Latest news with #Rangarajan
Time of India
14-07-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
HC restrains temple activist from defaming Vedic scholar
Chennai: Madras high court on Monday restrained temple activist Rangarajan Narasimhan of Srirangam from making defamatory statements against Vedic scholar and orator Dushyanth Sridhar in any manner on social media. Justice K Kumaresh Babu also restrained him from making any kind of objectionable statements against lawyers appearing for his opponents. The issue pertains to a defamation suit moved by Dushyanth Sridhar seeking 1 crore as damages from Rangarajan for having made several abusive and derogatory remarks against him on social media. When the plea came up for hearing on Monday, the judge noted that even during the arguments on the application to grant leave to file the suit, the activist admitted making certain statements against the orator on social media, but his defence was that those statements were neither defamatory nor derogatory. The court found that such statements are defamatory in nature. Hence, there shall be an order of interim injunction pending disposal of the suit, the court said. You Can Also Check: Chennai AQI | Weather in Chennai | Bank Holidays in Chennai | Public Holidays in Chennai As to the allegations that Rangarajan also made several objectionable statements against lawyers of his opponents, the court said such statements were made challenging a senior counsel who appeared for the applicant.
The Wire
08-07-2025
- Business
- The Wire
The Hoax of Decline in Poverty in India
Rangarajan and S. Mahendra Dev have estimated poverty in India using the all India Consumption Expenditure Survey data from the 2022-23 and 2023-24 surveys. Their concept of poverty was the one recommended by the Rangarajan Committee on Estimating Poverty in India. Their paper shows that extreme poverty in India has declined significantly from 29.5% in 2011-12 to 9.5% in 2022-23 and to 4.9% in 2023-24. The decline is fairly rapid: 2.05 percentage point decline per year between the year 2011-12 and 2023-24. The World Bank also shows in its recent paper that at the poverty line of USD 2.15 (at 2017 PPP) per day, India's extreme poverty has declined from 16.2% in 2011-12 to 2.3% in 2022-23. That means about 170 million people have been lifted above the extreme poverty line in India during this period. The depth of poverty analysis by Rangarajan and Dev's paper also show that 50% of the poor lie between the 3rd and 4th quarter of the poverty line, both in 2011-12 and 2023-24. This means, most of the poor are concentrated around the poverty line. As regards the causes of this decline, the paper observes that this is due to rapid economic growth and safety nets, including free food grains to 81.35 crore people. However, they also observe that economic growth is important in this decline in poverty between 2022-23 (9.5%) and 2023-24 (4.9%) as there is no significant change in the welfare expenditure of the government during this period. It is too early to call this last decline a trend, with data for only two years. Concepts of poverty line The concepts of poverty used by both the sources are different. The Rangarajan Committee has defined the poverty line as simultaneous satisfaction of all three nutrient-norms, namely, a full range of policies and programmes for child nutrition support, public provisioning of a range of public goods and services aimed at the amelioration of the disease environment facing the population. The committee also preferred NSSO's estimates and decided not to use the NAS estimates and price relatives derived from the Consumer Price Indices. According to the committee (2014), the poverty line was Rs 972 for rural areas and Rs 1,407 for urban areas. The poverty lines computed as per capita monthly consumption expenditure for 2023-24 are Rs 1,940 for rural areas and Rs 2,736 for urban areas. This comes to Rs 64.66 per capita per day consumption expenditure for rural areas and Rs. 91.2 for urban areas. The concept of extreme poverty of the World Bank is defined slightly differently. The World Bank defines extreme poverty as 'deprivation in wellbeing'. The poor is one who does not have enough income or consumption, or who is below some adequate minimum threshold. According to the UN Guiding Principles on 'extreme poverty', extreme poverty is characterised by social exclusion and by an accumulation of insecurities in many areas of life, such as lack of identity papers, unsafe housing, insufficient food and lack of access to health care and to education. However, the World Bank also adds that it is extremely difficult to measure poverty in a rigorous way, and every country sets its own standards for what is necessary for basic living. This definition is translated into different amounts at different levels of development. For low income countries, the World Bank sets the extreme poverty line at USD 2.15 PPP, while it is USD 3.65 PPP for lower middle income level countries and USD 6.85 PPP for upper middle income countries. Some critical questions The World Bank has used USD 2.15 PPP while computing the extreme poverty in India, and based on it, it observed that 170 million people have crossed the poverty line. This is surprising because India is a lower middle income country, and its extreme poverty line is USD 3.65 PPP. If this poverty line was used, the number of people crossing it would be much less. Again, the poverty line of Rs. 64.4 (rural areas) and 91.1 (urban areas) computed by the Rangarajan-Dev paper also appears to be too low. No poverty can be measured by such low poverty lines. How can anyone live on these poverty lines at these consumption expenditures? Despite more than 806 million people getting free food grains, India's rank in global hunger index is at 105 out of 127 countries and the value of the hunger index is 27.3. This is declared as an 'alarming condition' by the Global Hunger Report, 2024. Again, when about 13.7% of the population in India is clearly undernourished and not getting minimum nourishment, how can the incidence of poverty be just 4.9, as suggested by the Rangarajan-Dev paper? How can 35.5% children under 5 years be stunted and 18.7% wasted if the poverty is just 4.9%? The latest NFHS survey-5 (National Health and Family Survey) also supports this data. Again, as per the latest data (PLFS 2023-24), about 20% of the Indian population is illiterate, and about 45% of the population has studied barely up to the Class 5, and here, there are serious problems about the quality of education. Consequently, more than 90% of the labour force is found in the informal economy getting low wages and poor social protection. To conclude, though India's GDP is growing at a 6-7% rate, people's vulnerability is declining extremely slowly. The incidence of poverty at 4.9% just does not match with the vulnerability of the Indian population. It appears that India should now totally discard this concept of '(extreme) poverty line' presented by the earlier committee. Indira Hirway is Director and Professor of Economics, Centre for Development Alternatives (CFDA), Ahmedabad. 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The Hindu
01-07-2025
- Business
- The Hindu
GST Day celebrated in the city
Sridharan Rangarajan, Managing Director of Carborandum Universal Limited (CUMI) said the country having a federal structure, the Goods and Service Tax (GST) regime has been able to achieve 'one nation, one tax' promise which even the U.S. has not been able to achieve as also the digitisation in the form of e-invoicing of tax receipts which has become a role model similar to China. Mr. Rangarajan was participating in the GST Day 2025 celebration organised by Central GST Tamilnadu and Puducherry zone in the city on Tuesday. However Mr. Rangarajan citing the country having overcome the implementation stage of the GST, a short list of tax rates with short list of exemptions like Australia would foster easier compliance and enhance ease of doing business. At present the country has four main tax slabs which adds to the complexity of the tax regime as also the need for bringing under GST both the oil and electricity sectors. He also wanted the Central government to go for strategic reform in GST to over one the operational challenges in the age of digital disruptions and new age business models along with operationalising the tribunals. Ram Niwas, Principal Chief Commissioner of CGST of Tamilnadu and Puducherry zone, said the GST Council has helped in bringing the Central and States together in rationalising the tax regime. While the GST has been successfully implemented one of the serious issues which the officials have come across during audits is the fake input tax credit (ITC) where more than ₹1 lakh crore fake ITC has been detected with hardly 5% recovery done from these fake ITCs. Mr. Niwas also highlighted the need for preventing revenue leakages. A.R.S. Kumar, Principal Chief Commissioner of CGST and Central Excise of Tamilnadu and Puducherry zone, also spoke on the occasion.
Hindustan Times
28-06-2025
- Health
- Hindustan Times
Teen beats cancer after ‘ultra-high' dose nuclear therapy at Mumbai's TMC
In a pathbreaking medical feat, a 17-year-old boy suffering from relapsed Neuroblastoma, an aggressive form of paediatric cancer, was given a new lease of life through an experimental nuclear therapy conducted at ACTREC (Advanced Centre for Treatment, Research and Education in Cancer), R&D wing of the Tata Memorial Centre in Navi Mumbai. The boy, who was first diagnosed in 2022 at age 14, had undergone a stem cell transplant but suffered a relapse earlier this year, leaving doctors with limited options.(Unsplash/Representational) Doctors at the facility administered an ultra-high dose of radioactive 131-Iodine MIBG therapy, 800 millicurie, nearly three times the permissible limit set by the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB), making it the highest dosage ever used in India for treating Neuroblastoma. The procedure, conducted on May 5, was the result of a meticulously planned, three-month-long collaborative effort by six departments at ACTREC, with guidance from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in the US. 'This form of cancer is almost never diagnosed early. Most cases, by the time they come to us, are already in stage four,' said Dr Venkatesh Rangarajan, head of nuclear medicine at Tata Memorial Hospital. The boy, who was first diagnosed in 2022 at age 14, had undergone a stem cell transplant but suffered a relapse earlier this year, leaving doctors with limited options. That's when the medical team proposed 131-I MIBG—a form of targeted nuclear medicine therapy. While Indian protocols have previously capped radioactive dosage at 300 millicurie, this particular case warranted a drastic step forward. 'Administering 800 millicurie required exceptional safety measures and a special nod from the AERB,' said Dr Rangarajan. 'The major challenge was to shield healthcare staff and others from gamma radiation, which meant constructing an isolated high-safety ward and ensuring no one except the core team was exposed.' Also read: He stole to fund his son's cancer treatment, was still behind bars when boy died One of the most dangerous side effects of such high-dose radioisotope therapy is bone marrow suppression. To mitigate this, doctors harvested and stored the patient's bone marrow before treatment. It was reinfused into his body after the therapy concluded. Another unusual condition for the therapy: the patient had to remain in complete isolation for five days. Today, the boy is back home, cancer-free, and dreaming of becoming a doctor himself. 'His resilience and the team's extraordinary commitment made this success possible,' said Dr Gupta.
Hindustan Times
17-06-2025
- Science
- Hindustan Times
Waste mgmt the green way: CDRI turns kitchen, garden waste to compost
The ICAR-Central Drug Research Institute (CDRI) in Jankipuram has committed to becoming a zero-waste campus by converting all its organic waste into compost. A newly installed bio-composting machine is now transforming kitchen and garden waste into nutrient-rich compost, marking a major push for eco-friendly solid waste management. The machine will be inaugurated on Wednesday along with a 1.2-MW solar power generation plant as part of World Environment Day celebrations by the institute. 'This innovative system processes organic waste from our canteen, hostel, and guest house kitchens by mixing it with horticultural waste such as leaves, grass, and shrubs,' said Radha Rangarajan, director of CDRI. 'It's not just waste disposal, it's resource regeneration.' The machine, with a daily processing capacity of 500 kg, produces high-quality compost within 24 to 48 hours. It features automated shredding, mixing, and continuous aeration while maintaining an optimal temperature of 60–70°C and moisture levels of 8–10%. This ensures efficient and odour-free decomposition with minimal energy consumption. Rangarajan added that the compost is used across the institute's gardens and other horticultural activities. 'The machine reduces waste volume by up to 80%, cuts down greenhouse gas emissions, and enriches the soil — directly supporting the work of our horticulture department.' Sanjeev Yadav, the institute's media coordinator, said that the kitchens preparing food for over 700 people generate significant amounts of organic waste. 'Additionally, the campus's vast green cover produces a large volume of garden waste. This machine helps us handle both responsibly,' he said. The campus also operates an effluent treatment plant (ETP) for laboratory waste and a sewage treatment plant (STP) for residential and office sewage. Treated water from these facilities is recycled to irrigate the campus's extensive plantations, further boosting its green footprint.
