Tag: states

Total failure of state’s administrative duties: APCR on Bihar Ram Navami violence

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A fact finding team from the Association for Protection of Civil Rights (APCR) visited Bihar following large scale communal violence that took place during and around the Ram Navami rally last month. Based on its findings, the APCR said that the violence reflected “the total failure of administrative duties and lack of preparedness” by the JD(U)-RJD government. On a wider perspective, the organised that the incident ruined the social fabric of India via depicting “Hindutva supremacy”.
The APCR team included Mohammad Moboshshir Aneeq, advocate, Prashant Tandon, senior journalist, Saiful Islam , advocate, Gulrez Anjum, social activist, Nasiquz Zaman, advocate, and Mohammad Zahid, social activist, who visited Bihar Sharif and Sasaram districts. They recorded statements of families affected by Ram Navami procession in the aftermath of violence.
The ACPR said that in the aftermath of the violence, the Bihar police registered 20 First Information Reports (FIR) and arrested around 200 People. Out of 20 FIRs, 15 had been registered in Bihar Sharif. Several people had been arrested including the convenor of Bajrang Dal Kundan Kumar who was reportedly the mastermind of the communal riots.

The ACPR report said that the others who had been arrested include Rajnish Kumar, Dharmendra Kumar, Tushar Kumar, and Manish Kumar, all allegedly part of the WhatsApp group that delivered hate speech during the Ram Navami processions. According to the police, 457 people were part of the WhatsApp group.
The fact finding team said, “The politicization of religious festivals, highly provocative and Islamophobic songs, and forced entry eventually resulted in communal conflagrations in the two districts of Bihar. Religious festivals nowadays have been completely taken over by RSS-BJP activists and fringe elements like Bajrang Dal and Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) for communal polarization.”
Explaining the pattern of violence, the ACPR fact finding team in its report pointed out that Hindutva organizations approached the district administrations, asking for permissions for the Rama Navami processions, which were granted in many cases with terms and conditions.
“People – especially youth – riding on hundreds of motorbikes take out rallies, brandish brand-new swords and other weapons, and play highly objectionable/communal songs. Violating the terms and conditions, they try to enter Muslim-majority areas or deviate from the route that is objected to by the local Muslim population. As a result, stone pelting starts, and then shops and other properties belonging to a particular community are set on fire,” the report stated.
An allegation amongst victims that was common was that the mob was carrying a large number of swords. Further, CDs and pen drives containing Islamophobic songs were also distributed to play on loudspeakers during the Ram Navami Procession, the report stated.

Recommendations
The team recommended that to avoid further occurrence of such violence, the accountability of the public officials and elected representatives who participated, instigated and encouraged the riots be fixed and should they be given exemplary punishment as per the rule of law.
“The government should conduct a thorough investigation into the incident and bring the perpetrators to justice. It is essential to hold the guilty accountable to prevent the recurrence of such incidents in the future. Further, the compensation should be granted to all the victims of the riots as per their damage/loss suffered,” it stated.
The fact finding team further recommended that the Bihar government appoint a commission headed by retired judge for evaluating every individual damage/loss and thereafter grant compensation to victims. A judicial enquiry should be ordered and conducted to look into the plan and programme of the organized violence must be done, the ACPR team said.
“It is crucial that the government provides support to the victims and their families and takes measures to rebuild the affected areas. It is only through such collective efforts that we can prevent the recurrence of such incidents and promote a society that is inclusive, just, and peaceful for all.,” it stated.
The APRC team concluded that the Ram Navmi violence in Bihar Sharif and Sasaram will go down in history as a dark chapter in the city’s past. “Such incidents have left a scar on the hearts of the people, and it will take a long time for the wounds to heal. It is a reminder that communal harmony is fragile and must be nurtured with care. It is the responsibility of every citizen to uphold the values of peace and harmony and work towards a better tomorrow,” it felt.
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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

April 20, 2023
When a Legislature Goes to War With Its State’s Richest City

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‘They’ve been stealing seats.’
Tennessee was not ever thus. This is, after all, a state in which then-Senator Al Gore, a Democrat, carried every county in his 1990 re-election bid. “When I started in 1994, Democrats were in control of the House, the Senate, as well as the executive branch” statewide, said Larry Miller, a Memphis-area Democratic representative who is one of the longest-serving legislators in the Tennessee House. His tenure has overlapped with those of five governors — two Democrats and three Republicans. He was in his third term when Gore lost his home state in 2000. When Barack Obama started running for president, sometime in Miller’s seventh term, Miller noticed the rightward shift really accelerate. “The Republicans,” he said, “began every two years to gain more and more seats in the state.”
In the decade or so since Republicans claimed a supermajority in both legislative chambers in 2012 — which effectively allows them to pass party-line laws without any votes from their handful of Democratic colleagues — the state has also grown, particularly the central zone that includes Nashville. Boosters have lately pitched the area to good effect as a kind of Silicon Valley of the South and, according to research from the Greater Nashville Technology Council, Middle Tennessee’s tech job growth exploded by more than 50 percent between 2015 and 2020, outpacing the national average. Amazon has set up shop there and Oracle has vowed to bring thousands more jobs to the area; other companies one wouldn’t think of as “tech” per se, such as Bridgestone and Nissan, have relocated their headquarters to Nashville and brought an army of tech jobs with them; and this being “Music City,” Apple, YouTube and Spotify all have a music tech presence here. The Wall Street Journal has dubbed Nashville 2022’s “hottest” job market, edging out Austin, Texas; another report found Tennessee leading the country in tech workers moving to the state since the pandemic. “Companies keep moving and opening new jobs. As soon as we fill them, we have more to fill,” said Elise Cambournac, the CEO of the Greater Nashville Technology Council.  
This is one reason greater Nashville is the economic engine of the state, accounting for some 40 percent of the state’s GDP. (Another major one is tourism and, if there’s one bipartisan issue in the city, it’s annoyance with bachelorette parties.) And, though no one measures this directly, the city’s growing hordes of millennial tech workers may have contributed to its slight blue-ening over time — a Vanderbilt University poll shows an uptick of city residents calling themselves liberal or very liberal since it was first conducted in 2015, albeit from 26 percent to 30 percent. (They outnumber conservatives by six points, and self-described moderates handily prevail over both.) But metro-area residents do vote for Democrats: In the 2020 presidential election, Joe Biden notched nearly 65 percent in the county that includes Nashville, a five-point improvement over Hillary Clinton’s 2016 showing there. So the “Silicon Valley of the South” thing isn’t necessarily driving a huge cultural shift as much as showcasing a low-tax, quite affordable alternative to living in the actual Silicon Valley.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

April 14, 2023
Florida lawmakers vote to end state’s legacy as an abortion refuge

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The Florida House approved it on a 70-40 vote on Thursday. The state Senate approved it last week.
The six-week ban will help DeSantis show conservative voters in a primary contest that he’s solidly anti-abortion, but it also carries big risks in a general election. Republicans overall underperformed during the 2022 midterm elections, in part because Democrats and swing voters turned out in response to the high court’s abortion ruling.
Florida now joins at least 12 other states — including Georgia, Iowa, Kentucky and Louisiana — that have approved bans on abortions after six weeks, a point at which many people don’t yet know they’re pregnant. The Florida legislation provides exceptions for victims of rape, incest and human trafficking up to 15 weeks as long as they provide proof such as a police report. At least 13 other states have enacted near-total bans on the procedure.
The GOP-led Legislature’s move comes almost a week after a federal judge in Texas suspended the FDA’s approval of the abortion drug mifepristone, signaling that the battle over reproductive healthcare will continue long after the Supreme Court’s decision last year to overturn the constitutional right to abortion under Roe v. Wade. Late Wednesday, a federal appeals court ruled that the pill can remain on the market but restricted its availability.
Even after DeSantis signs the bill, the new six-week ban will face an additional hurdle at the Florida Supreme Court. The state’s high court is currently weighing a challenge to last year’s 15-week ban, with plaintiffs arguing the law violates a decades-old state privacy clause that previous justices cited in upholding abortion protections. The state is enforcing the 15-week ban as the court considers the challenge.
The six-week ban, once signed into law, will not go into effect until the court rules in the case because the legislation has a trigger provision that makes it dependent on the court’s ruling.
Much like the U.S. Supreme Court, Florida’s high court is dominated by conservatives after DeSantis appointed four of the court’s seven justices. Many court watchers expect the justices to uphold the 15-week ban.
“Here in the state of Florida we care deeply about life and we care about the most vulnerable in our society – babies in the womb,” said state Rep. Jennifer Canady, a Republican from Lakeland who co-sponsored the legislation in the House.

Canady also highlighted some of the other provisions in the bill, including providing $5 million to the state Department of Health for programs that promote causes such as contraception, and $15 million for programs that support mothers who give birth.
One of the most outspoken critics of the bill was state Rep. Anna Eskamani (D-Orlando), who told lawmakers that she grew up poor and first received contraception from Planned Parenthood when she was a teenager. She said the 6-week ban would unfairly punish poor women who can’t afford to travel out of state to have an abortion after six weeks.
“I’m a firm believer that bodily autonomy should not be dictated by how much money you have or where you live,” Eskamani, who previously worked at Planned Parenthood, said. “Those with means — we’ll figure out a way, but others won’t be able to do that.”
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre in a statement called the ban “extreme and dangerous” and said the administration “will continue to fight to protect access to abortion and defend reproductive rights.”
While House lawmakers were considering the bill, a group of abortion-rights protesters in the chamber shouted “abortion is healthcare!” before GOP Speaker Paul Renner cleared the room. Once outside the chamber, the demonstrators chanted “Hands off our bodies.”
Last year, when lawmakers voted on the 15-week ban, Capitol Police arrested a Planned Parenthood organizer on a charge of disorderly conduct and issued warnings to 25 others who were protesting. This year’s crowd appeared smaller and there were no arrests.
A handful of Florida Republicans who represent primarily Democratic areas voted against the ban but were outliers and like state Democrats, had no power to stop the GOP supermajority from approving the legislation.
House Democratic Leader Fentrice Driskell of Tampa warned that Florida’s maternal death rate would increase if the 6-week ban becomes law and added that Republicans pushed through legislation even though voters don’t want it.
“It’s an imposition of the will of the minority on the majority,” Driskell said. “Do we not listen to our constituents and the people of Florida for what they’re asking for?”
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

April 14, 2023
What last night’s abortion pill twist means for access — even in blue states

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Unless the Supreme Court intervenes, the 5th Circuit’s decision means that starting Saturday, mifepristone will remain legal at the federal level but access will be much more restricted.
Mifepristone, one of two drugs commonly used together to cause an abortion, was approved 23 years ago by the FDA for use in the first 10 weeks of pregnancy and recently became the most common method of abortion in the United States.
The 5th Circuit did not go as far as U.S. District Court Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, whose ruling last Friday would have effectively removed the pill from shelves nationwide, but it did significantly roll back much of the FDA’s recent efforts to expand access.
The court decision cuts off — at least temporarily — many of the pathways patients have used to obtain the pill in the last few years, including telemedicine prescriptions and mail delivery, and moves the cutoff for prescriptions from the current 10 weeks of pregnancy to seven.
Should the ruling stand, retail pharmacies will no longer be authorized to dispense the drug. Physicians will not be able to prescribe the drug via telemedicine; instead, patients will have to make multiple in-person office visits to get a prescription. Additionally, non-physicians will not be able to prescribe or administer the drug, and prescribers will have to resume reporting “non-fatal adverse events” related to mifepristone to the federal government. The decision also suspends FDA approval of the company GenBioPro’s generic version of mifepristone, another blow to access.
Isn’t there another abortion pill?
Yes, misoprostol. The two pills are usually taken together to end a pregnancy during the first 10 weeks. Numerous studies have found both pills to be safe and effective.
The new restrictions set to take effect don’t apply to misoprostol, because it is subject to fewer FDA regulations as the medication is primarily prescribed for non-abortion purposes, including treatment for stomach ulcers. Misoprostol can still be used on its own to end a pregnancy and abortion providers around the country say they’ve been preparing for months to pivot to offering misoprostol-only abortions if needed. However, there is a slightly higher risk of side effects and complications when the pills are used without mifepristone. States including California and New York announced this week that they’d be stockpiling misoprostol as a way to ensure access to an alternative method of abortion.
What does the Biden administration do now?
Attorney General Merrick Garland said Thursday that the Justice Department will seek emergency relief from the Supreme Court in order “to defend the FDA’s scientific judgment and protect Americans’ access to safe and effective reproductive care.” It would take five justices to put the 5th Circuit’s decision on hold and maintain the status quo while further appeals continue, although it’s possible Justice Samuel Alito — who oversees the 5th Circuit — could issue a temporary stay while the other justices weigh in.

Can doctors use “off label” prescribing beyond seven weeks of pregnancy?
Yes, but they may be reluctant to do so. The 5th Circuit’s decision rolled back an FDA policy that had expanded the use of mifepristone for use in the first 10 weeks of pregnancy rather than just the first seven weeks. Many doctors currently prescribe the drug beyond 10 weeks as an off-label use. Under the court decision, prescribing the drug after seven weeks would now be considered off-label. Some doctors may exercise that option, but there is likely to be a chilling effect from the court’s decision, with many doctors wary of running afoul of the court order during a time of legal uncertainty.
What does this mean for people who live in states where abortion is illegal after six weeks?
Most people do not know they are pregnant before six weeks. Abortion pills, which could be ordered online and delivered through the mail, had been seen as a way for people who live in states with six-week bans to terminate their pregnancies even after six weeks. Reining in the drug’s availability is likely to dramatically diminish its usefulness in these states.
What about in blue states, where most abortions remain legal?
The decision could also hamper access in blue states that have sought to maintain access to the pills, making them harder to access both for their own residents and the wave of people traveling from red states to terminate a pregnancy.
Jennifer Dalven, the director of the ACLU’s Reproductive Freedom Project, argued to reporters Thursday that a competing district court ruling out of Washington state ordering the FDA to maintain the status quo should mean that nothing changes in the 17 states and Washington, D.C., where attorneys general sued the FDA — but without clear direction from judges and administration officials the legal status in those states remains uncertain.
“In some places, FDA is under an obligation, a court order, not to further restrict access to abortion,” she said. “But it is completely unclear right now exactly how this will play out. We really need guidance both from the Supreme Court and potentially, ultimately the FDA.”
Even if those 17 states and D.C. are shielded from the impact of the ruling for now, several of the country’s biggest states, including New York and California, are not part of the case and thus could be hit with the new restrictions ordered by the 5th Circuit.
What will the anti-abortion challengers do?
Alliance Defending Freedom, which represents the anti-abortion medical groups seeking to block access to mifepristone, told reporters on a call Thursday that it has “no immediate plans” to appeal the 5th Circuit’s decision even though the panel did not give anti-abortion groups the total suspension of the pills’ approval the groups requested and won from Kacsmaryk last week.
“For now, we’ve got a great victory in the fact that there are now three required doctor visits to make sure women are safe, and the FDA complies with the rule of law,” said Erin Hawley, ADF’s senior counsel in the case. Hawley added, however, that the plaintiffs will continue pushing to have the FDA’s original approval of mifepristone overturned.
“We anticipate that we might be able to persuade the 5th Circuit on a fuller briefing that the 2000 ruling is in play,” she said, noting that the appeals court did not take issue with the core of their arguments that the FDA approved the pills without adequately studying their safety risks and only took issue with the timeliness of the challenge to a decision the agency made 23 years ago.
Josh Gerstein contributed to this report.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

April 14, 2023
IT boom in Telangana attracting students from neighbouring states

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Hyderabad: The quality of education in Telangana state is increasing and Hyderabad has turned into an information technology hub. Students from across the country and abroad are moving to Hyderabad owing to the availability of educational facilities and job opportunities. Among them are students from neighbouring Andhra Pradesh.
A total of 3.12 lakh applications have been received for TS EAMCET, out of which more than 70,000 applications have been received from Andhra Pradesh. Last year, 53,931 students from Andhra Pradesh applied. Till April 11 this year, 70,172 applications have been received. Out of which, 20,091 applications have been received for agriculture and 50,081 for engineering.
There are many renowned engineering and pharmacy colleges established around Hyderabad and non-local candidates are trying to occupy the seats. Due to the IT boom, the number of seats in several engineering courses other than computer science in the famous engineering sector and universities has increased tremendously. Due to which students from Andhra Pradesh are moving to Hyderabad for education where better placement opportunities are available in more than 50 engineering colleges.

If we look at the previous years, in 2022, the JNTUH had received a total of 2, 66, 714 applications out of which 1, 72, 238 were for the Engineering stream while 94, 476 were for Agriculture and Medical. In 2021, the total of number of applications received by JNTUH was 2, 51, 604 out of which 1, 64, 963 were for Engineering and 86, 641 applications for Agriculture and Medical.
In 2020, the JNTUH received a total of 2, 22, 246 applications out of which 1, 43, 265 were for Engineering and 78, 981 applications were for Agriculture and Medical. In 2019, the total applications received by JNTUH were 2, 17, 199 applications out of which 1, 42, 210 were for the Engineering stream while 74, 989 applications were for the Agriculture and Medical streams.
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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

April 13, 2023
Over 40% children in 6 states of India never used technology for learning: Survey

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Delhi: More than 40 per cent of students in six states have never used technology for learning while around 8 percent have stopped using it, according to a survey conducted by the Central Square Foundation.
Under the Bharat Survey for EdTech (BaSE), more than 6,000 households in six states — Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram, Odisha, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh — were surveyed covering 9,867 children.
“Forty-one per cent children across surveyed households had never used technology for learning, and eight per cent had discontinued using it. Urban households had a higher prevalence of ‘present users’.

“The secondary (72 per cent) and middle (55 per cent) grades had the highest proportion of ‘present users’ compared to primary grades (39 per cent),” according to the survey report released at an education conclave here on Tuesday.
The survey pointed out that YouTube was found to be the most popular tool used for learning purposes (89 per cent), followed by WhatsApp (62 per cent) and Google (52 per cent). Overall, the prevalence of low-tech tools was low, which included text messages (8 per cent), TV (7 per cent) and interactive voice response (7 per cent).
“English (84 per cent) and Mathematics (76 per cent) were the most studied subjects using EdTech tools. Further, with increasing grades, higher usage of EdTech tools to study Science/EVS, English, Language, Coding, and GK was reported,” the survey found.
More than half the children (53 per cent) used EdTech tools because of the ease of understanding of complicated topics.
“Other prominent reasons highlighted for the use of EdTech tools included self-paced learning’ (47 pc) and doubt clarification’ (42 pc),” it stated.

At the level of state, Gujarat (95 pc) and Madhya Pradesh (59 pc) found availability of vernacular content most helpful compared to Odisha (12 pc), Uttar Pradesh (8 pc), Telangana (5 pc), and Mizoram (0.3 pc), it said.
The survey found that among children who were currently not using technology for learning, 61 per cent cited reopening of schools after the coronavirus-induced lockdown as the most prominent reason.
“Thirty per cent of respondents cited the availability of other learning avenues (such as tuition) as the reason for not using technology for learning,” it said.
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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

April 12, 2023
Blue states are buying up abortion medication amid legal uncertainty

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California contracted with ANI Pharmaceuticals through the state’s drug affordability initiative to pay a little over $100,000 for the first 250,000 doses on hand, with an option to purchase more at the same price of around 43 cents per pill, according to Deputy Legal Affairs Secretary Julia Spiegel. Pharmacies who cannot find the drug on their own can request some from the state’s supply.
The details have been shared with other states who may want to take advantage of the same deal. “We wanted to be very mindful about not creating any kind of run on the market or uncertainty in other states,” Spiegel said.
Newsom is not the only Democratic governor buying abortion medication in bulk. Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey also announced Monday that her state would be purchasing 15,000 doses of mifepristone through the state university system. Last week, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee announced his state had purchased 30,000 doses of mifepristone through the correctional system and 10,000 doses through the university system.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul on Saturday told CNN she would push legislation that would require insurance companies to cover misoprostol. “We’re trying to figure out all the different ways we can get ahead of this,” she said.
Newsom and fellow Democrats have long proclaimed California to be a “reproductive freedom state,” launching a website to connect abortion seekers with services, appropriating money to help people with the costs of getting an abortion and teaming up with other states to secure abortion access.
Misoprostol works by causing contractions, so the uterus expels any products of conception and passes a pregnancy. It’s usually taken 24-48 hours after mifepristone, a drug that blocks the hormone progesterone and terminates a pregnancy.
Mifepristone was the subject of two federal court rulings on Friday that could complicate patients’ access. A judge in Texas ruled that the FDA’s 20-year-old approval of the drug should be blocked — a decision the Justice Department immediately vowed to appeal. Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra said the Biden administration may simply ignore the decision. But on the same day, a federal judge in Washington ruled in a separate case against blocking mifepristone.
Misoprostol can also be used by itself to end a pregnancy, which could provide a backstop if mifepristone suddenly becomes unobtainable.

“Given the uncertainty and fear with the ongoing litigation and conflicting court opinions, it’s hard enough for those in the weeds of it to follow what’s happening,” Speigel said. “We purchased this stockpile to ensure Californians know that they have ongoing access to medication abortion no matter what is happening in the courts.”
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

April 11, 2023
SC urges Centre for menstrual hygiene model in schools across states

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New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday asked the Central government to formulate standard operating procedures (SOPs) and develop a model for all state and Union Territories (UTs) in connection with menstrual hygiene for girls studying in schools.
A bench of Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud and comprising Justices P.S. Narasimha and J.B. Pardiwala appointed the Union Health and Family Welfare Secretary as the nodal officer to coordinate with all the states and UTs. The bench said the nodal officer will collect data to develop a national policy.
During the hearing in the matter, the bench said the issue is of immense importance and the government should engage with all stakeholders for menstrual hygiene in schools, including government and government-aided schools, and also give leeway to states and UTs to modify the scheme as per their local needs.

The top court directed all states and UTs to bring on record their menstrual hygiene management strategies and plans and also noted that Ministries of Health and Family Welfare, Education, and Jal Shakti have schemes for menstrual hygiene.
The top court directed the Centre to file an updated status report by the end of July.
Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, representing the Centre, said different ministries have guidelines and schemes dedicated to improve access to menstrual hygiene for young and adolescent girls. She stressed that the responsibility of providing health care services lies with state governments as public health is a state subject.
In an affidavit, the Health Ministry has said that public health is a state subject and the responsibility of providing healthcare services is that of respective state governments.
The top court also directed all states and UTs to make provision for ensuring availability of quality low-cost sanitary pads, vending machines in schools.

The Central government response came on a plea filed by Congress leader Jaya Thakur seeking issuance of directions for providing free sanitary pads to girls studying in classes 6 to 12 in government schools across the country.
The plea, filed through advocate Varinder Kumar Sharma, said serious difficulty is faced by adolescent females between the ages of 11 to 18 years, who are coming from poor backgrounds facing the insurmountable difficulties in receiving education on account of lack of access to education, a constitutional right under Article 21A of the Constitution of India and it is free and compulsory under the Right to Education Act, 2009.
“These are adolescent females who are not equipped with and are also not educated by their parents about menstruation and menstrual hygiene. The deprived economic status and illiteracy leads to prevalence of unhygienic and unhealthy practices which has serious health consequences; increases obstinacy and leads to eventual dropping out from schools,” added the plea.
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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

April 10, 2023
Iranian Prez calls for ‘united front’ among Muslim states to support Palestinians

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Tehran: Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has called on Muslim states to form a “united and consistent” front in support of the Palestinians against Israel.
In a phone conversation with Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, Raisi said that Iran and Algeria share common stances on regional and international affairs, particularly the Palestine issue and the protection of the Palestinians’ rights, Xinhua news agency reported, citing a statement posted on the website of the Iranian President’s office.
The Algerian President said that he hoped that “Palestine would be liberated from the Israelis through cooperation among Muslim states”.

The phone conversation followed last week’s escalation of tension along the Israeli borders with Lebanon and the Palestinian enclave of Gaza Strip. Militants from southern Lebanon and Gaza fired rockets at Israel, while Israel responded with airstrikes.
The latest round of escalation followed Israeli raids earlier last week at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem, a flashpoint holy site in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Israeli police clashed with dozens of Palestinian worshippers. The Israeli police said “dozens of law-breaking youths” attempted to barricade themselves inside the Al-Aqsa Mosque “to incite riots”.
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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

April 10, 2023
COVID-19 surge: Centre asks states to stay alert, identify hotspots

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New Delhi: Amid rising cases of coronavirus, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Friday held a review meeting and advised states to stay alert and be prepared for COVID-19 management.
In the meeting with state health ministers and principal and additional chief secretaries held virtually, Mandaviya stressed on identifying emergency hotspots by monitoring trends of influenza-like illness (ILI) and severe acute respiratory infection (SARI) cases, ramping up testing and vaccination and ensuring readiness of hospital infrastructure.
Along with enhancing genome sequencing and ramping up whole genome sequencing of positive samples, he also emphasised on creating awareness about following Covid-appropriate behaviour.

The Centre and the states need to continue working in collaborative spirit as was done during the previous surges for COVID-19 prevention and management, Mandaviya said.
He also urged the state health ministers to conduct mock drills of all hospital infrastructure on April 10 and 11 and review the health preparedness with district administrations and health officials on April 8 and 9.
States and Union territories were further informed that currently WHO is closely tracking one variant of interest (VOI), XBB.1.5 and six other variants are under monitoring (BQ.1, BA.2.75, CH.1.1, XBB, XBF and XBB.1.16), a health ministry statement said.
It was highlighted that while Omicron and its sub-lineages continue to be the predominant variant, most of the assigned variants have little or no significant transmissibility, disease severity or immune escape. The prevalence of XBB.1.16 increased from 21.6 per cent in February to 35.8 per cent in March, 2023.
However, no evidence of an increase in hospitalisation or mortality has been reported, the statement said.

During the meeting, it was observed that 23 states and Union territories had average tests per million below the national average, according to a health ministry statement.
Mandaviya said irrespective of the new variants, the five-fold strategy of ‘Test-Track-Treat-Vaccinate and adherence to Covid-appropriate behaviour’ continue to remain the tested strategy for Covid management.
This would facilitate undertaking of appropriate public health measures, he said.
States and Union territories were also requested to expeditiously increase the rate of testing from the current rate of 100 tests per million, as on the week ending April 7. They were further advised to increase the share of RT-PCR in tests, the statement said.
The states and Union territories were briefed that the country has been witnessing a steady increase in COVID-19 cases with average daily cases rising to 4,188 in the week ending April 7 from 571 in the week ending March 17; and weekly positivity up to 3.02 per cent in the week ending April 7.
However, 88,503 daily average cases have been reported globally in the same time, with the top five countries contributing 62.6 per cent of global cases in the last one week, the statement said.
It was also informed that while India has achieved over 90 per cent coverage of primary vaccination, the coverage of precaution dose is very low.
The Union health minister advised the states and Union territories to ramp up vaccination of all eligible population, especially of the elderly and vulnerable population group.
It was also observed that eight states are reporting high number of Covid cases in India with 10 or more districts reporting more than 10 per cent positivity in Kerala, Maharashtra and Delhi and over 5 districts reporting more than 5 per cent positivity in Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Haryana.
Mandaviya stressed on the importance of enhancing public awareness campaigns regarding adherence to Covid-appropriate behaviour. He requested all the state health ministers to personally monitor and review the preparedness of all logistics and infrastructure including availability of sufficient designated hospital beds and ensure that there is adequate stock of essential medicines.
States were also asked to regularly update their Covid data on the Covid India portal.
They were reminded of the joint advisory issued by the Union health ministry and ICMR to all states on March 25 which calls for a reinvigorated public health response to contain the surge of seasonal influenza and Covid cases through early detection, isolation, testing and timely management of suspected and confirmed cases to detect and contain outbreaks of new SARS-CoV-2 variants.
Mandaviya requested he states and Union territories to ensure effective implementation. There was comprehensive and detailed discussion on various aspects of COVID management including ramping up of hospital infrastructure; increased testing.
Puducherry Chief Minister N Rangaswamy, health ministers of Uttarakhand (Dhan Singh Rawat), Assam (Keshab Mahanta), Goa (Vishwajit Rane), Jharkhand (Banna Gupta), Madhya Pradesh (Prabhuram Choudhury), Punjab (Balbir Singh), Manipur (Sapan Ranjan Singh), Haryana (Anil Vij), Tamil Nadu (Thiru Ma Subramanian) and Telangana (Thanneeru Harish Rao) among others attended the meeting.
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( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

April 7, 2023