New Delhi: In a major relief for food businesses, the country’s food regulator has made licenses valid for life.Under the new rules notified by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), food licenses and registrations will now remain permanently valid, unless canceled for violations. This means millions of restaurants, small eateries and vendors will no longer need to renew their licenses every few years. The move is part of a broader overhaul aimed at simplifying compliance while tightening actual food safety checks.The biggest beneficiaries of this decision will be the street vendors. Those already registered under the street vending law will now automatically be considered registered under the food safety rules as well, eliminating the need for multiple registrations and fees.The regulator has also simplified the way businesses are classified. Units with turnover up to Rs 1.5 crore will require only basic registration, while larger businesses will require a state or central license depending on the size.The new system will come into effect from April 1.Inspections are also going to change. Instead of routine checks, authorities will now follow a risk-based system: businesses with good track records will face fewer inspections, while repeat violators will be scrutinized more closely. Officials say the aim is to reduce paperwork and focus on actual food safety.At the same time, FSSAI has made it clear that there will be no relaxation in hygiene standards especially for high-risk areas like dairy, meat and packaged water.Following the changes, most food businesses have come under the purview of state authorities, with the state playing a larger role in monitoring and enforcement.For small businesses and vendors, the message is simple: fewer licenses, less hassle – but stricter scrutiny if rules are broken.

The government has proposed to abolish prison sentences

New Delhi: In a relief to first-time offenders, the government has proposed to do away with jail terms of up to three months for driving in violation of prescribed road safety and air and noise pollution norms.As part of the 784 provisions of 79 central laws that are to be amended through the Jan Vishwas Bill, many of which relate to decriminalisation, the government has proposed that driving a vehicle in violation of road safety or air-pollution control norms – which currently carries a punishment of three months’ jail or a fine of Rs 10,000 and six months’ disqualification from holding a driving license (DL) – will be punishable with a fine of Rs 10,000. Shall be punishable with fine and disqualification. To keep DL for three months for first offence. However, subsequent offenses will attract a jail term of up to six months and a fine of up to Rs 10,000.In case of violations related to noise pollution, the Bill proposes a warning for first-time offence, while a fine of up to Rs 10,000 will be imposed for repeat offence.Similarly, the penalty for failure to comply with an order or contravention of the provisions of the Electricity Act or rules, which currently attracts a jail term of three months with a fine of Rs 1 lakh, is proposed to be changed from Rs 10,000 to Rs 10 lakh.Compounding, which is an alternative to lump sum settlement, has been sought to be made mandatory for the first cases of electricity theft or interference with the functioning of meters or the licensee and deliberate damage to the works.Further, in a relief to home buyers, the Bill proposes to remove the existing provision of maximum one year jail term for allottees who fail to comply with the orders of the Real Estate Appellate Tribunal. The penalty for allottees is proposed to be increased to 10% of the property price.In another move to decriminalize unauthorized hawking in trains, the government has proposed to amend a section of the Railways Act under which the punishment of one year in jail and a fine of Rs 1,000-2,000 will be changed to a fine of only up to Rs 2,000.

New Delhi: They had no red flags. No “high risk” tag. According to standard medical calculators, he was not the kind of patient doctors worry about. Then the heart attack happened – suddenly and without warning. Doctors say this is no longer unusual. A major Indian study suggests this may be the norm.In a retrospective analysis of more than 5,000 Indian patients, widely used global cardiovascular risk calculators failed to identify the majority of people at risk, with nearly 80% of those who had previously had a heart attack not previously flagged as high risk. Researchers led by Dr Mohit Dayal Gupta at Delhi’s GB Pant Hospital say Western models ignore India-specific risk patterns, often placing patients in the low or moderate category despite the underlying risk.These models are used by doctors to decide who needs treatment, but the study found that they often misclassify risk and sometimes produce conflicting results. In all models, only 11%–20% of patients were labeled high risk, even though all ultimately had a heart attack.“Indian patients and populations behave completely differently. We have different risk factors, different patterns and so Western scores may not always be appropriate,” Dr Gupta said.

‘80% of people who have their first heart attack were not labeled high risk’

At the heart of the problem is a mismatched relationship. Most of these risk calculators were designed using Western populations, where heart disease occurs later. In India, it strikes earlier and behaves differently – the study found that the average age of patients was just 54, underscoring how premature heart disease has become.Researchers say Indians show a distinct “South Asian phenotype”. Heart risk appears earlier, often with diabetes and insulin resistance, even at normal body weight. Cholesterol patterns are confusing – low HDL and high triglycerides, while LDL may not be very high. Despite appearing thin, many people have hidden abdominal fat, a risk that is missed by BMI-based assessments. Smoking and psychosocial stress, along with traditional risk factors such as diabetes, smoking, and dyslipidemia, further increase this hidden burden.This is why Western risk scores underperform. They depend heavily on age and LDL cholesterol, which leads to underestimation in young Indians. As a result, many patients fall into the “intermediate risk” category – a gray zone that often delays preventive treatment. Importantly, these models ignore key factors such as insulin resistance, lipoprotein (a), apoB, central obesity and chronic kidney disease.The impact is significant. These scores determine who gets preventive medications and close monitoring. When the risk is underestimated, intervention often occurs only after a major incident.The findings have raised renewed demand for customized risk scores, as the Indian population is poorly represented in global datasets. Experts say that until such tools are developed, risk calculators should be used along with clinical judgment, including family history, diabetes, psychosocial stressors, and early screening.

Srinagar: A day after an avalanche at the Zero Point in Zoji La, located at an altitude of over 11,500 feet, killed seven Kargil workers and injured six others, the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council-Kargil on Saturday accused the Jammu and Kashmir administration of lax response and demanded the governments of Union Territory Ladakh and Jammu and Kashmir recognize the Zero Point as part of the territory of Ladakh. Requested to agree.Addressing a press conference in Dras, LAHDC-Kargil councilors praised the Army, civil administration and Ladakh Police for the prompt rescue efforts and retrieval of bodies from the snow after the accident on Friday afternoon. However, he expressed surprise at the “investigation of the incident by Jammu and Kashmir Police on Saturday morning”. He alleged that although Jammu and Kashmir claims the area as part of its territory, its administrative machinery is always slow to respond whenever an accident occurs there.In fact, the councilors refuted Jammu and Kashmir’s claim that Zero Point, spread over about five kilometres, falls under its jurisdiction.Jammu and Kashmir officials say the zero point at Zoji La marks the border between Ganderbal district in Kashmir and Kargil district in Ladakh. However, the councilors said the zero point is not a border but a place used for snow clearance operations by two wings of the Border Roads Organization (BRO) – Beacon and Vijayak, which handle the Kashmir and Ladakh sides respectively.Dr Mohammad Jafar Akhoon, Chief Executive Councilor, LAHDC-Kargil, said that since the abrogation of Article 370 and bifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir into two Union Territories on August 5, 2019, the border at Zoji La has not been demarcated and the Zero Point falls under the jurisdiction of Ladakh.Akhoon said heavy vehicles should not have been allowed to move along with light vehicles on Friday, and urged officials to allow traffic on the Srinagar-Kargil road before 11 am to reduce the risk of vehicles getting stuck in avalanches. “Local knowledge suggests that during March and April, snow begins to melt in Zozi La in the afternoon, increasing the risk of avalanches,” he said.Praising BRO for “doing a commendable job in keeping Zoji La open during winter”, Akhnoor stressed that “better management and consideration of local knowledge is required” to prevent accidents.