New Delhi: Rajiv Nath was conferred with the prestigious ‘Award of Appreciation’ by Ashwini Kumar Choubey, Minister of State for Health & Family Welfare for his contribution to the Global Public Healthcare sector at The Award of Appreciation Ceremony held yesterday at Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Nirman Bhawan, New Delhi, organized by Diaspora Foundation.
Nath was honored for his valuable, remarkable and outstanding achievements in the field of healthcare & community services for affordable Medtech access & patients safety initiatives. His eminence and dynamic leadership to drive innovations and contributions in medical devices for healthcare have helped India to carve out a niche for itself in the global map.
He has demonstrated remarkable and exceptional performances in setting the agenda and roadmaps for the future healthcare by setting an exemplary entrepreneurial competency and leadership in the healthcare industry not only by his own manufacturing company Hindustan Syringes & Medical Devices Ltd but also for the entire MedTech industry segment to realize his vision to position India among the top 5 manufacturing global hubs of medical devices.
As the Founder and Forum Coordinator of Association of Indian Medical Device Industry (AiMeD), with over 350 Members nationwide, Nath has taken many initiatives of establishing a collaborative framework with various Dept. of the Govt. and media to bring to their attention issues troubling the industry and attract investments into India in his quest to make India as the Global Manufacturing Hub of Medical Devices – Make in India, Preferred Manufacturing Destination and the leading supplier of Medical Device worldwide.
Rajiv Nath is also the Jt. Managing Director of Hindustan Syringes & Medical Devices Ltd. which is having a turnover of over 600 Crores, one of the largest manufacturers of Disposable Syringes in the World and the largest for Auto-Disable syringes along with being the President of All India Syringes & Needles Mfg. Association (AISNMA).
AiMeD is an Umbrella Association of Indian Manufacturers of Medical Devices covering all types of Medical Devices including consumables, disposables, equipment’s instruments, Implants, electronics, and diagnostics. With a Primary Membership of over 350 Manufacturers and additionally of over 200 Associate Members representing the interest of over 700 Manufacturers of Medical Devices to address the manufacturer’s problems.
Nath expressing his gratitude to Ashwini Kumar Choubey and Diaspora Foundation said “I am pleasantly surprised and humbled to receive this award. It validates the contribution and efforts made by us at AIMED, HMD, and AISNMA to better the healthcare sector in the country and internationally in areas of injection safety, drug delivery, patients safety and affordable access. This recognition by the Indian NRI Diaspora is an appreciation of the hard work and dedication we have made towards transforming the healthcare sector in India. I thank the teams of all three organizations who were always behind me, supporting my vision and working relentlessly to meet our common goal.”
Recently Rajiv Nath has also been appointed as the Member on Board of National Medical Devices Promotion Council by DIPP established to boost and strengthen the Indian Medical Devices Sector and lead India to an export-driven market in the Medical Devices sector.
We are glad MoH is serious about making PM Modi’s mission of making quality healthcare affordable and available to the masses at large,” said Rajiv Nath.
Rajiv Nath also applauded Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Ashwini Kumar Choubey’s remarks for considering to increase custom duty on medical devices by 15-20 percent to promote indigenous manufacture of medical devices in order to reduce India’s 70 percent to 90 percent import dependence on Medical Devices and ensure affordable access in long run to homegrown Indian made devices.
Tinsukia: Tinsukia district BJP president Lakheswar Moran was injured in a clash between activists of the RSS and All Assam Students’ Union (AASU), Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuba Chhatra Parishad (AJYCP) on Wednesday.
A meeting was organised by the RSS at Gopal Chandra Rabi Chandra Natya Mandir near Tinikunia Pukhuri here. As per the information, the local leader of the student’s body AASU, AJYCP and AGP prevented the RSS activists from holding the meeting which led to a clash.
Various organisations across Northeastern states are opposing the Citizenship Amendment Bill.
The AASU activists also waved black flags at the RSS workers and raised slogans against the RSS and the BJP.
Later, the police came to rescue Lakheswar Moran and resorted to lathi-charge to disperse the protesters.
The police have arrested three activists of AASU- Rana Gohain, Rituparna Dohotia, Dighanta Gohain.
Anantnag: Four civilians and one CRPF personnel were injured after terrorists lobbed a grenade near Shairbagh police station in Anantnag.
The incident comes a day after three civilians were injured when terrorists hurled a grenade on another police station in Damhal Hanji Pora in Kulgam.
More details are awaited.
New Delhi: President Ram Nath Kovind on Thursday lauded the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led central government’s demonetization move and said that it had “struck at the very root” of the country’s parallel black economy.
“Demonetisation was a defining moment in the Government’s war on corruption and black money. This decision struck at the very root of the parallel economy thriving on black money, and the money outside the formal system was brought within the ambit of the nation’s economy,” President Kovind said in his address to the Joint Sitting of both Houses of Parliament of the Budget Session.
“This action of the government broke the back of the forces destabilizing the country, and the systems sustaining the flow of black money. The registration of 3 lakh 38 thousand dubious shell companies responsible for the flow of black money has been annulled by the government. The directors of these companies have also been prohibited from holding such offices again,” he added.
President Kovind went on to add that “assets worth more than Rs 50,000 crore are being confiscated under the Benami Property Act, Prevention of Money Laundering Act and the law against fugitive economic offenders.”
“As a result of the policies of my government, black money in real estate sector has declined substantially, the prices of houses have come down and the dream of a normal middle-class family for possessing their own house is being realized,” he added.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 8 November 2016, announced the demonetization of all Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 banknotes.
The Budget Session of Parliament commenced on Thursday and the interim Budget will be presented on Friday.
The session, which will continue till February 13, will have 10 sittings.
This will be the last session of the Lok Sabha before the general elections.
New Delhi: The Sports Authority of India (SAI) has approved the names of 23 athletes, including shuttlers PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth, from badminton, cycling, para-athletics and para-shooting fields, to be included in the flagship Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS), ahead of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, Paralympics and 2024 Olympics.
Some athletes have been included in the developmental group for Olympic 2024, and a watchlist was also announced from among athletes competing in badminton, para-athletics, para-shooting, para-swimming and para-power lifting.
Athletes who are in the watchlist will be considered for TOPS on the basis of their performance in the coming months.
The Target Olympic Podium Scheme is a flagship programme of the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports to provide assistance to India’s top athletes.
Players selected in the badminton category include Kidambi Srikanth (Men’s Singles), Sameer Verma (Men’s Singles), HS Prannoy (Men’s Singles), PV Sindhu (Women’s Singles), Saina Nehwal (Women’s Singles), Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty (Men’s Doubles), Ashwini Ponappa and Siki Reddy (Women’s doubles) (Till World Championships) and Pranav Chopra and Siki Reddy (Mixed doubles) (Till World Championships).
In addition, Manu Attri and Sumeeth Reddy (Men’s Doubles), Meghana Jakkampudi and Poorvisha Ram (Women’s Doubles) have been kept on the watch list.
In cycling, players that are chosen for the scheme are Esow Alben, Ronaldo Singh, James Singh, and Rojit Singh (all team sprint).
For the four disciplines under Para-Sports that were reviewed, the Committee chose those athletes under the TOPS schemes who are considered the best medal contenders for the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics.
The selection criteria applied for Para-Athletics were the current world rankings of the athletes and their most recent scores that were being attained in comparison to global best standards.
Those selected include Varun Bhati (Men’s High Jump T63 (42,63), Sharad Kumar (Men’s High Jump T63 (42,63), Sandeep Chaudhary (Men’s Javelin Throw F64 (42-44, 61-64), Sumit (Men’s Javelin Throw F64 (42-44, 61-64), Sundar Singh Gurjar (Men’s Javelin F46 (45-46), Rinku (Men’s Javelin F46 (45-46), Amit Saroha (Men’s Club Throw F51), Virender (Men’s Shotput F57 (56-57) and Jayanti Behera (Women’s 400m T47 (45-47)
Those put on watchlist are Mariyappan Thangavelu, Deepa Malik, Devendra Jhajharia, Sandeep Singh Mann, Mithan, Aamit, Rampal Chahar, Dharambir, Ekta Bhyan, Karamjyoti Dalal, Radha and Rakshita.
In Para Shooting, the athletes included for the TOPS scheme are Manish Narwal and Singhraj (Both Men’s 10m Air Pistol SH1 and Mixed 50m Pistol SH1), Deepender (Men’s 10m Air Pistol SH1) and Avani Lekhara (Will be reviewed at World Championships).
In the watchlist, names like Rubina Francis, Pooja Aggarwal, and Sonia Sharma are included.
While para powerlifting watchlist include Jaideep, Sachin Chaudhary, Manpreet Kaur, Rajinder Singh Rahelu, Sakina Khatun and Farman Basha, Para Swimming watchlist have names of Suyash Narayan Jadhav, Niranjan Mukundan, Swapnil Patil, Chetan Giridhar Raut, Shridhar Nagappa Malagi, Devanshi Satija, Kanchanmala Pande and Sharath Gayakwad.
New Delhi: People from all walks of life hoped for tax relief measures, farm loan waivers and universal income scheme on Thursday, a day before the unveiling of the interim Union Budget.
INDUSTRY LEADERS
Anil Khaitan, Former President of Ph.D. Chambers, said the income tax exemption limit for individuals should be raised to Rs 5 lakh. “For corporates, we have always said that exemptions and subsidies in tax rates should be removed. A flat levy rate of 20 percent will increase tax compliance,” he said.
“We need at least Rs 40 lakh crore budget to be able to focus on all sectors,” said Khaitan adding that improving the productivity of the agriculture sector is very important. Marketing focus is necessary for farmers to get the income they deserve. This has to be meticulously implemented. Loan waiver is not a solution, he said. “Any country that waives off loans cannot do well, everything becomes a mess. Increasing productivity is necessary.”
Sanjay Aggarwal, Vice President of Ph.D. Chambers, appreciated the government’s move last year to create the corporate tax slab of 25 percent. Unnecessary taxation only leads to tax evasion. “Our only request is to not levy any surcharge. Tax rates for individuals should also not be more than 25 percent.” Aggarwal said universal basic income is a good concept.
Sunil Sinha, Principal Economist at India Ratings, said according to the 2011-12 agricultural census, the land owned by small and marginal farmers has to be multiplied as Rs 10,000 per acre. “This amount has to be provided as income benefit in this year’s budget. In terms of GDP, this is 72 basis point.” As this is an interim budget, he said the expectations are not much.
FARM VOICES
Shivkumar Kakkaji, National President of Rashtriya Kisan Mahasangh, said the Budget must announce waiver of loans to farmers. Laborers and farmers do not have the capacity to work after 60 years of age. Something should be done about income for people with no means of livelihood. “If the Centre does not fulfill our aspirations, the country will witness the same situation as in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh (ousting of BJP).”
Dhansingh Atri, a farmer in Jaipur, also called for waiving loans for all farmers. “We should get sufficient income in return for our products, which we are not getting presently. We believe the government will pay heed to our demands and also provide a stable source of income for farmers and laborers above the age of 60 years in the form of pension and other facilities. We will oppose the Centre if it doesn’t fulfill our demands.”
TRADING COMMUNITY
A jeweler from Mumbai said the import duty on gold should be reduced from 10 percent to 5 or 6 percent. The government had also made it mandatory to submit PAN card on purchase of gold worth Rs 2 lakh and above. “A lot of housewives who come to buy gold don’t have it. Hence this bracket must be increased.”
Nitin Gupta, a trader based in Kanpur, hoped the government will keep in mind the welfare of the business community in the budget. “With the Goods and Services Tax (GST) in place, we want the government to remove mandi shulk (cess).”
Ashok Gupta, a grocery shop owner, relief measures must be introduced for small traders. The quarterly tax returns to be filed should be converted to yearly returns.”
Vaibhav Anand, a wholesale trader, said, the inflation is low and people have great expectations from the Modi government. “Our problems are continuously being solved, and we expect things will get even better in the future. We are hopeful of growth in business.”
Annu Kapur, a trader, said small businesses are facing problems. “We request the Prime Minister and the Finance Minister to present a balanced budget which is beneficial to the poor.”
Chandrakant, another trader for Mumbai who has been running a grocery shop for about 40 years, said the government is doing good work but business and retail community is not growing. “The malls and online businesses are getting more benefits. I appeal to the government to pay more attention to retail traders.”
AT HOME
Homemaker Chanchal Kapur also expressed hope and asked for a reduction in prices of daily-use items. “The cost of the cooking cylinder has increased. Pulses and vegetables are priced high. From school fees to daily grocery items, prices are increasing.”
Daksha, a student from Mumbai, said the government must reduce the prices of commodities like rice and wheat. Besides, the tax slabs must be increased.
Sandhya Shah, a Mumbai-based homemaker, said prices of household items must come down. “Gold rates should also be reduced.” Kripa, another homemaker, also voiced similar sentiments.
Prema Rathi, a housewife, said the upcoming budget should reduce the burden on homemakers. “As of now, we have to think a lot before purchasing anything as prices are very high.”
Washington: A new study funded by the National Institutes of Health has found a way to accurately and easily count the cells that comprise the HIV reservoir. This will enable researchers who are trying to eliminate the HIV reservoir and bring about a cure, a way to clearly understand whether their strategies are working.
The research was supported by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of NIH.
The HIV reservoir consists of infected cells that contain DNA molecules that encode HIV proteins.
These cells are in a resting state in which they do not produce any part of the virus. Scientists have found that the HIV DNA, or ‘provirus’ inside the resting cells is usually so defective that it cannot generate new virus particles. However, most available tools that measure HIV reservoir cannot distinguish intact provirus, which can replicate themselves from the vast excess of defective proviruses.
A team led by Robert F. Siliciano, at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine analysed DNA sequences from more than 400 HIV proviruses taken from 28 people with HIV.
Among these proviruses, the scientists mapped two types of flaws: deletions and lethal mutations. The researchers then developed strategically placed genetic probes that could distinguish the deleted or highly mutated HIV proviruses from the intact ones. Finally, the scientists developed a nanotechnology-based method to analyse one provirus at a time with these probes to determine how many proviruses in a sample are intact.
The researchers demonstrated that their method can readily and accurately measure the number of rare, intact proviruses that make up the HIV reservoir. The hope is that this new method will speed HIV research by allowing scientists to easily quantify the number of proviruses in an individual that must be eliminated to achieve a cure.
Washington: Priyanka Chopra is developing a feature film based on the Netflix documentary ‘Wild Wild Country’, based on the Rajneesh cult.
The actor, who recently got married to Nick Jonas, will star as Ma Anand Sheela, the highly influential assistant to the Indian religious guru Bhagwan Rajneesh, reported Variety.
The ‘Quantico’ actress announced the plans during her appearance on ‘The Ellen DeGeneres Show’ on Wednesday, revealing that she’s partnering with director Barry Levinson to make the film.
Speaking about it on the show, the actor told DeGeneres, “We’re developing it as the character of Sheela, who was this guru who originated from India, [Osho’s] right-hand woman. And she was just devious and created a whole cult in America, brought people here.”
“[The doc] was amazing, and I’m developing that next for me to star in and produce, which I think would be really cool,” she added.
Hyderabad: Reacting on the fire incident which had occurred at Exhibition yesterday, BJP MLA Mr. Raja Singh said that there is a need to shift the Numaish to the area outside the city for better management.
Expressing his views on the incident, Mr. Singh said that although owners of the stalls incurred huge losses, luckily no casualty took place.
He further asked Chief Minister of Telangana State, Mr. KCR to compensate the owners of the stalls.
Meanwhile, MIM floor leader, Mr. Akbaruddin Owaisi held Numaish Society responsible for the fire incident.
Mr. Owaisi assured that he will raise the issue in the next TS Assembly session. Numaish is the part of the Hyderabadi culture, he added.
Washington: A new study, from the University of East Anglia, now finds that leukaemia promotes premature ageing in healthy bone marrow cells.
The findings, published on Wednesday, in the journal Blood show that healthy bone marrow cells were prematurely aged by cancer cells around them.
While it is already known that ageing promotes cancer development, this is the first time that the reverse has been shown to be true.
The study found that the aged bone marrow cells accelerated the growth and development of the leukaemia – creating a vicious cycle that fuels the disease.
The research was led by Dr Stuart Rushworth from UEA’s Norwich Medical School, in collaboration with the Earlham Institute and the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital (UK) and the Buck Institute for Research on Ageing in California. It was funded by the Rosetrees Trust and Norfolk’s Big C Charity.
The researchers also found the mechanism by which this process of premature ageing occurs in the bone marrow of leukaemia patients and highlights the potential impact this could have on future treatments.
Speaking about it, Dr Rushworth said, “Our results provide evidence that cancer causes ageing. We have clearly shown that the cancer cell itself drives the ageing process in the neighbouring non-cancer cells.”
He further added, “Our research reveals that leukaemia uses this biological phenomenon to its advantage to accelerate the disease.”
The researchers found that NOX2, an enzyme usually involved in the body’s response to infection, was shown to be present in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cells – and this was found to be responsible for creating the ageing conditions.
The research team established that the NOX2 enzyme generates superoxide which drives the ageing process. By inhibiting NOX2, researchers showed the reduction in aged neighbouring non-malignant cells resulted in slower cancer growth.
Dr Rushworth added, “It was not previously known that leukaemia induces ageing of the local non cancer environment. We hope that this biological function can be exploited in future, paving the way for new drugs.”
