Archives for 2023

New Delhi: Over 5.7 crore Indians are affected by serious fungal diseases, 10 per cent of which are from potentially deadly mold infections, according to a review of over 400 published research articles.

Fungal disease is frequent in India, but its incidence and prevalence are unclear. This review is the first to define the frequency or burden of various fungal infections in the country.

Researchers from All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, AIIMS Kalyani, West Bengal and PGIMER, Chandigarh, along with The University of Manchester, UK, estimate that 57,250,826 (over 5.7 crore) — or 4.4 per cent of India’s population — are likely to be affected.

“The total burden due to fungal diseases is huge but underappreciated,” said Animesh Ray of AIIMS Delhi, the lead author of the article.

“While tuberculosis affects less than three million people in a year in India, the number of Indians affected by fungal disease are several times higher,” Ray said.

The review, published in the journal Open Forum Infectious Diseases, found that vaginal thrush — or yeast infection of vagina — affected around 2.4 crore women of reproductive age, with repeated attacks.

Hair fungal infection — known as tinea capitis — in school-age children affected a similar number. It causes a painful infected scalp and leaves many with hair loss, according to the study.

Major contributors to death were mold infections of lungs and sinuses, affecting over 250,000 (2.5 lakh) people, the researchers said.

Another 1,738,400 (over 17 lakh) people had chronic aspergillosis — an infection of respiratory system caused by a type of mold — and there were 35 lakh people with serious allergic lung mold disease, they said.

The review shows that over 10 lakh people are thought to have potentially blinding fungal eye disease, and nearly two lakh had mucormycosis, so called “Black mold’.

This total burden of serious fungal infections is over 10 times the annual incidence of tuberculosis in India, indicating an enormous population of patients affected by fungal diseases, the researchers said.

Professor David Denning from The University of Manchester and Global Action For Fungal Disease noted that there have been major diagnostic improvements in recent years, with public health services in India catching up with private hospitals in terms of capability.

“However, fungal disease continues to be threat to public health and a cause of significant morbidity and mortality representing a considerable socioeconomic burden to those who are infected by them,” Denning said.

“And there remain large parts of India with limited diagnostic capability, as evidenced by our inability to estimate some important diseases such as histoplasmosis and fungal asthma in children,” he added.

New Delhi: The CBI has booked an assistant divisional engineer posted at Central Railway in Nagpur for allegedly amassing assets worth Rs 1.62 crore in six years, which are disproportionate to his known sources of income, officials said.

In its FIR registered on Tuesday, the probe agency alleged that Awadh Bihari Chaturvedi, while posted as an assistant divisional engineer (south), Central Railway Bhusawal and Nagpur, indulged in “corrupt and illegal practices” between January 1, 2016, and March 31, 2022.

It claimed that during the period, Chaturvedi amassed over Rs 1.62 crore illicit assets, which is 219 per cent more than his known sources of income.

The agency has invoked provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act against the official.

The CBI has alleged that Chaturvedi, who started as a junior engineer in 1994, had assets of Rs 86.89 lakh in 2016, which spiralled to over Rs 2.72 crore in March 2022.

By computing his assets and liabilities, the CBI deduced that he had amassed Rs 1.62 crore, which he could not satisfactorily account for.

Etawah (UP): A 32-year-old woman died after she was allegedly thrown off the third-floor of a building by her husband following a dispute over some issue, police said on Tuesday.

The incident took place late Sunday night in the Kotwal area, they said.

Rajeev Kumar, a teacher in a private school, threw his wife down from the third-floor of the house. She suffered serious injuries and was rushed to a hospital where she was declared as brought dead, Superintendent of Police (City) Kapil Dev Singh said.

According to the eight-year-old daughter of the deceased, her father came to her mother’s room and started quarreling with her over some issue. He then dragged her while holding her throat and threw her down the building, Singh said.

The body has been sent for postmortem, he said, adding the accused is absconding.

Azam Khan

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to transfer criminal cases against Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan, pending in a Rampur special court, outside Uttar Pradesh on grounds of alleged “persecution”.

A bench comprising Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice SA Nazeer and Justice PS Narasimha said it needed more cogent reasons for transferring the ongoing criminal cases against Khan.

“I will not get justice in the state. I am being persecuted… It is not a judge… It is the state. Everywhere, the situation will be the same inside the state,” senior advocate Kalip Sibal, appearing for Khan, said.

“When we transfer (a case), we need far more cogent reasons for the transfer. Sorry. We are giving you the liberty to approach the Allahabad High Court,” the bench said.

The Samajwadi Party leader had sought transfer of several ongoing criminal cases against him in a special trial court in Rampur outside Uttar Pradesh.

Khan was recently convicted in a criminal case relating to hate speech and disqualified as a lawmaker in the state assembly.

Supreme Court of India

New Delhi: A hate speech denies human beings the right to dignity, Supreme Court Judge Justice B V Nagarathna said on Tuesday.

In India, she said, human dignity is not only a value but a right that is enforceable and, in a human dignity-based democracy, freedom of speech and expression must be exercised in a manner that would protect and promote the rights of fellow-citizens.

Justice Nagrathna was on the five-judge Constitution bench which ruled on Tuesday that additional restrictions cannot be imposed on the fundamental right of freedom of speech and expression of high public functionaries as exhaustive grounds already exist under the Constitution to curb that right.

The judge, who wrote a separate judgement even while concurring on the larger issue of additional restrictions on high public functionaries, differed on various legal questions including the one related to whether the government can be held vicariously liable for the disparaging utterances of its ministers.

Referring to the contention of the petitioners that disparaging and vitriolic speechs made at various levels of political authority have exacerbated a climate bordering on intolerance and tension in the society, she said it may be appropriate to “sound a strong word of warning” about it.

“…hate speech, whatever its content may be, denies human beings the right to dignity,” she said.

“A statement made by a Minister if traceable to any affairs of the State or for protecting the Government, can be attributed vicariously to the Government by invoking the principle of collective responsibility, so long as such statement represents the view of the Government also. If such a statement is not consistent with the view of the Government, then it is attributable to the Minister personally,” she wrote in her separate 121-page verdict.
She said democracy being one of the basic features of the Indian Constitution, it is implicit that in a rule by majority there would be a sense of security and inclusiveness.

Justice Nagarathna added that the term hate speech’ does not find a specific place in Article 19(2) (Equality before law) of the Constitution and it appears that it does not constitute a specific exception to the freedom of speech and expression under Article 19(1)(a).

“Possibly the framers of the Constitution did not find the same to be of relevance in the Indian social mosaic considering that the other cherished values of our Constitution such as fraternity and dignity of the individual would be strong factors which would negate any form of hate speech to be uttered in our Country.

“This may be having regard to our social and cultural values. However, with the passage of time, a wide range of Indian statutes have been enacted with a view to control hate speech,” she said.

Justice Nagarathna added, “Further, the Preamble of the Constitution which envisages, inter alia, fraternity, assures that the dignity of individuals cannot be dented by means of unwarranted speech being made by fellow citizens, including public functionaries.”

She said the internet represents a communication revolution and has enabled us to communicate with millions of people worldwide, with no more difficulty than communicating with a single person, at a click or by touch on a screen.

“Ironically, the very qualities of the internet that have revolutionised communication are amenable to misuse. The internet, through various social media platforms has accelerated the pace as well as the reach of messages, comments and posts to such an extent that the difference between a celebrity and a common man, has been practically negated, in so far as the reach of their speech is concerned,” she added.

Justice Nagarathna said although the questions for consideration before the Constitution bench were with specific regard to the possible restraints on unwarranted and disparaging speech by public functionaries but the observations made in the verdict will apply with equal force to public functionaries, celebrities/influencers as well as all citizens of India, more so because technology is being used as a medium of communication which has a wide spectrum of impact across the globe.

“Any kind of speech which undermines the values for which our Constitution stands would cause a dent on our social and political values,” she said.

The judge said human dignity being a primary element under the protective umbrella of Article 21 (Protection of life and personal liberty), cannot be negatively altered on account of derogatory speech, which marks out persons as unequal and vilifies them leading to indignity.

Kuzholuzo Nienu

Kohima: The Nagaland cabinet decided to appeal to the Eastern Nagaland People’s Organisation (ENPO) to reconsider their demand for a separate state and not to boycott the assembly elections.

The decision was taken at a meeting of the state cabinet on Tuesday, said Parliamentary Affairs Minister Neiba Kronu.

“While extending our solidarity to the ENPO people, the state cabinet decided to appeal to them to reconsider their demand in the greater interest of the Naga people,” he said.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah will be visiting Nagaland on Friday, while Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to visit the state after January 10, and only after that something is likely to be decided on the demand, the minister said.

Asked if the cabinet has decided on any package for the ENPO areas, he said the discussions between the Centre and ENPO have to be made known to the state government and only after that, some decision can be taken by it.

United Democratic Alliance (UDA) co-chairman Kuzholuzo Nienu said, “ENPO’s demand is a very important issue. Nevertheless, for the UDA government, the Naga Political Issue is still our priority and we have decided to appeal to the Centre to expedite a solution to it.”

The cabinet has recommended an autonomous council which has been rejected by the ENPO, he said.

The Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) also ruled out a separate state to be carved out of Nagaland during a recent visit of its team to the state, Nienu said.

“ENPO is looking for development and financial assistance and the state government is fully ready for it,” he said.

Expressing the demand to be genuine, Nienu said that it should not be at the cost of further dividing the Nagas.

ENPO has been demanding a separate state of Frontier Nagaland since 2010, claiming that the four districts in eastern Nagaland have been neglected for years. The six tribes that are part of the ENPO boycotted the Hornbill Festival in December and also announced that they would not participate in the state elections that would be due in February-March.