Tech Babu goes live with radio over Net

Published in Asian Age/Deccan Chronicle on December 1, 2007
November 2007
By Syed Akbar
Hyderabad, Nov. 30: The main opposition Telugu Desam has set up an online radio station named TDP Radio. All you need is an Internet connection and a pair of speakers to tune into TD’s version of the happenings in the State. TDP Radio is the brainchild of party president N. Chandrababu Naidu, who has a yen for things hi-tech.
He wants to disseminate hot news of the state to Telugu-speaking people living in foreign countries, with a TD slant of course. It can be assessed by clicking TD’s official website, www.Telugudesamparty.org. Mr Naidu got the idea of
having his own radio station after the recent interaction with Telugu-speaking NRIs in the US, the UK and Canada.
A survey conducted by the party showed that about five million Telugu-speaking people were living in about 100 countries.
“The online radio service will not only give news to Telugus but will also keep them in touch with our party,” said a senior TD leader. An exclusive website for the Telugu NRIs for exchange of views on various important topics has also been set up by TD. Telugus outside the country can post their views on TDP Radio in the NRI website. Since TDP Radio is webcast, it can be accessed and heard from anywhere in the globe.
TD is perhaps the only political party in the country to have its own online radio station. Mr Naidu has also set up video links in the party’s official website to enable people to see happenings in TD headquarters NTR Bhavan.
Press conferences held at NTR Bhavan are webcast, both in audio and video formats. Now that the State Assembly elections fast approaching, Mr Naidu is also thinking of reviving his party’s mouthpiece, Telugu Desam Weekly, published earlier in Telugu and Urdu.

BCG Booster dose needed to fight TB

Published in Deccan Chronicle on November 30, 2007
By Syed Akbar
Hyderabad, Nov 29: City scientists suggest that a booster dose of BCG vaccine should be given to children between the age of 13 and 15 years to prevent spread of tuberculosis in the country.
The Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics and Mahaveer Hospital and Research Centre took up a study to find out why people, who had been immunised for TB in childhood, were developing the killer disease at a later stage in life. The study revealed that the efficacy of the BCG vaccine comes down with age, necessitating a booster dose during the adolescent period.
Those who do not take a booster BCG vaccine stand exposed to the attack of the TB bacteria.
Mycobacterium bovis BCG vaccine has displayed inconsistent efficacy in different trials conducted in various geographical regions. Though BCG has brought down the instances of TB in children, its efficacy wanes with age, causing concern to health experts and researchers. The present study employed the latest laboratory techniques to establish that a single dose of BCG vaccine given at birth is not effective throughout the life of an individual. He or she needs a booster dose, preferably in the adolescent or teenage to prevent the spread of the disease.
Ninety healthy children who were without any clinical evidence of tuberculosis, 45 with a BCG-scar and the remaining 45 without scar and 25 with tuberculosis were covered in the study. The incidence of TB was analysed in 216 children attending a DOTS clinic in Hyderabad.
High incidence of TB was observed in age group 13-14 years followed by children in the age group 10-12 years. In all 79 per cent of vaccinated children showed positive proliferative responses while only 39 per cent of the unvaccinated and 58 per cent of the tuberculosis children showed positive responses.
The stimulation indices in vaccinated children decreased in the older children concurring with an increase in the incidence of TB.
"Significantly high levels of in vitro interferon demonstrated in BCG vaccinated children substantiate the observation that BCG is effective in children, but the effect may wane with age. The immunity could be boosted using modified BCG," the study pointed out.
Though a variety of live vaccines have been developed as vaccines, until now no booster vaccine has been shown capable of significantly enhancing the level of protective immunity.
The study noted that waning of immunity was of particular public health interest because it may result in increased susceptibility later in life. The mechanism underlying the gradual loss of effectiveness of BCG as the individual reaches 10 to 15 years of age is poorly understood.

Top class Brahmin colony cast in Medak

November 27, 2007
By Syed Akbar
Hyderabad, Nov. 26: A group of eminent Brahmins is setting up a 1,200-acre colony for the community in Siddipet of Medak district to resurrect the old Agraharam ambience. They include senior IAS, IPS, IFS and IRTS officers and journalists from the community. The Brahmin colony has been named Dhanwantari Agraharam and will have modern amenities including engineering and medical college, a super-specialty hospital, super markets, temples and an exclusive hall for rituals.
This is the first ‘caste-based’ mega real estate venture in and around Hyderabad. In olden days kings and rulers used to donate lands to Brahmins to set up Agraharams. Similarly, the new venture is meant to bring Brahmins scattered all over the city to one colony to create “mutual understanding”. The ambitious project, being taken up by Dhanwantri Foundation International, will be ready in two years’ time. Plots have been allotted and construction will begin on the auspicious Pongal day in mid-January next year. The foundation has purchased 180 acres of land near Jadcherla in Mahbubnagar district and 1,200 acres near Siddipet with funds contributed by about 1,000 members.

Plots are being sold at Rs 150 a square yard as against the normal market value of Rs 1,500. Dr P. Kamalakara Sarma, managing trustee of the foundation, refused to divulge more about the project. “I am busy with my patients,” he said when contacted. However, his message on the foundation’s website says that the vote bank-based democracy of India had led the Brahmins to a pathetic situation, irrespective of their position. “The feeling of ego and so-called intellect has not allowed the community to function as a systematic organisation leaving individuals to suffer,” he further adds.
Despite the tall talk, poor Brahmins seem to have no place in this modern Agraharam. The 504 governing council members of the foundation will get land ranging between one and three acres and 400 donor members will get 1,000 square yards each. A senior IPS officer, who is on the board of trustees, said he had been briefed about the project though he did not buy a plot.

Tasleema issue: UNPA asks her to keep quiet or leave

November 2007
By SYED AKBAR
Vijayawada, Nov. 24: The United National Progressive Alliance (UNPA) on Saturday curtly told controversial Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen to either stop hurting religious sentiments or leave India.
The UNPA, which held its first political conclave here, took serious note of the "religious discord" Taslima had been creating in India since she stepped on its shores seeking asylum.
However, the coalition decided not to ask the Centre to extend or deny asylum to the writer. Neither did the meeting pass any resolution though it discussed the issue for long.
Briefing mediapersons after the two-hour conclave, National Conference leader and former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Mr Farooq Abdullah, said that if Taslima wanted to live in peace she should stop writing against religions and creating hatred between communities. "She should apologise for her writings and desist from publishing anything that would hurt the religious sentiments of people," said Mr Abdullah. "We apprehend trouble wherever she goes. We have seen what happened during her visit to Hyderabad."
Mr Abdullah said it was for the Centre to decide whether to extend her asylum. "But on her part, she should ensure that peace prevails in secular India. She must not attack religions. If she wants to do that, let her go to some other country," he said.

Breast milk, vaccines halt pneumonia

Deccan Chronicle, August 19, 2007
Syed Akbar
Bangkok, Aug 18: Health experts and doctors from across Asia and the Pacific have emphasised the need for breastfeeding and vaccination to prevent the spread of pneumonia, the infectious disease that has emerged as the largest killer of children under the age of five.
Armed with statistics and data, health experts, attending the 3rd Asian Pneumococcal Diseases Conference organised by Wyeth Limited, argue that proper breastfeeding for at least 11 months accompanied by vaccination will bring down the child deaths related to pneumonia by about a million every year.
Reduction in indoor pollution and intake of nutritious food will also help in building up immunity against the silent killer disease.
"Preventing children from developing pneumonia in the first place is critical to reducing its death roll. Prevention efforts include may well-known survival interventions such as expanding vaccine coverage, breastfeeding, promoting adequate nutrition and reducing indoor air pollution," says Dr Nitin Shah, former president of Indian Paediatrics Association.
Pneumonia kills more children than any other illness, more than AIDS, malaria and measles combined. Over two million children die from pneumonia each year, accounting for almost one in five under-five deaths worldwide. And India leads the chart with 44million cases of pneumonia, followed by China with 18 million.
According to WHO statistics, pneumonia accounts for 19 per cent of all under-five deaths. Around 26 per of neonatal deaths or 10 per cent of all under-five deaths are caused by severe infections during the neonatal period. And a significant proportion of these infections is caused by pneumonia/sepsis. If these deaths were included in the over all estimate, pneumonia would account for up to three million, or as many as one third (29 per cent) of underfive deaths each year.
Unfortunately, pneumonia has received far less attention and funding that malaria and AIDS. While 20 lakh children die of pneumonia, only eight lakh fall victim to malaria. AIDS kills three lakh children.
Health experts point out that children who are exclusively breastfed develop fewer infections and have less severe illnesses than those who are not. Breast milk contains the nutrients, antioxidants, hormones and antibodies needed by the child to survive and develop and specifically for a child's immune system to function properly.
"Infants under six months who are not breastfed are at five times the risk of dying from pneumonia as infants who are exclusively breastfed for the first six months of life. Infants 6-11 months old who are not breastfed are also at an increased risk of dying from pneumonia compared to those who are breastfed," the experts said.
The experts were unanimous in their view that immunisation will help reduce childhood deaths from pneumonia by preventing children from developing infections that directly cause pneumonia such as Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib); and from infections that can lead to pneumonia as a complication like measles and pertusis.
Three vaccines - measles vaccine, HiB vaccine and pneumoccoccal conjugate vaccine - have the potential to save millions of children's lives by reducing deaths from pneumonia. They work to reduce the incidence of pneumonia caused by the bacterial pathogens Streptococcus pneumonia (pneumococcal conjugate vaccine) and Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib vaccine) as well as pneumonia caused by serious complications from measles (measles vaccine).

Hindu seers to check religious conversions

Seers to meet in Delhi today
By Syed Akbar
Published in The Asian Age/Deccan Chronicle on June 23, 2006
Hyderabad, June 22: With instances of religious conversions on the rise in the country, Visakhapatnam-based Sri Swarupanandendra Swami of Sri Sarada Peetham has launched a nationwide campaign to mobilise the support of Hindu seers to protect the Vedic dharma.
Sri Swarupanandendra Swami will hold a series of meetings with Hindu religious scholars and sankaracharyas for two days from Friday in New Delhi to chalk out a strategy to stop Hindus from converting to other religions. During his stay in New Delhi he is scheduled to meet, among others, Sri Swami Jayendrananda Maharaj and Sri Swami Prabhavananda Maharaj.
More than two dozen seers are expected to participate in the meeting. Later, the Swamiji will hold a conclave of Hindu seers for three days from June 25 onwards in Haridwar.
Prominent swamis including Sri Vidyanandagiri, mahamandaleshwar of Kailash ashram, Rishikesh, and Sri Medhananda Puri Maharaj, mandaleshwar of the same ashram, will be present. The Sarada Peetham will launch a campaign all over the country after mobilising support from Hindu seers of various cults.
"The idea of a nationwide campaign is to protect the Hindu dharma from attacks from different quarters. Attempts are being made to weaken Hinduism. Religious conversions and preaching of non-Hindu religions in Hindu holy places are on the rise. We will educate Hindus and remind them of the ancient values of our Sanatan Dharma," the swami observed.
The Sarada Peetham also plans to hold a meeting of sadhus and sants in Hyderabad on September 10 as part of the campaign. The programme was originally scheduled for June 30, but had to be postponed to September 10 as swamiji will be busy mobilising support of other Hindu seers in north India, a spokesperson of the peetham said.
Hindu religious scholars have expressed anger over preaching of non-Hindu religions in Tirumala and Simhachalam. The police had to intervene and take into custody the preachers in both the places recently.