Four states in south India make up 50% of HIV cases

December 1, 2014

AidsCoimbatore, Dec 1: Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka account for 3.6 lakh HIV cases, about 50% of the patients in the country. The southern states are also among the top four in the country, with Tamil Nadu alone having 80,685 HIV affected people of the total 7.7 lakh as on May 2014.

Andhra Pradesh (including Telengana) tops the list with 1.7 lakh HIV affected people, followed by Maharashtra with 1.43 lakh people. Karnataka has just over one lakh people with HIV, according to the Union ministry of health and family welfare. These are the only states with more than one lakh people with HIV.

After Tamil Nadu's 80,000-odd cases, Gujarat is listed with 40,121 cases. States such as Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, which are larger both in area and population, have not recorded many cases.

The rising numbers in the southern states are attributed to efficient screening over the last few years, said experts.

"The southern states have taken AIDS awareness and prevention very seriously in the last five years. The state governments along with non-governmental organizations have ensured compulsory screening up to the village level, which has resulting in better documentation and recording of HIV cases," said Vijay Raman, deputy director of Voluntary Health Services, a non-profit multi-specialty hospital in Tamil Nadu.

Though the cumulative numbers are high in the south, the number of fresh cases being recorded every year has dropped significantly since 2010. According to the health ministry, the total number new cases has reduced almost 50% across the country in three years—from 3.1 lakh fresh cases in 2010-11 to 1.5 lakh cases in 2013-14. Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka also saw a sharp fall in the number of fresh cases reported every year.

The drop in the number of fresh cases is due to the increasing awareness among the public, especially the risk-prone communities of sex workers, homosexuals and transgenders, said Bakthavatchalam A, deputy director of Association for Rural Mass India, a non-profit organization working in the health sector.

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News Network
March 29,2020

New Delhi, Mar 29: The total number of COVID-19 positive cases rose to 1024 in the country, said Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Sunday.

"The total number of COVID-19 positive cases rise to 1024 in India including 901 active cases, 96 cured/discharged/migrated people and 27 deaths," Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had on Tuesday announced a 21-day lockdown to stem the spread of COVID-19, which has left thousands dead around the world.

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News Network
August 7,2020

New Delhi, Aug 7: The Congress on Thursday demanded the removal of Karnataka minister KS Eshwarappa from the cabinet and his arrest for his statement that grand Krishna and Vishwanath temples would come up in Mathura and Kashi respectively after "liberating" them.

Mr Eshwarappa made the statement while reacting to Prime Minister Narendra Modi laying the foundation of the Ram temple in Ayodhya yesterday.

"By asking kar sevaks (volunteers) to launch a similar campaign, the minister (Eshwarappa) is trying to disturb peace in the society," Congress Karnataka unit chief DK Shivakumar said at a press conference in Ballari today.

"Such people should be arrested immediately, police officials should register a case against him and the Chief Minister should remove him from the cabinet,"he said.

Rural Development and Panchayat Raj minister Eshwarappa had said on Wednesday that he was of the firm opinion that "if not today, tomorrow, Mathura and Kashi temples will be liberated and grand temples would be built there."

"A place of devotion has to be built in both Kashi and Mathura. There too, grand temples have to be constructed. The mosques have to be removed from there," he said.

Mr Eshwarappa, a former BJP state president, said the centres of Hindu belief, Ayodhya, Kashi and Mathura were a kind of a symbol of "slavery" as "temples of our Rama, Krishna and Vishwanath were destroyed and mosques built."

Stating that Mr Eshwarappa is not an individual but a minister who represents the government, Mr Shivakumar on Thursday sought to know from the Chief Minister whether this was his government's stand.

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News Network
May 22,2020

New Delhi, May 22: Reserve Bank Governor Shaktikanta Das on Friday extended the moratorium on payment of loans by another three months till August to provide much-needed relief to borrowers whose income has been hit due to the coronavirus crisis.

In March, the central bank had allowed a three-month moratorium on payment of all term loans due between March 1, 2020, and May 31, 2020.

Accordingly, the repayment schedule and all subsequent due dates, as also the tenor for such loans, were shifted across the board by three months.

As a result of this moratorium, individuals’ EMI repayments of loans taken were not deducted from their bank accounts, providing much-needed liquidity.

The EMI payments will restart only once the moratorium time period expires on August 31.

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