23 July, 2013

Cashless treatment of crash victims to start

The country's first cashless treatment of road accident victims, which ensures free treatment in the first 48 hours, will be launched next Monday with the 200-km stretch from Gurgaon's 32-lane toll plaza to Jaipur bypass of NH-8 to be the pilot corridor.

A trial run has been conducted on this stretch for the past three weeks involving over 70 volunteers trained by AIIMS as first responders. The programme, to be launched by the road transport and highways ministry, aims to shift crash victims within 20 minutes to a nearby hospital. Sources said more than 50 hospitals have been networked to admit injured people immediately and provide treatment.

Ten advance life-support ambulances have been deployed on the pilot stretch. "These would be stationed at an approximate distance of 20 km from each other, thus serving 10 km on either side. The average response time will not be more than 20 minutes," said Birendra Mohanty, vice-president of Financial Inclusion Solution Group (FISG) at ICICI Lombard.

Officials said a toll free number (1033) to call an ambulance or report an accident had been activated and a call centre was engaged to take care of all such emergency calls. "We have already asked NHAI to activate this number for all accidents reported on national highways," said a ministry official.

SC bans surrogate ads for tobacco products

The Supreme Court on Monday banned surrogate advertisement of tobacco products by lifting a seven-year-old interim order of the Bombay high court. The Bombay HC in 2006 had admitted petitions by manufacturers challenging certain provisions of the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution (Amendment) Rules, 2005 and had stayed Rule 2(e) which banned indirect advertisement of tobacco products.

obacco companies were extensively promoting their products through various medium specifically targeting children, in violation of Section 5 of the Tobacco Control Act, 2003 read with Rule 2(e) of the 2005 Rules, the petition said.

Surrogate advertisements and targeting of children violated Article 13 of WHO's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), the petitioner said. Article 13(1) of FCTC states that "parties recognize that a comprehensive ban on advertising, promotion and sponsorship would reduce the consumption of tobacco products".

India, Bangladesh agree on Chetia’s deportation

Even as Bangladesh on Monday denied a 'deal' in its decision to hand over ULFA leader Anup Chetia to India, the deportation will indeed be part of a 'swap' in which New Delhi will match the neighbouring country's gesture by transferring two Bangladeshi criminals — Subrata Bain and Sajjad Hossain — who are in Indian jails.

Besides, New Delhi also assured Dhaka of coordination with the latter's agencies to track, arrest and hand over the killers of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

Textbook publishers revamp ebooks to fight used market

A booming market in recent years for selling and renting used college textbooks has saved students across the United States a ton of cash.But it has put textbook publishers in a bind. They don't make a cent unless students buy their books new.So increasingly, publishers like Pearson Plc and McGraw-Hill Education are turning to a new model: Creating online versions of their texts, often loaded with interactive features, and selling students access codes that expire at semester's end.Publishers save on printing, shipping and process returns. The ebooks are good for learning and good for their bottom line. There's just one catch: Persuading students to go digital isn't easy.Online products accounted for 27 percent of the $12.4 billion spent on textbooks for secondary schools and colleges in the United States last year, according to research firm Outsell Inc.

China shuns Indian Badminton League

Badminton powerhouse China will not take part in the inaugural Indian Badminton League next month, organisers said on Monday, taking much of the sheen off the million-dollar event. Former India cricket captain Sunil Gavaskar is said to have a stake in the Mumbai franchise which will play against teams from Pune, Lucknow, Delhi, Bangalore and Hyderabad.

Cronje took Rs 1.2 crore to fix matches: Delhi Police

Former South African captain Hansie Cronje was paid Rs 1.20 crore in two installments of Rs 60 lakh each by London-based bookie Sanjeev Chawla to fix matches between India and South Africa, alleges the Delhi Police chargesheet on the match-fixing scandal of 2000.