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Meningitis will prevail long: Doctors

     New Delhi: With the number of people dying from meningitis reaching 21 in Delhi and neighbouring states, a panel of experts, comprising of Dr Arvind Taneja, Director and chief of Pediatrics, Max Healthcare, and Dr AP Dubey, President, Indian Academy of Pediatrics, today suggested that as a precautionary measure everybody should get vaccinated. The doctors, who came together here to give out recommendations to prevent the spread of the disease, disagreed with the Central Government that the disease will end in about a week or so. They said the meningitis epidemic is going to last for at least one or two years. While Union Health Minister A Ramadoss has denied opposition charges there was a shortage of vaccines, Sumer Dheri, General Manager, GlaxoSmithKline Vaccines, a leading vaccine company in India, said that shortage of vaccines during an outbreak situation like this is quite possible and can happen due to sudden increase in demand. The doctors suggested that to protect themselves against the disease people should refrain from visiting crowded places like cinema halls, buses, airplanes etc, and most importantly should quit smoking for the time being. They, however, suggested that people need not panic by going to the extent of wearing a mask all the time, as the epidemic is not of that magnitude.

India offers to help Nepal restore political stability (Go To Top)

     New Delhi: India on Wednesday said that it is ready to help restore political stability in Nepal, but suggested that Kathmandu would have to take appropriate steps to reduce the current level of disturbance to facilitate implementation of pending economic projects. Addressing members of the Lok Sabha, Minister of State for External Affairs, E. Ahamed, said that implementation of various economic cooperation projects with Nepal, including in the field of water resources, may get delayed in view of the "disturbed conditions" in the Himalayan Kingdom. Wednesday's statement assumes significance in that it came a day after New Delhi announced a partial resumption of military sales to Kathmandu while suggesting indirectly that more steps needed to be taken to restore multi-party democracy. The last three months have seen both New Delhi and Kathmandu engaged in a cat-and-mouse game following the imposition of emergency in Nepal on February 1. India used that development to cut off arms supplies to Nepal and cancelled out on attending the scheduled 13th SAARC summit. A degree of normalcy between the two countries surfaced after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh held one-to-one talks with King Gyanendra in Indonesia on the sidelines of the 50th Asia-Africa Summit. On April 29, the king lifted the emergency, keeping in mind that as per the country's Constitution, it could not be continued with beyond a period of three months. That helped the international community to interact diplomatically with Kathmandu again. Over the past few days, Washington has sent its Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs, Christina Rocca, over to Kathamndu to convince the Nepalese leadership to restore multi-party democracy. The Nepalese King has also met envoys of India and the United States and exchanged views with them.

Women activists protest against rising crimes (Go To Top)

     New Delhi: Activists of several women's organisations and student bodies today came out on streets against the increase in crimes against women in the national capital. The organizations asked the government to ensure conviction of rapists under the existing laws and called for an attitudinal change of the Police. "The incidents are frequently taking place. We are launching a fight against the lack of security for the women, whether they are college going or working women. The attitude of police when such incidents take place is very lax and they are not ready to register the case," Ashalata, an activist, said. Recently a college student was abducted and gangraped when she had gone out with a friend to a roadside eatery at Dhaula Kuan after midnight. The girl was left at a place close to where she had been abducted after nearly two hours. In the latest development, Delhi police has arrested one suspect in connection with the gangrape. Statistics show that more than one case of rape is reported in the capital every day, while many rape cases often go unreported for various reasons and the actual incidence is likely to be considerably higher.

Tandon's appointment as CEC challenged in Delhi HC (Go To Top)

     New Delhi: A petition was today filed in the Delhi High Court seeking quashing of the appointment of BB Tandon as Chief Election Commissioner. The ground sought for the quashing was his alleged act in the general elections. L V Saptharishi, senior bureaucrat and election observer during the Lok Sabha election in Chapara raised the controversy when he attacked the two Election Commissioners including Tandon of being biased towards the NDA government. Later Government slapped a show-cause notice on Saptarishi seeking his explanation for attacking the Election Commissioners.

Lalu demands resignation of Election Commissioners (Go To Top)

     New Delhi: Ignoring Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's missive that the country's Constitutional bodies should be respected to ensure the sanctity of the democratic framework, Railway Minister Lalu Prasad on Wednesday met the former and is said to have demanded the resignations of Election Commissioners B.B.Tandon and N.Gopalaswami on the basis of the allegations levelled against them by senior IAS officer L V Saptarishi. "I did not attack the Election Commission. I still stand by my stand that the two Election Commissioners B B Tandon and N Gopalaswami should step down", Prasad told reporters after meeting Singh, who had fully backed the Commission during his interaction with the media while on his way back home from Russia, where he had gone to attend the 60th Victory Day celebrations. He declined to discuss details of his meeting with Singh. "I met him as he returned from his foreign visit. I enquired about his well being", he said. Saptarishi had said that both Tandon and Gopalaswami had "at the behest" of former Union Home Minister L K Advani attempted to countermand the Chhapra Lok Sabha poll, in which Prasad was the RJD candidate. On Tuesday evening, the Prime Minister had sought to put the controversy to rest by stating that the commission ''has had an impeccable track record in conducting elections and is widely respected for its work.''

Lok Sabha passes Right to Information Bill (Go To Top)

     New Delhi: Members of the Lok Sabha on Wednesday passed "The Right to Information Bill", 2004, which provides access to information under the control of public authority with an object to promote transparency and accountability in the working of all public authority. The bill also provides for constitution of a Central Information Commission and state level information commission. However, the bill imposes certain restrictions for giving information to public, if it prejudicially affect the sovereignty and integrity of the country. Cabinet papers, including deliberations of the ministers, Secretaries and other officers, cannot be given to the public. The Government moved as many as 149 amendments to the bill. The House adopted all amendments. However, TDP leader K Yerran Naidu suggested that the Government should ensure that such a large number of amendments be brought at the time of passage of the bill. Three major amendments, which were adopted by the House include setting up of state-level Chief information commissioner as well as removal procedure adopted by the Government.

     The bill will virtually replace Freedom of Information Act, 2002, enacted by the NDA government. After the UPA Government took over last year, the national advisory council deliberated on the issue and suggested certain changes in the existing act to ensure greater access to information. The Right to Information bill proposes to set up an appellate machinery with investigating powers to review decisions of the public information officer, penal provisions for failure for providing information as per law, provisions to ensure maximum disclosure and minimum exemptions, consistent with constitutional provisions and effective mechanism for access to information and disclosure by authorities. The Government believes that the proposed legislation will provide an effective framework for effecting the right of information recognized under Article 19 of the Constitution. Replying to the debate on the Bill, Pachauri said that the Bill had a special provision, which would provide free information to those falling below the poverty line. This provision, he said, was not there in the Freedom of Information Act passed by the NDA government. ''The Bill fulfills the dream of Rajiv Gandhi to bring a radical transformation in the lives of the poor,'' he said. Pachauri said the Bill contained strict penal provisions which even 55 other countries did not have in their Right to Information Acts. The exemption limit, which was 25 years in the Freedom of Information Act, had been reduced to 20 years. On the other provisions of the Bills, he said the third party seeking information can put in his viewpoint within ten days before the public information officer who has to give his decision within 40 days.

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