Teachers continue to boycott midday meal duty in Bihar

PATNA: As over 10 lakh students continued to be deprived of midday meals due to primary school teachers boycotting food cooking duties for the third consecutive day on Saturday in Bihar, the government held "positive" talks with the agitators to end the logjam.

Free cooked food could not be served in about 5,000 government schools in the state due to boycott as a result of which nearly 10 lakh students were deprived of the midday meal, sources in state's education department said.

The government on Saturday held talks with representatives of primary teachers to end the boycott.

Though, there was no immediate result, the teachers' representatives said they would hold their meeting on Monday and convey the decision to the government.

Brajnandan Sharma, Bihar Primary School Teachers Association President told PTI, "Talks were held in positive environment. We will put the government appeal to withdraw the boycott before the primary teachers at a meeting here on July 29 and accordingly convey the decision to the government."

Director primary education, A K Chaudhary, who conducted talks on behalf of the government, said he told the teachers' representatives that it was not possible to make alternative arrangements for efficient running of such a gigantic programme "overnight", which he said they shared.

Chaudhary said he told the teachers to come out with a proposal in support of their demand, including keeping teachers away from cooking food for mid-day meal scheme, and the government would look into it.

Midday meal scheme is in operation in 70,000 schools across the state benefitting 1.30 crore children.

Chief minister Nitish Kumar had yesterday shared the primary teachers concern that their primary task is teaching but said making alternative arrangements for such a large number of schools would need time.

08.20 | 0 komentar | Read More

Obama urges US politicians to help strengthen middle class

WASHINGTON, District of Columbia: President Barack Obama on Saturday urged politicians in Washington to remain focused on strengthening the embattled US middle class.

The president's weekly radio and online address is part of a broader effort to reframe the debate over the economy as Congress - especially the Republican-controlled House of Representatives - prepares for a new fight over spending cuts and raising the debt ceiling.

"Over the past four and a half years, America has fought its way back from the worst recession of our lifetimes," Obama said.

"Thanks to the grit and resilience of the American people, we've ... begun to lay a new foundation for stronger, more durable economic growth."

However trends that "have been eroding middle-class security for decades ... still exist, and in some ways, the recession made them worse."

Washington has lost focus on strengthening the middle class, said the president.

"An endless parade of distractions, political posturing and phony scandals shift focus from what needs to be done. And as Washington prepares to enter another budget debate, the stakes could not be higher," he said.

According to Obama, "if we take a few bold steps - and if Washington is willing to shake off its complacency and set aside some of the slash-and-burn partisanship we've seen in recent years - our economy will keep getting stronger."

Obama called on politicians of both parties to support him, but his main problem comes from opposition Republicans, who say he offers nothing but higher spending and bigger government.

On Wednesday and Thursday, Obama made campaign-style swings through the Midwest and Florida focusing on strengthening the middle class, and vowed Saturday to continue this effort "over the next several weeks, in cities and towns across the country."

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Infected injections, unsafe blood transfusions see Hepatitis rising in India

NEW DELHI: India's Hepatitis burden is rising due to the use of infected injections and unsterilised medical equipment as well as unsafe blood transfusions.

In India, nearly two-thirds of the injections being used are unsafe, posing health hazards for the recipients. Unhygienic use of needles in acupuncture and tattooing also has a significant role in spreading hepatitis, according to experts.

There are five main Hepatitis viruses, referred to as types A, B, C, D and E. Hepatitis A and E are typically caused by ingestion of contaminated food or water. Hepatitis B, C and D usually occurs as a result of parenteral contact with infected body fluids. Hepatitis B is also transmitted by sexual contact.

"Hepatitis B (HBV) and Hepatitis C (HCV) infections are silent diseases that remain asymptomatic for decades. Due to lower awareness, more than 80 percent HCV patients and over 60 percent patients with HBV are diagnosed at a stage when the disease is irreversible," Anil Arora, chairman and head of the Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, New Delhi said.

Ajay Kumar, senior consultant gasteroenterology Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals said: "Transmission of Hepatitis through infected syringes and blood is a significant problem in India."

"Most patients in India get the Hepatitis B and C forms in childhood either through mother to child transmission or contact with other siblings," he said adding, many times after being infected the problem becomes chronic and they become permanent carriers of the virus.

He added that there was much need to organize a countrywide education campaign among health workers, patients and the community, especially in the rural areas.

Anupam Sibal group medical director and senior gasteroenterologist at Apollo, who specialises in paediatric Hepatitis, said immunisation against the disease is an effective prevention method.

Under the Universal Immunization Programme (UIP), the government provides Hepatitis B vaccine and the operational cost of vaccination to states and union territories for preventing Hepatitis B infection.

Since April 2005, the government has also introduced auto-disabled (AD) syringes for all vaccinations under UIP in all states. AD syringes are single use, self-locking syringes that cannot be used more than once.

This prevents misuse and contamination and cross- infection through repeated use of unsterile injection or equipment. Routine screening of blood units for Hepatitis B and C has been made mandatory for all blood banks to detect and discard contaminated blood units, a senior health ministry official said.

Hepatitis viruses are estimated to be among the top 10 causes of death in India. According to the World Health Organization, 240 million people globally are chronically infected with Hepatitis B and around 150 million are chronically infected with Hepatitis C.

Approximately 500 million people worldwide are living with either hepatitis B or hepatitis C. This means 1 in 12 people suffer from this deadly disease.

As for Hepatitis C, one out of every 100 in India may be chronically infected by the virus and most among these 12 million people do not know they are infected.

According to government figures, prevalence of Hepatitis C has been observed to be relatively higher in Punjab, Andhra Pradesh, Puducherry, Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram.

Interestingly, several studies conducted in these states have highlighted different risk factors which are believed to have led to the relatively higher prevalence of the condition.

"Hepatitis C usually affects people in the age group of 20 to 60 years while Hepatitis B is most common in the age groups 10 to 60 years," Kaushal Madan, senior consultant Hepatologist and Gastroenterologist, Medanta - The Medicity Hospital, Gurgaon said.

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Delhi gang rape: 'Video clip' to show that two accused were not in bus

NEW DELHI: A minor, who was made a witness by the accused to prove their innocence in December 16 gang-rape case, on Saturday produced before a court in Delhi a video clipping which showed that two of the four youths facing trial were present at the music function on the incident night.

A 15-year-old boy, appearing in defence of Vinay Sharma, showed a video recording to additional sessions judge Yogesh Khanna pointing out that Vinay and co-accused Pawan Gupta was present at a music function in south Delhi when the incident took place.

The boy said in his cross-examination by the prosecution that Vinay and Pawan were not in the bus in which a 23-year-old girl was gang-raped allegedly by a group of six persons.

Special public prosecutor Dayan Krishnan and Rajiv Mohan, however, countered the minor's contention saying he has concocted a false story at the behest of the accused and his family members as he is accused's childhood friend.

The boy, however, rejected the prosecution allegation saying he is not lying as he has taken oath in the name of God and is deposing the correct facts.

"There was no musical programme organised on December 16, 2012 in the evening time in the district park (south Delhi). The DDA/horticulture department does not allow such programme in the park and no one is allowed to enter the park after 7pm in the evening," the prosecution said.

Vinay had claimed that on December 16 last year, he was at a music function and not in the bus in which the incident of robbery of a carpenter and gang rape took place.

During the proceedings, the police also moved an application seeking summoning of three material witnesses in the case to prove that no activities such as musical events are permitted in the said park as claimed by the accused.

Krishnan said the defence has taken the plea of alibi. "Both accused Vinay and Pawan have led evidence in an attempt to falsely show their presence on the evening of December 16, 2012 at the district park in a musical event organised by church," Krishnan contended.

The court has kept the application pending saying it would decide it after defence witnesses's statement is closed.

As per the prosecution, the six persons in the bus were driver Ram Singh, Vinay, Akshay, Pawan, Mukesh and a juvenile and all of them had raped the girl and assaulted her male friend with an iron rod.

The victim died of injuries on December 29 last year while undergoing treatment in a Singapore hospital.

During the trial, Ram Singh was found dead in Tihar Jail on March 11 and court proceedings against him stand abated.

The sixth accused, a juvenile, faced an inquiry before the juvenile justice board here.

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Bombing targeting Afghan local police kills seven

KABUL, Afghanistan: A suicide bomber targeting a village police commander blew himself up in a bazaar in a lawless part of eastern Afghanistan, killing seven people, an official said on Saturday.

Clashes and bombings around Afghanistan in the past two days have claimed the lives of 15 people, including 11 Afghan policemen and four civilians.

Afghan forces have been in the lead for security around the country since mid-June, when foreign forces handed over control.

The Taliban have stepped up attacks since then and also are seeking to take advantage of the withdrawal of foreign troops that will see all international combat forces leave Afghanistan by the end of 2014. Insurgents increasingly have been targeting Afghan security forces and government officials.

In one such case, a suicide bomber targeted a village police commander late Friday in Qarabagh district of Ghazni province, said Mohammad Ali Ahmadi, the province's deputy provincial governor. Almadi said the bomber on a motorcycle loaded with explosives killed Local Police commander Dawlat Khan, three of his men, and three civilians in a bazaar.

The Afghan Local Police are a village-level force designed to be a first line of defense against the Taliban. They are often targeted by insurgents who see them as a direct threat to their ability to operate.

It is estimated that 50 to 70 Afghan policemen die every week.

In Helmand province, a roadside bomb in the province's Gerashk district on Saturday killed a family of four, including two children, police chief Hikmatullah Akmal said. A bomb also killed a police officer in a separate incident, an announcement said.

On Saturday, insurgents tried to kill the governor of northern Samangan province, Khirullah Anosh, with a remotely detonated roadside bomb as the official drove to work. His spokesman, Sediq Azizi, said the governor and three other people were slightly wounded.

In neighboring Baghlan province, a police officer was killed when insurgents on Saturday tried to kill the provincial police chief with a remotely detonated bomb that exploded next to his convoy, his spokesman said. Jawed Basharat said his chief, Gen. Asadullah Sherzad, was not hurt in the attack.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the Samangan and Baghlan attacks.

Another bomb killed two police officers and wounded four in central Ghor province, spokesman Abdul Hai Khateby said.

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Sushilkumar Shinde skips Delhi Police function at last moment

NEW DELHI: Delhi Police commissioner Neeraj Kumar on Friday performed bhoomi-pujan at the site of the proposed New Delhi Police headquarters at Parliament Street, even as Union home minister Sushilkumar Shinde, who was supposed to be the chief guest, skipped the event.

According to sources in the home ministry, Shinde was advised by his officers against attending what was originally planned to be a foundation stone laying ceremony, as the proposed building did not have the necessary environmental and height clearances.

Confirming that these clearances were still awaited, Neeraj Kumar - who called on Shinde soon after the bhoomi pujan - told reporters that the Delhi Police had decided not to go ahead with foundation stone laying ceremony and settled on just a "bhoomi pujan".

Incidentally, Shinde's decision to skip the Delhi Police event on Friday comes amid his reported unhappiness with Neeraj Kumar over his handling of the Nirbhaya episode, as well as protests against West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee during her visit to the Planning Commission in April this year, which resulted in roughing up of state finance minister Amit Mitra. The home minister is also said to be miffed over the Delhi Police chief's failure to prevent ransacking of his residence by Jat protestors while he was away touring Russia.

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Telangana issue: Andhra Pradesh Congress leaders meet central leadership

NEW DELHI: Congress appears to be gearing up to taking a call on the contentious Telangana statehood issue with party leader in charge of Andhra Pradesh saying that the consultation process is over and the time for a decision has come.

"The process of consultation is over. And the time to take a decision has come," Congress general secretary Digvijaya Singh told reporters after three-hour long discussions with various leaders including Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Kirankumar Reddy separately here.
"We will let you know the decision," Singh said. PCC chief Botsa Satyanarayana and deputy chief minister Damodar Rajanarasimha were among those with whom Singh held consultations today at the Congress 'war room' here.

The Congress core group chaired by Sonia Gandhi is expected to take a decision on convening a meeting of the working committee which is expected to take a call on the Telangana issue.

Leaders belonging to both pro and anti-Telangana factions are in the capital to build pressure on the central leadership.
Sources said in their separate meetings, that the chief minister, state Congress chief and the deputy chief minister have made detailed presentations Digvijaya Singh.

Recently Singh had submitted a report on the issue to Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

The Congress core group had discussed the Telangana issue earlier this month and decided to refer the long-pending matter to the Congress working committee for a final review.

Amidst talk that Congress leadership may take a decision in favour of separate Telangana, a ruling Congress MLA and two YSR Congress legislators from non-Telangana regions said in Hyderabad yesterday that they have "resigned" from their posts in support of the united Andhra Pradesh cause.

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Will work for defeat of Congress in next Lok Sabha elections, Prakash Karat says

NEW DELHI: Fed up with the nine years of UPA "misrule", Left parties will work for the defeat of Congress in the next LokSabha elections, CPM general secretary Prakash Karat said here on Friday.

He also said there was no question of supporting BJP or a BJP prime minister - NarendraModi or anyone else.

"We have made our position clear. After nine years of UPA misrule...UPA and Congress should be defeated. We are not going to work for their return," Karat told reporters here. He was replying to a query if there was a possibility of the Left parties supporting Congress after the next Lok Sabha elections.

When asked to comment on Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, an arch rival of the Left, announcing that her party won't support Modi as a prime ministerial candidate, Karat said, "For us there is no question of supporting (Narendra) Modi or anyone else from the BJP. She would support someone else or...We are not supporting BJP or BJP prime minister."

On the possibility of a Third Front government at the Centre like in 1996, he said, "The situation is very different now. Let us see what happens."

Karat made the remark when asked about his statement that the Third front parties will be open to outside support from Congress to form the government after the 2014 elections but his party will not help BJP or Congress to come to power.

He also dismissed poll surveys projecting that the Left has lost further ground in West Bengal after losing the state to TMC.

Claiming that the "surveys were not in tune with ground reality", Karat said such thing can happen only if "rigging takes place" like the one which took place in the just concluded Panchayat elections in West Bengal.

"The results of such a rigged election can only be a distorted one," he said, replying to a query whether the Left is admitting defeat in the Panchayat elections even before the results are announced.

The just concluded Panchayat election is the first grassroot poll held in West Bengal after Trinamool Congress came to power in the state.

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Missing Modi photos on BJP posters not an issue, Sushma Swaraj says

VIDISHA: Leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha, Sushma Swaraj said today that there is no point in raising the issue of Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi's missing photographs from BJP posters all along Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan's Janashirwad Yatra route.

"It is not at all an issue and the media is unnecessarily airing it," Swaraj told reporters after chairing the district vigilence and valuation committee meeting at the circuit house.

Photographs of Modi, who is the BJP's national poll Campaign committee chairman were missing from posters and banners along Chouhan's yatra route, resulting in a controversy.

Referring to the Batla House encounter judgement, she said that the court decision had proved that it was not a fake encounter as alleged by some people and it was a befitting reply to them.

She refused to comment on Congress general secretary Digvijaya Singh's stand that he stood by his opinion on the issue and would not apologise.

On the occasion, Swaraj also met BJP workers and later proceeded to take part in a BJP youth wing programme.

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German president says whistleblowers like Snowden merit respect

BERLIN: Germany's president, who helped expose the workings of East Germany's dreaded Stasi secret police, said whistleblowers like US fugitive Edward Snowden deserved respect for defending freedom.

Weighing in on a debate that could influence September's federal election, President Joachim Gauck struck a very different tone from that of chancellor Angela Merkel, who has assured Washington that Berlin would not shelter Snowden.

Gauck, who has little power but great moral authority, said people who work for the state were entitled to act according to their conscience, as institutions sometimes depart from the law.

"This will normally only be put right if information is made public. Whoever draws the public's attention to it and acts out of conscience deserves respect," he told Friday's Passauer Neue Presse newspaper.

After the fall of communism, Gauck, a dissident Lutheran pastor, headed a commission in charge of the Stasi's vast archive of files on people it had spied on, using them to root out former Stasi members and collaborators.

His unusual decision to speak out on a hot political issue comes as the fallout from the Snowden affair is dominating headlines in the run-up to the September 22 election where Merkel - who, like Gauck, comes from what was communist East Germany - hopes to win a third term.

"The fear that our telephones or mails are recorded and stored by foreign intelligence services is a constraint on the feeling of freedom and then the danger grows that freedom itself is damaged," he said.

"We are a democratic state with the rule of law with basic rights. Freedom is one of these basic rights."

Merkel has been at pains to maintain friendly relations with Washington at the same time as showing voters she understands their anger about reports of intrusive surveillance by the US National Security Agency's (NSA), where Snowden worked as a contractor.

She has repeatedly said the state has a duty to protect its citizens from the threat of terrorism, but that the response must be proportionate.

Opposition parties have accused Merkel of failing to press Washington for answers about the scale of NSA activity.

Reports that German spies cooperated with U.S. agents caused an outcry and one crucial question is how much she or her chief of staff knew. So far she has offered few answers.

The issue has potential to damage Merkel in the election, although opinion polls show little impact so far on a double-digit lead for her conservatives over the main opposition Social Democrats (SPD).

Referring to communism and Nazism, Gauck said Germany had painful experiences of living in a security state where no one was safe to speak out:

"We Germans have had to experience the abuse of state power with secret services twice in our history. And therefore we are sensitive (to this) and our American friends must accept that."

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