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Annual deficit of 8,000 girls in Tamil Nadu in 2002: study

Source: http://www.hindu.com/2007/12/25/stories/2007122555430700.htm

Aarti Dhar

NEW DELHI: There was a deficit of 8,000 girls annually in Tamil Nadu in 2002 with a pre-birth shortfall accounting for 68 per cent. This is a decline from the annual deficit of 11,000 daughters reported in 1996-99 when the pre-birth deficit accounted for 60 per cent. The decline in the number of ‘missing girls’ in 2002 was driven by the sharp reduction in post-birth shortage.

According to a study “Declining Daughter Deficits in Tamil Nadu, India?” conducted by Arjun Singh Bedi and Sharada Srinivasan of the Institute of Social Sciences at The Haugue, the post-birth daughter deficit declined spectacularly in Salem and Dharmapuri, accounting for 87 per cent of the reduction.

The decline appears to be durable as the differential between estimated and expected female infant mortality rate (FIMR) based on Sample Registration System (SRS) data collected in 2004 is in the same range as in 2002. There has been no evidence of increases in pre-birth daughter deficit during this period, the survey points out attributing the decline to a number of measures taken by the State Government for the protection of girl child.

Given the range of interventions including Cradle Baby Scheme (CBS) and Girl Child Protection Scheme (GCPS), we cannot draw a casual link between a specific intervention and reduction. However, it does seem that the various interventions have led to a sharp reduction in pre-birth daughter deficit, the survey suggests while pointing out that relying on these two schemes is not enough and tackling the deficit required a broader coalition which brings together government pressure, administrative zeal and participation of self-help groups and non-governmental organisations.

Daughter elimination


Daughter elimination in Tamil Nadu came to light in 1985-86 in the form of female infanticide among the Kallar community of Maduri. About 6,000 female babies were reportedly poisoned between 1975 and 1985.

But then it was thought to be limited to a geographical area and certain socio-economic groups. However, in 1992 and 1993, female infanticide was reported among Gounders, a relatively wealthy group in Salem and Vellore. By 1997, female infanticide was reported from 8 districts and 35 self-ascribed caste groups.

As far as the Infant Mortality Rate is concerned, Salem and Dharmapuri have also experienced sharp declines in the gap between estimated and expected female infant mortality rates with the figure declining from 82 to 17 per 1,000 live births in Salem and 66 to 13 in Dharmapuri.

The 0-6 sex ratio in Tamil Nadu in 2001 was 942 as compared to the national average of 933, though it was a decline from 948 in 1991.

Indian Christians unite with Civil Society and demand end of Orissa violence against rural Christian

Source: http://indianchristians.in/news/content/view/1789/42/

Today’s rally in Delhi results in promises from National Commission for Minorities and Union Home Minister, but Christian delegation not satisfied

NEW DELHI – Dec. 27, 2007 – About 1,000 Christians from churches across Delhi rallied today to demand that the Central Government halt escalating anti-Christian violence in Orissa. A memo presented to the Prime Minister resulted in a meeting with the Union Home Minister this evening. Earlier in the day, Christian leaders met with the head of the National Commission for Minorities.

The rally, held in front of the gates of Orissa Bhavan in Delhi from 4–6pm, Dec. 27, 2007, revealed support from across the political and religious spectrum. Protestors were united in their call for an end to the communal violence against Christians in Orissa. The All India Christian Council (aicc) was a key organiser of the rally.

Speakers included: V.P. Singh, former Prime Minister; Binda Karat, CPI(M) spokesperson; Shabnam Hashmi, Director of ANHAD; Swami Agnivesh; and more. India’s largest Christian groups were represented including the Evangelical Fellowship of India (EFI), All India Catholic Union (AICU), Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) and more. Church members from many denominations across Delhi participated in the rally.

A memo was presented to the office of Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh. The PM’s office instructed the Union Home Minister, Shivraj V. Patil, to schedule a meeting with a delegation of Christians immediately. The delegation met Shri Patil at 6pm, Dec. 27, 2007, and was told that roadblocks and communication breakdowns are making it difficult to restore security in the villages of Orissa. Shri Patil said he will likely visit Orissa and promised he is doing everything possible to stop the attacks, culprits will be booked, and compensation will be provided to victims.

“Sadly, the delegation was not satisfied with the promises of the Union Home Minister since most violence continues in rural villages and the government didn’t give specific plans to halt the violence in villages nor a planned amount for compensation of victims,” said Rev. Abraham Sahu, aicc Delhi Chapter President.

Earlier in the day a delegation of Christians met with and received assurances from the head of the National Commission for Minorities, Mohamed Shafi Qureshi, that Christians will be protected in Orissa. He said he plans to visit the state.

“It is clear that the local police and Orissa state government have not been able to protect the Christian minority. While Orissa’s leaders claim they were prepared and are fully committed to stopping communal violence, we have doubts. For example, why does Orissa not have a state minorities commission? The Central Government must act now.” said John Dayal, aicc Secretary-General.

“The VHP and other groups clearly don’t believe in freedom of religion nor freedom of speech. They use accusations of forced and fraudulent conversions as an excuse for violence. Has there been a proven case in the courts of a missionary forcing someone to become a Christian recently? No! We are requesting immediate action to protect peaceful Christians and the arrest of miscreants from radical Hindutva groups,” said Sam Paul, aicc Secretary of Public Affairs.

Also, the Orissa chapter of the aicc met Orissa Chief Minister Neevan Patnaik this evening who gave assurances to the delegation and ensured protection for the Christian minorities. Yet, his inability to stop the violence against Christians is doubtful in light of the Sangh Parivar's organised attacks from the time violence broke out on December 23.

According to media reports, NGO press statements, and calls from aicc leaders on the ground in Orissa, at least 30 churches, Christian schools, and convents have been damaged or destroyed since December 24th, Christmas Eve. Four Christians were reported killed and many roads are blocked by radical Hindutva activists which prevents both police and fact finding teams from reaching victims. Despite a supposed helicopter tour of the affected districts by the Orissa Chief Minister, Naveen Patnaik, and his repeated statements in various media channels that everything is under control, reports of attacks on Christians and churches continue to reach aicc and similar groups.

The violence allegedly began when Christians in a village 150 kms from the district headquarters of Phulbani began to celebrate Christmas Eve. Local Hindu fundamentalists opposed the event and a fight ensued. Also, a Hindutva leader, Swami Saraswati, was attacked by unknown assailants -- allegedly Christians -- near Daringbadi while he was travelling. The next day the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) called for a strike and its members began attacking Christians across the state.

The All India Christian Council (www.aiccindia.org), birthed in 1998, exists to protect and serve the Christian community, minorities, and the oppressed castes. The aicc is a coalition of thousands of Indian denominations, organizations, and lay leaders.


Mr. Madhu Chandra,
All India Christian Council,
Regional Secretary
aiccdelhi@gmail.com
(0) 9868184939

FORUM-ASIA welcomes the adoption of the Resolution for a Global Moratorium on the death penalty

Wednesday, 19 December 2007

FORUM-ASIA welcomes the adoption of the resolution by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) calling for a global moratorium on death penalty. The General Assembly adopted the resolution on 19 December 2007, and is considered an important step towards the abolition of the death penalty worldwide. FORUM-ASIA hopes this landmark resolution will prompt Asian governments still practicing the death penalty to take action and move towards its abolition.

Eleven countries in Asia still impose the death penalty: Bangladesh, China, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, North Korea, Pakistan, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand and Vietnam. Human rights groups have been campaigning for the abolition of the death penalty since it is considered as one of the gross violations of human rights – particularly, the right to life. The resolution had the support of 104 UN Member States. Fifty-four Member States voted against the resolution, including two from Asia: Singapore and Japan. Interestingly, Japan just recently executed three murder convicts on 7 December, amid the intense debate over this resolution since its proposal last month. FORUM-ASIA considers this move to be an affront against the international trend towards the abolition of the death penalty.

The UNGA resolution calls on all countries imposing the death penalty to “establish a moratorium on execution with a view to abolishing the death penalty”. The resolution likewise states that “there is no conclusive evidence of the death penalty’s deterrent value and that any miscarriage or failure of justice in the death penalty’s implementation is irreversible and irreparable”.

FORUM-ASIA urges Asian governments that still impose the death penalty to implement this resolution and take necessary provisions to abolish death penalty from their legislation. FORUM-ASIA further urges these countries to ratify and implement immediately the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR-OP2) which aims at the abolition of the death penalty. Only Nepal, Timor-Leste and the Philippines are State Parties to ICCPR-OP2.

FORUM-ASIA views this resolution for the global moratorium as vital in the promotion and protection of human rights in Asia.


For more information, please contact the Human Rights Defenders Programme at hrd@forum-asia.org. Click here http://www.forum-asia.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1383&Itemid=32 to view the content from the site.

Farmers' suicide in Karnataka

A fact finding team comprising of Peoples Union for Civil Liberties(PUCL), P.D.F., Agricultural labours association, Samata vedike, Revolutionary Youth Association and Pedestrian Pictures, visited Hosapura village of Nanjangud taluk, Mysore district and Harave village of Chamaraj Nagar Taluk & district , on 26th Dec 2007 to investigate the suicide of two farmers Manjunath and Siddaraju of respective villages , Who had availed loans from ICICI Bank for purchase of tractor.

Click here http://www.pucl.org/Topics/Industries-envirn-resettlement/2007/farmer_suicide.html to read the Report of the Fact finding Team on Farmers’ suicide in Mysore and Chamaraj Nagar districts

Coral mining made tsunami more destructive in Sri Lanka

by: P.K.Balachandran
Source: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/164359.html

Colombo, Dec 26 - The destruction wrought by the tsunami of Dec 25, 2004 on the southwestern coast of Sri Lanka would have been much less if successive governments had heeded Sir Arthur Clarke's persistent call to stop the mining of corals.

The British-born science writer and diving enthusiast, who had been living in Sri Lanka since 1956, was campaigning for coral reef protection and other matters relating to coastal preservation for long. But few in the island listened.

'He did create an awareness at the international level, but the message never percolated to the local level here in Sri Lanka,' said Vinod Moonesinghe, an environmental activist who had worked with the NGO 'Friends of the Earth.'

'The coral reefs from Akurela to Hikkaduwa were being mined for years to make lime which is used in the construction of buildings. The area had, in fact, become very famous for its lime. But the depletion of the corals had resulted in the killer waves lashing the shore with an unprecedented ferocity,' Moonesinghe told IANS on the third anniversary of the deadly tsunami..

In a place called Peraliya, 96 km south of Colombo, 1,500 people were killed in a matter of minutes, when the railway train in which they were traveling was struck by giant waves twice in quick succession. Peraliya town too lost heavily, with 2,500 dead and 450 families rendered homeless.

The battered, dented and rusted train quickly became a major tourist attraction, being the last vestige of the tsunami in the area, and the grimmest reminder of it.

'The corals in the 'coral garden' at Hikkaduwa and Akurela have survived the fury as they are better able to stand the waves than the species on land. And they continue to be a tourist attraction,' Moonesinghe said.

'The authorities must stop not only the mining of corals, as a matter of great urgency, but control the discharge of effluents from the beach hotels, that dot the coast,' he said.

The palm fringed coastline from Colombo to Galle has been a major tourist attraction, especially for Westerners looking for sun and sand. The place bristles with small and large lodges and hotels, several of them right on the shoreline.

Tsunami had induced some awareness of coastal management. The government had introduced a rule that there should be no construction within hundred metres of the shoreline. But the conservation measures are being implemented in a very 'desultory' manner, says Moonesinghe..

Over the years, the sea has eroded the southwestern coast greatly, and beaches are becoming scarce all along the Colombo-Galle road. In many places, the shoreline is barely a few yards away from the main road and rail line. And it is feared that due to global warming, erosion will only increase in the years to come, hitting tourism, which is already declining due to the war and the terrorist bombings.

One day training programme for government officials on disaster resistant features

One day Training Programme regarding Disaster Resistant features in Construction of Houses, Construction Techniques and materials was conducted at Villupuram Collectorate Conference Hall on 18/12/2007 by Government of Tamil Nadu. About 21 persons which includes the revenue Officials in the rank of DRO, SDC, Tahsildars and Engineers at District level working in Tsunami related project attended the training programme. Through this programme, awareness was created among the District Officials regarding disaster resistant features in construction of houses, buildings, quality aspects, Natural Hazards and its devastation in affected areas.

Andaman tsunami victims cope with tardy rehabilitation

By Sujoy Dhar, IANS
Source: http://www.indianmuslims.info/news/2007/dec/16/andaman_tsunami_victims_cope_tardy_rehabilitation.html

Port Blair : They came back from the jaws of death when the devastating tsunami devoured their habitats three years ago. But for thousands of survivors in makeshift camps in the Andamans, the process of rebuilding a life torn asunder remains incomplete.

In the makeshift tenements of tsunami victims around the Andaman and Nicobar Islands capital Port Blair, resentment is brewing even as apparently shiny and quakeproof houses are getting ready for the victims.

The victims are protesting the tardy progress of relief work, including the construction of the houses, and inadequate support for their livelihood.

On Dec 26, 2004, the Andaman and Nicobar archipelago suffered massive destruction when one of the fiercest tsunamis struck the islands after a severe earthquake, killing at least 3,513 people besides wiping out villages and ruining farmlands.

Impatient over the delays, Apparao, in his 30s, gives vent to his anger before government officials and visiting dignitaries in one of the camps at Bamboo Flat, an island just 10 minute ferry ride from Port Blair.

"We have been living in temporary shelters for the past 19 months. We have not yet got the houses. The hardship we face every day is immense," an agitated Apparao told IANS right in front of the relief commissioner.

"The ration is not enough. We have not got rice for the past three months," he said as more camp inhabitants joined the chorus of protest.

Another victim, Banu, a photographer from Nicobar, is nearly jobless since the tsunami destroyed his habitat forcing him to live in a relief camp in Andaman.

Banu did manage to open a photo studio at Bamboo Flat but there are simply no visitors to his shop.

"I have virtually no employment. I have college-going children and only I know how each day passes," Banu said.

"The houses have not yet been delivered," he said.

"It is sheer laziness of the government which delayed our project. The slow progress makes us impatient. If they had wanted they could have delivered earlier," Banu said.

Andaman and Nicobar Relief Commissioner Dharam Pal admitted the delay but attributed it to the failure of NGOs, which had over-committed themselves.

"The relief phase is now over. We are now in the final phase of rehabilitation. We started constructing in 2006 and are now almost nearing completion in 2007. The first batch is ready for handing over to the victims.

"NGOs had committed 2,500 houses but they can now only deliver 709. They were given the task in south Andaman. They found it difficult to construct," Dharam Pal said.

"The costs are high in the islands, which the NGOs had not foreseen initially. Everything has to be brought from the mainland. A cost of Rs.500,000-600,000 can go up to Rs.1.1 million in Car Nicobar. The average cost of the house is Rs.900,000," Pal said.

"In places like Great Nicobar it is very difficult to construct since you don't even have access all the time. You have to wait for good weather conditions and go in a dingy. The sea condition there is so rough. Moreover, there is no harbour, no beach, nothing," he said.

But several of the victims in Andaman want to build their own house and have demanded the money.

"Give us money instead of building houses in places where we don't want them. If they give us money we can build our houses for much less and spend the rest for starting small business since we have lost everything in the tsunami," said 45-year-old Harichand Roy at the Namunaghar shelter in Port Blair.

But Dharam Pal said such demands are impractical.

"We cannot give them money. Because they would spend the money on liquor as we have found in many families who got monetary compensation. Also, this time we are building houses which are earthquake resistant," he said.

Andaman's noted tribal expert Samir Acharya, who runs the NGO named Society for Andaman and Nicobar Ecology (SANE) and acts as the spokesman of the Nicobarese community, is critical of the government policy as well.

"Any fool can say that the construction is delayed. Ideally they should not have built 70 percent of the houses.

"If you go by records, you will find Nicobar houses were inherently earthquake resistant. They get 100 earthquakes every year but because of low density of population there was never too much human loss," he said.

"The houses we are building have been vetted by IIT Chennai. Also remember that the tribal population in Andaman is only eight percent of the population.

"The houses we are building here is like a model for India," he said.

While the NGO-government spat continues, in the Andamans the sufferers continue to be the tsunami victims whose life, since the natural disaster, has become a jigsaw of broken pieces they are yet to put together.

Exclusive elders' village inaugurated in Tamil Nadu

Tamaraikulam (Tamil Nadu), Dec 17 - India's first elders' eco-friendly village was inaugurated here Monday to house at least 100 senior citizens who were victims of the 2004 tsunami. Much of the funding was by viewers of prominent news channel NDTV.

Renowned media personality and NDTV chief Prannoy Roy inaugurated the village, 175 km south of Chennai, under the auspices of HelpAge India. It was funded to the extent of Rs.15 million by NDTV viewers.

'It is in the fitness of things that we have begun our endeavour here because the highest number of viewers for our first essay in the arena of television - 'World This Week' - was in Tamil Nadu. And it is my privilege to tell you that we are in the process of creating many more such facilities all over India,' Roy told the senior citizens.

Apart from being landscaped beautifully, the dwellings have four immovable beds, a spacious living room, attached toilets with running water and a sit out. A common kitchen, dining and recreational hall are the other facilities.

'I do not agree with the common belief that Indians are miserly when making donations for good causes. Being sure that their money is going to fund a good cause, our viewers contributed handsomely. On this day, it is my duty to assure all donors that their munificence will be put to good and apt use under the watchful eyes of an overseeing committee,' Roy said.

'Beneficiaries who reside in the Elders' Village are identified by village level groups as well as panchayats. Only the neediest have been housed here,' added Mathew Cherian, chief executive, HelpAge India.

Union Minister of State for Finance S.S. Palanimanickam was slated to inaugurate the facility, but could not make it. The organisers explained that he had been held up on the way back from Tirunelveli, where the ruling DMK conference concluded on Sunday.

Similar facilities are to be created in 660 districts all over India, thanks to a legislation to help senior citizens, a press release issued by Helpage said.

Though the clusters of dwellings have been inaugurated, it will be sometime before they become completely functional. While electricity and water connections are yet to be given final touches, the rest of the groundwork - especially landfills - are yet to be completed.

UNICEF releases Tsunami 2007 report



New York/Geneva, 18 December 2007 - Three years after the Indian Ocean Tsunami claimed the lives of more than 200,000 people and devastated towns and communities, UNICEF has released its 2007 Tsunami report (http://www.unicef.org/emerg/disasterinasia/) highlighting progress made for children since the 2004 catastrophe.

Including a detailed financial analysis of funds collected and expenditures to date, the report shows significant gains in education, particularly in the area of school construction in the eight affected countries. Since 2004, more than 150 million US dollars have been spent on education – more than a third of which were put into use in the past year. UNICEF has completed construction on more than 100 schools, and the building process is underway for another 254.

The report also highlights progress in UNICEF’s other programme areas, including health and nutrition, water and sanitation, HIV/AIDS and child protection in India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Maldives, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Thailand. Some of the achievements in these areas include:

• Construction on 59 health facilities has been completed, while construction is underway on an additional 115;
• More than 20,000 water points have been restored, serving over 730,000 people, and over 42,000 latrines constructed;
• Insecticide-treated mosquito nets have been distributed, benefiting nearly 3.5 million people;
• Over 1.2 million children have benefited from UNICEF’s psycho-social activities;
• HIV/AIDS awareness and education campaigns have reached over 330,000 people.

In addition to UNICEF’s achievements to date, the 2007 Tsunami Monitoring Report also highlights the challenges that often hinder recovery programmes. For example, work in Sri Lanka and Somalia has in some cases been halted due to a resurgence of violence in the past year. Also, construction in Indonesia has been hampered by the lack of new roads and unresolved land titles, monitoring and evaluation in the Maldives by the dispersed geography, and access in Myanmar by geography and security.

Realizing that lasting recovery will take years, UNICEF tries not only to move quickly, but also to be accountable and ensure its work has lasting impact. The aim is not to find quick solutions that cannot be sustained, but to build back better, involving communities and local governments in the recovery and rebuilding process. With these long-term goals in mind, UNICEF’s tsunami programmes and corresponding funding are planned through the end of 2009.

About UNICEF

UNICEF is on the ground in over 150 countries and territories to help children survive and thrive, from early childhood through adolescence. The world’s largest provider of vaccines for developing countries, UNICEF supports child health and nutrition, good water and sanitation, quality basic education for all boys and girls, and the protection of children from violence, exploitation, and AIDS. UNICEF is funded entirely by the voluntary contributions of individuals, businesses, foundations and governments.

For further information, please contact:

Patrick McCormick, UNICEF New York, + 1 212 326 7426, pmccormick@unicef.org
Veronique Taveau, UNICEF Geneva. +41 22 909 5716, vtaveau@unicef.org
Miranda Eeles, UNICEF Geneva. +41 22 909 5715, meeles@unicef.org

Tsunami survivors photograph their lives three years on

Date: 03 Dec 2007

Three years on from the tsunami, which devastated vast swathes of Asia, people whose lives were torn apart have taken part in a photography project to show how they are putting their lives back together.

The British Red Cross project involved photographer Ruth Robinson working with around 90 tsunami survivors in Indonesia, the Maldives and Sri Lanka, taking photographs and explaining them in their own words.

Ms Robinson said: “Taking part in this project and speaking to people about their photographs was incredibly moving.

“One picture that really stands out was by a man in Indonesia called Bakhtiar. At first it looks like an amusing picture of a toddler in a nappy with sunglasses on, but when the individual explained his picture to me a heart-wrenching story was behind it.”

She explained: “He took the picture for remembrance of his family members who died in the tsunami, in particular his nephew who Bakhtiar was trying to hold onto but the tsunami swept him away.”

The project aims to be empowering for those involved and offers a unique insight into their thoughts and feelings.

One of the participants, 34-year-old, Soufan from Addalachchenai, Sri Lanka, explained: “I have taken these pictures to touch your minds and hearts and I hope the people who come to see these pictures at the exhibition will be inspired by our communities and our lives.”

Matthias Schmale, director of international at the British Red Cross said: “It is important that we feed back to the public how their donations have made a difference to people’s lives – and what better way than to enable those who were caught up in this tsunami to tell their own stories of their recovery?”

The exhibition is open to the public from Thursday 6 December to Sunday 6 January at the.gallery@oxo on the South Bank in London.

Open daily (except closed 24-25 Dec and 1 Jan), Open from 11am to 6pm (except 26 and 31 Dec, 11am to 4pm).

The British Red Cross would like to thank all those organisations and individuals who have offered generous support, without whom this event would not have been possible. They include Coin Street Community Builders, Ruth Robinson, Swansea Institute Art & Design Faculty, Eric Armstrong of Murain Frames, Passion Organic and Nick Wilcock of Jessops, Swansea.

The exhibition is on display at the.gallery@oxo, Oxo Tower Wharf, Bargehouse Street, South Bank, London. SE1 9PH.

Opening times:

11- 6pm - Thursday 6 December - Sunday 23 December
Closed: 24 & 25 December
11-4pm - Wednesday 26 December
11-6pm - Thursday 27 - Sunday 30th December
11-4pm - Monday 31 December

Closed: Tuesday 1 Jan

11-6pm: Wednesday 2 Jan - Sunday 6 Jan

or further information visit: http://www.redcross.org.uk/ or http://www.coinstreet.org/

75 per cent of projects in India are over: French Red Cross

Friday, Dec 14, 2007

CHENNAI: “Humanitarian action is not only emergency action,” says the president of the French Red Cross and former French Health Minister, Jean-Francois Mattei. “If you save someone from drowning in the sea, you don’t abandon him on the beach.”

Nearly three years on from the tsunami, this is perhaps one of the most significant lessons learned — besides bringing devastation to the lives of fisherfolk along the coast of India, the tsunami exposed the more persistent problems of poverty, including gender and caste inequality. As more and more international and local non-governmental organisations bring their projects to a close, The Hindu spoke to Professor Mattei at the end of his two-day visit to Tamil Nadu to review progress in the field.

Selection of partners

The French Red Cross was not a natural fit for tsunami reconstruction and it arrived late. “We have been working in India for just over two years in a new way … The French Red Cross does not normally finance NGOs,” Professor Mattei says. Since the French people gave a lot of money to the Red Cross for tsunami relief, they selected partners they deemed trustworthy in the State.

As many donors discovered, not everyone involved in tsunami work was interested in relief — projects with two out of 14 organisations were terminated.

“We are controlled officially by the government of France, therefore, we had to impose on our partners the same rules that we have in France,” he stressed. There are several basic procedures involved in the auditing process: money is given at each stage in the project and no increases in the budget are accepted, it retains tight control on the quality of the project, sends an audit company from France to visit the projects to ensure compliance.

Despite these hiccups, says Professor Mattei, it is through its work here in India that the French Red Cross has developed what he now calls sustainable humanitarian action.

In India, he says, the Red Cross found all the elements crucial to helping people rebuild their lives: housing, training, education for children and agricultural productivity. It is by working together, he stresses, they have found success: 1,745 houses have been constructed, 200 young people have been employed (some of those for grandmasters such as Jean-Francois Lesage), and a microfinance project for small landowners near Puducherry, teaching them how to make and use organic fertilizers, brought a 50 per cent increase in crop yield.

“Life is winning the battle against death,” he says. Children are the incarnation of that, he adds, commenting on the smiles of the children seen in two projects in particular — SOS children’s villages of India, which runs homes for children, and Speed Trust, which works with children in the slums of T. Nagar in Chennai.

Seventy-five per cent of the Red Cross projects are now complete. By the end of 2008, the French Red Cross will withdraw completely. “The goal of humanitarian action is to help people to become autonomous,” he says. But what about the unfinished work in the villages, the stories of casteism and gender discrimination that the tsunami revealed?

“Humanitarian action,” he says “is not supposed to become assistance … The Red Cross opposes all forms of discrimination … If it is written in the story of the country, that country has to invoke the right to equality … These are basic human rights.”

Source: http://www.hindu.com/2007/12/14/stories/2007121461121700.htm

Nine Indians indicted for human trafficking to US

Washington, December 15: The authorities in the United States have announced that 9 persons from India have been indicted for their alleged roles in a global human trafficking racket aimed at transporting illegal immigrants through southeast Asia to the US.

The acting United States Attorney for Pennsylvania and the Department of Homeland Security have announced that 9 persons from India have been indicted for their alleged roles in a major international alien smuggling ring.

A federal grand jury has returned a three-count indictment against nine persons from India -- Naresh Patel, Dinesh Diwan, Rakesh Patel, Hiren Mehta, Rajesh Katwa, Jitendra Sheth, Asha Varma, Bibin Balachandran and Sandip Kumar Patel -- charging them with conspiring to illegally smuggle undocumented aliens from India to Pennsylvania through Thailand, Los Angeles and Philadelphia.

The indictment returned by the grand jury alleged that the racket extended from 2003 through December 5, 2007.

The grand jury said that over the past five years the defendants - eight Indian nationals and a naturalised US citizen - brought a dozen immigrants into the US on false passports and fabricated documents.

Eight suspects were arrested on December 5 in Chicago and Pennsylvania, while the ninth, 22-year-old Katwa of the Chicago area, is considered a fugitive.

According to the indictment, which has been posted by the Attorney's Office in Pennsylvania, the conspirators were paid thousands of dollars for each alien smuggled into the US.

Source: http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/Nine-Indians-indicted-for-human-trafficking-to-US/250728/

Road map to fight climate change

BALI: India played a key role in the drama of “extra-time” negotiations at the United Nations climate change talks here on Saturday as 190 countries finally agreed on a road map for the future fight against climate change, following a last-minute collapse of the opposition from the United States.

The “Bali road map” will guide negotiations over the next two years to shape the global fight against climate change in the period after 2012, when the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol, which requires 36 industrial nations to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 5 per cent below 1990 levels, ends. The U.S. is the only rich nation which has not ratified the Protocol.

Union Science and Technology Minister Kapil Sibal, who led the Indian delegation here, described the road map as a “historic breakthrough,” especially since it brought the U.S. on board the global effort to mitigate climate change, which was already causing rising temperatures and extreme weather events.

The agenda for the journey to 2009 now includes action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, to help developing countries adapt to the impact of climate change, to deploy climate-friendly technologies and to finance both adaptation and technology measures. However, it does not include any target range of emission reduction goals for the developed countries, a measure aggressively pushed by the European Union and bitterly opposed by the U.S.

For the first time, the developing countries have also agreed to take some measurable action to mitigate climate change, although they are not required to do so under the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, since development goals are their first priority. “They have binding commitments, we have responsibilities. How we discharge our responsibilities depends on how they enable technology and financing,” said Mr. Sibal.

In a key intervention that delayed the approval of the road map by several hours, India ensured that the language of the text included means to keep the developed countries’ accountable for their commitments with regard to enabling technology, financing and capacity building measures in the developing countries.

Source: http://www.hindu.com/2007/12/16/stories/2007121658570100.htm

“330,000 children die every year for want of vitamin A”

NEW DELHI: India has the highest number of vitamin A deficient children in the world, with 330,000 of them dying annually because of this malady.

Despite years of various supplementation approaches, deficiencies of these micronutrients are still largely prevalent, according to Sesikeran, Director, National Institute of Nutrition, Hyderabad.

In a paper presented at a conference on “Role of Micronutrients in Child Development: Give Kids a Good Start,” organised by the International Life Sciences Institute here on Friday, Dr. Sesikeran said studies carried out by various agencies showed that the prevalence of anaemia, vitamin

A deficiency and iodine deficiency disorders continue to be high, though there is a small decline in the prevalence of iodine deficiency disorders.

Inaugurating the conference, D.H. Pai Panandiker, chairman of the Institute, said 75 per cent of the children in the country were anaemic, 57 per cent were deficient in vitamin A and 26 did not have enough intake of zinc.

Source: http://www.hindu.com/2007/12/15/stories/2007121556451500.htm

“330,000 children die every year for want of vitamin A”

NEW DELHI: India has the highest number of vitamin A deficient children in the world, with 330,000 of them dying annually because of this malady.

Despite years of various supplementation approaches, deficiencies of these micronutrients are still largely prevalent, according to Sesikeran, Director, National Institute of Nutrition, Hyderabad.

In a paper presented at a conference on “Role of Micronutrients in Child Development: Give Kids a Good Start,” organised by the International Life Sciences Institute here on Friday, Dr. Sesikeran said studies carried out by various agencies showed that the prevalence of anaemia, vitamin

A deficiency and iodine deficiency disorders continue to be high, though there is a small decline in the prevalence of iodine deficiency disorders.

Inaugurating the conference, D.H. Pai Panandiker, chairman of the Institute, said 75 per cent of the children in the country were anaemic, 57 per cent were deficient in vitamin A and 26 did not have enough intake of zinc.

Source: http://www.hindu.com/2007/12/15/stories/2007121556451500.htm

Tamil leaders ask India to help end Lanka strife



Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Chennai, Dec. 17: The messy Sri Lankan ethnic conflict is taking yet another little twist in the next couple of days with three senior Tamil leaders opposed to the LTTE flying to Delhi to seek Indian involvement for ending the war that has so far consumed over 70,000 lives in about 25 years.

With the Sri Lankan government stepping up its military operations, having tasted success pushing the LTTE out of the eastern region, and the Tigers too matching the bloodletting through suicide attacks, claymore mine blasts and raids by their newly acquired "air force", it only seems that the island nation will not taste peace in the near future. Unless India takes an active role in the search for a negotiated political settlement, feel the moderates among the Sri Lankan Tamils.

Three of them, Mr V. Anandasangaree of the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF), Mr D. Sitharthan of the Peoples’ Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE) and Mr T. Sritharan of the Eelam Peoples’ Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF), will arrive in Delhi on Wednesday to lobby for the Indian involvement to end the conflict. The three Tamil leaders, opposed to the LTTE, are expected to meet some Central ministers, MPs, political leaders and government officials, for this purpose, according to information reaching here. The TULF and EPRLF have split over supporting the LTTE and a large chunk of their members are with the Tigers.

The three Tamil leaders would like to canvas support for their initiative aimed at pressuring Colombo to give up its obsession with military option as a means to end the war with the Tigers. By pursuing such a strategy, the Mahinda Rajapaksa government was causing enormous suffering on the common Tamil people, still weathering it out in the heat of the stepped-up conflict unlike thousands of their brethren who fled the island to safe refugee shelters abroad. The government is pushing its military strategy hoping to capture the Tiger territory in the north and hopes to force the Tigers to negotiate from a position of weakness — a near-impossible prospect if one really knows the LTTE supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran. Though the government appears to have gained an upper hand in recent months, thanks to help from some foreign powers providing critical military hardware.


Source: http://www.asianage.com/presentation/leftnavigation/news/india/tamil-leaders-ask-india-to-help-end-lanka-strife.aspx

Farmers threaten mass suicide

15 Dec 2007, 0251 hrs IST,TNN

AMRAVATI: Affected by damage to orange and banana crops and betel leaf plantations due to brick kilns, the farmers of village Shirasgaon Kasba in Chandur Bazaar tehsil have threatened to commit mass suicide on December 20 if the authorities concerned do not take immediate action.

There are 7-8 brick kilns near Megha river bank which are damaging nearby farms. Recently, the betel leaf plantation was damaged while orange and banana crops face the danger of drying up due to the high temperature surrounding the kilns.

Around 29 affected farmers had given a representation to tehsildar S H Shirsudhe on October 15, following which permission was refused to these kilns. Raw material for making bricks was also seized by the talathi.

However, despite orders, the kilns are still working and damaging oranges and bananas spread over 30 acres of land. Though the farmers had demanded compensation for damage, they were paid nothing. Shirsudhe said that permission for these kilns had already been denied by the government and they had stopped operating.


Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Cities/Farmers_threaten_mass_suicide/articleshow/2623678.cms

What is AIDS? What causes AIDS?

AIDS stands for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome.

An HIV-positive person receives an AIDS diagnosis after developing one of the CDC-defined AIDS indicator illnesses. An HIV-positive person can also receive an AIDS diagnosis on the basis of certain blood tests (CD4 counts) and may not have experienced any serious illnesses. A positive HIV test does not mean that a person has AIDS. A diagnosis of AIDS is made by a physician according to the CDC AIDS Case Definition.

Over time, infection with HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) can weaken the immune system to the point that the system has difficulty fighting off certain infections. These types of infections are known as opportunistic infections. Many of the infections that cause problems or that can be life-threatening for people with AIDS are usually controlled by a healthy immune system. The immune system of a person with AIDS has weakened to the point that medical intervention may be necessary to prevent or treat serious illness. (Source: Centers for Disease Control - CDC)

What is the Difference Between HIV and AIDS?

HIV is the virus that causes AIDS.

H - Human: because this virus can only infect human beings.
I - Immuno-deficiency: because the effect of the virus is to create a deficiency, a failure to work properly, within the body's immune system.
V - Virus: because this organism is a virus, which means one of its characteristics is that it is incapable of reproducing by itself. It reproduces by taking over the machinery of the human cell.
A - Acquired: because it's a condition one must acquire or get infected with; not something transmitted through the genes
I - Immune: because it affects the body's immune system, the part of the body which usually works to fight off germs such as bacteria and viruses
D - Deficiency: because it makes the immune system deficient (makes it not work properly)
S - Syndrome: because someone with AIDS may experience a wide range of different diseases and opportunistic infections.
(Source: Centers for Disease Control - CDC)

How long does it take for HIV to cause AIDS?

Currently, the average time between HIV infection and the appearance of signs that could lead to an AIDS diagnosis is 8-11 years. This time varies greatly from person to person and can depend on many factors including a person's health status and behaviors. Today there are medical treatments that can slow down the rate at which HIV weakens the immune system. There are other treatments that can prevent or cure some of the illnesses associated with AIDS. As with other diseases, early detection offers more options for treatment and preventative health care. (Source: Centers for Disease Control - CDC)

What's the connection between HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases?

Having a sexually transmitted disease (STD) can increase a person's risk of becoming infected with HIV, whether or not that STD causes lesions or breaks in the skin. If the STD infection causes irritation of the skin, breaks or sores may make it easier for HIV to enter the body during sexual contact. Even an STD that causes no breaks or sores can stimulate an immune response in the genital area that can make HIV transmission more likely. (Source: Centers for Disease Control - CDC)

Where did HIV come from?

The most recent presentation on the origin of HIV was presented at the 6th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunitistic Infections (Chicago, January 1999). At that conference, research was presented that suggested that HIV had "crossed over" into the human population from a particular species of chimpanzee, probably through blood contact that occurred during hunting and field dressing of the animals. The CDC states that the findings presented at this conference provide the strongest evidence to date that HIV-1 originated in non-human primates. The research findings were featured in the February 4,1999 issue of the journal, Nature.

We know that the virus has existed in the United States , Haiti and Africa since at least 1977-1978. In 1979, rare types of pneumonia, cancer and other illnesses were being reported by doctors in Los Angeles and New York . The common thread was that these conditions were not usually found in persons with healthy immune systems.

In 1982 the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) officially named the condition AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome). In 1984 the virus responsible for weakening the immune system was identified as HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus).
(Source: Centers for Disease Control - CDC)

How many people have HIV and AIDS?

Worldwide: UNAIDS estimates that as of December 2000, there were an estimated 36.1 million people living with HIV/AIDS (34.7 million adults and 1.4 million children under 15). Since the epidemic began, an estimated 21.8 million people have died of AIDS (17.5 million adults and 4.3 million children under 15).

An estimated 5.3 million new HIV infections occurred in 2000. During 2000, HIV- and AIDS-associated illnesses caused deaths of an estimated 3 million people, including 500,000 children under the age of 15.

In the United States : According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there are between 800,000 and 900,000 people living with HIV. Through December 2000, a total of 774,467 cases of AIDS have been reported to the CDC; of this number, 448,060 persons (representing 58% of cases) have died. (Source: Centers for Disease Control - CDC)

How can I tell if I'm infected with HIV?

The only way to determine whether you are infected is to be tested for HIV infection. You can't rely on symptoms to know whether or not you are infected with HIV. Many people who are infected with HIV don't have any symptoms at all for many years.

Similarly, you can't rely on symptoms to establish that a person has AIDS. The symptoms associated with AIDS are similar to the symptoms of many other diseases. AIDS is a diagnosis made by a doctor based on specific criteria established by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). (Source: Centers for Disease Control - CDC)

What are the Symptoms of HIV?

Primary HIV infection is the first stage of HIV disease, when the virus first establishes itself in the body. Some researchers use the term acute HIV infection to describe the period of time between when a person is first infected with HIV and when antibodies against the virus are produced by the body (usually 6- 12 weeks).

Some people newly infected with HIV will experience some "flu-like" symptoms. These symptoms, which usually last no more than a few days, might include fevers, chills, night sweats and rashes (not cold-like symptoms). Other people either do not experience "acute infection," or have symptoms so mild that they may not notice them.

Given the general character of the symptoms of acute infection, they can easily have causes other than HIV, such as a flu infection. For example, if you had some risk for HIV a few days ago and are now experiencing flu-like symptoms, it might be possible that HIV is responsible for the symptoms, but it is also possible that you have some other viral infection. (Source: Centers for Disease Control - CDC)

What are the Symptoms of AIDS?

There are no common symptoms for individuals diagnosed with AIDS. When immune system damage is more severe, people may experience opportunistic infections (called opportunistic because they are caused by organisms which cannot induce disease in people with normal immune systems, but take the "opportunity" to flourish in people with HIV). Most of these more severe infections, diseases and symptoms fall under the Centers for Disease Control's definition of full-blown "AIDS." The median time to receive an AIDS diagnosis among those infected with HIV is 7-10 years. (Source: Centers for Disease Control - CDC)

How is HIV Transmitted?

* HIV can be transmitted from an infected person to another through:
* Blood (including menstrual blood)
* Semen
* Vaginal secretions
* Breast milk
* Blood contains the highest concentration of the virus, followed by semen, followed by vaginal fluids, followed by breast milk.

Activities That Allow HIV Transmission

* Unprotected sexual contact
* Direct blood contact, including injection drug needles, blood transfusions, accidents in health care settings or certain blood products
* Mother to baby (before or during birth, or through breast milk)
* Sexual intercourse (vaginal and anal): In the genitals and the rectum, HIV may infect the mucous membranes directly or enter through cuts and sores caused during intercourse (many of which would be unnoticed). Vaginal and anal intercourse is a high-risk practice.
* Oral sex (mouth-penis, mouth-vagina) : The mouth is an inhospitable environment for HIV (in semen, vaginal fluid or blood), meaning the risk of HIV transmission through the throat, gums, and oral membranes is lower than through vaginal or anal membranes. There are however, documented cases where HIV was transmitted orally, so we can't say that getting HIV-infected semen, vaginal fluid or blood in the mouth is without risk. However, oral sex is considered a low risk practice.
* Sharing injection needles: An injection needle can pass blood directly from one person's bloodstream to another. It is a very efficient way to transmit a blood-borne virus. Sharing needles is considered a high-risk practice.
* Mother to Child: It is possible for an HIV-infected mother to pass the virus directly before or during birth, or through breast milk. Breast milk contains HIV, and while small amounts of breast milk do not pose significant threat of infection to adults, it is a viable means of transmission to infants.

The following "bodily fluids" are NOT infectious:

* Saliva
* Tears
* Sweat
* Feces
* Urine

(Source: San Francisco AIDS Foundation)

Can I get HIV from oral sex?

There is considerable debate within the HIV/AIDS prevention community regarding the risk of transmission of HIV through oral sex. What is currently known is that there is some risk associated with performing oral sex without protection; (there have been a few documented cases of HIV transmission through oral sex). While no one knows exactly what that risk is, cumulative evidence indicates that the risk is less than that of unprotected anal or vaginal sex. The risk from receiving oral sex, for both a man and a woman, is considered to be very low.
Currently, risk reduction options when performing oral sex on a man (fellatio) include the use of latex condoms, but also include withdrawal before ejaculation without a condom (avoiding semen in the mouth) and/or refraining from this activity when cuts or sores are present in the mouth.
When performing oral sex on a woman (cunnilingus) , moisture barriers such as a dam (sheet of latex), a cut-open and flattened condom, or household plastic wrap can reduce the risk of exposure to vaginal secretions and/or blood.

If you have other questions about oral sex and HIV, call the CDC National AIDS Hotline at 1-800-342-2437 (English), 1-800-344-7432 (Spanish), or 1-800-243-7889 (TTY). (Source: Centers for Disease Control - CDC)

Can I get HIV from kissing?

Casual contact through closed-mouth or "social" kissing is not a risk for transmission of HIV. Because of the potential for contact with blood during "French" or open-mouth, wet kissing, CDC recommends against engaging in this activity with a person known to be infected. However, the risk of acquiring HIV during open-mouth kissing is believed to be very low. CDC has investigated only one case of HIV infection that may be attributed to contact with blood during open-mouth kissing. In this case both partners had extensive dental problems including gingivitis (inflammation of the gums). It is likely that there was blood present in both partners' mouths making direct blood to blood contact a possibility. (Source: Centers for Disease Control - CDC)

Can I get HIV from casual contact (shaking hands, hugging, using a toilet, drinking from the same glass, or the sneezing and coughing of an infected person)?

No. HIV is not transmitted by day to day contact in the home, the workplace, schools, or social settings. HIV is not transmitted through shaking hands, hugging or a casual kiss. You cannot become infected from a toilet seat, a drinking fountain, a doorknob, dishes, drinking glasses, food, or pets.

HIV is a fragile virus that does not live long outside the body. HIV is not an airborne or food borne virus. HIV is present in the blood, semen or vaginal secretions of an infected person and can be transmitted through unprotected vaginal, oral or anal sex or through sharing injection drug needles. (Source: Centers for Disease Control - CDC)

Can a woman give HIV to a man during vaginal intercourse?

Yes. If the woman is infected, HIV is present in vaginal and cervical secretions (the wetness in a woman's vagina) and can enter the penis through the urethra (the hole at the tip) or through cuts or abrasions on the skin of the penis. The presence of other STDs can increase the risk of transmission. The correct and consistent use of a latex condom or female condom can reduce the risk of transmitting HIV during vaginal intercourse. For more information, call the CDC National AIDS Hotline at 1-800-342-2437 (English), 1-800-344-7432 (Spanish), or 1-800-243-7889 (TTY). (Source: Centers for Disease Control - CDC)

How effective are latex condoms in preventing HIV?

Several studies have demonstrated that latex condoms are highly effective in preventing HIV transmission when used correctly and consistently. These studies looked at uninfected people considered to be at very high risk of infection because they were involved in sexual relationships with HIV-infected persons. The studies found that even with repeated sexual contact, 98-100% of those people who used latex condoms consistently and correctly remained uninfected. For more on these studies, including free written information, call the CDC National AIDS Hotline at 1-800-342-2437 (English), 1-800-344-7432 (Spanish), or 1-800-243-7889 (TTY). (Source: Centers for Disease Control - CDC)

What if I test HIV positive?

If you test positive, the sooner you take steps to protect your health, the better. Early medical treatment, a healthy lifestyle and a positive attitude can help you stay well. Prompt medical care may delay the onset of AIDS and prevent some life-threatening conditions. It is important to know that a positive HIV test should always be confirmed, to be sure that it is a true positive. If your test result is positive, there are a number of important steps you can take immediately to protect your health:

* See a doctor, even if you don't feel sick. Try to find a doctor who has experience treating HIV. There are now many new drugs to treat HIV infection. There are important tests, immunizations and drug treatments that can help you maintain good health. It is never too early to start thinking about treatment possibilities.
* Have a tuberculosis (TB) test done. You may be infected with TB and not know it. Undetected TB can cause serious illness. TB can be treated successfully if detected early.
* Recreational drugs, alcoholic beverages and smoking can weaken your immune system. There are programs available to help you stop.
* Consider joining a support group for people with HIV infection or finding out about other resources available in your area, such as HIV/AIDS-knowledgea ble counselors for one on one therapy. There are also many newsletters available for people living with HIV and AIDS.
* There is much you can do to stay healthy. Learning as much as you can is a step in the right direction. Local and/or national resources may be available. Many HIV/AIDS organizations provide services free or on a sliding scale, based on ability to pay.

Call the CDC National AIDS Hotline for more information and referrals at 1-800-342-2437 (English), 1-800-344-7432, (Spanish), or 1-800-243-7889 (TTY).
(Source: Centers for Disease Control - CDC)

How long after a possible exposure should I be tested for HIV?

The time it takes for a person who has been infected with HIV to seroconvert (test positive) for HIV antibodies is commonly called the "Window Period."

The California Office of AIDS, published in 1998, says about the window period: "When a person is infected with the HIV virus, statistics show that 95-97% (perhaps higher) of all infected individuals develop antibodies within 12 weeks (3-months)."

The National CDC has said that in some rare cases, it may take up to six months for one to seroconvert (test positive). At this point the results would be 99.9% accurate.

* What does this mean for you?
The three-month window period is normal for approximately 95% of the population. If you feel any anxiety about relying on the 3-month result, by all means you should have another test at 6 months. (Source: San Francisco AIDS Foundation)

When do you know for sure that you are not infected with HIV?

The tests commonly used to determine HIV infection actually look for antibodies produced by the body to fight HIV. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), most people will develop detectable antibodies within 3 months after infection. In rare cases, it can take up to six months. Therefore, the CDC recommends testing at 6 months after the last possible exposure. (unprotected vaginal, anal or oral sex or sharing injecting drug needles). It would be extremely rare to take longer than six months to develop detectable antibodies. It is important, during the six months between exposure and the 6-month test, to protect yourself and others from further exposures to HIV. The CDC National AIDS Hotline can provide more information and referrals to testing sites in your area. The hotline can be reached at 1-800-342-2437 (English), 1-800-344-7432 (Spanish), or 1-800-243-7889 (TTY).
(Source: Centers for Disease Control - CDC)

Where can I get tested for HIV infection?

Many places provide testing for HIV infection. It is important to seek testing at a location that also provides counseling about HIV and AIDS. Common locations include local health departments, private physicians, hospitals, and test sites specifically set up for HIV testing.

In addition to traditional testing procedures, there are other options. For those who prefer not to have blood drawn, many sites now offer oral fluids testing, which involves testing of a sample of fluid taken from inside the mouth with a cotton swab. The OraSure Test is currently only available through a health care provider or clinic. Some clinics may also offer urine testing as an alternative to blood tests.

There is also testing which can be performed anonymously in the privacy of your own home. There are many home tests advertised through the internet, but only the Home Access Test has been approved by the FDA. The Home Access test kit can be found at most local pharmacies. The testing procedure involves pricking your finger with a special device, placing a drop of blood on a specially treated card, then mailing the card in for testing. You are given an identification number to use when you phone in for the test results-- 3 days or 2 weeks later, depending on the test kit purchased.

The CDC National AIDS Hotline can answer questions about testing and can refer you to testing sites in your area. The hotline numbers are 1-800-342-2437 (English), 1-800-344-7432, (Spanish), or 1-800-243-7889 (TTY).
(Source: Centers for Disease Control - CDC)

What is the difference between an Anonymous and a Confidential Test?

Anonymous and Confidential use the same testing method. The only difference is one does not have your name attached to the results.

Anonymous antibody testing is available at Anonymous Test Sites in most California counties. Anonymous testing means that absolutely no one has access to your test results since your name is never recorded at the test site.

Confidential antibody testing means that you and the health care provider know your results, which may be recorded in your medical file.
(Source: San Francisco AIDS Foundation)

Which test should I have done: Anonymous or Confidential?

It is recommended that one have an anonymous test. The results will only be known to you and will not appear on any records.

Some reasons that one would need a confidential test would be: a result is required for immigration purposes or for some international travel visas; a pregnant woman who is clearly at risk might choose to be tested through her doctor, rather than anonymously, since the result is of key importance to the course of her medical care. (Source: San Francisco AIDS Foundation)

I have heard there are many different types of HIV tests. How do I know which one I should take?

The combination of an Eliza/Western Blot HIV Antibody Test is the accepted testing method for HIV infection. This combination test is looking for the antibodies that develop to fight the HIV virus. There are two ways to conduct this test. Either through a blood draw or through the " Orasure" method (a sample of oral mucus obtained with a specially treated cotton pad that is placed between the cheek and lower gum for two minutes). Both forms, by blood draw or orally, have the same accuracy with their results.

Other tests that you will hear about are Viral Load tests. These tests are used by physicians to monitor their patients who have already tested positive for HIV antibodies. Viral Load tests are very costly and should not be used to determine if one is HIV positive.
(Source: San Francisco AIDS Foundation)

What do test results mean?

A positive result means:

* You are HIV-positive (carrying the virus that causes AIDS).
* You can infect others and should try to implement precautions to prevent doing so.
* A negative result means:
* No antibodies were found in your blood at this time.
* A negative result does NOT mean:
* You are not infected with HIV (if you are still in the window period).
* You are immune to AIDS.
* You have a resistance to infection.
* You will never get AIDS.

(Source: San Francisco AIDS Foundation)

If I test positive, does that mean that I will die?

Testing positive for HIV means that you now carry the virus that causes AIDS. It does not mean that you have AIDS, nor does it mean that you will die. Although there is no cure for AIDS, many opportunistic infections that make people sick can be controlled, prevented or eliminated. This has substantially increased the longevity and quality of life for people living with AIDS.
(Source: San Francisco AIDS Foundation)

If I test HIV negative does that mean that my partner is HIV negative also?

No. Your HIV test result reveals only your HIV status. Your negative test result does not tell you about the HIV status of your partner(s). HIV is not necessarily transmitted every time there is an exposure.

No one's test result can be used to determine another person's HIV status. (Source: Centers for Disease Control - CDC)

I'm HIV positive. Where can I go for information about treatments?

The CDC National AIDS Hotline can offer practical information on maintaining health and general information about a wide variety of treatments, including antiretrovirals and prophylaxis for opportunistic infections. The hotline numbers are 1-800-342-2437 (English), 1-800-344-7432, (Spanish), or 1-888)-480-3739 (TTY). The CDC National AIDS Hotline can also provide referrals to national treatment hotlines, local AIDS Service Organizations and HIV/AIDS-knowledgea ble physicians.

Detailed information on specific treatments is available from the HIV/AIDS Treatment Information Service (ATIS) at 1-800-448-0440. Information on enrolling in clinical trials can be obtained from the AIDS Clinical Trials Information Service at 1-800-874-2572 (English and Spanish) and 1-888-480-3739 (TTY). (Source: Centers for Disease Control - CDC)

Is there anything I can do to stay healthy?

The short answer is yes. There are things that you can do to stay healthy. Emotional support may be very important for HIV-positive people because it breaks the isolation and provides a safe way of sharing both feelings and practical information.

Medical Care: Once you find a doctor or clinic, your main objective is to get an evaluation of your general health and immune function.

Many doctors do the following:

* Administer lab tests to evaluate your immune system.
* Determine if you have other diseases that might become problematic in the future, including syphilis, TB, hepatitis-B, and toxoplasmosis.
* If you are already infected with one or more of these other illnesses, there may be treatments or prophylaxis available to prevent it from becoming more serious or recurring in the future. If you're not already infected, doctors may be able to prevent future infection by:
* Administering vaccines. Many HIV positive people get a hepatitis-B vaccine and bacterial pneumonia vaccines, since contracting these diseases could be dangerous for immune suppressed people.
* Prescribing antiviral treatments and protease inhibitors when tests show immune system impairment.
* Scheduling regular checkups. Checkups may be scheduled every three to six months. Some people need more frequent check-ups, particularly when they are starting new antiviral drugs. (Source: San Francisco AIDS Foundation)


How safe is the U.S. blood supply?

The U.S. blood supply is among the safest in the world. Nearly all people infected with HIV through blood transfusions received those transfusions before 1985, the year it became possible to test donated blood for HIV.

The Public Health Service has recommended a multifaceted approach to blood safety in the United States that includes stringent donor selection practices and the use of screening tests. Blood donations in the United States have been screened for antibody to HIV-1 since March 1985 and HIV-2 since June 1992. Blood and blood products that test positive for HIV are safely discarded and are not used for transfusion.

An estimated one in 450,000 to one in 660,000 donations per year are infectious for HIV but are not detected by current antibody screening tests. In August of 1995 the FDA recommended that all donated blood and plasma also be screened for HIV-1 p24 antigen. Donor screening for p24 antigen is expected to reduce the number of otherwise undetected infectious donations by approximately 25 percent per year. The improvement of processing methods for blood products has also reduced the number of infections resulting in the use of these products. Currently the risk of infection with HIV in the United States through receiving a blood transfusion or through the use of blood products is extremely rare and has become progressively more infrequent, even in areas with high HIV prevalence rates. (Source: Centers for Disease Control - CDC)

Do the new drugs I hear about cure you?

The new drugs you are referring to are a class of anti-HIV drugs known as protease inhibitors. There is NO cure for AIDS, but these drugs are helping to prolong the lives of many people with AIDS and delaying the onset of AIDS in many people with HIV. You should consult your own health care provider surrounding treatment issues. There is no standard treatment for everyone. Your health care provider will discuss your individual options. (Source: Centers for Disease Control - CDC)

Where can I get printed materials for my school project or organization?

The CDC National AIDS Hotline can help you with requests for printed materials. Call them and tell them who you are and what you need. If you are doing a school project, tell them. If you are giving a presentation to some other kind of group, tell them that. The more they know about what you need, the better they can help you. They are available 24 hours a day, 365 days of the year toll-free at (800) 342-2437. (Source: AIDS.ORG)

I still have more questions. Can I talk to someone?

You most certainly can! You can call the CDC National AIDS Hotline at (800) 342-2437 anytime, 24 hours a day, 365 days of the year. They are there to help you with your questions, to provide you with further information, and to listen. Additionally, most states also provide their own state AIDS hotlines - although their hours of operation may vary. Click here for our listing of available state AIDS hotlines.

Srilanka - Only their parents' home

Report Source: http://www.himalmag.com/2007/april/report_2.htm

Sri Lanka's new refugee policy only deals with Sri Lanka's internally displaced, and not the refugees in Tamil Nadu. But what if the latter don't want to return home?

BY Dilrukshi Handunnetti

The Colombo government's new initiative to resettle displaced Sri Lankans has not only angered many of the people it is targeted to serve, but also fails to address the concerns of over 100,000 refugees who live in Tamil Nadu. On 16 March, international watchdog Human Rights Watch claimed that authorities were using "threats and intimidation" to force Sri Lankans who had fled because of recent fighting to return to their homes, although this has been widely disputed. According to UNHCR, there are more than 130,000 displaced people from within the northeastern district of Batticaloa alone – 40,000 of whom had fled during the second week of March. Nevertheless, by mid-March 800 people are reported to have been sent back to Batticaloa, as part of the government's plan to 'return' 2800 people back home.

Even as the internally displaced are being relocated, the new scheme, the brainchild of Abdul Risath Bathiyutheen, the Minister of Resettlement and Disaster Relief Services, does nothing to address the situations of Sri Lankans who have fled to Tamil Nadu. This silence is a clear departure from the tone set by a 2002 government initiative, which sought to repatriate individuals living in the more than 130 camps in the Indian state. Some say that such an initiative is doubly important in the current context, with more than 18,000 Sri Lankans having fled to Tamil Nadu since the outbreak of the war in July last year. The refugee camps are now bursting beyond capacity.

If there is reluctance on the part of the Sri Lankan government to offer repatriation options to its refugees in Tamil Nadu, recent times have also seen a greater ambivalence within the refugee community as to how desirable it would be to cross back over the Palk Strait. Among the refugees now living in temporary camps within Sri Lanka, too, few seem to like the idea of repatriation. The position of the displaced on both sides of the strait is encapsulated in the views of 65-year-old Yogeshwari Kanakapillai, who lives in a transient camp in eastern Batticaloa: "We made this camp our home nearly two decades ago. Our children braved the seas to seek refuge in Tamil Nadu. If they return, they will be consumed by the violence here."

At least a quarter of those displaced from the northeastern provinces of Sri Lanka have relatives or friends living in South Indian refugee camps. "We know the difficulties they have," said one internally displaced woman, referring to her sons who fled the island years ago. "They cannot find employment. They live in poverty. Education for the young is a problem. But they have one guarantee which we do not have – that they will not fall victim to shell attacks and turn to ashes from aerial bombing."

The sentiment among many in the older generation of displaced within Sri Lanka is that, despite the harassment and the lack of options they must face, their children and relatives are better off in the relative safety of the South Indian camps. This is in direct contrast to the refugees own sentiments as expressed as recently as 2002, when a majority of those living in Tamil Nadu volunteered to repatriate under a government scheme. Then, 6000 had returned to Sri Lanka. "That was in the afterglow of the Ceasefire Agreement," says R Sampanthan, the parliamentary group leader of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA). "There was so much hope then. The conditions are very different now."

Married and settled here

For most internally displaced, the resettlement plan introduced in March is a case of too little too late. "In fact, nearly a quarter-century late," points out Sampanthan's fellow TNA parliamentarian Suresh Premachandran, "And it still excludes the displaced living in Tamil Nadu. One has to accept that they are a forgotten community. Resettlement to the government means resettling the internally displaced. It does not address the needs of Tamils who fled this island fearing for their lives since 1983 – and who continue to flee."

But would an approach such as that which the Colombo government is currently using in the northeast really help the refugees in Tamil Nadu? M Rasamma, a mother who is living in a transit camp in Anuradhapura, in the northwest of the island, says no. "Tell us why our children have to come back here?" she demands. "What do they have here except renewed war and temporary shelter?"

Colombo has no answers to such questions. For a state that has neither long- or short-term plans to address the refugee question, Sri Lanka will have fresh problems if the displaced refuse to repatriate under a future scheme. While Minister Bathiyutheen says he wants to introduce a repatriation scheme at a "future date", problems will undoubtedly arise if an eventual plan is put into action with Indian assistance at a time when refugees are still reluctant to leave. In the past, any effort to repatriate refugees in Tamil Nadu has been viewed either with suspicion or as an infringement of their right to choice. Perhaps the larger issue is that, having been left in limbo for up to two decades, these refugees have now come to consider Tamil Nadu their permanent home.

"Our children do not know Sri Lanka," says Sugunan Kishor, a Jaffna Tamil living in a camp just outside Madras. "They identify themselves with Tami Nadu. Some are married and settled there. To them, Sri Lanka is only their parents' home and nothing more. We were hopeful of returning after 2002. But with the increased violence, we have no desire now to return." Kishor once fished for a living, and he recalls with sadness how his once-fervent wish to "return home" has died: "I have my parents living in the northern district of Mullativu. I will never be reunited with them."

For Vellamma Kadirsamy, a 56-year-old woman who has lived in the same camp as Kishor for several years, the lack of government efforts to repatriate, coupled with the now-intensified war, signifies a complete separation in the minds of many refugees. "Any hope of returning home to Sri Lanka is now over. We have nothing to go there for," she says. "Our children are here. Some members of our families living there warn us against our return."

Suresh Premachandran agrees. "Most refugee children in Tamil Nadu now have access to education. Though certainly our conditions of living need to be improved, some kind of continuity of life happens there. Why should they upset everything and return to this simmering volcano?" he asks. LTTE spokesman Daya Master says he understands these feelings. Following the 2002 truce, the LTTE requested the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees for help in repatriating the refugees living in Tamil Nadu back in Sri Lanka. "But now the conditions are different," Master notes. "This is war zone, where they would be victimised yet again. It is not a question of sentiment anymore, but about human safety."

Resettlement Minister Bathiyutheen stresses that though the refugees living in Tamil Nadu are not addressed under his new scheme, they are a "high priority". The minister's new plan, which seeks to establish a National Resettlement Authority, concentrates only on the internally displaced. "We are about to commence drafting a national policy for resettlement which will address many facets of the question of displacement. There are the war displaced and those displaced due to natural disasters. The refugees in South India are a different category, and need to be addressed separately." Badiudeen has given himself a target of two years to resettle half the island's displaced. As for the National Resettlement Authority, it is yet to start on the formulation of a resettlement policy, a policy which will categorically not address the needs of the refugees in South India.

Hour of need

While Colombo has been unsure about what to do with the Tamil Nadu refugees, India has done little better. The refugees have long been a major political issue for Madras politicians, with which to criticise both Colombo and New Delhi. The former is pilloried for its approach to the ethnic conflict and its lack of recognition of Tamil rights; the latter, for its lack of a coherent policy, even as great numbers of Sri Lankan refugees continue to arrive on South Indian shores.

Official Indian estimates claim that besides those Sri Lankans living in the designated refugee camps, 25,000 or more live outside. Besides these, there are also around 2000 undocumented Sri Lankan migrants detained in 'special' camps, who are liable for prosecution under Indian migration and anti-terrorism laws. In March, the Tamil Nadu police finally took steps to issue identity cards to Sri Lankan refugees who have been living in camps for more than 12 years.

New Delhi's approach to the matter is straightforward, says Nagma M Mallick, an Indian diplomat in Colombo. India has given Sri Lankan refugees shelter on humanitarian grounds. "What better policy is there than that?" Mallick asks. "They are not citizens of India, but refugees. In their hour of need, India has given them a home – that's all."

Clearly, however, that is not all, at least as far as the Colombo government and the refugees themselves are currently concerned. As Vellamma Kadirsamy notes: "Sri Lanka is only a memory for most refugees. Whether they feel connected or not, it is a home they have no wish to return to, not even for nostalgic reasons." When and if the time comes, it may take some effort to convince them otherwise.

Six Sinhalese fishermen detained in Cuddalore

Special Correspondent
3rd April 2007

Source: http://www.hindu.com/2007/04/03/stories/2007040303930500.htm

CUDDALORE: Six Sinhalese fishermen who were found drifting in a failed mechanised boat in the Bay of Bengal, about four km off the Cuddalore coast, were rescued by the Thevanampattinam fishermen on Sunday night.

They reportedly left Trincomalee about three days ago for fishing, but the boat engine developed a snag mid-sea. Soon after, they hoisted a white flag and put up the "help pleis" sign with black sticker on a piece of thermocol sheet.

To convey their distress, they waved their hands to the local fishermen. On Monday morning, the authorities gave clearance to tow the boat named "Kaveesha Putha, Kottagoda," carrying the inscriptions "Sri Lanka TR 743, Ceylon Fishing Harbour Corporation-IMUL-A-0565 MTR," and berth it near the Cuddalore Port.

The Sinhalese — J.Nizath Chamira (17), H.W.Kasun Rasange (21), Anathuge Rajesh Thusani (29), G.M.W.Dhanisth Mandarae (22), Sameera Rangei (20), and M.M.Amila Manoj Prasad (21), — have been detained at the Cuddalore Port Police Station for interrogation.

Cases have been booked against them by invoking Section 12 (1) (c) of the Indian Passport Act read with Section 14(a) of the Foreigners Act (entry without valid documents).


Thorough search

The team deployed by Superintendent of Police Pradip Kumar under Deputy Superintendent of Police M.Stephen Jesubatham thoroughly searched the boat but did not find anything objectionable.

The team took possession of materials such as fishing net, floats and hooks, music system, two cooking gas cylinders, distilled water bottles, and insecticides. The local fishermen were astounded at the capacity of the Sri Lankan boat to store 4,000 kg of ice blocks and a fishing net that could stretch up to five km.

Collector Rajendra Ratnoo told The Hindu that since, the issue involved two nations — India and Sri Lanka — it ought to be taken up at the higher levels, he said.

`No security breach'

The authorities denied that it was a case of breach of coastal security. Any vessel, including warships, could have the "innocent passage" beyond 12 nautical miles (one nautical mile is equivalent to 1.85 km) of the territorial waters, provided they move on advance intimation without posing threat to the sovereignty of the nation.

In this case, the fishermen seemed to have lost direction owing to mechanical failure.

Srilanka: Refugee arrivals in India hit 1000 mark

This is a summary of what was said by UNHCR spokesperson Jennifer Pagonis - to whom quoted text may be attributed - at the press briefing, on 19 May 2006, at the Palais de Nations in Geneva

Our field office in Chennai , India reported yesterday that since 12 January when people started fleeing the deteriorating security situation in Sri Lanka, over 1,000 persons have arrived in Tamil Nadu, southern India – the vast majority by boat. Yesterday, 102 persons arrived, the largest number in a single day since the outflow began, bringing to a total 1,019 refugees who have fled Sri Lanka this year.
The 157 refugees who arrived in the last two days are reportedly from Trincomalee region on the north-eastern coast of Sri Lanka, a considerable distance away from the point of departure in the north-west part of the island. After arriving in India, they told UNHCR they fled because they were scared of the rapidly deteriorating security situation. There are reports that more arrivals are on their way, but although we are monitoring the situation closely we are currently unable to verify this information.

Reports have been received that residents leaving Trincomalee are selling their possessions to pay for the boat trip to India. Some have sought asylum in India before with one family saying they were going to India for the third time.

Once in India, the refugees are housed in camps run by the government where they receive basic assistance. Some 60,000 refugees from previous arrivals since the start of Sri Lanka's twenty year civil conflict are living in these camps.

The latest outflow is a complete reversal of what had been happening in 2005, when UNHCR helped 1,173 Sri Lankan refugees return home by air to Sri Lanka from the camps in southern India. In 2006, we have assisted only 27 refugees to return. Since 2002, a total of 5,000 refugees have returned to Sri Lanka.

In Sri Lanka, there continues to be generalised insecurity in the north and east of the country. Since the beginning of April, when the level of violence sharply increased, some 31,000 people have reportedly been displaced in Trincomalee District. UNHCR is now working closely with the government, UN sister agencies, NGOs and other partners to verify the number of displaced people who have returned home, following stabilisation in some parts of the district.



Story date: 19 May 2006

UNHCR Briefing Notes


Alleged kidney broker held in Chennai

Source: www.ndtv.com

Monday, January 22, 2007 (Chennai):

A man alleged to be a kidney broker has been detained in Chennai.NDTV had brought a story of Malliga who was driven out of the house by her husband.

He had taken the money given to her by brokers for donating a kidney. Malliga's kidney had been taken away at a private hospital in Madurai.

The accused, Raji, has been detained in connection with selling kidneys of fisherwomen from the coastal areas affected by the 2004 Tsunami.


Tsunami kidney racket busted in Chennai

Sanjay Pinto, Sam Daniel
Tuesday, January 16, 2007 (Chennai):

Most government departments in the country, like passport offices, rely on the ration card as almost conclusive proof of residence and relationship. In a shocking finding by NDTV, the ration card has been misused over the last few years in Chennai to get over the strict legal requirement of relative donors for kidney transplants.

Investigation reveals that touts lured the tsunami survivors in North Chennai to sell their kidneys for transplants allegedly in four private hospitals, one in Madurai and three in Chennai. Screening by a Committee appointed by the health department is mandatory to verify if the donor is a relative. And so, the touts 'set up' people to pose as relatives, with a bunch of ration cards as proof of address and relationship.

As ration cards that are accepted by all government departments, including passport offices, have only the husband's or father's photograph, they rustle up fake relatives for the other names mentioned on the cards to get the required clearance.

That explains why there have been so many women donors."They will present women before the committee, claiming that they are related to the person whose photograph is on the ration card," said Thilakavathy, donor and victim.

Exploitation of the poorMany fingers point towards one man, a regular broker who has allegedly cashed in on the poverty and helplessness of tsunami survivors in this colony."

"His name is Prakash Babu. People call him Karrupiah. He is working in a pencil factory near Korrukpet," said Maria Selvam, President, Tsunami Nagar Welfare Association.

After the media expose, the broker has gone into hiding. NDTV managed to trace his mobile phone number which is 98401 62999. When contacted, he initially he denied he was Prakash. But when the NDTV team posed as relatives of a patient in need of a transplant, he opened up but refused to meet them and denied involvement in the organ trade.

"I had donated a kidney myself about five years ago. I am not involved in this at all," said Prakash alias Karrupiah, donor, Chennai.A copy of the discharge summary of a patient in a Madurai hospital, records the name of a "voluntary" donor, not a relative donor, which itself is illegal.

The police is yet to receive a complaint from the victims. Officials say 25 transplants have taken place over the last couple of years but locals say it's at least thrice that number. What's peculiar is that the police say many of the brokers are also donors and one-time victims of the organ trade.

No case has been registered as yet but some groundwork is being discreetly done by the cops to get to the bottom of the racket.

Writing a General Report

This short document describes how to write a good general report. This is based on common mistakes we do while writing a report.

General Guidelines

These are some general things, we should know before start writing. This section will try to answer the questions of the purpose of report writing, and the overall approach as well.

Purpose of a report: writing to be read

A key thing to keep in mind right through our report writing process is that a report is written to be read, by someone else. This is the central goal of report-writing. A report which is written for the sake of being written has very little value.

Before we start writing our report, we need to have in mind the intended audience. In the narrowest of possibilities, our report is meant for reading by yourselves, and by your advisor/instructor, and perhaps by our evaluation committee. This has value, but only short-term. The next broader possibility is that our report is readable by peers or our juniors down the line. This has greater value since someone else can continue on our work and improve it, or learn from our work. In the best case possibility, our report is of publishable quality. That is, readable and useful for the technical community in general.

Overall approach: top-down

Take a top-down approach to writing the report (also applies to problem solving in general). This can proceed in roughly three stages of continual refinement of details.
  • First write the section-level outline,
  • Then the subsection-level outline, and
  • Then a paragraph-level outline. The paragraph-level outline would more-or-less be like a presentation with bulleted points. It incorporates the flow of ideas.
  • Once we have the paragraph-level flow of ideas, we can easily convert that into a full report, by writing out the flow of ideas in full sentences.
  • While doing the paragraph-level outline, think also about (a) figures, (b) tables, and (c) graphs, we will include as part of the report at various stages. We will find that many things can be better explained by using simple figures at appropriate places.
  • Another thing to nail-down while doing the paragraph-level outline is the terminology we will be using. For instance, names of various protocols/algorithms/steps in our solution or names/symbols for mathematical notation.
The overall approach also includes multiple stages of refinement, and taking feedback from others (peers/advisor/instructor). Let’s see about these in more detail after talking about the overall report structure.


Structure of a report

The following should roughly be the structure of a report. Note that these are just guidelines, not rules. We have to use our intelligence in working out the details of our specific writing.
  • Title and abstract: These are the most-read parts of a report. This is how we attract attention to our writing. The title should reflect what we have done and should bring out any eye-catching factor of our work, for good impact. The abstract should be short, generally within about 2 paragraphs (250 words or so total). The abstract should contain the essence of the report, based on which the reader decides whether to go ahead with reading the report or not. It can contain the following in varying amounts of detail as is appropriate: main motivation, main design point, essential difference from previous work, methodology, and some eye-catching results if any.
  • Introduction: Most reports start with an introduction section. This section should answer the following questions (not necessarily in that order, but what is given below is a logical order). After title/abstract introduction and conclusions are the two mainly read parts of a report.
  1. What is the setting of the problem? This is, in other words, the background. In some cases, this may be implicit, and in some cases, merged with the motivation below.
  2. What exactly is the problem you are trying to solve? This is the problem statement.
  3. Why is the problem important to solve? This is the motivation. In some cases, it may be implicit in the background, or the problem statement itself.
  4. Is the problem still unsolved? This constitutes the statement of past/related work crisply.
  5. Why is the problem difficult to solve? This is the statement of challenges. In some cases, it may be implicit in the problem statement. In others, we may have to say explicitly as to why the problem is worthy, as the case may be.
  6. How have you solved the problem? Here you state the essence of your approach. This is of course expanded upon later, but it must be stated explicitly here.
  7. What are the conditions under which your solution is applicable? This is a statement of assumptions.
  8. What are the main results? You have to present the main summary of the results here.
  9. What is the summary of your contributions? This in some cases may be implicit in the rest of the introduction. Sometimes it helps to state contributions explicitly.
  10. How is the rest of the report organized? Here you include a paragraph on the flow of ideas in the rest of the report. For any report beyond 4-5 pages, this is a must.
  11. The introduction is nothing but a shorter version of the rest of the report, and in many cases the rest of the report can also have the same flow. Think of the rest of the report as an expansion of some of the points in the introduction. Which of the above bullets are expanded into separate sections (perhaps even multiple sections) depends very much on the problem.
  • Background: This is expanded upon into a separate section if there is sufficient background which the general reader must understand before knowing the details of your work. It is usual to state that "the reader who knows this background can skip this section" while writing this section.
  • Past/related work: It is common to have this as a separate section, explaining why what you have done is something novel. Here, we must try to think of dimensions of comparison of our work with other work. For instance, we may compare in terms of functionality, in terms of performance, and/or in terms of approach. Even within these, we may have multiple lines of comparison -- functionality-1, functionality-2, metric-1, metric-2, etc., Although not mandatory, it is good presentation style to give the above comparison in terms of a table; where the rows are the various dimensions of comparison and the columns are various pieces of related work, with our own work being the first/last column. While in general we try to play up our work with respect to others, it is also good to identify points where our solution is not so good compared to others. If you state these explicitly, the reader will feel better about them, than if we do not state and the reader figures out the flaws in our work anyway). Another point is with respect to the placement of related work. One possibility is to place it in the beginning of the report (after intro/background). Another is to place it in the end of the report (just before conclusions). This is a matter of judgment, and depends on the following aspect of our work. If there are lots of past work related very closely to our work, then it makes sense to state upfront as to what the difference in your approach is. On the other hand, if our work is substantially different from past work, then it is better to put the related work at the end. While this conveys a stronger message, it has the risk of the reader wondering all through the report as to how our work is different from some other specific related work.
  • Technical sections: The main body of the report may be divided into multiple sections as the case may be. We may have different sections which delve into different aspects of the problem. The organization of the report here is problem specific. We may also have a separate section for statement of design methodology, or experimental methodology, or proving some lemmas in a theoretical paper. The technical section is the most work-specific, and hence is the least described here. However, it makes sense to mention the following main points:
  1. Outlines/flow: For sections which may be huge, with many subsections, it is appropriate to have a rough outline of the section at the beginning of that section. Make sure that the flow is maintained as the reader goes from one section to another. There should be no abrupt jumps in ideas.
  2. Use of figures: The cliche "a picture is worth a thousand words" is appropriate here. Spend time thinking about pictures. Wherever necessary, explain all aspects of a figure (ideally, this should be easy), and do not leave the reader wondering as to what the connection between the figure and the text is.
  3. Terminology: Define each term/symbol before we use it, or right after its first use. Stick to a common terminology throughout the report.
  • Results: This is part of the set of technical sections, and is usually a separate section for experimental/design papers. We have to answer the following questions in this section:
  1. What aspects of our system or algorithm are we trying to evaluate? That is, what are the questions we will seek to answer through the evaluations?
  2. Why are we trying to evaluate the above aspects?
  3. What are the cases of comparison? If you have proposed an algorithm or a design, what do we compare it with?
  4. What are the performance metrics? Why?
  5. What are the parameters under study?
  6. What is the experimental setup? Explain the choice of every parameter value (range) carefully.
  7. What are the results?
  8. Finally, why do the results look the way they do?
The results are usually presented as tables and graphs. In explaining tables and graphs, you have to explain them as completely as possible. Identify trends in the data. Does the data prove what you want to establish? In what cases are the results explainable, and in what cases unexplainable if any.

While describing a table, we have to describe every row/column. And similarly while describing a graph, we have to describe the x/y axes. If necessary, we have to consider the use of log-axes.
If you are presenting a lot of results, it may be useful to summarize the main take-away points from all the data in a separate sub-section at the end (or sometimes even at the beginning) of the results section.
  • Future work: This section in some cases is combined along with the "conclusions" section. Here we state aspects of the problem we have not considered and possibilities for further extensions.
  • Conclusions: Readers usually read the title, abstract, introduction, and conclusions. In that sense, this section is quite important. We have to crisply state the main take-away points from our work. How has the reader become smarter, or how has the world become a better place because of our work?
Refinement

No report is perfect, and definitely not on the first version. Well written reports are those which have gone through multiple rounds of refinement. This refinement may be through self-reading and critical analysis, or more effectively through peer-feedback (or feedback from advisor/instructor).

Here are some things to remember:
  • Start early, don't wait for the completion of our work in its entirety before starting to write.
  • Each round of feedback takes about a week at least. And hence it is good to have a rough version at least a month in advance. Given that we may have run/rerun experiments/simulations (for design projects) after the first round of feedback -- for a good quality report, it is good to have a rough version at least 2 months in advance.
  • Feedback should go through the following stages ideally: (a) We read it yourself fully once and revise it, (b) have our peers review it and give constructive feedback, and then (c) have our advisor/instructor read it.
  • Feedback: evaluating someone else's report
  • Evaluation of a report we our self have written can give benefits, but it usually is limited. Even in a group project, it is not good enough to have one person write the report and the other person read it. This is because all the group members usually know what the project is about, and hence cannot critique the paper from outside.
  • It is best to take feedback from our peer (and of course return favours!). The feedback procedure is quite simple. The one reading has to critically, and methodically see if each of the aspects mentioned above in the "structure of the report" are covered. It may even help to have a check-list, although with experience this becomes unnecessary.
  • Check if the title/abstract make sense, are effective/eye-catching.
  • Are all the relevant questions answered in the introduction?
  • Is the overall structure of the rest of the sections meaningful?
  • Is the difference from related/past work crisp and meaningful?
  • Are the technical sections understandable? Are the figures/tables explained properly? Is the terminology clear? Are the symbols used defined appropriately?
  • Are the results explained properly? Are the conclusions drawn from the graphs/tables sound? Or are there technical holes/flaws? Do the results show how the work presented is better/worse that the other cases of comparison?
  • When someone gives feedback on a peer's report or any report, usually it’s good to take a print-out and mark-up at various points in the paper. You may follow a similar procedure, or something suited to you. Be as critical as possible, but with the view that our peer has to improve his/her work, not with the view of putting him/her down. Our comments have to be impersonal. Likewise, while taking feedback from a peer, take the comments on their technical merit. Recommended strategy for producing a high-quality report
  • Based on the above, the following strategies could be adopted by colleagues who want to produce a high-quality report, which would then have a high potential for being turned into a publication:
  • Think through the outline of the report even as we are working on the details of the problem. Such thinking will also lend focus to our work and we will end up optimizing the returns on the time invested.
  • Two months before the actual deadline, we have to have at least a paragraph-level outline of the report, with all details worked out.
  • After one round of critical analysis by ourselves (or by our group), have another colleague or another group review it, perhaps in exchange for you reviewing their work. Have them check your flow of ideas. While it may be good to get someone working in the same area, for much of the feedback, this may not really be necessary.
  • Now we are probably about 6-7 weeks from the deadline. At this point, have your advisor/instructor give feedback on the paragraph-level outline. Getting this early is important since, based on this, we may have to reorganize our report.Have a pre-final version of the report ready 2 weeks before the deadline. Again, go through one round of self/peer-feedback, and then advisor/instructor feedback.
  • With these 3-4 rounds of revision and critical analysis, the quality of our report is bound to improve.

Biodata, Resume and CV

Biodata, Resume and CV

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