Tough, clear, unhealthy

Author(s): Sandhya Sekar @ 

Bisphenol-A, used in making plastic, impacts cell function

Bisphenol-A, a carbon-based compound, is added to plastic for toughness and clarity (Photo: Chinky Shukla)

BISPHENOL-A (BPA), a compound widely used in plastic products, can affect an entire group of molecules involved in normal cell functioning in humans, a recent study has found. The carbon-based synthetic compound is usually added to plastic for toughness and clarity and is used in food packaging containers and water bottles.

Earlier studies suggest BPA increases the risk of heart diseases, breast and prostate cancer and neuronal diseases. The recent study published in the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry shows BPA acts on enzymes in human cells called GTPases (GTP). These enzymes occur in two states within the cell: in the active form they are bound to GTP molecules and in the inactive form they are bound to GDP molecules, a lower-energy form of GTP. GTP are molecular “switches” that activate signals in the cells when they are needed.

Marie Schopel and others from Ruhr University and Bergische University in Germany have demonstrated that BPA binds to two different small GTPases–K-Ras and H-Ras–and prevents the switching action between GDP and GTP. “Our research provides further evidence that the physiological effects of BPA may be even more complex than previously assumed,” says senior author of the paper, Raphael Stoll from Ruhr–Universität, Germany.

The researchers found that BPA starts affecting cellular function when its concentration goes above 100 micro molar. “This is an interesting biochemical observation, but it does not necessarily mean that such effects will be caused in the human body,” says Scott Belcher, a pharmacology researcher at the University of Cincinnati, US. “100 micro molar concentrations are at least a million to billion times the levels observed in humans. BPA is very rapidly metabolised and does not accumulate,” he adds.

In the absence of conclusive evidence on BPA’s ill-effects on humans, health organisations are divided on whether to put restrictions on the compound or not. It is, therefore, better to use plastic products that are BPA-free. Also, glass or porcelain containers should be used for hot food items

Hatching Superbugs

At a time when chicken consumption is at an all time high in India, a study by Delhi non-profit Centre for Science and Environment shows poultry meat could be churning out robust microbes that can render all antibiotics ineffective

Lab study Ramakant Sahu & Poornima Saxena, Research Amit Khurana & Mouna Nagaraju reporting Ankur Paliwal & Jyotsna Singh

In 1945, after receiving the Nobel Prize for his chance discovery of miracle cure, penicillin antibiotic, Alexander Fleming issued a warning. “There is the danger that the ignorant man may easily under-dose himself and by exposing his microbes to non-lethal quantities of the drug make them resistant,” he said. Since the discovery of penicillin, scientists have made antibiotics to cure multitudes of diseases—tuberculosis, typhoid, urinary tract infection, septicaemia, and the list goes. But Fleming’s warning continues to haunt them. More so, because antibiotics are no more restricted to humans nor limited to treating diseases. In poultry, for instance, the industry has found another use for antibiotics: as a growth promoter. Chickens are fed antibiotics so that they gain weight and grow fast.

Public health experts have long suspected that such rampant use of antibiotics could be a reason for increasing antibiotic resistance in India. But the government has no data on the use of antibiotics in the country, let alone on the prevalence of antibiotic resistance.

A recent study now confirms what has for long been suspected. Delhi non-profit Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) has found residues of antibiotics in 40 per cent of the chicken samples it tested. This suggests that the chickens were exposed to antibiotics throughout their short life cycle of 35-42 days.

The Pollution Monitoring Laboratory of CSE tested 70 chicken samples procured from 16 markets in Delhi and the National Capital Region. Three tissues—muscle, liver and kidney—were tested for the presence of six antibiotics widely used in poultry: oxytetracycline, chlortetracycline and doxycycline (from class tetracyclines);enrofloxacin and ciprofloxacin (from fluoroquinolones) and neomycin, an aminoglycoside.

Residues of five of the six antibiotics were found in the chicken samples. The antibiotic residues were detected in all the three tissues. They were in the range of 3.37-131.75 µg/kg. Of the 40 per cent samples found tainted with antibiotic residues, 22.9 per cent contained residues of only one antibiotic while the remaining 17.1 per cent samples had residues of more than one antibiotics. Liver samples contained the maximum antibiotic residue, followed by muscle and kidney tissue (see ‘Know the chicken you eat’). To understand any seasonal variation in the levels of antibiotic residues, CSE researchers conducted the study in two phases: first during September-October 2013, and then between May and June 2014.

The findings were alarming in both the phases. They suggest an indiscriminate use of antibiotics in poultry.

“Repeated and prolonged exposure to antibiotics lead, by natural selection, to the emergence of resistant strains of bacteria,” says Neil Schluger, chief scientific officer, World Lung Foundation, New York. These mutated robust strains bypass toxic effects of antibiotics, making them ineffective. They can easily spread among the flock raised in squalor and contaminate the food chain. They can also alter the genetic material of other bacteria, often pathogenic ones, making them resistant to several drugs and resulting in a global pandemic.

Humans are at a double threat. The mutated robust microbe strain can invade the body and cause diseases that are difficult to treat. Secondly, antibiotic residues present in the meat can directly unleash an assault on microbes in humans. “Residues of antibiotics present in meat can easily find their way into the human body, where they can create resistant microbes,” says RandeepGuleria, professor of pulmonary medicine at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Delhi (see ‘Smart moves...’).

The scale of threat can be gauged from the fact that antibiotics are frequently pumped into chicken during its life cycle: they are occasionally given as a drug to treat infections, regularly mixed with feed to promote growth and routinely administered to all birds for several days to prevent infections, even when there are no sign of it. “Finding antibiotics in chicken is worrying because several antibiotics used in poultry are also used in human beings,” Guleria adds.

To ascertain the linkage between overuse of antibiotics in poultry farms and antibiotic resistance in humans, CSE researchers reviewed 13 studies conducted by various government and private hospitals across the country between 2002 and 2013. The result was startling. Resistance was very high against ciprofloxacin, doxycycline and tetracycline. In certain studies reviewed by CSE, almost all of Pseudomonas, Enterobacter, Escherichia Coli and Klebsiella were found to be resistant to ciprofloxacin (see ‘Bacteria have become highly resistant...’).

a-Includes Klebsiellapneumonia; b-Includes Pseudomonas aeroginosa; c-Includes Enterbacteraerogenes; d-Includes Citrobacterfreundii; e-Includes Acinetobacterbaumanii; f-Includes Enterococcus feacium and Enterococcus faecalis; g-includes MRSA coagulase positive was considered NOTE: Based on the resistance levels found across different studies, samples and time frame the lowest and the highest resistance value is represented through the range. *Resistance data mentioned is against tetracycline antibiotic. Data in a few studies was published as percentage susceptible/sensitive, which was converted into resistance after confirmation with the authors

A world outsmarted by microbes

“Resistance to antibiotics is a major crisis that is going to hit the healthcare sector soon,” says Devi Shetty, cardiac surgeon and founder of Narayana Health, a charitable hospital (see interview).

These drug-resistant bacteria could nullify the gains of modern medicine by compromising the success of organ transplants, high-end surgeries and cancer chemotherapy.

“Not long ago, I treated a patient with drug-resistant tuberculosis,” says Schluger. “What could have been a simple six month course of treatment turned into a two-year ordeal which involved drugs that damaged the patient’s hearing and nerves. Major surgery was required to remove diseased areas of his lung,” he adds.

With drugs losing their effectiveness, the world would need newer antibiotics. Unfortunately, no new class of antibiotic has hit the market since late 1980s. In the US, more than 2 million people suffer from antibiotic-resistance-related illnesses every year; 23,000 of them succumb to the diseases. Annual healthcare cost due to antibiotic resistance is estimated to be as high as $20 billion, with an additional productivity loss of up to $35 billion in the US.

No such estimates are available for India, but cases of high antibiotic resistance are emerging from across the country. VipinVashishtha, who runs Mangla Hospital in Bijnor, Uttar Pradesh, writes on the pervasiveness of antibiotic resistance in the February 2011 issue of Indian Paediatrics. Bacteria found in 14 infants at his hospital were resistant to all classes of antibiotics—cephalosporins, aminoglycosides, monobactams, quinolones, piperacillin-tazobactam combination and carbapenems. These children were administered expensive antibiotics like polymyxin B and colistin, but only eight could be saved. Four of these eight developed complications like meningitis and arthritis, he wrote (see ‘Fatal resistance,’ Down To Earth, October 16-31, 2011).

Guleria elaborates. Antibiotic resistance leads to two problems—mild infections require stronger dosage and no effective antibiotics are left for treating severe infections. Resistance to a class of antibiotics, for instance fluoroquinolone, has fatal consequences. Fluoroquinolone antibiotics are prominently used to combat infections in intensive care units. Treating fatal diseases like sepsis, pneumonia and tuberculosis (TB) are becoming tough because microbes that cause these diseases are increasingly becoming resistant to fluoroquinolones. “We are receiving reports of multi-drug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) and extreme-drug-resistant TB (XDR-TB), ” he adds.

Replying to a question in Parliament recently, Union health minister Harsh Vardhan said that the number of MDR-TB cases in the country has increased five times to 23,325 between 2011 and 2013.

“Almost one-third of all MDR-TB cases are resistant to fluoroquinolone, which forms the backbone of MDR-TB treatment,” says AnujBhatnagar, doctor at RajanBabu Institute of Pulmonary Medicine and Tuberculosis, Delhi. “These patients are just one step short of XDR-TB, at which the options of treatment are seriously limited.”

CSE study found two fluoroquinolone antibiotics—enrofloxacin and ciprofloxacin—in 28.6 per cent chicken samples tested.

“This is just a tip of the iceberg,” say CSE researchers. “We have tested chicken samples only for six widely-used antibiotics in the country. There are many more antibiotics that are routinely used in poultry.”

For example, Skylark Hatcheries, an integrated poultry company in Jind, Haryana, uses Enramycin. Venky’s uses bacitracin in its feed Bamylate, while Vetline India uses furazolidone antibiotic in its feed Furavet. Some European countries ban the use of bacitracin and furazolidone as growth promoters. Antibiotics from classes of cephalosporins, penicillins and macrolides are also among the most popular antibiotics used in poultry farms in India. WHO classifies these antibiotics as critical for human use.

Operation cover-up

Rat poison theory offered by the Chhattisgarh government to explain the sterilisation deaths is a facade, finds an investigation by Jyotsna Singh. The deaths have exposed deep flaws in India's approach to family planning

Survivors of the tubectomies recuperating in a Bilaspur hospital

As the news of the deaths of women sterilised at a camp at Takhatpur block of Bilaspur district started to filter in on November 10, officers in Chhattisgarh’s health department pro-actively called all the 83 women present at the camp to hospitals in the district headquarters. Then, news came that women who had attended other camps too were feeling unwell. Within hours, the operation to gather all the 137 women who were sterilised in four camps-one on November 8 at Nemi Chand Jain hospital in Sikri, Takhatpur, and three on November 10 in Gaurella block-was initiated. (See `How the tragedy unfolded’).

Once the women’s health stabilised, they were sent home with a bag of goodies that included a shawl, blanket, saree, salt and a kit of toiletries for their babies. The administration began brainstorming the cause of deaths. It sought the list of medicines given to the women post-surgery in all four camps. Four drugs were common in the list-diazepam, ibuprofen, ciprofloxacin and povidine iodine. Looking at the symptoms of the affected women, they zeroed in on two drugs, namely ibuprofen and ciprofloxacin. Of these, ibuprofen tablets were manufactured in 2013 and were in circulation for some time and, therefore, considered safe.

How the tragedy unfolded   An account of what happened in Takhatpur from November 8 onwards   November 8 First camp held at Takhatpur. Eighty-three women sterilised November 10 Three camps at Gaurella, Marwahi and Pendra villages. Fifty-four women sterilised The first death occurs. Six women taken ill Compensation of Rs 2 lakh for the deceased November 11 Seven more women die R K Gupta, surgeon who operated upon women in Takhatpur, arrested by police Compensation increased to Rs 4 lakh for the deceased and Rs 50,000 for survivors November 12 Three more women die November 13 Two more die, one from Pendra town Medicines come under scanner November 14 One-member judicial commission under retired judge Anita Jha appointed November 15 Zinc phosphide found in ciprofloxacin MahawarPharma promoters arrested November 18 Private Delhi laboratory confirms presence of zinc phosphide in medicines Fixed deposit of Rs 2 lakh announced for each child of the deceased

“We found that ciprofloxacin, on the other hand, was manufactured in October 2014. This made us suspicious and we tested it,” said Ayyaj Fakirbhai Tamboli, mission director, National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), Chhattisgarh. Preliminary tests of ciprofloxacin tablets showed they were contaminated by zinc phosphide, commonly used as a rodent killer. The state government says the labs in Delhi, Nagpur and Kolkata have confirmed the presence of rat poison but it has not made the reports public. The owners of Raipur-based Mahawar Pharmaceutical Private Limited and Bilaspur-based Kavita Pharma were arrested for culpable homicide.

The culprit had been found. The poison that killed the women had been discovered. Or so it seemed.

A COVER-UP?

Dularin Patel, 27, of Lokhandi village in Takhatpur was one of the 13 women who died. “She was fine till Monday afternoon when she visited us. She had taken medicines on Saturday night and twice on Sunday,” says Gorabai, Dularin’s mother. “She started vomiting from 4 o’ clock in the evening. Then, we got a call from her in-laws, who stay 70 km away, that the mitanin (local health worker) has asked her to go to the hospital. By 3 o’clock on Tuesday morning, she was in Chhattisgarh Institute of Medical Sciences (CIMS).”

“I fed my daughter black tea and bread toast before she left home. I did not know that was going to be her last meal,” says Dularin’s mother, not being able to contain tears in her eyes. By early evening on Tuesday, Dularin was declared dead.

Ranjeeta Suryavanshi of Nirtu village in Takhatpur block died on the night of November 10. Her husband said he was not given the post-mortem report despite asking the doctor. Her one-month-old child has no option but to live on powdered milk (Photographs: Jyotsna Singh)Preliminary results of the post-mortems of the victims have been submitted to the investigating agencies. They have not been disclosed to the public but a senior medical officer who closely monitored the post-mortems told Down To Earth (DTE) that Dularin had developed septicaemia. “She had inflammation of the peritoneum, the membrane forming the lining of the abdominal cavity. There was half-a-litre of thick yellowish fluid in her lungs and septic foci was found in all organs,” said the source, requesting not to be named. “This is a clear-cut case of postoperative infection.”

DTE has accessed seven post-mortem reports. Five of these are of women who died on November 11, one of a November 12 victim and one of November 13. All five reports from the first day showed infection of the abdomen. The report from the second day showed high infection in the body. The report from the third day showed septic shock.

“This shows the infection kept increasing among women who were sterilised on November 8. The results show definitively that the women got infection which must have come through unsterilised instruments,” says a forensic expert at Lady Hardinge Medical College in Delhi.

The administration’s beautifully crafted story of contaminated medicines collapses. The women were prescribed one tablet each of two medicines, twice a day for five days. One of the medicines was the antibiotic ciprofloxacin, which the administration claimed was contaminated with rat poison, zinc phosphide.

Zinc phosphide is linked to kidney failure. “We did not get any renal failure in our post-mortems,” informed the source. He said the infected laparoscope must have been the reason for the deaths.

As the forensic expert in Delhi explains, zinc phosphide poisoning shows up as ulceration of the gastrointestinal tract. The source confirmed that signs of this were missing in post-mortems. However, confirmation of poisoning can only be through viscera report, which is awaited.

The health department’s second assertion too falls flat. It said apart from the women who underwent sterilisation operations, 26 more people fell sick after consuming the same medicine. Six of them died.DTE accessed the post-mortem reports of three of the six. “There was no peculiar finding in their post-mortems. These can only be confirmed after the chemical analysis of viscera,” said the source.

Though the officials claim that medicines are the culprit, they refuse to provide the details, saying the matter is sub judice. The only information they are ready to part with is that two laboratories have confirmed that the medicines were contaminated with zinc phosphide. They would not say what was the concentration of the contaminant.

Experts do not believe this theory. “According to standard books, an adult female needs to consume 4.5 g of zinc phosphide to die,” says B L Chaudhary, from the Department of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology at Lady Hardinge Medical College. The Chhattisgarh administration claims that 500 mg tablets of the antibiotic were contaminated. For the sake of argument, even if one assumes that the entire 500 mg was zinc phosphide, a woman would have to consume nine tablets for the poison to prove fatal. Most women started to complain from Monday. By this time, they had taken three to five doses of the antibiotic. This casts doubt on the poisoning argument.

Citing some of these gaps, this reporter asked the officials about an alternative line of investigation. “This seems quite conclusive to us. We are not looking at any other theory. The rest, the lab reports and other tests will tell,” said Tamboli of NRHM.

The state government has set up a one-member judicial commission to investigate the deaths. It has to collect testimonies of the survivors. But the commission seems to have placed the responsibility of reporting grievances on the survivors. People wishing to give testimony will have to visit the commission’s office in Bilaspur city which remains closed most of the time. "It is impossible to understand how the poor, uneducated and sick women will travel to this place," says Sulakshana Nandi, Raipur-based member of Jan Swasthya Abhiyan, the India chapter of People's Health Movement.

The Bilaspur fiasco has also exposed irregularities in drug procurement. The much-maligned ciprofloxacin was purchased locally by Chief Medical and Health Officer (CMHO) R K Bhange. An official in the health department informed DTE that Chhattisgarh Medical Services Corporation Limited (CGMSCL) has written to at least one inquiry team, stating that the antibiotic stock was available with the authority on November 8.

“The CMHO has the discretion to buy medicines or procure from CGMSCL. Following good practice, he should have chosen the government agency, where the tenders are invited from companies that have been certified by accredited labs,” said the official.

“It was a double whammy for the women. The tragedy happened due to multiple reasons. Firstly, the operations were conducted in pathetic and absolutely unsafe conditions, leaving the women medically vulnerable. Then they were fed contaminated medicines,” says T Sundararaman, founding director, Chhattisgarh State Health Resource Centre and faculty, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Delhi. "All these factors should be investigated by an independent team. The state should be held responsible for bungling on all the fronts."

Things don't change

The manner in which the operations were conducted paints a disturbing picture. It resembles a scene straight out of the documentary on sterilisation, Something Like a War, by Bengaluru-based filmmaker DeepaDhanraj, where a gynaecologist boasts:

This year, I have done more than 2,000 operations. I could do these in school classes, college rooms and zilaparishad halls. These operations are so easy. [A woman moans in severe pain in the background.] I thought of this particular method and I took 45 minutes for the first operation... Now, I can finish this operation in 45 seconds.

This was 1991. Cut to 2014. Like the gynaecologist in the film, R K Gupta, operating surgeon at Takhatpur, performed surgeries like an assembly line (see ‘Evil of efficiency’). He was awarded by the state government on January 26, 2014, for a record 50,000 surgeries in his career.

Accounts of healthcare providers at the Takhatpur camp show gross violation of the 2006 guidelines, Standards for Female and Male Sterilisation (see `Flouting of norms on November 8’). Even basic medical ethics went for a toss. According to the accounts, women started coming to the camp from 10.30 am. Their blood and urine tests were conducted by junior doctors. It was only at around 3.15 pm that R K Gupta came and he was gone by 5.00 pm after operating 83 women, giving less than one-and-a-half minutes to each woman. The same syringe and suture needle were used for all the women. The staff did not even change their gloves. The hospital floor was just mopped, on which the operated women lay down in the absence of beds. “This is a sure-shot recipe for fatal infection. The women could have acquired infection at any stage,” says Subha Sri, member, Common Health, a non-profit working on maternal and neonatal health.

Flouting of norms on November 8   What happened at the camps and what should have happened   Event at the camps 83 women sterilised One doctor sterilised them all Each woman sterilised in one to one-and-a-half minutes One laparoscope used No woman knew of the side effects Nemi Chand Jain hospital was shut since April No woman knew of other methods of avoiding pregnancy Operation theatre was cleaned with a mop Guidelines of 2006 Only 30 persons to be sterlised in one camp One doctor cansterlise only 10 in a day Prescribed standards would take an average of 5-6 minutes per case Three laparoscopes to be used for a maximum of 30 patients Women should be counselled about side effects Camp should be conducted in a working hospital Women have to be counselled about contraceptives and IUDs The operation theatre should be fumigated thoroughly by burning formaldehyde tablets and liquid ammonia 48 hours before the surgery

CURRENT AFFAIRS MAY/02/2015

CURRENT AFFAIRS MAY/02/2015

1.MAHA FDA FILES FIR AGAINST SNAPDEAL, CEO KUNAL BAHL

The Maharashtra Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) has ordered the filing of a first information report (FIR) against e-commerce major Snapdeal.com's CEO for selling I-Pill, Unwanted-72, emergency contraceptives and other drugs through their website snapdeal.com

FDA, in dummy transactions, ordered some of the banned drugs online on snapdeal.com and also got delivery last month.

Snapdeal.com had assured FDA todelist these medicenes but through continued to offer, exhibit and sell drugs like I-Pill, Unwanted-72, emergency contraceptives and other drugs through their website

Maharashtra Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) has accused Snapdeal for listing prescription medicines on its site, days after it raided the Mumbai office of the company

FDA Commissioner Harshadeep Kamble said investigations into other e-commerce giants like Flipkart and Amazon are also under progress

The FIR was filed against snapdeal under relevant sections of the Drugs & Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act, 1954, and the Drugs & Cosmetic Rules, 1945.

Snapdeal said that  it invests significantly in educating sellers on engaging in fair and safe sales on the platform and consequences of selling inappropriate products but at times sellers end up listing such products

FDA investigation revealed that Jasper Infotech Pvt Ltd has agreements with various pharmaceutical deals all over India to supply drugs through Snapdeal.com and also collect payments.

About snapdeal:-

Snapdeal is an online marketplace, New Delhi, India.

The company was started by Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal in February 2010

2.MICROSOFT NAMED ITS NEXT WEB BROWSER AS EDGE,GOODBYE INTERNET EXPLORER

Microsoft has officially named its next-generation browser for Windows 10 as Microsoft Edge which has more new features and faster than Internet Explorer  and it will now replace Internet Explorer 

Microsoft Edge was first announced as in January as Project Spartan

Edge has new features as notation tool, a distraction—free reading mode, and website information from Cortana, a personal voice—assistant app for Windows

Microsoft Edge browser has Cortana built in which will understand of what the user likes, based on their previous history.

Microsoft Edge will include news feeds and suggested web sites, in order to "help people connect with and discover more content Another

New feature of Microsoft Edge is support for Web Extensions, add-ins for the browser written in HTML and JavaScript which is similar to those that have been available for Chrome and Firefox

3.INDIA IS ALL SET TO GETS IT OWN INDIGENOUS REAL TIME QUAKE MONITORING SYSTEM

India is all set to gets it own indigenous real time quake monitoring system parallel to United States Geological Survey (USGS)

The Geological Survey of India (GSI) is in the process of setting up an extensive network of integrated seismo-geodetic equipment across ten strategic locations including Agartala, Itanagar, Katra in Jammu, Jabalpur and Nagpur in the country.

The observatories will comprehensively monitor all earthquake activities in the sub-continent and will be able to study earthquake data in real time

GSI is establishing this system for the first time in India and should start functioning by the end of July

The data collected by the field observatories will be interlinked through VSAT and collated at Geological Survey of India's Data Receiving and Processing Unit in Kolkata and uploaded on the GSI portal

Anyone can get instant information about any tremor felt across the Indian subcontinent in real time from there.

4.NDTV’S EXECUTIVE CO-CHAIRMAN TO RECEIVE REDINK AWARD FOR LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT

Dr Prannoy Roy, Executive Co-Chairman of NDTV Group, has been awarded the 2015 RedInk Award for Lifetime Achievement for Excellence in Journalism

Dr Prannoy Roy has consistent and pioneering contribution to news television in India

The award, comprising a trophy and a citation, has been instituted by the Mumbai Press Club

The awards were presented by the Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu

Sreenivasan Jain of NDTV was presented 'Journalist of the Year' award.

Arnab Goswami, editor-in-chief of Times Now, was honoured with 'Impact Editor of the Year' award

About Dr Prannoy Roy :-

Dr Prannoy Roy, along with his wife and journalist Radhika Roy set up television news production company called New Delhi Television in 1988, now called NDTV.

Dr Prannoy Roy was distinguished for his unparalleled coverage of election news and changed the way people consumed TV news with his popular programmes such as ‘The News Tonight’ and ‘The World This Week’.

5.THEERA VETA DEFENCE EXERCISE IN ARABIAN SEA CONDUCTED BY COASTAL SECURITY

The Coastal security exercise ‘Theera Veta’ for coast of Kerala, Lakshadweep and Minicoy islands and the Union Territory of Mahe was conducted from 28-29 Apr 15

Theera Veta was conducted by the Coast Guard from its Ops room at Kochi and Kavaratti and monitored from the Joint Operation Centre (JOC), at Naval base, Kochi

Theera Veta was actively participated by all agencies such as the Indian Navy, the Coast Guard, Coastal Police, State and U/T administration, State/UT police, Fisheries Department including Marine Enforcement Wing Intelligence Bureau, Customs

Theera Veta is held periodically to revalidate the standard operating procedures with a focus on protecting the vital installations located coast to coast

6.FORMER GUJARAT ASSEMBLY SPEAKER BARJORJI PARDIWALA PASSED AWAY

Former Gujarat assembly speaker Barjorji Pardiwala,86, today passed away due to age-related illness at a city-based private hospital.

Barjorji Pardiwala, father of Gujarat High Court Justice J B Pardiwala, was also a renowned lawyer in Valsa Pardiwala joined the bar at Valsad town of Gujarat in 1955 and practiced for more than 40 years

Barjorji Pardiwala, successfully contested election as Congress nominee on Valsad assembly constituency and was made speaker of the seventh state assembly when Madhavsinh Solanki was chief minister for period from December 1989 to March 1990.

7.GOVT PROVIDES SOME RELIEF RELIEF TO FOREIGN INVESTORS FROM MAT

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced exemption from minimum alternate tax MAT on certain incomes of foreign firms

The government said that minimum alternate tax (MAT) would be applicable on the real estate and infrastructure investment trusts only when there is actual transfer of their units

MAT will not apply to capital gains on the sale of securities, royalty, technical service fees and interest income.

Earlier, MAT was also applicable on exchange of equity shares of an Special Purpose Vehicle for REIT or InVIT units

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley also eased MAT rules for real estate investment trusts (REITs) and Infrastructure Investments Trusts (InvITs)

The finance minister Arun Jaitley lowered the export duty on low-grade iron ore to 10% from 30% to boost exports from Goa and revive mining of the commodity in the state

8.BELGIAN FOOTBALLER GREGORY MERTENS DIES AFTER COLLAPSING ON PITCH

Belgian footballer Gregory Mertens died three days after suffering a heart attack while playing for Lokeren's reserves

The 24-year-old defender had been in a critical condition after collapsing on the field 20 minutes into a reserve game against Genk on Monday since than he was on coma

Gregory was only at the club for one and a half years, but in that short time (he showed) quiet modesty and was indispensable

CURRENT AFFAIRS MAY/1/2015

CURRENT AFFAIRS MAY/1/2015

1.US REPORT SLAMS INDIA ON RELIGIOUS FREEDOM,INDIA REJECTS THE REPORT

United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) presented it's 2015 annual report which says that minorities in the country have been subjected to religiously motivated "violent attacks" and "forced conversions" specially “Ghar Wapsi” after the NDA led government has assumed power

It says that Minority groups are often subject of communal remarks by certain politicians 

What is USCIRF?

It is an independent, bipartisan U.S. federal government commission, the first of its kind in the world, dedicated to defending the universal right to freedom of religion or belief abroad. USCIRF reviews the facts and circumstances of religious freedom violations and makes policy recommendations to the President,the Secretary of State, and Congress. USCIRF Commissioners are appointed by the President and the Congressional leadership of both political parties 

It is among the organisations that had recommended to the US State Department to deny visa to Narendra Modi over the 2002 Gujarat riots.In 2009 India refused to grant visa to USCIRF commissioners to travel to India

2.INDIA REJECTS PAKISTAN STAND ON TOWNSHIPS FOR KASHMIRI PANDITS

Indian rejected the stand Pakistan that creation of any dedicated townships in Kashmir Valley for displaced Kashmiri Pandits would change the demographic makeup of the state and be in violation of UN resolutions

Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that Kashmiri Pandits along with Muslims and Sikhs are an integral part of Jammu and Kashmir.

He said whosoever was uprooted and moved out, should be brought back in the State

Pakistan's Foreign Office spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam had said eralier that earlier India cannot change the population mix by settling outsiders in the Kashmir Valley.

3.The new PDP-BJP Government had assured the Centre that it will soon acquire and provide land at the earliest for creating composite townships for displaced Kashmiri migrants in the Valley.

4.NITIN GADKARI TO INAUGURATE SHILLONG BYPASS TODAY

Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari will inagurate Shillong Bypass and Umiam-Jorabad four-lane highway today and dedicate it to the people

The 47 km-long Umiam-Jorabad four-lane highway connects NH-40 and NH-44 leading to Mizoram and Tripura it also bypasses the highly congested state capital.

The Estimated cost of project is Rs 220.35 crore theand was completed two years after work began in 2011.

5.RAJASTHAN WITNESSES VOLUNTARY CLOSURE OF BETEL SHOPS ON NO TOBACCO DAY

Rajasthan observed it's first "No Tobacco Day" on the last day of the month

The state witnessed voluntary closure of betel shops in many parts of the state as tobacco products sellers (pan shops) kept their shops closed for one day voluntarily.

The Health Department had initiated “No Tobacco Day“ to decrease tobacco consumption and so asked the tobacco product sellers to stop selling goods for at least one day in a month

6.TELECOM OPERATORS SLASH ROAMING RATES BY UP TO 75%

Following a decision by telecom regulator TRAI to reduce the ceiling tariffs leading operators, including Airtel, Vodafone, Idea and RCom, slashed their roaming rates by up to 75%

When the suscriber is in roaming call rates will be cheaper by up to 40% and SMS by up to 75%.

According to Airtel incoming call rates will be reduced by up to 40%, whereas the outgoing inter circle call rates will see a decline of up to 23%

According to Vodafone customers will pay 45 paise/minute instead of the earlier 75 paise/minute for receiving calls outside home network, a cut of 40%.

It is said that outgoing local and STD calls will be charged at 80 paise and Rs 1.15 paise per minute as compared to Re 1 and Rs 1.50, respectively

An operator can charge a maximum 25 paise for each local SMS instead of Re 1 per SMS and a maximum 80 paise per minute for a local call instead of Re 1

7.MAHARASHTRA DAY OBSERVED:GUV SEEKS SUPPORT OF CORPORATE FOR WATER MANAGEMENT

Maharashtra Governor C Vidyasagar Rao today sought the participation of corporates for helping the government to implement its ambitious integrated water conservation and management initiative, Jalyukta Shivar Abhiyan

The government has expressed its resolve to make Maharashtra drought free. 'More crop per drop' will be the guiding motto of the government for using water efficiently

Maharashtra attained statehood on May 1, 1960. Maharashtra Day is being celebrated today in various parts of the state

The governor said that the government has planned to implement Aamdar Adarsh Gaon Yojana on the lines of the Saansad Adarsha Gram Yojana under which about 1,000 villages would be developed

8.WORLD BANK EXTENDS SUPPORT TO QUAKE-HIT NEPAL

World Bank is in close contact with the Nepalese authorities, who have specifically requested it's support to help carry out an assessment of damage and reconstruction needs in urban areas affected by the quake

World Bank President Jim Yong Kim said World Bank Group is a long-standing partner of Nepal and will do everything possible to help people through this ordeal