Apex court slams rail, road blockades
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court Tuesday said frequent “rail roko” and “rasta roko” protests that last for long durations were causing misery and hardships to the common man.”We are in the central part of the country. The security forces, if not able to prevent such agitations, proceed in the matter. But in other parts of the country it goes on for months thus making miserable the life of the common man,” said the apex court bench of Justice G.S. Singhvi and Justice S.J. Mukhopadhaya.The apex court said this during the hearing on a petition seeking prosecution of people belonging to the dominant caste who indulged in an arson attack on a Dalit settlement in Haryana, killing two people.The petition was filed by Jaswant Singh, a witness in the arson attack case.A 70-year-old Dalit man and his physically challenged daughter were killed in Mirchpur village in Haryana’s Hisar district April 21, 2010 in the incident.(IANS)
‘Healthcare spending pushing millions into poverty’
NEW DELHI: A significant chunk of Indian population –about 3.2 per cent of total 1.2 billion people– will be pushed below poverty line (BPL) due to out of pocket spending in medicines and healthcare services, World Health Organisation (WHO) warned here on Tuesday. “Most of Indians are spending their out of pocket income upto an extent of 70 per cent on medicines and healthcare services in comparison to 30-40 per cent ratio in other Asian countries like Sri Lanka and still are suffering from the infected diseases in the absence of best quality of drugs and healthcare facilities,” WHO Regional Advisor Kathleen A Holloway said.She expressed her views at Delhi Society for Promotion of Rational Use of Drugs (DSPRUD) and WHO Interactive Session on “Medication Safety in Hospitals”, she said. The WHO official further stressed the need for effective monitoring system in India and expressed her concern on lack of Drugs and Therapeutics Committee (DTC) and Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee (PTC) in Indian hospitals despite WHO’s efforts in this direction over the last decade. (PTI)
Digvijay targets Kejriwal
NEW DELHI: Continuing his diatribe against Team Anna, Congress leader Digvijay Singh on Tuesday targeted Arvind Kejriwal over allegations of financial misconduct in the NGOs run by him. “For Anna’s Super Team. Na Khata na Bahi. Jo Kejriwal kahe woh sahi!” (No accounts, no books, whatever Kejriwal says is right), Singh said on a popular micro-blogging website. Singh’s remarks come in the wake of allegations against Kejriwal of siphoning off Rs 80 lakh from India Against Corruption to his trust and Team Anna decision to return Rs 42.55 lakh to donors who “did not provide their complete details and their sources of funding”. Singh also ridiculed Team Anna’s decision to return about Rs 40 lakhs to “unknown donors” who had sent money to them during the last six months. “Super Team Anna to do an impossible Act. Return 40 Lakhs to unknown donors. Only the Super Heroes can collect from unknown and return them,” Singh said. (PTI)