Contraceptive use rises in rural areas of Gujarat

AHMEDABAD: Premila Bhabor of Panchmuva village in Panchamahal is a mother of five. After giving birth to a daughter and a son, she wanted another son. "What if the first one does not survive," was her concern. But that did not happen and she conceived three girls after that. The family lives in extreme poverty. Premila and her husband did not use contraceptives though a health worker had explained how they worked.

This is one story among the hundreds in rural Gujarat where the knowledge of contraception has reached but the message hasn't yet been conveyed.

May 28 is observed as the International Day for Action on Women's Health and the theme set by Women's Global Network for Reproductive Rights (WGNRR) for this year is 'Access to Contraceptives is a Human Right'. In rural Gujarat, while the infant mortality rate and the maternal mortality rate have improved over the years, the use of contraception - both temporary and permanent - is still limited.

However, the awareness of contraceptives is on the rise with an increase in its users, from 65% to 67%. "Non-reversible methods of contraception are preferred to reversible methods with female sterilization being the most prevalent form at 41.5%," says Smita Bajpai, project coordinator, Chetna.

As for the vast number of those who reject contraceptives, Bajpai says: "The primary reason for refusing is the desire for having a male child and the nagging fear that one child might not survive." To tackle this, a project was launched in 2006 which saw several state NGOs and the department of health and family welfare collaborate to bring about a change in the health status of women in these areas. This project mobilized couples by counseling them on permanent and temporary methods of contraception provided by the public health system. Individual as well as joint counseling was done to provide complete information about various methods and the couples then chose the method of their choice.

Reports from 17 districts of Gujarat indicated that a total of 1,833 women accepted the temporary method of spacing children - intra uterine contraceptive device or IUCD. A total of 2,955 women accepted permanent sterilization. Interestingly, the state policy provides more compensation to men, but the report indicates only 129 men accepted this method during 2008-13. Men still find it difficult to accept this method as they confuse it with the concept of masculinity, the findings say.

"Women are overburdened with work. There is no one to look after the children at home and health facilities are far off, making it difficult to seek help," Bajpai says. "Most families in these areas migrate for livelihoods. To track them and to ensure that they receive services at the places they migrate to is a major challenge in these areas."

Govt to pay increased salary arrears in cash

AHMEDABAD: The State government has decided to pay in cash the fifth installment of arrears of increased salary allowance of sixth pay commission to its employees. The pro-employee announcement came just a week after the state government announced 8% increase in dearness allowance (DA) for the employees.

Giving details of the decision the state government Spokespersons Finance Minister Nitin Patel and Energy Minister Saurabh Patel said the state government had earlier announced to give benefit of sixth pay commission to its employees from January 01, 2006. Accordingly it was decided to pay arrears of salary and DA in five even installments, payable directly to the employees' General Provident Fund every year.

However, the government had then paid the second installment in cash in the year 2010-11 on the occasion of the State's golden jubilee celebration. The third and forth installments were also paid in cash. Now the fifth and last installment, payable in 2013-14, will also be paid in cash to the employees.

About 8.20 lakh Karmayogis, including those in service and retired pensioners, will be benefited from this decision, said the Ministers.

The state government will pay a sum of around Rs. 1082.25 crore in cash to the employees as a part of this decision.
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Mumbai girl Ananya wins bronze in World School Chess

Mumbai: Nine-year-old Mumbai girl Ananya Gupta has claimed a bronze medal in the World School Chess championship held at Haldikki in Greece.

Ananya, a product of South Mumbai Chess Academy (SMCA), was ranked 7th with an ELO of 1564 in the tournament held between May 6-15.

She created waves by beating the much higher ranked Yvonne Beline of France on way to finishing third in the competition.

Her vigorous attitude was evident in this particular game, wherein, despite a "dead draw" situation she refused to settle for it, tricked her opponent and claimed the victory.

Ananya, who had clinched gold at the 9th Singapore Chess Festival earlier, won seven out of nine games to bag the bronze, Maharashtra Chess Association's joint secretary Nagesh Guttula said.

"I felt very calm and relaxed in Greece and I played my usual game", said Ananya about her performance.

She had trained for seven hours daily before the tournament with her coaches at SMCA and is now preparing for the Under 9 nationals.

Cloud cover gives Hyderabad respite from heat

HYDERABAD: In what came as a big surprise not only to denizens but also weather experts, the city temperature took an unexpected plunge on Monday and recorded a bearable 38.4 degree Celsius, a sharp 5.5 degree decline from the 43.9 degree Celsius recorded on May 23.

The met department, which had predicted two more days of severe heat on Sunday withdrew its state-wide warning on heat wave, saying an upper air cyclonic circulation formed over northwest Bay and adjoining west central Bay off Orissa-Andhra coast caused the cloud cover and drop in temperature.

After days of severe heat wave conditions which saw around 500 sunstroke deaths in just three days in the state, the highest such toll in recent recorded history, temperatures dropped by 2-3 degrees in many parts of the state and officials said they are likely to remain the same during the next 48 hours.

Parts of Telangana, including Hyderabad remained cloudy on Monday with reports of light drizzle from Gandipet and Kondapur and weathermen have forecast rainfall in some parts of the state during the next 48 hours.

"Heatwave conditions have abated due to the upper air cyclonic circulation," said M Narasimha Rao, assistant meteorologist, Met department. The state was in the grip of severe heat wave conditions from May 18 to May 26.

Somdev through to second round, sets up date with Federer

Paris: India's Somdev Devvarman sailed into the second round of the men's singles event at the French Open with a straight-set win over Daniel Munoz-De La Nava of Spain at the Roland Garros here.
It took Somdev little more than two-and-a-half hours to get the better of his Spaniard opponent 6-3 6-3 7-5.

A tough encounter awaits Somdev in the second round as the 188th ranked Indian will be up against world number three Roger Federer of Switzerland.

Federer had defeated Spanish qualifier Pablo Carreno-Busta 6-2 6-2 6-3 in his opening round.

Kanpur municipal corporation launches cleanliness drive

KANPUR: Kanpur municipal corporation had launch a cleanliness drive from Monday. It would continue till June 17. KMC had taken this step after a lot of criticism and complaints regarding heaps of garbage and choked sewers. Municipal commissioner Umakant Tripathi said that instructions had been issued to the zonal head. KMC teams would perform the task in one ward of each zone every day under the supervision of zonal heads.

The cleanliness work will be done by the workers of KMC while the corporators will assist the KMC teams in the management of the drive. The silt removed from the nullahs and drains would removed immediately. Safai nayaks would be responsible for their wards. They had been asked to spray pesticides after cleaning the locality. Sewer and nullah cleaning work would be executed by the staff of Jal Sansthan under the supervision of engineers.

The district administration had decided to assist in the campaign and it would conduct videography of the cleanliness drive to make sure that every nook and corner of the city gets cleaned. The task of conducting videography and ensuring smooth commencement of drive will be governed by additional city magistrates (ACMs). The drive would focus on water sources near slums and other areas that are poorly sanitized. This will prevent outbreak of infectious water-borne diseases during monsoon.

Chlorination in water resources would be also ensured for supply of safe drinking water. The KMC teams and ward corporators would also motivate locals to keep their areas clean. The district administration will also reward the best cleaned ward.

Physical disability no barrier for Devang

KANPUR: Devang Agarwal, a meritorious student of Delhi Public School, Azad Nagar, suffers from muscular dystrophy. However, the complex disease only added to his determination to do something big in life. On Monday, he lived his dream by scoring 95.8% in class XII, the results of which were declared by CBSE.

While Devang was supported by his parents at home, his teachers stood by him at school. This made his life simpler. Though confined to a wheelchair, Devang's dreams and mind were never shackled.

"He thinks creatively and despite the odd, has made his school, parents and friends proud. Everybody wanted to get a photo clicked with Devang.

The schoolground came alive after the declaration of results with people wishing Devang on his great achievement," said his teacher.

Interestingly, among the infinity of known genetic diseases that affect human beings, his disease is one that affects one of the most important tissues that impact two virtues most appreciated by the humans: life and independence.

Muscular Dystrophy has affected several people like Devang. But his will power to do something extra in life made Devang score such high marks in the commerce stream. He now wishes to become a chartered accountant. Facts which only friends and family members of Devang know is that he is a leading keyboard player in the city. He likes to play chess.

The proud parents of Devang, Dr AK Agarwal, an orthopaedic surgeon and Dr Manisha Agarwal, a gynecologist had no words to express about the success of their son. The school teachers were very excited that Devang had done so well. The teachers were not surprised that Devang had done so well as he had performed in the similar manner in class X as well. The school principal was all in praise for this bright boy.

Alok Misra, chairman of the school was equally proud of Devang's achievement.

Muscular dystrophy is a genetic disease and afflicts one person per one thousand. Muscular dystrophies are categorized as nine. Each type and subtypes have different genetic origins, caused by mutations that result in the total absence, loss, or deficiency of some of the proteins necessary for muscular function. This also leads to deterioration and breakdown of the muscular tissue. The form in which this deterioration develops, its severity and the time in which symptoms appear, varies according to each type and subtype.