Hyderabad, December 20
The condition of former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and Telugu Desam Party chief N Chandrababu Naidu worsened today as he continued his fast for the fourth day even after being forcibly removed from hunger strike camp and admitted to a hospital. Naidu is on an indefinite fast demanding higher compensation for crop losses and declaration of the recent flood ravage in the state as a national calamity.

Violence broke out across the state as angry TDP workers took to streets and enforced shutdown to protest against the arrest of their leader.

Amidst high drama, the police swooped on the premises of new MLA quarters here in the wee hours, arrested Naidu and his colleagues and forcibly shifted him to Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences, where a special team of doctors is constantly monitoring his health condition.

Naidu’s son N Lokesh, who owns a Telugu news channel, was injured in the mêlée. Several TDP leaders surrounded Naidu on the dais in a bid to prevent the police from arresting him. The decision to evict Naidu was taken after he rejected a personal appeal by Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy to end the fast and cooperate with the government in ameliorating the sufferings of rain-hit farmers. A report by government doctors also suggested deterioration in Naidu’s health and recommended that he be shifted to hospital.

The news of TDP chief’s arrest spread fast with the party leaders calling for a state-wide bandh against what they termed as “undemocratic and rude behaviour”by the police against a former Chief Minister. The TDP workers gathered in large numbers in several towns and forced educational institutions and business establishments to close down. They also burnt effigies of the Chief Minister, prevented state-owned buses from moving out of depots and staged road blocks on highways and main thoroughfares in Hyderabad, Guntur, Khammam, Medak, Tirupati, Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam.

“If necessary, we will move a no-confidence motion against the anti-farmer government in the state,” TDP MLA P Kesav warned.

On reaching the hospital, Naidu refused to undergo treatment and continued with the fast. Meanwhile, Home Minister Sabitha Indra Reddy denied the opposition allegation that Naidu was roughed up by the police. “Naidu’s arrest is not politically-motivated, nor was he roughed up by the police. They treated him with respect but his health condition was such that he had to be shifted to hospital for treatment,” she said.

New Delhi, December 20
American-born Lashkar-e-Toiba terrorist David Headley, accused of plotting Mumbai terror attacks in 2008, had “hatred” towards India and warned that he would stop helping the probe if his admission of guilt was linked to cooperation with New Delhi.

According to a secret US embassy cable made public by Wikileaks, this was conveyed by FBI Director Robert Mueller during his meeting with Home Minister P Chidambaram in February this year. “Noting that the process of Headley’s proffer of evidence is nearing a critical stage, Mueller observed that Headley had expressed hatred toward India and may clam up if his guilty plea is tied in any way to cooperation with the Government of India,” said the leaked cable, categorised as "secret" by US envoy to India Timothy Roemer.

While the Home Minister had said India would not be using the information provided by the US in prosecution of the 26/11 Mumbai terror accused, including Ajmal Kasab, Chidambaram, however, made it clear to Mueller that Indian sleuths had collected information on their own through examination of Headley’s computer and emails. The Home Minister had also insisted on having an access to Headley’s spouse, Shaiza, who he said was in Chicago. He wanted Indian investigators to question her on the meaning of her alleged message to Headley that she "saw your graduation."

Headley, accused of plotting the 26/11 attacks at the behest of the LeT and conspiring to target a Danish newspaper, pleaded guilty to all terror charges before a US court on March 18 this year. — PTI

New Delhi, December 20
Poor sanitation is not just impacting the health of Indians, but also eroding the hard-earned development gains, reveals the first-ever study conducted to assess economic losses of inadequate sanitation in the country.

Bad sanitary practices and their health-related, water-related and access time-related impacts are costing the economy Rs 2.4 trillion every year. This loss amounts to a whopping 6.4 per cent of India’s GDP when calculated for sanitation related data for 2006. The situation has since not improved much considering 575 million rural Indians and 54 million urban dwellers continue to defecate in the open. Just 50 per cent of rural and 70 per cent of urban households have access to toilets.

The most distressing finding of the path-breaking new report from the Water and Sanitation Programme (WSP) administered by the World Bank is that 72 per cent (Rs 1.75 trillion) of the total economic impact of poor sanitation relates to health factors - premature mortality especially of children due to diarrhoea and other illnesses (contributed Rs 1.3 trillion to the total health related cost to economy); healthcare costs incurred in treating sanitation related illnesses and productive time (of the patient and the caregiver) lost due to such illnesses.

Every year, India is witnessing a whopping 7,68,000 deaths (one in every 10) due to poor sanitation. Under health-related economic loss of Rs 1.75 trillion, diarrhoea is the largest contributor amounting to two-thirds of the total impact followed by acute lower respiratory infections, which comprise 12 per cent of the total health-related economic impacts of bad sanitation.

Children are the hardest hit as 79 per cent of the premature mortality-related economic losses in India involve deaths of children below five years of age on account of diseases caused by lack of sanitation and hygiene. What’s worse - India is losing 10 million years of productive time annually due to people falling ill from lack of sanitation.

Led by Anupam Tyagi of the WSP, the study further reveals the considerable economic losses caused by lack of access to sanitary facilities in India. School-going girls in the country lost 74 million school days a year ($3 billion) while women lost 94 million workdays a year ($6 billion) because they either had no access or had to spend too much time looking for a toilet.

On the tourism front as well, the losses of lack of toilet facilities across India are humongous - $5.5 billion a year due to tourists avoiding India and $6.6 billion due to tourists falling ill and not recommending India as a destination.

“A similar study in East Asia showed annual per capita losses in of $9.3 in Vietnam and a high of $32.4 in Cambodia. India compares poorly as it loses $48 per capita per year due to poor sanitation,” Christopher Juan Constain, WSP regional team leader for South Asia today told The Tribune.

Bhubaneswar, December 20
A Congress legislator today threw a pen stand at Orissa Assembly Speaker after he did not respond to his demand of expunging a minister's remark that some Opposition members were involved in tender fixing in an irrigation project.

The incident took place when Congress MLA SS Saluja sought details on alleged tender fixing in Upper Indra project from Parliamentary Affairs Minister Raghunath Mohanty, who was replying questions relating to the irrigation department held by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, during question hour. Infuriated by Mohanty's claim that some Opposition members were also involved in the tender fixing, Saluja rushed to the well seeking expunction of the minister's statement.

Congress MLAs soon trooped into the well in protest and an angry Saluja lifted a pen stand from Speaker Pradip Kumar Amat's table and hurled it at him. Though the pen stand missed Amat, it broke into pieces after hitting the podium.

A pandemonium followed and a startled Speaker adjourned the House for 16 minutes as Opposition and treasury bench members got engaged in heated verbal duels. — PTI