22 dead in stampede on foot overbridge in Mumbai

MUMBAI/NEW DELHI, SEPT 29:  

At least 22 persons were killed and over 30 injured in a rush hour stampede on a narrow foot overbridge (FOB) linking Elphinstone Road and Parel suburban stations during heavy rain today morning, officials said.

The tragedy took place around 10:40 AM when the FOB, used by lakhs of people to commute to the commercial area with high-end corporate and media offices, was heavily crowded, a police official said.

Images of people trapped on the stairs and the narrow decades-old bridge did the rounds of social media. Videos from those on the platform watching helplessly as the tragedy unfolded, with some attempting to make a perilous escape by climbing over the railing, were also circulated.

As condolences came in from President Ram Nath Kovind, Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, officials started looking into the reasons for the tragedy.

“The FOB of Elphinstone station was overcrowded and due to rain it got slippery too. This caused panic and resulted in the stampede,” said Atul Shrivastav, Inspector General of the Railway Protection Force.

“Due to sudden rain, people waited at the station. When the rain stopped, there was chaos as people rushed out,” added railways spokesperson Anil Saxena.

Police also suspect that a short-circuit with a loud sound near the FOB led to panic and people started running, resulting in the stampede.

Eight women and a young boy were amongst those killed, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) disaster management cell chief Mahesh Narvekar said, adding that five of the injured were critical.

“Situation in Mumbai is being continuously monitored. @PiyushGoyal is in Mumbai taking stock of the situation & ensuring all assistance,” Modi said in a tweet.

Railways Minister Piyush Goyal, who reached Mumbai this morning, cancelled his programme to inaugurate 100 additional suburban services in Mumbai and announced a high-level inquiry. He also announced a compensation of Rs. 5 lakh to the kin of each of the deceased, Rs. 1 lakh for the grievously injured and Rs. 50,000 for those with minor injuries. Goyal announced a compensation of Rs. 5 lakh to the kin of each of the deceased, Rs. 1 lakh for the grievously injured and Rs. 50,000 for those with minor injuries.

The Maharashtra government also announced a compensation of Rs. 5 lakh to the families of those killed.

According to the BMC’s disaster control room, 22 people were brought dead to the KEM Hospital in Parel. "The injured persons were taken to various hospitals," an official said.

Officials of the railway, police and fire brigade rushed to the site to carry out rescue operation. ”...it seems that during heavy rain, unexpected crowd (of passengers) gathered on the north foot overbridge that connects Elphinstone Road and Parel stations,” WR’s Chief Public Relations Officer Ravinder Bhakar said.

“Though security personnel were deployed to regulate the crowd on the staircases of the platform, excessive crowd led to the unfortunate incident,” he added.

According to Bhakar, it was technically not a “rail-related” incident, but the victims would be compensated according to rules of the railways.

Soon after the stampede, an accident relief medical equipment train rushed to the spot and medical assistance was provided to the victims, a railway official said.

“Have ordered a high level enquiry headed by the Chief Safety Officer, Western Railways,” the railways minister tweeted. “I feel sad for these families and such a thing happening in my Mumbai is matter of grave concern. We are committed to avoid any recurrence of any such incidents,” he told reporters.

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who is in Singapore for an investor interaction, added in a tweet that an inquiry would be conducted by the Maharashtra government and the Ministry of Railways and necessary strict action would be taken. "The medical expenses of the injured would be borne by the state government," he added.

WR’s General Manager A K Gupta visited the KEM Hospital and spoke to some of the injured persons.

The Mumbai police has issued an appeal to donate blood. “A —ve, B —ve and AB —ve blood is required in KEM hospital for those injured in #Elphinstone stampede. Please contact the blood bank at KEM,” the Mumbai police tweeted.

Our New Delhi Bureau adds:

Elphinston Bridge will be widened by November

Death of at least 22 people in Mumbai following a stampede at a railways' footover bridge project has brought the focus on time taken in executing already sanctioned project in the government machinery.

The widening and improving of Elphinston Bridge project was sanctioned in 2016-17, according to railway officials, who declined to be named.

But, the project got delayed due to the usual “due diligence” that happens before a government project is undertaken. Meanwhile, another document, from government sources, showed that the project was to be included in the 2017-18 Budget.

“A tender for the project has been issued. The bridge will be up and running by November,” said a railway official.

An interview given by a towering personality

Anil Manibhai Naik recently moved out from the position of CEO of Larsen & Toubro after spending over 50 years in the company. Naik, who treats L&T as his temple and his work as devotion, is set to step aside from the position of group executive chairman by the end of this month. He will continue to be associated with the company for three more years as non-executive chairman. BusinessLine met him to know his future plans and how his past shaped his personality. Excerpts:

How difficult was it for you to move away from what you love so much?

It was not difficult at all because I had planned for it much ahead. I am the one who planned the succession 12 years ahead of time. I spotted SN Subrahmanyan 12 years ago, four years back I announced that he will succeed me and then about eight month back we announced that Subrahmanyan will be CEO and MD from July 1.

I still have a lot of things to do which will not come in the way of what the CEO and MD wants to do. I am still the Group Chairman and I have a very major project to promote, which has not yet taken shape but it will, and that wont be part of L&T. I am mentoring the next level of leaders. Five directors on the executive board have come out of that mentoring, and seven people have become CEOs of subsidiary companies or joint venture companies. Altogether 12 leaders came out of the 24 that I mentored. That’s my second major responsibility — to see that L&T is in safe hands for the next generations. That is till 2032.Third..I do a lot of philanthropy, social work. I have two trusts of my own.

Your father was in a way your mentor. Other than him whom did you follow?

My father was my role model. You can say after that my grandfather. But the one who recruited me, the Britisher, Mr Baker, and the one who succeed him, Mr Pherwani, encouraged me. So I am thankful to those two.

After that I am a self-made man. Every morning when I come to office I retrospect what happened yesterday, every evening when I go home I retrospect what happened today, where I made a mistake, where I could do better, whether I hurt anyone. This I followed for 54 years, even today.

Is there anything that you would have done differently if you had a chance?

Today I can say this...although without changing the basic path which I have taken...I gave zero time to my wife and no time to my children. They feel they didn’t get the affection of their dad. So if I were to restart my life I would make sure they get due share of my quality time. I think I would not deviate from what my mind says and that is work for the nation, build a strong India, but I would also not go mad as to totally ignore the family. I would give some time to them. So now I am now trying to make it up and say that in the final phase of life let me whitewash my sins.

But when you joined L&T did this love for the company come from day one?

I used to dream of L&T, it came much before I joined. And that is because when I was six years old my father told me — while you study well, also get elected as a monitor, that will bring the leadership quality in you. Right from then he encouraged me to be a leader. I fought elections all through as a student.

Did politics ever enter your mind?

No, because I want honest politics.

Are you also working on restructuring the company?

Many small businesses I’ve sold off — so far it is 15 — and I am going to sell another nine businesses within two years and restructure the company, which is part of my job, and not something that a CEO and MD has to do. The company will be restructured. The four layer structure will come down to three. Obviously, the CEO will participate in it, and the company, which is simpler to manage, will be a new L&T. That is what is going to happen in the next three years, so I am busy for 35-40 hours a week instead of 75 hours. But the important part is I can come when I want and I can go when I want.

Are you confident that the people whom you are coaching can do a better job than what Mr Naik did for L&T?

Anything can be done better than before, but the point is how many people will have that devotion, passion, conviction and commitment. It’s a very very painful process where you are dissociate yourself from everything but you are focusing on what you want to do. Not many have that devotion. Everybody does hard work, but that is to maintain your job. If you are dedicated, you might add some value, but if you are devoted, you will multiply value.

Will this sort of association continue even after you step down as Group Chairman in three years?

That is very difficult to say. I am 75 and I have to see my health situation. Let me take one thing at a time. My plan ends in 2020.

Does India grow fast enough to provide L&T enough opportunities to reach set targets like for example ₹2.5 lakh crore market cap by 2022?

I think there are enough opportunities. We have over the last 20 years created various defence facilities ahead of time.

Mr Anthony did nothing as defence minister; the last six months nothing happened because there was no defence minister, now that there is a lady defence minster she might do something to prove that she can work as good as men or better. We are ready with seven facilities, we have leadership, trained manpower, we will be number one in the private sector in defence by order magnitude.

So what is today ₹1,200 crore will become ₹15,000 crore by 2023, sales-wise.

How would you rate the current economic cycle?   

Whether it is demonetisation or GST, they have put the brakes. The private sector over-invested in 2004-2005 in PPP. I cannot openly say this but I am telling you that banks were not careful in giving money to them. Net result is we have ₹6.5 lakh crore which is not productive. So the private sector is trying to recover form the past and they were not been able to repay their own debt, so banks are not going to give them any money. And the government is so busy with the elections. They have to catch votes so they are promising a lot to the social sector with the result that not much money is left for development.

You have high-speed rail being talked about but it is someone giving you free money. But how long can you depend on such largesse?

I think it will be at least two years before India will be back on track of 7-8 per cent growth. So I think the current situation is not so good, but I am looking into the future with optimism.

How would you like yourself to be remembered? As India’s infrastructure man?

I’d like to be remember as a person who transformed L&T from being on the edge of being taken over with a continuous fear from 1987 to 2003, to have ring-fenced L&T from future threats of takeover.

On its 40th birthday, angioplasty loses its innovation mojo

It was forty years ago, this month, that a young doctor in Switzerland decided to operate on a heart patient using a radical procedure that was less invasive, potentially cheaper and very effective. The field of coronary angioplasty using stents was born out of the need to innovate and further the cause of medicine, and for nearly forty years, has continued in the same fashion. Every few years, newer advances in stent design and the procedure meant more possibilities for a heart patient.

But forty years of evolution may not have weighed heavily on India’s drug price regulator, the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA), who effectively pulled the plug on innovations by capping device prices. A popular move, the regulator credited the government for this bold step. Stents were followed by orthopaedic implants, and government sources indicate that there’s ‘more to come’. This template may be applied by the regulator a few more times to more drugs and devices as elections draw closer. Politicians have also implied that they would not allow the industry to ‘loot’, thereby laying the entire blame at the industry’s door.

A regulator's winning formula

The price control formula is a quick-win for a price regulator to show quick results. It requires no accountability towards bettering healthcare, in real terms. At the same time, benefits of ‘sentiment’ accrue because of the inherent populism of the premise. Consider this – the NPPA is slashing prices of devices that it isn’t procuring directly or indirectly, nor is there a commitment on volumes or accountability towards quality. The devices manufacturing industry is in shock with the ‘take no hostages’ nature of NPPA’s edict, hospitals are fending off cost pressures because of shrunk margins, and the patient is deprived of advancements, as companies won’t bring innovations to a market where the hammer can fall anytime. Politics is the only winner.

The recent demonetization project was also thought to be a great idea initially generally. The seductiveness of the ‘big picture’ created an initial aura, but once the real picture emerged in late-August, serious questions on the motive and long term impact have emerged.

Unfortunately, for Indian healthcare, there is no Reserve Bank of India publishing data in its annual report. So, the cost to the patient may never be known objectively.

The price of price control

What is clear is this – six months after the price control was imposed, several hospitals are considering an increase in angioplasty packages; some are increasing angioplasty prices to make them more ‘realistic’. The more creative providers will find ways within the existing billing structures to offset their losses. Leading stent makers have also made their intent clear – they are looking at exiting the Indian market. New innovators, despite being ‘Indian’, aren’t introducing products.

Regulatory Juggernaut

The NPPA is braving it out, for now. They are throwing the rule book at companies to prevent or delay product exodus. A preferred method seems to be that of embarrassing the companies that have applied for withdrawals – one company was called out by the NPPA on safety, when it wanted to effect global stent discontinuation due to low sales. This, after the authority responsible for safety – the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO) stated that the company was justified in taking the step and that it was the company’s prerogative to stop production.

The NPPA also seems to be at loggerheads with other departments - it has highlighted the Department of Pharmaceuticals’ inaction in not exercising powers and restricting withdrawals applied for by companies. Their notices to companies also raise the bogey of ‘shortages’ if companies withdraw particular brand of stents. This is strange, considering that the NPPA itself decreed that all stents were to be priced the same as there was no differentiation. Simple economics determines that when all products are the same, shortages from one company will be made up by the rest.

This leaves us with another possibility - the NPPAknowsthat companies are withdrawing innovative stents, but they cannot admit to the government that they may have made a mistake.

The regulator’s approach by capping device prices unilaterally may be simple, but will it help the government broaden access to healthcare?There are enough indications to show that stent price control will not achieve greater access to affordable and quality healthcare. It has already started to suck innovation out of the country. In future, innovative stents, implants and other devices will never make it to India. Affording patients will go overseas, and for those who cannot, remember Marie Antoinette? The government may be left to untangle the mess, in the long term.

Angioplasty and Innovation: R.I.P

The problem is not so much about making stents cheaper, but of building sustainable healthcare infrastructure, which the government could really push forward. Can the government help hospitals more, to set up catheterization laboratory infrastructure, for performing angioplasties? India doesn’t have even a thousand labs; many are underutilized, beset with accessibility issues. Can the government also help more, maybe even partner industry to expand skill-building in advanced cardiology procedures.

The impact of such price control will be gradual, but profound. It will take a couple of years for the system to start caving under, but the implosion will be quick. The bureaucracy may change, but the government, with its huge public image, may face some tough questions from its electorate. But even with that, nothing will undo the loss. And an innovative cardiac procedure that has saved thousands and thousands of lives will be a collateral damage.

DISCLAIMER: The views expressed are solely of the author and ETHealthworld.com does not necessarily subscribe to it. ETHealthworld.com shall not be responsible for any damage caused to any person/organisation directly or indirectly.

About Avirup Bose

Avirup Bose, Assistant Professor, Jindal Global University and Assistant Director, Center for International Trade and Economic Laws, Jindal Global Law School. Avirup Bose is a graduate of the W.B. National University of Juridical Sciences (NUJS) (2006) and Harvard Law School (2007), specializing in antitrust law. During his year at Harvard, Avirup was also a member of the editorial team of the Harvard International Law Journal and in 2016, became the first Indian to be chosen by the American Bar Association and NYU Law School as a "Next Generation Antitrust Scholar".

Demonetisation, GST have put brakes on India: AM Naik

The Centre’s recent decisions on demonetisation and the Goods and Services Tax (GST) have put the brakes on India’s growth, according to Larsen & Toubro’s outspoken Chairman AM Naik.

“The government is so busy with elections. Now, there are elections in five States, and there will be some other elections, 2019 is general elections, and they have to catch votes, so they are promising a lot to the social sector, with the result there is not much money left for development,” Naik told BusinessLine.

Naik also blamed the private sector for over-investing in PPP projects in 2004-05.

‘Docs treated wife even after she died’

A 55-year-old trader has accused a private hospital of pretending to treat his wife even after her death on March 6 and declaring her dead only on April 1 this year. He has also accused the hospital of generating an inflated bill of Rs 31lakh for treatment of swine flu. Acting on the application filed, the Ahmedabad district and rural court has ordered the Sola High Court police station to file an FIR against the hospital and six doctors who treated the patient for 43 days.

The court has also asked the police to file a report in this matter by October 15, after taking help of expert doctors and Forensic Science Laboratory officials. The hospital has denied the allegations levelled against it. Complainant Kashyap Kotak, a resident of Bodakdev, said in the application that his wife Vandana was admitted to CIMS Hospital on February 20 and was diagnosed with swine flu. Dr Bhagyesh Shah and his team shifted her to the isolation ICU ward. She was declared dead on April 1 Kotak has alleged that the sole intent of the hospital was to make money out of her wife’s illness.

“My wife was not feeling well and I admitted her to CIMS hospital on doctor’s advice. She was diagnosed with swine flu and treated for 43 days. She actually died on March 6 but doctors continued to give her treatment and even transfused blood on a daily basis,” he alleged. “Since she was admitted in the ICU, the doctors didn’t allow us to meet her and misled us by giving one or other reasons. We blindly trusted them but they kept us in the dark. It’s a breach of trust,” he added. Kotak further said he had to sell off his house to pay for wife’s medical bills. “I, my 21-year-old son and 18-year- old daughter are heartbroken. My wife had become notary in March and was looking forward to do more in the legal profession,” he said.

Kotak’s counsel Bharat Dave said it is a case of causing death by negligence. The court application names Dr Bhagyesh Shah, Dr Nilesh Shah, cardiac surgeon Dr Dhaval Nayak, Directors Dr Sanjay Shah and Dr Anish Chandarana as the accused.

Hospital denies allegations 
Denying the allegations in a statement, the hospital said: “The patient, Ms Vandana Kotak, was admitted on February 20, 2017 with a serious and critical condition of swine flu. The patient was diagnosed and managed according to all medical processes and protocols by a skilled team of doctors. “The patient was kept on ventilator, ECMO (extra corporeal membrane oxygenation) and other life support systems under guidance of the expert team.

The relatives of the patient were intimated and counseled time and again on a daily basis during the course of hospitalisation and they were fully aware of the patient’s condition. However, despite battling with the patient’s critical condition for about 40 days, she unfortunately passed away on April 1, 2017. “The Hospital had used best possible knowledge, skill and resources to provide high standard quality of care. There has been no negligence on the part of doctors or the hospital during delivery of care.”

How Demonetisation Destroyed Indian Jobs and ‘Possibly’ Helped Create Jobs Abroad

The ill-effects of demonetisation are still coming to the fore. In this issue of the Diary, I will talk about how demonetisation destroyed Indian jobs and "possibly" helped create jobs abroad.

Before I get into explaining why I am saying what I am saying, a recap of some basic economics is necessary here.

At its most basic level, the gross domestic product(GDP), a measure of the economic size of a country, is expressed as Y = C + I + G + NX, where:

Y = GDP

C = Private Consumption Expenditure

I = Investment

G = Government Expenditure

NX = Exports minus imports

The point to remember here is that imports are a negative entry in the GDP formula. The more a country imports, its GDP falls to that extent. Having said that imports also represent consumer demand at the end of the day, even though that demand does not add to the country's GDP. For example, every time an Indian buys an electronic good manufactured in China, he is adding to the consumer demand but not to the GDP. Of course, he is adding to the Chinese GDP because exports are a positive entry into the GDP formula.

Hence, if we remove the imports of oil, gold and silver, from the total imports number (in dollars), what remains (i.e. non-oil non-gold non-silver imports) is a good indicator of consumer demand.

Now let's take a look at Figure 1, which basically plots the year on year growth in the monthly non-oil non-gold non-silver imports. Hence, the non-oil non-gold non-silver imports in April 2017 went up by 42.5 per cent in comparison to the imports in April 2016. And that's how it is for all other data points in Figure 1.

Figure 1:
 

What does Figure 1 tell us? It tells that non-oil non-gold non-silver imports have grown at an extremely fast rate after October 2016. They are growing at rates at which they haven't grown for a couple of years. What is happening here?
As Jahangir Aziz, head of emerging market economic research, told Bloomberg Quint recently: "What we had also feared was the demonetisation would disrupt the supply chains that run through both the formal and the informal economies. And if those supply chains get disrupted, then the revival in demand would not get fulfilled by domestic production."

This basically means that demonetisation destroyed domestic supply chains. Without supply chains products can't move. This has resulted in consumer demand being fulfilled through imports.

This is clearly visible in the huge growth of non-oil non-gold non-silver imports. What this also means is that as demonetisation destroyed supply chains in India, it also led to a huge job destruction. If goods weren't moving, there was no point in producing them either. This meant shutdown of firms and massive job losses.

Further, by importing stuff that we used to produce in India earlier, we have helped the manufacturing business in foreign countries and in the process "possibly" helped create jobs there.

The irony is that one million youth are entering the workforce in India, every month. The economist Kaushik Basu had said in November 2016 that "[THE]  economics [OF DEMONETISATION] is complex & the collateral damage is likely to far outstrip the benefits."The impact of this complex economics is still playing out and along with the botched up implementation of GST, has pulled down non-government GDP growth to around 4.3 per cent.

Vivek Kaul is the Editor of the Diary and The Vivek Kaul' Letter. He is the author of the Easy Money trilogy. The books were bestsellers on Amazon. His latest book is India's Big Government - The Intrusive State and How It is Hurting Us.

In Sivakasi, Tamil Nadu’s fireworks town, a dud Deepavali looms

Sangeetha Kandavel & S Sundar

Factories at Sivakasi, the fireworks hub of India, have cut down production by 25-30% this festive season. For this industry, which thrives during the months leading up to Deepavali, where the bulk of its sales happens, this is a cruel blow. While it was anticipated that the ban on importing firecrackers from China would lead to improved prospects for the fireworks industry in south Tamil Nadu, what has happened is quite the contrary. Factory owners claimed that there were two reasons for the unfortunate and unexpected fallout: demonetisation, which came into effect in November 2016, and the recently introduced Goods and Services Tax (GST).

“Post Deepavali, (2016) the centre announced its demonetisation programme. The money for the consignments that we dispatched for the festive season came into our coffers very late. Some of the traders settled their dues only in March/April. With consumers not having enough cash, the usual wedding orders and party orders (for New Year) were all put on hold. This was a major setback to the industry,” said P. C. A. Asaithambi, President of The Tamil Nadu Fireworks and Amorces Manufacturers Association (Tanfama). The GST rollout was another big blow, he added.

The Union government has levied a 28% GST on fireworks. Prior to this, the industry was paying 2% towards Central Sales Tax and 12.5% towards central excise duty, a total of 14.5%. The industry has now knocked on the Centre’s doors requesting to bring GST on fireworks below 5% or atleast 12%.

Tanfama’s secretary K. Mariappan said that only 50% of the usual production has been achieved so far, this year. According to him, the working capital for this industry comes primarily from bank loans and advance payments.

“Post demonetisation, the quantum of advance payments tumbled down,” he said.

The hub in the south

This little town, also known as Kutty Japan (Little Japan), provides 90% of India’s fireworks and 80% of safety matches. Some 70% of the printing happens here, say industry sources. Currently, the fireworks industry of Sivakasi is pegged at ₹1,800 crore per annum. There are illegal units too whose business is pegged at ₹2,000 crore by Tanfama.

A. P. Selvaraj, managing partner of Kaliswari Fireworks, said that until August, there was a production shortage at his company.

“When I decided to increase the production, the rain came in and played spoilsport,” he said. He says his firm has seen a 30-40% dip in production.

The smaller units in Sivakasi said that it was business as usual for them. Inquires revealed that these units accepted pre-bookings using the demonetised ₹500 and ₹1,000 currency notes. A manufacturer said: “Many firms accepted the banned notes and paid their employees, who in turn exchanged it at their banks.” Tanfama Secretary Mr. Mariappan added, “For a section of ‘bold’ industrialists and the majority of the illegal sector, demonetisation was a windfall as they took a risk and accepted the demonetised currency notes from traders as advance payment.”

One shop along the Sivakasi-Virudhunagar highway road also wore a deserted look. There are over 60-odd shops on this belt. “I have had only about 25% sales when compared to last year. Post GST, people have tightened their purses — some have reduced their budgets while others are just not buying crackers,” said S. Subash Chandrabose, who runs a shop at Tiruthangal. With the monsoon getting better, he expects people to spend more on firecrackers during Dussehra, leading up to Deepavali.

Ban in NCR

Industrialists lamented that the regulation on firecracker sale in Delhi NCR was a dampener. Earlier this month, the Supreme Court lifted a November 2016 ban on selling crackers in the NCR, but subsequently put in place regulations to control the sale and use of firecrackers. The court directed the authorities to issue only half the number of temporary licences and those with permanent licences have been asked to cut back on sales.

“The court had banned the sale of fireworks in this region citing pollution. The ban has been lifted now, but we are told that only the existing stock at this region can be sold and we cannot send any fresh stocks,” Mr. Asaithambi said. For Kaliswari fireworks, the NCR is the biggest market. “Every manufacturer here has a pocket where they own a big market share. For us NCR is the market,” Mr. Selvaraj said. “Some 20% of the total sales during Deepavali happens in the NCR,” Mr. Mariappan added.

Judging by Dussehra

Traders in Chennai are also evaluating the market sentiments before placing their orders this festive season. Ramanathan, a trader in Chennai, said: “People are cautious about buying products post GST. Be it food or any other commodity – they are cutting down on their expenses. We need to see if or how demand picks up this Dussehra,” he said. If the Dussehra sale is good, then Deepavali demand will be good, he explained.

For their part, manufacturers have indicated that there will not be a price hike this year. “Any further hike would burn the consumers’ pockets and they will absolutely stay away from buying crackers. We want people to buy and celebrate with fireworks,” Mr. Asaithambi said.

Some of the industrialists in Sivakasi are still continuing with manufacturing to meet eleventh hour demands.

Explosives Rules 2008, Rule 15

“Marking on fireworks: In case of fireworks, explosive composition, quantity of such composition, whether sound emitting crackers or colour or light emitting crackers, sound level, a caution or warning indicating the name of the item, manufacturer’s name, method of firing, precautions to be taken both in words and pictorial view shall be printed on each piece of fireworks and cardboard box and where adequate space is not available on the fireworks, such caution or warning shall be printed on a separate label and inserted in the smallest packet or carton.”

LEGAL NOTICE SENT TO BENGAL GOVERNMENT SEEKING RS. 100 CRORE FOR DEFAMATION AND VICARIOUS LIABILITY IN ANURADHA SAHA WRONGFUL DEATH CASE: ENTIRE MONEY WILL BE DONATED FOR HEALTHCARE IMPROVEMENT AND PUBLIC WELFARE IN INDIA

A Legal Notice was sent yesterday by PBT president Dr. Kunal Saha’s advocate to the West Bengal Government under Section 80 of Code of Civil Procedures (CPC), 1908 with a demand of Rs. 100 Crore for “defamation” and “vicarious liability” as the government failed to take any action after a judge in Calcutta High Court made slanderous and defamatory comments against Dr. Saha while acquitting three senior Kolkata doctors from all charges of medical negligence who were later found guilty for causing death of Dr. Saha’s wife, Anuradha Saha, by the Supreme Court of India. While holding the doctors guilty for medical negligence in 2009, Apex Court also severely chastised the High Court judge and held that the judge made “irresponsible accusations” against Dr. Saha without any basis whatsoever.

After the Apex Court verdict, Dr. Saha moved Calcutta High Court again in 2011 with a case for “criminal defamation” (under Section 500 IPC) against the first judge for his defamatory and irresponsible accusations. Although High Court dismissed Dr. Saha’s petition on technical ground, the court also agreed with the opinion of the Supreme Court that “irresponsible accusations” were made against Dr. Saha and observed that while a private citizen may not file charges against a judge for making derogatory comments in a judgment, the State may take appropriate action and be vicariously liable for any wrong done on a citizen. But since the Bengal Government remained silent and refused to take any action to bring justice to Dr. Saha, he has now sent this Legal Notice claiming Rs. 100 crore for defamation and vicarious liability. However, in the same Legal Notice, Dr. Saha’s advocate has also categorically stated that Dr. Saha will not personally take a single rupee from this lawsuit and the entire money will be donated for improvement of healthcare system and other benevolent public purposes in India. Under Section 80 of CPC, at least 60 days notice must be given to a respondent before filing a claim suit in the appropriate court.

The ‘Botched and Blinkered’ Past of the NIA’s Next Chief

New Delhi:  Senior IPS officer Y.C. Modi, who helped investigate the assassination of former Gujarat home minister Haren Pandya in 2003, has been named as the next head the National Investigation Agency (NIA) – India’s premier counter-terror agency.

The Pandya investigation led to the conviction of 12 persons under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA). They were all subsequently acquitted by the Gujarat High Court in 2011, having spent eight years in jail.

Justice D.H. Waghela, who made up the bench along with Justice J.C. Upadhyaya, remarked in that verdict that:

“What clearly stands out from the record of the present case is that the investigation in the case of murder of Shri Haren Pandya has all throughout been botched up and blinkered and has left a lot to be desired. The investigating officers concerned ought to be held accountable for their ineptitude resulting into injustice, huge harassment of many persons concerned and enormous waste of public resources and public time of the courts.”
The court’s judgment revealed a prosecution case riddled with contradictory statements, leaving as evidence mainly recorded confessions (considered admissible under POTA.) About these confessions, the bench said:

“The investigation clearly appears to have been so botched up and misdirected that the confessional statements recorded during police remand, before any police officer, could not be safely relied for convicting any of the appellants [of murder].”
The judgement cast doubt on the CBI theory of Pandya’s murder, down to the basic claim that he had been shot dead inside his car:

“The mystery of the murder is deepened by the facts, borne out from the record, that no blood was found in Shri Pandya’s car except a negligible spot on the seat near the driver’s seat even as his clothes bore tell-tale signs of profuse bleeding from injuries on the neck and forearm.”
Pandya’s family would accuse the CBI of derailing the investigation. Jagruti Pandya, the victim’s wife, later petitioned for a re-investigation of the murder, rejecting the CBI’s theory that Pandya was murdered in revenge for the 2002 riots.

In the final event, nearly 15 years later, despite Y.C. Modi’s exertions as the head of the CBI team – or perhaps because of them – nobody has been punished for the daylight murder of the senior BJP leader.

The twelve accused were acquitted of Pandya’s murder, but their convictions upheld in a case clubbed with it, regarding an attempt on the life of Jagdish Tiwari, a leader of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, also in 2003. The convictions were based on a concession by the lawyers of the accused. In the Tiwari case as well, the high court noted ‘the voluminous record and number of controversies about each piece of important evidence’.

Y.C. Modi was also part of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) that probed some of the 2002 Gujarat riots cases. He is at present working as a special director in the CBI, and will take over as NIA chief on the superannuation of the present incumbent, Sharad Kumar, on October 30. In the interim, according to the Department of Personnel and Training, Modi will take over as officer on special duty in the NIA to ensure a smooth takeover. He is expected to hold the post until May 31, 2021.

The new appointment places Y.C. Modi among several officials who either worked with the prime minister when he was chief minister of Gujarat, or else were involved in crucial probes, and have received key posts in the Central government since 2014. The list includes at least 14 IAS officers who were transferred from Gujarat to the Centre.

Y.C. Modi’s appointment is also being watched with interest as it is a key post when it comes to setting the narrative on crucial terror investigations. Sharad Kumar received two extensions from the Modi government, and under his tenure several important investigations were conducted by the agency. Notable among these were the Samjhauta blast case, the Pathankot terror case, terror strikes in Kashmir and the Burdwan blast case.

Prior to this, Gujarat cadre IAS officer and former chief secretary of the state Achal Kumar Joti was appointed the Chief Election Commissioner of India in July 2017. Other officers from Gujarat who made it big at the Centre include revenue secretary Hasmukh Adhia, power secretary P.K. Pujari, commerce secretary Rita Teotia, corporate affairs secretary Tapan Rai, and joint secretary in the Prime Minister’s Office Arvind Kumar Sharma.

Among Indian Police Service officers from Gujarat who now occupy key positions in the Centre are Rakesh Asthana, who was made acting director of the CBI last year, and A.K. Pattanaik, who is the CEO of the National Intelligence Grid (NATGRID). Following the appointment of Asthana, a Gujarat-cadre IPS officer, a PIL was filed in the Supreme Court seeking the quashing of his appointment.

The elevation of Y.C. Modi is bound to once again ignite the issue of why Gujarat cadre officers or those who have worked on Gujarat matters during Modi’s tenure as chief minister are being put in key positions in premier agencies.

Note: In an earlier version of this article, Y.C. Modi was described as being from the Gujarat cadre of the Indian Police Service. Though he worked on Pandya case during his time in the CBI and was also seconded to the SIT that probed several Gujarat riot cases, he is, in fact, from the Assam-Meghalaya cadre

Tax Men Raids Top IVF Doctor Selling Hope To Infertile Couples And Finds Stacks Of Unaccounted Money

In another shocking development underscoring corruption and accumulation of black money by the hitherto “untouchable” doctors and medical specialists, Income Tax officers raided RSV Hospital, a premier private nursing home in Kolkata that specialized in in vitro fertilization (IVF) with hope for children to the infertile couples at a hefty price. 

The hospital owner and self-proclaimed top IVF specialist, Dr. Bani Kumar Mitra was enticing a new childless couple in his chamber when the Tax Men raided his nursing home on Saturday (September 16) and reportedly collected about Rs. 4 crore in cash that were stacked in unimpressive boxes.

Ironically, several families of alleged victims who died in the hands of Dr. Mitra recently came to PBT seeking justice after both the child and mother died following treatment by Dr. Mitra at the IVF Hospital after they collected lakhs of rupees in the name of IVF therapy. 

PBT is in the process of filing new compensation lawsuits to help these alleged victims of Dr. Mitra at this very moment. In fact, during recent visit to Kolkata by PBT president Dr. Kunal Saha, a mass public demonstration was held in front of the RSV Hospital in demand of expedited investigation and cancellation of Dr. Mitra’s medical registration because of his reckless and unethical treatment of several hapless patients. PBT is planning to appeal to the medical council for immediate and summarily suspension of Dr. Mitra’s license on the ground of “moral turpitude” under Section 7.5 of MCI Code of Ethics and Regulations, 2002.

When fear rules: How journalists are at receiving end for speaking out against the State

By Sachin Kalbag
On May 17, 2011, Tarakant Dwivedi, a crime reporter working for the city tabloid Mid-Day, was arrested by the Government Railway Police under the Official Secrets Act. It was for a story he wrote for his previous newspaper in which he exposed how arms and ammunition acquired after the 26/11 terror attack were lying in a leaky storage area at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, and how that could have compromised the weapons, making them unusable in an emergency.

The Official Secrets Act is a draconian piece of legislation meant to be invoked for an act of treason, including spying for an enemy country. It was clear that Mr. Dwivedi was merely doing his duty as a journalist to highlight the rot in the system, and how, even after 164 deaths in a terror siege that lasted three days, the State had not taken the matter of security seriously. But instead of the state thanking him for writing an important story that impacted millions of lives, he was charged with criminal trespass and sent to prison. It took a fierce legal battle involving some of the city’s senior lawyers to get him out of jail, where his company for the night were cockroaches and vermin.

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Journalists marched in peace to the then home minister R.R. Patil’s office to impress upon him how the case was manufactured to keep a free press under control. The minister did not withdraw the case; instead, he asked the newspaper and the journalists to take the legal route. The lower court, rightfully, quashed the case, and the government, realising it was a lost battle, did not pursue the matter in a higher court.

The question then, as it is now, is not just why a police inspector invoked an anti-treason Act to imprison a journalist, but also why the entire State government machinery, led by the home minister, sat mute in what was a clear case of overreach. After all, some of the State’s most senior police officers were present at the meeting between journalists and the home minister, and could have easily advised him to exercise restraint to uphold the fundamental principles of democracy.

Though Mumbai has prided itself on being a welcoming place for free spirits of all persuasions, it has historically been a battleground for free speech. There was a time when journalists, artists, filmmakers, writers, and cartoonists won in the skirmishes, and were looked up to for their victories. Blitz, a fiery weekly tabloid owned and edited by R.K. Karanjia, frequently took on the high and mighty, and won. His favourite targets of ire were the Congress party, corporations, a corrupt bureaucracy, and the underworld. Mr. Karanjia, who established the newspaper with two other journalists in 1941, ran the enterprise for four decades, and was applauded for his courage and resilience in the face of danger.

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That was not the case with another journalist, Nikhil Wagle, whose newsrooms have been ransacked on several occasions by leading political parties such as Shiv Sena and the Nationalist Congress Party.

In 2012, in September, Aseem Trivedi was arrested under the sedition law in Mumbai. Best known for his ‘Cartoons Against Corruption’ campaign, Mr. Trivedi was arrested and jailed for the cartoons he displayed at the MMRDA Ground during the India Against Corruption movement led by activist Anna Hazare. A nationwide agitation followed, leading to a debate in Parliament. Soon, the Maharashtra government withdrew the sedition circular under which Mr Trivedi was arrested.

It seems hard to believe that this is the same country where Jawaharlal Nehru once told a cartoonist who regularly lampooned him, “Don’t spare me, Shankar.” (It is another matter that it is under the same Mr. Nehru that ‘reasonable restrictions’ were placed on free speech in the first amendment to the Consitution.)

The trouble with the phrase ‘free speech’ or ‘freedom of expression’ is that, on almost every occasion its definition is restricted to what we speak or write. In a manner of speaking this is correct, but the larger more significant impact is on our way of life.

In the simplest terms, free expression is the liberty to express your thoughts in a public or private forum without fearing for your safety or the safety of your loved ones. (It does not mean that anyone must agree with you. After all ideas can be countered with other ideas, with debate to convince one another or reach a middle ground.) It is the duty of the State to protect its citizens at all costs; indeed, it is the first duty of any democratic government. It is in this duty that governments have consistently failed. Not just that, governments have either remained mute spectators to — in effect abetting — violent expressions of dissent by self-righteous rampaging ‘activists’ or worse, governments themselves have targeted dissenters.

For example, in 2005, Mid-Day’s offices were ransacked by workers of the Congress party for a story that called the then chief minister ‘silly’ for redirecting relief material to areas not affected by the July 26 cloudburst. The State did not do much to protect the journalists who had questioned the CM for his administration’s bungling.

More recently, in 2012, Shaheen Dhada and Renu Srinivasan, two young women from Palghar district on the outskirts of Mumbai, were arrested for writing a Facebook post following the death of Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray. Their crime? Asking why the entire State should be shut down following the death of one person. Once again, it took a nationwide agitation and international ridicule for the State to withdraw the case against them.

In recent years, artists have had shows vandalised or cancelled, filmmakers have had to bow to communities vociferously ‘offended’ by movie scripts or to a Central Board of Film Certification’s readiness to be offended on their behalf, writers’ books have been burned or banned; so much so that an environment of self-censorship gets created. As a consequence, there is no public discourse without threats, there is no argument without the fear of being physically assaulted or mentally broken on social media, and the State continues in its ways without an active watchdog.

In the social media era, the looming threat of physical assault is supplemented with what is nothing less than mental torture. Armies of ‘trolls,’ both affiliated and unaffiliated to political parties, have made it their mission to break down people who have views that oppose theirs. Women face rape threats, journalists face death threats, film personalities are routinely targeted and stand-up comics have imposed a sort of self-censorship on making jokes about the government. It is not just about fear, but the fear of fear itself.

It need not even be fear. In a with-us-or-against-us world where being critical of, say, the Prime Minister’s choice of pocket square is seen as being anti-national, anti-Hindu, anti-sanskar, and automatically pro his political opponents — never mind that you have been scornful of the opponents’ sartorial choices too — there is no room for nuance, for reasoned argument, for thoughtful debate. It is a toxic, hate-filled world which some of us have chosen to leave, or to at least engage in far less because it is depressing. (Disclosure: this writer is one of them.) Perhaps that is the point then, to shut down discourse. The late great Behram Contractor, writing about the Emergency, said that the only safe topics left were cricket and mangoes. On Twitter today, only mangoes can be discussed with good humour. Maybe.

In both the new-age battlefield and the traditional, Mumbai seems to be losing. But, to be honest, Mumbai is not alone. Journalists across the country, especially those in the regional language media operating from small towns where rule of law is a misnomer, have been targeted for exposing politicians, self-styled godmen, oil pilferage scams, road scams, just about anything you can think of. In the most recent news cycle, we have heard of how the editor who first exposed the rape convict Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, was killed. Not surprisingly, in the 2017 World Press Freedom Index, published by Reporters Without Borders, India ranks an alarming 136th, down three places from 2016 and back to the same rank it was in 2015.

Those of us who are journalists in the traditional sense know that our job is to report facts. C.P. Scott, the former editor of the UK newspaper The Guardian, once wrote, “Comment is free, but facts are sacred.” To be targeted for bringing facts to light erodes the strength of free press.

There is no way to win this battle but to fight back without fear. Freedom of expression is one of the pillars upon which the edifice of democracy stands. Demolish this pillar, and the edifice crumbles along with other institutions. And no authoritarian government would want this pillar to be a strong one. Naturally, this conflict is a continuous one and it won’t end anytime soon.

How a chance conversation at a tea shop busted the kidney scam

DEHRADUN: It was a policeman overhearing a random conversation at a tea shop between two drivers who were tasked to ferry kidney donors to Gangotri Charitable Hospital on the outskirts of Dehradun (from where the recently busted kidney racket was being run) that eventually led to the whole affair coming out in the open.

Almost a month back, constable Pankaj Sharma, posted in the Ranipur police station in Haridwar, was sitting in a tea shop in plain clothes when he overheard two persons discussing the “illegal things” happening in the hospital. Recalling the sequence of events, Sharma told TOI, “It was early August and I was having morning tea at a roadside tea shop, when I heard two persons sitting adjacent to me talking about the goings-on in their hospital. They mentioned an organ racket running there although they did not mention the name of the hospital.”

Since Sharma's suspicions were aroused, he informed his superiors—sub-inspector Abhinav Sharma and inspector Pradeep Bisht—who in turn informed Haridwar senior superintendent of police (SSP) Krishna Kumar VK about the matter. Speaking to TOI, Krishna Kumar said, “I was informed that there were some leads that a possible organ racket was running in our area. However, the leads were not specific, since we did not know the name of the hospital or the persons suspected to be involved in it. Nevertheless, I formed a team to work on whatever clues we had,” Kumar said.

The cops used their informers’ network and eventually zeroed in on Gangotri Charitable Hospital located in the Lattappar area of Doiwala on the outskirts of Dehradun. However, as Pradeep Bisht, in-charge of Ranipur police station recalls, they still did not have enough evidence to inform Dehradun police or go on an offensive against the syndicate.

Finally, after an almost month long exercise during which the police developed sources within and outside the hospital, they got specific inputs about donors being taken to the hospital by a middleman in a SUV on the night of September 10. Acting on the inputs, a team of Haridwar police subsequently apprehended the vehicle leading to the arrest of five persons including kingpin Amit Kumar's key henchman Javed Khan who was tasked with arranging kidney donors.

Recognising the key role that Sharma played in sniffing out the scam, Haridwar police has recommended his name for a medal while state police headquarters has decided to award the constable during the January 26 parade next year.

At 9L in 2016, India’s under-5 toll world’s worst

NEW DELHI: India still accounts for the highest number of deaths of children aged below five years, data from the Global Burden of Disease-2016 report, published in the medical journal ‘Lancet’, show.

Globally, mortality rates have decreased across all age groups over the past five decades, with the largest improvements occurring among children younger than five years. In absolute terms, India recorded the largest number of under-5 deaths in 2016 at 0.9 million, followed by Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which recorded 0.7 million and 0.3 million deaths, respectively.

The data show deaths among children aged below five decreased globally to fewer than 5 million in 2016 for the first time, down from 16.4 million in 1970. Regionally, 24.8% of under-5 deaths in 2016 occurred in south Asia, 1.2 million. Overall, mortality rates declined across age groups, resulting in an increased life expectancy, the study said. The average global life expectancy for women is 75.3 years, and 69.8 years for men. Japan has the highest life expectancy (83.9 years for both sexes), and the Central African Republic the lowest (50.2).

However, with the increased life expectancy, the years lived with ill health or disability have also increased. The proportion of total life spent with ill health is higher for lower-income countries. Non-communicable diseases accounted for 72.3% of all deaths (39.5 million) in 2016. Ischaemic heart disease — decreased blood flow and oxygen to the heart muscle — was the leading cause of premature mortality in all regions, apart from in low-income countries, where the leading cause was lower respiratory infections.

Globally, ischaemic heart disease caused 9.48 million deaths in 2016 — an increase of 19% globally since 2006. Diabetes caused 1.43 million deaths, an increase of 31.1% since 2006. Overall, deaths from infectious diseases have decreased. Exceptions included dengue, which saw a significant increase at 37,800 deaths in 2016 (81.8% increase since 2006), and drug -resistant tuberculosis, which caused 10,900 deaths in 2016 (67.6% increase since 2006).