As per the draft of the Geospatial Information Regulation Bill, 2016, the aim is to “regulate the acquisition, dissemination, publication and distribution of geospatial information of India which is likely to affect the security, sovereignty and integrity of India and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto”. This means, once the law comes into force, the government would control dissemination, publication and acquisition of any kind of geospatial information. In simpler terms, things like geo-tagged images, maps, aerial photographs, atlases and car navigation systems, which give location details of the country, fall under the legislation’s purview.

READ MORE: Mapping the road to maximum government


The Women Deliver Conference of 2016 is one of the largest gatherings focusing on women’s and girls’ health, rights and general well-being to be held in a decade. More than 5,500 delegates – including policy makers, business leaders, health workers, activists and celebrities – from about 167 countries attended the four-day conference that began on May 16.

Anju Malhotra, principal adviser, gender and development, at the UNICEF spoke to Governance Now on why it is important to renew our focus on the girl child and adolescent girl, what policies have worked and what haven’t, and the involvement of women in conflicts, among other issues.

READ: Equipping girls on how to live and prosper
 

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has issued notices to the ministries of communications and information technology and ministry of health, calling for a report in the wake of allegations in a complaint that mobile phone towers, in the close vicinity of residential areas, are emitting radiations, hazardous to the health of human beings.

READ: NHRC seeks report on radiation from mobile phone towers



The news from war-ravaged Afghanistan is not encouraging: a resurgent Taliban, an increasing Islamic State footprint, a fractious government and a weak security force. This year has already seen the Indian consulate in Jalalabad being targeted by a suicide attack.

Afghanistan’s ambassador to India, Shaida Mohammad Abdali (who did his PhD on ‘Afghanistan’s engagement with India and Pakistan: A study of political stability and economic cooperation, 2001-14’ from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi), discusses with Governance Now, the situation in Afghanistan and the country’s relationship with India.

READ INTERVIEW: “India could also be a target [of the Daesh]”
 

The increase in TB cases among doctors and caregivers of TB patients is alarmingly high in India. The World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines make it clear that healthcare workers who get exposed to TB-causing bacteria at work should be given special treatment by the employer – regular screening for infection and in case of infection, the patient is to be admitted to an isolated ward. According to WHO’s latest global TB report, “This occupational risk is at alarming proportions in the low- and middle-income countries like India, because of increased exposure and lack of preventive measures.” TB is the third largest killer in India, after cardivascular and respiratory diseases, accounting for every tenth death.

 
READ: How caregivers are falling prey to Tuberculosis