Nearly 40% deaths of Mumbai girls in last 5 years due to poor diet: CAG

April 20, 2015

Mumbai, Apr 20: Nearly 40% of deaths registered among girls (0 to 6 years) in the city between 2010 and 2014 have been due to lack of proper nutrition, revealed a central government report. The corresponding figure for Thane district was 64%.

Mumbai girls

The findings stated that the Maharashtra government spent Rs 4,500 crore on improving child health in the last five years.

In Mumbai and Thane, the percentages of moderately and severely underweight girls were found much higher than the state's average, the report added.

Under the integrated child development services (ICDS) programme, the state government utilized Rs 4,236 crore of the Rs 4,730 crore provided to tackle malnourishment among girls in last five years. Of the total 12,097 deaths of girls reported in Thane, Nandurbar, Mumbai, Buldhana, Gadchiroli, Beed, Nanded and Solapur, around 8,011 were due to malnourishment. A total of 139 deaths were recorded in Mumbai, while Thane district saw 1,291 fatalities.

The Congress-NCP government ruled the state during the five years and Dharavi MLA Varsha Gaikwad was the women and child development minister.

The ICDS programme is one of the flagship schemes being implemented by the women and child development department to improve the nutrition and health of children in the 0-6 age group. It also aims at reducing mortality, morbidity, malnutrition, and the school drop-out rate. The welfare scheme's objectives were to be achieved by providing supplementary nutrition, immunization and health check-ups. In March 2014, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) found that there were 97,155 anganwadi centres in the state that catered to more than 82 lakh children, including 39.10 lakh girls up to six years.

According to the revised norms of the World Health Organisation, underweight children are segregated in two categories, moderately and severely underweight. The CAG findings indicated that between 2010 and 2014, the number of moderate and severely underweight girls in Mumbai and Thane ranged between 20% and 24%, while the state's average was 16.27%. The number of moderately underweight girls in Mumbai stood at 21.66% and that of severely underweight girls was 2.87%.

Policy on child malnutrition uses old data

In the tribal districts of Nandurbar and Gadchiroli, the number of moderate and severely underweight girls was as 33.98% and 27.02% respectively. "In connection with the significant number of moderately and severely underweight girls and their deaths, the ICDS commissioner has said that a special drive has been undertaken to address the problem," the CAG report mentioned.

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News Network
May 18,2020

May 18: The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) on Monday announced the date sheet for the pending class 10 and 12 board exams, which will now be held from July 1 to 15.

The exams were postponed due to the nationwide lockdown imposed on March 25 to contain the spread of COVID-19.

The Class 10 board exams are pending only in the North East Delhi.

"The Class 10 exams will be staggered on four dates, starting July 1. The first paper will be Social Science, while the next day students will be required to appear for the Science exam,” said Sanyam Bhardwaj, the Controller of Examination, CBSE.

“On July 10, exams will be conducted for both courses of Hindi and on July 15 for both courses of English," he said.

On health guidelines for students, Bhardwaj said that they will be required to carry their own sanitiser bottles and wear masks to examination centres.

"Parents will have to ensure that their ward is not sick and candidates will have to strictly follow physical-distancing norms," he said.

For Class 12, the Home Science exam will be held on July 1, followed by both courses of Hindi the next day.

The Class 12 Business Studies exam has been scheduled for July 9, followed by Biotechnology on July 10 and Geography on July 11.

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News Network
March 31,2020

New Delhi, Mar 31: At least 24 people staying at Markaz building in Nizamuddin area of the national capital have tested positive for coronavirus, Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain on Tuesday.

"All of them are being screened. We are not certain of the number but it is estimated that 1500-1700 people had assembled at the Markaz building. 1033 people have been evacuated so far - 334 of them have been sent to the hospital and 700 sent to quarantine centre. Total 24 positive cases have been found so far," he said while speaking to reporters here.

The minister also slammed the organisers of the religious event saying that they have committed a grave crime.

"The event's organisers committed a grave crime. Disaster Act and Contagious Diseases Act was enforced in Delhi, no assembly of more than 5 people was allowed. Still, they did this. I have written to Lieutenant Governor to take strict action against them. Delhi government has given an order to file an FIR against the organisers," the Health Minister said.

Earlier, the Delhi government had said: "It has come to our knowledge that administrators of Nizammuddin Markaz violated coronavirus lockdown conditions and now several positive cases have been found. Strong action would be taken against those in charge of this establishment. Delhi government will ask the police to register an FIR against Maulana of Markaz, Nizamuddin." 

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News Network
July 19,2020

New Delhi, Jul 19: India's Covid-19 case fatality rate is "progressively falling" and is currently at 2.49 per cent, which is one of the lowest in the world, the Union Health Ministry said on Sunday, crediting efficient clinical management of hospitalised cases for it.

There are 29 states and union territories with a case fatality rate (CFR) lower than India's average, with five of them having a CFR of zero and 14 having fatality rate of less than 1 per cent.

The focused efforts of the Centre and state and UT governments on efficient clinical management of hospitalised cases have ensured that India's case fatality rate has fallen below 2.5 per cent, the ministry said.

With effective containment strategy, aggressive testing and standardized clinical management protocols based on holistic standard of care approach, the CFR has significantly dipped, it said.

"The CFR is progressively falling and currently, it is 2.49 per cent. India has one of the lowest fatality rates in the world," the ministry said.

From 2.82 per cent over a month earlier, India's Covid-19 case fatality rate declined to 2.72 per cent on July 10 and has further reduced to 2.49 per cent presently.

Under the guidance of the Centre, the state and UT governments have ramped up testing and hospital infrastructure by combining public and private sector efforts, the ministry said.

Many states have conducted the population surveys to map and identify the vulnerable population like the elderly, pregnant women and those with co-morbidities.

This, with the help of technological solutions like mobile apps, has ensured keeping the high-risk population under continuous observation, thus aiding early identification, timely clinical treatment and reducing fatalities, the ministry said.

"At the ground level, frontline health workers like ASHAs (Accredited Social Health Activists) and ANMs (Auxiliary Nursing Midwives) have done a commendable job of managing the migrant population and to enhance awareness at the community level.

"As a result, there are 29 States and UTs with CFR lower than India's average. This shows commendable work done by public health apparatus of the country," the ministry said.

Manipur, Nagaland, Sikkim, Mizoram, Andaman and Nicobar Islands have zero case fatality rate.

States and UTs having a CFR below the national average include Tripura (0.19 pc),  Assam (0.23 pc), Kerala (0.34 pc), Odisha (0.51 pc), Goa (0.60 pc), Himachal Pradesh (0.75 pc), Bihar (0.83 pc), Telangana (0.93 pc), Andhra Pradesh (1.31 pc), Tamil Nadu (1.45 pc), Chandigarh (1.71 pc), Rajasthan (1.94 pc), Karnataka (2.08 pc) and Uttar Pradesh (2.36 pc).

India saw a record single-day jump of 38,902 Covid-19 cases pushing its tally to 10,77,618 on Sunday, while the total number of recoveries increased to 6,77,422.

A total of 23, 672 patients have recuperated in the past 24 hours, the highest so far in a day, according to the health ministry data updated at 8 AM.

According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), a cumulative total of 1,37,91,869 samples have been tested up to July 18 with 3,58,127 samples being tested on Saturday. 

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