Justice May 11, 2006
Posted by scan man in News.1 comment so far
Saw this in the newspaper this morning….
NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court on Wednesday restrained public schools in the Capital from subjecting children and their parents to interviews for admissions to pre-nursery and nursery classes. (read the entire article here)
I hope this will be followed in the rest of the country too.
For those of you who don't get the reference, check this earlier post of mine.
State of Indian Mothers and Children May 10, 2006
Posted by scan man in Life in India, Medicine, News.2 comments
I saw Dr. Tara Smith's post at Aetiology today and read the CNN article that she linked to. As there was no mention of India in the best and worst 10 ranks, I was curious to know how we fared in the rankings.
I went over to the Save the Children homepage and downloaded the State of the World's Mothers 2006 report.
India was ranked 93 in the Mother's Index (MI) out of 125 countries; 105 in the Women's Index (WI) out of 131 countries and 128 in the Children's Index (CI) out of 167 countries.
I sort of expected this so I was not too shocked.
Here is the nitty gritty – the parameters that were studied to rank the countries. The numbers following the parameters are the Indian figures. For comparison I have included the corresponding figures for the topper Sweden (Ranks: MI – 1, WI – 1 & CI 20), the People's Republic of China (MI – 39, WI – 34, CI – 91) as it has a bigger population than us and the Islamic Republic of Pakistan (MI – 107, WI – 109, CI – 141) since we Indians are obsessive about comparing ourselves to the Pakis. For the record Denmark was ranked first in the Children's Index.
- Lifetime risk of Maternal Mortality – 1 in 48 (Sw 1 in 29,800; Ch 1 in 830; Pak 1 in 31)
- Women using modern contraception – 43% (Sw 72%; Ch 83%; Pak 20%)
- Births attended by skilled personnel – 43% (Sw 100%; Ch 96%; Pak 23%)
- Pregnant Women with anemia – 50% (Sw 0%; Ch 52%; Pak 37%)
- Adult Female literacy rate – 47.8% (Sw 99.9%; Ch 86.5%; Pak 35.2%)
- Participation of women in national government (seats held by women) – 9.3% (Sw 45.3%; Ch 20.3%; Pak 20.6%)
- I really can't believe that they have that many women in high positions in the Pakistani army
- Infant Mortality Rate – 62/1000 live births (Sw 3/1000; Ch 26/1000; Pak 80/1000)
- Gross primary enrollment ratio (expressed as %) – 108 (Sw 111; Ch 115; Pak 68)
- The figure for Pakistan may be more if madrassahs are included.
- Population with access to safe water – 86% (Sw 100%; Ch 77%; Pak 90%)
- Children under 5 years suffering from moderate or severe malnutrition – 16% (Sw 0%; Ch 0%; Pak 13%)
Truly appalling to know that after nearly 60 years of independent democratic rule we have fared only slightly better than a country which spent half that period under military dictators and worse than a country which has been ruled by autocratic communists for nearly the same period.
Busy Week May 9, 2006
Posted by scan man in random noise.2 comments
The first week of May has been good for the hospital, bad for me. I am in my twelfth month in my current job and last week was the busiest of the year. My employers should be happy. They are finally getting their money's worth.
I visit a small hospital in a nearby town on the first sunday of every month to do antenatal ultrasound scans. So my weekend was shot too.
Monday was election day. I voted early in the morning in my home town and travelled to work (about 160 km) to find that I had a large backlog of cases to be reported. It seems the radiologist who covers in my absence had to leave town on some pressing personal issues, and the guy who covers for him had taken the weekend off. So my monday was more manic than usual.
So far today has been good to me. It is 5:30 PM, and all I've had are three CTs and a bunch of xrays to report. I was bored enough to go for a nap in the afternoon. Which led to a discovery. It is uncomfortable to sleep in the afternoon in a non-airconditioned bedroom located in the top floor in the height of the Indian summer. Today's High temperature here was 38 C (100.4 F).
I started reading Umberto Eco's Foucault's Pendulum Sunday night. Got through a few pages before I nodded off. I don't think it is the kind of book that I can read when I am busy at work. I'll probably read more of it this week if the work load is light.
And I hope to resume blogging…
Not Good News On Sunday Morning… April 30, 2006
Posted by scan man in News.3 comments
The Sunday Newspaper – the one that I usually linger over, has not brought cheer…
A string of depressing stories…
- New Delhi: The Taliban has threatened to execute K. Suryanarayana, an Indian national, kidnapped in Afghanistan on Friday, by Sunday evening, if New Delhi does not pull its citizens out of the troubled nation. (read the full story here)
- Hyderabad: While the fate of the Indian engineer abducted by the Taliban in Afghanistan on Friday hangs in the balance, his family living in the bustling suburb of Malkajgiri in Hyderabad plunged into despair. (read the full story here)
- Raipur: Naxalites on Saturday killed 13 of the 52 villagers they had abducted last Tuesday and released 37 others in Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh. (read the full story here)
- Islamabad: Pakistan on Saturday successfully test fired its long-range surface-to-surface ballistic missile Hatf VI (Shaheen II) with `outstanding results.' (read the full story here)
- Islamabad: Pakistan chose not to react to the decision of the Bush administration to designate Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) and Idara Khidmat-e-Khalq (IKK) as terrorist outfits even as the JuD denounced it as a move by Washington to please New Delhi. (read the full story here)
- Paris: Al-Qaeda number two Ayman al-Zawahiri has lashed out at U.S. President George W Bush accusing him of giving a “strong impetus'' to India's nuclear programme while “doling out orders'' to Pakistan. (read the full story here)
- Kolkata: Faced with huge under-recoveries, the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) today sought an immediate upward revision of petrol and diesel prices to the extent of Rs 10.50 per litre. (read the full story here)
Looks like religious fundamentalists, rabid communists, military juntas and big corporates are having a good day though.
Which Historical Lunatic Am I? April 29, 2006
Posted by scan man in humour, internet.3 comments
I think I'm getting addicted to these Tests….
Well. Here goes..
Which Historical Lunatic Are You?
From the fecund loins of Rum and Monkey.
It seems I am Joshua Abraham Norton, first and only Emperor of the United States of America!
Born in England sometime in the second decade of the nineteenth century, I carved a notable business career, in South Africa and later San Francisco, until an entry into the rice market wiped out my fortune in 1854. After this, I became quite different. The first sign of this came on September 17, 1859, when I expressed my dissatisfaction with the political situation in America by declaring myself Norton I, Emperor of the USA. I remained as such, unchallenged, for twenty-one years.
Within a month I had decreed the dissolution of Congress. When this was largely ignored, I summoned all interested parties to discuss the matter in a music hall, and then summoned the army to quell the rebellious leaders in Washington. This did not work. Magnanimously, I decreed (eventually) that Congress could remain for the time being. However, I disbanded both major political parties in 1869, as well as instituting a fine of $25 for using the abominable nickname "Frisco" for my home city.
My days consisted of parading around my domain – the San Francisco streets – in a uniform of royal blue with gold epaulettes. This was set off by a beaver hat and umbrella. I dispensed philosophy and inspected the state of sidewalks and the police with equal aplomb. I was a great ally of the maligned Chinese of the city, and once dispersed a riot by standing between the Chinese and their would-be assailants and reciting the Lord's Prayer quietly, head bowed.
Once arrested, I was swiftly pardoned by the Police Chief with all apologies, after which all policemen were ordered to salute me on the street. My renown grew. Proprietors of respectable establishments fixed brass plaques to their walls proclaiming my patronage; musical and theatrical performances invariably reserved seats for me and my two dogs. (As an aside, I was a good friend of Mark Twain, who wrote an epitaph for one of my faithful hounds, Bummer.) The Census of 1870 listed my occupation as "Emperor".
The Board of Supervisors of San Francisco, upon noticing the slightly delapidated state of my attire, replaced it at their own expense. I responded graciously by granting a patent of nobility to each member. My death, collapsing on the street on January 8, 1880, made front page news under the headline "Le Roi est Mort". Aside from what I had on my person, my possessions amounted to a single sovereign, a collection of walking sticks, an old sabre, my correspondence with Queen Victoria and 1,098,235 shares of stock in a worthless gold mine. My funeral cortege was of 30,000 people and over two miles long.
The burial was marked by a total eclipse of the sun.
