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Need to sensitise men on
Chandigarh, July 22 Dr Justice Anand said punishment must be commensurate with the unacceptable acts of violence. “The crime rate has gone up in Delhi because justice is slow.” He said law enforcers had double standards as one set of rules applied to the common man and another set to the enforcers themselves. He said unless the legislation and the judiciary tightened up their act, the crime rates would continue to soar and “victims would turn into criminals just waiting for justice.” According to him, the NHRC had received 74,000 complaints last year of which the majority were from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Delhi. He said despite the official line, the number of cases seemed less in Punjab, because people did not come up and file their complaints. He spoke of the many social precursors for the rapid spread of HIV in the country, including the inability to talk openly and learn about sex and sexuality, pressures on family to give birth to an heir, an implicit threat to the marriage when a woman is unable to become a mother, the high prevalence and acceptability of domestic violence against women, the moral double standards imposed on men and women and the lower status of women in general. He enunciated the problem as one of the “male ego” which comes in the way and the fall-out of such indiscriminate behaviour is discrimination, silence, fears, prejudices, stigma, denial of care and treatment. The fundamental concern was sensitization of men and spreading greater awareness amongst them. He listed recommendations on various aspects of human rights and HIV/AIDS based on the deliberations of a national conference on ‘Health and Human Rights’ in November 2000. The recommendations cover areas like consent and testing, confidentiality, discrimination in healthcare, women in vulnerable environment and marginalised population. Further to this, supplementary recommendations were made on November 25, 2003, in connection with ‘mother to child transmission’ of the virus. He ended by stressing on the need to create and spread awareness as “Discrimination is a violation of human rights, plain and simple.” |
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Human rights culture must to tackle AIDS
Chandigarh, July 22 The workshop was organised by the Panchkula Chapter of the Family Planning Association of India
(FPAI) along with The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) in association with the Chandigarh State AIDS Control Society. The workshop aimed at creating a culture of human rights while working in the HIV/AIDS field. Dr Justice Anand, in his address, quoted a report published by the National AIDS Control Organisation
(NACO) in 2004, which indicated that out of 1.02,733 AIDS cases in India, 29530 were women and 37 per cent of the cases reported were under the age of 30. “The women affected include housewives in their early reproductive age group with single partners who get infected through unprotected sex with infected spouses. This is particularly disturbing, as it has resulted in an increase of mother-to-child transmission of HIV/AIDS,” stated Dr, Justice Anand. According to Dr Justice Anand, “HIV/AIDS has, thus, emerged as a serious public health crisis. Since it is not only a medical problem, wherein there is a need to sensitise the medical practitioners as well, it has also psychological and social dimensions. It requires a multi-pronged and multi-disciplinary approach. “The victim suffers in an atmosphere of silence, fear, prejudice, stigma, discrimination and denial of care and treatment.” He also said in India, HIV-related counselling services were not readily available as in a majority of cases, HIV testing was not accompanied by pre-test or post-test counselling. Speaking before him, Dr Nina Puri, president of the International Planned Parenthood Federation, stressed on gender, sexuality and rights in the context of HIV/AIDS. She said despite rising trends in ratio, women knew less than men about how HIV/AIDS was transmitted and how to prevent infection. Woman’s subordinate status within the family and in society offered little protection from HIV. “Women are not just mothers or daughters or units of production, but individuals with rights and powers as well as responsibility.” Mrs Manisha Bajaj, vice-president,
FPAI, talked of ABC — Abstinence, Being Faithful and Condoms — to avoid HIV. She stressed that choices and safety were out of the hands of women and there was a need to bring these issues back to them as HIV/AIDS was a developmental challenge, not just a public health issue. |
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Health plan for city schools
Chandigarh, July 22 Under the programme, children will be provided medical cards, which will be maintained by their respective schools and upgraded from time to
time. The card, will carry details specific to the health of the child concerned. Doctors of the Chandigarh Administration, Government Medical College, Indian Medical Association and non-government organisations will conduct the medical examination of children. In the first phase, focus will be on children residing in villages and colonies. Later students of other schools of the city will be covered. |
National hockey camp sans heavyweights
Chandigarh, July 22 The omission of ace defender Len Aiyappa and Sandeep and inclusion of ‘yet to hit’ four players - Maninder Singh, Davinder Batth, Devinder Pal Singh and Ravipal Singh - has raised many an eyebrow. Interestingly, one thing is common in the cast list and the chief coach, Rajinder Singh (Jr), that they all belong to Punjab and Sind Bank (PSB). Rajinder has been the coach of PSB for nearly a decade. One view of experts is that with the new rules, the stick will be limited to 5 mm and Aiyappa would not be that effective and his tackling skill would be a weak link. Another arrow in the coach quiver is Ravipal Singh who makes his debut in the senior national hockey camp and will have to fight it hard to make a place in the final team. Next surprise entry is of Navpreet Singh, who like Sandeep and Aiyappa, excels in execution of dragflick, but again he is not so refine in comparison to Sandeep, who netted 10 goals in Rotterdam World Cup Junior earlier this year. Navpreet is being projected as Aiyappa’s replacement. Though the PSB players have represented the Indian team at senior and junior levels, none of them have ever been outstanding. The local striker, Inderjeet Chadha, who otherwise is an asset to the squad is injured and has undergone a thumb surgery, is out of the turf and most likely to be replaced. But who among the probables could fill the void and produce equal amount of potential is not in picture. Even Muthuselvan, who suffered a collar-bone injury, has been replaced by Gursewak Singh of the Railways. It is also in the air that there are plans to change the ‘captain of the ship’ (read team). Whatever be the logic and rationality of the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) in ‘sidelining’ the experienced players , it is evident on reviewing the list of the probables that the IHF has no clear-cut policy on the selection criteria for the squad. Meanwhile, Rajinder stressed that the inclusion of the players in the probables’ list did not mean that their place in the team is ensured. “The form of the player will be the deciding factor and my aim is to build a team which is an amalgamation of physical and mental strength”, he said. All said and done! Will the coach and his trainees would be able to deliver this time and bring back the lost glory or it would remain the same old story and another dent on the fate of the game, which is our national game? |
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Four PU athletes for World University Games
Chandigarh, July 22 The players have been selected on the basis of their performance during the 2004-2005 session. International Amritpal Singh and Pargat Singh are the product of Speed Academy, Ludhiana, and are now a days participating in a national coaching camp at the National Institute of Sports in Patiala. Amritpal Singh, a product of GHG Khalsa College, Gurusar Sadhar, has joined the Centre of Excellence (COE), Patiala, and his last performance in the discus throw was 52.92 metres at the All-India Inter-University tournament held at Vijayawada recently. Pargat Singh, another athlete of the same college, had been a gold medallist for the past two years at the All-India Inter-University athletic meet and his best last year was 62.34 metres in the hammer throw. He aims to break the inter-university record of 62.83 metres. He also won the silver in the National Circuit meet (Delhi-leg) held earlier this year and the bronze at the inter-state athletic meet held at Bangalore. Another athlete, Harpreet Kaur, who competes in the 400 metres hurdles, had clocked 56.18 seconds in the inter-university meet held at Vijayawada. Punjab University’s ace swimmer Puneet Rana’s performance at the Inter-University Swimming Championship was 2: 29.90 seconds in the 200 metres breast stroke. He is in Montreal (Canada) to represent India at the XI FINA World Swimming Championship from July 17 to 31. According to Panjab University Sports Director J.S. Toor, the PU athletes have brought laurels to the university by qualifying for the World University Games in Turkey. Selection trials
CHANDIGARH: The Sanjay Public School Cricket Academy, Sector 44, will hold selection trials in the age group of under-12, under-15, under-17 on July 24 from 9 a.m. on-wards on the school premises. The academy is being run under the aegis of the Chandigarh Cricket Association affiliated to the Punjab Cricket Association. The trainees will be offered coaching and various other facilities. TNS |
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