96 cases of swine flu reported across country

NEW DELHI: Swine flu cases saw a surge on Friday with 96 fresh cases being reported across the country, taking the number of those afflicted with
the virus to 711.
Pune, which has witnessed the only fatality of the
disease so far, saw the highest number of 37 cases being reported, joint secretary in the health ministry Vineet Chawdhry told reporters here.

The 96 cases included four in Chennai, 13 in Delhi, three in Kolkata, six in Gurgaon, 16 in Mumbai, 10 in Bangalore, three in Mangalore, four in Hyderabad and one in Calicut among others.

Health secretary Naresh Dayal, however, said there was no need to panic as a study on the spread of the disease has shown that till now the disease was spreading indigenously only among 10 per cent of those exposed to the virus.

"There is a need to take precautions by vulnerable groups like children and those already suffering from some disease," he said.

Health ministry records show that those most affected by the virus were in the age-group of 10-14 years.

A total of 129 persons in the age-group of 10-14 years have been affected while 117 were in the age-group of 20-29 and 100 were aged between 15-19.

"This is probably one of the reasons why it is spreading so fast in India as our country has a large younger population," he added.

Assuring that there were huge stocks of Tamiflu available with the government, he said, the government might soon allow private labs to carry out swine flu tests provided they get accredited.


First-timers, young MPs' performance below average: Study

NEW DELHI: First-time MPs and young parliamentarians, elected to the 15th Lok Sabha amid focus on youth, will have to do more to live up to

expectations as their performance during the budget session has been below average, according to a study. The study by PRS Legislative Research of the proceedings of the house in its first month-long budget session that concluded Friday says the participation of the first-timers and the young MPs was below average and worse than their elders. It says 27 percent of the first-timers did not speak even once, while some 38 percent of young MPs remained quiet. The figure for women MPs not speaking at all was 33 percent. The PRS Legislative Research is an independent organisation studying parliamentary trends. It points out that first-term MPs form a significant section of each party (59 percent on an average). At 81 percent, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has the highest proportion of such MPs. Here are the findings of the study: * Each first-term MP participated in about 2.0 debates as compared to 2.5 for an average MP. * For most parties, participation of such MPs was less than that of their more experienced colleagues. Though they form 59 percent of the strength of the Lok Sabha, their participation in debates was 49 percent. * Young MPs from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) were more active than their older colleagues. * Young MPs in the Congress, the Samajwadi Party and the BSP participated in debates less than their party averages. * While women MPs constitute 11 percent of Lok Sabha, they recorded a participation of eight percent. * Across most parties, participation by women MPs was slightly lower than party average. * Women MPs of BJP matched their male counterparts. Anil should let SC decide gas row: Mukesh's RIL MUMBAI: The public row between the Ambani brothers flared up on Friday with Mukesh-led RIL hitting out at Anil for personal and orchestrated attacks to turn legal issues into public ones and preaching restraint. "We shall continue to exercise restraint in the face of Anil Ambani's provocative public statements. We hope that Anil and his associates will also exercise similar restraint and leave the matter to be decided by the Supreme Court," RIL said in a statement. The advice by the elder brother-run group comes after Anil unleashed an attack on Mukesh, accusing him of denying a role for mother Kokilaben in resolving disputes and trading their father late Dhirubhai's vision for corporate greed. "While Mukesh Ambani is profoundly saddened by his brother's remarks, he requests the media to respect his decision not to respond," said the RIL statement. The Supreme Court will on September one hear their cross appeals on a ruling of the Bombay High Court that RIL should supply gas to RNRL at USD 2.34 per mmBtu. It will also consider admissibility of the government petition on the matter. Anil, at the AGM of RNRL last month, had also accused the Petroleum Ministry of siding with RIL on the gas issue to help the company earn a super-normal profit of Rs 50,000 crore Rejecting "the baseless, tendentious and motivated allegations and insinuations" made by Anil and his associates, RIL said the public statements were attempts to convert "legal issues into public issues." "We would like to assure the people of India, the government of India, Members of Parliament and all our shareholders that our objective, is to act at all times in a manner that is fully in consonance with our respect for the law of the land and is protective of the nation's interests. "We have consistently maintained that in the KG Basin RIL is only a contractor engaged by the government of India to harness the Basin's hydrocarbon assets in the best interest of the nation," the RIL statement said.