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Engineering college seats on sale in TN
Rapist cop to go on trial today
Expedite women’s quota Bill, says Karunanidhi
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Efforts on women’s quota Bill pick up
Border with Nepal to be regulated
CPM against banning PWG,
Maoist centre
National maritime policy soon: Baalu
Govt shouldn’t neglect us, say disabled
Gaur elusive to journalists
Vocational training for sex workers
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Engineering college seats on sale in TN
Chennai, August 21 These colleges are certainly not at par with the Indian Institute of Technology campuses or top engineering colleges elsewhere but for those desperate to get an engineering degree it is worth a try though one has to slog it out. As such, these colleges are luring students with promises of excellent facilities and pleasant learning environment in state-of-the-art campuses at low costs. Managements of several colleges in Tamil Nadu are worried as over the past two weeks about 4,500 of the 17,000 odd candidates called for the single window counselling either failed to turn up or did not opt for a seat. Most of these candidates have succeeded in gaining admission to more prestigious institutions. There are 235 engineering colleges in Tamil Nadu with most of them being unaided ones and some of them enjoying minority status. Of the total of nearly 72,000 engineering undergraduate seats in these colleges, only 4,350 are in government and aided colleges. Faced with the grim reality managements of these colleges have appointed marketing agents. These young men could be seen greeting aspiring candidates accompanied by their parents at the Anna University with colorful pamphlets and prospectus highlighting the salient features of the engineering colleges. The colourful pamphlets printed on glossy paper depict pictures of spacious and visually appealing buildings in lush green landscapes, well laid out play fields and snazzy facades. Though in reality they function from brick and mortar buildings located on uneven and shallow terrain. The pamphlet of a college in nearby Kancheepuram district advertises: “Fully stacked library and computer accessing system, excellent dining facility and extensive play fields.” However, students already enrolled in this institution decry the five-star facilities being advertised. The prospectus has a handbill attached to it, which announces annual scholarships ranging from Rs 5,000 to Rs 15,000 to candidates with a cut-off marks of 200 to 260-plus in different branches of engineering. The college also claims to offer placement training and counselling for students. Another institution assures that more than 50 per cent of our students will be absorbed by affluent companies. Another engineering college, which came under flak last year for having forged community certificates of non-SC/ST students hailing from Andhra Pradesh, is seeking to win over candidates saying it would provide special coaching for competitive examinations like GMAT, CAT, GATE and GRE. This college claims that a quarter of its students who passed out are headed for higher studies in the USA, the UK and Australia. All colleges are offering “excellent hostel accommodation for boys and girls” but in reality the hostel blocks offer only basic facilities. While these colleges are yet to make a mark in technical education, those with good academic track records and had earned a reputation are fleecing parents by charging exorbitant fees ranging from Rs 75,000 to Rs 1.2 lakh per annum, in addition to capitation fees which have been recently banned by the Supreme Court. |
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Rapist cop to go on trial today
Mumbai, August 21 The chargesheet prepared against More runs into 200 pages and includes statements of more than 125 witnesses. Several senior policemen associated with More have also given statements, according to sources. The rape happened on April 21 this year when the victim was going around with a group of friends at the Marine Drive after their Civil Defense training. Subsequently, the girl broke away from the group to join her boyfriend on the promenade where the watchmen deployed there intercepted them, the chargesheet said. More, who was on patrol duty, called the couple to the police chowky where he accused them of indecent behaviour. He is alleged to have demanded Rs 5000 from the couple to prevent their parents being informed of their conduct. While the girl’s friend was sent to collect the money, More allegedly took the victim inside the police station where he raped her, the chargesheet said. The constable is accused of raping the girl thrice using a condom. However, the medical report prepared following the assault did not conclusively prove rape. The report indicated that there was only a possibly of sexual assault. Samples and swabs collected from both the accused and the victim did not have semen or vaginal fluids, the charge sheet said. More’s counsel is using the medical report to buttress his case that the sacked constable was being victimised following a public outcry following the alleged rape. |
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Expedite women’s quota Bill, says Karunanidhi
Chennai, August 21 He made this appeal at a function in the presence of Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee, Union Finance Minister, P. Chidambaram and Minister for Communication and IT, Dayanidhi Maran. After taking the stage following felicitations to him at a function here to release the English version of his poetic rendition of Maxim Gorky’s classic, “Mother” in Tamil, he said, “There has been some slackening at the Centre with reference to certain issues. I appeal to the Union Ministers and the Lok Sabha Speaker that necessary steps must be taken to ensure that it acts expeditiously.” Supporting the demand for providing reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies, Mr. Karunanidhi said,: “Let the quota system come first. The nuances and modalities such as fixing sub-quota for backward and forward classes can be worked out later.” There are some parties, which are supporting the UPA government but are opposed to the Bill as they feel that women from the upper classes of society will get elected to the Lok Sabha and assemblies if such a Bill was passed and some pre-conditions should be laid to prevent it. Mr Karunanidhi said no pre-conditions such as creation of linguistic states were made in the pre-Independence era and added that linguistic States were formed only after the country became free. On the issue of increasing the size of the Lok Sabha to facilitate the passing of the women’s reservation Bill, he felt that it should be considered how and where such a large number of members were going to be accommodated. The DMK chief who had earlier written to the Prime Minister about “self- respect marriages”, reiterated his demand for a legislation to provide legal sanctity to such marriages throughout the country. |
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Efforts on women’s quota Bill pick up
New Delhi, August 21 At the same time, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav has been invited by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh tomorrow for discussion on the Bill. These consultations come in the backdrop of the series of meetings that Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil has held with all political party leaders in recent weeks to arrive at some agreement on the stalled legislation. Given the strong opposition to the pending Bill, Mr Patil has now suggested that instead of having quotas for women in the present legislatures, the strength of members in Parliament and Assemblies be increased to accommodate women. This will mean that the strength in the Lok Sabha will go up from the present 545 to 900. The Home Minister has, however, not been able to hammer out a consensus on this contentious issue.The BJP has said it will go with the majority view on the issue, the Left parties favour the original Bill while the RJD has reiterated its demand for a “quota within quota” for women belonging to BCs, SCs and minorities. Smajwadi Party leader Mulayum Singh Yadav and Janata Dal (U) leader Sharad Yadav had also supported this contention when the original Bill was first introduced. It was precisely because of these strong objections that the Bill could not be passed. Even former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee was unable to see it through because of the opposition he faced from allies like the JD (U) and the Shiv Sena.
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Border with Nepal to be regulated
New Delhi, August 21 This will be the first time since India’s Independence when it will have a regulated border regime in place with a neighbour with which it has
traditionally shared an open border. There are no official figures — either from the Nepalese side or the Indian side — on the number of Nepalese migrants who have come into India but have not returned. A non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), Refugees International, had some months ago put up on its website (refugeesinternational.org) that up to 1.5 million Nepalese had migrated into India since the November 2001 clashes between the Maoists and the Nepalese security forces. The website withdrew the piece later, though the Indian official agencies believe that the figure could be quite close to reality. Shockingly, there is no machinery or mechanism yet from the Indian government side to keep a tab on migration from Nepal into India even though the problem started nine years ago when the Maoists’ started their bloody struggle against the Nepalese Government. The Tribune understands that a pilot project would soon be launched between Nepalganj (Nepal) ad Rupahdiya (Uttar Pradesh, India) to record movement of Nepalese migrants into India. There are 22 designated entry-exit points along the Indo-Nepal border, but this is immaterial as far as the problem of illegal migration from Nepal into India is concerned. These 22 points are mainly custom checkposts for trade. Since the entire Indo-Nepal border is open and unregulated, Nepalese can cross over into India at will from anywhere and they cannot be detained or deported in view of the 1950 Peace and Friendship Treaty between Nepal and India. Under the treaty, Nepalis have the right to live and work in India and have been coming for decades to India in search of employment opportunities. Analysts interviewed by Refugees International agree that seasonal migrants who used to come to India temporarily are now moving to India with their belongings. Previously Nepalis tended to come to India during times of economic and political crisis and would go back to Nepal when the situation stabilised. However, in recent years, these people no longer appear to be returning to Nepal. |
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CPM against banning PWG,
Maoist centre
Kolkata, August 21 After the party’s state committee meeting, the veteran CPM leader, Mr Jyoti Basu, told mediapersons that they were asking the government not to ban the MCC and the PWG at this moment but to take administrative actions against them for stopping their criminal activities. According to Mr Basu, MCC and PWG activities in the state were quite alarming but still they would not ban them like in Andhra Pradesh. “We have asked our partymen to launch a massive mass movement against the militants. The state government will also take appropriate police action against them, he said. The meeting also discussed the prevailing law and order situation along the Indo-Bangladesh and Indo-Nepal border, where the district administrations had been facing enormous problems in tackling infiltration and other criminal activities. The state Chief Minister, Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, had already spoken to the Prime Minister, and the Defence Minister, in the regard. Mr Bhattacharjee also proposed that a joint move be launched by West Bengal, Bihar and Jharkhand for combating the militants. |
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National maritime policy soon: Baalu
Chennai, August 21 He told mediapersons that the policy had been finalised after the draft of the proposed policy was discussed at the inter-ministerial coordination committee meetings. Mr Baalu said a national maritime development programme, which envisaged Rs 1,00,000 crore worth projects in the ports and shipping sectors for the next 10 years, had also been finalised by the Shipping Ministry. He said Rs 60,000 crore worth projects had been earmarked in the ports sector while Rs 40,000 crore projects would come under the shipping sector. Providing details of the projects under the ports sector for the next 10 years, he said the projects were constructions of berths, deepening of approach channels, port equipment, rail and road connectivity to ports, and development of special economic zones. |
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Govt shouldn’t neglect us, say disabled
New Delhi, August 21 A Bachelor of Computer Application student in Bangalore, Jijesh was yesterday unanimously adjudged Best Scholar by the National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled Persons (NCPEDP) on the basis of his academic as well as excellence in other extra-curricular activities. A recipient of the NCPEDP scholarship for 2004-05, Jijesh gave it up after he also won a Ford Foundation scholarship so that someone else could benefit. “ I do not think I am brilliant. I have a lot to learn,” he says humbly. Despite having given up the scholarship, he was in Delhi to meet UPA President Sonia Gandhi yesterday, along with 61 other recipients of the NCPEDP Rajiv Gandhi Scholarship for Students with Disabilities-2005. NCPEDP Executive Director Javed Abidi they were making efforts to ensure that disability, as an issue was not neglected by the government anymore. “We want Ms Gandhi to keep an eye on ministries concerned and guide the government to be more sensitive towards our issues,” he says. But whether it is 19-year-old Mehbooba Akhtar from Budgam district in Srinagar or Pardeep Kaur of Ludhiana in Punjab, they all wish the government was more sensitive towards their issues. But one thing they are also clear of is that they do not want your sympathy. “Most people sympathise with us. We want your empathy, but not sympathy,” says Mehbooba, who wants to become a computer engineer. “The NCPEDP has disbursed 181 scholarships till date. When the scheme was first instituted in 1998, the Centre was able to give only five scholarships. This year 61 students from all over the country have been selected for pursuing courses in engineering, management, law, nursing, and computer applications. The number of applications is increasing steadily. This year we received 379 applications. All these children want to become doctors, engineers, and managers, pursue biotech courses. But the problem is the huge gap between demand and supply. There are just not enough resources available,” Mr Abidi says. “We received 379 applications but were able to entertain only 61. But even the Centre as well as state governments do not have enough scholarships and subsidies for disabled. Either no or very miniscule scholarships, created as long as 40 years back, exist,” he adds. Besides this, reservation in educational institutions is useless if there is no access. “If I cannot go to the toilet or the canteen or the library, what is the point of enrolling in an educational institution,” he questions. |
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Gaur elusive to journalists
Bhopal, August 21 Frequent bonhomie with journalists had become a part of his nature. That was till he became the Chief Minister in August last year when Ms Uma Bharati resigned in the wake of Hubli court case. For reasons not easy to explain, Mr Gaur has since isolated himself from mediapersons. He no more rings up journalists and if a journalist seeks time on his own to meet him, he does not find Mr Gaur the same affable character. Even at press conferences and public functions, he is a different person. This situation is being exploited by Mr Gaur’s detractors in the party. The newspapers here had started packing off Mr Gaur in September last year. As he refused to go, insinuations about Mr Gaur’s illicit relations with women started appearing in the media. This culminated in the release of an affidavit by an old BJP activist alleging that Mr Gaur was having illicit relations with his wife. Mr Gaur’s detractors in the party were hoping that this would turn out to be the proverbial last straw on the camel’s back. Apparently, it did not. Now, it has again surfaced in the media by a letter purportedly written by a Minister of State alleging that Mr Gaur does not do anything without being paid money. Mr Chhotelal Saravagi, a BJP MLA from Shahdol district, who has a coal business, was having some problems with the district administration in regard to transport. He sought the Chief Minister’s intervention through Minister of State for Labour Lavkesh Singh. Mr Singh was said to have written to him, on his letterhead as an MLA and not as a Minister, that Mr Gaur would not do anything without being paid money. Mr Saravagi, an Uma Bharati loyalist, has reported the matter to the party high command. Mr Lavkesh Singh vehemently claims that he has not written any such letter and if there is any such letter, it is a forgery. Even Mr Gaur’s detractors in the party say that Mr Lavkesh Singh’s letter may be a forgery, but Mr Gaur does take money. |
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Vocational training for sex workers
Chennai, August 21 Some representatives of sex workers suggested that these workers would prefer to be trained in setting up fast food joints and learning videography, photography and computer skills and housekeeping. Dr Lakshmi Bai said TAI would soon be launching these schemes, as it would supplement the income of sex workers. She pointed out that the difference between other HIV/AIDS awareness programmes and TAI was that her organisation never compelled anybody to quit the flesh trade but only insisted on use of condoms for safe sex. She said TAI would arrange bank loans for these sex workers and help them to set up small businesses and in the long run they might give up soliciting on their own. Dr Lakshmi Bai said, “The Bill Gates Foundation has sanctioned $ 12.7 million US for the project in the state, to be implemented in five years, and had already released Rs 10 crore.” |
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