Depressed man kills 8-year-old son
New Delhi–A 54-year-old man suffering from depression has been held for killing his minor son in the national capital, police said on Monday.
Deputy Commissioner of Police Anto Alphonse said Om Prakash earlier worked as a vegetable vendor. “He was in debts and had a tense relation with his wife that is why he was depressed.”
The officer said Prakash, who hails from Jind and currently resides in Najafgarh, killed his only son Deepak on Friday by poisoning and strangulating him in her wife’s absence.
“When his wife returned home, she saw him trying to suffocate the child with a blanket. She immediately raised an alarm and the man fled,” the police said.
The wife later noticed some dark powder around the son’s mouth and one thick thread tied around his neck. Some scratch marks were also there on the neck.
The victim’s mother took him to Rao Tularam Memorial Hospital with the help of their neighbours, where the son was declared brought dead.
Prakash was spotted by the police on Sunday in Bahadurgarh. He told the police that he was under depression due to a debt of Rs two lakh and wanted to die.
Quoting 2017 success, government calls for green-Diwali
New Delhi– To control the air-quality from becoming lethal a day after Diwali this year, the Union Environment Ministry on Monday initiated Green-Diwali campaign to create awareness.
In 2017, the ministry initiated the campaign following the dangerous after-effects of Diwali in 2016. However the situation was only controlled after the Supreme Court stepped in and banned sale of crackers in Delhi and NCR in 2017.
The ministry in a statement acknowledged the low pollution level during the festival in 2017 against 2016.
“The above campaign was extremely successful and the air quality had not deteriorated post Diwali in 2017 unlike what was experienced in 2016,” the ministry said.
“Crackers contain combustible chemicals that include potassium chlorate powdered aluminum, magnesium, salts of barium, copper, sodium, lithium, strontium etc. and emit smoke on combustion of these chemicals along with sound. This smoke and sound have health impacts on children, aged people and also animal and birds” said a Ministry statement.
The “Harit-Diwali” campaign aims at creating awarness among people and discouraging use of crackers, especially the students.
In 2017, the air quality index ranked Delhi’s level as “very poor” at a 322 value, while in 2016, the city’s air quality levels were ranked at a “severe” level with an index value recording of 431.
Faulty hip transplant patients seek clarity from Health Ministry
New Delhi–Patients using Johnson and Johnson’s allegedly faulty ASR (articular surface replacement) hip implant have written to the Health Ministry expressing concern over the quantum of compensation and seeking clarity.
A group of 35 patients, in a letter addressed to Union Health Minister J.P Nadda, asked the centre to come clear on the compensation norms through an official statement.
Earlier, there have been reports that the ministry was likely to pay between Rs 33 lakh to Rs 1.2 crore to each victim as compensation.
“We would like to reiterate our concern regarding the lack of transparency and patient consultation in the compensation process, including lack of information being made available regarding the process of compensation, deliberations of the Arya Committee and the formulation of compensation norms,” they said in a statement.
The four-member panel headed by R. K. Arya, Director, Sports Injury Centre, Safdarjung Hospital also has Health Secretary Preeti Sudan, Additional Secretary R.K. Vats, Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) S. Eswara Reddy.
Haryana girl wins Miss Deaf Asia crown
Chandigarh– Haryana girl Nishtha Dudeja has proved that disability cannot come in the way of success. She has won the Miss Deaf Asia 2018 title at an international pageant held in Prague recently.
Nishtha, who is the first Indian to have won any title at the Miss Deaf World Pageant, said on Monday that she faced tough competition from contestants from China, Thailand, Taiwan, Israel, Czech Republic, Belarus, Mexico, South Africa and other countries at the 18th edition of Miss and Mister Deaf World -Europe -Asia Beauty Pageant 2018 held recently at Prague, Czech Republic.
The beauty from Haryana’s industrial city of Panipat, around 85 km from New Delhi, who was born deaf did not think of herself being differently-abled and chose to take her chance in the field of beauty.
“I want to thank my parents for their consistent support who were always there to help me. Now I want to help the deprived people even at the cost of my comfort. I believe that the differently abled people don’t need pity. They only deserve equal opportunities to prove themselves,” Nishtha, who has returned to India now, said.
The 23-year-old Panipat girl is a commerce graduate from Venkateshwara College, Delhi University, and presently pursuing MA in economics from Mithibai College, University of Mumbai. Prior to this title, Nishtha had also won the Miss Deaf India title on February 26 this year in Jaipur.
She is the brand ambassador for Sivantos India Pvt Ltd. (Formerly Siemens hearing Instruments Pvt Ltd.), the world’s leading brand of hearing aids, having about a 25 per cent market share globally.
Nishtha was always a bright student from her school days, who was always keen on learning something new in life. Seeing her interest in extra-curricular activities, her mother sent her to learn judo at the age of seven. Nishtha did judo for about five years, participated in various tournaments up to international level and won medals.
The beauty queen is also an accomplished tennis player and has played many AITA, ITF and Asian tour tennis tournaments. Nishtha had also participated in Deaflympics 2013 (held in Sofia, Bulgaria), World Deaf Tennis Championship 2015 (held in Nottingham, UK) and Deaflympics 2017 (held in Samsun, Turkey).