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Educated youth vital to sustain growth: Manmohan
Efficacy of tourism code under scanner
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Medicos' warning: Don't lower age of consent to 16
Crackdown on docs conducting sex tests
Women’s groups for early passage of anti-rape Bill
Kerala Police gives clean chit to Bitti’s father
H’bad blasts: NIA gets custody of
two IM operatives
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Educated youth vital to sustain growth: Manmohan
Malda, March 16 Mamata was busy in a meeting at the Writers’ Building to finalise the government’s strategy for holding panchayat elections when Manmohan Singh was addressing the gathering at Narayanpur. The reason that the Trinamool party leadership gave for the Chief Minister not attending the function was that Mamata was not properly invited for it. But Union minister AH Khan Choudhury denied the allegation and claimed that he had personally invited Mamata Banerjee. She might not have come for political reasons, possibly to distance the TMC from the Congress. A few days back, BJP president Rajnath Singh, at a meeting in Kolkata, praised Mamata Banerjee and wished her return to the NDA. BJP leader Vasundhara Raje Scindia, who was in the city yesterday, also welcomed Mamata back to the NDA. In their speeches, both Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi paid glowing tributes to Ghani Khan Choudhury for his contribution to nation building. "To fulfil the demands of our fast-growing economy, we have to make our youth educated and skilled. The hard fact is that without proper skilled manpower, we cannot sustain the fast pace of economic growth for long," Manmohan Singh said. Manmohan Singh said he had worked under him in the Energy Ministry as a member of the Planning Commission. He acknowledged Ghani Khan Choudhury as the builder of the modern Malda. Sonia Gandhi spoke about the plans of UPA-II under Manmohan Singh’s leadership. She said that the government would ensure food security to the people so that there would be no starvation death in the country in the future. Union ministers Pallam Raju and Deepa Dasmunshi, West Bengal Governor MK Narayanan and the Malda MPs AH Khan Choudhury and Begum Nur were present on the occasion. Highlights
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Efficacy of tourism code under scanner
New Delhi, March 16 Law and order is a state subject and prevention of crime, including crime against foreign tourists, is the primary responsibility of the state government. The code was designed by the Tourism Ministry to check exploitation of visitors, prevent sex tourism and ensure safety of tourists, particularly women. Even though it is not a legally binding instrument and is just a set of guidelines for voluntary adoption by the Indian tourism industry, any signatory found violating the code can be blacklisted. Almost three years on, not many in the industry are sure if the code has been adopted the way it should have been. A ministry official admits that the code may not have had the desired result because making an instrument is one thing, implementing it another. “The Tourism Ministry is not the governor of social conduct of the country. With limited resources and powers, there is precious little that it can do,” he says. Swiss Woman’s Gang-Rape The Tourism Ministry is not the governor of social conduct of the country. With limited resources and powers, there is precious little that it can do. Effective implementation of the code is the responsible of the government. A Tourism Ministry official
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Medicos' warning: Don't lower age of consent to 16
New Delhi, March 16 Another problem with the age of consent is 16 years is the increased risk of early pregnancies which can increase maternal mortality ratio of India. Doctors, in fact, recommend 19 years as the ideal age for first pregnancy, saying the female body is not ready for child bearing before that. “Physiologically and physically, girls are not ready for pregnancy before 19 years, the right age for delivery. If the government reduces the age of consensual sex to 16 years by law, teenage pregnancies will rise because children will start experimenting and that curiosity factor will take over. The high risk of cervical cancer and sexually transmitted diseases in girls who start having early sex can’t be ignored in this debate,” argues Delhi-based gynaecologist Shobha Khetal. Population stabilisation experts also feel the public health infrastructure in India must first gear up to address the medical challenges of a new law that decriminalises consensual sex between 16 and 18 year olds opening the floodgates for early pregnancies. In India, the unmet need for contraception among married women is over 20 per cent! “When you lower the age of consent for sex, you expose girls to a greater risk of cervical cancer. Multiple partners and lower age of first sexual contact are major risk factors for cervical cancer. Also, girls are not prepared for pregnancy at 16 years. They lack the knowledge of their bodies and the access to contraceptives,” says Abha Majumdar, gynecologist at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital. A recent research published in the British Journal of Cancer had elaborated how girls face higher risk of cervical cancer after early sexual contact. Experts argue that the government must first create the infrastructure required to deal with teenage pregnancies, enhance sexual awareness through schools and improve contraception access before effecting changes in the law. The high points
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Crackdown on docs conducting sex tests
Mumbai, March 16 According to information put out by the state government, the Maharashtra Medical Council found that the 21 doctors in various government hospitals were violating the provisions of the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques
(PCPNDT) Act. In all, 45 doctors in a number of towns like Wardha,
Yavatmal, Beed, Pune, Jalgaon, Ahmednagar, Sangli, Satara and Solapur have come under the scanner of the authorities. In
Beed, the authorities have busted a major racket where women carrying female foetuses were provided facilities for quick medical termination of pregnancies. In the past year, the authorities have cracked down on ultrasound centres where such tests were being conducted. More than 400 ultrasound centres have been sealed and doctors have been prohibited from carrying portable ultrasound machines. The tough stand taken by the Maharashtra Government is driving the business underground, said health officials.
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Women’s groups for early passage of anti-rape Bill
New Delhi, March 16 On the age of consent, the groups said retaining the age at 16 years was not a moral endorsement of teenage sexual activity and was merely an acknowledgement that Indian society did not wish to treat as criminals and rapists young men and women who might engage in consensual sexual acts. The groups welcomed the provisions to punish stalking, disrobing and voyeurism by law and also to penalise hospitals that deny treatment to rape victims. The groups have further urged the government to define rape victims as “persons” instead of women to recognise that men, women and transgenders can all be victims though the perpetrator of sexual violence can only be a man.
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Kerala Police gives clean chit to Bitti’s father
Cuttack, March 16 “We could not get any evidence against B B Mahanti. He has no role to play in impersonation and forgery cases against his son Biti,” said Kerala Police Team leader Josi Joesph after questioning the retired IPS officer for about four hours. Replying to a question, Joesph ruled out booking the retired IPS officer in the impersonation and forgery cases against his son. The Kerala Police has been investigating Bitihotra Mahanti, who allegedly worked as a probationary officer at a public sector bank at Kannur impersonating as Raghav Rajan from Andhra Pradesh. Raghav Rajan was arrested by Kerala police on March 8 following a tip off that he was Bitihotra Mahanti, who had jumped parole from a jail at Alwar in December 2006. Kerala police, during its visit to Odisha, has found that Bitihotra had forged his certificates from school level up to B Tech degree from a private university. He had allegedly superimposed the name of Raghav Rajan on the certificates, the Kerala police said. “I have always upheld rule of law. I am cooperating with investigation and will do so in future,” the former DGP told reporters. On his statement to the Kerala police, Mahanti said “I have been asked not to disclose what transpired between me and the Kerala police. This is creating a problem in court.” Sources said the team sought to know whether Mahanti was aware about Bitihotra's stay at Kannur in Kerala. Before questioning Mahanti, the Kerala police met present DGP Prakash Mishra at the state police headquarters here and apprised him about the case. The Kerala team, which had yesterday visited three educational institutions in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack where Bitihotra studied, concluded that the certificates produced in the name of Raghav Rajan were forged. The private university, college and school authorities informed the visiting police team that they never had any student called Raghav Rajan. — PTI
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India’s first navigational
satellite launch in June
Bangalore, March 16 According to ISRO officials, IRNSS is an independent regional navigation satellite system, designed to provide position accuracy of better than 10m over India and the region extending about 1,500 km around the country. “It is designed to provide an accurate real-time position, navigation and time (PNT) services to users on a variety of platforms with 24x7 service availability under all weather conditions,” he told mediapersons after addressing a symposium on “Indian Remote Sensing Satellite (IRS) Series: A Saga of 25 years”.
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H’bad blasts: NIA gets custody of two IM operatives New Delhi, March 16 During an in-chamber hearing, District Judge IS Mehta allowed the NIA's plea seeking custody of Syed Maqbool and Imran Khan to confront them with another alleged IM operative Obaid-Ur-Rehman, who has been brought from Bangalore Central Jail and is in NIA's custody till March 20 in connection with the case, sources said. Maqbool and Imran were brought from Tihar Jail after the court had yesterday issued production warrants against them. Sources said the NIA told the court that they need to confront both Maqbool and Imran with Obaid-Ur-Rehman as some conflicting statements have been given by them during their separate interrogation. The two were earlier remanded in NIA's custody for five days by the court during which they were taken to Hyderabad in connection with the blasts. Rehman was remanded to NIA's custody on March 13 after the agency had submitted that his custodial interrogation was required to unearth the entire conspiracy which led to the bombings. He was brought from Bangalore jail after the court had issued a production warrant against him. The sources had said the NIA had told the court that Rehman was a key IM operative and he may give some vital information against the banned group's members who were involved in the blasts. The NIA had told the court that Maqbool and Imran had revealed some important facts about the blasts, the sources had said. — PTI
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