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BIHAR LEADERS’ ROADMAP TO AIDS-FREE FUTURE Print E-mail

 

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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