"I am happy to be with you today. We have just released a document, "Newborn Health – Key to Survival" to mark the beginning of ‘Newborn Week.’

    When a child comes into this world, it fetches enormous happiness and joy to those who awaited its arrival. But often this happiness turns out to be short-lived, especially among the economically weaker and marginalised sections of society.

    This is primarily because the healthcare needs of a newborn child remain inaccessible to a large number of people for a variety of reasons. Also, awareness levels remain inadequate, especially in rural areas.

    In the five decades since Independence, India has no doubt made significant progress in reducing infant and child mortality rates.

    But a lot more remains to be done, especially when we factor in the absolute number of infants who die every year in our country.

    Children fall victim to vaccine preventable diseases like measles and tetanus, apart from curable diseases like diarrhoea and pneumonia. This is a harsh reality that stares us in the face. As it does many other developing countries.

    No less distressing is the fact that infant mortality, which was steadily declining since the mid-seventies, has now hit a plateau. In the last few years, infant mortality rate has been stagnating at 72 per 1,000 live births.

    This is cause for serious concern.

    Rapid and steady reduction of infant mortality is one of the most important social development indicators for judging the progress of a nation. Hence, we need to ensure a steep decline in infant mortality rate in order to correct the present situation.

    The health of a newborn child and its survival are also closely linked with the health of the mother and the care she gets during pregnancy and childbirth.

    Therefore, it is desirable that pregnant woman not only have access to healthcare and advice but also give birth to their children in health centres.

    Unfortunately, at present only a quarter of mothers give birth to children in health centres. Most women who give birth at home do not get the services of a trained birth attendant. This situation, too, has to be reversed to ensure the health of both mothers and their newborn children.

    Yet another area of concern is the high prevalence of low birth weight babies in our country. One out of every three newborn belongs to the category of low birth weight babies who are particularly prone to disease and death.

    This situation can be corrected if we address the problems underage mothers, low nutritional status of women, short intervals between successive births and the poor care women often receive during pregnancy.

    The Union and the State Governments can tackle many of these issues through the proper implementation of the National Population Policy 2000 adopted earlier this year.

    The Policy emphasises upon improving maternal and child health. Indeed, it mandates a reduction in infant mortality rate to below 30 per 1,000 live births over the next decade.

    Reducing infant mortality is more than a social imperative. It has a profound significance for population stabilization. For, there is a direct correlation between infant mortality and population growth. Family sizes tend to be large in countries and regions where infant mortality is high.

    For long, newborn care has been equated with hospital-based care. It is true that a small proportion of sick newborn require care in hospital. But most can be successfully looked after at home with the help of primary healthcare provided at the community level.

    What is needed is a community-based movement to inculcate appropriate maternal, neonatal and infant care practices. This, in turn, will be greatly facilitated by generating mass awareness that the survival and well being of newborns are a social responsibility.

    Indeed, society has an important role to play: By focusing public attention and creating awareness on issues like appropriate age of marriage and childbirth; nutrition of girls, especially adolescent girls; intervals between pregnancies; care of the newborn; and, ultimate family size. The medical and nursing professions also have an important role to play: Their advice has a profound impact on individuals and families.

    The challenge before us is to ensure that basic maternal and child health services are accessible in the remotest part of our country. We are trying to ensure that every pregnant woman has a trained person in attendance during childbirth.

    The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has launched a ‘Dai’ training programme with a view to ensuring the availability of a trained birth attendant in every village. We shall simultaneously make every effort to motivate more and more women to have their deliveries in health centres. Let us aim to ensure that at least 80 per cent deliveries are conducted in health centres by the end of the next decade.

    I call upon India’s doctors and paramedics, as well as voluntary associations and community organisations, to help us achieve this goal; to strengthen our various public health programmes.

    In this context, it is noteworthy the National Neonatology Forum, through an innovative collaborative programme, is training doctors, nurses and health workers in essential newborn care. Over the next couple of years, this programme will be expanded to cover all weak districts.

    The task before us is difficult but not impossible.

    The experience of many a developing country, indeed many a State in our country, demonstrates that it is possible to achieve a significance reduction in infant mortality rate. This can be achieved through effective partnership between Government, voluntary associations, the private sector, panchayati raj institutions and local self-governing bodies.

    I would urge the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and National Neonatology Forum to ensure that the enthusiasm during the Newborn Week is sustained throughout the coming year. And the following years.

    With these words, I have great pleasure in inaugurating the ‘Newborn Week’.

Thank you.

'24'

    The Minister of Communications, Shri Ram Vilas Paswan has said that a formal mechanism of cooperation in the telecom sector between India and Finland may be established under the framework of the Indo-Finnish Joint Commission. He also invited the Finnish industry to invest in the growing Indian telecom sector. This emerged at a bilateral meeting with the Finland’s Minister of Transport and Communications, Mr. Olli-Pekka Heinonen late last evening at Helsinki. Other highlights of his visit included meeting with Sonero, dominant operator in Finland, and top management of Nokia Corporation who have evinced keen interest to make their presence in the Indian telecom market. Shri Paswan told them about the potential opportunities in India and promised Government support.

    Briefing the Finnish delegation on the recent telecom reforms and the forthcoming licences for cellular mobile services in India, Shri Paswan said that given the penetration of mobile phones in Finland which is about 72%, there is significant scope for cooperation between the two countries. Outlining the telecom scenario in his country, Mr. Heinonen expressed his government’s concern on the issue of ‘Digital Divide’ and offered to work on an international basis to ensure a sound solution.

    Shri Paswan urged Sonera, the former Government owned Telecom Company to consider investing in India and actively work with Indian industry. The senior management of the company expressed interest to cooperate with Indian Industry in the area of Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) and third generation Mobile Commerce applications.

    Shri Paswan also met Mr. Jorma Ollila, Chairman and CEO of Nokia Corporation and invited the corporation to actively consider manufacturing in India. He said that Nokia will get the required government support, as the mobile market in India had changed during the last few months with the subscriber base doubling over the last six months. Nokia is the world's largest manufacturer of handsets, and a company on the forefront of the next generation of the mobile Internet. Shri Paswan also suggested that Nokia consider GSM technology for rural connectivity and develop special applications for India. Mr. Ollila conveyed to Shri Paswan that Nokia are confident of having a solution specific to Indian conditions and hoped to demonstrate this when he visits India next year.

    Shri Paswan also met the Chief Executive Officer of Telecommunications Administration Centre, the TRAI equivalent of Finland, Mr. Reijo Svensson and discussed matters of mutual interest in regulation and exchanged views on best practices in this regard. In all the meetings Shri Paswan was accompanied by the Delegation from the Government and industry. The Chairman, Telecom Commission, Shri Shyamal Ghosh was present in the meetings.

    Before his visit to Finland, Shri Paswan was at Stockholm and met Swedish Minister of Industries, Employment and Communications, Ms Mona Sahlin, the outcome of which was a proposal to set up Joint Working Group on Telecom to identify areas of cooperation between the two countries. The areas proposed include investment by Sweden in the telecom market, application of wireless technology, in which Sweden is among the world leaders, to Government, industry and rural areas, M-commerce and governance and issues relating to licensing and regulations.

    Shri Paswan, along with the Delegation also visited Headquarters of Ericsson and their top management made a commitment that the company would increase its presence in India. As a first step, the wireless business for mobile telephony would be merged with the GSM operation to improve support for India. Special effort will be made to develop the Software Centre in India which would entail increasing the strength of the current centre from 150 to 700 software engineers. Ericsson would also recruit engineers and train them for 3-G application for international assignments of Ericsson besides developing demonstration projects and pilot projects in wireless telephony in India.

'18'

NMDC IRON AND STEEL PLANT AT GEEDAM

    Besides, Bailadila Iron Ore Project-10/11A was approved at an estimated cost of Rs.430.50 crore. Construction work has been started now and is in full swing. The project is likely to be completed by July, 2002.

'24'

SHRI RAM VILAS PASWAN TO RELEASE A COMMEMORATIVE POSTAGE STAMP ON MAHARAJA BIJLI PASI

    Through this stamp celebrating Maharaja Bijli Pasi, the DoP invites attention to the reign of this legendary monarch and tales of bravery, deified through folklore traditions. The stamp design attempts to capture the valour and romanticism associated with the life and adventures of Maharaja Bijli Pasi.

    Maharaja Bijli Pasi who is credited with the founding of Bijnor, now a small town near Lucknow, was an enlightened ruler who appears to have consolidated his position and established his reign over a large tract of land in this region. As recorded in the British Gazetteers of the eighteenth and early-nineteenth centuries, he was a contemporary of Prithviraj Chauhan. He was an able leader of the "Pasis", a fiercely independent people indigenous to the locality. He constructed 12 forts which is an indication of the prosperity of his kingdom as well as the power he wielded. The Maharaja is believed to have lost his life in the fierce battle. Some historians have placed the timing of this battle as 1194 A.D.

    The First Day Cover portrays Veerangana Uda Devi, a brave freedom fighter of Lucknow, who laid down her life in the first war of Independence of 1857. The Cover alongwith the information sheet will be available on sale at all Philatelic Bureaux/Counters and at selected Post Offices.

    The conference will evolve a training module to cope with the neurological illness like infections, fits (seizures), mental and developmental handicaps, congenital malformations prevalent among the child population, with a holistic approach for simplification of patient management practices.

    The subject for discussion include dissemination of the state-of-the-art knowledge, creation of data base, provision of a forum inviting experts to share their experience, and arranging similar workshops on sustained basis, linking the specialists world over.

    This conference is being organised by the Department of Pediatrics, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, in coordination with the International Child Neurology Association.

'20'

SHRI RAM NAIK CALLS UPON LPG DISTRIBUTORS TO IMPLEMENT SELF-AUDIT BY 31^ST DECEMBER FOR REMOVAL OF MALPRACTICES IN LPG MARKETING

    Shri Ram Naik informed that the Government has targeted to release one crore more domestic LPG connections in the calendar year 2001 which focus on rural areas. This will further expand the use of LPG in hitherto untapped areas. With the release of 1.27 crore new LPG connections in the last one year under a major programme to make LPG available on demand, the LPG connections are now available across the counter throughout the country. The Minister for Petroleum & Natural Gas, Shri Ram Naik, added that the use of LPG in rural areas will get a boost with the appointment of 540 exclusive rural LPG Distributors out of a total of 2873 new distributors being set up by the Oil companies. The Minister informed that the new Dealer Selection Boards (DSBs) have been asked to accord priority for selection of distributors catering to rural areas in a time-bound manner. Out of total customer population of 5.40 crore, only 4 per cent are in the areas with a tremendous scope for expansion of LPG market.

    The Minister called upon the Federation and the individual Distributors to focus on better customer service and to remove all the malpractices from the trade. The excellence in service and fair trade practices are paramount in view of the emerging competition that will follow the dismantling of Administered Pricing Mechanism (APM) in April 2001. On Government's part to make the distributorship more viable and to facilitate them for offering them better customer services, Shri Naik said the commission rate has been enhanced to Rs. 14.57 per cylinder from 1^st October 2000 onwards. He also pointed out that this was the third revision since he assumed office as Minister a year ago with the revision in January 2000 from Rs.11.10 to 13.83 per which was further increased to Rs. 14.28 in April 2000.

    Complementing the Minister for his several important initiatives in the last one year for the development of the industry and for the welfare of the consumers, Shri Pratap Doshi, President of AILDF assured Shri Ram Naik of their continued support in undertaking measures for customer services. He said the Federation would make earnest efforts in weeding out the various complaints of consumers and to make the LPG marketing competitive in the present scenario.

    The CRG meeting was attended by senior officers of Union Ministries, Central Electricity Authority, State Governments, State Electricity Boards and Heads of the Indian Financial Institutions and Banks. The meeting was of special significance as it focussed attention on the issue of expediting financial closure of private power projects in the States of Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Orissa, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Maharashtra who have decided to take up reforms and restructuring. In accordance with the decisions taken in the earlier meetings of the CRG, Indian Financial Institutions/Banks have agreed to fund the private power projects in these States through an alternative security mechanism without insisting on escrow.

    The Minister of Power commended the efforts of the Indian financial institutions and banks for their support in financial closure of these projects. Shri Prabhu stressed that the financial institutions should give top priority to the power sector, as without power there can be no growth in the economy. He stated that sufficient resources must be mobilized for meeting the above targets so that quality power is made available at affordable rates. He also mentioned that the identified projects will be monitored closely and that he would also hold periodic meetings with the Finance Minister to expedite financial closure of as many projects as possible.

'20'

SHRI RAM NAIK LEADS HIGH LEVEL DELEGATION TO SAUDI ARABIA

    During the visit, Shri Ram Naik will address the prestigious international meet on 18^th November 2000. He will lay emphasis on forging better relations between the various countries, particularly in the oil sector, so that an equitable regime is put in place which takes care of the needs of developing countries in particular. The topic for Minister's address at the Conference is "Energy, Sustainable Development & Technology". He would also highlight the various initiatives being taken to make hydrocarbon sector more attractive for foreign investment introducing a level playing field for both private and public enterprises.

    The Seventh International Energy Forum is being attended by the high level delegations led by Oil Ministers of about 40 countries and about 10 International Organisations. Besides India and Saudi Arabia, the other prominent oil producing and consuming countries which will participate in the conference include, Australia, Argentina, Iran, U.A.E., Kuwait, Qatar, Venezuela, Nigeria, Libya, Algeria, Indonesia, Russia, China, Bangladesh, Pakistan, USA, Brazil, Belgium, U.K., France, Germany, South Korea, Spain etc. The International Organisations represented at the meet includes OPEC, UNDP, ASEAN, IMF, World Bank, etc.

'33'

    Interestingly, a pair of whales had been beached but the male was further inland and died. It was buried by the local fishermen. Perhaps, the female was fretting and did not want to leave the spot of her mate. They probably got beached as they were not paying attention during their mating games. It was a whale of a problem and a whale of solution.

    It was observed that barring one channel, all other broadcasters had already started implementing ban on liquor and tobacco ads. The only remaining channel was also persuaded to implement the ban immediately. This ban would cover surrogate advertisements also.

    It was also decided that a Committee comprising Special Secretary, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting along with representatives from Discovery Channel, Star TV, ZEE TV, Sahara TV, Sony TV, Asianet and Sun TV would deliberate on the issue of surrogate ads so as to recommend a criteria for separating surrogate ads from genuine advertisements. This Committee will give its report to the I&B Ministry in the next ten days.

    The Minister also requested the representatives of major channels to formalise their views on the Draft Convergence Bill and inform the Ministry finally through Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF).

'3"

PM's MESSAGE ON THE SAFE RELEASE OF NOTED KANNADA FILM ACTOR, DR. RAJKUMAR

Talking innocent people hostage is a crime against all canons of democracy, says PM

    "Dr. Rajkumar's return from captivity ends a traumatic period for his wife, children, friends and admires. I and my Government share their sense of relief and joy.

    Taking innocent people hostage is a crime against all canons of democracy and serves no purpose other than causing grief. Such coercive methods militate against the rule of law and have no place in civil society.

    I convey my best wishes to Dr. Rajkumar on his home-coming."