Swine flu testing labs to be ready in 20 days

With the health department having initiated the process of setting up swine flu testing laboratories in Madurai and Tirunelveli, these facilities will start functioning in 20 days.

The state government had announced, after a review meeting in Chennai on Tuesday, that testing laboratories for A (H1N1) flu would be established at government medical colleges in Madurai, Coimbatore and Tirunelveli. ”Formalities for providing the testing equipment have started and training is being given to lab technicians at the king institute of preventive medicine in Chennai”, health minister M.R.K. Pannerselvam told The Hindu on Thursday.

Training in conducting the laboratory tests was an important component in fighting the swine flu as the tests could not be done properly if trained personnel were not available in government hospitals. The testing equipment cost around Rs.30 lakh and once it was available locally, samples of suspected cases need not be referred to the king institute, the minister said and appealed to the people not to panic.

Officials in the directorate of public health said that the Real Time PCR test equipment for carrying out swine flu tests would be given to Government Rajaji Hospital/ Madurai Medical College and Tirunelveli Medical College. Adequate number testing kits would also be made available, an official said.

Meanwhile, the director of the public health and preventive Medicine, S.Elango, said that there was no increase in incidences of fever cases in Tamil Nadu, as corroborated through monthly data from government and private hospitals. “Our analysis has shown that 10 per cent of the state’s population will normally have common cold at a given point in time, of which half of them will have normal fever. These cases cannot be construed as swine flu”, Dr.Elango said.

Seeks nod

To step up testing and treatment facilities for swine flu cases in Madurai region, vadamalayan Hospitals here has approached the state Government for its permission. Right now, the Government Rajaji Hospitals (GRH) here has an isolation ward to patients suspected to the GRH with swine flu symptoms were discharged from the hospital on Thursday.

Sangili Murugan (18), a student from Oddanchatram in Dindugal district, and Balamurugan (32) of palanganatham here were admitted on Wednesday with complaints of fever, cough and sore throat. Samples were sent to the king institute in Chennai for tests and the results are awaited. “They were discharged on Thursday morning itself since they did not have fever,” S.M. Sivakumar, Dean in-charge, GRH, said.

Authorities in Vadamalayan Hospitals are of the view that private hospitals can join hands with the government in fighting the flu. “If the government gives permission, we will create an isolation ward and procure testing kits.”

www.rajagiriworld.com

[IMG]http://www.rajagiriworld.com/happy.gif[/IMG]

Tackle drought on war footing

To describe the current situation on the agricultural front as “grave” or “serious” would be an understatement. What’s worse is that, as is usually the case in this country, it is rural poor who are the worst sufferers in any drought. The government cannot ignore its responsibility to mitigate the condition of the worst afflicted by the speedy provision of emergency food and water supplies. There is a flicker of hope that the rains will come in good measure soon after August 15, now less than a week away; but if that does not happen the situation could turn cataclysmic in certain areas. If agricultural operations come to a standstill, then where will farmers and labourers get the money to buy food which the government says is there in plenty in the FCI’s godowns? Even today, with the government saying it has adequate stocks of 253 lakh tonnes of wheat and 323 lakh tonnes of rice, the ration shops in Mumbai, for instance, are not giving wheat, rice and sugar to ration card holders. They are being forced to buy these items in the open market. In states like Maharashtra, some parts of Andhra Pradesh and northern Karnataka, jowar is a staple food for many people, but the government has nothing to stock it. There has been no agricultural breakthrough in pulses and oilseeds as in the case of rice and wheat, even though pulses are the only source of protein for crores of vegetarians across the country. India is one of the largest consumers of edible oils, and yet we depend on imports for three-fourths of our requirements. When the world markets come to know that India is going to import grain, the international prices shoot up, adding to domestic inflation. The government is also forced to subsidise these imports for the poor.

The sheer neglect of research and development in pulses and oilseeds reflects poorly on the government, and only shows how our administration is so totally ignorant about the needs of agriculture. Much was expected of Sharad Pawar, who understands the needs of farmers and could have revolutionized the pulses and oilseeds sector. It is still not too late for him and the government to remedy this, and bring about a new green revolution in pulses and oilseeds in the way Indira Gandhi had done with rice and wheat many decades ago. Without this, there will be no real food security for much of the people of India.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has taken the initiative by calling state chief secretaries to discuss, among other things, planning for the rabi season. Gram and masoor can be increased and work on this should start immediately. There have to be some special programmes and minimum support prices should be announced early to encourage farmers to take up production of rabi crops on a war footing. The government’s agricultural minister would do well to reduce their dependence on bureaucrats and bring in some real experts to plan are to get food at reasonable prices. From the farmers’ standpoint, government polices today are totally lopsided: if the crops are abundant, prices go down and farmers suffer as they can’t even recover their cost of production. There needs to be a way to protect them and motivate them in the same way that the government does for industry.

www.rajagiriworld.com

[IMG]http://www.rajagiriworld.com/happy.gif[/IMG]

Pension plan for China’s farmers

Farmers will soon enjoy the same guaranteed income later in life as urban workers do, as the government on Tuesday announced that a trial pension plan scheme would be implemented across China by October.

Sponsored by the government, farmers over the age of 60 will be able to receive a monthly endowment according to the area concerned’s income standards, according to Hu Xiaoyi, Vice-Minister of the Department of Human Resources and Social Security (DHRSS).

“The new system is paid for by the farmers, collective benefits and government subsidy, which is totally different from the old system, paid by farmers themselves, with no subsidy from the government,” Mr. Hu told a news conference.

He said the payment for the insurance comprised two parts: basic insurance, which is fully provided by State financing, and the personal pension account, paid by farmers themselves.

The old insurance system has benefited 80 million farmers in China since the 1990s. However, the system virtually failed, as it required payment solely from farmers, who eventually gave up because of lack of money.

In June, Premier Wen Jiabao decided to launch trial projects in 10 per cent of countries to promote the new insurance during the State Council executive meeting.

A total of 3 billion yuan (roughly $450 million) from the central government was provided to subsidise local governments, ensuring that farmers can get enough basic insurance.

According to the DHRSS the subsidies for western provinces, the central region, and the eastern provinces vary, based on the minimum standards for pensions.

Rural residents over 16, who are not students and do not participate in the basic pension plans for urban workers, can take part in the new insurance scheme, according to the DHRSS.

Some richer areas along the Yangtze River Delta and some coastal cities have been trying out similar rural pension plans since 2003.

Donghai Country, in Jiangsu Province, is one of the pilot sites. Wang Tonghua, who participated in the new endowment insurance plan last year, was happy with the new system.

“I’ve always been jealous of the elderly in cities who receive retirement pensions, now I finally get my own,” she told Xinhua.

In Donghai in 2008, the payment for insurance was based on 20 per cent of the local per capita income of that year, of which 80 per cent was paid by individuals, and the remaining 20 per cent by governments at the country and village level.

In 2008, the lowest payment was 800 yuan. Ms. Wang paid 640 yuan, and the rest was subsidy from the country and village governments. In Suzhou, a city in Jiangsu, men over 60 and women over 55 can receive the pension each month, without paying any money.

Biggest obstacle:

The biggest obstacle in applying for the new insurance is the low revenue of local governments. “Local governments with low revenue have no capability to promote the new policy. With no financial support from the local government, the related department has no enthusiasm to promote the new insurance,” said Ding Yifan, a researcher at the Development Research Center of the State Council.

While the old insurance allowed for management fee for the government, the new one prohibits the local government from extracting any such fee from the funds.

“The new insurance policy strives to achieve two things: one, to reduce the economic and policy gap between urban and rural areas, and the other is to solve the difficulties faced by the elderly in rural areas and help with implementing a rural population policy,” said Mr. Ding.

Once put into action, the trial programme will have a huge influence on China’s social security system, as it encourages farmers to purchase endowment insurance for a more secure life, according to Mr. Ding. He suggested that the governments make a reasonable contribution. He also called on the government to promote and implement this new endowment insurance policy as soon as possible Xinhua.

www.rajagiriworld.com

[IMG]http://www.rajagiriworld.com/happy.gif[/IMG]

Osama’s son killed in U.S. strike: report

Osama bin Laden’s son Sa’ad was probably killed by a U.S missile strike in Pakistan earlier this year, U.S. National Public Radio has reported, citing U.S. intelligence officials.

Sa’ad bin Laden, a prominent figure in the murky relationship between Iran and Al-Qaeda, was believed to have gone to Pakistan after spending a number of years under house arrest in Iran, said U.S. intelligence officials in January.

A missile fired from a U.S. drone aircraft is believed to have killed him sometime this year, NPR cited an unnamed U.S. counter-terrorism official as saying on its website.

U.S intelligence agencies were “80 to 85 percent” certain Sa’ad bin Laden was dead, said the official, adding that he was not important enough to be targeted himself but was “in the wrong place at the wrong time”.

It was not clear whether Sa’ad bin Laden was near his father when he died, NPR added.

The official described him as being active in Al-Qaeda, but not a major player. He was thought to be in his late twenties.

U.S. forces have to stepped up their drone attacks in Pakistan since last September, targeting Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked militants in areas bordering Afghanistan.

The United States has carried out close to 50 such air strikes since the beginning of last year, killing about 470 people, including many foreign militants, according to a tally of reports from Pakistan intelligence agents, district government officials and residents.

www.rajagiriworld.com

[IMG]http://www.rajagiriworld.com/happy.gif[/IMG]

No drop in Indian visa applications for Australia

New Delhi: Even as the Australian government has sent three delegations to India in a month to mend its reputation as a “safe education destination” after the spate of attacks on Indian students down under since may, there has been no decline in the number of visa applicants from India. In fact, June saw an increase of eight percent over May in visa applications from India, minister for immigration and citizenship Chris Evans told the Hindu here on Tuesday.

Concern

Still, according to Mr. Evans, the Australian government was very concerned at the damage done to the country’s reputation as an education provider; more so because India is regarded as a major long-term source of migration of skilled labour. “The reporting in India has been very damaging to Australia”. As a case in point, he cited the latest reports of two Indian students sustaining minor injuries in a scuffle in Wollongong in Sydney. Investigations revealed that they were Saudis, he said.

Asserting that the attacks on Indians were not racist,Mr.evans said the incidents were a manifestation of various social issues relating to housing and transport, be sides the student’s inability to focus on education because they had to pay back hung loans.

“Perverse incentives”

Conceding that there are loopholes in the Australian immigration system which allows education agents to market course in cooking and hair-dressing as a shortcut to permanent residency {PR}, the minister said there were “perverse incentives”. Australia has a system of awarding points to particular job classifications for migration purposes. “Currently, the scheme awards some occupations like cooking and hair-dressing far too higher than a bachelor of science”.

The government, he said had announced a review of this system, which sometimes resulted in good students opting for the cheaper, shorter, lower skill course because they got PR quicker.

Verification of skills

As part of the process of tightening the immigration laws, the government would introduce a job readiness test from the next year to verify if applicants have the skills they claim. This, Mr. Evans said, would hopefully have a trick-le-down effect on education providers because if their students failed to clear this test, it would be a reflection on the institutions training them. “This should help clean up that segment of education providers who are selling a certificate but not giving good education”.

www.rajagiriworld.com

[IMG]http://www.rajagiriworld.com/happy.gif[/IMG]

Principles of central banking

Three main considerations govern the operations of a central bank; these are known as the fundamental principles of central banking. Firstly, the central bank is always motivated by the spirit of national Welfare. The operations of the central bank must always be guided by the objective of maximizing the welfare of the people or the nation and not by maximizing the profits as is the objective of commercial banks. It does not, however, mean that the central bank should undertake activities without keeping in view their financial implications or results. As a matter of fact when de Kock said that the central bank should work exclusively in the interest of public welfare he meant that profit earning should be a secondary consideration for a central bank and the maximization of public welfare should be its primary objective. Secondary, the central bank’s operations should aim at maintaining the monetary and financial stability in the economy. And from this point of view, every central bank has been provided with wide powers for controlling the monetary and banking structure of a country and for achieving this objective. Thirdly the central bank’s activities should be free from all political considerations or influences. It should not be governed by the ideology of any particular political party. It does not mean that it should not work in using with the government of the country. What it means is that it is not the ideology of political party in power that would decide its policy but the economic conditions of the country which should receive the foremost consideration from the central bank. Since the Government is also expected to solve the economic problems of the country and the central bank is also supposed to find out a solution for the economic problems of the country, therefore both these should work in cooperation with each other. Finally, a central bank should not compete with the commercial banks in the country or should not perform such banking transactions as a accepting deposits from the general public and accommodate regular commercial customers with discounts or advances.

www.rajagiriworld.com

[IMG]http://www.rajagiriworld.com/happy.gif[/IMG