on diverse fields Russia constantly supported India on Kashmir, liberation of Goa, as well as at the time of India-Pakistan wars especially in 1971 war when United States sent US Seventh Fleet which was the world’s largest warship to help Pakistan, Russia came for India’s salvage.

After the disintegration of Soviet Union, Russia lost super power status and the cold war era was also over. India which was importing 70 percent of its defence needs from Russia also started importing armaments from different countries especially from United States and Israel.  It irked Russia as it was loosing close ally as well as an assured market.

On one hand the relations between Russia and Western world became tense and on the other hand Indian foreign policy also tilted towards USA and Europe. Hence Russia also became close to China as well as to Pakistan. Both Pakistan and Russia signed a defence cooperation agreement in November 2014 which included several crucial subjects including collaboration in military fields, counter international terrorism, exchange of information, drug trafficking, topography and hydrography etc.

Besides the agreement Russia is also likely to join China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) which is greatly against the interests of India. Russia and China also restrained India from the inclusion of Lashkar-e-Toiba (L-e-T) and Jaish-e-Mohammed (J-e-M) both Pakistan based Deobandi terrorist organisations in BRICS Declaration which was a direct assistance to Pakistan.

Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs delegation visited Pakistan and held ‘first-ever’ discussion on regional issues on December 14, 2016. The discussions included important regional and international issues. There are unconfirmed reports that Russian Intelligence chief also visited Gwadar port and ascertained the details about CPEC.

Russian assessment that Islamic State is the bigger danger in Afghanistan than Taliban is analogous to Pakistan’s stand and against the viewpoint of India and Afghanistan, as both these countries consider that Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) supported Pakistan based terrorist outfits are responsible for the terrorist activities in Afghanistan.  In addition to all these events, recent Russia-Pakistan military flirtation was a big jolt to long standing India Russia relations. Russian troops had a two weeks counter-terrorism joint exercise with Pakistani troops from 24 September to 10 October 2016. The joint exercise commenced within a week of Pakistan trained terrorists attack on Indian Army camp in Uri, in which 18 soldiers were martyred and more than 30 sustained injuries. Although India and Russia are conducting joint counter-terrorism exercise at Vladivistok from last eight years but Russia-Pakistan exercise was a new phenomenon in the region.

After disintegration of Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) , Russia not only lost the super power status, its financial strength was also considerably abridged because of lowered oil prices and sanctions imposed by the Western world. On the other hand the position of China has considerably strengthened due to its financial clout and its role in BRICS New Development Bank, The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) or CPEC. Now Russia needs China more than the other way round.

China is assisting Pakistan in diverse fields and also using latter to stall India’s economic progress hence as an aftermath of close China Russia relations, the alliance between Russia and Pakistan also improved. The analysts claim that Russia would have obliged India in BRICS-Goa by insertion of L-e-T and J-e-M in declaration but because of Chinese stringent opposition Russia opposed the inclusion.

In view of growing proximity between Russia China and Pakistan India should also try to inculcate cordial relations with all the neighbouring countries as well as regional and world powers.

India should also not be excessively worried about growing Russia Pakistan dealings as the relations between India and Russia are old and time tested, though there is no permanent friend or foe in international relations but the relations between India and Russia are also being strengthened. Indian private sector has invested in Russian company Rosneft; Indian companies are importing diamonds directly from Russia and there is a civil nuclear cooperation between both the countries.

DurIng recent visit of Putin both countries signed defence deals worth Rs.43000 Crores including purchase of S-400 long-range air defence missile system, joint production of four stealth frigates and 200 Kamov helicopters. As two units of Kudankulum nuclear power plant are ready hence the work for Unit 3 and 4 also commenced.

Zamir Kabulov, The Russian President’s special Envoy on Afghanistan rightly commented that “The size of cooperation between Russia and India can’t be compared with Pakistan. It is many hundred times more.”

The proximity between Russia and China is increasing and Russia is sharing technologies with China but there is deep suspicion between both the countries. Russia which was a superpower in yesteryears would not like to act as a junior partner of China. Hence the closeness between China and Russia may not last long. President Putin as a powerful leader would never allow China to occupy the place of superpower which was occupied by erstwhile USSR before. It will also be against the interests of India.

It is good that India is cultivating close relations with Western countries especially USA but these relations should not be at the cost of its relations with Russia. At this juncture both India and US needs each other. India is the biggest importer of arms and US companies want to sell their armaments to India without transferring the cutting edge technology. India must insist to get advance technology from these firms and if feasible it should become part of ‘Make in India’. India would be spending USD 150 billion to modernize its defence forces by 2027 and the leadership must utilize this leverage in getting latest technology.The analysts also forecast that the personal relationship between US President elect Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin would be cordial while the chances that US China relations may deteriorate as Trump may like to go for two China policy. Once Russia leans towards US the warmth of Russian Pakistan relations would also go down. 

(Jai Kumar Verma is a Delhi-based former diplomat and strategic analyst. He was posted in Pakistan, Washington and Dubai. The views are personal. This article first appeared in aviation and defence universe.com and is being reproduced here with the author’s permission.)”

“

The British Library and the ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival will host a series of events in Jaipur and London during 2017. In January the British Library will be part of the programme in Jaipur that looks at the legacy of Magna Carta, including the loan of a facsimile of the 1215 Magna Carta to be displayed on site during the Festival. In May, the British Library will host the London leg of the Festival for the first time.

The ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival travels to London for the fourth time with a creative caravan of writers and thinkers, poets and balladeers brought together by co-directors Namita Gokhale and William Dalrymple. Showcasing South Asia’s unique multilingual literary heritage and the Festival’s global programme and appeal, JLF@London is an intense two-day teaser of the original festival, celebrating its 10th anniversary in January, declared the ‘greatest literary show on earth’.

Inspired by the 70th anniversary of Indian Independence JLF@London  will look at ‘The Idea of India’ with eminent authors from India and the UK and will showcase South Asia’s multilingual literary heritage, oral and performing arts, books and ideas, dialogue and debate, Bollywood and politics in the context of this broader view of India and its relationship to the UK.

The festival’s partnership with the British Library places the legacy of Magna Carta, and its influence on the Indian constitution, at the centre of discussions and debates at ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival. The British Library is loaning a facsimile of the 1215 Magna Carta to be displayed on site at the Diggi Palace during the Festival and Claire Breay, Head of Ancient, Medieval and Early Modern Manuscripts at the British Library joins a panel to discuss justice.

The Magna Carta established the “rule of law” in England in 1215 after 25 barons forced the then King of England King John to agree to follow an agreed form of justice. Now over 800 years old the ancient document is celebrated for establishing the primacy of the “rule of law” in the functioning of a society, and is often cited as the original source of Article 21 of the Constitution of India – “No person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except according to procedure established by law”.

ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival will explore the concept of justice and the “rule of law” in relation to India today. Sanjoy K.Roy, Managing Director of Teamwork Arts who organise the Jaipur Literature Festival said: “The Jaipur Literature Festival has developed immeasurably over the past 10 years and established itself as and is delighted to partner with the British Library to give audiences in the UK a taste of what they can experience in Jaipur.  In an important year for UK and India relations, we are looking forward to exploring common foundations in the Magna Carta as well as our many cultural and trade connections both at JLF@London in May and in Jaipur in January.”

“

manoj_kumar_gallery_image_250_250Popularly known as “”Bharat Kumar”” for his role as a patriotic Indian in films like “”Purab aur Paschim””, and “”Upkaar””, veteran film actor and director Manoj Kumar will be conferred the 47th Dadasaheb Phalke Award for 2015 for his outstanding contribution to the growth and development of Indian cinema. The Award consists of a Golden Lotus, cash prize of Rs. 10 lakhs and a shawl.”

“

Giving him the benefit of doubt, a Jodhpur Court has acquitted actor  Salman Khan of charges under the Arms Act case against him in the alleged poaching of two black bucks.

The decision came as the prosecution failed to provide conclusive evidence against him in the 18-year-old case. The prosecution counsel BS Bhati said they would appeal against the acquittal in the Sessions Court. In the 102-page judgment, the Chief Judicial Magistrate Dalpat Singh Rajpurohit said that the prosecution had failed to prove the charges under sections 3/25 and 3/27 of the Indian Arms Act.
 A case against the Bollywood actor was registered in October 1998 for his alleged use and possession of arms with an expired license during the alleged poaching of two black bucks in Kankani village.

Salman Khan’s 0.22 rifle and 0.32 revolver had expired licenses and cases were filed under Sections 3/25 and 3/27. The maximum sentence in Section 3/25 is usually three years while Section 3/27 has seven years as the maximum sentence.Salman Khan was present in the court of CJM (Jodhpur), where the verdict was pronounced. He arrived in Jodhpur yesterday with his sister Alvira and his advocates.The defense counsel H M Saraswat said “”the court admitted our arguments that Khan was framed in this case as he had no concrete evidence against him.””According to the prosecution counsel Bhawani Singh Bhati, the arguments in the case were completed on January 9 in the trial court and the order had been reserved by the magistrate to be pronounced today.

Of the four cases against him, Salman Khan has already been acquitted in two cases of poaching by the High Court while a third case of poaching is in its final stage.”

“

As the ideologue of ruling the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) is in pursuit of its agenda of Hindu Rashtra. Calculated attempts are being made by the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the student wing of the Lotus party, to whip up trouble in universities by isolating the so called anti-nationals. BJP leaders are shouting from rooftops that they will come down heavily against anti-national elements. The prestigious Central university – Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in the national Capital appears to be a test case. Â 

The State’s intervention is to send a strong and stern message that dissent will not be tolerated. The arrest of JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar and cracking down on political dissent has brought to center-stage once again the BJP-led NDA government’s bid to stifle free speech. Kanhaiya Kumar has since been granted interim bail by the Delhi High Court, released and welcomed by thousands of JNU students in the campus where he addressed a large gathering of his fellow students Thursday evening and asserted that he was for Azadi within India and not from India. His hour-long speech has gone viral on the social media network.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Venkaiah Naidu reacted by saying that the JNUSU president “”is getting free publicity and is enjoying it.”” “”They are all studying at a Central university, where public money is involved, so they must do justice to the cause and they must study, that’s all,”” Mr. Naidu advised. However, there is marked silence about action being taken against lower court lawyers for attacking Kumar as well as roughing up reporters of the audio-visual as well as the print media.

The crackdown at JNU was instigated by the alleged chanting of anti-national slogans along with a meeting to mark the death anniversary of Afzal Guru who was convicted and hanged for his involvement in Parliament House terror attack. Kumar was arrested and the outgoing Delhi Police Commissioner B S Bassi claimed that they had evidence to charge him with sedition which has rarely been proved in the past. If convicted for sedition, he faces life imprisonment. The JNUSU president has maintained he had not said anything anti-national and has full trust and faith in the Constitution of India. Investigation agencies have found many of the videos showing Kumar shouting slogans to be doctored. The alleged complicity of the Delhi police under the leadership of Mr. Bassi been a matter of concern.

With tempers running high against the so called anti-national elements, Union Home minister Rajnath Singh and Human Resource minister Smriti Irani emphasized anti-national slogans will not be tolerated. The Centre views itself as being the torch bearers of nationalism. The use of state power is to put the defenders of liberty and critics of the state on their guard. The RSS does not want to let go this opportunity with the BJP having secured a majority on its own in the Lok Sabha since the party was formed in 1980. During NDA I when BJP’s liberal stalwart Atal Behari Vajpayee was the Prime Minister heading a disparate 26-party coalition government from 1999 to 2004, the RSS was sidelined as the Common Minimum Programme (CMP) adopted then steered clear of the three point Hindutva agenda. These pertained to building a Ram temple at Ayodhya, abrogation of Article 370 according special status to the only Muslim majority state of Jammu and Kashmir in the country and having a Uniform Civil Code. The second time around the RSS is determined in implementing its agenda. They handpicked Mr. Modi, then Gujarat Chief Minister, in September 2013 to be the BJP’s Pime Ministerial nominee. He did not disappoint. He carried the day repeatedly underlining that he is a Hindu nationalist. He stole the thunder with the people rooting for him overwhelmingly as he focussed on development and stressed upon “”Sab ka Saath, Saab ka Vikas “”along with making a multitude of promises.

Mr. Modi’s invincibility at the hustings after the 2014 Lok Sabha elections was shattered when he lost the assembly elections in Delhi last year. The BJP suffered a mind boggling defeat managing only three seats and the remaining 67 in the 70-member assembly being gobbled up by the fledgling Aam Aadmi party of chief minister Arvind Kejriwal. It was highly embarrassing for the Prime Minister. Then again later in October-November the BJP suffered a loss of face in the assembly elections in Bihar, one of the main battleground states in the Hindi Heartland. Lalu Prasad Yadav and chief minister Nitish Kumar forming the Mahagatbandhan put paid to BJP’s hopes.

Realising that the Lotus party was safe in occupying the seat of power on the Raisina Hill till the 2019 general elections, Mr. Modi and the RSS appear working to a game plan. It will be naive to assume that the RSS pressure is not getting to the Prime Minister. The meeting of Vice-Chancellors of central universities under the aegis of Smriti Irani recently adopted a resolution that central universities should install the national flag on their campus to instil patriotic fervour among the students. What it means is that students of JNU are not nationalist enough barring a handful belonging to the ABVP. Other universities are also not sufficiently nationalist.

Countering the BJP or the Sangh Parivar is not going to be easy. The courts will no doubt have their say but the incident in JNU is a warning to the people who disagree with the BJP’s Ram Rajya. The obstacles in countering the Parivar are many. Mr. Modi’s second term as Prime Minister will depend on predelictions of his masters in Nagpur where the RSS is headquartered. His chances will primarily depend on whether he is able to deliver on his pledges. He has shown he can think out of the box and take snap decisions. On the other had UPA II had lost its vigour with then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi dabbling in dual authority. For the BJP and the Sangh Parivar JNU is a test case given the various student bodies’ Left orientation and secular character. The present challenge is a test for the country’s political democratic system as well as the opposition to strike a balance. Shutting down JNU might well be pipe dream.

T R Ramachandran is a senior journalist and a commentator. Views are personal.”

“

zikaGlobally, 1 in 33 newborns have birth defects and an estimated 2,76,000 babies die within the first month as a result of these defects. Yet, birth defects remain under-recognized. World Birth Defects Day observed on 3 March every year comes at a time when the global spotlight is on Zika virus disease and its strongly suspected causal relation with clusters of microcephaly and other neurological abnormalities. Microcephaly is one of many birth defects.

Birth defects are a major cause of still-births and neonatal mortality. Those who survive birth defects often suffer long-term disability. These deaths and life-long sufferings cause untold miseries to individuals and families, and have negative socio-economic consequences.

The most common birth defects in WHO South-East Asia Region are heart defects, neural tube defects and Down’s syndrome, with the most severe defects occurring in middle and low resource settings. According to the WHO, birth defects can be genetic, infectious, nutritional or environmental in origin. Creating awareness among the public on the causes of birth defects and empowering them to take preventive measures is an important step to reducing their prevalence. Many birth defects can be prevented by taking appropriate measures before and during pregnancy. Timely and cost effective measures can help prevent deaths and cure or minimize the effects of birth defects. Rubella vaccination, adequate intake of folic acid, iodine through fortification of staple foods and salt or supplements, and adequate antenatal care are keys steps for prevention of birth defects.

Simultaneously, making quality health care services available to provide early care for children born with birth defects can go a long way in reducing their burden, says Poonam Khetrapal Singh, WHO Regional Director, South East Asia. In 2010, the World Health Assembly adopted a resolution on birth defects calling all countries to promote primary prevention and improve the health of children with congenital anomalies.

Focusing efforts in this area in the South-East Asia Region, WHO has established a web-based new-born and birth defect (NBBD) surveillance network in 150 hospitals in 8 countries with the support of the CDC-USA. In view of WHO declaring clusters of microcephaly in Latin America as Public Health Emergency of International Concern on 1 February, an online system has been added to the NBBD network to report on head circumference in all births. This is to monitor the occurrence of microcephaly in the South-East Asia Region. The World Birth Defects Day, initiated by global health organizations last year, is aimed at creating awareness on birth defects which continues to be an important cause of childhood death, chronic illness and disability in many countries. The day is a reminder to all of us to further commit our efforts towards ensuring a healthy and birth-defects free life for every new-born.”