New Delhi, February 28
Though the opposition is gearing up to bring cut motions against certain Budget proposals of the government, a look at the parliamentary history shows that such motions are seldom allowed; and even if allowed, these are seldom put to vote of the House to ensure Parliament’s financial independence and prevent constitutional crisis.

It’s the Speaker’s prerogative to allow a cut motion. Lok Sabha records reveal a similar cut motion - as currently being considered against excise duty hike on petrol and diesel - was disallowed in the past.

Under House rules, cut motions are admitted only if there’s to be proper discussion on a particular demand. On May 2, 2000, when the then Speaker was to put all outstanding Demands for Grants relating to ministries and departments which could not be discussed, to the vote of the House, CPM’s Rupchand Pal made a point of order saying he had given notices of cut motions relating to the Demands for Grants of the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers demanding rollback of the withdrawal of subsidy. He wanted the government to respond.

But the Speaker disallowed his motion saying since the said demands could not be discussed due to lack of time, cut motions pertaining to it couldn’t be allowed.

“I have received many cut motions in respect of demands for grants which are to be guillotined today. Under rule 209 (a), a member giving notice shall indicate the particulars of the policy he proposes to discuss. The cut motions are allowed to be moved only if there is to be a proper discussion on a particular demand. In this session, cut motions in respect of only the demands relating to the ministries of communications, home and HRD were circulated since they have alone come up for discussion. As no time is available for discussing demands of the remaining ministries, which have to be guillotined today, cut motions pertaining to these have neither been printed nor circulated. I have disallowed these.”

As regards notice period for cut motion, it has to be given by 3.15 pm at least one day prior to the day of discussion on the said demand. Where a cut motion is given by several members, it is deemed to have been moved by the one whose name appears first on the order paper. If he’s not present, the second or the third member would be deemed to have moved it. It is also interesting to see that under rules, a member can’t speak on his cut motion once the minister has replied to it.

Defined as a motion to reduce the amounts demanded as grants, the cut motion is of three types - Disapproval of Policy Cut is the most drastic as it says “that the amount of demand be reduced to Re 1”. An MP, however, must give precise reasons for such a cut. Economy Cut is the second type where a member wants to reduce expenditure by making a specific cut in the grant demanded. The form of this motion is “that the amount of demand be reduced to Rs…”

Token Cut is the most widely used cut motion with an object to voice a particular grievance for which the government is responsible. This cut motion says “the amount of the demand be reduced by Rs 100”. 

Jaipur, February 28
The Rajasthan government may have been drawing a contingency plan to deal with its acute drinking water crisis, but it can do little to help the farmers get adequate water for irrigation.

The farmers in Bikaner and Kota divisions are up in arms against the government for failing to supply enough water to irrigate their crops, but the ruling Congress regime has blamed the neighbouring states of Punjab and Madhya Pradesh for its water woes.

Cornered by the Opposition on the water issue during the ongoing Budget Session of the Assembly, Rajasthan Water Resources Minister Mahipal Maderna expressed his helplessness, “Punjab is not releasing our share of water while MP has not responded to our plea for giving additional water. We’ve been continuously making efforts to talk to both the states since October last year to get water for the farmers.”

According to the minister, Punjab has not released Rajasthan’s share of 72,248 cusecs per day of water from the Ranjit Sagar Dam, as a result of which the state is getting just 1,160 cusecs per day of water in Indira Gandhi Canal, which is not enough even for the drinking water needs in the canal region.

Interestingly, the minister asked the Opposition BJP to use its influence in making Punjab honour the Ravi-Beas water-sharing agreement as the latter is a coalition partner with the SAD in the neighbouring state. He said the desert state was facing water crisis due to truant monsoon which resulted in low inflow to dams. “The non-release of our share apportioned by the BBMB on September 20 last year has compounded our problems.”

The scenario is equally grim in eastern parts of the state where Rajasthan and MP equally share 1.0129 MAF (million acre feet) Chambal waters for irrigation. “We’ve already utilised 0.5230 MAF water till January 15, while MP has availed itself of only 0.3080 MAF. As we have no share left in the Chambal waters, we cannot claim any more water though standing crops do need water,” said Maderna.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has also shot off a letter to the Prime Minister, urging him to intervene in the matter and get the state’s share of water from Ranjit Sagar Dam (in Punjab) to mitigate its agricultural and potable water needs. The CM said the government had already warned the farmers in the Kota region about the water crisis, but still they had gone ahead and sowed crops which required more water.

Meanwhile, the Opposition is in no mood to spare the government on the issue.

New Delhi, February 28
Underlining the need for preventive measures to arrest the ever-increasing cardiac pool of patients, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh yesterday said long-term strategy ought to be preventive and help in bringing down many diseases, including heart diseases.

He expressed concern over the rising incidence of heart ailments among the younger generation, while speaking at CTCOMCON 2010, an annual meeting of The Asian Society for Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery and Indian Association of Cardiovascular Thoracic Surgeons, in the capital.

“In 2009, about 9.2 million potentially productive years, within the 35-64 age-group, were lost owing to cardiovascular diseases. The deaths in India are quite high in comparison to countries like China and the USA. To combat this health challenge, there is a need to address the problem at the earliest. Gradually, consensus on adopting both preventive and therapeutic measures is emerging within the medical fraternity,” remarked the PM.

He outlined that the government accords high priority to health care and the first and the foremost area is the increase of the human resource in the health sector.

While pointing out at lack of infrastructure being the major reasons behind doctor’s unwillingness to go to rural areas, Dr A Sampat Kumar, the former head of the cardio-thoracic department at AIIMS and the president of the CTCOMCON organising committee, endorsed the government’s three-and-a half-year Bachelor of Rural Medicine and Surgery course.

“There is nothing wrong in it as it is just that the course would be in condensed form. Many countries have already adopted to such courses,” he said.

Referring to the innovations and advances in the field of cardiac surgery, Dr Sampat said development in heart surgeries had cut down the queues of patients as were witnessed years back. “As a part of the National Rural Health Mission and due to collaborative efforts of the public and the private sector, specialised treatment is reaching rural areas, unfortunately we have not been able to cope up with the ever-increasing disease burden.”

The chief of the Asian Heart Institute, Mumbai, Dr Sampath Kumar, a renowned cardiologist who conducted the beating heart surgery, felt that there was plenty of room for improvement, given the dismal doctor-patient-bed ratio in India.

Calling for early detection of cardiovascular diseases, Dr Panda maintained, every child after birth should be examined for the disease so as to detect the disease early and prevent it through nutrition.

New Delhi, February 28
Four independent MPs, led by expelled Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Jaswant Singh, are hoping that Speaker Meira Kumar would recognise their grouping the “Lok Morcha” as a single block.

Apart from Darjeeling MP Jaswant Singh, other members of the group are: former Jharkhand Assembly Speaker Inder Singh Namdhari, former Union minister and Bihar MP Digvijay Singh and Maharashtra MP Raju Shetty.

Three of the Independent MPs did not join the opposition parties in their walkout in the Lok Sabha against the Budget proposal for a fuel-price hike on Friday.

“We hope that the Speaker will recognise us as a single block,” Namdhari said.

He said the group submitted a letter to Speaker Meira Kumar during the Winter Session of Parliament requesting her to recognise Jaswant Singh as the leader of their parliamentary forum after naming it the Lok Morcha.

“As independent MPs we are not allocated enough time to raise people’s issues in the House. The idea behind the forum is to get more time to speak,” Namdhari said.

“We know it (getting recognition for the grouping) is a time-consuming process and hope it would materialise,” Namdhari said.

While Jaswant Singh, Digvijay Singh and Namdhari did not join other opposition parties in their walkout, Raju Shetty did join the protesters.

Namdhari justified Raju Shetty’s action saying “Raju just joined the crowd”. Shetty belongs to the Swabhiman Paksha Party in Maharashtra, but he is part of the Lok Morcha. There are nine Independent MPs in the Lok Sabha, but Jaswant Singh and Shetty are not considered Independent members. — IANS

New Delhi, February 28
Indian agencies are investigating if there was a link between the deadly blasts in Kabul on Friday, in which six Indians were killed, and the February 13 terrorist attack in Pune.Sources said if such a linkage is established, it will indicate a new ‘jehadi’ offensive by Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) against Indian nationals and interests not only in India or Afghanistan but other neighbouring nations as well, like Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and the Maldives.

The investigation in the Pune terror attack has not made much headway so far though the LeT is among the prime suspects, given the nature of the blast.

New Delhi has already stated that Indians were the specific targets of the Kabul attacks and this has been virtually corroborated by the evidence gathered by the Afghan agencies. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh spoke to Afghan President Hamid Karzai yesterday, asking him to "ensure full security" to Indians working in that country.

This was the third time in recent months that Indians became victims of the suicide attacks in Kabul. The Indian Embassy was attacked on July 7, 2008 and again on October 8, 2009.

Strategic observers say while the attacks on the Indian mission specifically targeted Indian nationals and were suspected to have been sponsored by Pakistan’s ISI, the latest attacks in Kabul might have been carried out at the instance of the Afghan Taliban to send out a clear message to the international community that its operational capability has not diminished despite the current offensive by the US.

It is known that Pakistan has not been happy with the massive humanitarian assistance being provided by India to Afghanistan. Realising that a close India-Afghanistan relationship does not suit its strategic interests in Afghanistan, Islamabad has even questioned the role of the Indian mission in Kabul and the Indian consulates in the embattled nation.

The Maoists seem to be adopting new tactics for furthering their ‘Red Revolution.’ They have started putting the old proverb into action: “If you can’t beat them, join them.” Many ‘former’ ultras have started joining the political system through the Assembly and the Parliamentary polls. The central task of the Naxal revolution is to seize political power through a ‘protracted People’s War.’

In October 1993, the NN Vohra committee studied the problem of the criminalisation of politics and the nexus among criminals, politicians and bureaucrats. The nexus about which Vohra (currently Jammu and Kashmir Governor) warned is now acquiring far more dangerous proportions, with the terrorist organisations of the Maoists becoming part of it in many Naxal-affected states. A beginning was made in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections when ‘former’ Maoist Kameshwar Baitha (54) successfully won the Palamu (SC) seat in Jharkhand. Baitha contested the election on the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) ticket from the jail, where he is still lodged in connection with many heinous crimes.

On the Lok Sabha web site, Baitha’s picture is yet to be put on the ‘Member’s Page.’ However, Baitha’s brief biography describes him as a ‘social worker’ by profession and shows politics as his special interest and ‘rural play’ as his favourite pastime and recreation. He got elected to politics’ highest temple without stepping out of jail and earned the reputation of being the first Maoist to be in the Parliament.

The JMM supremo and currently Jharkhand Chief Minister, Shibu Soren, prefers to describe Baitha as ‘former Naxal’ and says there is no harm in giving a chance to those who have shunned violence to enter politics. The Prime Minister’s Office and the Union Home Ministry are quite worried about the way the Soren government is going soft on Naxals. A common perception in Jharkhand is that the JMM came to power in the November-December 2009 Assembly poll with the help of the Maoists. The Central government last year declared the CPI (Maoist) a terrorist outfit. Many former underground elements aspired in the Jharkhand Assembly poll, claiming “to return to mainstream through battle of ballot.” In the Assembly poll, six ‘former’ Maoists were in the fray, declaring that they had decided to shun violence and join the mainstream. Four of them contested from the Maoist stronghold of Palamu division.

Four ‘red rebels’ were given ticket by the JMM and one each by the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and the All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU). All of them faced serious criminal charges like murder and attacking police teams. The JMM gave ticket to two former CPI (Maoist) --- Satish Kumar and Yugal Pal in Daltongaj and Vishrampur Assembly seats, respectively, and to two former ultras of the People's Liberation Front of India (PLFI) --- Masih Charan and Polus Surin --- from the Khunti and Torpa seats.

Similarly, the RJD pitched former ultra Ranjan Yadav in Panki. Another former ultra Kuldeep Ganjhu contested election as the AJSU candidate from Simaria. While Charan, Polush and Yugal Pal contested from jail, Satish Kumar, Ganju and Yadav were out on bail. Only Polush Surin won the election. The wives of those who were lodged in jail wooed voters. Wife of former Maoist ultra Yugal Pal, alias Madan Pal, Shobha Pal shared the dais with Soren during campaigning. Yugal Pal’s name was once synonymous with terror in Palamu.

People in Pal’s constituency used to say that the way Deomaniya Devi, wife of top ‘ex-Maoist’ Kameshwar Baitha had campaigned to ensure Baitha's victory in the Lok Sabha poll, Pal’s wife Shobha would certainly ensure her husband’s victory. However, Pal lost the election. Pal’s wife used to point a finger at the rich class and claim that its hostility and atrocities had forced her husband to pick up arms. Pal’ son Sanjay is pursuing a software engineering course from a Ranchi institute. He says his father was in the poll fray to wipe out the injustice.

“'There is nothing wrong if underground elements want to take part in the democratic exercise,”' a senior Congress leader from New Delhi had said here during the poll, when asked about why many political parties were fielding ‘former’ Naxals in electoral fray. “'If Maoists want to walk the path of democracy, they are most welcome,” he had claimed. The police and security agencies, however, believe that the Maoists are now attempting to penetrate the political parties to push their ‘Red Revolution’ from within the system.

Ahmedabad, February 28
The results of Common Admission Test (CAT)-2009 for eight Indian Institute of Managements (IIMs) were declared today. Officials of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A), which conducted the test this year across the country, said the result was available on website “catiim.in”.

“Names of the candidates shortlisted for interviews by each IIM will also be announced on CAT website as and when IIMs are ready with the list,” they said. If the candidates have any queries regarding shortlisting of candidates, they should contact the to respective IIMs, they added.

Besides eight IIMs, there are over 120 non-member IIM, management schools registered with CAT and use the CAT score for admitting students to the institutes.

During the computer-based test system for CAT this year, held for the first time, the students had to face a lot of difficulties due to technical glitches.

Some of the candidates who faced problems in the test in the first phase were asked to take a re-test.

While 2.16 lakh candidates could satisfactorily appear in the test during the 11-day testing window last year, over 7,000 took the test in January this year during the second phase as they could not take the exam in the first phase due to virus attacks and hardware problems and had opted 
for a re-test.

The CAT glitches were attributed by the IIMs and Prometric, the American firm jointly conducting the test, to virus attacks and some hardware problems. — PTI

Patiala, February 28
While the result declaration has brought relief to many, others are still stuck in dilemma because of the Internet congestion. Many candidates complained that they could not connect to the official website despite repeated attempts.

Amandeep Kamboj, a final-year student of Punjabi University, Patiala, said he got information around 12 noon and had been since then trying to access the IIM website, but it was not responding. “I was so keen to celebrate Holi, but the declaration of the result on the same day has made me a little nervous. I hope the result is good,” he added.

Another student of the Bikram College of Commerce said, “Despite repeated attempts I could not log on to the official website and get my result. Whenever I try to log in, I am being asked to log in after 3 hours. Even during the exam, I had to face a lot of difficulty. Initially, there was some fault and then the system got stuck after every few minutes. I hope the result is good.”