Eight students arrested in ragging case at Hyderabad business school
Hyderabad (PTI): Eight students of a business school here were arrested in connection with an alleged incident of ragging, including a student being beaten up, which assumed a communal colour after a video of it had gone viral.
While five were arrested earlier, three were arrested and sent to jail on Monday, police said.
Efforts were on to nab two more accused students.
In the same case, nine members of the school's administration have been booked for their alleged inaction in responding to the incident, police said.
The issue began when a woman student took exception to certain comments made by the victim student during a social media chat last month and informed some friends, they said.
Some of these friends allegedly went to the victim student's room on November 1 and beat him up. He had complained to the institute management on the matter and later e-mailed to some government officials and others.
He had later complained to the police and a case under the ragging act and under relevant sections of law was registered.
Meanwhile, the issue got a communal colour when a purported video of the incident had gone viral in which some religious slogans were made.
Police, however, said the accused students belong to different religions and not just one.
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Maharashtra sets up state vaccination task force to strengthen immunisation programme
Mumbai (PTI): The Maharashtra government has set up a State Vaccination Task Force to strengthen the regular immunisation programme and review the progress of related campaigns, a health department official said on Monday.
The State Vaccination Task Force will comprise at least 29 members and will be headed by the administrative head of the health department, he informed.
The government has also constituted separate district-level and municipal vaccination task forces to improve implementation and address challenges at the grassroots level, he said.
Municipal task forces, chaired by respective civic commissioners, have been constituted in view of the vast urban population in Maharashtra and the role of civic bodies in implementing different health programmes.
The district-level task forces will function under the chairmanship of collectors.
"Complete immunisation of children at the appropriate age is an extremely simple, cost-effective and highly effective measure to reduce child mortality and the prevalence of diseases among kids. Immunisation is a powerful tool for reducing illness in children," maintained the official.
To ensure full vaccination of all children, the state government implements various campaigns from time to time as per the central government guidelines, he pointed out.
"Active participation and cooperation of other relevant government departments are essential (in making these campaigns successful)," according to the official.
The state-level body will review the regular immunisation programme, associated campaigns and vaccine-preventable diseases in detail. It will also conduct focused assessments of high-risk districts and municipal corporations, including vacancies at district, municipal and sub-district levels, availability of cold chain equipment, resource gaps and training requirements, he noted.
The state task force will review allocation and utilisation of funds for immunisation and ensure timely action by officers concerned based on reports from district and municipal task forces and state-level monitoring mechanisms, the official said.
It will also ensure active coordination and participation of other government departments in immunisation drives, while district and municipal task forces will carry out similar functions at their respective levels, the official added.
