21-year-old IIT Delhi student hangs self in hostel room
New Delhi, Oct 23: A 21-year-old IIT Delhi student allegedly committed suicide by hanging from a ceiling fan in his hostel room, police said on Wednesday.
They said they have found no suicide note from the room but Kumar Yash, an M.Sc second year student from Jharkhand's Deoghar, was under psychiatric treatment and had visited the IIT Hospital on Tuesday as well.
"On Tuesday, at about 11 pm, a PCR call regarding a suicide by an IIT student in Aravali Hostel Room Number -- D57 -- was received. A staff was sent to the location immediately. The room was closed from inside but his friend and IIT staff broke the window to enter his room," a senior police officer said.
Kumar was found hanging using two towels. His friend and the institute's staff cut the towels and brought him down, said the officer.
"Kumar was taken to the Safdarjung Hospital in an IIT ambulance. He was declared brought dead by the doctors there. The body has been preserved in the mortuary. Family members of the deceased have been informed. The hostel room where deceased committed suicide has been inspected by a mobile crime team," he added.
According to the police, no suicide note was found there but as per Kumar's medical health report card, he was under psychiatric treatment and had visited the IIT Hospital on Tuesday as well.
"He was given treatment and has had an appointment with a psychiatrist on October 29. Statements of his friends have been recorded. No foul play has been suspected in this matter," said the officer, adding further inquest proceedings are underway.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (southwest) Surendra Choudhary said teams are procuring talking to the student's family members to get more details about him.
"We have already informed the family members of the victim and they will be in Delhi soon. We are procuring more details to know that what triggered him to take such extreme step. Our teams are also recording statements of his classmates," he said.
Teams will also check CCTV footage of the hostel to know that what time he went to the doctor and returned. We are investigating the entire case from every single aspects, the DCP said.
Meanwhile, IIT Delhi, in a statement, said that the institute is deeply saddened by the unfortunate and untimely demise of a second-year student of M.Sc. Cognitive Science, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences.
The Delhi Police is investigating the unfortunate incident that took place on the campus. We express our deepest condolences to the student's family and friends. The institute is doing everything it can to support his family in this hour of grief, read the statement.
IIT Delhi is fully committed to ensuring the mental and physical well-being of its students," a spokesperson of the institute said.
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Over 77 per cent of India's children lack WHO-suggested diversity in diet, study finds
New Delhi, Oct 23: About 77 per cent of children in India aged 6-23 months lack diversity in diet as suggested by the WHO, with the country's central region showing the highest prevalence of minimum dietary failure, a study has found.
The states of Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh reported the highest levels of inadequate diversity in children's diets -- all above 80 per cent -- while Sikkim and Meghalaya were the only two to report an under-50 per cent prevalence.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) suggests using the Minimum Dietary Diversity (MDD) score to evaluate the quality of a child's diet -- it is considered to be diverse if it contains five or more food groups, including breastmilk, eggs, legumes and nuts, and fruits and vegetables.
Analysing National Family and Health Survey data from 2019-21 (NFHS-5), researchers, including those from the National Institute of Health and Family Welfare, found that the country's overall rate of minimum dietary diversity failure has dropped from 87.4 per cent, which was calculated using data from 2005-06 (NFHS-3).
However, "our study shows that the prevalence of minimum dietary diversity failure remains high (above 75 per cent) in India," the authors wrote in the study published in the National Medical Journal of India.
The team also looked at children's dietary habits across various food groups like proteins and vitamins, comparing data from 2019-21 with that from 2005-06.
The consumption of eggs registered an "impressive" rise, from around 5 per cent in NFHS-3 to over 17 per cent in NFHS-5 while that of legumes and nuts increased from nearly 14 per cent during 2005-06 to over 17 per cent during 2019-21.
"The consumption of vitamin A-rich fruits and vegetables increased by 7.3 percentage points, whereas the consumption of fruits and vegetables increased by 13 percentage points over the same time. For flesh foods, the consumption increased by 4 percentage points," the authors wrote.
However, the consumption of breastmilk and dairy products was found to drop from 87 per cent in NFHS-3 to 85 per cent in NFHS-5 and 54 per cent to 52 per cent, respectively.
The authors also found that the children of illiterate and rural-residing mothers having no exposure to mass media, those born first and not exposed to counselling and health check-ups at Anganwadi or Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) centres were more likely to be consuming diets deficient in diversity.
Anaemic children and those having a low birth weight were also found to have a higher chance of consuming a non-diverse diet.
To tackle the issue of inadequate diversity in children's diets, the authors called for a holistic approach from the government, including an improved public distribution system, intensified ICDS programme, use of social media and nutrition counselling through local self-governance.
