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Tag: birth

  • Mother Teresa Birth Anniversary: Honorary American Citizen and Other Facts About the Selfless Nun

    Mother Teresa Birth Anniversary: Honorary American Citizen and Other Facts About the Selfless Nun

    Today, August 26th, marks the birth commemoration of the worshipped philanthropic and Nobel laureate, Mother Teresa. Brought into the world in Skopje, presently part of North Macedonia, in 1910, Mother Teresa’s caring commitment to the devastated and dejected has made history. On this event, we dig into a few less popular parts of her wonderful life.

    1. Privileged American Resident

    In acknowledgment of her faithful commitment to compassionate causes, Mother Teresa was conceded privileged American citizenship in 1996. This esteemed status was offered to her by then-U.S. President Bill Clinton. At that point, President Clinton commented, “In giving Mother Teresa privileged American citizenship, the US respects a lady who has turned into an image of empathy for the world.” This uncommon honor featured her worldwide effect and the general meaning of her work.

    1. Establishing of the Ministers of Noble cause

    Mother Teresa’s excursion of empathy started when she passed on her home at 18 years old to join the Sisters of Loreto, an Irish people group of nuns with missions in India. Following quite a long while of instructing, she encountered a groundbreaking call inside her business. Motivated by this call, she established the Teachers of Good cause in 1950. The association’s essential mission was to serve “the least fortunate of poor people” and give care, love, and respect to those out of luck.

    1. Nobel Harmony Prize Laureate

    In 1979, Mother Teresa was granted the Nobel Harmony Prize for her eager endeavors to reduce enduring and her devotion to aiding the penniless. The Nobel Panel noted, “She has devoted her life to aiding poor people, the wiped out, and the withering, and to achieving a feeling of harmony and fellowship among the people groups of the earth.” Notwithstanding this acknowledgment, she stayed humble, underscoring that her work was just a sign of her confidence.

    1. Humble Starting points

    Mother Teresa’s initial life was set apart by humble starting points. She was conceived Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu to Albanian guardians and experienced childhood in a humble family. Her obligation to serving others was clear since early on, and she joined the Sisters of Loreto to seek after this calling. Her excursion from a modest community in the Balkans to turning into a worldwide symbol of benevolence stays a motivational story.

    1. Worldwide Reach

    The Evangelists of Noble cause, the association established by Mother Teresa, immediately extended its scope past India. Today, it works in north of 130 nations, giving help to those deprived through many administrations, including hospices, shelters, schools, and facilities. Mother Teresa’s inheritance keeps on contacting the existences of endless people around the world.

    On this exceptional day, as the world recognizes the birth commemoration of Mother Teresa, her persevering through inheritance helps us to remember the significant effect that one person’s sympathy and devotion can have on the existences of millions. Her obligation to serving humankind, paying little mind to identity, religion, or foundation, fills in as an immortal illustration of the force of magnanimity and love.

  • ‘Caught between a rock and a hard place’: FDA considers over-the-counter birth control

    ‘Caught between a rock and a hard place’: FDA considers over-the-counter birth control

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    “I’m very aware [that] in this exact moment in time … we have just spent months … screaming ‘the FDA is a scientific authority,’ over and over and over again,” said Greer Donley, an associate professor at the University of Pittsburgh law school who favors increased abortion access. “It makes it harder for us to criticize [the FDA] when we think there are legitimate flaws with their decision.”

    The agency’s independent advisers met Tuesday and will meet Wednesday to review data from the pill’s maker to decide whether to recommend the FDA approve the drug, Opill, for over-the-counter sale. FDA approval would be a major step forward for the decadeslong campaign to have the U.S. join dozens of other countries where hormonal contraceptives are available without a prescription. A decision is expected sometime this summer.

    HRA Pharma, the pill’s maker — backed by many health care providers and abortion-rights supporters — argue it’s especially incumbent upon the Biden administration to grant approval given the swift erosion of abortion access after the fall of Roe v. Wade last summer and the pressing need to help patients avoid unwanted pregnancies.

    However, in briefing documents for the two-day meeting made public Friday, FDA staff warned that consumers may not be able to understand and follow the pill’s instructions, which include taking it at the same time every day, potentially lowering its effectiveness. The FDA also raised concerns about the pill’s manufacturer relying on 50-year-old data from when the pill was approved for prescription use in 1973.

    Groups pushing the Biden administration to approve Opill, including Ibis Reproductive Health and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, told reporters Monday the FDA’s analysis is “surprising” and “disappointing,” and “absolutely did not reflect what we know about the strong body of evidence on safety and effectiveness” of the pill. The groups voiced confidence that the agency’s questions and concerns would be put to rest after this week’s advisory committees’ deliberations.

    But other experts say the Biden administration and the FDA face a difficult decision — and they’re likely to be excoriated and accused of political interference whether the pill is approved over the objections of FDA staff or rejected.

    “We’re caught between a rock and a hard place,” said Donley.

    The FDA and the White House did not respond to requests for comment.

    Political pressure is also coming from anti-abortion and religious groups, including the Catholic Medical Association, the National Association of Catholic Nurses and the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists. They are demanding the FDA block OTC approval of Opill.

    Kristan Hawkins, president of the advocacy group Students for Life Action, said she fears dropping restrictions on birth control pills will lead to an increase in unprotected sex, adding that she is “offended” the FDA is considering the pill’s over-the-counter approval given the country’s current record rate of sexually transmitted infections.

    Similar predictions of increased promiscuity were made when Plan B, the so-called “morning after” pill, was up for over-the-counter approval and, a decade after it was approved for non-prescription sale, they have yet to come true, said Carolyn Sufrin, an associate professor of gynecology and obstetrics at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

    The FDA’s advisory committee meeting Tuesday focused on how trial data from HRA Pharma could translate into real-world use among U.S. consumers. In its application to the FDA, HRA Pharma submitted results of a recent study on how well consumers could use Opill without help from a health care provider. They asked more than 1,700 participants to decide whether the pill was appropriate for them and then followed nearly 900 participants, who electronically recorded daily whether they took the pill.

    HRA Pharma concluded its study showed that the general population, including adolescents and people with limited health literacy, could correctly take the pill.

    But FDA scientists raised significant questions about the data in general. They noted that the company didn’t submit the study protocol to the agency ahead of time and also flagged that a “substantial portion” of study participants said they took more pills than they had received — casting doubt on the new study’s rigor. The scientists also questioned whether the company’s submission of data used to approve Opill for prescription use would still apply today, when a dramatic rise in obesity over recent decades is a much bigger health issue than it was in the early 1970s.

    Advocates in favor of a non-prescription birth control pill held a demonstration outside the White House on Monday, featuring testimony from medical experts and teenagers who have encountered barriers to birth control access, as well as an obstacle course to symbolize what patients currently have to go through to get a prescription. Rally organizers argued that researchers have had decades to evaluate the safety and efficacy of the pills and have not issued concerns before, emphasizing that the public health benefits of avoiding unwanted pregnancies outweigh the risks.

    “More than 50 years of research and science speaks for itself on the safety and efficacy of birth control pills,” said Angela Maske, manager of Free the Pill Youth Council. “The data show that people are able to self-screen for contraindications and use the medication appropriately whether or not they’re under the supervision of a physician.”

    Many advocates fear that no matter how robust the data presented to the FDA or how much the Biden administration pledges to “follow the science” in its decision, decades of social discomfort and heated battles around the idea of sexually active young people will play a role in whether non-prescription Opill is approved.

    “When it comes to people being able to control their own reproductive destinies and desires, there always seems to be a lot more government involvement and control of what they can and cannot have easy access to,” said Sufrin. “There tends to be much easier access to less politically charged medications. Something as common as ibuprofen carries much higher risks of complications and high-risk events than the drug up for consideration for over-the-counter status.”

    Previous clashes between science and politics when it comes to birth control access loom large over this debate — particularly the yearslong regulatory and legal battle to get over-the-counter approval for Plan B emergency contraception that Mara Gandal-Powers, director of birth control access and a senior counsel at the National Women’s Law Center, sees as a cautionary tale.

    “It became clear through litigation that it was an act of political interference,” Gandal-Powers said. “There was no science backing the age restriction. It was just based on the ideological belief that young people should not have easy access to contraception.”

    Given Plan B’s approval history and the current political tug-of-war over reproductive rights access, lawsuits and citizen petitions are possible no matter what decision the FDA makes.

    At day’s end, “we can’t pretend that this is happening in a vacuum outside of politics,” said Donley. “All of these decisions are also political.”

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    ( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

  • JK’s Sex Ratio At Birth Better Than National Average: NHM Director

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    SRINAGAR: The sex ratio at birth in Jammu and Kashmir is better than the national average, while sex determination is being regulated through effective implementation of the PCPNDT Act, NHM Director Ayushi Sudan said on Saturday.

    Talking to reporters on the sidelines of an event in Srinagar, she said that the sex ratio in J&K is definitely better than the national average because of social factors.

    “There is still a need for capacity building for the Pre-conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (prohibition of sex selection) Act, 1994 and the main aim of the act is to prohibit sex determination, especially at the time of prenatal diagnosis,” Sudan said.

    She added that gender bias and sex determination are critical public health concerns, which are being regulated through effective implementation of the PCPNDT Act, for which a comprehensive action strategy has been devised and monitored. “There is a need for capacity building of our stakeholders so that this act can be handled in a better and more effective way. With better understanding, we are hopeful of further improvement in the future,” she said.

    Sudan also stated that streamlining the PCPNDT Act is only one aspect to improve the sex ratio, but there are several other aspects like women empowerment and different programs that can help in further improvement of the sex ratio at birth in J&K. “With women’s empowerment, there will be further improvement in the future,” she said.

    Notably, as per the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5), the sex ratio at birth for children born (females per 1,000 males) has increased from 923 in 2015-2016 to 976 in 2019-2020. As per the NFHS-5 data, against the national average of 929 girl children born for every 1,000 boys, J&K has 976 girl children born for every 1,000 boys. The urban areas have a slight edge over rural pockets, with 978 girl children born for every 1,000 boys in urban areas, while the rate was 976 in rural areas, she added. (KNO)

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    #JKs #Sex #Ratio #Birth #National #Average #NHM #Director

    ( With inputs from : kashmirlife.net )

  • 153 years after his birth, looking back at Dadasaheb’s amazing life & first film

    153 years after his birth, looking back at Dadasaheb’s amazing life & first film

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    Mumbai: Indian cinema today is the most prolific film industry in the world with a broad range of content from mainstream masala entertainers to meaningful cinema, to experimental films in diverse genres and different languages.

    In its 110 years, it has seen several changes on various fronts. including the creative and the technological. And everything that Indian cinema entails traces back to one man — Dadasaheb Phalke.

    Phalke, who was born on this day 153 years ago, laid the foundation of Indian cinema with his first feature ‘Raja Harishchandra’ in 1913 after getting inspired by the French silent short film ‘The Life of Christ’, which presented the life of Jesus in 25 tableaux based on the canonical gospels.

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    Filmmaking, however, was not his career goal from the start. Phalke, who was born Dhundiraj Govind Phalke on April 30, 1870, to a Sanskrit scholar father and a homemaker mother, had two brothers and four sisters. At the age of 15, he enrolled at Mumbai’s oldest art college — Sir J.J. School of Art.

    He completed a year of the drawing course and at the beginning of 1886, he accompanied his elder brother, Shivrampant, to Baroda where he married a girl from a Maratha family. He lost his first wife and child to plague.

    He later joined Kala Bhavan, the Faculty of Fine Arts, at the Maharaja Sayajirao University, Baroda, and completed a course in oil and watercolour painting in 1890. He also achieved proficiency in architecture and modelling. The year 1890 was a defining year for him as he bought a camera and started experimenting with photography, processing, and printing.

    He relocated from Godhra to Baroda after his photography business failed to take flight. In Baroda, he is said to have met a German illusionist named Carl Hertz, from whom he learnt some ‘magic’, which also involved a few techniques of trick photography, all skills which Phalke ultimately ended up using in his films.

    Phalke did several jobs such as that of a draftsman for the Archaeological Survey of India and even had his own printing press — Laxmi Art Printing Works, where he collaborated with the great painter Raja Ravi Verma, whose work continues to inspire the likes of filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali.

    In early 1890, he married his second wife Saraswati and had a successful long marriage with her. Saraswati doubled as his collaborator. For ‘Raja Harishchandra’, she not only worked on the costume design and catering, but also sold off her valuables to ensure her husband’s dream became a reality.

    She learnt the ropes of filmmaking from Dadasaheb and took the load off him in several departments. She developed the film’s reels, thereby becoming India’s first film editor, technician and financer, and also taught the mannerisms of women to male actors in the film because Indian society back then looked down upon women in the performing arts.

    No woman, as a result, came forward to act in Phalke’s debut film resulting in male actors taking up female roles. The struggles of making ‘Raja Harishchandra’ have been narrated in the 2009 Marathi film ‘Harishchandrachi Factory’, which was the second Marathi movie to be selected to represent India in the competition for the Best Foreign Language Film at the Oscars.

    ‘Raja Harishchandra’ was released to widespread applause, thus laying the foundation of Indian cinema and bringing money to Phalke’s company.

    The recently released streaming series ‘Jubilee’ tells the story of the Golden Age of Hindi cinema, delving into the evolution of Himanshu Rai and Devika Rani’s Bombay Talkies.

    By the time of Bombay Talkies, Indian cinema had struck deep roots in the imagination of the people. But Dadasaheb Phalke made India’s first film in difficult times with limited resources and went on to roll out five more even as World War I was raging — three decades before Bombay Talkies was founded.

    Today, Indian cinema is a global force to reckon with. The credit for it goes to the ground-breaking work of Dadasaheb Phalke, who along with his wife refused to be cowed by challenges and paved the way for the collaborative art form of filmmaking in India.

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    ( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

  • Leaders stress on building strong institutions on Ambedkar birth anniversary

    Leaders stress on building strong institutions on Ambedkar birth anniversary

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    New Delhi: A host of leaders paid tributes to Bhim Rao Ambedkar, the architect of India’s Constitution, on his 132nd birth anniversary on Friday, with many recalling his efforts to uplift the marginalised sections of society and others stressing the need to build strong institutions and create an egalitarian society.

    President Droupadi Murmu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and several others remembered the social reformer, economist and jurist, who went on to become the first law minister of the country.

    Prime Minister Modi said in a tweet Babasaheb dedicated his life to the empowerment of the deprived and exploited sections of society. He also shared an audio clip of his earlier remarks on Ambedkar’s life.

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    At a ceremony in the Parliament complex, President Murmu and the prime minister were joined by Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar and Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla in paying floral tributes to Ambedkar. Birla called him an architect of social transformation who fostered equality, freedom, justice and brotherhood.

    Union Home Minister Amit Shah paid a floral tribute to Ambedkar in Birbhum in West Bengal. “Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar sought to illuminate the nation by kindling the spark within every Indian. He laboured to create a constitution that provides justice, equality, and freedom to every citizen,” he said in a tweet.

    Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said he “respectfully remembers and salutes” him on his birth anniversary. “Along with his contribution to the making of the Constitution, his active role in building the institutions of independent India is incomparable. Babasaheb is an inspiration for all of us in building a strong India,” he added.

    Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao unveiled a 125-ft-tall statue of Ambedkar in Hyderabad. Flower petals were showered on the statute from a helicopter. The statue was built using 360 tonnes of stainless steel and 114 tonnes of bronze, at a cost of Rs 146.50 crore.

    Born in 1891 in a Dalit family in Mhow, near Indore, in the then Central Province (now Madhya Pradesh), Ambedkar rose from a humble background to become a leading voice of the marginalised people during the freedom struggle and is credited with introducing several social reforms.

    BJP chief JP Nadda paid his tribute to Ambedkar at the party headquarters in Delhi. He said Prime Minister Modi is working to fulfil his dream by working for the development and prosperity of all sections of society.

    However, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge took a swipe at the government, saying the “culture of forcing silence” and branding people “anti-nationals” is a dangerous trend that will finish our democracy and destroy the Constitution. He recalled that Ambedkar had warned about the ills of ‘hero-worship’ or ‘Bhakti’ in the context of Indian politics.

    In an article in The Telegraph, former Congress chief Sonia Gandhi said, “As we honour Babasaheb’s legacy today, we must remember his prescient warning that the success of the Constitution depends on the conduct of the people entrusted with the duty to govern.”

    She also said the regime in power is “misusing and subverting” the institutions of the Constitution, and the people must act to defend the Constitution from this “systematic assault”.

    “Equality, liberty, fraternity & justice – the universal values Babasaheb Ambedkar championed, will always remain our guiding light & strength! Tributes to the architect of India’s Constitution on his birth anniversary,” said Rahul Gandhi.

    BSP president Mayawati said Ambedkar laid the strong foundation of a modern India by giving an ultra-humanist and welfare Constitution. “His life struggle is a ray of hope for crores of poor, labourers, deprived and other toiling people even today,” she said.

    In a tweet, she said, “Taking inspiration from him, the Bahujan Samaj Party was established on this day, 14th April, in 1984, to take forward the stalled caravan of self-respect and to unite the people who were divided on the basis of caste, which has set an example of social change and economic liberation, especially in UP.”

    Addressing a gathering at the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) headquarters, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal extolled Ambedkar for laying out a vision for equality and egalitarianism in society. He hailed his pursuit of higher education during the British era when not many Indians thought about getting degrees from institutions such as Columbia University and the London School of Economics.

    Ambedkar knew the value of education and its role in lifting society from poverty and bringing equality among people, he added.

    Several other chief ministers and governors also remembered Ambedkar’s efforts to make India a developed society.

    Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde garlanded the portrait of Ambedkar at “Varsha”, his official residence in south Mumbai, and greeted the people on the occasion. He later visited Chaitya Bhoomi, the memorial of the chief architect of the Constitution, at Dadar in central Mumbai, and paid tributes.

    Maharashtra Governor Ramesh Bais tweeted, “Respectful tributes to the Architect of Indian Constitution Bharat Ratna Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar on the occasion of his birth anniversary.”

    Andhra Pradesh Governor S Abdul Nazeer and Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy, Telangana Governor Tamilisai Soundararjan, Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel also paid tributes to Ambedkar.

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    #Leaders #stress #building #strong #institutions #Ambedkar #birth #anniversary

    ( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

  • Birth anniversary of richest Nizam of Hyderabad Mir Osman Ali Khan observed

    Birth anniversary of richest Nizam of Hyderabad Mir Osman Ali Khan observed

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    Hyderabad: The birth anniversary of the last and the richest Nizam of Hyderabad, Mir Osman Ali Khan, was observed on Thursday. Relatives, historians, and others visited Masjid-e-Judi at King Kothi to offer floral tributes.

    On the occasion of his birth anniversary, Mir Najaf Ali Khan, the grandson of Mir Osman Ali Khan, urged the state government to declare a holiday.

    Richest Nizam of Hyderabad

    Mir Osman Ali Khan who ruled the largest princely state in British India from 1911 to 1948 was one of the richest persons in the world, with a net worth of USD 236 billion (adjusted for inflation).

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    Mir Osman Ali Khan’s wealth can be gauged by the fact that he used the rare Jacob diamond, a 185-carat lime-sized gem, as a paperweight and owned the Golconda Diamond Mines, which was a significant source of his wealth. He also owned 50 Rolls-Royce cars. In 1937, TIME magazine referred to him as the ‘richest man on the planet.’

    The size of the erstwhile Hyderabad state was roughly the size of the present-day United Kingdom.

    Architect of modern Hyderabad

    Mir Osman Ali Khan was not just known for his wealth but was also a good administrator. He is called the ‘Architect of modern Hyderabad’ for his contribution to the development of the city.

    He established Osmania University in 1918, introduced electricity, developed railways, roads, and airports, and established many institutions, including Osmania General Hospital, State Bank of Hyderabad, Begumpet Airport, and Hyderabad High Court. To prevent Hyderabad from floods, he built Osman Sagar and Himayat Sagar and also built the Nizam Sagar Dam.

    Even after the merger of Hyderabad into India, he was made Rajpramukh of Hyderabad. He served the Hyderabad State between 1950 and 1956 as Rajpramukh.

    He passed away at the age of 80 years on February 24, 1967, and was laid to rest at Masjid-e-Judi at King Kothi.

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    ( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

  • Sex ed, birth control, Medicaid: Republicans’ ‘new pro-life agenda’

    Sex ed, birth control, Medicaid: Republicans’ ‘new pro-life agenda’

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    In Iowa, Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds is pushing legislation to allow pharmacists to dispense hormonal contraceptives without a prescription. Indiana and Oklahoma are advancing similar GOP-sponsored bills.

    In Indiana and South Carolina, Republican lawmakers proposed lawmakers proposed bills that would require comprehensive, medically accurate sex ed to be taught in the states’ schools starting in grade 5 or 6 — instead of their current abstinence-based approach.

    And in Wyoming and Mississippi — two of the 10 states that have not expanded Medicaid — Republican Govs. Mark Gordon and Tate Reeves recently signed 12-month extensions of Medicaid postpartum benefits into law, in what Reeves referred to as a “philosophically uncomfortable” move that overcame fierce conservative opposition to boosting government welfare.

    “What I can tell you is that the governor was more vocal in his support for [postpartum extension] and was much more outwardly supportive of this idea in the wake of the Dobbs decision,” said Gordon spokesperson Michael Pearlman. “He is a pro-life governor and supports life, but Governor Gordon wanted to emphasize that being pro-life, to him, goes beyond simply being pro-birth.”

    Some GOP-controlled states embraced these policies before the fall of Roe v. Wade last summer, and Republicans argue there isn’t anything inherently liberal about them.

    “The most important thing for people to realize is we need to be pro-life and not just pro-birth. That means investing in our families. That means taking a more meaningful approach to policy and forget about the politics. Let that go out the window and let’s actually do things that help people have successful families,” said Oklahoma state Sen. Jessica Garvin, a Republican who sponsored two birth control bills this year that passed the state Senate last week. “If we’re going to say we can’t have abortion for women in Oklahoma, what are we going to do to help support these women that can’t have an abortion?”

    Some Democrats chafe at Republicans for taking credit for proposals they have long supported, particularly those aimed at underserved communities.

    “This has been a long time effort specifically led by Black women in the legislature,” said Florida Democratic Rep. Anna Eskamani. “Republicans are trying to give off the impression that they’re championing issues for women and families while they strip away our bodily autonomy and rights.”

    And while some maternal health advocates welcome the growing number of conservatives backing these policies, they also argue that these broader maternal and reproductive health policies can’t undo the harm being caused by the lack of abortion access in these states.

    “In my career — I’m in my mid-40s — I can probably count on one hand Republicans that have been out in front on access to contraception,” said Jamila Taylor, president and CEO of the National WIC Association and a longtime women’s health advocate. “So yes, we are pleased with some of the progress that we’re seeing even in red states, but that’s never going to replace the need or, quite frankly, our fight to ensure abortion rights in this country.”

    ‘A good thing’

    Anti-abortion groups said they are happy to see lawmakers introduce legislation focused on helping families and have endorsed some of these policies, such as postpartum Medicaid extension, alongside the usual types of bills that accompany abortion bans, such as funding for crisis pregnancy centers.

    “This kind of legislation that protects pregnant women and new moms, this is one of our key focuses of 2023, and it’s been awesome to see momentum in a lot of pro-life states this year,” said Kelsey Pritchard, director of state public affairs for Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America. “We’ve been really happy to see states step up the plate and say, ‘Yeah, we need to do more to help pregnant women and to help our new moms in the state.’”

    Several female Republican lawmakers told POLITICO that while they’ve long understood the need to increase access to contraception, Roe’s fall provided an opening for them to talk with their male colleagues about the importance of such policies.

    “It’s not necessarily that they’ve been against it. They didn’t know they needed to be for it because they didn’t know it was a problem,” said Garvin, the Republican state senator from Oklahoma.

    Garvin’s two birth control bills — one that allows pharmacists to dispense hormonal contraceptives without a prescription and another that makes clear the state’s abortion law does not restrict access to contraceptive drugs — cleared the GOP-supermajority state Senate with significant support.

    “I think the overturn of Roe v. Wade has forced the issue to become more of a dinner table conversation, and people are more open about sex and family planning, and I think those are becoming more of conversation pieces within families, and it’s a good thing,” Garvin said.

    In Iowa, lawmakers are taking another shot at expanding access to birth control, something the governor has wanted to do since 2019. While Reynolds’ bill to allow pharmacists to prescribe hormonal contraception cleared the Senate that year, it did not receive a vote in the House that year.

    “There’s some very, very far right conservatives that just really didn’t believe in birth control, period,” said Iowa state Sen. Chris Cournoyer, a Republican. Since then, “we’ve had more conversations about why it’s important and why it factors in not just for maternal health but also for women’s health in general. I mean, there’s a lot of non-contraceptive reasons why you would get on birth control.”

    A similar bill in Indiana also received enthusiastic support when it passed the House in late February.

    “Allowing pharmacists to prescribe hormonal contraceptives is a simple, yet critical step to providing care to more Hoosier women, especially those who don’t have a primary care doctor, or can’t afford transportation to a different city or county,” said Indiana Republican state Rep. Elizabeth Rowray.

    In two conservative states that have not passed Medicaid expansion, abortion helped Republicans who remain highly skeptical of anything that even vaguely resembles such a policy to pass legislation this year extending postpartum benefits from 60 days to a year after birth.

    In Mississippi, Reeves, who is up for reelection this year, announced his support for the policy in February after months of opposition, calling it a part of the “new pro-life agenda” and saying that Republicans may have to do things that make them “philosophically uncomfortable” in the post-Roe era.

    In Wyoming, legislation extending postpartum benefits passed by slim margins in the House and Senate — and legislative leaders in both houses attempted to kill the bill at multiple points during the session. Both GOP lawmakers supportive of the bill and the governor’s office pitched the proposal during hearings and debate on the bill as “pro-life.”

    Exceptions to the rule

    Not all of these proposals have reached a critical mass of Republican support. The two comprehensive sex ed bills introduced this year in Indiana and South Carolina — two states that have an abstinence-focused sex ed curriculum — have not received hearings.

    But South Carolina Republican state Sen. Tom Davis said he is not giving up. He plans to bring his sex ed legislation forward as an amendment to another education-related bill.

    “If we want to reduce unwanted pregnancies and, by that, reduce the number of abortions, we need to do a better job of providing factually correct scientific information that’s age appropriate,” he said.

    And some Republicans are trying to separate maternal health from abortion. In Florida, for instance, the Department of Health requested more than $12.6 million in its budget this year for the Closing the Gap program, which became the centerpiece of a plan to expand telehealth postpartum services to people of color. The proposal received unanimous support from state lawmakers in 2021, and the department is now asking for a boost to its current $5.4 million budget to expand the pilot program.

    But Joseph Ladapo, who oversees the state Department of Health, has emphasized that the increased postpartum funding predates the efforts pushed by Florida Republicans to tighten abortion controls. State lawmakers approved a ban on abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy last year, and they are now poised to pass a six-week ban by the end of this year’s legislative session in May.

    “For the last two decades, they’ve been taking it more seriously and the Department of Health has been involved in that area for years,” Ladapo said.

    Maternal health advocates said they struggle with the fact that these advances come hand-in-hand with anti-abortion laws, which they believe threaten to worsen existing maternal health disparities.

    “We’re glad that more states are starting to pay attention, but in light of the maternal health crisis, the point really is that Rome is burning, and states are not centering the full range of reproductive health needs,” said Ben Anderson, director of maternal and child health initiatives at Families USA, a consumer advocacy group.

    But advocates also welcome the growing bipartisanship on these issues.

    “What I do see as a pattern is reasonable conversations about some of these safety-net programs that should have long been part of the overarching public health dossier of programs, Medicaid expansion being one of them,” said Terrance Moore, CEO of the Association of Maternal and Child Health Programs. “I don’t want to go on a limb and say folks are all going in the right direction, but there’s been real education, deep education.”

    Arek Sarkissian contributed to this report.



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    ( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

  • Low birth rates problematic for ageing EU population: Expert

    Low birth rates problematic for ageing EU population: Expert

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    Barcelona: The average age of the European population has gone up by 2.5 years in the past decade, according to Eurostat data published recently.

    In Spain, the average age has climbed by 4.3 years, the highest rise in the EU behind Portugal (4.7 years).

    However, a Spanish expert told Xinhua news agency on Monday that although half of Europeans are now over 44.4 years old, the main concern is the lack of children being born.

    “We are one of the places in the world where people live longest, and this fact that we die later makes the average age go up,” said Albert Esteve, director of the Center for Demographic Studies (CED) in Barcelona.

    Half the population in Spain is over 45 years old (46.2 for women), according to Eurostat, but the average age is highest in Italy (48 years), followed by Germany (45.8), Portugal (46.8), Greece (46.1) and Croatia (45.5).

    “Where we’re starting to see the effects is in schools with fewer pupils, and in communities where much fewer children will be born, which means many of the major effects will be noted at the bottom rather than the top of the population pyramid,” Esteve said.

    The low birth rates driving the rise in the average age of the European population are widespread, but particularly pronounced in Southern countries such as Spain, Portugal and Italy.

    “We can’t raise the birth rate because during the critical decade in one’s thirties there’s too much uncertainty compared with other countries, where either due to public help or a good labour market people feel more confident,” Esteve said.

    “We need mechanisms to strengthen institutional support so that people can become independent from their parents earlier, and so that they can feel that they have some economic stability between the ages of 29 and 39. I think that would encourage more couples to have children,” the demographer added.

    Despite uncertainty over the future of countries with rising numbers of older people, Esteve said society will adjust and adapt to the new situation.

    “We know that in the next few years there’ll be an explosion of older people, but what we don’t know is how that older generation will behave, how their habits will change, how the point at which you are considered old will shift,” Esteve told Xinhua.

    What it means to be “old” is also changing, the CED chief said.

    “Alongside this ageing of the population there has been an increase in life expectancy, and this means that a 70-year-old today is not the same as a 70-year-old a century ago, not in terms of strength, drive, energy, or enthusiasm,” Esteve said.

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    ( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

  • Once infamous for female foeticide, Haryana celebrates birth of every girl child now: Khattar

    Once infamous for female foeticide, Haryana celebrates birth of every girl child now: Khattar

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    Chandigarh: Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Friday said that Haryana, which was once infamous for female foeticide, is now celebrating the birth of every girl child and today, there are 923 girls for every 1,000 boys in the state.

    All this has become possible because of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’ campaign which was launched in Panipat on January 22, 2015, he said.

    “The state government, social organisations, khap panchayats, NGOs, and Education, Women and Child Development and Health departments have made tireless efforts to improve the sex ratio in Haryana. Besides, police ensured strict action against those involved in female foeticide.

    “It is only because of these dedicated efforts that today there are 923 girls for every 1,000 boys in Haryana. In 2014, there were 871 girls for every 1,000 boys,” Khattar said.

    Haryana, which was once infamous for female foeticide, is now celebrating the birth of every girl child, he said.

    Speaking at a state-level ‘Samman Samaroh’ in Karnal, the chief minister honoured women who have made remarkable contributions in various fields like education, culture, defence, singing, medicine, social welfare, sports, aviation and mountaineering.

    He honoured some women with the Sushma Swaraj Award, the Indira Gandhi Mahila Shakti Award and the Kalpana Chawla Shaurya Puraskar.

    He also awarded cash prizes to the deputy commissioners of Fatehabad, Ambala, and Jind for the improvement of sex ratio in their districts, according to an official statement.

    The representation of women in police has increased from 6 per cent in 2014 to 10 per cent today. The target is to take it to 15 per cent in the coming years, Khattar said.

    “They say that behind every successful man, there is a woman. My mother has played a big role in my success,” he said.

    He said after he cleared his matriculation exams and wanted to study further, his father did not support him but his mother gave him Rs 300 for his college admission.

    “I dedicate my success to my mother. If she had not given me the money for further studies, then I might have not reached this position,” he added.

    The chief minister also said that International Women’s Day should be celebrated as ‘Mahila Samman Diwas’.

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    ( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

  • Indian ragas gave birth to the iconic theme tune of James Bond 007 films

    Indian ragas gave birth to the iconic theme tune of James Bond 007 films

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    Most of us have watched James Bond films. And we have also heard the iconic theme tune that introduces Bond to the audience. The tune is full of suspense and foreboding. But not many people know that the memorable tune has its origins in a work of fiction connected with Indian culture. The man who first wrote the tune was a British composer, musician and singer named Monty Norman. He wrote the tune for the very first Bond film titled Dr. No and thereafter it was used, sometimes with slight variations, in every James Bond film.

    As the Bond films grew in popularity throughout the world, the tune became one of the most recognised themes on the planet. What makes the James Bond theme so appealing is its ability to evoke a sense of excitement and danger. The pounding rhythm and gradually soaring melody create a sense of excitement and anticipation, hinting at the fast paced action sequences that are to follow on the screen.

    Monty Norman has said that the James Bond tune was inspired by “Good Sign, Bad Sign”, a song that he himself composed for a musical stage adaptation of V.S. Naipaul’s novel A House For Mr. Biswas. The novel was set among the Indian community in Trinidad. In brief, the story was about a man named Mohun Biswas, an Indian living in Trinidad, who has married into a wealthy family but ends up being dominated by his in-laws.

    When Monty Norman was approached to compose a song for the stage show of the novel, the composer decided to rely heavily on an Indian theme and ambience. Since the story was about the Indian community settled in Trinidad, he composed a tune with a very heavy Indian influence and sound complete with sitar and tabla. The song was titled Good Sign, Bad Sign.

    Later, when Monty Norman was roped in to compose the theme for the first James Bond film, he suddenly had a bright idea of presenting the same tune with a few minor changes.

    But even after the changes, Monty Norman’s tune sounded too Indian and the producers felt that it may not be appreciated by a worldwide audience. So they requested another composer named John Barry Prendergast to rearrange the tune. So John Barry made a few more changes and it clicked. It was then included as the theme in the first Bond film titled Dr.No starring Sean Connery and Ursula Andress. The film became a blockbuster and Connery shot to fame as the master spy James Bond, secret agent 007.

    After the runaway success of Dr.No, Barry was hired to compose and perform eleven of the next fourteen James Bond films and he did so with great success. So that is how a tune which was originally based on Indian ragas became one of the most popular theme tunes in the Hollywood film industry and was also recognised and welcomed by millions of James Bond fans across the world.

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    ( With inputs from www.siasat.com )