Posts published in “National,Health/Medicine”

Thiruvananthapuram, July 5 (IANS) Kerala's Leader of Opposition Ramesh Chennithala on Thursday slammed Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan for taking the same route as Prime Minister Narendra Modi to silence the media who criticise the government.
Chennithala's statement came after it surfaced that the Vijayan government had given the green signal to register a case against senior TV anchor Venu Balakrishnan of Mathrubhumi TV.
Accusing Vijayan of trying to emulate Modi in taking steps to silence the media, the Congress leader hit out at the case being registered against Venu on the grounds of creating communal disharmony while doing his job as a news anchor.
"This is nothing but an act to gag the media and to take on all those who criticise the government. What's most surprising is that police decided to act based on a complaint from a worker of the CPI-M's youth wing. What Vijayan should understand is that this is Kerala and withdraw the case that has been registered," said Chennithala.
The Kollam police has registered a case based on a complaint from Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) youth wing leader based on a prime time discussion that Venu anchored last month on the topic of police action against a Muslim when Venu diverted the issue by bringing in Muslim sentiments as the fasting period of Ramadan was going on.
Meanwhile with the Vijayan government deciding to pursue the case strongly, the state police on Thursday consulted legal luminaries for expert advice and got the green signal to go forward.
Meanwhile, Venu, who is considered a leading media anchor who has always taken strong positions on various issues, notwithstanding who he is taking on, is also seeking expert legal advice.
--IANS<br>sg/vd

New Delhi, July 5 (IANS) Notwithstanding the Supreme Court ruling on the Delhi government's powers vis-a-vis the Lt Governor, a new tussle broke out on Thursday with the AAP government claiming that the powers to transfer or post officers lie with it while a Union minister said Delhi being a Union Territory makes its powers subservient to the Central government.
The war of words erupted a day after the Supreme Court pronounced its judgement over jurisdiction of powers between the Centre and the Delhi government, saying the Lt Governor has to abide by the aid and advice of the Council of Ministers.
The new controversy, which arose hours after the apex court's verdict on Wednesday, assumed serious proportions when Delhi's Chief Secretary (Services) refused to issue an order that the Council of Ministers in Delhi would decide on departmental transfers and postings.
The AAP government asked the officers to respect the Supreme Court order, saying disobeying it amounted to contempt of court and would invite serious consequences.
"All officers should respect and obey SC order. Open defiance of SC order shall invite serious consequences. It will be in no one's interest," Kejriwal tweeted in the evening.
Earlier, in a four-page letter written to Lt Governor Anil Baijal, Kejriwal said that after the Supreme Court judgment, the executive powers related to "services" lie with the elected government and not with the Lt Governor or Central government.
"The Central government or the LG have executive powers only on three subjects. On all other subjects, executive powers lie with the Council of Ministers. Therefore, executive power related to 'services' lie with the council members," the letter said.
Kejriwal said the Supreme Court on Wednesday unanimously ruled that Delhi's Lt Governor was constitutionally bound by the "aid and advice" of the elected government in all areas except land, police and public order.
The Chief Secretary cited a 2015 notification of the Ministry of Home Affairs as the reason for rejection, saying it has not been specifically quashed.
Calling this "contempt of court", Kejriwal said: "The said notification becomes infructuous in the light of clear orders of the Supreme Court. The judgment of court has been effective the moment it was pronounced.
"If the files related to services are placed before the LG and he acts on them, it would clearly amount to contempt of Supreme Court in the light of its judgment."
Seeking support from the LG for the development of Delhi, Kejriwal said that he plans to "issue orders to all functionaries" on Friday and in case of any contrary views, "the Cabinet Ministers are ready to come over for a discussion".
Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, who directed its services department to issue the order, said the refusal by senior bureaucrats to comply with Supreme Court ruling amounted to contempt of court.
Sisodia said the government was now seeking legal opinion on the matter.
"The Chief Secretary has written to me saying the services department will not abide by the court's order. This will also create problems for the officers if they do not abide by the order. If the LG, even after the court's order, insists to see the service department file, then that is a contempt of court," he said.
The AAP leader said that after the Supreme Court order, the central government had no control over the service department in the capital.
"But even then, the officers are saying that the (Home Ministry's earlier) orders have not been quashed and that's why they will not comply with the Supreme Court's orders. If the apex court orders something, then there is no scope of not abiding by it," he said.
"If the orders of a court, that too the constitutional bench of the Supreme Court, are openly violated, then the country would go into a state of chaos. Where will be the law then?" Sisodia asked.
He said the centre, the LG or the officers may not like the court order but they will have to abide by it.
The AAP government went aggressive after Union Minister Arun Jaitley rejected claims by AAP on the powers of the Delhi government, saying the Supreme Court judgement emphasises the importance of the elected state government but Delhi being a Union Territory makes its powers subservient to the Central government.
In a Facebook post, he also said the apex court has held categorically that Delhi cannot compare itself on par with other states and, therefore, any presumption that the administrative control of the UT cadre of services has been decided in favour of Delhi government would be wholly erroneous.
Jaitley said the judgement elaborates at length the constitutional philosophy behind the Constitution and reaffirms precisely the text of what the Constitution says.
"It does not add to the powers of the state government or the central government nor does it in any way dilute the same. It emphasizes the importance of elected state government but Delhi being a Union Territory makes its powers subservient to the central government," he said.<br> <br>--IANS<br>sd-bns/vsc/mr

Beijing, July 5 (IANS) China said on Thursday that it does not want a trade war to start if the US imposes the first round of tariffs on imported Chinese products, but if it does then Beijing will be forced to react in the interests of the country and its people.
On Friday, the US will initially impose a set of tariffs on 818 Chinese items worth about $34 billion. Separate measures affecting 284 products worth about $16 billion could take effect following a review and public comment process.
China has repeated several times that it was not going to impose tariffs before the US does so, Commerce Ministry spokesperson Gao Feng said at a press conference here.
"US measures are essentially attacking global supply and value chains. To put it simply, the US is opening fire on the entire world, including itself," he was quoted as saying by Efe news.
"China will not bow to threats or blackmailing and our resolve to safeguard global free trade and the multilateral mechanism will not waver."
Nearly 50 per cent of the products subjected to tariffs, accounting for more than $20 billion, are manufactured by foreign firms in China, a majority of them American, Gao said.
He also said that the US move amounts to violation of provisions of the World Trade Organisation's General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994 and of the Agreement on Safeguards.
Gao called on all countries to unite against protectionism and unilateralism. "China will work with other countries to fight against the regressive tide of backward, outdated and inefficient protectionism and unilateralism and will maintain a stable and predictable global economic and trade environment."
Beijing had already warned President Donald Trump that if tariffs on Chinese products are imposed, it will react with tariffs on 545 goods imported from the US.
Despite warning of retaliatory tariffs, the spokesperson expressed China's intention to protect the interests of all the firms based in China and help them diffuse the potential impact of a trade war.
--IANS<br>soni/vm

New Delhi, July 5 (IANS) The Cauvery Water Regulation Committee (CWRC), which held its first meeting on Thursday, directed the four member states -- Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry -- to share their exact data on Cauvery water and the technology used to calculate this.
"Today's meeting went on well with the cooperation of all members. We have asked all the four states to share their exact data on Cauvery water -- inflow, outflow, evaporation and amount of water in reservoirs -- and the technology they are using to calculate these data," said a CWRC member.
The Committee has met three days after the first meeting of Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA), which directed the Committee to calculate the exact amount of water to be released by Karnataka to Tamil Nadu after giving a ballpark figure of 31 tmcft for July.
"We explained everything to the Committee members regarding the Authority's decisions and what they need to do. We have asked for their exact data. We also discussed a new technology to calculate the evaporation of water and the amount of water in the dam," he said.
The nine-member CWRC, which is chaired by Central Water Commission Chief Engineer (Irrigation Management Organisation) Navin Kumar and has representatives from the four states, will review the technologies used by the states to calculate data related to water.
"We will unanimously come to a conclusion whether we need to use one of the existing technologies or we need a new technology," said the official. The committee's next meeting is scheduled for July 19. <br> <br>On the need for a visit to the dam, the official said as of now the monsoon is above normal and there is enough water in the reservoir. Later, if need arises, the committee members may plan a visit, the official said.
On July 2, CWMA Chairman S. Masood Husain had directed Karnataka to release the quantum of water as per the tribunal award for July after adjusting the surplus in the month of June to Tamil Nadu. The tribunal had allotted 34 tmcft and the excess water released in June was more than 3 tmcft.
The CWMA meeting had discussed the rules of business, required staff and structure, infrastructure, format for maintaining data like inflow, outflow, withdrawals, cropping pattern, implementation status of the tribunal's award for June and realisation at Biligundlu site on inter-state border.
Husain had said: "The authority directed Karnataka to ensure the balance quantity for July at Biligundlu adjusting the excess quantity of water realised by Tamil Nadu at Biligundlu in June subject to the assessment and recommendation by the regulation committee (CWRC)."
--IANS<br>mgu/qd/vm

New Delhi, July 5 (IANS) Delhi's ruling AAP on Thursday reissued their previous orders to the Chief Secretary, Services, informing the officer that non-compliance of the order would amount to "contempt of Supreme Court" with "serious consequences."
"Have directed again Secretary services to issue the orders as directed yesterday. Informed the officer that non compliance would lead to contempt of SC and the officer shall face disciplinary proceedings," Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia wrote in a tweet.
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal also said that "open defiance of the Supreme Court order shall invite serious consequences".
"All officers should respect and obey SC order. Open defiance of SC order shall invite serious consequences. It will be in no one's interest," he said in a tweet.
On Wednesday, the Chief Secretary (Services) had rejected the order of Sisodia to comply with the Supreme Court ruling on who has the authority to transfer or post officers in Delhi.
The Chief Secretary cited a 2015 notification of the Union Home Ministry as the reason for rejection, saying it has not been specifically quashed.
--IANS<br>sd/vd<br>

Chandigarh, July 5 (IANS) Taking a serious view of the concerns expressed by the Punjab and Haryana High Court over the manner in which final reports are being filed by the prosecution in drug related offences, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Thursday directed Advocate General Atul Nanda to pursue the matter ensure that there is no laxity on this in future.
Acting on the Chief Minister's directives, Nanda has asked he Director, Department of Prosecution and Litigation, to call for a report from the various districts and ascertain the factual position on ground in this regard.
Describing it as an issue of "grave concern", Nanda has also sought the comments and suggestions of the Director, Vijay Singla, on the issue "so that the matter may be taken forward at the earliest, preferably within two weeks".
The letter is marked to Chief Secretary Karan Avtar Singh and Additional Chief Secretary, Home, N.S. Kalsi, apart from DGP Suresh Arora and ADGP, Special Task Force (STF-Drugs), Harpreet Singh Sidhu.
The letter refers to Wednesday's incident when the Chief Minister was attending his hearing on an Election Petition before the High Court and Justice Daya Chaudhary called upon him as well as Nanda "to look into the manner in which final reports are being filed by the prosecution in drug related offences, more particularly without attaching the laboratory reports supporting the charges made against the accused".
The court was of the view that such reports are often not attached to/form part of the final report which is filed before it.
Soon after the issue was brought to his notice by the court, the Chief Minister directed the Advocate General to personally look into the matter and ensure that the system is streamlined to ensure that there are no such loopholes in the prosecution's case before the court, particularly in drug-related matters, said a spokesman for the Chief Minister.
Rubbishing reports of Amarinder Singh being reprimanded by the high court on the issue of drugs, the spokesman claimed that the judge had merely taken advantage of the Chief Minister's incidental presence in her court to request him to look into the matter of strengthening the prosecution methods in criminal cases.
--IANS<br>js/vd

Pune, July 5 (IANS) After a furore, a prominent private co-education school here withdrew a bizarre order mandating all girl students to wear only white or beige underwear on campus, an official said here on Thursday.
The orders, which furious parents and social activists termed as "draconian and infringing on individual privacy", were issued by the MIT Vishwashanti Gurukul School in Kothrud recently, making it compulsory for girl students to sport only "white or beige inner-wears" under their white skirts from the current academic year.
However, the school management had sought to justify the same on grounds of safety of the girl students and to prevent them from being targeted by the boy students.
Parents were required to adhere to this by signing a diary daily, failing which the violators could face action, it had warned.
As a large number of embarrassed but angry parents protested against the strange diktat, Education Minister Vinod Tawde intervened on Wednesday and directed the Pune Director of Education and other officials to visit the school and inquire into the matter.
Accordingly, a team of education officers from the Pune Municipal Corporation called on the school authorities and spoke with the agitating parents on Thursday (today) afternoon and ruled in favour of the parents and girl students community.
They directed the MITVGS management to immediately withdraw its order and the compulsory diary entry, to which the latter complied.
In a statement this evening, the school management unconditionally yanked off its earlier orders, while contending that "it was student-centric, intended in the best interests of the student community and not meant to hurt individual or group sentiments".
Earlier, MAEER MITVGS Executive Director and Trustee Suchitra Karad-Nagare defended the orders, saying it was issued following complaints from some parents whose daughters were subjected to cat-calling when they sported dark coloured underwear under their white-coloured uniforms.
"In the past, we had complaints from some girls about unpleasant experiences faced by them, so instead of calling the parents of girls individually, we included the rules about the inner-wears in the diary," she told media persons.
Additionally, the management imposed strict restrictions on the number of times the students could go to the toilets or drink water and circulated a time-table for this, except for emergencies or medical reasons when the students would take prior permission and be accompanied by a buddy.
The school also asked the irked parents to sign affidavits on these undergarments and disciplinary measures, to which they hit back saying the "students were mature enough and it was not necessary or relevant to mention such guidelines in the school diary".
The toilet break was intended to instil discipline as some students spent long time there missing their classes, while taps were often left open or leaking, the school management had said.
--IANS<br>qn/him/vd

New Delhi, July 5 (IANS) Justice Satyendra Singh Chauhan (retd), who was appointed as the DERC chairman last month, took over charge formally on Thursday with his swearing-in.
The Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) Chairman's post had been lying vacant for over one and a half years.
Chauhan, who had served as a judge in the Allahabad High Court, was administered the oath by Power Minister Satyendar Jain, in the presence of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, and senior officials of the Power Department.
After the ceremony, Jain said that "this is for the first time in DERC history that a judge has been appointed as its chairman." Complimenting the DERC for its increasing efficiency, he hoped that the "current situation continues for the next five years too".
Congratulating Chauhan, Kejriwal said that this is the best period for the power sector as Delhi, in the whole country, is enjoying minimal power cuts and cheap electricity.
"Right now, the power sector in Delhi is going through its best period. With fewer power cuts, Delhi people are getting cheap electricity in the country. Moreover, the financial position of companies in this sector is also enhancing every day," he said.
He hoped that the "current situation of power sector remains the same in the future so that the government could come up with better services and policies".
--IANS<br>sd/vd

Bhubaneswar, July 5 (IANS) The Odisha government has raised questions over the air travel bills of newly-appointed Governor Professor Ganeshi Lal and sought details on the issue.
The General Administration department has sought an explanation over the Governor's visit to Sirsa, Haryana, via New Delhi and back to Bhubaneswar from June 10-13 by using a jet aircraft and a helicopter.
In a letter written to the Special Secretary to the Governor on July 4, Deputy Secretary in the General Administration department Indira Behera asked for the reason for hiring the two aerial vehicles.
"It may be kindly intimated the reason and circumstances for hiring of a helicopter for use of the Governor and deviation in the approved schedule of the flight and whether approval of the competent authority has been taken for the purpose or not (sic)," the letter read.
As per the invoices of M/s Pinnacle Air Pvt Limited mentioned in the letter, the cost of hiring the aircraft has been estimated at Rs 41.18 lakh.
Similarly, an amount of Rs 5 lakh has been incurred for the Governor's visit to Sirsa from New Delhi in a chopper on June 10.
Behera also requested the Special Secretary to the Governor to sign the necessary user's certificate and return this for necessary by the state government.
IANS<br>cd/qd/sed/vm

Kolkata, July 5 (IANS) City football giants East Bengal on Thursday roped in Quess, one of Indias leading business services providers, as its investor.<br> <br>The two sides inked an agreement, under which the I-League outfit will now be known as Quess East Bengal FC Pvt Ltd (QEBFC).<br> <br>"We were thinking of few other options after our association with UB Group came to an end last month. When this company approached us with a partnership proposal, we found them the most suitable among all candidates," East Bengal Secretary Kalyan Majumder told mediapersons here.<br> <br>In May, East Bengal had ended their two-decade-long association with Bengaluru-based United Breweries Group. <br> <br>There were talks of East Bengal taking part in the Indian Super League (ISL) from the upcoming season with their new investors coming on board.<br> <br>Asked about the development, East Bengal official Debabrata Sarkar said: "No decision has been taken regarding that. We have a meeting tomorrow. This is not the time to talk about that. We will let you all know once we make some headway."<br> <br>However, Ajit Isaac, chairman and managing director of Quess Group, said they have not put any pressure on the club regarding ISL.<br> <br> "There is no pressure from us. But we will definitely like our team to be part of the best forum," Isaac told IANS when quizzed about the same.<br> <br>There were reports that East Bengal had approached the All India Football Federation (AIFF) regarding the confirmation of their ISL participation if they manage to strike a sponsorship deal and satisfy all the required financial criteria.<br> <br>The red and gold brigade finished fourth in the I-League last term and reached the final of the Super Cup where they lost to Bengaluru FC.<br> <br> <br>Neither East Bengal officials, nor Isaac, divulged any details about the quantum of money pumped in by the new investor.<br> <br>--IANS<br>dm/ssp/ajb/vm