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Underage sex? It's not a big problem
- According to new research, 27% of young women, and 22% of men, had sex before the age of 16.
- The underlying cause must be the 'pornification' of the culture and the increasing sexualisation of pre-adolescent girls.
- It is true that underage sexual activity in girls is rising at a higher rate than in boys
- Teenagers come to their own conclusions as to when they're ready
- However, girls don't just have sex because they view themselves as "sex objects": teenage and even pre-teenage girls have sexual desires of their own.
- Sex isn't necessarily something that is done to girls, because they view themselves as sexual objects; it can be initiated and enjoyed by them. Indeed, the reason underage sex among girls is rising could be due to female sexuality becoming less taboo.
- Let's not get too hung up on the exact figures of underage sex. The important thing is that anyone having sex at any age should be making an informed choice, emotionally able to deal with it, protected from pregnancy and STIs, enthusiastically consenting, with no power-imbalances or exploitation, and also having a pleasurable experience.
Eliminate mental deformities
- Emphasising on the need for more research work for the welfare of mentally challenged children, former President Dr APJ Abdul Kalam said that there was a need to find out what goes wrong in the brains of these children.
- Neurosurgeons today face two challenges. One is to find out what went wrong in the brains of mentally challenged children, and other is causes of brain cancer.
- He said that the solution should be found by 2016. He also suggested that neurosurgeons and neurologists must try to eliminate the brain deformities.
- He urged that a single platform be created for neurosurgeons and neurologists at a global level.
- He also maintained that the increasing number of road accidents is a major concern and proposed that the neurosurgeons should come out with definitive guidelines to reduce such accidents and study the cause of such accidents.
UN Calls for Greater Efforts to Address Land Degradation
- Meeting in Algeria on the UN day to mark the Decade for Deserts and the fight against Desertification (UNDDD) and the International Year of Forests.
- In drylands as elsewhere, trees sustain the land. They have come to mean the difference between living in abject poverty and a sustainable livelihood.
- natural desert ecosystems are valuable and must be conserved, but man-made deserts must be avoided. And yet, every minute, 23 hectares of land are degraded through drought and desertification, eating into the economic, social and environmental pillars of our sustainable development.
- With the world population now over 7 billion, a new initiative to identify the economics of land degradation will be a very important step in providing data to world leaders to ensure this becomes a policy priority. How we manage every inch of the fertile soil available will matter much more than ever before.
- As we head towards Rio+ 20, we need a shift in focus with much greater investment in preventing land degradation.
- Land degradation is affecting all countries around the world. It is the poor drylands populations, especially those in Africa, that are the most vulnerable.
- The world's dry zones are essential to global food security and stable food prices. Close to half of the world's cultivated systems and 50 percent of its livestock are in the drylands. Dryland or arid zone forests cover some 18 percent of the world's drylands, which provide ecosystem services such as climate regulation and as the buffer against desertification.
- The forests in the dry areas are also important sources of pharmaceuticals and raw materials
- They provide fodder, fuel, wood for construction, medicines and shade. They protect nutrients, help reduce erosion and flooding and help conserve water. Yet they are under enormous pressure.
- At the Conference of the Parties (COP 10) to the Convention to Combat Desertification in the Republic of Korea in October, Parties expressed their deep concern about the threat to productive land and soils caused by desertification.
- The Parties also sent a strong message to the Rio+20 process on the need to combat land degradation not only in the drylands, but outside the non-dryland ecosystems as well.
India did not commit itself to binding emission reduction targets post-2020
- The decisions taken at the U.N. climate summit in Durban last week do not imply that India had to take binding commitments to reduce its emissions in absolute terms in 2020
- Indian delegation successfully resisted pressure from countries led by the European Union to agree to a legally binding agreement for emission reduction for all nations, which could hamper India's development.
- Our emissions are bound to grow as we have to ensure our social and economic development and fulfil the imperative of poverty eradication.
- Canada, which withdrew from the Kyoto Protocol just one day after the Durban summit, since it failed to meet its commitment to reduce emissions. Japan and Russia have also refused to take on any fresh commitment targets under the Protocol.
- Some Kyoto Protocol parties have recently made unilateral announcements to renounce their legal obligations under the Protocol. This is a clear pointer to the fact that a legal form is useful only as long as the party is willing to abide by it.
Karnataka plans centre for excellence in pharmacology
- The State Government has proposed to set up a centre for excellence in pharmaceutical education, similar to Chandigarh's National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER).
- Indian pharma sector should capitalise on its strength of being capable of supplying high-quality generics in the global market.
- To help Karnataka form a strong pharma ecosystem, the State Government is working on formulating a draft pharma policy.
