Daily News Notes: 24th April, 2012

· Today Akshay Tratiya, also known as Abujh Sawa in Rajasthan, is being celebrated with traditional joy. Both in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, the government asked district administrations to prevent child marriages on the occasion of Akshaya Tritiya. In Rajasthan thousands of marriages are being organized at various places which are very effective to check child marriages. Due to continuous awareness programmes number of child marriages has reduced in the state but in 12 districts including rural areas of Jaipur such marriages are still reported. This year the government has made compulsory to mention age of bride and groom on marriage invitation cards it was also an effective check. Controll rooms have also been established in all districts to stop child marriages.
· India has developed a powerful new malaria drug — an alternative to the global drug of choice Artemisinin — that promises to be a major boost to India’s pharmaceutical research. What is most exciting about this new drug is that its raw material is synthetic (derived chemically in the lab) as against Artemisinin, which is derived from a plant. Union health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad and Ranbaxy will unveil India’s first new chemical entity (NCE) against the P falciparum malaria on Wednesday to commemorate the World Malaria Day. Dr Neena Valecha from the National Institute of Malaria Research (NIMR) said this new once-a-day therapy for three days contains Arterolane and Piperaquine. Artemisinin is the only high-volume drug that continues to be produced from a plant-based source. China and Vietnam provide 70% and East Africa 20% of the raw material. Seedlings are grown in nurseries and then transplanted into fields. It takes about eight months for them to attain full size. The plants are harvested, leaves dried and sent to facilities where artemisinin is extracted. Arterolane in combination with long acting piperaquine has been studied in phase II and III clinical trials in India, Bangladesh and Thailand. Most malaria parasites have become resistant to anti-malarial drugs. India records 1.5 million cases of malaria every year, 50% of which are caused by the falciparum malaria. Officially, an estimated 18,000 die of malaria in the country.
· Urban Development Minister has said that cities of the future have to be inclusive, sustainable and smart. He also stated that much of the global urbanisation is taking place in the developing countries, and within Asia, India is urbanising rapidly and the urban population is expected to increase from 400 million in 2011 to over 600 million by 2030. Thus, to address the challenges of urbanisation in India, the government has in principle agreed to the next phase of the urban renewable programme with an allocation of about USD 38 billion over the next 5 years. The Minister stated that Government of India encourages introduction of all types of proven public transport technologies which have successfully worked across the world, be it rail based MRTS, high capacity bus systems on dedicated lanes, modern ITS buses for city transport or other techno-economically viable modes of transport.
· Union Minister for Health & Family Welfare has informed that the Government is considering to introduce a 3½ year rural health care course tentatively called Bachelor of Rural Health Care (BRHC). The purpose of the proposed course is to generate a cadre of health care providers who by the virtue of the way they are chosen, trained, deployed and supported would be motivated to live in and provide comprehensive primary health care in the rural areas at the Sub-Centre level. Further, he informed that his ministry has decided to implement the Weekly Iron and Folic Acid Supplementation (WIFS) Programme for adolescents. WIFS Programme is based on the empirical evidence that weekly supplementation of 100mg Iron and 500µg Folic acid is effective in decreasing prevalence of anaemia (Haemoglobin value of < 12g% in girls and Haemoglobin value of < 13g% in boys) in adolescent age group. The progamme will be implemented in both rural and urban areas and will cover school going adolescent girls and boys from 6th to 12th class enrolled in government/government aided schools through the platform of Schools and out of school adolescent girls through the platform of Aganwadi centers. For this, a fixed day strategy is planned under which preferably Monday to be declared as “Anaemia Control day” or “WIFS day”. It will also provide biannual de-worming (Albendazole 400mg), six months apart, for control of helminthes infestation. According to National Family Health Survey (NFHS)-III (2005-06) data, over 55 % of adolescent boys and girls in the age group of 15-19 years are anaemic. Adolescent girls in particular are more vulnerable to anaemia due to the rapid growth of the body and loss of blood during menstruation. In India, the highest prevalence of anaemia is reported between the ages 12-13 years, which also coincides with the average age of menarche.
· The World Bank in its Study ‘Synthesis Study of Public Financial Management and Accountability (PFMA) in Urban Local Bodies (ULBs)’ of March 2007 has mentioned that most ULBs and State Legislations in the country need to be more people centric and need to evolve to focus on compliance, and that issues relating staffing pattern and standardisation in most ULBs is required to be addressed adequately. Today, on the above issue, the Minister of State for Urban Development said that the Government of India is already seized of the matter and is addressing these issues through various initiatives and schemes like the JNNURM, Capacity Building Scheme for Urban Local Bodies, Service Level Benchmarks for the Water & Sanitation Section & E-governance, National Urban Sanitation Policy etc. He asdded that the Government had constituted a High Powered Expert committee (HPEC) under the Chairmanship of Dr. Isher Judge Ahluwalia for estimating investment requirements for Urban Infrastructure Services for 20 years period. It has also stressed on capacity building of the urban local bodies. Also, a Committee under the Chairmanship of Shri Arun Maira, Member, Planning Commission has been constituted on September 15, 2011 to recommend the structure of next phase of Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JnNURM). However, final decision on the strategy and initiatives for the next phase of JnNURM has not been taken.
· Minister of State for Finance has informed that the share of services sector in country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has risen from 50.4 per cent in 2000-01 to 59.0 per cent in 2011-12 (advance estimates). He asserted that the industrial growth has been antidote to poverty as the sector has general additional employment of 36.1 million as per Usual Principal and Subsidiary Status (UPSS) basis during 1999-00 and 2009-10. While pursuing a prudent macroeconomic policy for achieving higher economic growth, specific measures taken to boost growth, inter-aila, include enhancing investment in the infrastructure sector through creation of Infrastructure Debt Fund, focusing on public private partnerships, announcement of new manufacturing Policy and a number of legislative measures to develop banking sector in India. The recent reduction in policy rates by 50 basis points by the Reserve Bank of India is expected to further contribute to improved growth prospects.
· Union Minister for Health & Family Welfare has said that in order to strengthen neonatal services in the country, funds are provided to States for establishing and running Special Newborn Care Units (SNCU), Newborn Stabilization Units (NBSU) and Newborn Baby Care Corners (NBCC). Funds have also been allocated to States for implementing Janani Shishu Suraksha Karyakram (JSSK) which provides for free care and transport of sick newborn for first 30 days of birth. As per SRS 2010 report of Registrar General of India, Neo-natal Mortality Rate is 33 per thousand live births in India. The medical causes of neonatal deaths in India are Infections (29%) such as Pneumonia, Septicemia and Umbilical Cord infection; Prematurity (24%) i.e birth of newborn before 37 weeks of gestation and Asphyxia (19%) i.e. inability to breathe immediately after birth that leads to lack of Oxygen. Various contributing factors for neonatal mortality include (a) Home delivery by unskilled persons (b) Lack of essential new born care for asphyxia and hypothermia (c) Poor child care practices (d) Lack of early detection of sick newborn (e) Inadequate/Delayed referral mechanisms (f) Inadequate infrastructure in govt. hospitals for specialized care of sick newborn.
· Minister of State for Food Processing Industries has informed that his ministry is encouraging the State Governments to frame food processing policies aimed at creating rural infrastructure, raising level of food processing, generating farm level employment and over all enabling environment keeping in view the requirements of the states. He said that Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal have formulated separate state food processing policies; and Punjab, Tripura, Chhattisgarh, Haryana and Orissa are having their Food Processing Policy as a part of Industrial Policy. Further, he said that the Government have approved taking up preparatory activities and finalization of State Vision Document on food processing by the states under the National Mission on Food Processing (NMFP) during 12th Five Year Plan.
· In the approach paper to 12th Five Year Plan, Planning Commission has identified it as national priority to fully extend green revolution to all the low productivity areas of eastern region where there is good potential to harness ample natural resources in order to achieve food security and agricultural sustainability. Need has been highlighted for increased investment in infrastructure, particularly in power, logistics and marketing to supplement the efforts under the programme of “Bringing Green Revolution in Eastern India (BGREI)” started since 2010-11 as a part of on-going Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY) that aims to increase the productivity of rice based cropping system through crop husbandry.
· Today, Tunisia’s Minister of state for Foreign Affairs and Indian Minister of state for S&T discussed further steps for strengthening the Indo-Tunisia scientific technological collaboration. A Fresh Program of Cooperation for the period of 2012-14 was signed during the 2nd Indo-Tunisian Joint Committee on S&T. During the meeting, Dr. Ashwini Kumar informed his counterpart that Indian government proposes to enhance its total R&D expenditure as a percentage of GDP to 2% by the end of 2012. He also informed that India had expended S&T cooperation with technologically advanced countries like Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, USA, UK and Korea and also with the EU. Government has taken steps to build national capability and capacities in the area of supercomputing, open drug discovery, national geographical information systems (GIS) etc. As a result of indigenous efforts India has emerged as a country with advanced defence and strategic capabilities. Tusinia and India have a long standing relationship in the field of Science & Technology Bilateral collaboration in the area has been strengthened over time through the projects undertaken by the Indo-Tunisia cooperation conducted mainly under India’s Technology Diplomacy Policy.
· United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon today expressed hope that the UN Security Council's reform process will be accelerated to meet the expectations of countries like India. These countries are keen to play a bigger role as permanent members of the powerful UN body. Mr. Ban Ki Moon told this in an interview on the eve of Ban Ki-moon’s three-day visit to India. He would also receive an honorary doctorate degree from Jamia Millia Islamia University.