4th Finance Commission report to be tabled in Delhi assembly: HC told

The Delhi government on Monday informed the Delhi High Court that it has initiated the process to place the report of the 4th Finance Commission of Delhi before the legislative assembly.

Justice R.S. Endlaw was told by the government that the report along with a memorandum of action taken on the commission’s recommendations was placed before the lt. governor, who ordered it to be laid before the Delhi legislative assembly.

The court in September asked the Delhi government to inform it whether it would table in the upcoming assembly session the 4th Finance Commission recommendations on improving the financial condition of civic bodies.

Filing an affidavit in the court, the Delhi government said: “The process for placing the report before legislative assembly during the current session has already been initiated.”

The court was hearing a plea filed by BJP legislator Vijender Gupta seeking direction to the Delhi government to “immediately implement” the recommendations of the 4th Finance Commission of Delhi which was constituted in 2009 to decide the share of municipal corporations in the total revenue of the capital.

Source : IndianMediaBook - Current Affairs

Centre launches drive to eradicate Hepatitis B

The health ministry in collaboration with Unicef on Monday launched a media campaign with the resolve to make India Hepatitis B Virus-free by the next decade.

The government also launched the Hepatitis B vaccine programme in Maharashtra after the successful trial of the vaccine in other Indian states including Goa, Gujarat and Karnataka among a few others.

Speaking at the launch, union Health Minister J.P. Nadda said “Society is the main element that can help us in tackling a dreaded disease like Hepatitis. We will ensure that with the end of hepatitis, all others preventable diseases see an end.”

The country is estimated to have around 40 million HBV carriers.

Of the 2.6 crore (26 million) infants born anually in India, approximately 10 lakh (one million) run a life time risk of developing chronic HBV infections.

Stating that the government has included the HBV vaccine in the national universal immunisation programme, Nadda said the country will add four more vaccines to the existing Indradhanush vaccine programme that already has a vaccine combination of seven diseases.

Goodwill ambassador of HBV’s media campaign and megastar Amitabh Bachhan, on the occasion, said “India should take less time to eradicate hepatitis in comparison to what it took to eradicate polio which was a result of 10 years efforts of the government and the Unicef.”

“There has to be a continuity in the work of the campaign and the field workers towards awareness,” said Bachchan, who was once afflicted with HBV.

Unicef representative to India Louis Georges Arsenault said “Hepatitis destroys the liver over the time and leads to death.

“Majority of the cases go undiagnosed as it has no symptoms, which is a major problem as the chances of transmission from a pregnant mother to her child remains 90 percent,” he added.

There are over 780,000 deaths annually due to acute or chronic consequences of hepatitis B.

Source :  IndianMediaBook - Current Affairs

Young Indians falling short on fruits, vegetables intake: Survey

Young Indians are falling considerably short of the daily intake of fruits and vegetables as recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO), a significant research has revealed.

People below the age of 35 are consuming only 3.3 servings while the WHO recommends five servings of fruits of vegetables in a day, revealed the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER) survey.

“It was found that young Indians are more prone towards consuming fast food, which is easily available and, according to them, are tastier than home cooked food,” said Arpita Mukherjee, a professor at ICRIER, New Delhi.

“The youngsters prefer processed and packaged foods which are faster to prepare and easily available. The young students and those working blamed staying away from home, busy schedule and work pressure the reasons for the diet shortfall,” she said in a statement.

The primary survey covered 1,001 respondents from Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad and Delhi-NCR.

The WHO panel on diet, nutrition and prevention of chronic diseases recommends a daily intake of at least 400 grams (or five daily servings with an average serving size of 80 gm) of fruits and vegetables.

It excluded potatoes, cassava and other starchy tubers to prevent diet-related chronic diseases and micro-nutrient deficiencies.

“While the average for all Indian upper and middle class consumers is 3.5 daily servings – which implies that they are falling short of the WHO recommendations, for those below the age of 35, it is further lower at 3.3 servings,” the survey findings noted.

“The youngsters argue that in India, there are limited options for cut and packed fruits and processed vegetables – which are ready to eat,” Mukherjee added.

Apart from juices and certain processed vegetables like peas, there are hardly any processing fruits like lichee or different types of berries.

According to Souvik Dutta, assistant professor at IIM Bangalore, young Indians are aware that there are issues related to the presence of pesticides in fruits and vegetables which stops them from eating those raw.

Some survey respondents also pointed out that they are aware that daily intake of the five servings of fruits and vegetables reduced the risk of stroke and other diseases.

“They are also aware that fresh fruits and vegetables are better than processed food,” Dutta noted.

Conducted in association with the independent Spectrum Research Group and Amway Opportunity Foundation, the survey aimed to understand the “actual” fruits and vegetables consumption patterns in India and compare this to the WHO “recommended” quantity for an adult.

Source : IndianMediaBook - Current Affairs 

Modi holds bilateral talks with Singapore PM

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday held bilateral talks with his Singaporean counterpart Lee Hsien Loong during which crucial decisions are expected to be taken on trade and investment between Indian and the southeast Asian city state.

“Learning from the ‘Singapore Story’. PM @narendramodi and PM @leehsienloong hold official talks,” Vikas Swarup, spokesperson of the external affairs ministry, tweeted.

After his arrival here from Malaysia on Monday, Modi was hosted for a dinner by Prime Minister Lee in an Indian restaurant at the Little India locality in Singapore.

Earlier on Tuesday, Modi was accorded a ceremonial welcome at Istana, the presidential palace, following which he met Singapore President Tony Tan Keng Yam and Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong.

 Source : IndianMediaBook - Current Affairs

Pfizer buys out Allergan for $160 bn in mega deal

In one of the biggest deals in the medical world, US-based global drug major Pfizer Inc announced acquiring leading Irish pharma firm Allergan plc for a whopping $160 billion.

“Boards of Pfizer and Allergan have approved to merge and become a single entity under Pfizer for $160 billion in stock transaction valued at $363.63 per Allergan share,” the company said in a statement here on Monday.

Earlier, in a regulatory filing to the US Securities Exchange of Commission (SEC), both the entities jointly said Allergan shareholders will receive 11.3 shares of the combined firm for each of their shares and Pfizer stockholders will receive one share of the combined company for each of their shares.

“The proposed combination of Pfizer and Allergan will create a leading global pharmaceutical company with the strength to research, discover and deliver more medicines and therapies to more people the world over,” Pfizer chief executive Ian Read said in a statement later.

The transaction represents 30 percent premium based on Pfizer’s and Allergan’s share prices as of October 28, 2015.

“The combination of Allergan and Pfizer is a strategic, value-enhancing transaction that brings two bio-pharma powerhouses to change lives for the better,” Allergan chief executive Brent Saunders said in the joint statement.

The combination will give Pfizer financial flexibility to facilitate its discovery and development of innovative medicines for patients, return of capital to investors and investment in the US, while enabling its business development opportunities on a competitive footing in the industry.

Post-merger, Pfizer will maintain Allergan’s Irish legal domicile, while having its global headquarters in New York and its principal executive offices at Dublin in Ireland.

“Our businesses will be enhanced with the addition of a growing revenue stream from Allergan’s flagship brands in therapeutic areas such as aesthetics and dermatology, eye care, gastrointestinal, neuroscience and urology,” Read asserted.

As per the transaction terms, the businesses of Pfizer and Allergan will be combined under Allergan plc, which will be renamed “Pfizer plc”.

The companies expect that shares of the combined entity will be listed on the New York Stock Exchange and trade under the “PFE” ticker.

With the addition of Allergan, Pfizer will enhance its R&D capabilities in both new molecular entities and product line extensions.

In the event that the aggregate cash to be paid out in the merger would otherwise be less than $6 billion or greater than $12 billion, then the stock and cash elections will be subject to proration.

In the event that the aggregate cash to be paid out in the merger would otherwise be less than $6 billion or greater than $12 billion, then the stock and cash elections will be subject to proration.

 Source : IndianMediaBook - Current Affairs