Uttar Pradesh official tries to set himself ablaze
Lucknow: A government official tried to set himself on fire Wednesday, accusing the state tourism minister of land grabbing, police said Thursday. The incident took place in Bijnor district where village development officer Manu Gaur doused himself in kerosene and was about to light fire when he was stopped. Gaur has accused Tourism Minister Mool Chandra Chauhan and Samajwadi Party (SP) parliamentarian Yashveer Dhobi and their accomplices of forcibly occupying his agriculture land in Naurangabad village. Having petitioned district officials but to no avail, the official took the extreme step. He also alleged the Samajwadi Party leader wanted to grab 12 bighas of his land and accused the district officials of conniving with the powerful minister. While a case has been registered against the official for attempted suicide, district officials said a departmental probe will be ordered. The minister’s office said the charges were baseless. (IANS)
Vaccination alerts now on mobile
New Delhi: The Indian Academy of Paediatrics (IAP) Thursday launched a new service which will alert parents about the immunisation schedule of their children through a text message on their mobile. The service was launched by the IAP, an association of child specialists in India, in collaboration with telecommunications company Vodafone. The world’s largest vaccination reminder service aims to prevent 500,000 child deaths and disabilities by 2018, C.K. Mishra, additional secretary in the union health ministry said at the launch. The reminder service will be available free of cost for parents across the country and they can opt for the service by sending a text message to the national code 566778 from any mobile network in India. The parents will receive immediate confirmation through a text message and will be reminded for 12 years, the prescribed immunisation schedule for their child. A total of three reminders would be sent, at two-day intervals, for each vaccination due. Vijay N. Yewale, president, IAP said: “Today almost two million children under the age of five years die every year in India and another one million or more are disabled for life. Vaccination reminder services in several countries have been effective in increasing compliance by 20 percent”. Rohit Adya, external affairs director, Vodafone India, said: “Vodafone recognises the power of mobile technology to address some of India’s most pressing challenges. Our partnership with the IAP is in line with this commitment and we will play our due role to facilitate creating a healthier future for our children”. Mishra said: “It will be a sad story if India is not able to stop vaccine preventable diseases”. (IANS)
5-yr jail term for submitting fake degree for professor’s job
Kotdwar, Mar 13 (PTI) A local court has sentenced a man to five-year jail term for conning authorities of a medical college in Uttarakhand and managing to land the job of an associate professor on the basis of fake degrees. Besides the jail term, Pauri’s Chief Judicial Magistrate Mahesh Chandra Kaushik yesterday imposed a fine of Rs 5,000 on K P Singh after he pleaded guilty for submitting fake degrees for his appointment as an associate professor at the medical college and teaching there for about a year. According to government prosecutor Digpal Singh Negi, K P Singh joined as associate professor at Veer Chandra Singh Garhwali Government Medical College at Srinagar in Garhwal on September 1, 2011 in the department of microbiology. At the time of the appointment, he submitted a photocopy of his degree certificate in the institute. He was directed to produce the original copy of the degree before college administration. But despite repeated reminders, he did not produce the degree before college administration. This raised suspicion of the then head of the institution Dr Sneh lata Sud and led to the finding eventually. (PTI)
New APCC chief urges leaders on way out to reconsider decision
Hyderabad: Newly-appointed president of Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee, N Raghuveera Reddy on Thursday appealed to leaders who quit the party in recent days and also those planning to leave soon to “reconsider” their decision. “We all shared the good when the party was in good times. Now, let us also share the losses if any when the party is passing through tough times,” Raghuveera remarked, addressing his maiden press conference after his appointment here today. In an oblique reference to former Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy and several former ministers and MLAs, who quit Congress in recent days to chart their own political course, Raghuveera lamented that such people left the party ahead of elections after enjoying many posts all these years. (PTI)