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Government to revamp Waqf boards to check irregularities
Congress misusing Constitution, says BJP
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Beggar wins panchayat poll in Bihar
BSNL rapped for seeking fee for information
400 CRPF personnel hooked on to drugs
PAC constable kills 2 colleagues
Criminal shot
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Government to revamp Waqf
New Delhi, June 25 Independence of state Waqf boards will be checked, for which the Central Waqf Act might be amended, while the National Minorities Development Finance Corporation and the Maulana Azad Foundation would be subjected to thorough overhauling. The axe is likely to fall on the Maulana Azad Foundation first. The post of the executive vice-president will be abolished soon, according to the ministry, it is not needed at all. “All these bodies were created to work for the economic welfare of Muslims and other minorities but their working left much to be desired, and I have been receiving complaints of malpractices in these organisations,” Minority Affairs Minister A. R. Antulay told UNI. “I want these bodies to work effectively and efficiently to uplift the community as it is my mandate,” he added. The minister said the state Waqf boards needed to be reformed as they had totally failed to make any difference to the life of Muslims despite having massive property in hand. “My first priority will be to make them work under the Central Waqf Council,” Mr Antulay added. “'The state Waqf boards cannot function independently. They have to be accountable to their apex body. We have had enough of inept handling of resources, misappropriation of funds and mismanagement in these boards. It was now high time that things were set right,” said the minister. If an amendment to the Waqf board was needed to keep the state Waqf boards under the purview of the Central council, it would be brought in, he added. He said the Waqf boards had massive property but due to inefficiency of the those at the helm of affairs, a substantial section of it had been encroached upon or was under unauthorised use. He said as per his understanding, Muslims would need no outside help if all Waqf property was properly utilised. “'Waqf is a wonderful institution in a welfare society, but unfortunately, corruption has eaten into its vitals,” he said. Mr Antulay said complaints had been received against the working of the Minorities Development Finance Corporation and he was personally not satisfied with the way it functions. The corporation had surplus staff whose maintenance was creating financial burden and these funds could be utilised for other purposes, he said. Mr Antulay said he was going to revamp the corporation to make it an effective instrument in the economic uplift of minorities. The ministry was also exploring ways and means to increase the corpus of the corporation, the minister said. The working of the Maulana Azad Foundation also needs serious attention as a number of irregularities in its functioning had been reported, said Mr Antulay. “First of all, I am going to scrap the post of executive vice-president as after a thorough examination, I have found no justification for the post,” he said. “The person holding the post was appropriating allowances which exceeded those of an MP, and all this money was of course a diversion from the purpose for which it was meant,” said the minister. “I want Muslims and other minorities to be able to extract full benefits from the government schemes, and ensure it is one of the main tasks before the ministry,” he added.
— UNI
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Congress misusing Constitution, says BJP
New Delhi, June 25 Speaking at a function here today to observe the anniversary as 'Save Democracy Day', former Deputy Prime Minister and BJP leader L.K. Advani said, “Thirtyone years have passed since the emergency but the very mindset that was behind its imposition still exists. The Congress believes that there is only one family in India that is competent to rule the country.” He said when the Congress saw that the Election Commission might take action against Sonia Gandhi (on the office of profit issue), they adjourned Parliament sine die and tried to issue an ordinances. “It is high time for the country to decide whether it is dynasty or democracy that they want,” Mr Advani said. Alleging that the Congress had “three scams to its credit” within two years of its rule, the BJP leader alleged that top leaders of the party were involved in the Quattrochhi issue, Volcker scandal and the Scorpene submarine deal. Remembering the emergency, Mr Advani said it was a “misconception” that such episodes might not occur in the future as long as the Congress was in power. Speaking on the occasion, BJP general secretary Arun Jaitley alleged that the dissolution of the Bihar Assembly by the Centre last May was “a reminder that the Congress was not averse to misusing the Constitution to remain in power as it did during the days of the emergency.” The BJP also alleged that the Naval war room leak would not have occurred without the “blessings of top ruling political leaders” and asked the government to find out who they were. Mr Advani alleged that the Naval warm room leak case was linked to the Scorpene submarine deal and asked the government to explain the “delay” in ordering the CBI raids in connection with the case. “We have been continuously saying that the Naval war room leak case and the Scorpene deal are interconnected but the government had maintained that there was no foul play. If that was the case why did the CBI conduct raids a few day ago at places, including those of people whose names have also been linked to the scam?” Mr Advani asked.
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Beggar wins panchayat poll in Bihar
Patna, June 25 The reservation of 50 per cent seats for women at the just concluded elections to the three-tier panchayat bodies in the
state, first time in the history of the country since Independence involving any state
government, by Mr Nitish Kumar has now proved beyond doubts what expansion of democracy at the grassroots level actually means. Haleema Khatoon,who had been begging for her survival a few days ago, has been elected “mukhiya”(village chief) in the recent panchayat poll from Kirora in Katihar district. While the post was reserved for women, Haleema Khatoon defeated her 15 powerful rivals who were backed by their rich husbands having a lot of money and muscle power. Khatoon said she was persuaded by the poor people of the villages to contest the election so that their needs and requirements could be taken care of in a proper manner. The illiterate Khatton admitted that though she was not aware of government schemes and development, she was confident of delivering by forming a committee comprising villagers who could guide her to work with honesty and dedication. The election of Haleema Khatoon is, however, not a case in isolation. Another woman ,Begamiya Devi, from Mianpur panchayat in Gaya district, was also elected to the post of mukhiya by defeating the wives of powerful husbands in the area.Begamiya Devi is a poor agricultural labourer. The small tea stall vendor Shanti Devi,who was elected a panchayat committee member in Purnia district,was grateful to Mr. Nitish Kumar for providing women, and more precisely the poor, to become equal stakeholders in development. Going by official statistics,there are over one lakh elected women, cutting across caste,creed and religion and representing all segments of the society, who are now going to take active part in the grassroots level governance- a scene hitherto unprecedented in the feudal and caste-based structure of Bihar. Official sources claimed that a good number of the elected women representatives were from the middle-class and poor strata, and thus perhaps nipped in the bud the allegations by the sceptics who had initially viewed Mr. Kumar`s move to reserve 50 per cent seats for the fair sex as another move to create “Rabri clones” only. The credit of Mr. Kumar in heralding this silent revolution deserved more appreciation because of the fact that neither the Congress , nor the Left ruled states in the country could yet ensure equal participation of women in development in panchayat bodies despite their so-called progressive stances.
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BSNL rapped for seeking fee for information
New Delhi, June 26 The Commission directed the official to forthwith provide the information sought by the applicant and explain within 15 days as to why a penalty should not be imposed upon him under Section 20 of the Act which envisages imposition of penalty on any public authority who fails to divulge information sought by the public in the matters which are under public domain. Applicant Kailash Mishra had on June 17 sought information from the BSNL Bhopal Circle about the projects completed by its Switching and Installation Wing. The BSNL wrote back asking him to deposit Rs 9,810 which included Rs 9,732 for the man hours “required” to collect the information sought. Mishra filed an appeal with the BSNL’s appellate authority who too insisted that the applicant deposit the amount to secure the information sought, following which he approached the Commission. Agreeing with the applicant, the
Commission comprising information Commissioners— M.M. Ansari and O.P. Kejariwal— observed that the action of the department “was only a subterfuge for avoiding supply of information to the appellant.” The Commission noted that since all the information sought by the applicant was available at a single place in the Bhopal circle, there was no reason for deployment of extra manpower for supplying the information. It also regretted that the BSNL had not responded to the appellant’s request for providing details of computation whereby the department had arrived at the above figure. “Calculating and demanding the fee from the applicant showed an utter disregard for the letter and spirit of the Act and was obviously a malafide attempt on the part of the CPIO, BSNL for denial of information,” the Commission observed while asking the BSNL official to file his reply and posted the matter for further hearing to July 11.
— PTI
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400 CRPF personnel hooked on to drugs
New Delhi, June 25 "We had conducted the survey to find out the number of men who have become drug dependent and found 426 alcohol and drug addicts," said a senior CRPF official. He said the survey was started in February and conducted across the 250,000-strong force through questionnaires. "These forms were distributed among the personnel for feedback," said the official. He said the survey had not yet been completed and many personnel were yet to return the forms. "We are planning to send them reminders so that we can know the exact number of personnel who have become drug dependents," the official said. "We suspect that many would be reluctant to reveal details about themselves," said the official. According to him, the form is designed in a manner that even if a man tries to mislead the analysts, he would not be able to do so. He further added that the problem of alcoholism and drug abuse could be due to work pressures and the tensions of staying away from families. Officials said that a separate programme to identify HIV/AIDS patients amongst the ranks had also been started. Help had been sought from the family members of the personnel affected with HIV/AIDS. According to recent data, in the past 13 years, 400 CRPF personnel have died of HIV/AIDS while 300 were under treatment. An official said the first case of HIV/AIDS death in CRPF was recorded in 1992. He added that most cases of AIDS/HIV were detected in the North -East.
— IANS
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PAC constable kills 2 colleagues
Lucknow, June 25 The incident occurred at around 9:30 am at Akhadadh police post in Naugarh area where two platoons of 26 battalion PAC from Gorakhpur are posted. An FIR under Section 302 of the IPC has been registered. According to SP, Chandauli, R.K. Chaturvedi, Constable Jogendra Saroj died on the way to the hospital while Dayaram Yadav died soon after being admitted. The three others injured were— Shivdhari Thakur, Akhilesh Prasad and Moti Lal. Head Constable Laxman Ram managed to escape to the nearby Naugarh forests after he shot at his colleagues. Two police teams have been formed to carry on a manhunt to nab him. Some policemen claimed to have heard gunshots, soon after Ram disappeared in the forest, giving rise to speculations that he may have committed suicide. Hailing from Ballia district, the mentally ill head constable had been undergoing treatment at Kanke Mental Hospital in Ranchi. Later speaking to media, IG (Varanasi Range) A C Sharma said he would request DGP Bua Singh to ask the PAC to conduct an enquiry to find out why a mentally ill person was posted in this highly sensitive area.
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Lucknow, June 25 Police sources said on a tip off, STF sleuths challenged Chaman and his accomplice who were passing through Alambagh locality on the motor cycle early this morning. The criminals tried to open fire on the policemen but were shot dead. However, the accomplice of Chaman managed to flee the police cordon. Chaman, a resident of Hardoi, had at least 22 criminal cases against him and the police had announced a reward of Rs 10,000 on his head. — UNI
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