MONTH THAT WAS

Russian vessel carrying 700 tonnes of gold ore missing

Moscow: A Russian cargo vessel, the Amurskaya, went missing in the Sea of Okhotsk with 700 metric tonnes of gold ore, the Far Eastern transportation supervising department said in a statement.

“The bulk freighter was en route from the port Kiran to the port of Okhotsk with a cargo of gold ore weighing 700 tonnes. There supposedly was a crew of nine people,” the statement said.

The number of people on board of the missing vessel differs according to various sources as earlier media reports said there were 11 crew members, while the emergencies ministry puts the number at eight.

An emergency beacon sent a call of distress at 8.15 a.m. near the Shantar islands in the southwestern portion of the Sea of Okhotsk. The tanker Novik, which arrived at the scene of the beacon’s distress call, did not discover the vessel.

The Novik, accompanied by an amphibious Beriev Be-200 aircraft, continued the search operation, which is complicated by stormy weather conditions.

3-year course for rural ‘doctors’

New Delhi : A pledge by the government more than two years ago to produce rural “doctors” with a shorter course is finally taking shape. The Medical Council of India (MCI) has just approved a syllabus for a proposed three-year course to create rural health workers who can deliver emergency and out-patient care for simple complaints.

The ball is now in the court of the health ministry to take other key steps needed to roll out the course primarily intended for rural students who have passed Class XII.

The course will include basic elements of anatomy, physiology, diagnosis, pharmacology, but only at a simplistic level, so that the health workers are able to provide emergency care to patients and refer them to doctors if required.

They are expected to be trained to assess fever, bandage wounds, control bleeding, splint simple fractures and provide first-aid to patients with convulsions. They could also supervise care recommended by doctors in primary health centres or district hospitals.

The course will be offered by universities in association with district hospitals.

Many formalities are, however, to be completed before the course becomes a reality.  These involve identifying the district hospitals with a minimum number of beds and patient load, developing appropriate teaching materials (textbooks), and selecting the faculty.

The health ministry had accepted the proposal for the course from a medical task force more than two years ago amid continued shortages of doctors in rural areas as high as 76 per cent.

The proposal was put into cold storage because of strong objections by the Indian Medical Association (IMA), but it was only after a reprimand by the Delhi High Court last month that the MCI drafted the syllabus.

The IMA had opposed the proposal, saying it will produce “half-baked” health care providers who will not be adequately trained to practice medicine.

“There will be no competition with doctors,” said Vinod Paul, head of paediatrics at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), who was on a panel of doctors that prepared the syllabus.

He said the government is looking at health sub-centres where there are no doctors at all today.

India has about 1,46,000 sub-centres, each catering to a cluster of five to 10 villages. People in such villages typically have to travel up to 30km to seek doctors’ advice.

The existing health workers, such as midwife-nurses in sub-centres, can also upgrade themselves through this course.

That will help health care reach faster in areas with no doctors at all, say public health lobbyists.

The course will provide a relief to the villagers throughout the country sparring them the long travels in search of doctors.

Fukushima radiation in fish '100 times' above norm

Tokyo: Radiation levels in fish caught near Japan's Fukushima nuclear power plant are 100 times above normal, local media report.

Japan's Environment Ministry carried out the tests over June-July this year, in the river Niida to the north of the Fukushima power plant, and also in the village of Iitate. The results showed that fish caught in waters in these areas contained levels of radioactive cesium 100 times above the government-set "safe" limits.

The levels found ranged from 4,400 Becquerels per kilogram to 11,400 Bequerels per kilogram , against the maximum "safe" level of 100 Bequerels per kilogram.

The Fukushima nuclear disaster was the worst in 25 years, since the Chernobyl accident in the USSR. It came after North East Japan was hit by a powerful earthquake and Tsunami on March 11, 2011

Hold back RIL investment plan for KG-D6: CAG

Mumbai : The CAG has asked Oil Ministry not to approve any of Reliance Industries’ investment plans for the flagging KG-D6 gas field unless the company gives it unfettered access to audit its spendings. In a strongly worded letter, Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) referred to media reports about the ministry giving nod to RIL’s annual capex for KG-D6 that have been pending for past three years, to advise the ministry not to approve any investment except those of ‘emergent nature’.“It is well within the knowledge of the Ministry that any increase in capital expenditure is likely to have significant adverse impact on government’s financial interests,” CAG wrote to Oil Secretary on November 9.

Sources, however, said contrary to reports, the ministry is yet to sign on resolutions approving capital expenditure on the KG-D6 block for 2010-11, 2011-12 and 2012-13 fiscal pending resolution of CAG audit of spending on the block.

The development comes a day after the ministry’s technical wing, the Directorate General of Hydrocarbon (DGH), approved the drilling of the development well of RIL at the KGD-6 oil and gas blocks off Andhra Pradesh.

Presidential concern over arrest of Muslims in terror cases

New Delhi : President Pranab Mukherjee  assured a CPI(M) delegation to order appropriate action on the innocent Muslim youths being allegedly falsely implicated and arrested in the terror cases.

The assurance came in response to the delegation led by CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat, urging him to direct the government to stop victimisation of innocent Muslims in the name of probing the cases of terrorism.

Karat said Dr Mukherjee also agreed to the need to have a policy to compensate and rehabilitate victims of the fabricated charges and promised to speak to the concerned departments and state governments in this regard.

A memorandum submitted by the delegation demanded repeal of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, conclusion of trial in terror cases in one year, compensation and rehabilitation for the innocent persons implicated in such cases and penal action against the police officers in case of fabrication of evidence.

Karat pointed out that the CPI(M)’s fears expressed over the draconian provisions in the Act at the time of its passage by Parliament have come true with the bitter experience of how the innocent waste their youth behind the bars as terrorists. “We specially drew the President’s attention towards the deliberate targeting of the Muslim youths in the terror-related offences,” he said.

Terming fabrication of cases as dark spot on the secular democracy of the country, he said the arrest of innocent people results in the actual culprits going scot-free. The delegation also included some persons acquitted of the terror-related charges after languishing in jail for years like Delhi’s Mohammad Aaamir and Srinagar’s Maqbool Shah remaining in jail for 14 years each and Kanpur’s Syed Wasif Haider for eight years.