Chennai/Thiruvanathapuram, April 12
Tamil Nadu and Kerala will go to the polls tomorrow to elect their new assemblies in one of the closest battles that witnessed a bitter race between rival fronts.

About 6.91 crore voters will have the right to vote in these elections that may be the swan song of the political careers of Chief Ministers M Karunanidhi and VS Achuthanandan, both 87.

Eschew violence, HC asks parties Kochi: The Kerala High Court on Tuesday expressed hope that the political parties would ask their rank and file to eschew violence so as to ensure peaceful and fair elections in the state on Wednesday. The observation was made by a Division Bench comprising Justices R Basant and K Surendra Mohan while considering a batch of petitions by candidates of different constituencies seeking police protection. — PTI

In Tamil Nadu, the ruling-DMK led front is battling serious odds with the AIADMK-combine launching an all-out offensive to dislodge Karunanidhi, veteran of many a successful electoral battle in his seven decades of public life.

In neighbouring Kerala, another battle-scarred veteran Achuthanandan is trying to buck the trend of electorate voting alternately between the LDF and the UDF once in five years.

In Puducherry, the Congress-led combine, including the DMK and the PMK, is facing a tough challenge from the front led by former Chief Minister N Rangasamy's All-India NR Congress that has the AIADMK in its fold.

Being pillars of their respective fronts, wheelchair-bound Karunanidhi and CPM stalwart Achuthanandan have both campaigned intensely turning the clock back.

The main rival for the DMK is the Jayalalithaa-led AIADMK which has sewed up a formidable alliance. Both Karunanidhi and Jayalalithaa had confidently asserted during a no-holds-barred campaign that their party would form the next government.

In what is seen as a do-or-die battle for Jayalalithaa, the AIADMK leader has sought to whip up anti-incumbency sentiments, asking people to end "family rule" of Karunanidhi.

The elections in Tamil Nadu this time, described as "challenging" by Chief Election Commissioner SY Quraishi himself, have come under EC's microscopic scrutiny following allegations of free flow of money by the ruling party to lure voters.

In highly politically polarised Kerala, where marginal swings could turn the tide either way, the ruling CPM-led LDF is battling against the Congress-headed UDF.

The electoral battle is intense in all 140 segments with no wave palpable in favour of either the LDF or the UDF. The BJP is also striving to open its legislative account in both Kerala and Tamil Nadu. — PTI

New Delhi, April 12
The government may have denied the recent Lancet claim that Delhi water has antibiotic-resistant bacteria and set up its own group to study the issue, but the fact remains that antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has emerged in the country for even carbapenems, the newer and the most powerful disease fighting agents known so far.

WHAT ARE CARBAPENEMS Carbapenems are very useful antibiotics. Distantly related to penicillin, these can be used to counter bacteria that are difficult to target because of being naturally resistant to most other antibiotics.

This admission forms part of the document “National Policy for Containment of Antimicrobial Resistance in India” prepared by an expert group the Health Ministry had constituted in the aftermath of the August 2010 Lancet article that traced to New Delhi the NDM-1 enzyme that made bacteria resistant to carbapenems.

“Resistance has emerged in India even to newer, more potent antimicrobial agents carbapenems,” the document admits, recommending amendment of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act to add a separate H1 schedule for regulating the sale of 536 listed prescription drugs. Under H1 schedule, drug inspectors will have power to cancel sales licences of chemists found flouting the law.

The document also details that in the age of rising AMR, India doesn’t have any standard treatment guidelines (for antibiotic prescription) for major public health diseases like diarrhoea, dysentery, pneumonia and enteric fever. We only have sets of treatment instructions for diseases covered by specific national health programmes like the Revised National TB Programme; the National AIDS Control Programme for HIV and the National Vector Borne Diseases Control Programme. Simply out, clinicians are free to prescribe antibiotics even when these are not needed.

That explains a recent study on global antibiotic overuse that revealed that 15 billion injections were being administered annually, half of them un-sterile and unneeded; 25 to 75 per cent antibiotic prescriptions were inappropriate; 50 per cent people were not taking antibiotics properly; 30 to 50 per cent patients in primary health care received antibiotics twice as high as clinically required. The situation is even more alarming in India and other South East Asian regions where national plans for AMR monitoring are missing, unlike in Europe.

In this context, the proposed Indian antibiotic containment policy becomes urgent. The experts who drafted it have revealed that India currently has no means to monitor antibiotic use by people because unlike in the West, prescriptions here remain with the patients and not the pharmacists. The experts recommend counterfoil prescription system with one copy to be compulsorily retained by chemists to allow the government to track antibiotic sales and use.

The policy document also urgently calls for reliable Indian data on AMR for pathogens causing major diseases.

New Delhi, April 12
Faced with the increased air-borne threat, the Ministry of Defence has okayed an Indian Air Force plan to further upgrade the country’s air defence capability, and, in the process totally replace the Soviet-vintage missile systems.

The IAF sent out a request to global and Indian (DRDO) suppliers on April 7 asking how soon can they provide a new medium range surface-to-air missile (MR SAM) that is needed for protection of vital areas and installations across the country.

The urgency * Antiquated Soviet-vintage missile systems to be phased out * Suppliers requested to provide bids within 30 days, indicating the urgency

The time frame for inducting the new systems is nearly two years from now, sources said. The suppliers have been requested to provide their bids within 30 days, indicating the urgency following which the MoD will go through the process of identifying the lowest bidder.

The IAF and the Ministry of Defence are looking at the latest systems that will be on par with prevailing global standards. An MR-SAM has a range of 70-90 km and can be activated to fire when radars and sensors pick out incoming enemy planes, choppers and UAVs. The entire system is linked while fire is directed using automatically generated location coordinates that radars and sensors provide about incoming planes.

The new purchase will be in addition to the existing orders of procuring MR-SAM of Israeli origin and also the DRDO developed missile systems, Akash. The IAF is procuring 18 missile systems, from Israeli company Rafael at a cost of $ 260 million (Rs 1200 crore). The company will supply the entire lot of its truck mounted ‘Spyder’ systems by August next year.

In the fresh demand, the IAF has not specified the number of missile systems it was looking for, but has indicated its benchmarks to have world class air defence systems - largely deployed for protection of nuclear installations, IAF, Army and Naval bases, sensitive locations and to defend the borders.

One of the key requirements of the IAF is that the missile systems should be accompanied by a multi-function radar that provides for 3-D target information to the commander. This radar should be able to provide early warning and should be able to simultaneously track an incoming object while scanning the air space for fresh incursions. The IAF is looking for systems that will be able to prioritise the threats and allocate a missile fire as per the threat evaluation.

And as per the existing norm the launcher has to be truck mounted. Keeping in mind Indian conditions, the IAF wants the missile to operate at mountain heights of 3,500 meters (approx 12,250 feet), arid deserts and in high temperatures and high humidity.

At present, Indian air defence relies largely on antiquated Soviet-vintage SA-3 Pechora and SA-8 OSA-AK systems.

New Delhi, April 12
Two days after The ‘Lancet’ editor Richard Horton accused India of deliberately concealing information on the presence of the NDM-1 enzyme that attacked antibiotics and made bacteria resistant to them, the Ministry of Health has revealed a startling refusal of the British medical journal to publish India’s response to its New Delhi superbug claim made last year.

Reacting sharply to the claim made in August 2010, the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) under the ministry sent a counter-study to trash Lancet’s claims with respect to a New Delhi specific anti-microbial resistant strain and sought the journal to publish it in the interest of a scientific debate.

Strangely, however, the then Editor of ‘The Lancet Infectious Disease’, John McConnell, wrote back to the NCDC as late as on November 2, declining to publish India’s study.

In an email addressed to the former NCDC director Dr RL Ichhpujani, McConnell wrote, “The Journal editors have discussed the manuscript and our decision is that it would be better placed elsewhere. We at present receive far more subscriptions than we have space to publish and therefore have to reject many otherwise worthy papers. We are sorry we cannot be more helpful on this occasion and we hope you will think of us again in the future.”

India had responded to the publication entitled, “Emergence of a new antibiotic resistance mechanism in India, Pakistan and the UK: a molecular, biological and epidemiological study” published online in the journal, ‘Lancet Infectious Disease’, on August 11 last. It had, even then, expressed disagreement over naming the resistant bacteria strain as NDM-1.

This year, the Health Ministry has already ordered a study by its own scientists for rebuttal of The Lancet claim. The same would be published in either of the two reputed medical journals of India - ‘the Indian Journal of Medical Research’ or ‘Current Science’.

“Going by our past experience, we would rather publish our findings in our journals just as they use their journal to target us,” secretary, Medical Research, VM Katoch, told TNS. 

New Delhi, April 12
The Enforcement Directorate is all set to attach properties worth Rs 130 crore allegedly belonging to former Jharkhand Chief Minister Madhu Koda and his aides.

The Directorate, which is probing charges of huge illegal investments and hawala transactions against Koda and his associates, got an approval order from the adjudicating authority under the Prevention of Money Laundering (PMLA) Act in the national capital.

Sources said this is the first order that the Directorate has got and more such attachments are in the offing as the total cost of the properties ascertained and identified by the ED is more than Rs 200 crore.

The attachment action under the PMLA is a step where properties of the accused are attached as "proceeds of crime", the sources said.

The ED has identified properties primarily in the state of Jharkhand and a few in adjoining Bihar, which will be sealed and a complete embargo would be issued by the agency against their sale and purchase as an inquiry is in process against the owners- Koda and his associates.

The properties to be attached also include those allegedly owned by Koda's associates like Binod and Vikash Sinha, who are in judicial custody.

The Directorate had on March 4 filed a charge sheet at a special court in Ranchi against Koda accusing him of amassing illegal wealth of over Rs 1,340 crore in connivance with four of his close associates including a CEO of a Mumbai-based bullion firm.

The ED presently is also awaiting replies to its Letters Rogatories (LRs) sent in the case to countries like Dubai, Sweden, Thailand, Indonesia and Liberia to probe illegal investments in this case.

Koda and his associates are facing inquiries by the Income Tax Department, the CBI and the Jharkhand Vigilance Bureau etc. — PTI

New Delhi, April 12
Civil aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has initiated action against four private airlines for operating flights despite being specifically asked not to do so during periods when certain navigational aids at the Goa airport were switched off due to repairs.

DGCA E K Bharat Bhushan said a show cause notice would be issued to Kingfisher, GoAir, JetLite and Jet Airways tomorrow, asking why action should not be initiated against them for having operated flights during prohibitory periods.

In the meantime, pilots, who operated the flights during these periods, have been de-rostered.

A NOTAM (notice to airmen) was issued to the airlines about a week back advising all airlines not to operate flights during certain hours in a day when the ground-based radar system PAPI (precision approach path indicator) was non-functional due to repairs.

The notice initiated by the Indian Navy and circulated by the Airport Authority of India (AAI) warned all airlines not to operate flights of jet aircraft during this period due to shutting down of the crucial navigational aids. Subsequently, Bhushan also met airlines’ officials, advising them that restrictions should be respected entirely.

However, despite warnings to respect the restrictions some airlines violated this directive and landed at the Goa airport without navigational aid between April 7 and April 10, putting the lives of thousands of fliers at risk.

Meanwhile, national carrier Air India said none of its flights to Goa would be affected and it would respect all rules laid down by the DGCA and the Navy, which operates the Dabolin airport at Goa.

New Delhi, April 12
A five-Judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court will hear tomorrow the Centre Government’s plea for recalling the court’s 14-year-old judgment that enabled the accused in the Bhopal gas tragedy case to get away with a two-year jail term.

The Bench headed by Chief Justice SH Kapadia will assess the government’s contentions that the SC had erred in diluting the offences against the accused, from culpable homicide not amounting to murder that attracts 10 years of imprisonment to a crime arising from negligence.

The Constitution Bench would hear the government petition on a day-to-day basis in view of the magnitude of the December 3, 1984, accident that left more than 15,000 persons dead and thousands crippled.— TNS

Mumbai, April 12
Hasan Ali Khan, the Pune stud farm owner under arrest on money laundering charge, is "stalling" the investigations by not disclosing details of transactions in his foreign accounts, the Enforcement Directorate has told a court.

In its remand application submitted to the court, the ED has said though Khan had admitted to have opened a large number of foreign accounts, he did not explain why these were opened and what transactions took place.

The Sessions Court is likely to take up the application for extension of Khan's judicial custody tomorrow. The document claimed Khan had also admitted to have dealt with antique jewellery belonging to the family of the erstwhile Nizam of Hyderabad and earned Rs 40 lakh to Rs 50 lakh.

However, he has not divulged the details of the source of these antiques which needed to be probed further, it said. The ED said co-accused Kashinath Tapuriah had said Khan had informed him that he had lockers in UBS, Zurich, containing a lot of antique jewellery, some of which were very rare.

Philip Anandraj, an aide of Khan, had also said Khan had told him that he had a locker at the UBS and asked him (Anandraj) if he could obtain another one in the same bank so that he could transfer the contents in the new locker.

The ED also said it has summoned Amelndu Kumar Pandey, a Congress politician from Bihar, who allegedly helped Khan obtain passport from Patna passport office by fabricating documents. Summons to Pandey has already been sent and he is likely to appear on April 14.

"It is necessary to confront Khan with Pandey to unearth the transactions undertaken by Khan in Singapore and the reasons for obtaining a second passport from Patna." — PTI