Mukesh Ahlawat new face in Delhi Cabinet, 4 ministers to be retained: AAP
New Delhi (PTI): AAP MLA Mukesh Ahlawat will be the new face in the Delhi Cabinet headed by Atishi, who will be sworn in as chief minister on September 21, and four ministers will be retained, the party said on Thursday.
Chief Minister-designate Atishi and her new Cabinet will take the oath of office on the same day.
AAP said ministers Gopal Rai, Saurabh Bharadwaj, Kailash Gahlot and Imran Hussain will continue to be part of the Cabinet.
Ahlawat, MLA from Delhi's Sultanpur Majra, has been inducted to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of social welfare minister Raaj Kumar Anand.
Anand resigned from the Kejriwal government and quit the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in April.
The Council of Ministers of the Delhi government has seven members, including the chief minister. The tenure of the new chief minister and the new entrant will be brief as Delhi assembly polls are due in February next year.
The name of the seventh member is yet to be announced.
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Karnataka makes teenage pregnancies audit mandatory
Bengaluru (PTI): The Karnataka government on Tuesday issued an order mandating an audit of all adolescent pregnancy cases across the state, aiming to systematically track, review and address the underlying causes of pregnancies among girls aged 10 to 18 years.
The order makes adolescent pregnancy audit mandatory by the Taluk Health Officer (THO) for all pregnancies occurring among girls aged 10 to 18 years across the state.
The move is intended to strengthen early identification, counselling and preventive interventions by integrating efforts across health, education and social welfare departments, while leveraging existing programmes such as the National Health Mission (NHM) and Rashtriya Kishor Swasthya Karyakram (RKSK).
“Adolescent pregnancy remains a significant public health and social concern with implications for maternal health, neonatal outcomes, and socio-economic development,” the order said.
It noted that pregnancies among girls aged 10 to 18 years are associated with increased risks of maternal complications, adverse birth outcomes, school dropout and social vulnerability.
According to the order, all adolescent pregnancies identified in the state must be compulsorily reported by both government and private healthcare institutions on the Reproductive and Child Health (RCH) platform.
The audit framework will examine multiple socio-medical factors, including age at marriage, educational status, awareness of reproductive health, access to contraception, and family vulnerabilities.
It will also assess linkages with schemes such as RKSK, Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) and school health programmes to identify service delivery gaps.
At the Taluk level, a dedicated audit committee will be constituted under the chairmanship of the Taluk Health Officer. Its members will be drawn from primary health centres, field health staff, Anganwadi services and schools.
The government further directed that counselling services, including those through Sneha Centres, access to contraceptives, and targeted outreach to vulnerable adolescent groups—such as school dropouts, migrants and socially disadvantaged households—must be strengthened.
“The audit shall examine age at marriage, educational status, awareness on reproductive health, access to contraception and counselling services, socio-economic and family vulnerabilities,” the order said.
The order mandates strict confidentiality in handling all cases, in compliance with child protection laws, while also ensuring adherence to legal reporting requirements.
