Sensex falls 4.22 pc loss on interest worries continue

STAFF WRITER 12:46 HRS IST

Mumbai, Jan 15 (PTI) Expectation of hike in interest rates, persistent heavy selling pressure from Foreign funds amid disappointing Quarter three results from IT bellwether Infosys Technologies pulled down the BSE benchmark Sensex by another 831 points or 4.22 per cent.

All indices ended in red due to heavy selling pressure from investors. Capital Goods, Realty, Banking, Oil&Gas, PSU, Power sectors were the major contributors to the sensex fall.

"The inflation rate for December has turned out to be much higher than what was originally expected... Given the present situation, perhaps some tightening on the part of the Reserve Bank may be required," Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council Chairman C Rangarajan told PTI.

The overall inflation for December, measured on the basis of wholesale prices, increased to 8.43 per cent in December, from 7.48 per cent in November.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) continued their selling spree during the week.

Snowfall in Shimla raises tourists' ecstacy

SHIMLA/MANALI: A thick blanket of mist enveloped the queen of hills on Saturday and rainfall with thunderstorm and intermittent sleet showers lashed the city in the morning. By afternoon snowfall had started in Shimla. While heavy snowfall in Manali and surroundings kept the tourists and locals indoors, tourists at Dharamsala too were elated as the town received snowfall after a gap of several years.

Strong icy winds sweeping the state has plummeted the mercury. While the Kufri near Shimla is covered under snow, Manali so far has received around a foot snow while it is still continuing. Mall road and other tourist spots are boring deserted look in Manali as tourists are not coming out of their hotel rooms.

People in Dharamsala and Palampur area were left pleasantly surprised to find snowfall in the morning hours. Snowfall was received upto Kotwali bazar.

In Lahaul valley of Lahaul-Spiti district, heavy snowfall has crippled the normal life and there is threat of avalanches for which administration has already issued warnings to people to stay indoors.

In Shimla, chilly weather has kept residents of the city indoors and an erratic supply of electricity in some areas of Shimla added to the woes of people. Adjoining areas of Shimla including Kandhaghat, Solan, and Shogi also reported showers throughout the day. The lower areas in Shimla received rainfall while some areas of the upper Shimla district including Kufri, Narkanda, Jubbal, Chopal, Kothkhai and Kharapathar reported snowfall since Saturday morning.

The local met officials in Shimla said that all the lower areas of Himachal have received rainfall with the higher reaches experiencing snowfall. According to the latest information received, higher reaches of Kinnaur including Kalpa reported a snowfall of 21cm, Sangla12cm and Keylong 45 cm. According to the forecast by the met department, lower areas will continue to receive rainfall and higher reaches in the state will continue to experience snowfall.

Read more: Snowfall in Shimla raises tourists' ecstacy - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Snowfall-in-Shimla-raises-tourists-ecstacy/articleshow/7291462.cms#ixzz1B69yjJSM

In India, 96.5% kids go to school: Survey

NEW DELHI: India took another step towards universal elementary education last year, with 96.5% of all children aged 6-14 years being enrolled in schools, an extensive private audit has revealed. NGO Pratham`s Annual Survey of Education Report says the proportion of girls in the age group of 11-14 years too increased to 94.1% although quality of education remained a big concern.

The survey, the only private audit of elementary education in the country, found an increase of half a percentage point in enrolment over 2009. But it said there was an overall decline in students` ability to do basic mathematics and only 53.4% of children in Class V could read Class II level textbooks.

Teacher attendance also showed consistent decline which could be one of reasons for a big increase in enrolment in private schools and tuitions. Bucking the trend was Punjab, where students showed an exceptional improvement in mathematical ability.

Overall, Bihar emerged as a star performer with steady improvement in enrolment. Enrolment of boys in the state was 95.6% and that of girls 95.4%. In 2006, 12.3% of boys and 17.6% girls in Bihar were out of school.

Among states continuing to return poor numbers in girl`s education, Rajasthan had 12.1% girls aged 11-14 years out of school and Uttar Pradesh 9.7%. In both states, there has been no change in the percentage of out-of-school girls.

The survey conducted in all the districts of the country shows a large number of schools in the country fulfilling norms laid down in the Right to Education Act.

At the same time, the report showed a big increase in enrolments in private schools — from 21.8% of all school-going children in 2009 to 24.3% last year. The trend has been holding since 2005. Southern states have more students going to private schools. In Andhra Pradesh, enrolment increased from 29.7% in 2009 to 36.1% while in Tamil Nadu it jumped from 19.7% to 25.1%. Kerala had 54.2% of children in private schools, up from 51.5% last year, and Karnataka 20% (16.8% in 2009).

Among northern states, enrolment in private schools grew rapidly in Punjab — from 30.5% in 2009 to 38% in 2010.

Mathematics proved to be a big bugbear for students across the country. The proportion of Class I students who could recognize numbers fell from 69.3% in 2009 to 65.8%. Barely 36.5% of Class III students could handle two-digit subtraction problems, as compared to 39% in 2009. The proportion of children in Class V who could do simple division dropped from 38% to 35.9%.

Notably, Punjab bucked the trend. While 56.3% of students in Class II in the state could recognize numbers one to 100 in 2008, the figure jumped to 70.4% in 2010. Similarly, the proportion of Class IV children who could do subtraction went up from 66.9% in 2008 to 81.4%.

In Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Haryana and Rajasthan, there was a perceptible rise in the proportion of children studying in Class I who could recognize letters.

West Bengal led in private tuitions with the survey showing more than 75% of Class V students in government schools going to private tutors. In Bihar, the proportion was 55.5% and in Orissa, 49.9%.

A positive feature of the report was the increasing number of five-year-olds in school. Nationally, it increased from 54.6% in 2009 to 62.8%. Karnataka emerged as an big achiever on this score with enrolment of five-year-olds jumping from 17.1% in 2009 to 67.6% in 2010. Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Assam also showed healthy increases in enrolment.

Read more: In India, 96.5% kids go to school: Survey - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/In-India-965-kids-go-to-school-Survey/articleshow/7288637.cms#ixzz1B5P8faVO

Malaria vaccine a reality by 2015?

NEW DELHI: A malaria vaccine could be a reality by 2015. The most promising candidate now showing that it can protect children for 15 months.

The efficacy of the vaccine, whose phase-II trial results have just been published in the British medical journal " The Lancet", reduced from 53% for eight months (during the phase-I study in 2008) to 46% when it protected for 15 months.

Indian experts, however, claim that for a vaccine to be effective in the field, it has to give protection of over 75%. "At present, long-lasting insecticide treated bed nets give 60% protection, and it's per capital cost is very low. Hence, a vaccine has to be at least 75% effective," a vector borne disease control programme expert said.

The vaccine (RTS,S/AS01E) worked by attacking the malaria parasite in its early stages, when it first enters the bloodstream or liver cells, with the aim of completely preventing infection of red blood cells and the development of serious symptoms.

The latest study was established to assess the safety and efficacy of the vaccine against Plasmodium falciparum infection among healthy African children. Between March 2007 and October 2008, 894 children aged 5-17 months from Kenya and Tanzania were randomly assigned to three doses of either RTS,S/AS01E (447 children) or rabies vaccine (447). Blood samples were taken before vaccination, and at regular intervals.

During the phase-I study in 2008, initial results showed that the RTS,S/AS01E vaccine gave 53% protection against clinical malaria for at least eight months. In this study, the Kenya Medical Research Institute followed up the children for a further seven months

In the longer-term, the efficacy of the vaccine did not wane and protection against clinical malaria lasted for at least 15 months after vaccination.

Studies revealed children vaccinated with RTS,S/AS01E were 45.8% less likely to be infected with the P falciparum parasite. Frequent serious adverse events included pneumonia, febrile convulsion and gasteroenteritis.

However, fewer serious adverse events were reported in the RTS,S/AS01E group (11.4%) than in the rabies group (19.7%).

The authors maintain, "further studies are needed to establish vaccine efficacy in children with HIV infection or those who are malnourished. Furthermore, phase III studies should include study sites at different transmission intensities to confirm how generalisable our results are."

Late-stage trials of this vaccine among 16,000 children in seven countries across Africa are on, and immunisation is due to end in February. If data show the vaccine is effective, it could be licensed and rolled out in 2015.

Globally, around 300 million people become infected with malaria annually, and at least 2.5 million succumb to it -- primarily children in Africa and Asia. A child is killed by malaria every 30 seconds around the world. In India, on an average, five lakh people are affected and over 18,000 die of malaria. In some countries with a very heavy malaria burden, the disease accounts for as much as 40% of public health expenditure. Almost 60% of malaria cases occur among the poorest 20% of the world's population.

Malaria remains a major health problem in south-east Asia, and 83% of its population is at risk.

Read more: Malaria vaccine a reality by 2015? - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Malaria-vaccine-a-reality-by-2015/articleshow/7286785.cms#ixzz1B5N4Qr9T