BIHAR LEADERS’ ROADMAP
TO AIDS-FREE FUTURE
New Delhi, 8 December 2006
NEW DELHI, December 9 (INFA): Bihar
legislators have joined hands to fight the dreaded HIV/AIDS. They have
constructed a forum, “Bihar Legislators Forum on HIV/AIDS”, with technical
support from the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS).
Armed with a formal constitution and the institutional
mechanism for elected representatives to address
the HIV and AIDS in the State, the Forum is one more significant step in the battle
against AIDS.
The political commitment that was evident and the action
strategies that have been chalked out to make the Forum a potent weapon in the
fight against AIDS give hope that the State has taken up the task of containing
the epidemic in right earnest.
The State has also announced the constitution of the Bihar State
AIDS Council under the Chairmanship of the Chief Minister.
The BLFA has adopted an innovative approach of
leader-to-leader advocacy for cross-border-
and regional political mobilization. The
Speaker and Chairperson of the Forum Uday Narayan Chaudhury has forged ahead in
direct political advocacy with leaders of different states in the northern belt
to bring AIDS control to the centrestage of the country’s development agenda.
Legislators of Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand
and Chattisgarh have already started developing an AIDS response model similar
to the Bihar strategy.
The BLFA works with the aim of building partnerships with
locally elected leaders in the rural and urban areas who have the potential to
influence policies, programming and resource management.
The most challenging task undertaken by the BLFA is to bring
the local governance mechanisms panchayati raj and nagarpalika institutions to
the forefront in combating AIDS at the grassroots
level. Bihar
is one of the states where a vibrant panchayati raj system prevails. About 200,000 panchayat representatives have
been elected this year and significantly, half of them are women. These
representatives can play a vital role in making people aware about HIV and
adopt safe practices to contain the spread of the virus.
The BLFA is working not only to harness
political commitment leading to timely and technically sound policies and
legislation, but also create a truly mass
momentum against AIDS right down to the district and village levels, in the
quest to create AIDS-free constituencies and the ultimate goal of an AIDS-free
Bihar and India.
---INFA
Vintage
beauties
HYDERABAD, December 9 (INFA): Hyderabad city is said to
have nearly 2000 vintage cars as precious memoirs of the opulence of the Nizam
era.
A good number of these cars were on display recently. Rolls Royce, Plymouth
Austin
dominated the occasion. The event, it may be added, was sponsored by the
Tourism Department of the Government. ----INFA
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