GURUGRAM: Haryana’s annual sex ratio at birth (SRB), the number of girls born per 1,000 boys, climbed to 923 in 2025, the first time it has showed a gain since 2019.Alarm bells rang last year after it fell to 910, its lowest since 2016 when the ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’ campaign was launched as a social campaign in a state with one of the lowest sex ratios in the country because of female infanticide.According to Civil Registration System (provisional) figures, the state registered 5,19,691 births last year, of which 2,70,281 were boys and 2,49,410 girls. Three districts reported an SRB of 950 or above, with Panchkula leading the state at 971, followed by Fatehabad (961) and Panipat (951).South Haryana districts like Gurgaon showed significant lag in SRBKarnal (944) and Yamunanagar (943) complete the top five. Sirsa (937), Nuh (935), Kurukshetra (927), Ambala (926), Hisar (926), Bhiwani (926) and Kaithal (924) were also above the state average.Health officials attributed the improvement to a series of crackdowns through 2025 against sex-selective abortions and sale of illegal medical termination of pregnancy (MTP) kits. An SRB of 923 is still low compared to other states but it’s the highest Haryana has achieved. Over the years, the annual average has fluctuated, rather than held steady.South Haryana districts around Delhi, including Gurgaon (901), showed significant lag. Faridabad (916), Rohtak (898) and Sonipat (894) were among the weakest performers. Rewari (882) was placed at the bottom.Panchkula saw the most notable long-term improvement, from 909 in 2015 to 971 in 2025, despite dips in between, including a fall to 915 in 2024. Fatehabad, which was at 893 in 2015, climbed to 961 last year as did Panipat, which was at 892 in 2015. Gurgaon, despite its weaker performance compared to these districts, also saw an improvement from 858 in 2015.After the fall in SRB in 2024, a state-level task force was set up in March, with officers from health department, police, women and child development, AYUSH, National Health Mission (NHM) and the Food and Drug Administration reviewing SRB weekly.“A total of 114 FIRs were registered under MTP Act and 16 under PCPNDT (Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques) Act in 2025. Ultrasound inspections nearly doubled from 3,072 in 2024 to 5,836 in 2025. Reverse tracking of abortions beyond 12 weeks among women with previous girl children was a key tool. From Oct 2024 to Dec 2025, 3,292 such abortions were reported through Asha workers, leading to 68 FIRs against clinics, chemists, peddlers and middlemen,” said Dr Virender Yadav, director of NHM, Haryana.Crackdowns on abortion kit sales intensified. FDA sealed 44 chemist shops last year and registered 59 FIRs, including 17 for online sales. More than 6,000 kits were seized. The number of abortions carried out beyond 10 weeks fell from 21,498 in 2024 to 14,204 in 2025. A total of 495 of the state’s 1,500 registered MTP centres were shut for violations.

At AIIMS Delhi, 524 faculty posts are vacant out of a sanctioned strength of 1,306

NEW DELHI: Nearly four out of every 10 sanctioned faculty posts remain vacant across 11 AIIMS, exposing a deep staffing crunch at India’s premier public hospitals even as patient loads continue to rise. RTI replies accessed by TOI show that 1,600 of 4,099 faculty positions – about 39% – are lying vacant, raising concerns about the impact on patient care, specialist services and medical education.The data, compiled from RTI responses received from 11 All India Institute of Medical Sciences across different states, point to a widespread shortage cutting across both older, established AIIMS and newer institutes.At AIIMS Delhi – the country’s oldest and largest AIIMS and a national referral centre for complex cases – 524 faculty posts are vacant out of a sanctioned strength of 1,306, across key departments such as medicine, surgery, anaesthesia, paediatrics, neurology, oncology and emergency care.Several newer AIIMS are facing even higher shortages. AIIMS Jodhpur is worst hit, operating with 46.7% of faculty posts vacant (189 of 405). AIIMS Gorakhpur follows with 45.5% vacancies, while AIIMS Jammu reports a 44.3% shortfall. More than 40% of posts are also unfilled at AIIMS Kalyani and AIIMS Bilaspur. AIIMS Nagpur has 137 vacant posts out of 373 sanctioned positions, amounting to 36.7% vacancies.Other institutes show relatively lower – but still significant – shortages. AIIMS Bathinda is short of 37.4% of its faculty strength, AIIMS Raipur 34.8%, AIIMS Bhubaneswar 26%, and AIIMS Bhopal 25.6%.Health experts warn that prolonged faculty shortages at teaching hospitals affect outpatient services, surgery schedules, ICU supervision and the training of undergraduate and postgraduate doctors, as senior faculty juggle clinical, academic and administrative roles.Responding to staffing concerns, Rima Dada, media cell in-charge at AIIMS Delhi, said recruitment efforts were ongoing. “Interviews are underway, and the process of filling vacant posts is being carried out regularly,” she said.AIIMS hospitals cater to lakhs of patients every year, many referred from district and state hospitals for complex care. The RTI data accessed by TOI underline a widening gap between rapid infrastructure expansion and the pace of faculty recruitment, raising questions about whether India’s flagship medical institutions are being staffed adequately to meet rising healthcare demand.

With over 200 people from the area admitted in as many as 27 hospitals across Indore, lanes of Bhagirathpura are empty

INDORE: A deathly silence prevails in Bhagirathpura area of Indore. Barring a few people at makeshift medical camps, its lanes are empty. With over 200 people from the area admitted in as many as 27 hospitals across the city after being afflicted with diarrhoea, most residents have been away attending to the ill since Monday night when they began vomiting and developed high fever. Nine persons have died till now. Tragedy struck Bhagirathpura when a pit to clear waste from a toilet built at the local police check post began leaking, leading to the waste water mixing with the main water supply line that ran just beneath it. Indore Municipal Corporation (IMC) officials said the contractor had channeled the output from the toilet to a pit above the main water supply line rather than constructing a septic tank and connecting it to the sewage line. On Thursday, even as Madhya Pradesh govt officials scrambled to fix responsibility, spruce up treatment facilities, and clean up the water supply system, Sadhana Sahu, a teacher at a private school, sat on the doorstep of her home in Bhagirathpura and wept uncontrollably. She has lost her six-month-old son. “Abhyan was born 10 years after we had a daughter. Bas, mera bachcha nahin raha (My child is no more),” Sadhana said. Abhyan’s father, Sunil Sahu, who works from home for an internet firm, said, “He had diarrhoea and fever. We took him to a doctor on Dec 26. We brought him back home after he was prescribed medicines. He was fine the next two days but suddenly developed high fever, vomited, and died at home on Monday. We couldn’t even take him to a hospital.” “The contaminated water caused his death. I had mixed water with his milk and his health deteriorated,” Sadhana said. Wailing could be heard from some of the homes where death had struck. Almost every household in Bhagirathpura – which has a population of about 15,000, most from economically weak sections living cheek-by-jowl – has one or more people afflicted. “We earn little and barely manage to survive,” said Alguram Yadav of Borasi ki Gali. His wife Urmila, 65, died on Sunday. His son Sanju, daughter-in-law Roshini and grandson Shivam (11 months) are admitted to hospitals with the same symptoms that took Urmila’s life. “Nobody had turned up to help, though some administrative officials came to check. Kailash-ji (state minister Kailash Vijayvargiya) came to hand over a Rs 2 lakh cheque as compensation, announced by the CM on Wednesday” he said.

NEW DELHI: Canada has told Air India that one of its pilots was found tipsy just before operating a flight on Dec 23, 2025, violating the country’s laws, and that the airline should investigate the case and inform it of action taken by Jan 26, 2026.Transport Canada sent this communication to AI a day after the pilot failed the breathalyser (BA) test and asked it to take “corrective action” under its safety management system “to prevent any such recurrence”. This was first reported by TOI on Jan 1.Taking a serious view of the matter, AI has sought details of the BA test from Canada, including the level of alcohol found in the test, and has informed DGCA.“We were advised by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) that Captain *** reported for duty on Air India Fight AI 186 on Dec 23, 2025, while under the influence of alcohol, and unfit for duty. Two BA tests conducted by the RCMP at Vancouver International Airport confirmed this after he was advised to leave the aircraft. This incident indicates a contravention of Canadian Aviation Regulations by the operator (AI) and the crew member... as well as conditions outlined in Air India’s Foreign Air Operator Certificate (FAOC 1946) issued by Transport Canada Civil Aviation (TCCA). It is likely that enforcement action will be pursued by the RCMP, and by TCCA,” says a Dec 24 letter from Transport Canada to AI.One of the conditions in AI’s FAOC violated is that “foreign air operator shall conduct a safe operation”.Due to closure of Pakistan airspace after Operation Sindoor, AI North America ultra long hauls now make a midway fuelling stop. AI 186 was to be operated by two sets of pilots – a captain and co-pilot in each set – from Vancouver to Vienna. From the Austrian capital, another set would have flown it to Delhi.“This pilot, who had a layover in Vienna, was reportedly buying alcohol from Vancouver Duty Free… The pilot was boarding from Canada and alighting in Austria, both foreign stations where most probably no BA checks would have been conducted. However a staffer at duty free smelt alcohol on his breath and informed police. Using CCTV, the police traced him to the AI flight ,” said sources.Pilots don’t have alcohol at least 12 hours before flying. “In case someone has not been able to do so, they should refuse to operate a flight on medical grounds. Refusing the flight will save your job, your licence, and your career,” said a senior captain.In a statement on Wednesday, AI had said: “AI 186 from Vancouver to Delhi on Dec 23, 2025 experienced a last-minute delay after one of the cockpit crew members was offloaded prior to departure. Canadian authorities raised concerns regarding the pilot’s fitness for duty, following which the crew member was taken for further inquiry.”

Union fertilizers minister J P Nadda on Thursday inaugurated an integrated e-bill system aimed at digitally processing fertilizer subsidies of about Rs 2 lakh crore. The move replaces manual, paper-based procedures with a fully digital workflow, eliminating the physical movement of bills, an official statement said.“This online system will play a significant role in strengthening transparent, efficient and technology-driven governance,” Nadda said at the launch event, as cited by PTI. The initiative is a key outcome of a technological collaboration between the Department of Fertilizers’ Integrated Financial Management System (iFMS) and the Public Financial Management System (PFMS) of the controller general of accounts under the ministry of finance.The transformation “significantly enhances transparency and accountability by creating a centralised and tamper-proof digital audit trail for all financial transactions, thereby facilitating easier monitoring and audits,” said CGA Santosh Kumar. The e-bill platform allows fertilizer companies to submit subsidy claims online and monitor payment status in real time, removing the need for physical visits and manual follow-ups. It introduces a standardised electronic workflow, including first-in-first-out bill processing, to ensure consistency and adherence to financial rules.The system offers real-time oversight of expenditure and stronger financial controls, with all payments tracked and reported through a central platform.Manoj Sethi, joint secretary in the fertilizers ministry, said the system “enables end-to-end digital bill processing, which will significantly accelerate payment timelines, including timely release of weekly fertilizer subsidy payments”.The system also incorporates robust internal controls that validate payments against predefined criteria, record every action for audit purposes, and help reduce the risk of fraud.The event was attended by additional secretaries Aneeta C Meshram and Aparna Sharma, joint secretaries K K Pathak and Anurag Rohatagi, and director Laboni Das Datta.Senior Technical Director Aseem Gupta of the National Informatics Centre (NIC) outlined the technical features and architecture of the system. The implementation and demonstration were supported by the NIC team, including joint director Ashutosh Tiwari and developer Harekrishna Tiwari, whose efforts in building and rolling out the platform were widely appreciated.

NEW DELHI: “You are a nominated official, but I am an elected representative … ” The Trinamool Congress’s offensive against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar has set the stage for an all-out confrontation over the ongoing Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls ahead of upcoming assembly elections in West Bengal. Mamata Banerjee’s nephew Abhishek Banerjee, who led a Trinamool delegation to the Election Commission on Wednesday, accused the CEC of “losing temper” and “raising fingers at party members. Abhishek dared the CEC to respond to his allegations.

“They think that by raising their voice and speaking aggressively, everyone will be silenced. When we started speaking, he began losing his temper. He tried to stop some of us and pointed fingers at me. I then stated that you are a nominated official, but I am an elected representative. You are answerable to your masters, but I am answerable to the masses who elected me, for whom we have come here to ensure that no legitimate voter is deleted from the list... If he has the courage, let him release the footage. I am standing very close to the ECI office,” Abhishek said standing at the gate of the Election Commission office.“Gyanesh Kumar must be hearing what I am saying to the media right now. If he has the courage, he should come down, face the media, and rebut every point I am making, rather than making selective leaks after 8 pm. What is stopping him? Does he think the people of Bengal are his subservient? Apart from two-three questions, he has failed. Does he think the people of Bengal, and we MPs, ministers, and MLAs elected by the people, are bonded labourers or slaves?” the Trinamool MP asked, targeting the CEC.Abhishek Banerjee’s dig on selective leaks referred to the party’s last meeting with the poll body on November 28. The Trinamool leader claimed that they had asked the Election Commission five questions in that meeting, but didn’t receive a single precise answer to any of them. The Trinamool leader had accused the Election Commission of selectively leaking information to some journalists, claiming that they had answered every question. In return, the Election Commission accused the Trinamool of intimidating its electoral staff in the state.The Election Commission (EC) officials said that the Trinamool Congress (TMC) delegation was told that intimidation of any electoral staff by ground-level political representatives and workers will not be tolerated and that the West Bengal government should immediately release the enhanced honorarium to each BLO.Draft rolls for West Bengal released by the ECI in December show that 58,20,899 names, about 7.59 per cent of the electorate, have been provisionally deleted due to reasons such as death, permanent migration or untraceability. The Trinamool has raised concerns over the scale of deletions, alleging possible disenfranchisement. Also, around 1.36 crore entries have also been flagged for “logical discrepancies”, while 30 lakh voters were categorised as unmapped – a significant percentage of whom are likely to be called for verification hearings. The timeline for final publication of electoral rolls in the state is February 14, 2026.Abhishek Banerjee questioned the list of “logical discrepancies” made by the EC and accused the poll body of weaponsing the voter list to help the BJP. The TMC leader demanded that the list of voters under the “logical discrepancy” category be published and the methodology and legal authority used to create this category be disclosed. Chief minister Mamata Banerjee has already claimed that the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise was a huge “scam” being conducted with the help of artificial intelligence, and has warned that her party will gherao the Election Commission’s office in Delhi if the name of even a single legitimate voter is deleted from the electoral rolls.Trinamool Congress has said that it will not accept the final voter list if it has “discrepancies” and if needed “it would fight it legally.” Clearly SIR, which is already in the centre of a political storm, is set for a rough ride in West Bengal with the Trinamool Congress piling unrelenting pressure on the Election Commission.

NEW DELHI: Year 2025 was the eighth warmest year on record in India whereas the 2016-25 period emerged as the warmest decade, the IMD said while releasing its annual climate summary on Thursday. Making a monthly forecast for the current month, it said most regions of the country are likely to experience “below normal” minimum temperatures – it means many parts, specifically the north (Uttar Pradesh), central (east Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and north Maharashtra) and east India (Bihar, West Bengal, Odisha and Jharkhand), may have colder nights in Jan.The similar pattern may, however, not be experienced in some parts of northwest (Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh) and northeast India, as well as southern Peninsular India, where both day (max.) and night (min.) temperatures are likely to be ‘above normal’ (warmer).Days may even be warmer in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal as well during Jan after the first few days of the month. Nights will, however, be colder in the entire region during the month, leading to fog formation on many days. IMD also predicted “normal to above normal” rainfall across “most parts” of the country, which is conducive for the standing Rabi (winter sown) crops. Though Punjab, Haryana and other parts of northwest India are likely to get ‘below normal’ showers, it won’t impact the farming operations there due to a fairly good irrigation network and water storage facilities in the region.Releasing the annual climate summary for 2025, director general of the IMD, Mrutyunjay Mohapatra, said the year with recording 0.28 degree Celsius higher than the long-term (1991-2020) average temperature turned out to be “eighth warmest year” since nationwide temperature records began in the country in 1901.“Notably, 10 of the 15 warmest years in India have occurred during the recent 15-year period (2011-25),” he said, underlining that the year 2024 was the warmest year on record with reporting 0.65 degree C above the long-term average temperature.Last year’s winter was not as severe as what may be experienced this year. It was clearly reflected from the temperature anomaly of Jan and Feb of 2025. Feb last year recorded the “highest monthly mean temperature ever” for the country whereas Jan marked the “second highest” on record since 1901.IMD data shows the extreme weather events led to 2,763 deaths in 2025 with Uttar Pradesh recording the highest such casualties followed by Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Jharkhand and Bihar. Floods and heavy rains took the highest toll of 1,372 followed by lightning & thunderstorms that took 1,317 lives.As far as the global average temperature in 2025 was concerned, the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) recently noted that the year is set to be either the second or third warmest year on record. So far, 2024 was the warmest year on record globally followed by 2023, the previous warmest. Both these years along with 2025 may, therefore, now be the three warmest years on record.Mohapatra attributed a virtually dry Dec 2025 to the absence of western disturbances that bring rains and thunderstorms to the northwest and central India. “The western disturbances are either moving towards north or moving too fast,” he said, attributing the change in pattern to climate change.

BENGALURU: Air Marshal Seethepalli Shrinivas Thursday assumed charge as Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief (AOC-in-C) of the IAF Training Command headquartered in Bengaluru. After taking over, he paid homage to fallen personnel by laying a wreath at the Training Command War Memorial.An alumnus of the National Defence Academy, Shrinivas was commissioned into the fighter stream of the IAF on June 13, 1987. A Category A qualified flying instructor, he has more than 4,200 hours of flying experience on a wide range of aircraft, including the MiG-21, Iskra, Kiran, PC-7 Mk II, HPT-32 and microlight aircraft. He is also qualified as a second pilot on the Chetak and Cheetah helicopters and is a categorised operations officer on the Pechora missile system.

During a career spanning nearly four decades, he has held several key command and staff appointments. These include Commandant of the Air Force Academy, Air Officer Commanding of a frontline fighter base on the western border, and of a premier flying training base. He has also served as Air Officer Commanding, Advance Headquarters Western Air Command at Jaipur, Commanding Officer of the Flying Instructors’ School, Commandant of the Institute of Aerospace Safety, and Commanding Officer of the Basic Flying Training School.His staff roles have included Assistant Chief of the Air Staff (Personnel Officers), Chief Instructor (Flying) at the Air Force Academy, operational staff at Headquarters Central Air Command, and directing staff at the College of Air Warfare. Prior to his present appointment, he served as Senior Air Staff Officer at Headquarters South Western Air Command.Air Marshal Shrinivas is a graduate of the National Defence College, College of Defence Management and Defence Services Staff College. His academic qualifications include an MPhil in Defence and Strategic Studies, a Master of Management Studies and an MSc in Defence and Strategic Studies.He was awarded the Vishisht Seva Medal in 2017 and the Ati Vishisht Seva Medal in 2024 in recognition of his service.