HC seeks report from govt on care of prisoners’ kids

Cuttack: The Orissa high court has directed the state government to file an affidavit on how the children of inmates are being taken care of in jails by December 21.The two-judge bench of acting Chief Justice B R Sarangi and Justice M S Raman issued the direction while allowing an interlocutory application (IA) filed by lawyer Mrinalini Padhi, while hearing a PIL filed in 2006, on overcrowding and other problems in jails on Friday. In Padhi’s application, concern was raised about the education and nutrition of children in prisons, while seeking the court’s intervention to ensure the children of jail inmates in the age group of 0-6 years are taken care of and sent to the nearest anganwadi centres. Thereafter, they should be sent to the nearest schools and given all other facilities available to other children, it said. “The schemes of the government, for the welfare of ST, SC, minorities and other backward classes, have not been taken into consideration in their respect. The children in jails, those belonging to the ST/SC/OBCs, should also be given the same facilities of the welfare schemes,” Padhi contended.The application further said the children of inmates are entitled to food, shelter, medical care, clothing, education, and recreational facilities as a matter of right. Padhi brought to the notice of the court that UTPs (undertrial prisoners) and convicts, when engaged in voluntary labour, should be given “labouring diet”. The bench said, “Additional government advocate D K Mohanty is directed to file an affidavit by the next date as to how the aforesaid aspects have been dealt with by the government.”

Over 6 lakh children given polio vaccine under special campaign in Delhi

Over 600,000 children in Delhi received the polio vaccine through the Sub-National Immunisation Day (SNID) campaign. The program was decentralized and overseen by district magistrates and chief district medical officers. Booths were set up at various locations, including health facilities, metro and railway stations, religious places, schools, and institutions. Two drops of Oral Polio Vaccine (bOPV) were administered to children under five at 5,836 booths. The subsequent House-to-House (HTH) activity aims to reach over 50 lakh households and vaccinate an estimated 18 lakh children missed during the initial campaign.

Chhattisgarh high court directs government to reinstate teachers to previous posting

Chhattisgarh high court directs state government to allow teachers to join at their previous place of posting within 10 days; ruling benefits around 3000 teachers affected by the high court's order.

262 undertrials of 3 jails released

262 undertrials released from Thane Central, Taloja, and Kalyan Adharwadi jails under Union government's special remission programme.