Public Health Headlines  22nd February, 2023

Supreme court on monday dismissed the petition that urged the court to increase the minimum age of marriage for women from 18 to 21 years. 

The supreme court reasoned that if we strike down 18 years as the minimum age of marriage, we cannot follow it with a law making 21 years the minimum age of marriage. 

The power to enact law lies with the parliament. The Prohibition of Child Marriage (Amendment) bill that proposes to increase the minimum age of marriage for women from 18 to 21 years is under consideration of the parliament standing committee.

The emission trading scheme (ETS) formulation is in the last stage and is likely to be notified by June. 

ETS will set the standards of energy efficiency for industries. The industries that will be covered under it will be notified. 

These notified industries will have set targets for energy efficiency according to emission intensity (i.e they can increase emissions if they produce more). 

The companies that overachieve their target will get certificates, which they can use as credit or can trade with other companies which failed to meet their target. 

Bureau of Energy Efficiency is going to be the nodal coordinator for the scheme.

Few girls at a hostel in Balasore district, Odisha suffered from acute encephalitis syndrome (fever, headache, vomiting). A class 10 student died following such symptoms. 

Of the total of 29 samples, five have tested positive for Japanese encephalitis (JE). As a part of Investigation of reported cases, the Health and Family Welfare Department of Odisha, have sent a team of entomologists in the outbreak area. 

The National Programme for Prevention and Control of Japanese Encephalitis/ Acute Encephalitis Syndrome has enlisted districts in Assam, Bihar, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal as priority districts. 

Since, Odisha is not endemic for JE and as there is no piggery around the child care institution, a detailed report of the outbreak is awaited.

A 1987-batch IAS officer of the Chhattisgarh cadre, Shri. BVR Subrahmanyam belongs to Andhra Pradesh and holds an engineering degree has been appointed as the new CEO of NITI AAYOG.

Shri. Subrahmanyam  replaced Shri. Parameswaran Iyer, who has been made the Executive Director of the World Bank. 

Past CEO's of NITI AAYOG :

The world celebrates International Mother Language Day to promote linguistic and cultural diversity, as well as multilingualism on February 21 every year since 1999.

Theme : “Multilingual education – a necessity to transform education”  

Aims to celebrate ways of expressing the world in its multiplicity, committing to the preservation of the diversity of languages as a common heritage and working for quality education – in mother tongues – for ALL.  

UNESCO believes in the importance of cultural and linguistic diversity for sustainable societies. It is within its mandate for peace that it works to preserve the differences in cultures and languages that foster tolerance and respect for others.

Multilingual and multicultural societies exist through their languages which transmit and preserve traditional knowledge and cultures in a sustainable way.