Mumbai: For the city’s youngest TB patients—some younger than five years of age—visits to the state-run JJ Hospital’s paediatric department have meant taking potent antibiotics every day for 20 months and undergoing monthly scans to check their eyesight, nerve conduction and heart rhythm.To change this painful association with hospital visits, the staff on Monday, the eve of World TB Day, did something different: As many as 52 of them contributed between Rs 500 and Rs 5,000 to collect Rs 47,000 to provide nutritional supplies to 50 of the children. Head of the paediatric department Dr Chhaya Valvi said the basket contained a three-month supply of nuts, dates, pulses, oil, and other provisions.The Monday get-together marked almost four years of providing bedaquiline — one of the relatively new antibiotics to fight drug-resistant TB — to children under five years of age. The JJ paediatric department is only one of the two centres in the country that is authorised to do so, while older children can get it from any of the municipal TB centres. “In this period, 60 children under five years of age have been given bedaquiline for up to 20 months, depending on the severity of their disease,” said Dr Sushant Mane, who handles the paediatric TB programme in the hospital.As many as 30 of these under-five children have been cured of their extensively drug-resistant TB infection, while four died as they had disseminated TB (in which the bacteria spread via blood to multiple organs such as the liver, bone marrow or kidneys). The rest are in various stages of the treatment. Dr Mane said none of the children had suffered any complications related to bedaquiline. “We monitor each of the children’s eyesight, hearing, nerve conduction tests and heart function,” he said. In the first month of bedaquiline, the child’s ECG is done every week, and thereafter once a month till the child is on treatment. The hospital holds TB OPD once a week, with 40 patients turning up. “Every week, we get four to five new cases,” said the doctors. According to the BMC’s TB-related data for 2025, children make up 6% of the total burden of TB in the city. The JJ ‘bedaquiline for under-five’ programme has one objective — to underline the safety of the medicine for this age group. A research paper from Wadia Children’s Hospital in Parel showed that the drug is safe for this age group. Once the Drugs Controller General of India approves the use, the medicine can be distributed more widely.

MUMBAI: The board of markets regulator Sebi on Monday approved some major changes to the disclosure rules governing the chairman, whole time members (WTMs) and other senior officials of the body. These changes, including public disclosure of their own assets and liabilities, and of their family members, were mostly based on the recommendations of the high-level committee (HLC) on conflict of interest of the senior officials and board members of Sebi.The market regulator’s board also approved changes to some of the rules governing foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) that would allow these investors to net out their trades in the equity cash segment of the market. Under the new disclosure norms, the Sebi WTMs will be categorised as ‘insiders’, the regulator said in a release. All these officials will have uniform application of restrictions on investments and trading (in equity and equity-related instruments, other than permitted investments in mutual funds etc.) as currently applicable to employees, the release said. Also, they could invest in any pooled vehicle, provided the scheme is professionally managed by a regulated market intermediary.The new rules also mandated that when an official joins Sebi as its chairman or a WTM, the official will have four options to choose from for existing equity investments. The official could liquidate all the investments, freeze them, sell the investments according to a trading plan or sell them without a trading plan with prior approval.“Investments in equity and equity-related instruments in commercial ventures (including unlisted companies) must be fully liquidated or kept frozen” during the tenure of the official. “Vested options, if any, must be exercised before joining Sebi,” the release said.The HLC was formed in April 2025, soon after Tuhin Kanta Pandey, then a top bureaucrat in the finance ministry, took over as top markets regulator. A panel on the issue was necessitated after there were allegations of conflict of interest with the previous Sebi chief, which were denied by the official.

MUMBAI: Tuhin Kanta Pandey, chairman, Sebi on Monday said that independent directors are expected to act responsibly, not make insinuations and keep things vague. The chief markets regulator’s comments came in the context of the recent resignation of Atanu Chakraborty as non-executive chairman of HDFC Bank, the largest private sector lender in the country.The markets regulator will be looking at all the aspects of the matter to bring out the facts leading to the resignation of the non-executive chairperson. Chakraborty, in the letter of resignation that came more than a year ahead of the scheduled end of his term at the bank, said that he was leaving because “certain happenings and practices within the bank” were “not in congruence” with his personal values and ethics. Chakraborty didn’t elaborate on the details of the ‘practices’ and ‘happenings’ in the bank that he did not agree with.Following the resignation of the chairman that came when the stock market was grappling with the impact of the war in West Asia, the HDFC Bank stock took a tumble. Since March 18, the night Chakraborty’s resignation was announced by the bank, to its March 23 close at Rs 744 on BSE, the stock has lost 11.3%. In comparison, BSE’s banking index has lost 7.3% while the PSU bank index has lost 5.2%.The Sebi chief said that as per listing and disclosure rules of the stock exchanges, in case there are issues and ethical concerns, the same should have been in the minutes of the meeting. Independent directors hold very important positions and they have explicit powers to question the management, he said.“No one is expected to make insinuations without proper evidence and recordings,” the Sebi chief told reporters at the media meeting after the regulator had a board meeting earlier in the day. He said there are codes of conduct for independent directors and there are processes under the rules which such directors should follow. “We can’t keep things vague,” he said.Pandey reminded that as per statutes, independent directors should act as the protectors of the interests of minority shareholders and should act ‘responsibly’.Since Chakraborty’s resignation, the bank’s market capitalisation has dipped by a little over Rs 1.5 lakh crore with its current value at Rs 11.4 lakh crore on BSE.

With the Indian Premier League 2026 set to begin in just six days, all eyes are once again on Vaibhav Sooryavanshi. The Rajasthan Royals prodigy, who turns 15 this Friday, returns after a spectacular debut last year when he smashed a 35-ball century against Gujarat Giants, leaving fans and bowlers stunned. That innings made him the youngest centurion in IPL history and the fastest Indian to reach three figures, surpassing Yusuf Pathan’s record.Sooryavanshi’s rise has been meteoric. During the IPL mega auction for the 2025 season, he secured a deal worth Rs 1.1 crore with Rajasthan Royals, making him the youngest player ever to be signed. Over the past year, he has dominated across continents, scoring centuries in Australia, South Africa, and England. His crowning moment came in the Under-19 World Cup final against England, where he scored a match-winning 175 off just 80 balls, including 15 fours and six sixes each. His 55-ball century is among the fastest in Under-19 World Cup history, helping India lift the trophy for a sixth time.

But as IPL 2026 approaches, Sooryavanshi faces new challenges. Bowlers are believed to have studied his game and will look to expose weaknesses. His talent is unquestionable, and many see him as a potential trailblazer and future legend. Yet, not everyone is convinced about his professional approach.On AB de Villiers’ YouTube channel, Jitesh Sharma, who captained Sooryavanshi during India A’s Asia Cup campaign last year, praised the youngster’s skill but expressed doubts about his off-field habits. “Right now, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi. I feel he can dominate world cricket. He has gear No. 6 and a very good set of skills,” Sharma said when asked which youngster he would invest in.De Villiers, who watched Sooryavanshi’s 175-run masterclass in the Under-19 World Cup final, was full of admiration. “He’s a great player. I watched him in the Under-19s. It’s not always easy when you get the taste of IPL and big cricket, and still show the same kind of standard. I was very impressed with the way he played in that World Cup. Very professional. He’s very mature for his age,” said the former South African captain.De Villiers added that Sooryavanshi stayed true to his game plan, replicating the approach he used in the IPL, without arrogance or trying to be someone else. “But he will get professional,” he said.Sharma, however, was more sceptical. “He’s not professional. I can tell you that. Everyone is trying to get him to be professional, but I don’t think he will ever get professional. He may be on the field, but off the field, he won’t. I’m trying my best. I ask him not to have ice-cream in the night,” he added.