Tuesday, September 30, 2014
After eliminating polio, govt targets measles
An ambitious drive to eliminate or control a host of diseases, including measles, which affects lakhs of people and leave many killed every year will be launched, Health Minister Harsh Vardhan on Monday said.
Dr. Vardhan said the government was already working towards eliminating measles by 2015 and Rubella, also known as German measles, and ‘Kala-azar’ or black fever by 2015.
It also aims to eliminate parasitic disease Filaria by 2015 and Leprosy at district level by 2017.
“We got rid of Smallpox in 1977 and Polio in 2014. There is no reason why we cannot finish others,” he said during a press conference here.
Dr. Vardhan said the government has called a meeting of health secretaries from across the country on October 9 in this regard, following which a nationwide programme will be launched regarding elimination of such diseases and others.
“We have problems of hypertension, diabetes, cancer, obesity among others and a detailed module and protocol to deal with them is ready. There will be a final discussion on October 9 before we roll it out,” he said.
Boost for Ayush
Hinting that ‘Ayush’, which includes Ayurveda and Yoga, may receive a boost under the BJP government, Dr. Vardhan said the Health Ministry is ready with ‘The Recognition of New Systems of Medicine Bill, 2014,’ to determine the distinctive characteristics of alternative systems of medicine.
The government for the first time will also host the ’World Ayurveda Congress’ between November 7—9 and 24 ministers from 40 countries will participate in it, he said.
“Universal Health Assurance Mission, which is yet to get the government’s nod, will have 50 essential drugs with a package of diagnostics and about 30 Ayush drugs that will be made accessible to all citizens,” he said.
Sep 30 2014 : The Economic Times (Delhi)
Aryan Migration Theory may Soon Become History
Ritika Chopra
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New Delhi
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DU's Sanskrit dept kickstarts project to prove Aryans were not foreigners
Delhi University's Sanskrit department has thrown its weight behind a project that could possibly rewrite history to fit the Sangh Parivar's view of India's past -a move that's likely to gain political colour considering the resounding victory of the Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party in the general election.Here's what most history books tell us -first there was the Indus Valley Civilization that flourished in places such as Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa. Then, around 3,500 years ago, this went into decline as the Aryan nomadic tribes crossed the mountains and entered India. But the Hindu nationalist narrative, as espoused by the Sangh Parivar and its affiliates, disputes what they call a European-imposed narrative. They say the Aryans were an indigenous people -not migrants.
The project was announced last week by Delhi University's Sanskrit department in the presence of OP Kohli -a BJP leader recently appointed Gujarat governor -and vice-chancellor Dinesh Singh at an event marking 60 years of Sanskrit research.Sanskrit department head Ramesh Bharadwaj strongly denied that this was an attempt to validate a particular party line and that he was only interested in putting forward a convincing academic argument. Singh for his part has come under intense criticism for implementing a four-degree undergraduate programme that's been withdrawn after the new government was formed.
The project is unlikely to find the support of the university's history department. “This is a meaningless debate. We all now know that the entire human race can trace its ancestry back to Africa. So how does it matter whether Aryans were indigenous to our country or were outsiders? There are far more serious issues of archaeological and scientific research that need to addressed in our country ,“ said Nayanjot Lahiri, a professor of archaeology in the history department at Delhi University .
There's no evidence to back the claim, said renowned historian DN Jha, who specialises in ancient and medieval Indian history .
“This debate is not new, but I can say that at present there is no scientific evidence to prove that IndoAryans were indigenous to our subcontinent. But since the political ambience in the country has changed, there will be many such attempts to prove this,“ said Jha, who used to be a Delhi University professor. “I have no comment to offer except that a serious historian will only dismiss such research.Moreover, the Sanskrit department of Delhi University is not at all competent to go into such questions.“
The idea is to disprove the Aryan migration theory , proposed by German linguist and Sanskrit scholar Max Mueller, using scientific facts.
“There are two schools of thought as far as the origin of the IndoAryans is concerned. We want to collate archaeological and new scientific evidence along with the Sanskrit department's own research of ancient manuscripts and texts to prove that Indian culture was not a foreign import,“ said Bharadwaj, who argued that the opposite was true. “In fact, the Aryans belonged to he subcontinent and migrated rom here and influenced cultures abroad,“ he said.
The last NDA government had made an attempt to disprove the Aryan migration theory by chang ng the history textbooks in 2004, he year in which it lost the general election. Human resource development ministry officials declined to comment on the matter.
The Sanskrit department will soon seek the help of YS Rao, recently appointed head of the Indian Council of Historical Research ICHR) by the BJP government, to collate historical evidence. Rao did not respond to ET's calls and emails. Rao is a controversial figure, having once written in support of the caste system besides blaming Muslim rule for India's social ills.His stand on a strongly divisive issue was made clear by his support or the contention that the Babri Masjid was built on the site of a emple.Nationalistic scholars have argued that there are several linguistic, archaeological, literary and, more recently , genetic pieces of evidence to support the belief that Aryans originated in the Indian subcontinent. The issue was one of he most hotly contested debates in Western and Indian academic circles throughout the 1990s.
Bharadwaj pointed to the pattern of similarities between ancient Sanskrit words and ancient words n classical Western languages as one of the linguistic examples of Indian influence on cultures abroad.He also cited similarities between he architecture and culture of the ndus Valley Civilization and Mesopotamian Civilisation, the latter considered the cradle of civiliza ion in the West.
As for genetic evidence, a study published by scientists from the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology in Hyderabad said that the origin of genetic diversity found in South Asia is much older than 3,500 years, when the Indo-Aryans were said to have begun migrating to India. The study had appeared in the American Journal of Human Genetics in 2011. “Many phonetic laws of French language are the same as he one formulated by ancient Sanskrit grammarian Panini. The German language is also similar to Sanskrit. So when there is so much evidence in favour of our view, then here must be an effort to bring some finality to this debate. Why should we continue teaching the European theory to our children?“ Bharadwaj said.
According to Bharadwaj, the Sanskrit department will start holding workshops with different scholars n January next year in pursuit of ts project.
The project was announced last week by Delhi University's Sanskrit department in the presence of OP Kohli -a BJP leader recently appointed Gujarat governor -and vice-chancellor Dinesh Singh at an event marking 60 years of Sanskrit research.Sanskrit department head Ramesh Bharadwaj strongly denied that this was an attempt to validate a particular party line and that he was only interested in putting forward a convincing academic argument. Singh for his part has come under intense criticism for implementing a four-degree undergraduate programme that's been withdrawn after the new government was formed.
The project is unlikely to find the support of the university's history department. “This is a meaningless debate. We all now know that the entire human race can trace its ancestry back to Africa. So how does it matter whether Aryans were indigenous to our country or were outsiders? There are far more serious issues of archaeological and scientific research that need to addressed in our country ,“ said Nayanjot Lahiri, a professor of archaeology in the history department at Delhi University .
There's no evidence to back the claim, said renowned historian DN Jha, who specialises in ancient and medieval Indian history .
“This debate is not new, but I can say that at present there is no scientific evidence to prove that IndoAryans were indigenous to our subcontinent. But since the political ambience in the country has changed, there will be many such attempts to prove this,“ said Jha, who used to be a Delhi University professor. “I have no comment to offer except that a serious historian will only dismiss such research.Moreover, the Sanskrit department of Delhi University is not at all competent to go into such questions.“
The idea is to disprove the Aryan migration theory , proposed by German linguist and Sanskrit scholar Max Mueller, using scientific facts.
“There are two schools of thought as far as the origin of the IndoAryans is concerned. We want to collate archaeological and new scientific evidence along with the Sanskrit department's own research of ancient manuscripts and texts to prove that Indian culture was not a foreign import,“ said Bharadwaj, who argued that the opposite was true. “In fact, the Aryans belonged to he subcontinent and migrated rom here and influenced cultures abroad,“ he said.
The last NDA government had made an attempt to disprove the Aryan migration theory by chang ng the history textbooks in 2004, he year in which it lost the general election. Human resource development ministry officials declined to comment on the matter.
The Sanskrit department will soon seek the help of YS Rao, recently appointed head of the Indian Council of Historical Research ICHR) by the BJP government, to collate historical evidence. Rao did not respond to ET's calls and emails. Rao is a controversial figure, having once written in support of the caste system besides blaming Muslim rule for India's social ills.His stand on a strongly divisive issue was made clear by his support or the contention that the Babri Masjid was built on the site of a emple.Nationalistic scholars have argued that there are several linguistic, archaeological, literary and, more recently , genetic pieces of evidence to support the belief that Aryans originated in the Indian subcontinent. The issue was one of he most hotly contested debates in Western and Indian academic circles throughout the 1990s.
Bharadwaj pointed to the pattern of similarities between ancient Sanskrit words and ancient words n classical Western languages as one of the linguistic examples of Indian influence on cultures abroad.He also cited similarities between he architecture and culture of the ndus Valley Civilization and Mesopotamian Civilisation, the latter considered the cradle of civiliza ion in the West.
As for genetic evidence, a study published by scientists from the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology in Hyderabad said that the origin of genetic diversity found in South Asia is much older than 3,500 years, when the Indo-Aryans were said to have begun migrating to India. The study had appeared in the American Journal of Human Genetics in 2011. “Many phonetic laws of French language are the same as he one formulated by ancient Sanskrit grammarian Panini. The German language is also similar to Sanskrit. So when there is so much evidence in favour of our view, then here must be an effort to bring some finality to this debate. Why should we continue teaching the European theory to our children?“ Bharadwaj said.
According to Bharadwaj, the Sanskrit department will start holding workshops with different scholars n January next year in pursuit of ts project.
Sep 30 2014 : The Times of India (Delhi)
Assam Needs Attention
Centre and northeast states must evolve long-term strategy to prevent calamitous flood disasters
Within days of the deluge in Jammu & Kashmir, Assam and Meghalaya were struck by devastating floods that killed nearly 80 people and affected an estimated 12 lakh across the two northeastern states. The two state governments were inadequately prepared to tackle the flood fury that wreaked havoc across 13 districts of Assam and most parts of Meghalaya in the third week of September. A combination of lethargy and unpreparedness of the National Disaster Response Force and its state variant in Assam caused vast swathes of land to be inundated, leaving hundreds of thousands marooned.Unlike in J&K, where despite nearly 300 deaths the army and ITBP moved swiftly on the rescue and rehabilitation fronts, the situation in Assam and Meghalaya turned grim with little assistance manpower or financial from the Centre. Distracted by dissidence within the ruling Congress, the Tarun Gogoi administration could offer little resistance to water rushing down the hills from Meghalaya. The Met department had forecast heavy to very heavy rainfall and yet the state government's reaction was delayed.The army and NDRF's emergency aid and rescue missions were too little too late, especially in the worst-hit Goalpara and Kamrup districts.
Floods occur with brutal regularity in the northeast, especially Assam, but the response is often reactive, with no effective mitigation or countermeasures that could prevent hazards from turning into disasters. Instead of blaming each other for the flood mess, the central and Assam governments must implement a coordinated rehabilitation plan to assist people who have taken shelter in relief camps. On its part, the Centre could allocate funds to Assam and Meghalaya from the Prime Minister's National Relief Fund. But the state governments too must focus on long-term capacity building, early warning systems, fail-safe communication and anticipatory deployment of response forces.
Floods occur with brutal regularity in the northeast, especially Assam, but the response is often reactive, with no effective mitigation or countermeasures that could prevent hazards from turning into disasters. Instead of blaming each other for the flood mess, the central and Assam governments must implement a coordinated rehabilitation plan to assist people who have taken shelter in relief camps. On its part, the Centre could allocate funds to Assam and Meghalaya from the Prime Minister's National Relief Fund. But the state governments too must focus on long-term capacity building, early warning systems, fail-safe communication and anticipatory deployment of response forces.
Sep 30 2014 : The Times of India (Delhi)
Heart disease is hitting Indians early: US study
Malathy Iyer
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Mumbai:
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In the Indian pool of heart patients, almost every second patient has high blood pressure, every fourth has diabetes and every fifth has plaque deposits in his her arteries. And Indians are getting heart problems almost a decade ahead of patients in western countries.This scientific picture of Indian heart diseases comes from the American College of Cardiology's newly setup study centres across India.
ACC is a not-for-profit medical association that works out guidelines for cardiac treatment which are in variably followed globally.
The ongoing study provided data of 85,295 patients who clocked 2.11 lakh visits to out-patient departments of 15 hospitals from Mumbai to Patna over the last 26 months. Of these patients, 60,836 were found to have heart disease. In capturing all-India data, this is one of the most scientific studies,“ said Dr Prafulla Kerkar, the head of Parel's KEM Hospital's cardiology department. He is also the chairperson of ACC's Pinnacle registry's India Quality Improvement Programme.
In the backdrop of World Heart Day on Monday , the ACC data underlines that the average age of a heart patient in India is 52 years. “If one looks at ACC's American registry, the average age is much higher in the sixties,“ said Dr Ganesh Kumar, cardiologist at Hiranandani Hospital in Powai and vice-chairperson of the study.
The ACC study for the first time shows how badly diabetes affects the Indian heart. It provides the breakup of the 13,077 patients with diabetes who visited the 15 centres a total of 35,441 times.
“Here, we found a doubling of the diseases. For instance, 32% of the diabetic patients had narrowed arteries or coronary artery disease. Almost 10% of them had heart failure and 70% had hypertension. The corresponding numbers for non-diabetic patients are half,“ said Dr Kumar. He said the actual number of diabetic patients with heart complications would run into millions.
ACC is a not-for-profit medical association that works out guidelines for cardiac treatment which are in variably followed globally.
The ongoing study provided data of 85,295 patients who clocked 2.11 lakh visits to out-patient departments of 15 hospitals from Mumbai to Patna over the last 26 months. Of these patients, 60,836 were found to have heart disease. In capturing all-India data, this is one of the most scientific studies,“ said Dr Prafulla Kerkar, the head of Parel's KEM Hospital's cardiology department. He is also the chairperson of ACC's Pinnacle registry's India Quality Improvement Programme.
In the backdrop of World Heart Day on Monday , the ACC data underlines that the average age of a heart patient in India is 52 years. “If one looks at ACC's American registry, the average age is much higher in the sixties,“ said Dr Ganesh Kumar, cardiologist at Hiranandani Hospital in Powai and vice-chairperson of the study.
The ACC study for the first time shows how badly diabetes affects the Indian heart. It provides the breakup of the 13,077 patients with diabetes who visited the 15 centres a total of 35,441 times.
“Here, we found a doubling of the diseases. For instance, 32% of the diabetic patients had narrowed arteries or coronary artery disease. Almost 10% of them had heart failure and 70% had hypertension. The corresponding numbers for non-diabetic patients are half,“ said Dr Kumar. He said the actual number of diabetic patients with heart complications would run into millions.
Monday, September 29, 2014
Economic and Political Weekly: Table of Contents
Editorials
Neorealists on both sides have yet again constrained India-China relations within the old rules of the game.
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Commentary
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Commentary
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Commentary
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Special Articles
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National Election Study 2014 / Special Issues
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National Election Study 2014 / Special Issues
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National Election Study 2014 / Special Issues
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National Election Study 2014 / Special Issues
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National Election Study 2014 / Special Issues
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National Election Study 2014 / Special Issues
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National Election Study 2014 / Special Issues
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Editorials
Where is the current foreign portfolio investment rush leading the Indian economy to?
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Editorials
Will Scotland's failed push for independence lead to fundamental change in the UK?
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Book Reviews
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Book Reviews
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Special Articles
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Special Articles
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Notes
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Commentary
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Discussion
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