Tuesday, January 16, 2018

India, Israel ink MoU to boost research in homoeopathy

Jan 16, 2018 08:50 AM IST | Source: PTI

India, Israel ink MoU to boost research in homoeopathy

The pact was signed between Central Council for Research in Homoeopathy, Ministry of AYUSH, and Centre for Integrative Complementary Medicine, Shaare Zedek Medical Centre, Jerusalem.

India and Israel signed a memorandum of understanding to enhance cooperation and boost research in homoeopathy, a system of alternative medicine.
AYUSH, and Centre for Integrative Complementary Medicine, Shaare Zedek Medical Centre, Jerusalem.
The MoU is a part of the nine agreements signed between the two countries after talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu.
The MoU envisages cooperation in the field of research in homoeopathic medicine. It included establishment of a joint working group.
Netanyahu, who arrived here yesterday, will visit Ahmedabad and Mumbai during his six-day stay in India.

Yoga practitioners to be registered in J&K

Yoga practitioners to be registered in J&K

Bill introduced to amend J&K Ayurvedic Act

Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Jan 15: Jammu and Kashmir Ayurvedic and Unani Practitioners Act, 1959 is being amended by the Government to bring it at par with the Central Act.
A bill in this regard was introduced by the Minister for Health and Medical Education Bali Bhagat in the Legislative Assembly today.
Specifying the reasons behind this move, the Minister said that some provisions of the Jammu and Kashmir Ayurvedic and Unani Practitioners Act, 1959 are inconsistent with the Central Act and have thus become obsolete. “Therefore, it is imperative that the State Act be brought at par with the Central Act”, he added.
“There is no provision for establishment of an Ayurvedic/Unani Institution in the principal Act nor any provision for conduct of examination of institutions affiliated to the Board and procedure to be adopted for recognition of institutions and examinations and de-recognition”, the Minister said while justifying the reasons behind amendments proposed in some sections of the Act.
He informed the House that the punishment for any person practicing without being registered under the Act or pretending falsely to be registered practitioner is merely Rs 200 as such has encouraged quackery. “The punishment needs to be deterrent to impose curbs on violation. Therefore, proportionate and condign punishment has been proposed”, the Minister added.
Stating that at present there is no law regulating the practice of Yoga system of treatment in the State, he said, “there have been repeated requests from the practitioners of Yoga system to give them statutory recognition”, adding “in order to curb quackery it is considered necessary to regulate the practice of Yoga practitioners and to provide for registration of persons practicing Yoga system”.
Pointing towards Sub-Section 6 (2) of the J&K Ayurvedic and Unani Practitioners Act, 1959, he said, “the Board of J&K Ayurvedic and Unani was constituted in the year 1995 and no elections could be held for 20 years for one reason or the other and such gaps are required to be plugged so that elections are held within reasonable time”, adding “Sub-Section 2 of Section 6 is required to be amended so that elections to the Board shall be held immediately after expiry of prescribed term or at the most within three months”.

Thursday, January 11, 2018

Virtual ID (VID) and ADHAAR

Aadhaar Authentication: How To Use Virtual ID (VID)

UIDAI has now released the concept of a temporary, 16-digit Virtual ID (VID) that can be used by Aadhaar card holders for authentication purposes.

  | Updated: January 11, 2018 15:58 IST

The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), which issues the 12-digit Unique Identity Number as well as Aadhaar card, has introduced a new way to secure biometric details of the citizens. The move by the Aadhaar-issuing body came after media reports alleged that personal data of millions of people could be easily accessed by breaching into the 14-digit unique IDs. The UIDAI has now released the concept of a temporary, 16-digit Virtual ID (VID)that can be used by Aadhaar holders for authentication purposes. Aadhaar card number is to be mandatorily registered with banks, financial institutions, permanent account numbers (PAN), social security schemes and a host of other essential utilities. Therefore, Aadhaar is to be furnished for availing all these facilities. But with the launch of a Virtual ID, users can provide this temporary 16-digit number for verification purposes.
 

What Virtual ID (VID) means

The Virtual ID, which would be a random 16-digit number, together with biometrics of the user would give limited details like name, address and photograph, which are enough for any verification. This will give the users the option of not sharing their Aadhaar number at the time of authentication.
How to use Virtual ID (VID)

VID will be a temporary, revocable 16-digit random number mapped with the Aadhaar number, according to the UIDAI. "Last digit of the VID is the checksum using 'Verhoeff' algorithm as in Aadhaar number. There will be only one active and valid VID for an Aadhaar number at any given time," the UIDAI said in a statement. Verhoeff algorithm is a checksum formula for error detection developed by the Dutch mathematician Jacobus Verhoeff.

"VID, by design being temporary, cannot be used by agencies for de-duplication. VID is revocable and can be replaced by a new one by Aadhaar number holder after the minimum validity period set by UIDAI policy," the authority added.

The UIDAI will start accepting VID from March 1, 2018. From June 1, 2018 it will be compulsory for all agencies that undertake authentication to accept Virtual ID from their users, it added.


Further steps of UIDAI to secure Aadhaar card details

The UIDAI has also introduced the concept of 'limited KYC' under which it will only provide need-based or limited details of a user to an authorised agency that is providing a particular service, say, a telecom operator.

COMMENTS

Many people have been opposing the mandatory linking of Aadhaar with other services over privacy concerns. Hence the deadline for linking Aadhaar with essential facilities has been repeatedly getting postponed. The current deadline for linking Aadhaar with multiple utilities is March 31.

Those looking to change their mobile number fed into Aadhaar system need to visit an Aadhaar Kendra or Aadhaar centre to do so. Aadhaar mobile number update requires biometric authentication and it cannot be done by post or online. This was said by the UIDAI or Unique Identification Authority of India - the issuer of the 12-digit Aadhaar number or Unique Identity Number (UID) as well as Aadhaar card - on microblogging site Twitter. This is why, the UIDAI explains, you need to visit the nearest Aadhaar Kendra (Aadhaar centre).

"Registering/updating mobile number in Aadhaar requires biometric authentication. It cannot be done via Post or online mode. Visit to Aadhaar Kendra is must," the UIDAI noted.
 

Aadhaar card: How to locate nearest Aadhaar centre


The UIDAI also provides several online tools related to Aadhaar card. One of these tools enables users to locate the Aadhaar Kendra or Aadhaar centre nearest to them. The UIDAI shared a link to this tool. The UIDAI also shared telephone helpline 1947 for information on Aadhaar Kendra.

Aadhaar card: How to update your registered mobile number


A change in the registered mobile number can be made by visiting the nearest Permanent Enrolment Centre. The Aadhaar holder has to be present with the Aadhaar card at the Permanent Enrolment Centre for a change in the registered mobile number, an executive on the UIDAI helpline 1947 said. No other document is required, the executive added.

COMMENTS
The UIDAI has shared helplines 1947 (toll free) and help@uidai.gov.in for queries relating to Aadhaar, according to the UIDAI website.

The UIDAI portal also enables users to search for information about Aadhaar centres using different criteria.