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You are here: Home / 2015 / Archives for April 2015

Archives for April 2015

Tobacco or Health? Why tobacco corporates are smiling

April 1, 2015 by Nasheman

india-tobacco

..Government is set to defer indefinitely the implementation of notification for increasing the size of pictorial warning on tobacco products beyond April one, when it was to come into force. ..The notification regarding amendment to the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Packaging and Labelling) Rules, 2008 sought increase in the size of specified health warning from the current 40 per cent to 85 per cent of the principal display area of the package of tobacco products. Source

by Subhash Gatade

The week gone by has brought back smiles on the faces of Tobacco Corporates.

Thanks to the latest U-turn by the Modi government, Acche Din would continue unabated for them. The non-transparent manner in which the decision was taken and the media was kept in the dark has raised further eyebrows. It was only on the evening of 24th March that while talking to the media, the health minister J P Nadda had assured them that there is no rethink in the government on introducing pictorial warnings covering 85 percent of packaging for tobacco products from April 1 and within few hours of this interaction he left for Beijing.

Definitely Nadda must have found time within that limited period to sign the order deferring the notification or as some journalists believe he had already signed it and was just pretending to avoid some inconvenient moments. It need be added that the said notification was brought in last October, when Nadda’s predecessor Harsh Vardhan — another RSS Swayamsevak — was handling the department. It was declared at that time that it would be effective by 1 st April. Not very many people could have the premonition that the government is not keen about it and would reverse the decision at an opportune moment.

It is worth emphasizing that India was not the only country from South Asia, which had taken a decision about it. Pakistan as well as Nepal both had similarly taken some concrete steps in that direction. Welcoming their decision the ‘World Conference on Tobacco or Health’ had even urged all the three to ‘stand firm against the tobacco industry pressure’. It had also suggested to them that to effectively reduce tobacco consumption and improve public health it can raise tobacco excise taxes which would make tobacco less affordable and can also generate additional revenue for government which can be utilised for healthcare.

If India had gone ahead with its decision, then it would have been the first country in the world which had so much space allocated for the pictorial warnings. Now that is passe because of some ‘unexplained reasons’. Coming to pictorial health warnings on tobacco products there are enough studies available which vindicate that it makes the product less attractive and target smokers or users of tobacco products by providing them with information on tobacco-related health risks. Discussing reasons to introduce pictorial warnings on tobacco products ECL which is an Association of European Cancer Leagues makes few things clear. They are

1) Eye-catching: this is in line with the saying that “a picture paints a thousand words” and the general belief that an image can often be more powerful than words on a page.

2) Informative: research in four countries showed that in Canada, where pictorial warnings include information about the risks of impotence, smokers were almost three times more likely to agree that smoking causes impotence compared to smokers from the US, UK and Australia.

3) Additional motivation for smokers who want to stop smoking: 44% of smokers in Canada said the pictorial warnings increased their motivation to quit smoking.

4) Less attractive for youngsters: 48% of Belgian smokers aged 15 to 17 think the new warnings make the packaging look less attractive

(http://www.europeancancerleagues.org/tobacco-control/pictorial-warnings-on-tobacco-products/111-ten-reasons-to-introduce-pictorial-warnings-on-tobacco-products.html)

As things stand Nepal would be the only country from this part of South Asia which would go ahead with this decision. Like in many other such steps – which have been hailed by majority of countries, around which there is even a global consensus — India has decided to opt out this time again.

Few months back (September 2014) India was one of the few countries which had abstained from a historic vote on violence and discrimination against sexual minorities. Not some time ago it had taken similar embarrassing stance when it had supported Russian resolution which had opposed extending benefits available to spouses of UN employees to same sex couples under the specious plea of sovereignty. It had voted alongside Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and China

Interestingly, in the hullaballoo around internal bickering of AAP and the media saturation accompanying it, this this reversal of its own decision by the Modi government has largely gone unnoticed.

Now to save face it is being said that the health ministry was receiving many representations asking for the decision to be reconsidered and it wanted time to brood over these observations. Perhaps the biggest stumbling block to the implementation of the notification was the Chairman of the Committee of Subordinate Legislations, which is effectively a panel of M P s only. The BJP MP from Ahmednagar Dilip Gandhi, who happens to be the Chairman had raised the validity of studies done in ‘foreign’ countries to study the ill effects of tobacco and  who is of the firm opinion that ‘Indian exceptionalism extends to our biology’.

Perhaps it would be opportune here to share his ‘pearls of wisdom’ which he had shared with the media ( Indian Express, 24 th March, Examine tobacco effects on Indians, says House Panel’):

““There are no studies in our own country that have examined the health effects of tobacco. Whether at all it actually causes cancer or other diseases is subject to a study in the country. That has never happened and the basis of our stance towards tobacco products is basically studies that have happened in a foreign setting. We have recommended that a medical board or at least an expert committee comprising doctors, scientists et al should first do a study in India before we go ahead with such decisions.”

The irony of the situation is that neither he knew or nor perhaps wanted to enquire that there are enough national — international level studies which had firmly established the relationship between tobacco and cancer. It was mid-fifties or early sixties when the tobacco corporates had raised this debate that tobacco is not harmful to health and a path breaking report’ by US Surgeon General Luther Terry had finally established a correlation between them.

Coming to studies done in India an editorial in Indian Express tells us the ‘[2]008 study published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medical Research used a nationally representative sample to find that smoking causes a large and growing number of premature deaths in India.’ This study was supported by a government body called ‘Office of the Registrar General’.

It also provided details of another study whose results were published earlier this year done by Indian researchers based in India wherein it discovered ‘statistically significant excess risks among tobacco chewers for respiratory tuberculosis, stroke and cancer, compared to never-tobacco chewers.’(http://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/editorials/anti-science-absurd/)

India happens to be a country where 27.5 crore people consume tobacco in one or the other form and according to one set of studies we witness 8 lakh deaths every year. Coming to the world by the year 2030, there would be 10 million deaths annually which would be tobacco related.

With its decision in October 2014, India had finally decided to join the growing consensus between many countries to have pictorial warnings which are not only an effective way of communicating the consequences of tobacco use but also act as catalyst to bring about behavioural change so that one quits usage of tobacco products or at least reduces its consumption.

Sooner or later it was going to have an impact on sale of tobacco products and would have definitely impacted on the profits of the corporates and big moneybags who are earning billions of Rs at the cost of health of people.

It was a step which was definitely not liked by the Corporates who had provided overwhelming support to the BJP and its PM candidate during election campaign last year.

With this U Turn they must be smiling.

Acche Din are here again.

Subhash Gatade is the author of Pahad Se Uncha Aadmi (2010), Godse’s Children: Hindutva Terror in India,(2011) and The Saffron Condition: The Politics of Repression and Exclusion in Neoliberal India (2011). He is also the Convener of New Socialist Initiative.

Filed Under: Opinion Tagged With: BJP, Health, Narendra Modi, Tobacco

Palestine formally joins International Criminal Court

April 1, 2015 by Nasheman

Palestinians join The Hague-based International Criminal Court, setting scene for potential legal action against Israel.

Palestinians reject the argument the Israeli officials cannot be tried at the ICC, because Israel is not a signatory of the Rome Statute [EPA]

Palestinians reject the argument the Israeli officials cannot be tried at the ICC, because Israel is not a signatory of the Rome Statute [EPA]

by Al Jazeera

Palestine has formally attained membership of the International Criminal Court, a move that could open the door to possible war crime indictments against Israeli officials despite uncertainty over its wider ramifications.

The accession on Wednesday is another landmark in the Palestinian diplomatic and legal international campaign, which gained steam in 2014.

The Palestinians moved to join The Hague-based court on January 2, in a process that was finalised on Wednesday, setting the scene for potential legal action.

“Palestine has and will continue to use all legitimate tools within its means in order to defend itself against Israeli colonisation and other violations of international law,” said senior Palestinian official Saeb Erakat.

Al Jazeera’s Jonah Hull, reporting from The Hague, said despite their membership, the Palestinians may still have to wait for the ICC to begin investigating Israelis accused of war crimes.

“This is such a heavily politicised case, that the court will have to think hard before taking action against the Israelis. It may be years before we something.”

Diana Chehade, a former ICC official, told Al Jazeera, preliminary examinations could be completed by the end of this year, but the court would not investigate cases already being looked in to by other judicial institutions.

“Based on the principle of complimentarity, the ICC would not investigate if an Israeli judicial institution is investigating a war crime to ICC standards,” Chehade said.

‘ICC train left’

The ICC has long been brandished as one of the Palestinians’ doomsday measures, along with threatening to end vital West Bank security coordination with Israel.

The notion of ICC investigations is outrageous to Israel, and Netanyahu has accused the Palestinian unity government – including Hamas which the Jewish state considers “terrorist” – of “manipulating” the court.

Israel retaliated swiftly and cut off millions of dollars in monthly tax payments it collects on behalf of the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority.

The notion of forming a Palestinian state by negotiations was buried during this month’s election campaign by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin  Netanyahu, who pledged one would not be established on his watch, were he to retain his post as prime minister.

Netanyahu meanwhile released the held funds, which constitute two-thirds of the PA’s income, excluding foreign aid.

Some Israeli media reported that in exchange for unfreezing the money the Palestinians agreed to refrain from filing complaints to the ICC on April 1.

“It’s a huge lie. Taxes have nothing to do with our ICC approach. The ICC train already departed,” said Xavier Abu Eid, a spokesman for Palestine Liberation Organisation.

‘Absurd’ measures

April 1, however, will be primarily ceremonial, with Palestinian foreign minister Riad Malki receiving a copy of the Rome Statute, the ICC’s founding treaty.

While some Palestinian officials announced the date as the day they would file complaints against Israelis, in reality it is more likely they will wait, as state members are only able to draw the court’s attention to specific cases.

In addition, they will be holding on to see the outcomes of a preliminary probe launched by ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda on January 16.

At the same time that Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas sought ICC accession, he also sent the court documents authorising the prosecutor to investigate alleged crimes that took place in Palestinian territories since June 13, 2014.

The unrest in June escalated to the summer war between Israel and Gaza fighters, which left dead 2,200 Palestinians and 73 on the Israeli side.

So far, no ICC investigation of Israeli officials has been launched and no time framework has been set for one.

But the Palestinians are confident they will happen sooner rather than later, considering “all the attention to Palestine” at the ICC.

The Palestinians reject the argument the Israeli officials cannot be tried at the ICC, because Israel is not a signatory of the Rome Statute, maintaining the court can also investigate crimes committed on the territory of member states.

“It’s absurd for the ICC to ignore international law and agreements, under which the Palestinians don’t have a state and can only get one through direct negotiations with Israel,” Netanyahu said in January following the announcement of the preliminary probe.

Among the forms of Israeli retaliation is legal assistance for victims of Palestinian attacks.

In February, a US jury found the PA and PLO responsible for six attacks which killed dozens and ordered them to pay the victims’ families more than $650 million in damages.

Filed Under: Muslim World Tagged With: ICC, International Criminal Court, Israel, Palestine

Yemen factory workers killed in Hodaida air strike

April 1, 2015 by Nasheman

Medical sources say 23 workers were killed in the strike on a dairy factory in the Red Sea port city of Hodaida.

Medical sources said all 23 casualties had been employees at the factory

Medical sources said all 23 casualties had been employees at the factory

by Al Jazeera

An air strike on Yemen’s Red Sea port of Hodaida has killed 23 workers at a dairy factory, medical sources said, in what appears to be one of the biggest cases of civilian deaths in a Saudi-led campaign against Houthi rebels.

Residents near the Hodaida dairy factory said it was located near an army camp loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, while medical sources in the city said the casualties had all been workers at the plant. The strike on Tuesday night had also destroyed a fuel store, the residents told Reuters news agency.

The incident is believed to have been part of an aerial campaign by Saudi Arabia and other Sunni Muslim states to stop Houthi fighters and former president winning control of the country and reinstating Saudi-backed President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.

However, after seven nights of bombings targeting both the Houthis and forces loyal to Saleh, the coalition has not managed to secure Hadi’s control over his last remaining enclave of rule in the southern port of Aden, a key aim of the campaign.

The sound of gunfire and several large blasts were heard in Aden throughout the night, the Reuters news agency reported. Videos posted online, which could not be immediately confirmed, appeared to show fighting at an army base loyal to Saleh in the northeast of the city.

A raid at a coastal defence station at Maidi port in Hajja province north of Hodaida killed six soldiers, workers there said, while further strikes hit an army camp in Sanaa and a government facility in Saadeh in the north of Yemen.

In New York, the UN said late on Tuesday that at least 62 children had been killed and 30 wounded in fighting over the past week, and that an attack on a refugee camp in northern Yemen, which medics blamed on an air strike, broke international law.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein warned the country was “on the verge of total collapse”.

Indians evacuated

Meanwhile, an Indian naval patrol boat picked up nearly 350 Indian nationals from the port of Aden on Tuesday night, and was expected to arrive in Djibouti during the day, a spokesman for the Ministry of External Affairs said.

More than 4,000 Indians are believed to have been in Yemen when Saudi Arabia launched air strikes last week.

Negotiations are under way to allow evacuation flights into Sanaa, where the Indian community is concentrated, and receive permission to evacuate more from Hodaida, the spokesman said.

Filed Under: Muslim World Tagged With: Hodaida, Houthis, Saudi Arabia, Yemen

Nun rape case: Four suspects detained in Ludhiana

April 1, 2015 by Nasheman

Nuns demonstrate against gang rape, church attack in Nadia of West Bengal on 15 March 2015 (Photo - IANS)

Nuns demonstrate against gang rape, church attack in Nadia of West Bengal on 15 March 2015 (Photo – IANS)

Chandigarh: Four Bangladeshi nationals were detained in Ludhiana in connection with the gang rape of an elderly nun in West Bengal’s Ranaghat town last month.

DCP Navin Singla told the media here Wednesday that four Bangladeshi nationals were detained from Ludhiana’s Motinagar area.

Punjab Police additional DGP Dinkar Gupta said that the suspects were being questioned.

The suspects were detained following their photographs being made available to police authorities in various states.

The 72-year-old victim, a sister superior in a convent school in Ranaghat town, was gang raped by the accused who had entered the school premises to commit dacoity on March 14.

(IANS)

Filed Under: India Tagged With: Christians, Ranaghat, Rape, West Bengal

Sonia Gandhi's skin colour made her President of Congress: Giriraj Singh

April 1, 2015 by Nasheman

GIRIRAJ_singh

New Delhi: Union Minister Giriraj Singh said  that colour of Sonia Gandhi’s skin made her the Congress President.

On Wednesday, April 1, media reports quoted him as saying, “If Rajiv Gandhi had married a Nigerian and if she wasn’t of white skin, would Congress have accepted her as a leader?” said Singh, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Lok Sabha MP from Bihar’s Nawada constituency.

The comment received a flak from the Congress party which immediately demanded an apology from Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

CPI(M) leader Brinda Karat criticised his comments and called it derogatory. “This is racist and I strongly condemn it. How dare he make such racist statements? The entire statement shows the low level of public discourse,” Karat said.

Filed Under: India Tagged With: BJP, Giriraj Singh, Racism, Sonia Gandhi

Relief to Manmohan Singh, others in coal scam case

April 1, 2015 by Nasheman

manmohan-singh

New Delhi: In a relief to former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the Supreme Court today stayed the trial court order summoning him as accused in a case pertaining to grant of Talabira-II coal block in Odisha in 2005 to Aditya Birla group company Hindalco.

The stay, which also applied to Hindalco Chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla, former Coal Secretary P C Parakh and three others, came after senior counsel Kapil Sibal questioned the legality of the summons to the former Prime Minister citing lack of sanction as required under the CrPC and contended that allocation of a coal block was an administrative act without any criminal intent.

“We issue notice on all six petitions. The trial court order shall remain stayed,” a bench of justices V Gopala Gowda and C Nagappan said after hearing arguments by Sibal, who represented the former Prime Minister, and other lawyers in the case.

82-year-old Singh’s daughters, Upinder Singh and Daman Singh, were present in the court during the proceedings.

The bench also stayed the proceedings before the trial court and issued notice to the Centre on a plea challenging constitutional validity of section 13 (1)(d)(iii) of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

The other three summoned as accused are Hindalco, Shubhendu Amitabh and D Bhattacharya, its officials. All the six were summoned by Special CBI Judge Bharat Parashar to appear before the court on April 8.

“I must confess that I have not been able to find out what is the illegal act done by the petitioner in the case,” Sibal said at the outset of the 35-minute proceedings.

Sibal said it is not an illegal act to allot a mine contending that the administrative acts of the Prime Minister cannot be faulted on the ground that he did not follow the recommendations or procedures adopted by the screening committee.

He also referred to the earlier Supreme Court judgement by which all the coal block allocations were quashed on the ground that screening committee procedures were illegal.

“The trial court, in its order, says that you did not follow the screening committee and this is contrary to law,” Sibal said, adding that the order summoning the PM does not stand the scrutiny of “public reasoning”.

He also said that the trial court order does not deal with the provisions on requirement of prior sanction to prosecute a public servant under the criminal procedure code (CrPC) and the Prevention of Corruption Act.

Referring to the essential ingredients of an offence, Sibal said that “there is no reference of meeting of minds to commit an illegal act by the accused persons”.

During the hearing, the bench asked the counsel for Singh to satisfy it on provisions relating to grant of sanction to prosecute a public servant.

Sibal referred to various Supreme Court judgements and said “even if I am the Coal Minister at the relevant time, I don’t lose the status of the Prime Minister who has got plenary power. Everyday, I take decisions as minister and reject the advice, should I be sent to Tihar Jail?”.

There has to be a meeting of minds to do a criminal act with regard to allocation of Talabira coal mines to a private firm, he said, adding, “Where is the criminal conspiracy? Is it an offence to grant coal mines to a private sector company?”

(PTI)

Filed Under: India Tagged With: CBI, Coal Scam, K M Birla, Manmohan Singh

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