The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

BODY & MIND
25 pc disabled persons unemployed
Tripti Nath

About 25 per cent disabled persons in the country are unemployed despite the fact they have necessary education and training. This hard reality was presented by none other than Union Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment, Dr Satyanarayan Jatiya, while addressing a conference of the state channelising agencies of the National Handicapped Finance and Development Corporation (NHFDC) on Friday.

While stressing the need for strengthening micro-finance scheme for providing financial assistance to persons with disabilities for self-employment, Dr Jatiya drew attention to the provision of three per cent reservation for employing disabled persons in government and public sector undertakings in Persons with Disabilities Act. He said that there is not much scope of generating employment opportunities in this sector. He said that the creation of opportunities for self-employment therefore becomes more important, which needs greater co-ordination between the government and the State channelising agencies and non-government organisations.

He said that these agencies would have to play a more pro-active role in identifying beneficiaries and disbursing loans to them for setting up small business, trade and small industrial units. From 11 beneficiaries in the year of its inception (1997-98), NHFDC has provided loans to about 10,000 beneficiaries worth Rs 42.22 crore so far. The maximum number of beneficiaries are in Haryana (1800), who have been advanced Rs 8.10 crore. Gujarat comes next with more than 1300 beneficiaries followed by Madhya Pradesh (over 1,100 beneficiaries). The loans are offered to persons with 40 per cent or more disability for promoting their economic development through financial assistance at low rate of interest. The assistance is given for higher education/training, upgradation of technical and entrepreneurial skills and promotion of self-employment through state channelising agencies by the Corporation.

Asian Congress of Nutrition: About 1,500 delegates from various parts of the world are expected to assemble in Hotel Ashok in the national Capital in the last week of February to participate in the ninth Asian Congress of Nutrition. The theme of the Congress is ‘Nutrition Goals for Asia Vision 2020’.

The congress (February 23- 27) is being hosted in India for the second time after 33 years under the chairmanship of Dr C. Gopalan, Director, Nutrition Foundation of India. The meeting is being organised by the Federation of Asian Nutrition Societies, Nutrition Society of India and Nutrition Foundation of India.

The scientific deliberations at the Congress include half-a-dozen plenary sessions, three plenary lectures and three special lectures and 30 symposia. A galaxy of eminent nutritionists will speak on the new frontiers of nutrition research, latest technologies for augmenting food production, nutrigenomics, nutrition and cancer, science-industry interface, traditional health promoting foods, micronutrient malnutrition, food safety, short and long-term strategies for combating malnutrition, capacity building in nutrition sector and other emerging thrust areas.

The organisers are optimistic that the nutrition vision for the future, which emerges from the deliberations, will have a direct impact on intervention strategies, technology development and research in Asian region. They believe that the wealth of information related nutrition science offers ample scope of information sharing among scientists, nutritionists, scientists, technologists, policy makers and delegates at the meet. The exchange of ideas will also pave the way for fresh insight into the nutritional problems before the Asian community today.

Dr C. Gopalan who played a key role in organising the first Asian Congress of Nutrition in Hyderabad in 1971 is of the view that the information technology revolution, globalisation and liberalisation have already influenced socio-economic culture.

“We should not make the mistake of accepting the western world as perfect. The challenge to the policy-makers shall be to derive benefit from these development without further aggravation of social and economic inequalities. Those practices, which are conducive to general health and well-being, should only be allowed to foster and cherish. Discussion at the Congress will provide a practical approach for combating the persisting nutrition problems in India as well as other Asian countries,” he said.

Dr Sook He Kim, President of Asian Nutrition Society has expressed the hope that the meeting would serve to fullfil the goal of 'Nutrition Right' especially in the underprivileged countries in Asia.

LASIK - A safe procedure: The All India Ophthalmological Society (AIOS) has passed a resolution that LASIK is a scientific, well-researched surgical procedure with an established track record of remarkable safety all over the world. The resolution was passed at the general body meeting of the All-Indian Ophthalmological Society here recently.

The Society has reiterated that LASIK procedure is a safe and established scientific procedure for correction of refractive errors. Signed by the AIOS President, Dr D.K. Sen, honorary General Secretary, Dr Babu Rajendran and Chairman of the scientific committee, Dr S. Natarajan, the resolution states that LASIK is approved by US F.D.A and regulatory bodies in other countries. Allaying oft voiced apprehensions about the surgical outcome of LASIK, the society has clarified that the surgical results and safety of LASIK procedure in Indian eyes.

Sanitary napkin: The latest entrant to the sanitary napkin segment is Camas from Classic, a part of R N Group of Companies. Specially designed for the Indian consumer, Camas has been produced after ten years of research. It is available in three variants namely; ultra-thin with wings, slim with wings and regular.

A pack of ultra-thin napkins is priced at Rs 54 while slim with wings and regular ones are priced at Rs 50 and Rs 23 respectively. According to the Managing Director of Classic, Kapil Rampal, “Classic has always strive to offer superior quality products to the consumers. Camas is yet another quality product of the company, produced on fully automatic production line with international standards in stringent hygienic conditions.”

Padma Bhushan for Dr Purshotam Lal
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 25
Eminent cardiologist Dr Purshotam Lal, founder of the Metro Hospitals and Heart Institute, Noida, has been awarded Padma Bhushan. A former NRI, he returned from the US to serve his countrymen in 1996. Dr Lal has introduced several new procedures as an alternative to open heart surgery and trained many cardiologists across the country.

He was the first investigator of Inoue balloon valvuloplasty in India and played a major role in the clinical development of monodisc ASD closure device.

His introduction of technique to close the heart holes without surgery has saved a lot of young girls from the ugly scar of open heart surgery.

He had been conferred several awards including Padmashree in 1992 and Jawaharlal Nehru International Excellence Award in 1990.

SPORTS

Malviya Club win tourney
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, January 25
A devastating 4 for 20 bowling feat, off just 7.3 overs, by medium-pacer Rodney Charles and a 99-run second-wicket partnership between skipper Sachin Khurana (47 n o) and Kshitij Rohtagi (50 n o), enabled Malviya Club defeat Rohtak Road Gymkhana by nine wickets in the title clash of the seventh Sahibzada Ajit Singh Cricket Tournament, organised by the Sri Guru Gobind Singh College of Commerce, at their ground in Pitampura.

Sachin Khurana, who also kept wickets, effected one stumping and four catches.

Rodney Charles was named the Man of the Match. Sachin Khurana earned the Man of the Tournament award while the Best Bowler and best batsman awards went to Chetan Sharma and Rajiv Uniyal (Khalsa College), respectively. Malviya Club earned a cash prize of Rs 15,000 while R R Gymkhana received Rs 10,000.

Film star and Member of Parliament Raj Babbar was the guest of honour. Senior national cricket selector and former Test player Kirti Azad was also present to witness the final, along with Dr Jaspal Singh, principal of Sri Guru Gobind Singh College, Delhi and District Cricket Association joint-secretary Dr S S Sareen, Khalsa College physical education director Pargat Singh, DDCA sports officer Himmat Saini and veteran cricket coach Virender Bhatnagar.

Scores: R R Gymkhana: 100 all out in 34.3 overs (Gurmeet Singh 35, 1x6, 2x4; Rahul Yadav 21, Rodney Charles 4 for 20, Jasvinder Singh 2 for 21, T Anand 1 for 12, Rohit Mehra 1 for 17, Sanjay Verma 1 for 13).

Malviya Club: 101 for 1 in 14.4 overs (Sachin Khurana 47 n o, 3x6, 3x4, 33b; Kshitij Rohtagi 50 n o, 5x4; Chetan Sharma 1 for 17).