
Omar for declaring medicare as a fundamental right
Predicting the UPA- III after the upcoming elections will enact a legislation declaring medicare as a fundamental right, chief minister Omar Abdullah said on Saturday that the right would legally empower citizens to seek the best medical treatment available free of cost in government health centres all over in the country.
"While the UPA-II government has enacted historic laws such as declaring Right to Food and Right to Education as the basic rights for every citizen of the country, I hope the UPA-III which is prophesied to come to power after the ensuing Parliament election, will enact the necessary legislation in the Parliament making free medical treatment to all the citizens as a fundamental right", said Abdullah.
While inaugurating the Arogya Mela-2013 at Parade ground here, the CM said that the health status of a society indicated its growth and development.
Describing Jammu and Kashmir as 'a state of medicinal plants', Abdullah said that his government had taken various steps to harness this potential and utilise it for both for health and economic purposes.
He said awareness regarding the efficacy of Indian System of Medicine (ISM) needed further push. "The entire stake holders in this field need to focus on this aspect in a comprehensive manner", he added.
"Melas like this provide opportunity to people to know about the medicines their ancestors used to treat various diseases since centuries. They should take best advantage of AYUSH to get various diseases treated effectively", said Abdullah, asking the ISM department to organise such fairs at other places in the state."

‘No teeth’: SC wants stricter OTT rules
- Giving two weeks to the government to come back with its response, the bench then formally recorded in its order that one of the issues that has caught its attention is “uncontrolled and unscreened viewing of films” on Amazon Prime Video and other OTT platforms.

Widen network, say experts as India aims to boost drive
- The roughly 20,000 centres being used for the vaccine drive at the moment are hospitals, private as well as public, while many primary and secondary health centres at present are kept out of the programme.

New Delhi rejects report as ‘misleading, misplaced’
- The external affairs ministry, which too rejected Freedom House’s report, also took exception to the depiction of Jammu and Kashmir in the map used in the document.

OCIs need nod for Tablighi, journalistic work: Centre
- A home ministry spokesperson said these rules prepared by the Foreigners’ Division were part of a brochure issued on November 15, 2019. The rules were consolidated and notified on Thursday.

K’taka ministers move court against airing of ‘defamatory content’
- After the allegations on Jarkiholi, there were unverified reports of several similar videos and other sex scandals against other cabinet ministers.

India set to achieve Paris pact targets before deadline: PM Modi
- India is a signatory to the Paris Agreement under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

CM in 1st list; DMK-Cong hit stalemate
- On the other hand, the DMK’s stalemate continued with its main and long standing ally, the Congress, on seat sharing.

EC orders removal of PM’s images from vaccine certificates: Officials
- The person said it was imperative that the photographs are removed from certificates distributed in the poll bound states, adding that the system can continue in other states.

PM to head committee, Sonia and Tendulkar among 259 members
- Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, former President Pratibha Patil, economist Amartya Sen, cricketer Sachin Tendulkar, spiritual leader Baba Ramdev, chief ministers of states and senior political leaders are among those included in the panel.

NIA probes Jamaat-e-Islami’s J&K chapter
- According to Indian agencies, the JeI has maintained that J&K is a disputed territory.

YSRC bags all 6 MLC seats unopposed; silent on abolition of legislative council
- Interestingly, the election of the six YSRC members comes at a time when a resolution adopted by the Jagan Mohan Reddy government in the state assembly in January 2020, seeking abolition of the legislative council, is still pending with the Union home ministry.

Andhra CM Jagan Reddy urges SC to restart Amravati land scam probe
- When the matter came up before a bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan and R Subhash Reddy on Friday, the bench adjourned it to April 7 as it had no time for a full fledged hearing.

6 new cases of UK’s Covid-19 strain found in Indore, warning issued
- Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan also held a review meeting on Friday to discuss with the divisional commissioners the steps being taken to contain the spread of the infection.

Container Corporation of India to push production, end dependency on China
- There is a cost difference of about 25-30 per cent in containers made in India and abroad.

India pushes China for disengagement at remaining friction points on LAC
- After an agreement last month on pulling back frontline troops along with armoured vehicles and artillery from strategic heights around Pangong Lake, the two sides have been unable to make progress on disengagement at other friction points such as Depsang, Hot Springs and Gogra.