Washington, Dec 20 (IANS) An Indian-American surgeon is hoping to raise $25 million to train 1.5 million first responders – the first rescuers to arrive at an accident scene – in five years to prevent over 1,000 deaths on Indian roads every day that cost the nation $50 billion annually.

Rajasthan University-educated surgeon Dr. Dinesh Vyas, an assistant professor in the Department of Surgery at Michigan State University since 2011, has already trained over 4,000 first responders in India using a $200,000 simulator dummy.

He is now leading a strong international multi-disciplinary team to India from December 26 to January 4, 2016 to win support for the programme from Indian auto, IT and healthcare industries by way of corporate social responsibility (CSR).

“This programme will generate $5 billion business for auto, IT and healthcare industries and will save a lot of lives,” Vyas told IANS in an interview.

“Trauma and roadside epidemic is one of the biggest health concerns for India,” he said. “Unfortunately, it has been neglected for a long time and with a three percent annual increase in deaths, we have more than 1,000 deaths everyday and 5,000 severe disabilities.”

Over the last eight years, Vyas’ team has established five centres in Rajasthan which have trained 2,000 first responders in person and another 2,000 through an online course with the help of 200 trainers under its umbrella. Training 1.5 million first responders at 50 centres in the next five years would stall a three percent increase in mortality, he said. “Our next five-year goal will be to reduce the mortality to one percent annually, at par with any developed nation.”

The idea behind taking an international delegation to India, Vyas said, was “to address the trauma problem holistically”.

“We are concentrating systematically on all the aspects of trauma, to prevent a burden on the health system,” with a focus on pre-hospital cae while simultaneously building a platform on prevention.

The aim is to develop and build a contextual training programme in multiple aspects of trauma in various Indian languages starting with Hindi, Bengali and Telugu.

The international delegation comes with major strengths in fields ranging from surgery and trauma and critical care to mass media and communication to health legal issues and highway engineering.

The delegation includes faculty from US and Britain, with several endowed professors from Pittsburgh, Michigan State and other major universities.

Dr. McSwain from Tulane University, one of Vyas’ collaborators, developed in 1980 a four-tier system in the US that goes from online education to highly sophisticated trauma programmes for surgeons.

“The technology we are using is not available even in most of the centres in the US at this time,” Vyas said. “We are designing a programme that will eventually help even developed nations in building a cost efficient programme.”

To raise money for the programme, Vyas and his team are making presentations to various foundations and IT companies both in the US and India.

During his visit to India, Vyas would be visiting Jodhpur, Jaipur, Hyderabad, Manipal, Bangalore, Karimnagar and New Delhi.

He would be addressing, among others, the National Police Academy in Hyderabad and the Rajasthan Police Academy and meet officials and fellow professionals to gain support for his mission.

More than a year and a half after the Supreme Court ruled that transgenders can be a third gender, a 32-year-old Odisha government officer has come out in the public with her transgender identity.

Ratikanta Pradhan, who got into Odisha Financial Service five years ago after clearing the Odisha Aadministrative Service examination, has now decided to become Aishwarya Rutuparna Pradhan. Posted as Commercial Tax Officer in Paradip Port township, Aishwarya said the April 15, 2014, Supreme Court ruling recognising transgenders under the third gender category and guaranteeing their constitutional rights was the key factor.

Hailing from a village in Kandhamal district, Pradhan initially faced disapproval from family and friends including her retired Armyman father. “But now everyone have started accepting me in a new avatar,” she said.

“In an affidavit before an executive magistrate, I have become Aishwarya Rutuparna Pradhan. I have submitted relevant records for change and modification of my name and gender. I expect to be conferred transgender classification on government records very shortly,” she said.

Mumbai: In a new twist to the double murder case of artist Hema Upadhyay and her lawyer Harish Bhambhani, the role of a sixth suspect is being probed even as fresh leads suggest that the prime accused Vidyadhar Rajbhar, who is on run, is preparing himself to surrender before police, a senior officer said here today.

Police have so far arrested Azad Rajhbhar, Pradeep Rajhbhar, Vijay Rajhbhar and Shivkumar Rajbhar alias ‘Sadhu’ in the case while Vidyadhar is absconding.

Meanwhile, Sadhu, formally placed under arrest today, was remanded in police custody till December 22 by a magistrate court here.

According to the officer attached to Crime Branch, the probable role of another person is coming to light in the crime. However, he refused to divulge details.

The officer said police had picked up Vidyadhar’s trail and are tracking him by putting his mobile phone under surveillance.

The officer said that Vidyadhar, a resident of suburban Kandivli, told his neighbour that he had killed Hema and Bhambhani over some financial dispute as the artist had owed him Rs 5 lakh and he was in debt.

Vidyadhar has a art workshop cum warehouse in Kandivli where Hema and Bhambhani were allegedly killed before their bodies were stuffed in cardboard boxes and dumped into a drain in Kandivli. The bodies were found on Saturday.

“Vidyadhar was last tracked at Itarsi railway station in Madhya Pradesh on December 13 and his mobile phone has been

switched off since then,” the officer said.

“He (Vidyadhar) boarded a train from Dadar station here on the very night (Saturday) when bodies were recovered.

Vidyadhar informed his neighbour (in Kandivli) that he had killed Hema and her lawyer and would surrender before police after returning to Mumbai,” he said, adding that Vidyadhar owed some money to the neighbour who has approached police.

Explaining the sequence of events, the officer said Vidyadhar had called Hema to his workshop in Laljipada on Saturday afternoon under the pretext of sharing some evidence, apparently in connection with the marital discord case against her estranged husband Chintan Upadhyay.

He said Vidyadhar had incurred a huge loss in his glass fabrication business and was deep in debt.

“Hema and Bhambhani visited Vidhyadhar at his shop cum warehouse on Saturday around 8:30 PM. There the trio had a heated argument following which Vidayadhar, with the help of other accused, killed the artist and the lawyer,” the officer said.

PTI

Nashik: Sharif Gafur Parkar, convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment in the 1993 Mumbai serial bomb blasts case, died at a hospital here following illness, jail authorities said on Friday.

Parkar (80), suffering from paralysis and a neurogenic disorder, died at the Nashik Civil Hospital yesterday, Nashik Road Central Jail Superintendent Ramesh Kamble told PTI.

Parkar had surrendered before a TADA court in Mumbai in May 2013 to serve the remaining part of his life sentence in connection with the case, after his conviction in the blasts case was upheld by the Supreme Court. Accordingly, he was lodged in the Nashik prison.

He was convicted by the TADA court for his role in organising the landing of arms and RDX in Raigad district prior to the March 1993 serial blasts, and in arranging a conspiracy meeting.

He was undergoing medical treatment for his illness in jail and Nashik Civil Hospital for past few months, Kamble said.

Parkar was also recently admitted in Mumbai’s JJ Hospital and two days back he was brought back to the prison here.

He was admitted to Nashik Civil Hospital two days back in the prisoners’ ward, where he died around noon yesterday. As per the procedure, the body has been sent for postmortem to Dhule civil hospital, Kamble said, adding that a case has been registered in connection with the death.

PTI

Beijing: Chinese lawmakers consider amending the family planning law to allow couples to have two children amid efforts to counter shrinkage of the work force and an ageing population. “The State advocates that one couple can give birth to two children,” Xinhua cited a draft amendment submitted for review at the bi-monthly session of the National People’s Congress Standing Committee which opened on Monday. The draft came after the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee decided in October to give the go ahead for the universal two-child rule, which will replace the decades-long “one couple, one child” policy. Li Bin, head of National Health and Family Planning Commission (NHFPC), said the CPC’s decision was made to adapt to the transition of China’s population from young to old currently underway. In order to implement the decision, the top legislature must amend the family planning law which took effect in 2002. Under the current law, citizens who marry late and delay childbearing may be entitled to longer nuptial and maternity leaves. Couples who volunteer to have only one child in their lifetime enjoy rewards. The articles were deleted in the draft, implying the new law will likely take effect on January 1, 2016. The amendment will not affect the welfare enjoyed by the elderly whose family abides by the current family planning law, parents who have only one child and parents whose only child is disabled or deceased.

While clarifying the draft, Li said people who have been receiving rewards and assistance before the law was amended will continue to receive it afterwards. The draft also allows couples of a reproductive age to make their own choice whether to adopt contraceptive methods. It no longer stipulates that couples shall accept technical services and guidance for family planning. Medical institutes will also be able to employ assisted reproductive technology after being authorised based on their personnel, facilities and ethical management, according to the draft. Trade of sperm, ovum and embryo is forbidden. Surrogate pregnancy in any form is not allowed. Those involved in such actions would receive punishment ranging from warnings and fines to criminal penalties, according to the draft. China’s family planning policy was first introduced in the 1970s to rein in the surging population.

Since its implementation, the policy has resulted in an estimated reduction of some 400 million people in China, but it was also blamed for generating a number of social problems, mainly a decreasing labour force and an ageing population. In 2013, China relaxed its birth rules, allowing couples to qualify for a second birth if one of the partners was an only child. The one-child policy was abandoned at the Fifth Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee held in October this year. The change of policy is intended to balance population development and address the challenge of an ageing population, according to a communique issued after key meeting. Experts believe that being able to have two children will benefit about 100 million families around the country. The change in policy is expected to mean over 30 million more people in the labour force by 2050 and a decrease of two percentage points in the share of elderly of Chinese population, said Wang Peian, deputy head of the NHFPC, in a press conference held in November. The total population will slightly increase, with its peak reached at 1.45 billion in 2029, Wang said. The adopting of the two-child policy is also expected to boost China’s economic growth rate by about 0.5 percent, he said. IANS

Agartala, Dec 20 (IANS) A 60-year-old tribal woman in Tripura was beaten mercilessly and left unconscious by some people who accused her of having an illicit love affair, the police said on Sunday. The woman was rescued on Saturday morning and taken by her neighbours to a hospital where her condition was stated to be critical. The incident took place in Ujan Chandrapur village under Puratan Raj Bari police station of South Tripura district late Friday evening. “When the victim was returning home from NREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) work, she was first tied with a tree and then beaten ruthlessly by some locals, mostly women. Later her head was shaved,” said S.K. Paul, sub-divisional police officer of Belonia in South Tripura. Some of the local people accused the victim of having an illicit love affair with a man of her Bhil community. The woman’s family members denied the accusation. Six people, including four women, have been arrested in connection with the incident.