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Article134.png”” alt=””Article134″” />The Department of Telecommunications has notified the “”Panic Button and Global Positioning System in Mobile Phone Handsets Rules 2016″”. The Ministry of Women and Child Development had taken up the issue of installation of a physical panic button on mobile phones as one of the initiatives in June 2014. This has been done to provide safety to women in distress situation, and enable them to send out distress signal to a family member or the police authorities so that they can be rescued. The Ministry had discussed this issue with a number of stakeholders as well as Department of Telecommunications and had insisted that a physical panic button is much superior to having an App on the mobile phone. It was argued that a woman in distress does not have more than a second or two to send out a distress message as a perpetrator will often reach out to her mobile phone in the event of a physical/sexual assault. After an elaborate process of discussion and deliberation, the Department of Telecommunications as well stakeholders finally agreed to have this facility installed in the mobile phones.

Accordingly, the Department of Telecommunications has notified the rules on panic button vide notification dated 22nd April, 2016 issued under section 10 of the Indian Wireless Telegraph Act 1933. Under these rules, from January 1, 2017, all feature phones will have the facility of panic button configured to the numeric key 5 or 9 and all smart phones will have the panic button configured to three times short pressing of the on-off button. Also, from January 1,.2018, all mobile phones will be required to have the facility of identifying the location through satellite based GPS.

The Ministry of Women and Child Development will now be working with the Department of Telecommunications and the stakeholders to ensure that similar solutions be made available for existing mobile phone handsets in the form of software patches by which same buttons could be configured to send out emergency calls for concerned telephone numbers. According to the Ministry, these software patches will be made available for direct download in the smart phones and installation at the mobile phone shops by the concerned manufactures/service providers.”

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Article132.png”” alt=””Article132″” />A rolling short sample survey on mother and child health in 25 districts of Uttar Pradesh where health indicators are poor has suggested that it is important to strengthen the specific health promotion interactions between frontline health workers, women and their families on issues related to family planning, breastfeeding, complementary feedings, and immunization. “”Overall, from an equity perspective, it may also be important to target specific population groups abd blocks that may be experiencing the greatest need and may be the most vulnerable to poor outcomes due to social and supply factors,”” says the Community Behaviour Tracking Survey (first round) conducted by the Uttar Pradesh Technical Support Unit.

According to the survey, only 4% of the women who delivered in the past 2 months had received all three components of recommended antenatal care (ANC) or more ANC check-ups, 2 TT injections, and 100 iron folic tablets. While most (71%) pregnant women received 2 TT injections, only 13% received 3 of more ANC check-ups. The ANC check-ups often did not include critical elements for detecting high risk pregnancies like 37% of the recently delivered had an ANC done in their 3rd trimester of pregnancy, but only 24% had their blood pressured assessed and 26% had their haemoglobin level checked.

Women contacted by an Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) during pregnancy were more likely to plan facility deliveries, and a greater proportion of women who planned to deliver in a facility had an institutional delivery. Yet, only 57% of the mothers who had delivered in the past 2 months reported that an ASHA visited them at home during pregnancy. “”It may be important for the TSU Community Resource Persons (CRPs) to focus greater attention on strengthening the quantity and quality of ASHA visits in order to influence institutional delivery rates in the focus blocks. 63% of the women who delivered had an institutional delivery (52% in government facilities and 11% in private facilities) while 37% still reported home deliveries.

The CBTS included five demographic groups which are relevant for RMNCH+A (reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent health) programming: women who had delivered in the past 2 months of the survey (done in February 2015), mothers with children aged 3-5 months, mothers with children aged 6-11 months, mothers with children aged 12-23 months, and adolescents aged 13-19 years.

Since its establishment in November 2013, UPTSU has been providing an integrated techno-managerial support to improve the planning, implementation and monitoring of health programmes in 25 high priority districts (HPDs) in the State. The TSU is providing implementation support at the community and facility levels through its Community Resource Persons and Block Community Supervisors and Nurse Mentors, respectively. The State monitoring systems are being strengthened with the TSU’s support in improving the quality and use of HMIS/MCTS data. This data from the TSU’s CBTS will further help in validating the service coverage data from HMIS and making mid-course corrections in the programme implementation at the district and block levels. The data is available for the first time from Block levels for the 100 of the 294 blocks in 25 HPDs.

Postnatal and newborn care is poor regardless of settings. Only 37% reported that an ASHA visited them at home within 24 hours of delivery or discharge from facility. The neonatal mortaliy rate estimated in the 100 TSU focus blocks was 29.9 per 1,000 live births. Improvements in postnatal care provide an incredible opportunity to decrease childhood mortality as more than 50% of child deaths occur in the first month of life, the survey says.

Of mothers delivered in the past 2 months, only 22% initiated breastfeeding within one hour of birth. When women with children aged 3-5 months were asked if the child was given anything other than breastmilk in he past 24 hours, 53% responded in the negative. Only 16% of the children aged 6-11 months were both breastfed and given complementary feedings.

Overall, 54% of the children aged 12-23 months were fully immunized (BCG, 3 doses of DPT and measles vaccine) and 12% have not received any primary vaccines. Only 4 TSU focus blocks had achieved a full immunization rate of more than 80% and for the remaining 20 blocks, the full immunization rate was less than 40%.

During the last episode of diarrhoea for children, one third had received rehydration oral solution (ORS), 19% had received zinc, and only 10% received both zinc and ORS. Overall, 73% children (up to 2 years) were treated with an antibiotic when they had symptoms of pneumonia.

On the family planning front the Survey says the prevalence of modern contraceptive use among women interviewed was 14% (0.3% IUCD, 1% female sterilization and 12% other methods). Unmet need for spacing (wanting another child after 3 years) was 19% and unmet need for limiting (not wanting more children) was 28%. In 25 TSU focus blocks, the proportion with unmet need for family planning (spacing and limiting) was over 60%. Counselling for family planning was poor with only 15% of women delivered in the last 2 months and 20% of women with children aged 3-5 months reporting having received any counseling or advice on family planning during their pregnancy.

Currently, 55% of adolescent girls (13-19 years) attend school, college or university and the coverage of Centre’s Weekly Iron Folic Supplementation (WIFS) programme is very low, with less than 3% girls having received weekly IFA tablets in the month prior to the survey. Only 3% of adolescent girls reported that hey had bought sanitary napkins from ASHA/AWW/ANM in the 6 months.”

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Article133.png”” alt=””Article133″” />India on Tuesday clearly told Pakistan not to be in denial mode on the impact of terrorism on the bilateral relationship, conveying that terrorist groups based in Pakistan and targeting India must not be allowed to operate with impunity. Indian Foreign Secretary Dr. S. Jaishankar met his Pakistani counterpart Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhry and emphasized the need for early and visible progress on the Pathankot terrorist attack investigation as well as the Mumbai case trial in Pakistan. He also brought up the listing of Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar in the UN 1267 Sanctions Committee. India also pressed for immediate consular access to Kulbhushan Jadhav, the former Naval officer abducted and taken to Pakistan. Islamabad has alleged that the Indian national was a spy and charged him with encouraging insurgency in Balochistan, a charge vehemently denied by New Delhi.

The two Foreign Secretaries met on the sidelines of Afghanistan-centric “”Heart of Asia”” senior officials meeting here. “”Their discussions were frank and constructive. Both sides raised issues of concern to them,”” the External Affairs Ministry said in a statement. It said that the two Foreign Secretaries exchanged ideas on taking the relationship forward and agreed to remain in touch.

It is for the first time since January 2 Pathankot terror attack that the two Foreign Secretaries have met. Their formally scheduled talks had been put off after the Pathankot attack but they had remained in touch and had agreed to meet at a mutually convenient date. In its statement, Pakistan expressed serious concern over Indian agency RA&W’s alleged involvement in subversive activities in Balochistan and Karachi, something which India has been denying time and again.

On its part, the Pakistani statement said its Foreign Secretary raised the issue of Kashmir stressing that it remained the “”core issue that requires a just solution in accordance with UNSC resolutions and wishes of Kashmiri people.”” Strangely, in a departure from normal protocol, the Pakistani side released the talking points even as the two top officials were still in the midst of their discussion.”

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Article137.png”” alt=””Article137″” />With the Supreme Court on Thursday passing order to hold National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) 2016-17, it is now clear that the All India Pre-Medical Test scheduled for May 1 will now be considered the first round of NEET and the students who were to write this exam would now be writing NEET while for all others who were to write eligibility test for medical undergraduate and dental courses in other institutions can do so on July 24 when the second round of NEET will be conducted. The results for both the examinations will be declared on August 17. Counseling would be held for 45 days between August 17 and September 30. The entire process would be completed by September 30. An approximate number of 6.5 lakh students would attend the exams across the country. The examination for medical and dental undergraduate courses across the country will be conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Education.

Bench of Justices Anil R. Dave, S.K. Singh and A.K. Goel revived the NEET across all States despite strong protests from States like Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh that it was too late. The court revived the NEET notifications of December 21, 2010, and said the common entrance exam would be held this academic year notwithstanding any orders to the contrary from any other courts. All challenges to this order would come directly before the Supreme Court and be heard in due course, the order said. The court said the 2013 judgment quashing the NEET is not in operation as of date as the Supreme Court had recalled it on April 11. Hence, it said, there was no bar against conducting the NEET this academic year.

On April 11, the Apex Court had recalled its 2013 order scrapping NEET for admission to MBBS, BDS and PG course paving the way for holding of a common entrance test for medical under and post graduation course in the country which had earlier been opposed by the Tamil Nadu government, minority institutions and private medical college. The United Progress Alliance (UPA) government in 2011 had stalled the move by the Medical Council of India to hold a common entrance for medical courses following a strong protest by the Tamil Nadu government, which was part of the UPA. The Tamil Nadu government has done away with all entrance examinations for professional courses since 2007 to bring about rural-urban parity.

When the matter went to Supreme Court, it also rejected the proposal in 2013 but the matter became controversial as it was a majority verdict which was delivered on the day the then Chief Justice Altamas Kabir was to retire and the order was put up on the Supreme Court website even before it was pronounced. Justive A.R.Dave had dissented with the judgement. On April 11, the Supreme Court while recalling its controversial judgement scrapping single common entrance test for admission to MBBS, BDS and PG courses in all medical colleges had said “”it was delivered by a majority verdict without any discussion among members to the bench headed by the then Chief Justice of India Altamas Kabir on the day of his retirement.

A five-member Constitution Bench headed by Justice A.R.Dave was unanimous that the July 18, 2013, 2:1 verdict of the three-judge bench, “”needs reconsideration”” as “”the majority view has not taken into consideration some binding precedents.”” A common entrance test is aimed to standardize medical education in the country. At present, each state has a different standard of education. “”The decision will help safeguard the sanctity of the medical profession and make it more accountable, transparent and effective. Indian Medical Association has also been advocating the implementation of NEET on the grounds that it will bring transparency to the system of medical examinations,”” the IMA had said in a statement soon after the order.”

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Reports started appearing in February 2012 that an investigation by the Italian Attorney-General’s office into alleged unethical dealings by Finmeccanica, state-supported defence conglomerate, had taken into its ambit corruption in Rs. 3,500 crore deal signed with India by the firm’s subsidiary AgustaWestland for the supply of 12 AW-101 helicopters to ferry the VVIPs. A year later Italian police arrested the Chief Executive and Chairman of Finmeccanica SpA, Giuseppe Orsi. He was charged with paying bribes of Rs. 360 crore to middlemen to swing the VVIP chopper deal for AgustaWestland’s from India when he was heading the subsidiary.

In February 2010 AgustaWestland signed Rs. 3,546 crore contract for supplying 12 helicopters, edging out American helicopter manufacturer Sikorsky’s S-92 Superhawk. Italian probe alleged that Orsi and others paid money through intermediaries. Prosecutors alleged that the former Indian Air Force chief Air Chief Marshal S P Tyagi was paid through his cousins to tweak the terms in the tender to favour AgustaWestland so that it could bag the Indian contract. Main Characters – Guido Haschke and Carlo Gerosa – directors of the Chandigarh-based IT outsourcing firm Aeromatrix. Haschke was also till 2009 on the board of MGF Emmar, according to SEBI. He had secured citizenship of Switzerland as well as of the U.S. and reportedly knew the tricks of the trade in the defence sector.

Christian Michel: British consultant, confidante of Orsi, who had companies in Dubai and London. He had been active in Indian defence sector and got the big share of 51 million Euros as commission for influencing the contract in favour of AgustaWestland. Giuseppe Orsi: Former CEO and Finmeccanica. Arrested in 2013. In October 2014, a lower court acquitted him and former CEO Bruno Spagnolini of corruption but convicted them of falsifying invoices, sentenced them to two years prison term. On April 7, 2016, Italian Court of Appeals (equivalent to India’s high court) overturned the verdict and sentenced Orsi to four and a half years prison term for corruption.

Sanjeev Kumar Tyagi (Juli): A cousin of former IAF chief Air Chief Marshal S P Tyagi, old friend of Gerosa. His name appeared in conversations between Haschke and Gerosa which were taped by the investigators in Italy in 2012. The Enforcement Directorate had questioned him in October 2014. He is said to have introduced ACM Tyagi to Haschke at a farm house party in Delhi. IAF chief (Retd.) Air Chief Marshal S P Tyagi: Was IAF chief between 2005-07. He has denied all corruption charges but admitted to having met Haschke.

Italian Court of Appeals’ judgement refers to the Tyagi brothers – Juli, Docsa and Sandeep Tyagi. The judgement, running into 226 pages, makes mention of Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, Ahmad Patel and Pranab Mukherjee who had earlier headed Defence Ministry at only a few places. India had paid Rs. 1,620 crore to AgustaWestland and encashed the Rs. 250 crore guarantee in January 2014. After winning a legal case in Italy in June 2014, India also encashed Rs. 1818 crore guarantee held in Italian banks, thus the total amount recovered was Rs. 2,068 crore. Three AW 101 choppers were delivered before the deal was cancelled. IAF is now using six Mi-17V5 helicopters for ferrying VVIPs like the President, Vice-President and the Prime Minister. Alleged payoffs and Italian court’s latest order provided ammunition to the BJP to train guns on the Congress and target Sonia Gandhi in and out of Parliament which is in the second part of the Budget session till May 13. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said in Rajya Sabha that the “”bribe giver has been convicted and now the bribe-taker has to be identified.””

Sonia Gandhi has demanded an impartial probe, dismissing all allegations as “”false.”” She said: “”The government is there for two years, an inquiry is there. Why don’t they complete it as early as possible and impartially. Former PM Manmohan Singh said: “”There is no case, my party will respond.””

Parliament session is likely to witness both the BJP and the Congress trading more fire over Choppergate and the heli-storm is unlikely to blow over soon.”

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Article136.png”” alt=””Article136″” />Mowgli, the wolf-child raised by a pack of wolves in the blockbuster The Jungle Book, based on Rudyard Kipling’s timeless stories on the book, has raised a significant question: whether the feral children really existed in India. A feral child is a human child who has lived in the company away from human contact from a very young age and has little or no experience of human care, loving or social behaviour and crucially of human language and grows up with wild animals and such children continued to shock the world with their sudden appearance in forests. Mowgli has always evoked a sense of wonder and curiosity among readers and more recently when the John Favreau-directed film The Jungle Book hit the theatres across India.

Was Mowgli real? Did a boy like him really exist in some remote forest in India living with wolves. Was Kipling’s story some real-life incident?

Probably the best known and widely published story of feral children in India, was that of two girls Amala and Kamala, claimed to have been recovered from a wolf-den in 1920 in the then undivided Bengal’s Midnapore district. The story goes, a local priest, Joseph Amrito Lal Singh saw a mother wolf and cubs, two of whom had long, matted hair and looked human. After considerable preparations and difficulties the two human ‘creatures’ were captured. They turned out to be girls. The ‘creatures’ were taken to an orphange in Midnapore, where the Reverend and his wife were stationed. Singh described them as “”wolfish”” in appearance and behaviour.

He said the girls walked on all four and had calluses on their knees and palms in doing so. In September 1921, both girls became ill and Amala, the younger died. The story attracted attention and debate. After the news broke out, anthropologists and doctors cast doubts on its veracity as the account was reported and promoted by one source, Singh himself, who claimed to have discovered the girls. Finally, a French surgeon Segre Aroles, concluded in his book L’ Engime Des Enfants Loups (Enigma of wolf children) that the story was a hoax.

Then the best account of wolves nurturing children in their dens, is contained in a obscure pamphlet printed at Plymouth in 1852 with a title “” An Account of Wolves Nurturing Children In Their Dens.”” The author of this pamphlet was Major General Sir W H Sleeman. This pamphlet had detailed six cases of wolf-children excerpts of which were produced in Sleeman’s journey through the kingdom of Oude in 1849-1850. What Sleeman wrote was “” wolves are numerous in the neighbourhood of Sultanpoor and indeed all along the banks of the Goomtee river, among the ravines that intersect them, and a great many children are carried off by them from towns, villages and camps.””

Sleeman’s writings on the whole gives an idea how numerous wolves were in the then Oudh (Awadh). So severe were the depredations they carried out that Sleeman says that a particular kind of nomads used to make a living by selling of gold and sliver braclets, necklaces and other ornaments which were worn by the children, whom the wolves carry to their dens and devour and left at the entrance of these dens. Sleeman says in February 1850, a wolf-boy was found in Chandour, ten miles from Sultanpoor and caught. “”There is now (February 1850) at Sultanpoor, a boy, who was found alive in wolf’s den about two years and a half ago. A trooper was sent by the native Governor of the district to Chandour, to demand payment of some revenue, was passing along the bank of the river near Chandour about noon, when he saw a large female wolf leave her den, followed by three whelps and a little boy. The boy was on all fours and seemed to be on the best possible terms with the old dam and the three whelps and the mother seemed to guard all four with equal care; they all went down the river and drank water, without perceiving the trooper, who sat upon the banks watching them.

As soon as they were about to turn back, the trooper pushed on to cut off and secure the boy, but he ran as fast as the whelps could, and kept up with old one. The ground was uneven, and the trooper’s horse could not overtake them. They all entered the den and the trooper assembled some people from Chandour with pickaxes and dug into the den. When they dug out six or eight feet, the old wolf bolted with her three whelps and the boy. The trooper mounted and followed by the fleetest young men of the party, who secured the boy and let the old dam and her three cubs go on their way.”” Sleeman recounts the men took the boy to the village and had to tie him for he was very restive and struggled hard to rush into every hole or den they came near. The boy growled and snarled. He rejected when any cooked meat was put near him, but when any raw meat was offered, the boy seized it with avidity, put it on the ground under his hands, like a dog and ate it with evident pleasure. The boy was handed over to the Raja of Hasunpoor, who then handed him over to one Captain Nicholett, the officer in charge of the First Regiment of Oude Local Infantary of Sultanpoor. The boy lived under the care of the Captain’s servants for almost two years and suddenly died in August 1850.

At Chupra, twenty miles east from Sultanpur, a wolf boy was caught in 1849 when his wolf family came out of the jungle and go down the stream to drink water. He was later identified based on his birthmark and a hot-water scald mark, as a cultivator’s son had been lifted by a she-wolf from the village almost six years ago. In 1843, a shepherd of the village Ghutkoree, 12 miles from the cantonments of Sultanpur, saw a boy walking on all the fours by the side of a wolf, as he was out of the flock. The boy was caught with great difficulty and escaped into the jungles when the shepherd was asleep. In 1867, hunters near Bulandshahar rescued a young boy from a wolf-den and took him to Agra Medical Missionary Training Institute. He was christened Dina Sanichar, the boy who was born on Saturday as he was brought to the Missionary on a Saturday.

According to Valentine Ball, a pioneer geologist working with the Geological Survey of India, an accomplished ornithologist, wrote the most detailed portrait on Sanichar in his book Jungle Life in India (1880) and said Sanichar was the only known wolf-boy who survived into adulthood and died due to tuberculosis in 1895. Despite more than 20 years at the orphanage, nobody could get him to speak, but they did manage to train him to wear clothes and eat cooked food. Two cases were reported elsewhere, one from Shahjahpur (1858) attested by two different military officers and another at 1860-1861.

The most talked about was the case in 1972, when Shamdeo, a four year old boy, was discovered in the forests. He had dark nails, sharp teeth and fingernails that looked like hoods. The boy had severely matted hair and tough calluses on his elbows, knees. The boy enjoyed hunting chickens and bonded with dogs fast. He never learned to speak and did some sign languages and was admitted to Mother Teresa’s Home for the Destitute and Dying and died in 1985. The boy was found in the forest Musafirkhana, 20 miles from Sultanpur. One may wonder, why almost always boys, aged between eight and 12 years of age and not a single case of wolf-man, that was reported.

Saleeman offers an explanation. He says that after some time, the boys either die from living exclusively on animal food, before they attain the age of manhood or are destroyed by the wolves themselves, or other beasts of prey in the jungles, from whom they are unable to escape. Over the centuries, many stories of feral children have been told, fortunately virtually all of them have later been revealed as hoax. Feral children–if they ever existed– are relics of the past. Yet, the stories remain with us. Part of the reason, feral children have long captured the public’s imagination is that they symbolise humanity’s ambiguous relationships with other animals.”

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Article139.png”” alt=””Article139″” />In the changing geopolitcal environment coupled with China’s expansionist designs both on land and at sea, the Narendra Modi government is resetting ties with the United States of America which visiting Defence Secretary Ashton Carter called a “”strategic handshake.”” After dithering for nearly 15 years, India quietly buried the outdated policy of non-alignment by allowing access of its defence facilities to the American military on a reciprocal basis. New Delhi cannot afford to lose out on the technological revolution critical for its security and national interest. There is a Bill in the US Congress seeking to bring India on par with NATO in the transfer of sensitive defence technology.

Defence experts emphasise there is a message for India’s extended neighbourhood especially China. “”India needs more support as it cannot stand against China on its own either militarily or economically. Some kind of message had to be sent. It does not mean we are allying with the US,”” they observed.
Significantly, Carter’s sojourn to this country comes at a time when the US Congress is considering the US-India Defence Technology and Partnership Act which encourages the US President “”to coordinate with India annually to develop military contingency plans for addressing threats to mutual security interests to both the countries.

Concluding his four-day visit to this country from April 10-13, Carter and his host Defence minister Manohar Parrikar strongly signalled their cooperative intent when the Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Understanding (LEMOA) would be signed in the next few weeks or months. The US has similar arrangements with more than 80 countries.

Carter spoke about his desire to advance consultations for cooperating in developing aircraft carriers as well as jet fighter technology. Two pathfinder projects were announced to co-develop a Digital Helmet Mounted Display; and a Joint Biological Tactical Detection System. It is unlikely that production of these will begin any time soon. Defence acquisition from the US has grown at an aggregate exceeding ten billion Dollars. With Presidential elections scheduled in the US in November doubts have arisen about the bilateral defence cooperation with India. That is why the Department of Defence in Washington is trying to establish the first ever country specific unit, the India Rapid Reaction Cell in hastening progress in spheres like co-production of aircraft carriers and jet fighter engines.

The attempts of the Barrack Obama administration to strengthen India’s defence is aimed at cutting down China to size. Impartial observers stress India’s reconsideration of foundational agreements with the US is pragmatic. New Delhi has the right to withhold its consent to LEMOA. At the same time India remains wary and unhappy about the US handshake with Pakistan. There is no doubt once LEMOA is concluded it will give American aircraft and warships access to Indian military bases for logistical purposes including refuelling and repair.

Reciprocal Basis

Indian military will also enjoy similar access to the US bases. This will qualitatively transform India’s relations with the only global super power. The Logistics agreement had been first proposed in 2004 but the Congress led UPA government developed cold feet. Then Defence minister A K Antony believed it was too intrusive and could also be perceived as India side stepping the Non-Aligned Policy.

The joint statement refers to freedom of navigation in the South China Sea. However, Parrikar has been guarded in avoiding any reference to joint patrolling. Even the agreement on sharing data on commercial shipping which was expected to be concluded will be subjected to another round of talks. It is important for India to take a considered view of the repercussions that such a strategic alliance might have for India’s relations with other countries. Meanwhile, Parrikar and Carter will initiate a bilateral maritime security dialogue that includes diplomats and the defence establishments. Indo-US strategic cooperation in Defence has already unnerved certain nations in South Asia’s neighbourhood.

Countering China

Moscow has threatened to stop cooperation in nuclear submarines. China is not pleased with the Indo-US joint statement and has reneged on its promise of massive investment in this country. America watchers are saying that US wants to get India on board in its attempts to “”rebalance”” the situation in Asia. Simply put Washington is determined to counter China’s rise.

In that context a pivotal role is envisaged for India along with Japan and Australia. It has become imperative for Modi to build national consensus on critical foreign policy issues by enlarging defence cooperation in the face of the Hindutva agenda pursued by BJP’s ideologue, the RSS and the fringe elements in the Sangh Parivar.
The Modi government appears to be shedding the country’s strategic diffidence as evidenced in the past. At the same time New Delhi needs to move faster to be able to avail of the opportunities at this juncture.

Senior Congress leader and former Defence Minister A K Antony said the logistic agreement with the US would pave the way for India becoming part of the American military bloc. The Congress led UPA while in power at the centre was under pressure to sign such a pact. “”We resisted it because it was against national interests.”” The Communist party of India (Marxists) expressed similar reservations.

China’s relative geopolitical strength at any time is that it thinks of itself as a great power. This is based on its historical role as a central political player in Asia. The US is attempting a tri-continental strategy to check Beijing’s rise. Clearly Obama wants to be one of those grandmasters seeking to go beyond foreign policy by getting involved in the ruthless global game of geopolitics.”

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Article138.png”” alt=””Article138″” />Researchers have found moderate-quality evidence that yoga probably leads to small improvements in quality of life and symptoms in people with asthma, but there is more uncertainty about potential adverse effects of yoga and its impact on lung function and medication usage. According to a new Cochrane Review, the results of randomised control trials (RCTs) has found evidence that practicing yoga might be able to improve asthma quality of life and symptoms to some extent. However, researchers also warned that higher-quality studies with more participants would be needed to draw any firm conclusions about the effects of yoga.

“”RCTs with a large sample size and high methodological and reporting quality are needed to confirm the effects of yoga for asthma,”” researchers have said. They found15 randomised controlled trials which involved 1,048 men and women. Most of the trials were conducted in India, followed by Europe and the United States. The majority of participants had mild to moderate asthma for six months to more than 23 years. Six studies looked into the effects of breathing alone during yoga exercise, whilst the other studies assessed the effects of yoga that included breathing, posture and meditation.

Most people continued to take their usual asthma medication while participating in the studies. The studies were conducted over a time period of two weeks to over four years. Asthma is a common chronic disease that affects about 300 million people worldwide. A non-communicable disease (NCD) that causes periodic episodes of breathlessness and coughing, the WHO estimates 235 million people suffer from the disease, while the Global Burden of Diseases Study says the true number may be as high as 334 million.

The episodic onset of symptoms is called asthma attack. During an asthma attack, the bronchial tubes in the lungs become inflamed and narrow, making it difficult to breathe. Attacks can recur for asthmatics multiple times a day or week, with differing intensity, depending on the individual. Asthma is not curable, but through proper medication and appropriate management the disease’s burden can be reduced. In addition to access to medication that relieves both short-term and long-term symptoms, this means providing care to individuals with asthma in which patients are explicitly warned about avoiding inhaled substances and particles and other potential triggers of attacks. These triggers include irritants such as air pollution, tobacco smoke, indoor and outdoor allergens, and harmful chemicals in the workplace, as well as cold air, physical exercise, and emotional arousal.

Since 2015, United Nations has declared June 21 as International Yoga Day and first Tuesday of May is observed as Asthma Day. This year the day falls on May 3. Yoga, the popularity of which has expanded globally, has the potential to relieve some asthma-related problems. However, the effects of yoga for asthma need to be confirmed due to the inconsistent findings of existing studies.

Yoga originated from ancient India and remains an important aspect of India’s diverse culture. Yoga includes such common components as breathing exercises (pranayama), postures (asanas), and meditation (dhyana). It is difficult to know exactly how many types of yoga are being practiced around the world, as different combinations of and variations in components could represent a ‘new’ type of yoga. To our knowledge, types of yoga include, but are not limited to, the following: aerial yoga, Ananda yoga, Anusara yoga, Ashtanga (or Astanga) yoga, Bhakti yoga, Bikram yoga (hot yoga), Chair yoga, Forrest yoga, Hatha yoga, ISHTA (Integral Science of Hatha and Tantric Arts), Iyengar yoga, Jivamukti yoga, Jnana yoga, Kali Ray TriYoga, Karma yoga, Kripalu, Kriya yoga, Kundalini yoga, Mantra yoga, Moksha, Power yoga, prenatal yoga, Purna yoga (integral yoga), Raja yoga, Restorative yoga, Sahaja yoga, Satyananda yoga, Sivananda yoga, stand-up paddle yoga, Svaroopa yoga, Swara yoga, Tibetan yoga, Viniyoga yoga, Vinyasa yoga, and White Lotus yoga.

As a holistic therapy, yoga contains no asthma-specific posture or breathing exercises. The exact mechanism by which yoga may affect asthma symptoms is not fully understood. However, several explanations have been proposed. The first explanation is related to the breathing pattern in yoga practice. One trigger of asthma attacks is frictional stress in airways, which could damage the airway wall, affect the dynamics of airway smooth muscle, and result in mast cell degranulation. Some studies have shown that the tidal volume and breathing rate decrease during yoga practice, which may interfere with the process that triggers asthma attacks.

Empirically, randomised controlled trials (RCTs) conducted in people with asthma have demonstrated that specific breathing exercises or techniques could help reduce acute exacerbations and rescue bronchodilator use as compared with no intervention, and could significantly improve quality of life as compared with asthma education. However, in a Cochrane review comparing breathing exercises with usual care or asthma education control, data were insufficient to be able to draw conclusions to this effect. Consequently, yoga practice involving breathing techniques may have some impact on asthma symptoms. Breathing exercises in yoga practice could help release suppressed emotion, reduce anxiety and self consciousness, and relax muscle tension. Secondly, certain yoga postures may help expand the chest and increase breath-holding time as well as vital capacity. This could logically have some effect on the lung function of people with asthma. Thirdly, by practicing yoga people with asthma may achieve a sense of relaxation and a positive mood, thus reducing the autonomic arousal factors. Meditation, a common component of yoga, may even help practitioners reach a state of complete mental silence (‘Sahaja’ in Sanskrit), which yoga advocates consider to be an innately therapeutic process beneficial to people with chronic diseases, including asthma. Meditation may also help the control and feedback of respiratory muscles which would be adversely affected by asthma attacks, researchers have said citing several earlier studies done on yoga.

Lead author, Dr Zuyao Yang from the Jockey Club School of Public Health and Primary Care, at the Chinese University of Hong Kong commented, “”Our findingssuggest that yoga exercise may lead to small improvements in asthma quality of life and symptoms. However, it is unclear whether yoga has a consistent impact on lung function and we don’t yet know if yoga can reduce people’s medication usage, or if there are any side-effects of yoga for people with asthma.””

Deputy Co-ordinating Editor of the Cochrane Airways Group, Rebecca Normansell, added, “”At present, we just don’t have enough high quality evidence to determine the effects of yoga as a type of exercise for helping people manage their asthma. Because there is uncertainty about the effects of yoga on lung function and use of asthma medication, it’s important that people with asthma continue to take their medication, as prescribed. The findings of this Cochrane Review will help people make more informed choices about their future treatment options.”””

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Article142.png”” alt=””Article142″” />The U.N Economic and Social Survey of Asia and the Pacific for 2016 has described India as the fastest-growing large economy in the world. In its report, released in Bangkok on Thursday, it noted that economic growth in India edged up to 7.6% in 2015 compared with 7.3% in 2014. The UNESCAP survey said that private consumption growth continued to be the main growth driver, as reflected in robust services activities relating to trade, finance, transport and communications, and real estate. However, strong household consumption was not broad-based; rural demand was weaker due to muted agricultural activity and slower rural wage growth resulting from sub par monsoon seasons in recent years.

On the external front, the UNESCAP survey said that merchandise exports of India declined on weak orders in advanced economies and lower prices of refined petroleum products, which accounted for more than 13% of India’s total exports. However, as imports also shrank and services exports remained in surplus, the current account deficit narrowed to about 1% of GDP in 2015. Referring to inflation, it said that despite a spatially uneven monsoon and some seasonal spikes in food prices, consumer inflation moderated to 5% in 2015 from 6.7% in 2014. Lower inflation was driven by low global commodity prices, a downward adjustment in administered fuel prices and government measures, such as price checks, anti-hoarding and suspension of futures trading of select pulses. Moderate inflation enabled the Reserve Bank of India to cut policy rates by a total of 125 basis points in 2015.

The Survey termed the near-term growth outlook as positive, and projected the growth rate at 7.6% in 2016 and 7.8% in 2017. It noted that urban household spending is expected to drive economic growth amid steady employment growth and relatively low inflation. Fixed investment conditions would benefit from lower borrowing costs and a more enabling business environment, as reflected in India’s better ranking in the World Bank’s ease of doing business index. Nonetheless, high levels of stressed bank assets and fragile business confidence could constrain investment growth.

The Survey said that the overall strength of domestic demand will depend on progress made in implementing structural reforms and how rapidly large scale stalled infrastructure projects are unlocked. It observed that some progress has been made in reforming fiscal policy, such as the rationalization of fuel price subsidies, but the implementation of the goods and services tax (GST) remains an important reform that is being held up due to political deadlock.

On the Government’s recent initiatives to promote inclusive and sustainable development, the Survey said that these measures include programmes to support small and medium-sized enterprises through enhanced credit under the Micro Units Development and Refinance Agency bank loan scheme; foster financial inclusion through the Jan Dhan programme under which 250 million people have gained access to modern banking services; create a skilled workforce under the Skill India initiative; make India a manufacturing base; and promote entrepreneurship under the Start up India, Stand up India initiative.

The Government is also placing emphasis on developing sustainable cities under the 100 Smart Cities mission, and harnessing solar and wind energy, with the target being to attain 175 gigawatts of renewable generation capacity by 2022, it said.”