Apex court issues notice to Salman Khan in chinkara poaching case

New Delhi, Nov 12, 2016, DHNS:

 The Supreme Court on Friday issued a notice to actor Salman Khan on the Rajasthan government’s appeal challenging his acquittal for killing two chinkaras (black buck) in Jodhpur in 1998.
A bench of Justices A K Sikri and R Banumathi decided to hear the appeal expeditiously after admitting it for consideration.

Plea
In its plea, the state government has urged the court to direct Khan to surrender to serve his five-year jail term for killing the animals.

It contended that the high court has relied upon “hyper-technical” issues to overturn “erroneously” the conviction of 50-year-old Khan.

“The high court has erroneously exercised its revisional powers to set aside concurrent findings of both the lower courts,  which convicted Salman Khan for five years,” the state government had stated.

It urged the apex court to restore the 2006 trial court judgements and direct him to surrender to serve the remaining period of his sentence.

HC acquittal
The Jodhpur bench of the high court had on July 25 acquitted the actor in two cases of chinkara poaching in Jodhpur.

It noted that the statement of a key witness could not be considered as he had “disappeared” and the defence could not cross-examine him during the trial.

Khan had spent a week in jail in Jodhpur in connection with the cases.

However, a third case with regard to Khan reportedly  poaching the endangered black buck is yet to be decided.

The incident dates back to 1998 when Salman Khan along with his co-actors were shooting for the film Hum Saath Saath Hain in Jodhpur.

Apex court issues notice to Salman Khan in chinkara poaching case

New Delhi, Nov 12, 2016, DHNS:

 The Supreme Court on Friday issued a notice to actor Salman Khan on the Rajasthan government’s appeal challenging his acquittal for killing two chinkaras (black buck) in Jodhpur in 1998.
A bench of Justices A K Sikri and R Banumathi decided to hear the appeal expeditiously after admitting it for consideration.

Plea
In its plea, the state government has urged the court to direct Khan to surrender to serve his five-year jail term for killing the animals.

It contended that the high court has relied upon “hyper-technical” issues to overturn “erroneously” the conviction of 50-year-old Khan.

“The high court has erroneously exercised its revisional powers to set aside concurrent findings of both the lower courts,  which convicted Salman Khan for five years,” the state government had stated.

It urged the apex court to restore the 2006 trial court judgements and direct him to surrender to serve the remaining period of his sentence.

HC acquittal
The Jodhpur bench of the high court had on July 25 acquitted the actor in two cases of chinkara poaching in Jodhpur.

It noted that the statement of a key witness could not be considered as he had “disappeared” and the defence could not cross-examine him during the trial.

Khan had spent a week in jail in Jodhpur in connection with the cases.

However, a third case with regard to Khan reportedly  poaching the endangered black buck is yet to be decided.

The incident dates back to 1998 when Salman Khan along with his co-actors were shooting for the film Hum Saath Saath Hain in Jodhpur.

Online sale of prescription medicines illegal: panel

Kalyan Ray , New Delhi, Nov 12, 2016, DHNS:

Authorities asked to crack down on guilty firms

Online sale of prescription medicines is illegal, a government-appointed technical panel has recommended even as the trend picks up in the cities and towns.

For online sale of non-prescription drugs, shipping the medicine from an unlicensed premise is illegal and drug regulatory authorities have been instructed to crack down on the guilty firms.

Chaired by the Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration commissioner Harshdeep Kamble, the panel was set up in July 2015 after Maharashtra drug regulatory authority raided the business premises of Snapdeal in Mumbai and seized “prescription only” brands like Ascoril of Glenmark (containing prescription-only ingredients like terbutaline or codeine) and Vigora of German Remedies (sildenafil) sensing violation of laws.

“We have received the report from the (Kamble) committee last Friday. It examined 86 representations and had six meetings. Based on the panel's recommendations, we will submit our recommendations to the health ministry next week,” G N Singh, Drugs Controller General of India said on Friday.

Singh did not disclose the recommendations of the panel, but pointed out that several laws and rules, including the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 and Pharmacy Act 1948, needed to be changed before e-pharmacies were ushered in.

“They have a future, but in a regulated way. At the moment, selling prescription drugs online is illegal and also if they are using an unauthorised premise, it’s illegal,” Singh said. Almost six months ago, the health ministry asked the states to crack down on the erring companies.

In July a survey by the Consumer Online Foundation pointed out people’s increasing preference for Internet purchase of their medicines, particularly for senior citizens.

Carried out on 4,600 individuals, the survey found that almost 61% of the respondents resorted to purchase of drugs over the Internet, while given a choice 90% of them are inclined to do the same.

“At present, pharmaceutical companies can sell drugs only to licensed dealers, registered doctors and hospitals. Retailers are licensed only if they have adequately equipped premises for storage of temperature-sensitive medicines and have qualified on-site pharmacists to dispense drugs against prescriptions and advise patients about the right dosing schedule,” said C M Gulhati, a former consultant to the World Health Organisation.

'Delink ICANN from US jurisdiction'

New Delhi, Nov 12, 2016, DHNS:

Eight Indian civil society organisations involved with internet governance have called for complete delinking of ICANN from US jurisdiction, saying an important global public infrastructure being subject to a single country’s control is unacceptable.

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is a not-for-profit public-benefit corporation with participants from all over the world dedicated to keeping the Internet secure, stable and interoperable.

The demand from Bengaluru-based Centre for Internet and Society and IT for Change as well as Delhi-based Software Freedom Law Centre among others came against the backdrop of ICANN’s meeting in Hyderabad that ended on  Wednesday.

The other organisations involved in the campaign are Free Software Movement of India (Hyderabad), Society for Knowledge Commons, Digital Empowerment Foundation, Delhi Science Forum and Third World Network (all in New Delhi).

“Urgent steps (should) be taken to transit ICANN from its current US jurisdiction. Only then can ICANN become a truly global organisation . We would like to make it clear that our objection is not directed particularly against the US, we are simply against an important global public infrastructure being subject to a single country’s jurisdiction,” a joint statement said.

Though the US has given up its role of signing entries to the Internet’s root zone file, which represents the addressing system for the global Internet, the groups said, the organisation that manages ICANN continues to be under US jurisdiction and hence subject to its courts, legislature and executive agencies.

“Keeping such an important global public infrastructure under US jurisdiction is expected to become a very problematic means of extending US laws and policies across the world,” the statement said.

Explaining the issue, it said country domain names like .br and .ph remain subject to US jurisdiction.

“Iran’s .ir was recently sought to be seized by some US private parties because of alleged Iranian support to terrorism. Although the plea was turned down, another court in another case may decide otherwise. Other countries cannot feel comfortable to have at the core of the Internet’s addressing system an organisation that can be dictated by one government,” the statement said. 

Chewing 'paan' comes with high cancer risk: WHO

New Delhi, Nov 12, 2016, DHNS:

 The common Indian practice of chewing ‘paan’ (betel quid) after a meal comes with high cancer risk, the World Health Organisation has cautioned.
Studies from India confirm a strong association between smokeless tobacco use (which includes betel quid with tobacco) and cancers of the oral cavity and pharynx, said a WHO report released at the ongoing global anti-tobacco summit at Greater Noida.

Expected on Saturday, the outcome document of the WHO summit on the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control is likely to have strong references on the menace of smokeless tobacco.

The reference is required to determine counter strategies and find out resources as the FCTC focuses predominantly on smoking. At least two studies in India have shown an association between use of smokeless tobacco containing areca nut and oesophageal cancer and one of these showed an association of plain tobacco use with oesophageal cancer, says the report.

“In India, over 350,000 people are dying due to exclusive use of smokeless tobacco, of which over 100,000 are dying due to cancer,” said Dhirendra Sinha, senior consultant, National Institute for Cancer Prevention and Research and one of the editors of the report.

A fact-sheet prepared by the USA’s Centre for Disease Control, Atlanta, notes betel quid — a combination of betel leaf, areca nut, slaked lime and some other flavourings — is consumed by over 600 million people in the Indian subcontinent and south east Asia.

The adverse health effects include development of pre-cancerous conditions, oral cancers — predominantly carcinomas of the lip, mouth, tongue, and pharynx — cancer of the esophagus and some other effects including nicotine addiction. Three studies from India along with two studies each from Sweden and USA demonstrate a higher risk of death among smokeless tobacco uses.

“India is the first country to prohibit the sale, storage and manufacturing of smokeless tobacco products like gutkha across all states. However, stronger measures are required for effective implementation of the law,” said Amal Pusp, director in charge of tobacco control at the Union health ministry. India is the world’s biggest market of smokeless tobacco, which is taxed at a low rate despite carrying a substantially high health risk.

Jaitley regrets inconvenience,urges patience in changing notes

New Delhi, Nov 12, 2016 (PTI)

 Amid rising anger among people across India over exchanging the scrapped currency, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today regretted hardships caused due to withdrawal of high denomination notes but advised the public to be patient as the move will have larger benefits for the economy in long term.

He said it may take up to 3 weeks for all the 2 lakh cash vending ATMs to operate normally as each one has to be calibrated individually to dispense new sized notes of Rs 2000 and Rs 500 besides lower denomination currency of Rs 100.

Assuring that RBI and banks have stacked up enough currency to replace the Rs 14 lakh crore worth of Rs 1000/500 notes that have been declared invalid, he said the government is constantly monitoring the situation as it is a "massive operation".

As banks have been asked to remain open this weekend to cope with the rush, the Finance Ministry held a video- conference call with top RBI officials to assess the emerging situation and coordinate currency distribution across the country.

At a hurriedly called press conference, Jaitley urged people not to flock the banks to exchange the now-defunct banknotes, asking them to stagger it over the 50-day window provided by the government for the purpose.

The briefing, second in three days, was called after anger and chaos over never-ending queues were witnessed at banks that struggled to exchange old notes and give out newer Rs 2000 notes and smaller denomination currency.

Hardly 40 per cent of the ATMs were operating in the country and they too ran out of cash within hours. The new Rs 500 note was available only in Delhi and Mumbai and RBI has already started releasing soiled Rs 100 notes to cope with the demand.

"ATMs could not have been calibrated (before the announcement) because of secrecy issue. Thousands of people are involved in recalibration exercise (and) secrecy could not have been maintained. Recalibration takes at least 2-3 weeks," he said.

Terming demonetisation as a massive operation, he said there will be inconvenience in the first few days "but the long term advantages of this are to the overall economy".

"It is a regret that people are being inconvenienced. Because a replacement of this magnitude will cause inconvenience as you have to go to the bank, you have to stand in a queue," he said.

In the short run, he said, some "obvious" disruption will be caused in the short term.
"But once the money is available both in the system and more so in the banking system, the advantages of that to the economy and businesses will be far more. The capacity of the banks with all this additional capital to lend and support businesses is going to be far higher.

"And therefore medium term and long term advantages to the economy as against this temporary inconvenience or disruption, are far too many," he said.

Withdraw this black political decision: WB CM on demonetisation

Kolkata, Nov 12, 2016, PTI:

Dubbing the Centre's demonetisation move as the "black policy of the black government", West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today visited banks and ATMs in the city to witness the "hardship" faced by the common people and demanded withdrawal of the decision.

She visited three banks and several ATMs at Sarat Bose Road, Bhawanipore and Chowringhee and spoke to the people there.

"These are all common people. Let the government nab the real culprits," Banerjee said.

"I visited several bank branches and ATMs since the morning. I spoke to the people...How they were facing this inconvenience due to an ill-planned and anti-people policy. Those who have black money are not standing in long queues," she said.

"It (the Modi government) should immediately withdraw the decision. It is causing an immense harassment to the masses. Most of the ATMs are still closed. From where will the common man get the money to run the family," Banerjee asked.

Pointing out that after standing for hours in a queue, people received only one Rs 2,000 note each, she said, "How will they use this one Rs 2,000 note for all of their daily needs? They are not getting currency notes of lower denominations. There is total chaos and anger."

Earlier in the day, renewing her attack on the Modi government for the move to demonetise the Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 currency notes, Banerjee had demanded withdrawal of this "black" political decision, saying it was against the common people.

"Withdraw this 'black' political decision which is anti-commoner. Markets across India ruined, purchasing power crashing, people pained," she had tweeted.

Claiming that she had said this before, Banerjee said, "But, given the way the young, old and everyone is suffering, let me again appeal to the Central government (to withdraw the decision)".

"This has turned out to be a big black scandal. Hardship for the common citizens and full advantage to the money-launderers," she added.

The Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief, on Thursday, had called upon all the opposition parties to work together against the "anti-poor government at the Centre".

Mocking the prime minister, she had said that Narendra Modi had gone to Japan after making the people "poor" in India. Banerjee had also penned a poem on the demonetisation issue.