Neymar is ready to assume the mantle of the world's best player and is now the equal of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, according to Brazil great Ronaldinho.

After a slow start to the current season, Neymar has struck a rich vein of form in recent weeks, culminating with a decisive performance in Barcelona's 6-1 Champions League victory over Paris Saint-Germain last week, reports Xinhua news agency.

"Neymar is a close friend and he is Brazil's greatest idol today," Ronaldinho told reporters.

"He's already at the same level as (Cristiano) Ronaldo and Messi and we hope that one day he can get the Ballon d'Or and continue his success, but he's already one of the best players in the world and it's just a matter of time."

Neymar was third in the 2015 Ballon d'Or and has already been tipped by Messi and Brazil legend Pele to be a future winner.

Despite scoring fewer goals this season than his previous two campaigns at the Camp Nou, Neymar has been no less important.

The 25-year-old has scored 14 times and provided 17 assists in 34 matches across all competitions in 2016-17.

Ronaldinho, twice voted FIFA World Player of the Year during his 2003-08 spell at Barcelona, said he was looking forward to representing the Catalan club again in a legends match against Real Madrid next month.

"I'm not playing professionally right now, but I'm always ready to play — especially in a game like that," the 36-year-old World Cup winner said.

Country's 'Millennium City' Gurugram, known for superior infrastructure and luxury lifestyle, is also ahead of all cities in Haryana when it comes to crime against women as maximum number of such cases including domestic violence incidents reported in Gurugram in the past one and half years.

Report tabled recently in Haryana Legislative Assembly shows that the Gurugram records highest number of cases reported to Women Police Stations, mainly dealing with the complaints relating to women and children.

Figures show that a total 348 cases registered in Gurugram's Women Police Station between August 2015 to February this year. City records highest number of cases reported by women during the period.

Gurugram Women Police Station (WPS), SHO Kailash told The Statesman that maximum numbers of the cases reported and registered pertain to domestic violence and the majority of such complaints are reported by the employees engaged in multi-national companies (MNCs).

"Most of such cases were registered under Sections 498 A of the Indian Penal Code. The rest has been registered under Sections 406 and 506 of the IPC. Nearly 60 per cent of these cases registered with us, belong to the households of those are working in MNCs here," she added.

The Millennium City is followed by its neghbouring city and Haryana's industrial hub Faridabad with registration of 265 such cases during the same period.

The SHO, Faridabad WPS, Sushila Devi told that most of the cases were reported to them also pertain to domestic violence.

Highest number of cases were registered under Section 498A and 376 of the IPC. Many cases have also been registered under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

Data further shows that Gurugram and Faridabad are followed by Ambala and Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar's Assembly constituency Karnal, with registration of 230 and 220 such cases respectively.

Next in the tally are district Jhajjar with 209 cases, Sonepat 205 and Palwal with 203 of such cases registered with its WPS, while lowest number of cases relating to women and children were reported in Kurukshetra with 71 FIRs and Sirsa with 74.

A total 3,483 cases were registered in Haryana at its WPSs during the above mentioned period. further it is revealed that during last year, a total 36,086 complaints of domestic violence, family disputes and dowry demands, etc were received, out of which 33,043 complaints were disposed off.

As many as 22 WPSs have been set up in Haryana. These police stations are almost exclusively manned by women police officers, except for a few male colleagues for auxiliary duties, etc. However, the WPSs are facing shortage of staff with deployment of merely 701 female police personnel against a sanctioned strength of 1640.

Google India on Thursday expanded the transit feature on Google Maps to seven more Indian cities to help users better plan their local commute.

The newly added cities are Chandigarh, Lucknow, Vadodara, Indore, Mysore, Surat and Coimbatore.

"Google Maps is your guide to the world around you and this launch is part of our effort to reflect the real world and provide you with relevant information about your surroundings," Sanket Gupta, Product Manager of Google Maps, said in a statement.

With the update, the transit feature is now available in sixteen Indian cities — the seven newly added places and Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkata, Jaipur, Hyderabad, Pune and Ahmedabad.

'Google Transit' is a feature on Google Maps designed to help a user to plan a commute with just few taps.

If a user wants to go to Sukhna Lake in Chandigarh, he/she needs to search for Sukhna Lake and Google Maps will show how to get there from the user's current location.

Google will also show bus routes and stops, including details such as departure and arrival times, the names of bus stands and even where to change buses.

Google Transit is available on Google Maps for Android and iOS as well as on browser.

Google Maps globally provides over one billion kilometre worth of transit results every day and has schedules for more than 2.5 million public transit stops worldwide.

Drug menace, farm loans, revival of industry and improvement of state's financial health are set to be high on Captain Amarinder Singh's agenda when he begins his second innings as the Punjab chief minister on Thursday.

All the above formed the core of the Congress' poll manifesto and it's likely to prove a major challenge for the new government to deliver results.

Having promised to end the wide-spread drug menace in the state within four weeks, Amarinder could very well begin his new innings on Thursday with the formation of a special task force to wipe out the drug menace.

He also intends to set up more rehabilitation and de-addiction centres, as well as appointment of more psychiatrists, to tackle the drugs problem.

For revival of ailing industries, the new government would liberlise the state's industrial policy in a bid to check the flight of industries and make Punjab an attractive destination for them. According to a Right to Information reply, as many as 18,770 factories closed between 2007 and 2014.

In view of the state's worst financial health, fulfilling the farm loan waiver would, however, prove a uphill task for the Congress government as the total farm indebtedness in Punjab is estimated to be about Rs.69,355 Crore. Faced with the grim fiscal scenario, in the recent past cash-strapped Punjab government have been delaying payment of salaries to its employees, VAT refunds to industries and clearing its fuel expense bills.

Austerity already appears to be high on the new CM's mind as he has already asked for keeping the swearing-in ceremony as a low-key affair keeping "in view the financial constraints facing the state".

Having promised one government job for each household, generating employment will also a major challenge for the new government. The unemployment rate among state's youth is 16.6 per cent as compared to the national average of 10.2 per cent.

The CM has already made it clear that generating employment will take some time.

The government will not rush to set up ultra mega power project in Bihar as it could mean costly power to the people, the Lok Sabha was informed on Thursday by Power Minister Piyush Goyal .

Responding to supplementariesPiyush Goyal said the government would prefer to adopt a "calibrated" approach in setting up an ultra mega power project in Banka region of Bihar.

He said the government would not rush to set up the project there as it would mean costly power per unit to the people of the state. Today, the power is available at a cost of nearly Rs 4 per unit.

The minister said the country has surplus power and coal as states like Bihar get power at a cost of Rs 3.50 per unit in 'power exchange'.

He said while talks are on with the state government for land for the project, the coal block has been identified. 

Honda Cars India has finally launched its debutant sub-4m crossover, the WRV. It is available in just two trims – the base 'S' and the range-topping 'VX'.

Honda is offering dual-front airbags along with ABS and EBD as standard with the WR-V. It borrows its powertrains from the Jazz – the 1.2-litre i-VTEC petrol (five-speed manual) and 1.5-litre i-DTEC diesel (six-speed manual). However, it doesn’t offer the CVT automatic option unlike the Jazz’ petrol version. And, its certified fuel efficiency is slightly lower than the hatch; the petrol WR-V returns 17.5kmpl (1.2kmpl less), while the diesel returns 25.5kmpl (1.8kmpl less).

Dimensionally, the WRV has marginally larger footprints as opposed to the Jazz, and it also rides on 16-inch wheels featuring a ground clearance of 188mm (23mm increment over the Jazz).

See what it offers extra over the hatch: Honda WR-V Vs Jazz: What’s Different

In terms of features, it packs more goodies compared to the hatch, which are largely borrowed from the facelifted Honda City, such as one-touch open and close sunroof, 7.0-inch infotainment system, passive keyless entry, and others. Interestingly, it doesn’t offer the famed Magic Seats of the Honda Jazz. Speaking of the warranty, the Japanese automaker is offering three years/unlimited kilometres warranty as standard, which can be extended for additional two years/unlimited kilometres, with the Honda WRV.

Source: cardekho.com

Senior minister M Venkaiah Naidu on Thursday faced opposition ire when he got up to rebut their criticism of the government for allowing duty free import of wheat at the time of bumper crop.

Angry exchanges were witnessed during the Zero Hour after the Urban Development Minister termed as "unfair" the opposition criticism of the government for not fulfilling the promise of paying a minimum price equivalent to one-and-a -half-times the cost to farmers for their crop.

Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad asked why should the minister "unnecessarily intervene" in the Zero Hour which as per rules is members' time to raise issues pertaining to public interest.

Moreover, it was not his job to intervene as he was neither the Agriculture minister, nor the Parliamentary Affairs minister who responds in absence of the concerned minister, he said and shot back at Naidu: "You are habitual of intervening."

Deputy Chairman P J Kurien said ministers have a right to respond but criticising and attacking the government on policy issues is a right of the members. "Members can do that."

Raising the issue after his rule 267 adjournment motion was converted into a Zero Hour mention, Sharad Yadav (JD-U) said farmers were being forced to do distress sale of wheat and pulses as zero-duty import had been allowed in a year of bumper harvest.

While the Minimum Support Price (MSP) for wheat has been fixed at Rs.1,625 per qunital, the going rate in the market is Rs.1,550, he said. Similarly, against a MSP ranging between Rs.4,527 to Rs.4,850 per quintal for different pulses, the going rate is Rs.3,400-3,500 per qunital.

He was supported by members across opposition parties with Tapan Sen (CPI-M) demanding revoking the order for zero duty imports of wheat.

Sitaram Yechury (CPI-M) said the BJP came to the power on the promise of paying one-and-a-half times the cost as MSP but the farmers were being forced to sell their produce at less than MSP.

Women are doing phenomenally well across various fields in today’s time. However,when it comes to getting behind the wheels, men are predominantly ahead of women. There is a lack of women drivers in Indian public transportation services and one wonders why. Even in this 21st century, we are dealing with gender disparity, patriarchy and many such related issues.

To bridge this gender gap, a non-profit organisation, Azad Foundation,is working tirelessly to promote women drivers across the country’s transport sector. This Delhi-based organisation aims to train and endorse essentially underprivileged women, from poor socio-economic backgrounds, to become strong independent drivers.

Highlighting the testimonials of 12 exceptional lady drivers, Lady Driver: Stories of Women Behind the Wheel, anew book edited by Jayawati Shrivastava and published by Zubaan Books,brings out several inspirational stories of these women endowed with immense passion. The book contains the stories of 12 lady drivers, who come from difficult circumstances from across the country, trained by Azad Foundation in India under its Women on Wheels programme.

The various stories have been written by Runu Chakraborty,Sunita Thakur,Deepti Priya Mehrotra, Meenu Vadera, Anita Mathur and Shrinivas Rao. The storytellers have based these stories on detailed narrative interviews with the drivers, bringing together complex and unique stories of aspirations, struggles, setbacks and ongoing journeys. Namita Gokhale,director of Yatra Books, who launched this book in collaboration with Oxford bookstore at a literary gathering in the Capital recently, said, “This book is an inspirational book of testimonials by lady drivers. We have published this in Hindi too.

The more we spread the word about this book,the more people know that there are options for women to earn a living with dignity and nobility.” Founder and CEO of Zubaan Books, Urvashi Butalia, said, “We as a feminist publishing house felt that it was very important to publish this book, which maps the journeys of 12 women from poor, marginalised communities, who have transformed their lives by taking up the challenge of becoming women drivers.It is about women empowerment. This book is published in both Hindi and English.” “The last few decades have seen a number of interventions that take different approaches to the question of women’s empowerment: education, skill building, institution building, local governance and more. Azad’s chosen method of intervention focuses on women in rapidly urbanising modern settings.Here they have chosen to move away from a focus on skills like tailoring, embroidery, knitting or training as beauticians, nurses and so on. But why driving? For Azad, the choice of driving meant moving away from the beaten track, challenging patriarchal notions of women’s so-called inferior capabilities:this was crucial to their overall vision,” writes Shrivastava. One of the chapters is based on an amazing mother-daughter pair,where 42-yearold Savitri, who along with her 21-yearold daughter Poonam, is a professional chauffeur. They are the only two women drivers in Bhati Khurd village in Mehrauli.

Savitri says, “Sometimes people ask me in surprise, ‘What work do you do? You drive a car?’And my response is,‘Yes,and what’s wrong with that? Who says I can’t drive a car? Who says I can’t work?’ And then people respond, ‘Yes, you can probably do it, but we didn’t think you could.’ This is how people talk. I don’t have problems driving. I’m not scared. Even if the roads are very crowded, I just stop for a while if other people are rushing too much. I mean, what is the big problem? We’ll reach a few minutes later, that’s all.” Each story is unique and brings into limelight the reality check of women’s significance in today’s time. The book takes into cognizance the different thresholds that women cross, such as personal, social and economic concerns, to improve their lives. “None of the stories here is closed – in other words, the stories do not ‘end’. What we have here are slices from the lives of these women. The women themselves continue on with their journeys;for some their lives have moved on, for others there may have been setbacks not recorded here. None of the stories here should be seen as an ‘end product’,” opines Shrivastava.

The Goods and Service Tax (GST) Council will meet on Thursday to discuss the remaining two draft laws — UTGST (Union Territory GST) and sGST (state GST) — to enable a likely rollout of the new indirect tax regime by July 1.

GST Council consists of Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and state finance ministers.

The meeting will be held in the evening. A meeting of concerned GST officials of the central and state government took place in the morning to do the groundwork for the meeting, Finance Ministry sources said.

The government is hoping for the passage of UTGST and sGST draft laws at Thursday's meeting. 

"The sGST and UTGST are replica of cGST (central GST) and the settlement of their drafts is only a formality," Jaitley had said earlier.

The other three draft laws — central cGST (cGST), integrated GST (iGST) and compensation draft laws — have already been approved by the Council.

Once these are approved, the four laws – compensation, UTGST, cGST and iGST – will be approved by the Cabinet and placed in Parliament.

Meanwhile, the sGST draft law will have to be approved by the legislative assemblies of states and union territories (Delhi, Puducherry).

The UTGST draft law is for the union territories like Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli, which do not have legislative assemblies.

With the approval of the five draft laws, the legislative action of the GST Council will be over, after which there will be another meeting for fitment of the goods and services in the tax slabs – 5 per cent, 12 per cent, 18 per cent, 28 per cent.

The Council has approved raising the cGST, sGST peak tax rate from 14 per cent to 20 per cent each, amounting to a peak rate of 40 per cent, though Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia has assured that the maximum ceiling is only for future contingencies.

The government is looking at a rollout date of July 1 for the new indirect tax regime. 

"It (GST) looks on track. Subject to Parliament approval, it looks like the possible date of implementation of GST is July 1," Jaitley said.

The K Palaniswami government on Thursday presented its maiden budget in the assembly where a reference to AIADMK General Secretary V K Sasikala by Finance Minister D Jayakumar invited strong protests from the opposition DMK.

DMK, which demanded that the remarks be expunged, also tried to raise the issue of a no confidence motion proposed by it against Speaker P Dhanapal.

But the Speaker said he would stick to the day's agenda of presentation of the budget and possibly take up the matter later during this session.

Soon after commencing his budget speech, Jayakumar paid tributes to late chief Minister Jayalalithaa and later thanked "honourable Chinnamma' (Sasikala).

At this point, Leader of the Opposition M K Stalin sprang to his feet and questioned how the name of a person convicted by the court could be raised in the Assembly. He was supported by party MLAs who were seen making loud protests.

In the meantime, the Speaker asked the finance minister to pause his budget speech for a while and allowed Stalin to speak.

Questioning mention of Sasikala's name, Stalin said the Speaker does not even allow sub-judice matters to be raised.

Countering him, leader of the House and School Education Minister K A Sengottaiyan said it was the usual practise for ministers and MLAs to greet, laud and thank their party leader while speaking in the assembly.

There was "nothing wrong" in Jayakumar taking the name of Sasikala, he said.

Stalin reiterated how a convicted person's name could be taken in the House and wanted the Speaker to expunge the remarks by the finance minister.

Sengottaiyan remarked Sasikala was AIADMK General Secretary and it was not wrong to mention her name.

Later, the finance minister continued with his budget speech uninterrupted.

Prior to presenting the budget, Jayakumar paid respects at the memorial of late Jayalalithaa at the Marina Beach here, placing the suitcase containing the budget papers at the site.

Meanwhile, AIADMK MLAs owing allegiance to Sasikala welcomed Chief Minister Palaniswami by thumping of the desks when he entered the house.

He had won a floor test on February 18.

After launching a smartphone in the highbudget category – Vivo V5Plus (Priced around 29,999) – the Chinese manufacturer has come up with a medium-range device, Vivo V55S this February. Priced at Rs.12,490, the Vivo V55S is said to be an upgraded version of Vivo V55L with several improved features. Now the big question is, should one go for this phone. Of course, if one is looking for decent battery, good looks and good performance. But if one is also looking for good camera, don't even think about the phone.

In this age of selfies, the front camera, with just 5 MP, is highly disappointing. The back camera is also not much to write about. It also doesn't have fingerprint sensor, which other phones in this range are having.

Design and display

In design, the phone seems to earn some brownie points as it looks decent and compact with its sturdy plastic body. However, the phone has imbibed its looks from previous Vivo phones. Weighing around 142 g, with dimensions of 147.90 x 72.90 x 7.50 mm, the phone is light and fits well in the hand. The device also comes with a protective film applied on top of the 2.5D touch glass. The power and volume rockers are comfortably placed on the right edge of the phone.

The main camera is on the top at the back along with an LED flash. The memory card slot is at the top and a normal micro USB Type-A port and mono speaker are at the bottom. The 5.2-inch-phone has a resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels and 282 ppi of pixel density, it looks fine when watching videos or surfing. The phone also has auto-brightness and eye-protection modes. In the latter mode, to protect eyes from prolonged usage, the bluish tint changes to yellow. The quality of audio output is good and loud.

Specification

The Y55s has a quad-core 1.4GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 425 processor, supported by a 3GB RAM and 16 GB internal space. It runs on the Android version 6.0 Marshmallow-based Funtouch 3.0. Overall the performance looks smooth, if not the best. There was not much heating while browsing, playing games or watching videos. With the help MicroSd cards one could enhance the storage up to 256 GB.

Camera and battery

These days camera is becoming the main feature for smartphones, but Y55S fails to entice on this front. The rear camera is a 13MP with f/2.2 aperture lens, and front is just 5 MP only.

The colour accuracy is not great. Pictures taken from the phone look good until it is in the phone, but when downloaded on bigger display the quality gets a little distorted. The same is true of the front camera. The 2,750 mAh battery is one of the plus points of the phone. One can spend the whole day in moderate to heavy usage on full charge. However, it lacks fast-charging.

Members in the Rajya Sabha, cutting across party lines, extended a warm welcome to External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Thursday, when she came to the House after a long absence due to health reasons.

As soon as she was spotted stepping into her front row seat during the Zero Hour, members began thumping their desks and it continued for some time as she acknowledged with folded hands.

Greeting 65-year-old Swaraj, Deputy Chairman P J Kurien wished her a long and healthy life.

"We are all happy to see a healthy and smiling Sushma Ji," he said, as the minister accepted the wishes.

Later responding to a Zero Hour mention by T Subbarami Reddy (Cong) on hate crimes against Indians in the US, Swaraj said she would make a detailed statement on Monday.

During the Question Hour, the minister also replied to queries to members.

Swaraj underwent a kidney transplant on December 10 at the AIIMS. She had participated in the proceedings of the Lok Sabha on Wednesday.

More than 600 villages in Punjab are reeling under acute drinking water crisis for the third consecutive week as their local bodies have failed to clear power supply dues to the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL).

The PSPCL officials said that they had to collect a whooping sum of Rs.235 crore from the local bodies.

They, however, said, the power connections of around 50 villages have been restored after their Municipal Councils have deposited Rs.100 crore.

Sources further said that the dues were pending since the tenure of previous Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) -Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) government which was voted out of power on 11 March.

The officers further said that the supply to at least 300 villages out of 3,500 being maintained by the panchayats and around 275 centres out of 4,200 maintained by the Water supply and Sanitation Department (each centre caters to three or four villages) was affected.

"We are in the process for restoring the connections of those villages where bills have been deposited. We have recovered Rs.100 Crore out of a total outstanding dues of Rs.230 crore. The average collection these days was more than Rs.2.50 crore daily and we expect the situation to be normal within a week," director distribution, PSPCL, K L Sharma, told The Statesman.

Sources said that in Abohar district only, PSPCL officials had issued notices to 74 villages for payment of dues amounting to Rs.5.1 Crore. Similarly, bills worth Rs.175 Crore from consumers in Muktsar and Fazilka districts were due.

Of this amount, Rs.110 crore is due towards 1.45 lakh individual consumers and Rs.65 crore towards government departments.

Ashwinder Pal Singh Khaira, a Sarpanch of Laksian village, 35 kilometers away from Jalandhar said, "It is the negligence of civic authorities who have not deposited the bills on time. Due to this, the common public is forced to bear the brunt. Over 10,000 population of six villages has been affected due to the shortage of water," he said.

Similarly, a sarpanch from Muktsar district, said, “We have been warned for water disconnection. We are in the process to deposit an outstanding bill of more than Rs.13 lakh."

A thousand number of villagers are grappling with water shortage, particularly, after February 4 Punjab Assembly polls as PSPCL spearheaded its campaign to collect arrears from government entities.

Departments, including police and civil administration in Bathinda, Muktsar and Mansa itself had an outstanding power bill around Rs.140 Crore.

The telecom tribunal on Thursday did not stay Reliance Jio's free promotional offer, but asked regulator Trai to "re-examine" issues relating to the approval granted to the operator to continue with the freebies.

The Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT), in its order on Thursday, asked Trai to apprise it of the "outcome and findings of the examination" within two weeks.

TDSAT last week had reserved the order on an interim appeal seeking a stay on Reliance Jio's free offer after hearing all the parties concerned, including Trai, incumbent operators Bharti Airtel and Idea Cellular, and newcomer Jio.

In its interim appeal, Airtel had sought a stay on Trai's approval to Jio to continue with the free services. It had also sought a direction to the regulator to produce all the records related to its decision.

The appeal also sought to restrain Jio from providing its consumers the zero tariff plan and promotional plans.

Jio had launched the inaugural free voice and data plan in September last year, and in December, extended the freebies till March 31, 2017.

Following this, the existing players such as Airtel and Idea moved the telecom tribunal against Trai for letting the new operator continue the free promotional offer beyond the stipulated 90 days.

The operators criticised the regulator for being a "mute spectator" to the alleged violations.

On January 31, Trai had held that Jio's free voice calling and data plan were not violation of the regulatory guidelines.

Trai had further said its examination had revealed that the 'Happy New Year Offer' launched by Jio on December 4, 2016, is distinct from its earlier Jio Welcome Offer and could not be treated as an extension of the promotional offer as the benefits under both differed.

Recently, Jio announced that it will start charging for its mobile services from April 1.

Last month, Jio said its existing subscribers and new customers who come on board by March 31 can continue to enjoy unlimited benefits of its Happy New Year Offer for one more year (till March 31, 2018) by paying a one-time fee of Rs.99 and thereafter Rs.303 a month.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said he wished to keep working and urged others to do the same too.

He spoke at the BJP's parliamentary party meeting where he was felicitated over the Bharatiya Janata Party's performance in assembly elections.

A BJP leader who attended the meeting said: "Modiji said he will keep working and asked us to do the same. He said that he will not sit idle and will not let anyone sit idle." 

Home Minister Rajnath Singh moved a resolution to congratulate Modi. Subsequently, 'prasad' brought from the Tirupati Balaji temple was distributed.

Asked if the name of the Chief Minister for Uttar Pradesh was finalised, Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad told reporters: "You need not worry. UP will get a capable Chief Minister."

Various programmes have been planned across the country from April 6 — the day when the BJP was formed — to April 14, the birth anniversary of BR Ambedkar. 

"Cleanliness drives and processions to create awareness about BHIM App — a digital payment application — will be held. BJP MPs will also participate in these events," the leader added.

From rising levels of air pollution to increased water contamination and a widening range for disease-carrying mosquitoes, climate change is making people sick, a coalition of 11 US medical groups said on Thursday.

Known as the Medical Society Consortium on Climate and Health, the group represents more than half of US doctors, and aims to help policy makers understand the health dangers of global warming, and what must be done to guard against it in the coming years.

"Doctors in every part of our country see that climate change is making Americans sicker," said Mona Sarfaty, a physician and director of the new consortium.

"Physicians are on the frontlines and see the impacts in exam rooms. What's worse is that the harms are felt most by children, the elderly, Americans with low-income or chronic illnesses, and people in communities of color." 

The group is releasing a report that highlights the ways climate change affects health, and calls for a speedy transition to clean renewable energy.

The report, called "Medical Alert! Climate Change is Harming Our Health," will be circulated to members of the Republican-dominated Congress.

Some of its key warnings relate to heart and breathing problems associated with increasing wildfires and air pollution, as well as injury from extreme heat events.

Infectious diseases can spread more widely as ticks carrying Lyme disease and mosquitoes with West Nile virus expand their range.

Extreme weather, such as hurricanes and droughts, may become more common, destroying not only homes and livelihoods but also wreaking havoc on people's mental health, it warned.

Most Americans are not aware that increases in asthma attacks and allergies are linked to climate change, according to the report.

A poll from 2014 suggested that only one in four Americans could name even one way in which climate change is harming our health.

People are not powerless, the group urged. They can push for a quicker transition to renewable solar and wind energy, and also do what they can to walk and bike more instead of driving.

"Here's the message from America's doctors on climate change: it's not only happening in the Arctic Circle, it's happening here," said Sarfaty.

"It's not only a problem for us in 2100, it's a problem now. And it's not only hurting polar bears, it's hurting us.