Chennai, Sept 27 (ANI): Union Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss on Saturday said that the ban on smoking in public private places will come to effect from October 2nd and the penalty charge will be rupees two hundred at the initial stage.

He was participating in a Conference on International Study about Human Rights and Mental Health organised by the Department of Social Work Studies at Madras Christian College in Chennai, Principal Dr. V.J. Philip, staff of the department and students took part in this conference.

While speaking to the media, Ramadoss said the Centre is very keen and strong to bring a ban on smoking in public private places and all the State Governments had responded well in support of this ban. The ban would be effective from October 2nd, and it will be supervised by the State, Central Government officials and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGO).

The Health Minister also informed the media that the penalty charges for smoking at the public private places would be Rs. 200 initially and thereafter it will be increased to Rs. 1000. He added that the hotels or the industries that allow smoking would also be penalized.

Ramadoss said in last ten months in England around 45,000 people have quitted smoking and he expects it would happen in India too.

Earlier speaking about the human rights and mental health in the programme he said India is worst affected in the world due to the use of tobacco. He informed the conference that around 62 million people in India are using alcohol.

Ramadoss further added that in last couple of years the usage of alcohols by minors had increased considerably and it is a destruction situation for the society in India. (ANI)

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New Delhi, Oct 03 (ANI/Business Wire India): Recognizing the grave financial and security implications the sky-rocketing crude oil prices has on the economy, the India Energy Conference 2008 reiterated the fact that as one of the fastest growth economies of the world, the energy strategy of the country is critical for the achievement of our development objectives and the goal of the government as well as the corporate sector must be to improve access to reliable, affordable, economically viable, socially acceptable and environmentally sustainable energy sources.

The conference is organised by the Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) in association with Petroleum Federation of India (PetroFed) and the two-day conference was inaugurated by Vice President M. Hamid Ansari at Taj Palace Hotel, New Delhi.

It also had the presence of Abbas. A Naqi, Secretary General, OAPEC, Dr. R.K. Pachauri, Director-General TERI and Chairman IPCC, and Sarthak Behuria, Chairman, Petroleum Federation of India and Indian Oil Corporation Limited apart from other big-wigs in the oil and gas sector such as RIL, ONGC, GAIL, IOCL, BPCL, BP India, Vestas India.

Addressing the occasion, Dr. R.K. Pachauri, Director-General TERI and Chairman IPCC said, "We are going through historic changes in the energy sector, hence renewable and alternate sources of energy should be tapped in a bigger scale. I feel that nuclear energy is an important component of the energy sector. Energy sector needs major investments for R and D and the oil exporting nations will play a quintessential role in supporting the infrastructure and welfare of the local community."

He further added that "I see this as a unique opportunity for these nations to invest in countries like India that would be mutually beneficial. We, in TERI, realize that there is a need for closer relation with the Gulf. Biotechnology in TERI has invented technology to clean up oil spills through 'Oil Zapper'. Just as energy market is changing, there are enormous opportunity to work in collaboration to develop science and technology to meet demands and conserve environment through clean technologies."

Enunciating on the relevance of the conference, Ansari said, "Energy for development debate is important and should be multifaceted in nature encompassing environment conservation. Successful nations have harnessed energy security. Government's energy policy must meet demands at competitive prices and should be economically viable. The direct correlation between energy use and human development is well established."

"Our goal must remain to improve access to reliable, affordable, economically viable, socially acceptable and environmentally sustainable energy sources. We have no choice but to increase per capita energy consumption to provide to our citizens a minimum acceptable level of well being and welfare. I do hope that the conference deliberations would, while focusing on hydrocarbons, place them within the ambit of broader energy issues affecting us, and come forth with suitable policy options," he added.

Appreciating the initiative taken by TERI and organizers, Naqi said, "We envisage that Asian nations are expected to use two-third of total oil required in the developing countries. India itself is the fourth largest economy of the world and is the fifth largest energy consumer. OPEC has well-equipped itself to tackle the growing demands without compromising upon the environmental aspect. Fossil fuels will continue to satisfy the growing demands and OPEC is working towards building technologies to create cleaner fuels. We believe that mitigation and adaptation to climate change is necessary and OPEC nations have created a fund of 300 million dollar to conserve environment."

The two day conference is structured to provide an in-depth analysis of the policy and regulatory aspects in the entire value chain of the hydrocarbon sector.

While discussing alternative energy sources, the conference focused in their potential in India and identified policy imperatives required to push these sources to move the economy towards a sustainable pathway.

Specifically the conference focused on prospects of bio-fuels in the light of the controversies on the use of land for food v/s fuel. To present a balanced view, conference had national and international players of the new and renewable energy sources as speakers, with sessions ranging from exploration and production, refining, marketing and petroleum product pricing.

Panel discussions on natural gas market development, utilization and pricing were an integral part of the sessions. (ANI)

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New Delhi, Oct 7 (ANI): Angelina Jolie has confessed that after giving birth to twins she was thinking of quitting her acting career.

However, she said that it was partner Brad Pitt, who convinced her to stay.

The 33-year-old actress has claimed that Pitt persuaded her to return to work rather than caring full-time for their six children, reports China Daily.

"We had a big discussion about whether I should go back to work at all, but Brad said it was a part of me as well and it would be alright, so we're trying to balance it out," she said.

While, the actress has admitted that she wants to expand her family further, she claimed that having so many kids doesn't leave her with much time to spend with Brad, 44.

She explained: "Even if we lock our door the children come knocking.

"We often try to have a bath alone together at the end of the night and sit and talk, but they hear the water and want to jump in.

"But it's fun and lovely - the thing about having six is once you get past three or four, it's just so crazy anyway that it's just more chaos and that's OK." (ANI)

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Washington, Oct.13 (ANI): About six in 10 voters see Republican John McCain as mainly on the attack, while nearly seven in 10 say Obama is primarily addressing the issues in the campaign.

According to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.; 59 percent said McCain is focused on attacking Obama.

A report last week by the University of Wisconsin Advertising Project found that nearly all of McCain's TV spots at the beginning of the month were negative ads, compared with about a third of Obama's.

But both sides have been doing their share of negative ads: Overall, the university researchers show that 73 percent of McCain's ads and 61 percent of Obama's have been negative in tone over the course of the campaign.

In the new Post-ABC poll, one of the biggest changes and widest disparities on the candidate's tone is among independents.

Among those core swing voters, 68 percent see Obama as primarily issue-oriented, more than double the number to say so about McCain.

Since late August, these voters have become more inclined to see Obama as focused on addressing the issues, and less apt to say so of the Republican nominee. (ANI)

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