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Weather WatchRainfall, temperature & air quality in select metros yesterday

Temperature Data: IMD, Pollution Data: CPCB, Map: INSAT/IMD (Taken at 18.00 Hrs)

Forecast for Sunday: Heavy/very heavy  rain  is  likely at a  few/isolated  places  over  Uttarakhand,  east  &  west  Uttar  Pradesh,Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab, Delhi, central Ma­harashtra,  West  Bengal,  Sikkim,  Bihar,  Arunachal  Pradesh,  As­sam,  Manipur,  Mizoram,  Odisha,  Chhattisgarh,  coastal  AndhraPradesh, Telangana, coastal Karnataka and Kerala

city rain max min city rain max min

Agartala.............25.8.... 34.0.... 22.2 Kozhikode ...........22.4.... 28.7.... 23.0

Ahmedabad..........0.9.... 34.6.... 25.2 Kurnool .................5.3.... 28.4.... 23.8

Aizwal ....................4.... 29.7.... 13.1 Lucknow.................11.... 30.2.... 27.7

Allahabad .............. —.... 35.5.... 28.3 Madurai................... —.... 27.2.... 26.6

Bengaluru ...............2.... 25.6.... 20.5 Mangaluru.............6.6.... 28.5.... 22.5

Bhopal.................6.7.... 29.2.... 24.1 Mumbai...............14.7.... 29.6.... 26.2

Bhubaneswar .....11.7.... 32.0.... 26.0 Mysuru.....................1.... 27.1.... 19.3

Chandigarh ............ —.... 35.0.... 27.5 New Delhi ...........45.4.... 35.3.... 27.6

Chennai ...............8.5.... 27.1.... 23.9 Patna ...................... —.... 33.8.... 27.9

Coimbatore............ —.... 28.8.... 22.2 Port Blair ............64.5.... 26.9.... 22.4

Dehradun...........10.2.... 30.2.... 24.4 Puducherry.............. —.... 30.8.... 25.5

Gangtok.............17.6.... 22.3.... 17.9 Pune .....................0.4.... 26.6.... 21.8

Goa .....................0.9.... 30.0.... 24.0 Raipur ...................4.1.... 31.6.... 25.5

Guwahati ............... —.... 36.0.... 26.0 Ranchi....................30.... 30.6.... 24.4

Hubballi................. —.... 25.0.... 21.0 Shillong.................5.4.... 23.2.... 16.6

Hyderabad ...........4.7.... 24.7.... 21.9 Shimla..................... —.... 21.9.... 16.6

Imphal.................0.8.... 30.5.... 22.6 Srinagar .................. —.... 31.9.... 21.3

Jaipur .................... —.... 32.8.... 27.0 Trivandrum ...........2.5.... 31.3.... 23.4

Kochi...................6.4.... 30.4.... 23.6 Tiruchi .................... —.... 31.8.... 27.0

Kohima.................. —.... 27.8.... 18.2 Vijayawada ..........35.4.... 29.9.... 24.0

Kolkata.................. —.... 34.7.... 28.0 Visakhapatnam .....80.9.... 31.4.... 26.6

(Rainfall data in mm; temperature in Celsius)

Pollutants in the air you are breathing Yesterday

CITIES SO2 NO2 CO PM2.5 PM10 CODE

In observation made at4.00 p.m., Patna, Biharrecorded an overall airquality index (AQI) score of174 indicating a moderatelevel of pollution. Incontrast, Siliguri, WestBengal recorded a healthyAQI score of 28

Ahmedabad ...... 32 .68 22 ....48 .....— ....*

Bengaluru......... ..8 .27 79 ....47 .112 ....*

Chennai ............ 11 .40 56 ....84 .....— ....*

Delhi ................ ..9 .42 81 ....66 .132 ....*

Hyderabad ........ ..4 .98 19 ....22 ...30 ....*

Kolkata............. ..2 .35 63 ....34 ...43 ....*

Lucknow........... ..7 .50 36 ..130 .....— ....*

Mumbai ............ 14 .27 64 ....19 ...41 ....*

Pune................. 34 .13 51 ....32 ...31 ....*

Vishakhapatnam ..7 .55 28 ....75 ...75 ....*

Air Quality Code: * Poor * Moderate * Good (Readings indicate average AQI)

SO2: Sulphur Dioxide. Short-term exposure can harm the respiratory system,

making breathing difficult. It can affect visibility by reacting with other air

particles to form haze and stain culturally important objects such as statues

and monuments.

NO2: Nitrogen Dioxide. Aggravates respiratory illness, causes haze to form by

reacting with other air particles, causes acid rain, pollutes coastal waters.

CO: Carbon monoxide. High concentration in air reduces oxygen supply to

critical organs like the heart and brain. At very high levels, it can cause

dizziness, confusion, unconsciousness and even death.

PM2.5 & PM10: Particulate matter pollution can cause irritation of the eyes,

nose and throat, coughing, chest tightness and shortness of breath, reduced

lung function, irregular heartbeat, asthma attacks, heart attacks and

premature death in people with heart or lung disease

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THE HINDU BENGALURU

SUNDAY, AUGUST 12, 2018 7EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

CMYK

M BG-BGE

KARNATAKA

In 2011, only 67% of an esti­mated 8.5 million deaths  inIndia  were  registered.  Alth­ough the number of registra­tions increased to 76% (of anestimated 8.1 million deaths)in  2016,  the  proportion  ofmedically certifi��ed deaths isonly  22%,  as  per  the  Regis­trar General of India’s reporton  Medical  Certifi��cation  ofCause  of  Death  (MCCD),2015.

These fi��gures indicate thehuge gap between deaths re­gistered and deaths medical­ly  certifi��ed.  Besides,  in  thedeaths which are medicallycertifi��ed, the existing systemonly records the mode of dy­ing  (mentioning  the  imme­diate  cause  of  death).  Theunderlying and contributingcauses of death are not cap­tured  and  this  is  creating  agap  in  analysing  mortalitystatistics.

To address this issue andbridge  the  gap  betweendeaths registered and deathsmedically  certifi��ed,  the  Na­tional Centre for Disease In­formatics and Research, un­der  the  Indian  Council  ofMedical  Research  (NCDIR­ICMR),  has  developed  anelectronic mortality (e­Mor)software.

NCDIR  Director  PrashantMathur told The Hindu thatit is not just the low propor­tion  of  availability  of  infor­mation  on  the  cause  of

death, but  the  lack of  com­pleteness and the quality ofinformation on the cause ofdeath  in medically certifi��eddeaths  that  is  a  matter  ofconcern.

“It is largely observed thatmedical practitioners recordthe mode of dying or the im­mediate  cause  rather  thanthe  underlying  /antecedentcause that led to death,” hesaid. According to the WorldHealth  Statistics  2018  re­leased  by  the  World  HealthOrganisation  (WHO)  forMonitoring  Health  for  theSustainable  DevelopmentGoals, the completeness andquality of cause of death in­formation is only 10%.

“The e­Mor software is forstrengthening cause of deathreporting  systems  in  hospi­tals  and  improve  death  au­

dits with use of appropriatetools for classifying deaths(International  Classifi��cationof Diseases­10). This can leadto better death statistics andsurveillance  in  India,”  Dr.Mathur explained.

‘Free of cost’“The software has been putto  use  in  eight  hospitals  inthe northeastern States. Weare now in talks with the go­vernments of Karnataka andTamil  Nadu  to  get  the  soft­ware  installed  in  all  hospi­tals. If any State wants to in­stall this software, we will behappy to assist. The softwareis available free of cost,” hesaid.  “It  will  help  hospitalsmaintain a mortality registerand issue death certifi��cates,and enable doctors to recordaccurate cause of death, and

prepare  Form  4  and  gener­ate  Form  2,  which  can  besubmitted  with  the  MCCDform to the Local Registrar,”the doctor said.

This e­mortality softwarewill have a larger impact onresearch and public health.“Our institute will be able tocollate  mortality  incidencedata for the cancer registry ifall  hospitals  in  the  countryadopt  the  e­Mor  software.We  can  also  record  patientsurvival  analysis,  cause  ofmortality statistics and vitalevent registration,” Dr. Math­ur said. All registered clinics,nursing  homes,  hospitals,medical institutes and gener­al  physicians  who  certifydeaths can use this software,he added.

New software to bridge gap in recording deaths Existing system falls short on information on mortality data

Afshan Yasmeen

Bengaluru

Patient wait: A fi��le photo of people waiting in queue for birthand death certifi��cates in New Delhi.

The importance of a database BENGAURU

India has a well­laid out

architecture of registering

deaths through the Sample

Registration System (SRS) and

the Medical Certification of

Cause of Death (MCCD)

system under the Registrar

General of India (RGI). 

According to World Health

Organisation (WHO), keeping

a record of how many people

die each year and the cause of

their death is one of the most

important means for

assessing the effectiveness of

a country’s health system.

The statistics help authorities

determine their focus for

public health actions, said

Prashant Mathur, Director of

NCDIR­ICMR).

Tobacco  farmers  in  thecountry have urged the Un­ion  government  to  includetheir  representatives  in  theIndian delegation attendingthe Framework Conventionon Tobacco Control  (FCTC)Conference of Parties that isbeing  organised  by  theWorld  Health  Organisation(WHO) at Geneva in October.

Meeting with MinisterThe  offi��ce­bearers  of  theFederation  of  All­IndiaFarmer  Associations  metUnion  Commerce  MinisterSuresh Prabhu in New Delhiearlier this week to seek theinclusion  of  tobacco  farm­ers’  representatives,  whoare  key  stakeholders  in  the

tobacco  industry,  in  thedelegation.

The conference to be heldfrom October  1  to 6 will bechaired  by  Union  Ministerfor Health J.P. Nadda.

Fearing that FCTC is a fo­rum “dominated by anti­to­bacco NGOs” from countrieswith “no dependence on to­bacco  farming  and  hencehave  no  concern  about  theimpact on the people depen­dent on tobacco”, the feder­ation,  in  a  memorandum,said  lack  of  knowledge  isbound  to  negate  the  “justrights”  of  tobacco  farmersand  farm  labourers  andwould adversely aff��ect theirlivelihood as well as the In­dian economy.

“Our participation will en­sure  that  the  farmers’  viewpoint on issues are taken in­to  account  resulting  in  rea­sonable and balanced policyadoption,”  the  memoran­dum  signed  by  federationgeneral secretary P.S. MuraliBabu said. 

The conference is expect­ed to discuss steps to bring

down tobacco consumptionand cultivation.

Federation  president  Ja­vare Gowda, who is also thepresident of  the FederationVFC  Tobacco  Growers  ofKarnataka,  said  Article  17and  18  of  FCTC  deal  withsuitable  alternatives  to  to­bacco  cultivation,  whichshould also be discussed ex­tensively at the conference. 

He said exclusion of farm­ers’  representatives  fromprevious  FCTC  Conferenceof Parties held in New Delhitwo years ago had triggereda massive protest by the In­ternational  Tobacco  Grow­ers’  Association  in  the  na­tional capital.

They want to beheard at thetobacco controlconvention inGeneva

Laiqh A. Khan

MYSURU

Tobacco farmers want to be part ofdelegation attending WHO event

<> Our participation

will ensure that

farmers’ viewpoint

on issues are taken

into account,

resulting in a

reasonable and

balanced policy

adoption Says memorandum of Federation ofAll­India Farmer Associations

Armyworms  or  swarmingcaterpillars  have  invadedpaddy nurseries, devouringyoung plants at Nagarle andsurrounding villages in Nan­jangud taluk. 

What  isalarming is thatthe  pests  haveinfested  theplants  at  thenursery  stage,which  may  de­lay paddy  tran­splantation  infi��elds,  whichhad  been  pre­pared for the season.

More  than  60  acres  ofpaddy nurseries have beenhit  by  the  pest,  which  candevour  the  entire  plantswiftly.  Besides  paddy,  ar­myworms have also infestedjasmine  (kakada  mallige)plants in the area.

“Infestation  at  the  nur­sery  stage  cannot  be  ne­glected. Armyworms can bedisastrous  and  bring  downthe  yield  signifi��cantly.  Theinfection  can  spread  fast,even to other crops, such asmaize. Farmers are unawareof the damage these insectscan do,” said chief scientistArun Belamatti, who headsthe ICAR JSS Krishi VignanaKendra at Suttur.

Dr.  Belamatti  told  The

Hindu that armyworm infes­tation was reported in threetaluks  last year, but duringthe  harvesting  stage.  This

year, the worms have madeearly invasions. 

But the scientist gives ushope. He said the infectioncan  be  controlled  if  mea­sures  are  taken  on  a  com­munity basis as armyworms

can  migratequickly,  fromone  fi��eld  toanother.  Si­multaneous re­medial  mea­sures  workbetter,  headded.

The  Depart­ment  of  Agri­culture  has

been  alerted  about  the  ar­myworm  outbreak.  Theworms  had  aff��ected  maizecrop signifi��cantly  in Haveriand Belagavi districts in De­cember last.

Last year’s slumpLast  year,  the  disease  re­duced  paddy  productionfrom 20 quintals an acre to12  to  14 quintals an acre  inthree  taluks.  The  averageyield  had  slumped  byaround  40%,  according  toDr. Belamatti.

Plant scientists, who visit­ed  the  armyworm­infectednurseries in Nagarle village,said  that pesticide solutionshould be sprayed in the af­ternoon  when  the  insectsclimb up the plants. The in­sects remain at  the groundin the mornings and spray­ing  then  won’t  help,  theysaid.

They can devour an entire plant swiftly

Shankar Bennur

MYSURU

Acres hit: Paddy nurseries infected by the pests at Nagarleand surrounding villages in Nanjangud taluk; and (below) aclose­up of the worms.

Armywormsinvade paddynurseries

An interview for remainingseats for fi��rst year B. Pharm,2nd  year  B.  Pharm  lateralentry, and M. Pharm cours­

es will be held on August 14at  Government  College  ofPharmacy,  P.  Kalinga  RaoRoad,  Subbiah  Circle,  Ben­galuru  ­ 560027 between 2p.m.  and  5  p.m.  Call  080­22222681 for details.

Interview for B. Pharm courses on Aug. 14

Staff Reporter

BENGALURU