Indo-Canadians gathered in Toronto recently to raise funds for the Nargis Dutt Cancer Foundation which aids underprivileged people in India in securing medical treatment.

About $50,000 was raised at the dinner, which was held at the Westin Harbor Castle Hotel, downtown Toronto, in aid of the Nargis Dutt Cancer Foundation, established by the legendary Indian actress, Nargis Dutt, who died of cancer.

The South Asian community, headed by Parvez Ansari and Kusu Kundi, has established the Ontario Chapter of the Nargis Dutt Cancer Foundation. Over 500 people attended the fund-raiser and each paid $100. Nargis Dutt's husband, film actor and member of parliament Sunil Dutt was the keynote speaker on the occasion.

He had come specially from Mumbai to participate in the fund-raiser. Dutt said that there were enormous health problems in India. He recalled that his wife, Nargis Dutt, while lying in the hospital bed had wondered, "What about the poor people who have nofinancial resources and no facilities?" That is how the proposal for establishing the Nargis Dutt Cancer Foundation was initiated, Dutt said. It has now become a lifelong mission for Dutt. It has been 18 long years since the foundation was established and during this period, the foundation's chapters in the United States and Canada have raised and donated $3 million worth of equipment to 18 hospitals in various parts of India.

"These hospitals write to me in India and we then forward their requests to various chapters. These chapters may ask for my opinion. But no cash is handled by us. No cash is given by any chapter to any hospital in India. It is all in the form of medical equipment," Sunil Dutt explained. Citing instances, he said that recently the chapters from Vancouver had donated $60,000 and San Francisco and Los Angles had donated $50,000 each for a mobile hospital in Mumbai.

A decade of super-disasters ahead

Climate change, deforestation and overpopulation will make the next ten years a"decade of super-disasters," says a new report.

Published by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, the world's largest emergency response network, the report says: "Everyone is aware of the environmental problems of global warming and deforestation on the one hand and the social problems of increasing poverty and growing shanty towns on the other. But when these two factors collide, you have a new scale of catastrophe." The federation says the number of people needing its assistance has increased more than ten-fold over the past six years. Last year's season of natural disasters was the worst on record.

In 1998, natural disasters created more "refugees" than wars and conflict, the federation says.

Hurricane Mitch, which dumped a year's rainfall on Central America in a few hours, left 10,000 people dead and 2.5 million temporarily dependent on aid.

Navjyoti wins award for drug control

A New Delhi-based non-profit, non-governmental organisation has been selectedto receive the 1999 Serge Sotiroff Memorial Award for outstanding contributions to international drug control efforts.

Navjyoti Delhi Police Foundation was chosen to receive the annual award, named after Sotiroff who served the United Nations for 30 years before his death in 1976. The award carries a cash prize of $1,000 and a citation.

Navjyoti Delhi Police Foundation primarily treats and rehabilitates drug addicts and is run by a team of dedicated and committed professionals who are mostly recovering addicts. It also provides comprehensive programmes to support and assist addicts' families. In addition to its work in the Apradh Sudhar Selai Kendra sewing and tailoring centre, the foundation is active in education programmes for street and slum children, healthcare programmes, recreational and sports programmes and vocational and non-formal education, it said.

The award was set up by his friends and colleagues to commemorate the outstanding contribution of Sotiroff in international drug control,particularly his important role in preparatory conferences leading to the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, the 1971 Convention on Psychotropic Substances, and the 1972 Protocol amending the Single Convention.

IANS