02.12.21

19.81% female sex workers in Mizoram live with AIDS: NGO

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Mizoramhas a high prevalence of HIV/AIDS, which has resulted in community transmission, despite the people’s fight against the virus, said social workers while speaking during a programme to mark the WorldAIDSDay.

State Health ministerR Lalthanglianasaid theHIV transmissionhas penetrated the Society as a large number of people, not belonging to high-risk groups such as drug addicts and sex workers, have been infected. The Mizoram State AIDS Control Society said 25,080 people have been infected withHIVsince 1990, of which 3,294 have died. Nearly 24.68% intravenous drug users and 19.81% femalesex workerslive with AIDS, said Alliance India.

Over 86% HIV cases in Assam caused sexually

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The main cause ofHIVinfection in the state is sexual (86.31%), while transmission through infected syringes and needles is merely 5.24%, revealed data released by theAssamState Aids Control Society (AACS) on World Aids Day.

The route of transmission in 82.20% detected HIV positive cases is heterosexual, whereas in 4.11% cases the transmission is by homosexuals or bisexuals. Parent to child infection rate is 4.64%, and in 2.82% cases the reason behind the transmission has not been specified or remains unknown.

The obvious concern has been the areas in and around Guwahati. District wise detection shows that, the maximum number of cases (33%) has been diagnosed in Kamrup (Metropolitan) district as on October 31. Also in the scanner is Cachar district in South Assam where 23% of the state’s total cases have been diagnosed. The National AIDS Control Programme (NACP) data shows that Assam has been able to test 67,15,121 persons (22,22,527 general clients and 44,92,594 pregnant Women) till October 31, 2021 and 20,841 cases have been diagnosed as HIV positive, out of which 19,030 are general clients and 1,811 are pregnant women.

In the last 20 years though, the HIV case detection graph has been unevenly on the rise and reached climax in 2019-20 when the highest 1,955 number of cases. In the last two years, however, it has noticeably gone down to 1,288 in 2020-21 and 1,287 in 2021-22 (April to October).

Expert analysis done by ASACS stated that Assam remains a highly vulnerable state as far as HIV transmission possibility is concerned because a large number of young Population from the state is also going to large cities for EMPLOYMENT and get involved in high-risk behaviour. A large number of female migrants from other northeastern states, West Bengal and Nepal, who have come to Assam for employment and Education, got involved in risk behavior favorable for HIV transmission, they observed.

According to India HIV estimations 2019, adult (15 to 49 years) prevalence Percentage in northeast was highest in Mizoram (2.32%), followed by Nagaland (1.45%), Manipur (1.18%), Meghalaya (0.54%), Tripura (0.10%), Assam (0.09%),(0.07%) and Arunachal Pradesh (0.06%).

Puri-Konark railway line project cost assessed as Rs 725.78 crore

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RAILWAY ministerAshwini VaishnawtoldLok Sabhaon Wednesday that a survey for construction of a new line betweenPuriandKonark(33km) has been completed and the cost of the project has been assessed as Rs 725.78 crore.

Vaishnaw said the survey report has been taken up for firming up the requirements and financial viability of the project, including the aspect of cost sharing with the Odisha government.

Though the ECoR had conducted a preliminary engineering and traffic (PET) survey for the proposedPuri-Konarkrailway line via Ramachandi in 2017, the route alignment was objected by the forest department. The rail line was supposed to pass through the Balukhand-Konark wildlife sanctuary located in the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ).

On April 28, 2017, chief minister Naveen Patnaik had proposed to bear 50 percent of the project cost of the Puri-Konark new line to boost the tourism potential of the Bhubaneswar-Konark-Puri Golden Triangle.

HR&CE dept collects Rs 21 crore rent online from TN temple properties

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The Hindu religious and charitable endowments (HR & CE) department has collected Rs 21 crore asrentfortemple propertiesin the last one month through a recently launched online rent payment facility.

The facility was launched on October 10. The department has established online facility at 5,720templesin the state to enable the occupants of the HR & CE properties to pay rent.
Using the facilities, rent and lease amount to the tune of Rs 21 crore have been collected from the occupants of 1,492 temple properties since November 1, according to a statement.
The department had initiated measures to collect the pending rent and lease amounts for the temple properties, added the release.

Bihars share of poor highest, Keralas least, says Niti index

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Bihar, with its dismal scores across key development indicators such asnutrition, child andadolescent mortality,maternal Health, years of schooling,sanitationandelectricity, has topped the list of states with the largest share of Population who arepoor, according to think tankNiti Aayogs report, which has identified 25.01% of the countrys population as multi-dimensionally poor.

More than 50% of Bihars population has been classified as poor under the national Multi-dimensional POVERTY Index (MPI), followed by Jharkhand (42.2%), Uttar Pradesh (37.8%), Madhya Pradesh (36.7%) and Meghalaya (32.7%).Keralahas the least number of poor with only 0.7% of its population classified as such. Among the Union territories, 27.4% of Dadra and Nagar Havelis population is poor, according to the MPI parameters.

Karnataka govt to launch digital wallet to store property records

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In a novel initiative which may ease the woes of property owners inKarnataka, the government will soon launch a digital wallet with a smartcard and key for storing property records.
The project has been taken up by the centre for smart Governance (CSG), a wholly owned subsidiary of the Karnataka government. The intent of the project namedKaveriblockchain is to digitise and authenticate all land records in the state.

From government-owned properties to agricultural land and commercial and residential properties, every property owner will soon be handed a smartcard which will store the land records in his/her name. As many as 67 types of land transactions, including sale, purchase, lease, mortgage, gift deeds etc,. will be recorded and can be verified using the smartcard. CSG has already undertaken a pilot in Tumakuru district, with farmers and property owners registering their property records and carrying out transactions using only the smartcard.

The government will issue a smartcard with a chip in it to property owners whose names have been registered by the revenue department against the land/properties they own. It is issued to any person who intends to register a property or already owns one.

Telangana property market robust, RERA not

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The pandemic notwithstanding,Telanganas property has emerged as among the most robust in India.

Data suggests that its capital, Hyderabad, saw over 53,000 new launches between March 2020 and September 2 second only to the Mumbai Metropolitan Region at a time when many markets are struggling to survive. Yet, the states Real Estate Regulatory Authority (TS-RERA) continues to be only partially effective.

Nationally, the number of cases disposed of by RERAs has crossed the 78,000-mark.

The only other states, apart from Telangana, that have limited RERA activity are: Tripura, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, and Puducherry.
While acknowledging that the absence of an active RERA has not impacted the demand for housing in Telangana Hyderabad in specific Ananrock Group chairman, Anuj Puri, said that RERA must undo the damage of decades of opaque and unregulated activities in the sector.
According to him, RERA in India is gaining ground and gradually and fulfilling the primary purpose of rebuilding confidence in the real estate sector.

Accident claims hit 5-year low in 2020-21 in Andhra Pradesh

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The number ofmotoraccident Insurance claims settled or booked in 2020-21 inAndhra Pradeshwas the lowest since 2016.

The third-party insurance claim settlements witnessed a steep decline of about 50 per cent in 2020-21 compared to the year before, according to the of India (IRDAI) on the basis of data submitted by the insurers.

Similar was the case with the quantum of compensation paid to the claimants in the last five years in Andhra Pradesh.

In absolute numbers, as many as 18,308 claims were intimated or booked in 2019-20 in Andhra Pradesh. This dropped to 12,470 during the corresponding period last fiscal.

According to experts, this can be attributed to the nation-wide lockdown during the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic and mobility restrictions, and the subsequent reduction in the number of roadaccidents.

For instance, there was a 16% drop in the number of accidents in Andhra Pradesh in 2020 compared to the year before. The state reported 15,512 overall road accidents last year against 18,462 accidents in 2019. Correspondingly, the death toll slid to 5,174 from 6,257 during this timeframe, representing a 17% decline.

Even the national figures reflected the same trend with a drop in the number of insurance claims. The number of claims stood in India at 4,87,085 in 2019-20. This number declined to 3,78,343 last fiscal.

Interestingly, the top three claimant states in terms of insurance settlement numbers in 2020-21 are located in south India. Kerala settled the highest numbers of claims at 52,301, followed by Tamil Nadu (48,036) and Karnataka (43,653). The number of claims in the majority of the north-eastern states was limited to double-digit numbers in 2020-21.

Goa Post may release stamps on cyclones soon

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Stampsoncyclonesand the scientists who helped in combating these during the past 10 years, could be released in a chronological sequence said vice chancellor of Goa University, Harilal Menon, at the GOAPEX exhibition.

The department of posts and the Goa Philatelic and Numismatic Society held the district-level virtual philatelic exhibition and launched special covers and picture postcards.

Maharashtra plans to increase Covid testing to 1 lakh a day: Official

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:Maharashtrahealth officials on Wednesday directed all districts and local authorities to step up testing following the emergence of the new Omicron variant of Covid with the setting a target of 1 lakh tests a day henceforth.

Covid testing had gone down in some parts of the state in the past two weeks. Last week, the Union Health ministry directed nine districts in the state to scale up the daily Average testing, which had fallen below the World Health Organisation (WHO) norms of 140 tests per day per million Population for the week ending on November 22.
Akola, Amravati, Buldhana, Dhule, Gondia, Hingoli, Nandurbar, Washim and Yavatmal were then listed as the districts conducting average tests per million below the WHO norms. These districts, however, registered an improved collection of samples this week.

The Centre has also cited the onset of winter, increased pollution in some states, prevalence of influenza like illness/Severe Acute Respiratory Infections and respiratory distress symptoms as reasons for close monitoring, stepped up testing and early identification of the hotspots. The state has also issued guidelines on these to all districts.