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Updated: Feb 26, 2019 08:00 IST Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD) has re-emerged as “Al Madina” and “Aisar Foundation”, days after the Pakistan government decided to ban it, with members of the group openly engaging in fund-raising in cities such as Lahore. Reports of JuD working with new names — a tactic resorted to by the group led by Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) founder Hafiz Saeed whenever it faces pressure from authorities — emerged as the European Union asked Pakistan to take “clear and sustained actions” against terror groups listed by the UN and individuals claiming attacks such as the one at Pulwama. A meeting of the National Security Committee chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan on February 21 decided to “accelerate action against proscribed organisations”, including notifying JuD and its front, Falah-e-Insaniyat Foundation (FIF), as banned groups. Within three days, JuD and FIF began “operating with impunity” with several new names, including Al Madina and Aisar Foundation, Pakist...

Madhavan Narayanan   Feb 26, 2019 10:03:58 IST The best way to understand India's e-commerce policy is to visualise a ropewalk high above a shaky ground. You are damned if you do and you are damned if you don't. The context in which last week's second draft (technically described as the first official draft) was thrown into the public domain by the government has all the ingredients of a complex minefield. It is an election year in which nationalism has to be a favoured flavour but then, there is Chinese money swimming in India e-commerce startups, while US giants like Amazon and Flipkart are pampering Indian consumers and employees alike. As if all that was not enough, there are issues related to data protection and privacy in a new world where "data is the new oil" has already become a cliche even before the industry has barely taken off, with about two-thirds of Indians yet to be touched by the whiff of e-commerce. And then, technology is still evolvi...

Jamie Doward  & Raj Soni Sun 24 Feb 2019  09.00 GMT The first drug-checking service licensed by the Home Office will allow users to have their illicit substances tested without fear of being arrested in a move that could be rolled out nationally if it is shown to save lives. The year-long pilot project, which had a soft launch in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, last Friday but begins in earnest this week, will allow anyone over the age of 18 to take their drugs to the clinic, run by the charity Addaction. Testing the content will take about 10 minutes, during which time the user will complete a short questionnaire to allow harm reduction advice to be tailored to them. “This is about saving lives,” said Roz Gittins, Addaction’s director of pharmacy. “We know people take drugs. We don’t have to condone it but nor should we judge people or bury our heads in the sand. It’s our job to do whatever we can to help people make informed choices about the risks they’re ...

February 26, 2019 5:18:40 pm With cancer being India’s second biggest killer after heart disease, the nation is staring at a cancer crisis, with unequipped hospitals, spiralling cost of treatment, belated diagnosis and the doctor-patient ratio gap all causing large-scale problems. However, to lessen the deficit of tertiary cancer care in the country,  India’s biggest cancer hospital is coming up at Haryana’s Jhajjar , which will have over 700 beds exclusively for cancer patients. The National Cancer Institute, being built at a cost of Rs 2,035 crore, is slated to be completed by December 2020 and most importantly, like at AIIMS, Delhi, most of the treatment and procedures would be free. As per Indian Council of Medical Research data, India will have over 17.3 lakh cancer cases by 2020 — a doubling of cases in 25 years. It may see over 8.8 lakh deaths due to the disease, with only 12.5 per cent of the patients receiving treatment in early stages. Compared with 1990...

FEBRUARY 26, 2019 00:02 IST  Prashant Reddy T Entry of e-pharmacies will bring down the price of medicine for Indian patients Amid a slew of conflicting judicial decisions from different High Courts, the legality of e-pharmacies continues to be questioned by various trade associations such as the All India Organisation of Chemists and Druggists (AIOCD). It represents 8.4 lakh pharmacists who run the brick and mortar pharmacies in neighbourhoods across India. E-pharmacies, which operate through websites or smartphone apps on the Internet, offer medicines for sale at a discount of at least 20% when compared to traditional pharmacists, with the added convenience of home delivery of medicines to one’s doorstep. For scheduled drugs, patients can submit photographs of prescriptions while placing orders. Despite operating in India for at least four years now, the legal status of these e-pharmacies is not clear because the government is yet to notify into law draft rules that it...