Tag: Budget 2011

Unhealthy Promotions- Banning toys with food products meant for Children


February 21, 2011.

Shri Ghulam Nabi Azad

Minister of Health & Family Welfare

Nirmal Bhawan, New Delhi – 110108

Subject: For Immediate action-banning of toys given as free gifts with food products & drinks, & framing guidelines on Child Health & Preventive care

Hon’ble Minister,

I am writing this important petition on behalf of the Disease Management Association of India – DMAI; The Population Health Improvement Alliance. DMAI is founded by global healthcare leaders to help improve the population health in India by focusing on the entire continuum of care.

In November 2010, during my visit to the US , I was with Senator Tom Daschle ( Senator Tom was nominated as Health & Human Services Secretary by President Obama , which he declined, and is often referred to as a senior Advisor & Mentor to President Obama). During the discussion, he asked me; how is India a better bet than China? I told him that, in the next three decades, while India will have majority of working age population, China will have one working person and three retired persons. This should put China in serious productivity issue!! India is the youngest nation today, with an average age of approximately 25.9 years, and this is often referred as a ‘demographic dividend’.

While statistically, India is having a tremendous demographic dividend , if we do not attend to the ‘ Child Health’ as a top priority , our demographic dividend will become a ‘Demographic Disaster’, as our working population would be ‘Unhealthy’ and thus drastically impact the productivity of the nation . This is the biggest hurdle for India to attend, if we need to overtake China in the long-term for being a developed & a vibrant economy

For Immediate action: Media has proliferated & children have dedicated channels on TV.They watch T.V. , which is flooded with animated cartoons & other Sci-fi serials, and children get fancied with such shows. The companies have started giving the characters associated with these shows as free gifts to entice the children to buy their food products and drinks. So children force their parents to buy the foods stuff or drinks just for the sake of these ‘Freebies’ , and they also consume these products, so that the parents do not scold them for spending so much on these food items !! Due to this, our children are fast becoming obese & unhealthy!! Just for the sake of an example , I am quoting my son who buys Mc Donald’s ‘Happy Meal’ just for the sake of getting the toy that comes free with it & I can see that he is least interested in the meal , but then he consumes the ‘Burger’ , and ‘Cold Drinks’ that comes with the ‘Happy Meals’ to ensure that next time he gets a chance to buy the Happy Meal from Mc Donald again and most importantly , get the free toy . He already weighs 40 KG at the age of 7 years. Luckily, he has joined the Gym with me. But imagine, the severely ‘Obese’ children that are a result of such ‘Unhealthy’ Promotions with food products meant for children. I have just quoted Mc Donald for the sake of example, but we have most of the companies selling ‘Unhealthy foods’ with promotions aimed at enticing children, playing for their ignorance and their intense desire for playing with toys!

Through this note, I call upon the policy makers to ban such toys and also the advertisements related to such promotions in national media with immediate effect. I also call upon the ‘responsible’ companies to sell & market their products for ‘nutritional value’ and not on ‘Unhealthy promotions’ or ‘Freebies’.

Also, the MOHFW should come up with “hand book on Preventive Healthcare for Children” below 12 years If we fail to take immediate and strict action now, our future generations will grow up to curse this generation for inaction, and the nation will be burdened by poor productivity and high healthcare costs with no signs of health ! It is a call to action . I do look forward to prompt action on the same from all the concerned.

If the policy makers fail to take action, DMAI will initiate a nation-wide campaign for such ‘unhealthy promotions’.

With best regards

Rajendra Pratap Gupta

CC.

Sonia Gandhi ,Rahul Gandhi , Dr.Manmohan Singh , Dr.Murli Mahohar Joshi , Shri Ghulam Nabi Azad Min,  for information & Broad Casting,  Montek Singh Ahluwalia,  Dr.Syeda Hameed,  Shri L.K.Advani , Smt. Sushma Swaraj,  Shri Dinesh Trivedi , Sitaram Yechury , Members of Parliament , Sam Pitroda , Secy, Health & Family Welfare, GOI , Dr. K. Srinath Reddy , Chief Minister’s of States,  Media

Corruption mera Karma aur Coalition mera Dharma


Dear Manmohan ji,

The common man is really frustrated with your ‘blame game’ approach in the recent press conference . When you became the PM, we had hoped that an economics Professor who had been educated in the best of institutions in India and abroad , could impress upon the people in his party and change the governance of the nation without compromise. But , by staying silent on all the unethical activities in the congress , not only you denigrated the national institutions , you lowered the stature of the Prime Minster’s post & eroded the trust of the common man .

In the press conference , you said that, ‘let’s not just focus on scams as that lowers the image of the nation’. I wish to point Dr.Singh that, not just the image but also the financial health of the nation has been affected due to your being a patron of corruption !!

You have clearly conveyed that ‘ Corruption is your Karma & Coalition is your Dharma’. While it is known that you had some good qualities like knowledge , honesty etc , but you did not exercise those qualities , so in a sense , you became a greedy professor wanting to just stick to the Chair of the PM .

I am wondering how come Pranab Mukherjee was not questioned in this scam when he is the finance minister ? Is he just responsible for collecting taxes and not about the financial loss to the nation ? He must also follow Raja in Tihar . No one is above law ! Also, If you have the guts , please question Mukesh Ambani . He is the one who routed international calls as local calls and committed a criminal offence. What has your government done ? The Telecom co’s CEO going to CBI office and having coffee & lunch does not impress the common man. We know that these visits might be a ‘eyewash’ for the common man at the behest of congress party, and the common man is made to believe that your government is acting on corruption . Do not put off the JPC demand quoting these arrests .Suresh Kalmadi is still enjoying the dollars made in CWG !! Why he is he not in Tihar ?

Dr.Singh , every one in India is talking about the black money in Swiss banks , Dr.Singh , India has more black money than all the Swiss banks combined ! Why Pranab Dada does not start taxing expenditure rather than taxing income !! Every government officer is directly or indirectly involved in bribery , every business is into tax evasion , every builder takes a portion of the cost as black money , every minister fights election on black money . Still you think that only Swiss banks have India’s black money ? Swiss banks , I believe would only have 10-15 % of the black money , rest is still in India , and may be, some money might be in middle eastern countries .

Please change your tax system. If you tax one’s income , he might not disclose it , but at the end, the money is used to purchase something , so go and tax expenditure , the government will collect more taxes , and we would be happy paying taxes on expenditure !!

Now back to my question of your moral flexibility to run the government .

Why have you tied up with DMK in a poll bound Tamilnadu ??

Why has the CBI let off Mulayam in the disproportionate assets case ?

Is this a part of Sonia’s five pronged approach to fight corruption ???

Rahul : Where is your clean up of the party going ? Are you cleaning up the honest people by such tie ups ? What about your call to go alone in polls ? While I was at 10 Janpath with you a few months ago , a first generation leader whom you inducted in your party had met up with myself , and he told me that you are just getting educated people in the party . So all new congress leaders have started enrolling in MBA !!. Finally , this call for educated leaders is leading to elite with money bags joining youth congress. You are totally disconnected from the reality on ground !! By the way , Gandhi’s are always disconnected with reality . Nothing new !!

Dr.Singh , by asking Supreme court to directly monitor the probe, you have shown that you have no interest to act on your own or you do not trust that you will do a good job in the case ! We all know why retired supreme court judges get plum posting !! So if nothing comes out of these so called ‘Blame Free investigations’ ( Which we know will happen ) , you will shed off your load saying that you had asked the top most court to direct the probe and that you are like ‘Ceaser’s Wife’ etc etc………………….. and you cannot be blamed for the culprits being acquitted !!

When you constitute the JPC , please also mandate it to come out with an action plan that can

a) Investigate the wealth creation formula of the ex Chief Justice of India K.G. Balakrishnan .

b) Bring back the black money and put the people behind the black money in Jail

c) Recover the loot of public money by people like Lalu , Maya & other leaders like Sharad Pawar etc.

d) Take action for CWG loot

e) Investigate on all massive loot cases happening in the nation

f) Frame up laws and set up a system say a CIA ( Central Corruption Investigating agency ), which can take suo moto action against any one ( Even the President of India ) , should the need arise without going through any approval , and this institution must report to the supreme body – Legislature every six months . This body should be adequately equipped with resources ( legal, financial and human resources ) to decisively act against corruption , and all top level appointments must be made by a body consisting of the P.M. , CJI , CVC & Opposition leader .

I also want you to ask CBI to investigate if Apollo Hospitals Group paid money to A.Raja. I was told by none other than the brother-in-law of A.Raja that Apollo had paid Rs.700.00 crore to Raja

I am also quite surprised that you have quoted that you will not quit the post of PM. It is the height of being shameless

Dr.Singh , history will paint you as Mohammaed-Bin-Tuglaq- A knowledgeable and wise king who caused lot of misery and pain to his people

If you do not shape up, wait for 2014, and the common man will throw the congress government and return results like Bihar

Rajendra Pratap Gupta

A Common Man

http://www.rajendragupta.wordpress.com