No more 'Rent-a-Womb' in India

The 'Rent-a-Womb' or commercial surrogacy industry in India had been started in 2012 by the then UPA Government and India had emerged as a popular destination for childless foreign couples who wanted to seek a baby through surrogacy. There was no dearth of poor women who were ready to play surrogate mothers. This has been reported in ibnlive.com dated 10 November 2015.

The latest decision would come as a big blow to these women, many of who were from Ahmedabad in Gujarat. As per the UPA government rules, in 2012 it had thrown open the doors to foreigners for carrying out surrogacy in India provided they fulfilled certain conditions which included clearing all liabilities towards the Indian surrogate mother. However,the NDA government has now clamped down on the 'rent-a-womb' practice by foreigners and overseas Indians. The government has issued directives to all its missions not to issue visas to those who intend visiting India for commissioning surrogacy. Making the announcement, a Home Ministry circular has asked all Indian Missions abroad and Foreigners Regional Registration Offices (FRRO) to cancel any such permission given earlier and said all those granted visa for this should be "informed of the position immediately".

(Image source wikimediacommons.org)

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Discourage smoking the British way – remove cigarette packets from shelves

#cigarettes #cancer #beedibaron #BJP #health It is a fact that cigarette smoking is injurious to health and the Indian government wants to curb the menace by increase the size of pictorial warnings on tobacco packets from 40% to 85% of the main display area. Moreover, in order to discourage smoking, the BJP government has taken several taxation measures in the last two budgets.
Of course, within the BJP, there appears to be a difference of opinion. BJP MPs Shyam Charan Gupta, a beedi baron, and Dilip Gandhi, along with Ram Prasad Sarmah have raised a controversy by saying that there was no Indian scientific evidence to link smoking and cancer. Dilip Gandhi is head of the parliamentary committee, and Shyam Charan Gupta is a member on it. This has, naturally, embarrassed the NDA government.

This has been reported in timesofindia.indiatimes.com dated 6 April 2015.
However, in Britain they have taken a much harder stance to discourage smoking and wean away the would-be smokers. They have decreed that there can be no display of cigarettes on shelves. They must be kept out of sight, preferably in cupboards. And, the only method of advertising would be to have a board saying ‘cigarettes sold here’ along with a list of brands available and their prices.
It seems two thirds of smokers begin from or before the age of 18 – hence, it is vital that everything is done to put tobacco out of sight to protect future generations. Catalogues of available brands may be shown only to customers over the age of 18.
This has been reported in dailymail.co.uk dated 6 April 2015.

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Ganga Action Plan – a pet project that keeps surfacing only to get drowned

#GangaActionPlan #NamamiGanga #opendefecation #pollution The NDA government of the day appears to be serious about the clean Ganga mission that once upon a time be used to be known as the Ganga Action Plan and has now been revived after 28-years and renamed as Namami Ganga Project with an initial allocation of Rs 2,037 crores.
In order to prove its seriousness to the project, the drinking water and sanitation ministry has asked five state governments to submit their detailed action plan by April 15. Through this move, it would be ensured that the state governments indicate their commitment to improve sanitation along river Ganga as a part of the clean Ganga mission. It should not remain only on the paper.

It may be recalled that the ‘Ganga Action Plan or GAP was a program that was launched in January 1986 to reduce the pollution load on the river. But the efforts to decrease the pollution level in the river were unsuccessful even after spending Rs 9017 million’ as indicated in this reference. The GAP was subsequently withdrawn in 2000.
No one knows for sure how many crores of rupees would have actually been swallowed up by the project to clean the Ganga under the GAP in order to give it the look of the Thames or the Danube. The fact remains that Ganga continues to be the same old Ganga that carries corpses of humans, animals and flowers that are offered to please the hundreds of Gods and Goddesses who reside in the innumerable villages, towns and cities along its route.
This plan now envisages that the governments of the states through the Ganga flows, namely Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal, should submit the details of targets and achievements in areas including building of individual household toilets and number of open defecation villages.
On a rough estimate, there are a total of 1,657 gram panchayats involved in 253 blocks of 53 districts that are adjoining the Ganga – these are to be made open defecation free on priority. The breakdown is - Uttar Pradesh has a maximum of 959 such gram panchayats, Bihar has 309 while there are 224 are in West Bengal.
Those who know how the government works will realize that these demands are to prepare the grounds for excuses and delays. Wonder why there is no mention of controlling the pollution caused by flow of industrial wastes into the waters of the Ganga.

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Trip to Nashik should take in Shirdi and the Ajanta and Ellora caves

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