- International Air Passenger Traffic Down 5.8 Percent in May
- Nag Missile Test fired from Balasore
- Prices of 14 pharmaceutical formulations revised
- Stop using vigilante groups to fight crimes, NGOs tells Nigerian Government.
- South Africa : Apartheid victims claim could be more than $50 billion.
- Farmers, herders clash leave 30 dead in Plateau
- Hunger erodes traditional values
Cigerettes Prohibition bill to ban Tobacco Advertisement,New Delhi; June 21, 2002. A Comprehensive Bill called "Cigarettes and other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production Supply and Distribution) Bill, 2001 presently pending before the Parliament seeks to prohibit the advertisement of all tobacco products and to provide for its regulation in trade and commerce. The bill will also prohibit smoking in public places and selling of tobacco products to persons below the age of 18 years.
The Bill covers all tobacco products including cigarettes, beedis as well as gutka and is not restricted to chewable tobacco products only. The Bill does not propose any ban on production and sale of any tobacco products. No such recommendations has been made by the standing committee. There is no proposal to introduce a Bill banning the production, sale and consumption of all forms of chewing tobacco.
The salient features of the Bill will include ; indication of nicotine and tar contents on the packets; indicating of the warning on the package in English as well as Indian languages; total ban on sponsoring of any sport/cultural events by cigarettes and other tobacco product companies. Empowering Sub-Inspectors of Police or equivalent officers of State Food or Drug Administration of the Central/State Governments to carryout the provisions of this legislation and confiscation of the goods in case of any violation. However, the owner of the goods will be given the option to pay a fine in lieu of the confiscation, which should be equal to the value of the goods confiscated; Imposition of a fine up to Rs.200/- for minor offences relating to smoking in public places, sale of tobacco products to minors.
The Bill would be effective as far as the provisions regarding cigarettes are concerned, all over India, but for other tobacco products only to the UTs, Punjab, West Bengal, UP and Goa. This is because other tobacco products (other than cigarettes) are in the state list, and only these states are have passed resolution in their state legislatures undertaking to adopt a central law in the matter. The other states could adopt the law pertaining to other tobacco products merely by passing a resolution in their legislature. (keralamonitor.com)
Nag Missile Test fired from Balasore.
New Delhi: June 21, 2002 Two Nag missiles have been launched satisfactorily today at 1015 hrs and 1300 hrs from Interim Test Range, Balasore. The trajectory of both trials was fully tracked through out the flight and telemetry data has been received. The detailed analysis is in progress. These were the 43rd and 44th test launches of the Nag missile.
Nag is a third generation anti-tank missile system with "fire and forget" and "top attack" capabilities. The state-of-the-art Imaging Infra Red homing guidance system has lock-on-before-launch capability for day and night operation. A smokeless nitramine based propellant has been developed for the Nag. The missile is carried either on "NAMICA" (Traced ICV) or the Advanced Light Helicopter. Its high strength composite airframe with foldable wings and fins, onboard real time processor with fast and efficient algorithms, compact sensor package and electric actuation system, digital autopilot and high immunity to counter measures, make this a formidable missile.
(keralamonitor.com).
Prices of 14 pharmaceutical formulations revised
New Delhi: keralamonitor.com The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority has revised/fixed the prices of 14 formulation packs on June 21, 2001. Prices have been fixed for the first time in the case of 2 formulation packs. In the case of 12 packs, prices have been increased, ranging from 4.92% to 23.40%.
In all the 14 cases Non-ceiling prices have been fixed. Prices have been fixed/revised in accordance with the provisions of the DPCO, 1995 and as per the established criteria and guidelines. The statement showing the existing (where available) and revised prices is annexed. The information is also available on NPPA’s website www.nppaindia.nic.in.
The formulations for which prices have been revised/fixed includes formulation containing Methyl Prednisolone which are used as cortico-steriod medicines and Insulin based formulations which are used in the treatment of diabities.
The prices fixed/revised would become effective within 15 days from the date of notification in the official gazette or the receipt of the order of the NPPA in this behalf, as per Para 14(1) of DPCO, 1995. The necessary revised price list is to be issued by the manufacturers/importers required under sub paragraph (3) of paragraph 14 of the DPCO, 1995. Accordingly, as per the provisions of the DPCO, the revised price list in Form-V is to be furnished by the concerned manufacturer(s) to the government/NPPA, State Drug Control Authorities and distributors, wholesalers and retailers, etc.The manufacturers are also required to work out the pro-rata prices of different pack sizes as the case may be in terms of S.O. No. 83 (E) dated 27.01.98.
.(keralamonitor.com). June 21, 2002
Stop using vigilante groups to fight crimes, NGOs tells Nigerian Government.
ABIDJAN, 21 June (IRIN) - Two non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have urged state governments in southeastern Nigeria to stop using vigilantes as crime fighters. The call by Human Rights Watch (HRW) and the Centre for Law Enforcement Education (CLEEN) followed reports that Ebonyi State was planning to use the services of a notorious vigilante group.
HRW and CLEEN said in a statement on Friday that the group, known as the Bakassi Boys, was responsible for numerous human rights violations in the southeastern states of Anambra, Abia and Imo. The abuses included extrajudicial killings, public burnings, mutilations, torture and unlawful detentions, they said. The Bakassi Boys have been particularly active in recent weeks in the Anambra capital, Onitsha. HRW said it reportedly killed more than twenty people, including several women, in the town in the last week of May and many others in mid-June.
The two human rights groups said their appeal was in response to recent reports that the governor of Ebonyi, Sam Egwu, was planning to sign a law establishing the Bakassi Boys in his state. "We recognize high levels of violent crime pose a serious problem in many parts of Nigeria," Innocent Chukwuma, executive director of CLEEN, said, "but the solution is not to continue resorting to extrajudicial means or to support vigilante violence."
The two organisations appealed to Nigeria's federal government to ensure effective, long-lasting solutions to the problems of widespread crime and increasing vigilante violence in the country.On 20 May, HRW and CLEEN produced a detailed report of the activities of the Bakassi Boys.(keralamonitor.com).
South Africa : Apartheid victims claim could be more than $50 billion.
JOHANNESBURG, 20 June (IRIN) - More people could take civil action against banks and private corporations that did business with the apartheid regime.Four South Africans are seeking US $50 billion in reparations from United States and Swiss banks and companies who they allege profited from doing business with the apartheid government.
Apartheid was declared a crime against humanity by the United Nations (UN) as it institutionalised racism and subjected black South Africans to severe human rights abuses.
The plaintiffs allege the companies profited from loans to the then government of white nationalists, between 1985 and 1993, while a UN embargo was in place and helped prop up apartheid.
The family of 13-year-old Hector Petersen, who was killed by police during the Soweto uprising of 16 June 1976 and became a martyr of the struggle against apartheid, is one of the plaintiffs. The others are Sigqibo Mpendulo whose twin 12-year-old sons were killed during a police raid; Lungisile Ntsebeza, who was detained tortured and banished; and Themba Makubela who was banished from South Africa.
A member of the team that helped instigate the civil action, Jubilee 2000 spokesman and convener of the apartheid debt and reparations campaign, Neville Gabriel, told IRIN: "This is the first of a number of cases we will file. In this case we have four complainants representing two broad categories.
"Two of the complainants have been tortured themselves while the other two are the family members of people who were killed, whose children were killed. There will be other victim groups who will file claims with other lawyers as well, it's all part of the broad campaign [and these cases also] will be against both banks and private businesses."
He said the list of complainants or plaintiffs was likely to grow. While decisions on how to disburse whatever reparations were won, would include broader social reconstruction initiatives.
Gabriel said: "Our thinking at the moment, of course it will be determined by the legal process, but our thinking is that reparations payments could be made to either one or a couple of funds that will be responsible for disbursements, in two ways.
"One would be for individual payments to victims of human rights violations. Another, more importantly, would be for broad social programmes for reconstruction and development."
The claims of the plaintiffs would remain separate. "The [legal] process may require that they be joined up later on but at this stage they will be different claims. Further claims will be brought shortly," he said.
The lawyer representing the plaintiffs is Ed Fagan who helped to force Swiss banks into paying about US $1.25 billion for Holocaust victims.
Claims may also be brought by individuals or organisations outside of South Africa."The present claims are specifically South African but the whole Southern African region faced direct destabilisation and destruction as a result of apartheid. Our research estimates the cost to be US $78 billion, the whole region has apartheid-caused debt that should be cancelled ... as a form of reparations for the region," Gabriel said.
Gabriel pointed out that in 1987 the UN had set up a group of three in terms of a resolution by the commission on human rights regarding transnational corporations supporting apartheid.
The group concluded that transnational corporations that did business with the apartheid regime "must be considered accomplices in the crime of apartheid and must be prosecuted in their responsibility in the continuation of that crime".(keralamonitor.com).
NIGERIA: Farmers, herders clash leave 30 dead in Plateau
LAGOS, 20 June (IRIN) - At least 30 people were killed in clashes between farmers and herders in Barkin Ladi local council area of Nigeria’s central region Plateau State, local officials said on Thursday.The clashes were said to have been sparked by a dispute over grazing land in the village of Kassa. In the fighting which continued since Monday local Berom people and nomadic Fulani herders were said to have suffered casualties.
"No less than 30 people have so far died," Silas Anga, a local official, told IRIN. "And now the fighting has spread to Riyom local council."Intermittent fighting has broken out between herders and local people in Plateau State since ethno-religious clashes broke out in Jos, the state capital, in September 2001. At least 1,000 people were killed in a week of fighting between mainly Christian locals and Hausa-Fulani settlers from further north.
Some of the attacks have been blamed on Fulani herdsmen, said by the indigenes to be seeking reprisals since the death of their chief in the Jos conflict. The herdsmen in turn accuse the local people of giving them ultimatums to leave what had for decades been their traditional grazing areas.
Hunger erodes traditional values
MBABANE, 19 June (IRIN) - Swaziland's traditional family values, which usually help people weather disaster, are taking a knock as the region's food crisis forces people to take extreme measures to survive.
"Instead of assisting each other, some Swazi families are stealing their neighbours’ food," said Ben Nsibandze, director of the National Disaster Relief Task Force. "This is very un-Swazi. It cuts to the heart of who we are as a people."
Nsibandze, who is also regional director of Hhohho province, the northernmost of Swaziland's four administrative regions, said that even rural Swazis living under chiefs are developing a "me first" mentality that troubles traditionalists.
At last week's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) food summit in Rome, King Mswati pleaded for assistance for 150,000 Swazis who he said are on the brink of starvation. The government's National Disaster Relief Task Force has estimated that at least one-sixth of the population will face food shortages this year.
Though this year saw normal aggregate rainfalls, the rains stopped for a sensitive one-month period when maize plants were maturing, leaving them stunted or wilted.As food shortages intensify, the media has been reporting on families raiding each other's maize harvests.In the Lubombo region, some people are reportedly taking the stolen grain to market which is alarming leaders like Chief Malunge, who overseas the Nyangeni area 15 km north of Manzini, Swaziland's most populous town."It is bad enough that hungry people are stealing from one another instead of helping one another," Malunge said.
Swaziland has always been prone to famine, a fact underlined by anthropologist Hilda Kuper. Kuper has noted that late spring and early summer is a time of great want in Swaziland as people wait for the ripening of the first crops.Older Swazis seem to accept this.But although the reports of food thefts are not widespread, they do indicate a change in expectation, said University of Swaziland sociologist Petros Mnisi.
Eighty percent of Swaziland's population reside in rural areas. They pay no taxes, yet they expect electricity, piped-in water, roads and infrastructure, said Mnisi. The monarchy has provided these in exchange for the political loyalty that has kept the kingdom a relatively peaceful and stable place, he added. But, said Mnisi, people have come to expect complete care and to be cushioned from harm. But when problems arise, like drought-induced crop failures, the social compact unwinds.
