Health Ministry launches measles vaccination drive

Concerned over the large number of child deaths due to measles every year, the Centre has
launched a massive anti-measles vaccination drive. More than 13 crore children are expected to
be covered under the Measles Catch-up Campaign, irrespective of their previous measles
vaccination status. The drive has been launched by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare,
with support from the Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD), for carrying out the
vaccination programme in primary schools, targeting children aged up to 10 years, particularly in
14 States where the routine immunisation coverage is less than 80 per cent. The States that will
benefit from the campaign are Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Gujarat, Haryana,
Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Rajasthan, Tripura,
and Uttar Pradesh.
Wikipedia focusing on India this year
One of the world's most popular websites Wikipedia has turned its focus on India this year, and is
working to reach out to people in the country as part of its expansion plans. Wikipedia founder
Jimmy Wales said that the free internet encyclopedia has its staff working in India conducting
studies and outreach exercises. This year our focus has been India. We have a few people on
the ground in India; they're there helping in solving technical questions, with outreach to
universities, and PR, letting the public know that Wikipedia exists in all those Indian languages,.
Wales is the brain behind world's fifth most popular Website. World Innovation Summit for
Education was held in Qatar.
High spending on medicines, health to push Indians into poverty, says WHO
High spending on medicines and health will push many Indians below the poverty line, the World
Health Organization has cautioned. Meet organized by the Delhi Society for Promotion of
Rational Use of Drugs (DSPRUD) and WHO on Medication Safety in Hospitals. WHO Regional
Advisor Kathleen A. Holloway said most Indians were spending their out-of-pocket income up to
an extent of 70 per cent on medicines and healthcare services in comparison to 30 per cent to 40
per cent ratio in other Asian countries like Sri Lanka. And still, she said, these Indians were
suffering from the infected diseases in the absence of best quality of drugs and healthcare
facilities.
Bangladesh mourns Hazarika
Bangladesh has mourned Bhupen Hazarika who was intimately linked with its birth. Bhupen da
had backed the Mukti Bahini's 1971 War of Liberation with full-throated compositions even as
some other songs celebrated the common culture of the subcontinent's eastern part. His song
Joy Joy Nobojato Bangladesh; Joy Joy Mukti Bahini ... written on the War of Liberation of
Bangladesh would ring forever in the hearts of our people, said Bangladesh Foreign Minister
Dipu Moni in a condolence letter to her Indian counterpart S.M. Krishna.
India more than doubled its queries to tax havens: report
Under pressure to unearth black money stashed away abroad, India has more than doubled its
requests to obtain classified funds information from tax havens and other countries in the last two
years, according to a report by a global financial body. A progress report, presented by
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Secretary-General Angel
Gurria to G-20 Heads of the Governments during the recent summit in Cannes, also said,
Significant additional revenues are expected over the next two years by India by pursuing
measures related to anti-black money and counter-tax evasion.

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7th November 2011

India has largest collection of manuscripts in world

Director of Andhra Pradesh State Archives and Research Institute, Zareena Parveen informed
that India possessed an estimated 5 million manuscripts and probably had the largest such
collection in the world. These included those stored in shrines, libraries and with individuals.
India presses for new global Internet governance mechanism
As the next step in its push for a new global Internet governance mechanism, India recently
presented to the United Nations a proposal for the establishment of a Committee for InternetRelated Policies (CIRP). This committee will help to frame international public policies on issues
relating to Internet governance. The proposal was formally submitted to the 66th session of the
U.N. General Assembly a few days ago by Dushyant Singh, Member of Parliament.
Seat for India in SCO put on the backburner
Ahead of a one-day meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) at the level of
Prime Ministers in St. Petersburg on Monday, Russia and China have created intrigue with their
nuanced comments on the meeting's agenda. Russian Foreign Ministry said the Prime Ministers
of China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan would discuss SCO
expansion, and more specifically, plans to extend full membership to India and Pakistan, grant
observer status to Afghanistan and affiliate Turkey as a SCO dialogue partner.
Attack on Iran more and more likely: Peres
Israeli President Shimon Peres has warned that an attack on Iran was more and more likely,
days before a report by the U.N. nuclear watchdog on Iran's nuclear programme. He told Israeli
private television's second channel: The intelligence services of the different countries that are
keeping an eye on Iran are worried and putting pressure on their leaders to warn that Iran is
ready to obtain the nuclear weapon.
GE Capital aims at exponential leasing business growth
Financial services provider GE Capital said that it will expand its leasing business in both new
and existing asset areas in India, eyeing exponential growth in volumes in 2012. The company
said it is entering into new leasing asset areas and expanding its existing presence in the
automotive and equipment leasing for corporate organizations segment.
Kirmani fetes Dhoni
Syed Kirmani, whose earlier Indian record of 198 dismissals in tests was surpassed by M.S.
Dhoni (200, 174 catches, 26 stumpings), extended his congratulations to the Indian skipper.
Kirmani said: Many congratulations to Dhoni for what he has achieved. Records are meant to be
broken and this is a great feat.
Record wins for Nicol David
Malaysian squash superstar Nicol David won a record sixth women's World Open title, beating
England's Jenny Duncalf 11-2, 11-5, 11-0 in the final. England's Nick Matthew won the men's title
with a 6-11, 11-9, 11-6, 11-5 victory over Frenchman Gregory Gaultier in the final.
Frazier fighting cancer
Former world heavyweight champion Joe Frazier, who battled Muhammad Ali in a famed 1970s
boxing trilogy, is fighting for his life with advanced liver cancer.

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7th November 2011