Heena Sharma Blog

  In Punjab, the age group 0-50 accounts for 73.7 per cent of the total state case load. The mortality rate among those infected in this age group, however, is 26.8 per cent. The age group 51-90 accounts for 26.3 per cent of infections but has a mortality rate of 72.4 per cent. Comorbidities, experts say, are the major reason driving the high fatality rate among the elderly. Till August 28, about 17 per cent of infections were noted in the age group 41-50, some 15 per cent for those aged 51-60, around eight per cent for the 61-70 group and only three per cent for 71-80. An official further noted that diabetes is emerging as major problem in Punjab because of the state’s ‘rich diet and sedentary lifestyle’. This, he says, needs to be curbed along with following precautions like wearing face masks and maintaining social distance. Karnataka has seen over 40 legislators, across party lines, test positive for Covid-19 so far. Epidemiologists have now warned that those in public life ...

The Punjab School Education Board (PSEB) has postponed Class 10 and 12 supplementary exams scheduled for today due to a call for state-wide shutdown to protest the demolition of Sri Guru Ravidas temple in Tughlakabad in Delhi. The Class 10 maths exam and Class 12 exams of political science, business studies and physics have also been postponed. PSEB has not yet declared the rescheduled date. Students must track PSEB's official website (pseb.ac.in) for updates. Most of the schools and colleges in Jalandhar, Gurdaspur, Hoshiarpur and Kapurthala will remain closed. The PSEB 12th result 2019, declared in May, had seen 86.41% students passing the exam, conducted by the board between March and April, 2019. Read More Article Source -> Business Standard

A meeting between officials of India and Pakistan to finalise the modalities for setting up of a corridor linking the Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Pakistani town of Kartarpur with Gurdaspur district in Punjab commenced here Thursday, officials said. The talks are being held at the Indian side of the Attari-Wagah border, they said. It is the first meeting between officials of India and Pakistan to discuss the Kartarpur corridor issue, amid heightened tensions between the two nations over the Pulwama terror attack, followed by India's pre-emptive air strike on Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) camps in Balakot and Pakistan's subsequent retaliation. In the meeting, New Delhi is likely to raise the issue of hassle-free access to the Indian pilgrims besides asking Islamabad to insulate Sikh pilgrims visiting the shrine in Pakistan from pro-Khalistan propaganda. From the Indian side, officials comprised representatives from the Union Home Ministry, External Affairs Ministry, BSF, Nat...

As many as 50% of teenage Indian girls are underweight, 52% are anaemic, about 39% still defecate in the open and about 46% do not use hygienic methods of menstrual protection. These are the findings of a new survey report, the Teen Age Girls report (or the TAG report), released by Nanhi Kali, a project by the Naandi Foundation, which works with adolescent girls. As aspirations of teenage Indian girls soar, as we reported in the first part of the series, most of them struggle with gender norms and a lack of ‘new age skills’--such as travelling alone or typing out a document on a computer in English--as we reported in the second part of the series. This concluding part looks at the status of health and access to sanitation, at a time when 63.2 million teenage Indian girls are set to be first-time voters in 2019. The health of the teenage girl holds significance not only for her own life, but also for the health and well-being of the children she may have. The ...