Remembering ‘Punjab Kesari’ Lala Lajpat Rai on his birth anniversary

Today is the birth anniversary of Lala Lajpat Rai, one of the foremost leaders who fought against the mighty British rule in India. Popularly known as Punjab Kesari (lion of Punjab), Lala was born on January 28, 1865 in Dhudike village, Moga District of Punjab. He was the eldest son of Munshi Radha Kishan Azad and Gulab Devi. His father was an Aggarwal Bania by caste. Lala Lajpat Rai joined the Government College at Lahore in 1880 to study Law where he came in contact with Lala Hans Raj and Pandit Guru Dutt. After that he joined the Arya Samaj founded by Swami Dayanand Saraswati. He passed his Law Degree Examination in 1885 and started his legal practice in Hissar. He was elected to the Hissar Municipality as a member and later as Secretary.

He shifted to Lahore in 1892. Lala Lajpat Rai was one of the three most prominent Hindu Nationalist members of the Indian National Congress. He was part of the Lal-Bal-Pal trio. The other two members of the trio were Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Bipin Chandra Pal.

Lalaji actively participated in the struggle against partition of Bengal. Along with Surendra Nath Banerjee, Bipin Chandra Pal and Aurorbindo Ghosh, he galvanized Bengal and the nation in a vigorous campaign of Swadeshi. Lalaji was arrested on 3rdof May, 1907 for his revolution against British Raj in Rawalpindi. He was put in Mandalay jail for six months and was released on November 11, 1907. Lalaji believed that it was important to organize propaganda in foreign countries to explain India's position because by that time the freedom struggle had taken a revolutionary turn.

He left for Britain in April 1914 for this purpose. At this time First World War broke out and he was unable to return to India. He went to USA to galvanize support for India. He laid foundation of the ‘Indian Home League Society of America’ and wrote a book called "Young India".  The book severely indicated British rule in India and was banned in Britain and India even before it was published. He returned to India in 1920 and became Congress President in the same year. Servants of the People Society (Lok Sevak Mandal) was founded by Lala Lajpat Rai in 1921 at Lahore.  The object of the society, as set forth by Lala Lajpat Rai himself is to enlist and train national missionaries for the services of the mother-land He led the Punjab to protests against the Jalianwala Bagh Massacre and took active participation in Non-Cooperation Movement.

He was arrested several times. He disagreed with Gandhiji's suspension of Non-Cooperation Movement due to the Chauri-Chaura incident, and formed the Congress Independence Party. It had a pro-Hindu angle.  In 1928, British Government decided to send Simon Commission to India to discuss constitutional reforms. In 1929, when the Commission came to India there were protests all over India.  Lala Lajpat Rai also led a protest against Simon Commission. At that time he was brutally lathi charged by British Forces and received severe head injuries. He breathed his last on November17, 1928 which is celebrated as Martyr’s Day in India.

Life expectancy increases by 5 years in the past decade

The health indicators across the country have shown significant improvements. The life expectancy has increased by 5 years in the past decade. What used to be 62.3 years for male and 63.9 years for female in 2001-2005 is now 67.3 years for male and69.6 years for female in 2011-2015. There has been reduction in new HIV cases by as much as 57%. Infant Mortality Rate has come down to 42 in 2012 from 58 per 1000 live births in the year 2005. Maternal Mortality Ratio has declined from 301 per 100,000 live births in 2001-03 to 212 in 2007-09. The pace of decline has shown an increasing trend from 4.1% annual rate of decline during 2001-03 to 5.5% in 2004-06 and further to 5.8% in 2007-09. Total Fertility Rate has come down to 2.4 in 2011 from 2.9 in 2005. Adding a new feather in the cap is declaration of India as Polio Free Nation. On the 13th January, 2014, India made history by completing three years without a single case of wild polio. This feat was unimaginable till 2009, when India accounted for more than half of the global polio burden.

The National Urban Health Mission (NUHM) as a sub-mission of National Health Mission (NHM) was approved by the Cabinet on 1st May, 2013. It envisages to meet health care needs of the urban population with the focus on urban poor, by making available to them essential primary health care services and reducing their out of pocket expenses for treatment. In the 12th Plan an allocation of Rs. 15,143 crores has been made for National Urban Health Mission.

The Janani Shishu Suraksha Karyakram (JSSK), launched in June 2011, entitles all new-borns and children under one year of age besides pregnant women to absolutely free and no expense services including free diagnostics, drugs, consumables, food and blood, if required, besides free transport from home to institution, between facilities in case of a referral and drop back home.

Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram (RBSK) was launched in February, 2013. It entitles children in the age group of zero to eighteen years across the country to receive free health screening services and free treatment including surgeries, where required.

The Government has implemented Home Based Newborn Care up to 42 days of life through ASHAs, Newborn care corners (NBCC) at delivery points and training of health care providers in Navjaat Shishu Suraksha Karyakram(NSSK) for effective essential newborn care is a key component of the newborn continuum of care have been established. And Special New Born Care Units (SNCUs) at FRUs/DH and Newborn Stabilisation Units (NBSUs) have been established to provide care to sick, low birth weight and preterm newborns.

The Rashtriya Kishor Swasthya Karyakram (RKSK), launched recently, aims to bring in several new dimensions like- mental health, nutrition, substance misuse, gender based violence and non-communicable diseases. The programme introduces community based interventions through peer educators. The strategic approach to RMNCH+A (Reproductive, Maternal, New born, Child Health + Adolescent) in which `A` denotes adolescents

The Government has launched some of new vaccines like indigenously developed JE Vaccine (JENVAC) in 2013. Also, Hepatitis B vaccine and second dose of measles vaccine are now part of the Universal Immunization Programme. Pentavalent, a combination vaccine, which includes DPT + Hep-B + Hib has been introduced in eight states: Kerala, Tamil Nadu in December 2011 and Puducherry, Goa, Haryana, Gujarat, Karnataka and J & K in 2012-13. This ensures complete immunization against five diseases and also reduces the chances of an adverse event following immunization due to less injection load. Government of India earlier provided only one JE dose and now has introduced two doses of JE vaccine under Routine Immunization with first dose at 9-12 months and 2nd dose at 16-24 months with effect from 1st April 2013.

The Government has also launched Reverse Dot Blot Hybridization (RDB) Thalassemia Diagnostic Kit and AV Magni-Visualiser the screening device for cervical cancer in December, 2013 and indigenously developed Diabetes Screening System and Test Strips in January 2014.

Multi-Sectoral Nutrition Programme (MSNP) and Nutrition Resource Platform (NRP) on the occasion of National Girl Child Day

The Women and Child Development Minister, Smt Krishna Tirath launched the Multi Sectoral Nutrition Programme (MSNP) and National Resource Platform (NRP) on the occasion of National Girl Child Day, here today. The National Girl Child Day is celebrated on 24th January to commemorate the day when late Smt. Indira Gandhi was sworn in as the first woman Prime Minister of the country. This year’s theme of Girl Child Day is ‘Safety and Development of girl child’. the Multi -Sectoral Nutrition Programme (MSNP) aims to bring inter-sectoral convergence and coherence in policy, planning and action with core focus on both direct interventions and indirect interventions for maternal and child under nutrition, thus providing a continuum of care and follow a life cycle approach. The programme will be implemented as a special intervention in 200 high burden districts spread over 19 States, beginning with 100 districts in the current financial year.

The Minister also launched the Nutrition Resource Platform (NRP) that aims to collect, collate and make available resources and materials on nutrition and child development to various stakeholders. It will also be an interactive knowledge resource base which facilitates real time interaction, exchange of ideas and discussions. NRP is functional at National Institute of Public Cooperation and Child Development (NIPCCD) and is a virtual repository with the support of Food and Nutrition Board and NIC.

Smt. Tirath said that child sex ratio in the 0-6 year age group declined steeply from 927 in 2001 to 919 in 2011 implying that millions of girls went missing in just a decade. The practice of child marriage is still prevalent in the country as 47 % of women in the age 20-24 were married before the age 18.Thus the Ministry has embarked on a multidimensional strategy for the welfare of the girl child for bringing about attitudinal changes in the society towards the girl child through legislative, preventive, advocacy and programmatic inputs. Highlighting the success of Sabla scheme the Minister said that one crore sablas will be trained as Ahimsa Messengers through NIPCCD and they will help to spread awareness on gender issues.