Tuesday, December 9, 2014

Dear Naresh,

After the alleged rape of a 25-year-old girl in Delhi by an Uber driver last Friday, Alina feels that Uber has double standards when it comes to the safety of its users in India. Sign her petition.

Travis Kalanick: .@Uber: Stop the double standards. Mandate a 7 year background check for all Uber drivers in India like in the US

Alina Tiphagne
New Delhi, Delhi

Sign Alina's Petition

A 25 year old woman was raped by one of your drivers. Thisdriver was a repeat offender and had spent seven months in Tihar jail in a sexual assault case. This is outrageous!

If your company had run a background check and got police verification done, this crime could’ve been avoided. What's worse, you have a three step background check process in the US but not in India. These are double standards.

I started this petition because I want you to stop the double standards and mandate a 7 year background check for all Uber drivers in India like in the US. Sign my petition.

Uber has a strong policy on background checks in the US.On your website you have boldly explained this policy:

“All Uber ridesharing and livery partners must go through a rigorous background check that leads the industry. The three-step screening we’ve developed across the United States, which includes county, federal and multi-state checks, has set a new standard. These checks go back 7 years. We apply this comprehensive and new industry standard consistently across all Uber products, including uberX.”

Why do you have these double standards then? Why aren’t the Indian Uber drivers subjected to the same process of background checks?

I am calling on all fellow Indians to sign my petition so that we can create public pressure and let Uber know that we will not tolerate their double standards. Uber, your image is on the line and you must take the safety of your Indian customers seriously.

Sign my petition and share it with your friends.

Uber, you must make a public statement and mandate a 7 year background check for all Uber drivers in India.

Pic Courtesy: the daily beast

Sign Alina's Petition

The person (or organisation) who started this petition is not affiliated with Change.org. Change.org did not create this petition and is not responsible for the petition content.

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Singapore signs MoU to plan, develop new capital of Andhra Pradesh

Dec 9, 8:24 AM
Andhra Pradesh signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Singapore for the development of its new capital that is set to come up near Vijawayada. The MoU was inked in Hyderabad yesterday evening in the presence of Chief Minister N Chandra Babu Naidu and S Eswaran, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office of Singapore.

Later, addressing a press conference along with Singapore Minister, Mr Naidu said the MoU facilitates Singapore to prepare a master plan for building the new capital of Andhra Pradesh. He said the master plan will be designed for the capital region that is likely to come up in an area of approximately 7,300 square kilometers and also for the capital city that will be spread in an area of 125 square kilometers.

The chief minister said, a joint High Level Committee will be set up to monitor the progress of the project. Mr Naidu said, the first phase of the development of the capital will be completed by 2019 and some Singapore companies might also be involved in capital construction.

Earlier, Mr Naidu announced land pooling policy for acquiring land from people for setting up the capital. The policy outlines the compensation to be paid to the displaced families of the new capital.

Govt plans to amend Motor Vehicle Act to stop crime by drivers: Gadkari

Dec 9, 12:47 PM
The government is planning to amend Motor Vehicle Act-1988 to remove the flaws in the existing Act. Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari today said, the amended Act will have a provision to keep records of data of motor vehicle drivers so that action can initiated in case they commit any crime. He said, the amended law will also have the provision of tracking criminal record of the drivers, if any.

Replying to a media query outside Parliament over the Delhi government banning the services of Uber company following the alleged rape of a 27-year-old woman executive in a cab booked through it, he said it is not right to ban companies as it will only cause problems to commuters. Mr Gadkari, however, said, the state government has right to take action in this regard.

Earlier, BSP chief Ms Mayawati said, the states and the Centre should take immediate steps to stop crimes against women. She told reporters that such incidents are on increase which is a major cause of concern.

Congress leader Rajeev Shukla said, a detailed investigation should be carried out in connection with cab service provider Uber. Mr Shukla said, if the agency is responsible only then it should be banned. However, if it was an isolated case, then the decision was taken hurriedly.

Effective Implementation of Healthcare Delivery Schemes

In March 2012, the Cabinet, inter-alia, approved continuation of National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) for a period of five years, from 01.04.2012 to 31.03.2017 (i.e. co-terminus with the 12th Five Year Plan). Currently, NRHM is a Sub- Mission of National Health Mission (NHM) with National Urban Health Mission (NUHM) being the other Sub-Mission.

Government of India had adopted a strategy of co-location of AYUSH facilities at Primary Health Centres (PHCs), Community Health Centres (CHCs) and District Hospitals (DHs), thus enabling choice for different systems of medicine from a single platform.

As of now, 15726 AYUSH facilities are co-located at various healthcare facilities including PHCs, CHCs and Districts Hospitals. 21361 AYUSH doctors and 6289 AYUSH paramedics are engaged under NRHM. Necessary support for training, drugs & equipment, IEC etc. is provided under the NRHM and National Ayush Mission.

ASHA is the first port of call in the community especially for marginalized sections of the population, with a focus on women and children. The majority of states have in place an active training and support system for the ASHA to ensure continuing training, on site field mentoring, and performance monitoring.

More than 8.96 lakh ASHAs are in place across the country and serve as facilitators, mobilizers and providers of community level care.

The Government of India is committed to reduce the high Out of Pocket (OOP) expenditure inter-alia by providing free drugs in public health facilities. Government of India introduced an incentive to the extent of 5 % of the state’s Resource Envelope under NHM for those states that implement free essential drugs scheme for all patients accessing public health facilities. Further, substantial funding for free drugs is being provided to states that implement the National Health Mission - Free Drug Service Initiative.

Mobile Medical Units (MMUs) are used to provide primary healthcare services in hard to reach areas. To increase visibility, awareness and accountability, all MMUs supported under the NHM have been repositioned as “National Mobile Medical Unit” with universal design.

The MoS, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Shri Shripad Yesso Naik stated this in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha here today.