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States want RTE deadline extended, Centre says not in the spirit of law
SC raps civic bodies on plastic waste disposal
Computers fine, but where’s the power, states ask Centre
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5 of family attempt immolation, 1 dies
Jundal may be moved out of Kasab’s cell
Court reserves judgment in ‘84 riots case
No proof yet against Raja Bhaiya: CBI
Cong pulls up Beni for attacking Mulayam
AP Congress draws up populist agenda to regain support base
Conflicting views between MEA-MHA in marines’ case
Land dispute behind BSP leader’s murder?
Prez gives assent to anti-rape Bill
SSP rubbishes boxer Dinesh’s claim Vijender may miss tournaments Drug recovery claim false, say Ravi Deol’s parents
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States want RTE deadline extended, Centre says not in the spirit of law
New Delhi, April 3 Education Ministers of Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Maharashtra openly sought such extension through amendment to the law at the 61st meeting of the Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE), the highest policy making body on education in India, held here yesterday. HRD Minister MM Pallam Raju, however, ruled out extension saying: “The consensus in CABE is against extension. The idea is to honour the spirit of the law. The states must act tough on schools that have not budged an inch while giving an opportunity of improvement to those that have endeavoured to reach the infrastructure targets.” Raju’s argument was that CABE comprises both state education ministers and stakeholders in education and its wider agreement was against the RTE deadline extension. He couldn’t, however, explain the fact that all RTE non-compliant schools running post March 31, 2013, were running illegally and should be derecognised under the law. “The states have discretion in that respect. They must act against erring schools which have done nothing. They can give time frames to such schools to become complaint,” Raju said, shifting the onus on states. If the law is to be followed in spirit, the state governments would have to close down thousands of elementary level schools which have not complied with RTE targets as of March 31. In Maharashtra there are over 1,000 RTE non- compliant schools. Similar numbers exist in every state though the Centre said it didn’t have figures. Madhya Pradesh Education Minister Archana Chitnis sought the RTE deadline extension saying it was important to lay down proper mechanisms to keep the faith of people in the law. She slammed the Centre for not reimbursing the promised per student cost which the states have to pay to private unaided schools that admit 25 per cent students from weaker sections in Class I (entry level). “We have spent Rs 40 crore on reimbursements last year but the Centre hasn’t paid us,” she said. The Centre has now sought funds for reimbursement component saying until last year no state had requested for this budget.
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SC raps civic bodies on plastic waste disposal
New Delhi, April 3 A Bench comprising Justices GS Singhvi and Kurian Joseph passed the order after Additional Solicitor General Mohan Jain informed the court that as much as 15,342 tonnes of plastic waste was generated every day in the country posing a major problem to environment management and people’s health. A survey conducted by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) in the 60 cities showed that Delhi alone accounted for nearly 20 per cent (689.52 tonnes) of the total plastic waste generated by the 60 cities, followed by Chennai (429.39 tonnes), Kolkata (425.72 tonnes) and Mumbai (408.27 tonnes). The four metros alone had a share of nearly 56 per cent of plastic waste. Faridabad was found to generate 79.03 tonnes of such waste every day, followed by the tourist destinations of Agra (40.89 tonnes) and Jaipur (15.58 tonnes), Amritsar (24.42 tonnes), Ludhiana (50.68 tonnes) and Chandigarh (8.18 tonnes). Plastic waste generation was found to be very minimal in Shimla (2.23 tonnes), while the figures for Srinagar and Jammu were placed at 28.14 tonnes and 21.68 tonnes respectively. While 60 per cent of the plastic waste was being collected and recycled, the other 40 per cent remained uncollected and littered, it was found. The Bench also issued notices to all the state pollution control boards and the CPCB, asking them to file status reports on solid waste management. The SC passed the order while hearing a PIL on the non-implementation of the ban on the sale and manufacture of gutka and pan masala containing tobacco. The court has expanded the scope of the PIL to cover plastic waste management and subsequently banned packaging of these two products in plastic pouches or sachets. The apex court also directed the Health Secretaries of the states and Union Territories to file compliance reports on the enforcement of the ban on these two products.
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Computers fine, but where’s the power, states ask Centre
New Delhi, April 3 State governments have, however, told the Centre that providing computers for education was not enough. “Where is the electricity to run these computers?” is the refrain of states that have pitched for subsidised rates for all educational institutions in the country if the centrally sponsored computerisation scheme is to become a success. At a high-level meeting held here to discuss the progress of National Mission on Education through Information and Communication Technology (ICT), all state education ministers told the Ministry of HRD that schools, colleges and universities should be exempted from payment of commercial rates for electricity and dedicated feeders provided to supply electricity during school and college hours to ensure computer based learning. Haryana has taken the lead in this matter by saying it would charge educational institutions domestic rates of electricity. Geeta Bhukkal, Education Minister, Haryana told TNS, “Haryana Government has taken this decision and the Ministry of HRD should work to get such directions passed nationally.” Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Jammu and Kashmir and Uttrakhand supported the demand of subsidising electricity for educational institutions and said the computers were lying waste for want of power in schools and colleges specially in remote areas. All states have sought national guidelines to charge educational institutions domestic rates of electricity instead of commercial considering such institutions were not for profit. A government initiated review of scheme by educationist Goverdhan Mehta and NIIT chairman Rajendra Pawar has further concluded that sending out money to states and providing computers alone was not yielding the desired results. “The tendency is to “spray and pray” by spreading money across states without determining whether the states has the capacity to use it. We must be mindful of such practice. End to end solutions have to be worked out. At present computers are sent out to places where there is no power or furniture. We must build end to end by first identifying teachers, setting up structures and then sending out computers for use,” said Rajendra Pawar, who headed HRD Ministry’s committee for technical review of the ICT mission. The committee will meet in the capital on April 9 to suggest changes to the Mission so as to address critical questions like - whether students’ learning is being enhanced by ICT use. The National Mission on Education aims to extend computer infrastructure to 25,000 colleges and 2,000 polytechnics, including each department of 41 universities. As of today, 400 universities and 19,875 colleges out of 30,000 have been connected as per data available
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5 of family attempt immolation, 1 dies
Ahmedabad, April 3 The incident in the municipal corporation premises this afternoon has caused an immediate unrest in Rajkot with a large number of people coming out on the roads and setting some buses and other government and corporation property to fire. To take political advantage, the Congress has give a call for “Rajkot Bandh” tomorrow and the party member of the Lok Sabha from Rajkot, Kunwarji Babaliya, who led a delegation of the party workers to the municipal commissioner, demanded a compensation of Rs 5 lakh each to the deceased and injured. The police said the family from Nepal was living in a small hutment on the common plot of the Chhotu Nagar housing colony for the past 30 years or so and were working as watchmen. The housing society had recently sold the common plot and was using pressure on the family to shift.
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GSI takes up survey projects in Sikkim to assess seismic hazard
Gangtok, April 3 Gangtok is a fast developing city and numerous multi-storey buildings are situated on vulnerable steep slopes. According to GSI officials, the drastic changes in demographic profile of the city as well as heavy urbanisation have led to a precarious condition vulnerable to a future earthquake related disaster. Therefore there was an urgent need for a seismic hazard assessment of the area so as to prepare a disaster mitigation plan. Sikkim was struck by a 6.9 magnitude earthquake in September 2011 causing extensive damage. Exactly a year later, another earthquake of magnitude 4.1 struck the state, causing widespread panic. GSI officials said over 500 aftershocks were recorded after the main tremor in September 2011. Gangtok is located in young, active and rugged terrain that forms part of the Lesser Himalayas. The area is highly earthquake prone and suffers from repeated tremors, falling under seismic Zone-5, which is the most dangerous. The terrain and soil composition in that area is highly susceptible to landslides. The loose soil composition and geological traits of the terrain also have an adverse impact on the construction and maintenance of roads, including vital border links, which not only has socio-economic implications for the locals, but also has strategic ramifications. The Gangtok-Nathu La road, which leads on to Tibet and has been a route for Indo-China border trade since 2006, is particularly impacted by adverse geological and climatic conditions. Monsoon brings in repeated landslides and the soil subsides continuously, damaging road surface and bridges over culverts and rivulets. The tourism industry, the main source of revenue of Sikkim, also suffers due to this. Large stretches of this road, which is maintained by the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) are reduced to a mere track full of slush and snow, making driving slow and difficult. Snowbound winters and monsoons limit the working period for the BRO. Although certain remedial measures like slope recession, retaining walls etc. are undertaken by the BRO, the dynamicity of the slide remains uncontained and hence a detailed study of the area is considered utmost necessary, GSI officials said. Though some preliminary surveys have been undertaken, no detailed site specific studies have been done so far on this stretch.
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Jundal may be moved out of Kasab’s cell
Mumbai, April 3 “A proposal has been made to shift Abu Jundal to the Taloja jail in Navi Mumbai and this could happen in a day or two,” a home department official said. Jundal has been held in solitary confinement since he was brought to Mumbai from Delhi following his deportation from Saudi Arabia. A native of Maharashtra he is said to have taught Hindi to Kasab and helped the 26/11 attackers with detailed information on
Mumbai.
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Court reserves judgment in ‘84 riots case
New Delhi, April 3 District Sessions Judge JR Aryan fixed the matter for April 16 for clarification, if any, from the CBI or the six accused. The court will fix the date for the pronouncement of judgment on April 16. Concluding the final arguments, CBI prosecutor DP Singh said the prosecution had limited itself to what each of the witnesses had seen at the time of the incident. He said the witnesses had given honest versions of what they had seen during the riots. He alleged that Sajjan Kumar’s name was “immediately eliminated” from the police records every time it cropped up in complaints. Sajjan Kumar’s counsel IU Khan contended that there were several contradictions in the statements of the witnesses. On defence counsel’s argument that the government had rejected the recommendations of the Nanavati Commission constituted to probe the riots case, victim’s counsel HS Phoolka said the issue was debated in Parliament after which the Prime Minister stated that criminal cases would be registered against the accused as recommended by the Nanavati Commission. — TNS
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Mulayam slams Cong for CBI misuse, praises BJP leaders
Lucknow, April 3 “Sarkar se ladna asan nahi hai. Sarkar ke hazaron haath hote hain. CBI ka upyog kar sakti hai...jail me dal sakti hai” (It's not easy to fight with the government. It has thousands of hand and can use CBI and put one in jail),” he told reporters here in reply to a question. Earlier also, Mulayam had attacked the Congress-led UPA government, blaming it for misusing the CBI. In a visible softening of his stance towards the saffron party leaders, Mulayam praised saffron ideologues like Shyama Prasad Mukherjee and Deendayal Upadhyay. At the same time, addressing the BJP’s state working committee meeting in Chitrakoot today, former deputy PM and senior leader L K Advani praised Samajwadi Party’s present day icon Ram Manohar Lohia for appreciating Jan Sangh’s concept of nationalism. When the news of Advani praising Lohia was conveyed to the SP patriarch, who was at a meeting of SP district presidents, he retorted, “Good people are always praised” adding that who could ignore the leaders like Shyama Prasad Mukherjee and Deendayal Upadhyay. “They were not ordinary leaders”, he stressed. “Such things should be kept above party politics” said SP chief. Former Madhya Pradesh CM and BJP MLA Uma Bharti, however, described Yadav as a pseudo Lohiate as he did not believe in the philosophy of Lohia. UPCC spokesperson Dwijendra Tripathi, in a press statement, pointed out that Advani’s flattering statement in Chitrakoot had established that politics of both the parties may be different by belief is identical.
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No proof yet against Raja Bhaiya: CBI
Lucknow/New Delhi, April 3 CBI sources said the mob that had gathered after the killing of Yadav assaulted Haq and someone from it shot him dead. Sources said no evidence about the alleged involvement of MLA Raghuraj Pratap Singh, alias Raja Bhaiya, in the DSP's murder had been found so far. However, nothing conclusive could be said at this stage and the team was still looking for every possible evidence to crack the case. The sources said according to initial probe, the picture is becoming clear as far as murder of Haq was concerned, but the killings of Nanhe and his brother Suresh are still under intense scrutiny before any conclusion could be arrived at. Meanwhile, the entire staff of the four police stations under Kunda circle in Pratapgarh has been transferred on the recommendation of the CBI. The agency had suggested the transfer of the staff of these four police stations and the removal of ASP Asha Ram
Yadav.
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Cong pulls up Beni for attacking Mulayam
New Delhi, April 3 Verma met AICC general secretary Janardan Dwivedi this afternoon at the Congress headquarters after which the steel minister told mediapersons that he was willing to call for a ceasefire provided the SP stopped making derogatory remarks against him. Dwivedi, it is learnt, told Verma that he should refrain from hitting out at Mulayam Singh Yadav. Verma apparently insisted that he was being unnecessarily provoked by Mulayam. Verma’s tirade against the SP has embarrassed the Congress given its dependence on Mulayam’s party. The steel minister’s charge that the SP leader had terror links had derailed the Parliament session last month when Mulayam demanded that Verma should be dropped from the Cabinet. It was only after Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh apologised on Verma’s behalf that the SP leader relented. The Congress had distanced itself from Verma’s allegations. Disapproving his remarks, Janardan Dwivedi had said that party “leaders should act with restraint while giving public statements.” No sooner had the dust settled on this episode that Verma and SP leaders were back to square one, taking potshots at each other. While the steel minister accused Mulayam Singh Yadav of cheating and announced that his party would bite the dust after the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the SP was quick to retaliate. Finance Minister P. Chidambaram’s offer of enhanced Central funds for cash-strapped Uttar Pradesh did placate the SP but only briefly. Even today, Mulayam hit out at the Congress, saying that anybody who opposed the UPA government was “chased by the CBI”. Meanwhile, Verma met another critic of the SP chief, Amar Singh, but both leaders refused to say anything about their meeting.
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AP Congress draws up populist agenda to regain support base
Hyderabad, April 3 Grappling with growing infighting, desertions and falling popularity ratings, the ruling party has come up with a mix of mass contact programmes and giveaways to arrest the slide. Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy, who has been drawing flak from within and outside his party over his style of functioning, has drawn up a 90-day mass contact programme aimed at consolidating the support base among weaker sections that form the traditional vote bank of the Congress. To begin with, a massive awareness campaign would be taken up from April 5 to 14, coinciding with the birth anniversaries of Babu Jagjivan Ram and Babasaheb Ambedkar, respectively, to explain to the people the benefits of SC/ST sub-plan formulated by the state government. The state Assembly had, in November last year, passed a Bill to provide legislative backing to Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe sub-plans. This has paved the way for clear budgetary allocations for them in proportion to their population. “Though we are the first state in the country to have enacted such a legislation, there is not enough public awareness about it. We want to take the message to the people in rural areas,” party sources said. The campaign includes visits by ruling party leaders to SC/ST colonies and enlighten the weaker sections about the benefits of the sub-plan. The next phase of the mass contact programme, “Rachabanda” (village meeting), would be conducted after the conclusion of the gram panchayat poll in July next. Similarly, “Rythu Chaitanya Yatra” (farmers’ awareness rally) would commence on April 21 and last till May 8. The party is also gearing up for the
crucial local body elections, scheduled to be held in June. The government would also commence distribution of nine essential commodities to BPL families at concessional rates from April 11, coinciding with the Telugu New Year day “Ugadi”. The scheme would be implemented in all mandals from April 15. The welfare scheme is aimed at insulating the poorest of the poor from the impact of inflation by selling nine essential commodities at Rs 185. “Under the scheme, every BPL family would be given one kg each of palm oil, red-gram, wheat, wheat flour and salt, half kg of tamarind and sugar, a quarter kg of chilli powder and 100 grams of saffron powder every month at a cost of Rs. 185,” Civil Supplies Minister D Sridhar Babu said.
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Conflicting views between MEA-MHA in marines’ case
New Delhi, April 3 While the Home Ministry has been maintaining that the case has been handed over to NIA following the Supreme Court's ruling that Kerala government has no jurisdiction to prosecute the marines, the External Affairs Ministry said "no formal notification" on who will probe the matter has been issued so far. Official spokesperson of MEA Syed Akbaruddin said "there is no formal decision on which investigating agency will conduct the probe. No formal notification has been issued so far". According to Home Ministry officials, they have not yet received the exact text of the communication given by New Delhi to Rome giving clarification on the death sentences given to the murder accused. MHA officials said if any assurance has been given to Italy that prosecutors will not press for death sentence against the marines -- Massimiliano Lattore and Salvatore Girone --, it will be duly honoured. Officials said if any assurance was given to Italy on not providing death sentence, then the marines could be tried under Section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code or IPC Section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder). Since the case is not a rarest of rare case, even after murder conviction of the marines under Section 302, they will not be given capital punishment. In that case, the Suppression of Unlawful Acts Against Safety of Maritime Navigation and Fixed Platforms on Continental Shelf Act 2002 will not be slapped against the marines under which offence of murder is punishable with death sentence. — PTI
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Land dispute behind BSP leader’s murder?
New Delhi, April 3 The realtor might have been killed in connection with a 30-acre piece of land in Haryana’s Bahadurgarh area. Investigators have launched a hunt for spiritual leader Swami Pratimanand with whom Bhardwaj is believed to be involved in a dispute over the land. The police suspects that Swami Pratimanand took the help of Rakesh Malik, a commercial pilot, who hired shooters Sunil Mann (alias Sonu) and Purushottam Rana (alias Monu) for killing Bhardwaj at his 35-acre farmhouse in Rajokri in south Delhi. Raids were being carried out in Haryana, Uttarakhand and at some other places in search of Swami and Malik. The names of the two accused came to light during interrogation of the shooters and their associate Amit, who drove the contract killers’ escape car. The police has not ruled out the role of any family member of Bhardwaj in the murder. They have questioned Bhardwaj’s wife Ramesh Kumari, their sons and staff. Rana and Mann had apparently purchased a pair of SIM cards from Delhi three days before the incident. They have admitted to having disposed of their weapons in a canal minutes after fleeing to Haryana after Bhardwaj’s murder. — IANS
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Prez gives assent to anti-rape Bill
New Delhi, April 3 Mukherjee accorded his assent to the Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill-2013 yesterday, brought against the backdrop of the country-wide outrage over Delhi gangrape, and it will now be called the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013, an official release said today. The law, passed by Lok Sabha on March 19 and by Rajya Sabha on March 21, has replaced an Ordinance promulgated on February 3. It amends various sections of the Indian Penal Code, the Code of Criminal Procedure, the Indian Evidence Act and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act. With the aim of providing strong deterrent against crimes like rapes, the new law states that an offender can be sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than 20 years, but which may extend to life, meaning imprisonment for the remainder of the convict's natural life and with a fine. It has provisions for handing out death sentence to offenders who may have been convicted earlier for such crimes. The law, for the first time, defines stalking and voyeurism as non-bailable offences if repeated for a second time. Perpetrators of acid attack will attract a 10-year jail. It also defines acid attack as a crime besides granting a victim the right to self-defence. It also has provisions for imposing a minimum 10-year jail term for perpetrators of such acts. The law has fixed age for consensual sex at 18 years. New sections to prevent stalking and voyeurism were introduced following a strong demand from women's organisations. The amendments seek to define and prescribe punishment for the offences of stalking, voyeurism and sexual harassment. The law also seeks to widen the definition of rape, broaden the ambit of aggravated rape and enhance the punishment for such crimes. — PTI
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