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| Wednesday, September 6, 2000, Chandigarh, India   
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TN to defend ultras’ release
Free school education plan Drought too
strikes Bihar |
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Apply Art 356 in W. Bengal: Ray DMC toll tax invites resentment ‘Discrimination’ made IAS officer quit Law to ban smoking in public places mooted WHO office to have ayurveda cell Nirankari scholar
Joshi dead Wheat export ceiling fixed
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TN to defend ultras’ release CHENNAI, Sept 5 (UNI) — The Tamil Nadu Government today decided to defend in the Supreme Court, its right to withdraw cases against the five Tamil extremists, whose release was being demanded by forest brigand Veerappan to free Kannada film star Dr Rajkumar and three others held hostage by him since July 30. This stand would be made clear while filing a counter-affidavit before the apex court, probably tomorrow, in response to the public interest litigation (PIL) filed by a Delhi-based lawyer, challenging the state government’s right to drop cases against the five extremists, official sources here said. The decision to this effect was taken at a high-level meeting chaired by Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi and attended by Chief Secretary A.P. Muthusamy, Home Secretary Santha Sheela Nair, Law Secretary K. Parthasarathy, Director-General of Police F.C. Sharma and Additional DGP A.X. Alexander at the Secretariat this morning, the sources said. BANGALORE: Karnataka Chief Minister S.M. Krishna today hinted that the government might have to explore other alternatives to secure the safe release of Kannada actor Rajkumar. Talking to newsmen here, Mr Krishna said, “The government will have to look for alternatives”. However, he did not
specify the alternatives. |
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Free school education plan NEW DELHI, Sept 5 (PTI) — The government proposes to bring before the Union Cabinet soon “Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan”, an ambitious scheme aimed at providing elementary education to all children in the country. “We will be going before the Union Cabinet’’ for the clearance of the scheme which would strive to implement universal elementary education in a mission mode, Human Resources Development Minister Murli Manohar Joshi told reporters after a function at which President K.R. Narayanan gave away National Awards to distinguished teachers on the occasion of “Teachers Day’’. The vision of “Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan’’ was to provide useful and relevant elementary education of satisfactory quality for all children by 2010 bridging all social and gender gaps with the active participation of the community in the affairs of the school, he said. The scheme is likely to be implemented from Gandhi Jayanti Day on October 2. Mr Joshi said that the government was keen on passing a bill to make education a fundamental right, to provide free education to the children in the age group of six to 14 years. A group of ministers were studying the bill pending before Parliament, he said. The President presented awards to as many as 284 outstanding teachers from across the country who have excelled in the profession. The minister said a committee constituted by the National Council of Education, Research and Training
(NCERT) was already going into the issue of revising the school curricula. Meanwhile, university and college teachers across the country today used the occasion of Teachers’ Day to give vent to their grievances over the government’s “apathetic attitude’’ towards their demands for better service conditions including the career advancement scheme. More than 25,000 teachers of central universities observed the day as a “black day’’ in protest against the refusal of the Human Resource Development Ministry to implement the career advancement scheme from January 1, 1996 and some other issues relating to higher education. The teachers wore black badges and staged sit-ins on their respective campuses. A large number of teachers assembled on Parliament Street in a protest demonstration and burnt an effigy of Human Resource Development Minister Dr M.M. Joshi. Representatives of Delhi University Teachers’ association
(DUTA) courted arrest along with those of AIFUCTO infront of the HRD Ministry. Mr Joshi disapproved of the ‘black day’ protest by teachers of central universities today saying their agitation for higher pay was “not justified’’. He suggested the teaching community should itself evolve a “code for academic functioning’’. Stating that a university teacher gets Rs 14,000 to Rs 15,000 at the entry level, he said after a few years of experience these teachers were paid Rs 30,000 and more. CALCUTTA: West Bengal Governor Viren J. Shah today regretted that the teaching profession was witnessing ‘erosion of values’ and called upon teachers to rectify aberrations through serious introspection. |
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Drought too strikes Bihar PATNA, Sept 5 — Floods and drought are not new to Bihar but it is rare that both natural disasters strike simultaneously. The millennium year in Bihar has started as a curse for a predominantly agro-based economy of the state, as after the initial damage done by the floods in about 24 districts, half of the size of the state, the spectre of drought is looming large. The possibilities of any crop production has been wiped out in more that 25 districts of Bihar, including the 18 districts of Jharkhand. The government is on its toes with the Chief Minister, Ms Rabri Devi, sounding an alert to officials, ordering the reactivation of all government tubewells and irrigation sources and the Water Resource Development Minister, Mr Jagdanand Singh, asking field officials of the Irrigation Department to cooperate with farmers. The leaves of the government officials have been cancelled. But despite the efforts, the state faces total failure of paddy crop. The state has registered less than normal rains. The timing has also been erratic. Every year northern districts of Darbhanga, Madhubani, Sitamarhi, Samastipur, Purnia and Katihar face floods owing to the discharge of water by the rivers, crossing through Nepal, in the lower reaches of Bihar. The north-western, western and southern districts are, however, in the clutches of drought. The WRD Minister, talking to this correspondent said: “The situation of drought is very grim and the government is sparing no effort. The paddy transplantation work is incomplete and the drought situation will damage the existing plants. The government, however, can not help the situation as a whopping 60 per cent of the agriculture in the state is dependent on the rains and only 40 per cent farms are covered by irrigation facilities.” Interestingly, the constituency of the minister, famous as the “rice bowl” of Bihar, is also in the grip of drought. On the flood scene, the minister blamed the Centre. “Floods in Bihar are the product of Centre’s apathy. The damage is done mostly by the river waters which come from Nepal. As the issue involves two nations, it is an international issue and the state has no say in that. The state government has requested the Centre time and again to initiate talks with the Nepal Government in this regard but to no avail”, he said. Nepal releases extra waters from its river projects whenever the river waters mount pressure on the embankments. The water find way in the lower reaches which lie in Bihar’s northern districts. The states gets very little from the National Calamity Relief
Fund. This year, the double attack of drought and floods is bound to shatter the financial health of the already weakened state. It is bound to trigger off a influx of migrants from rural Bihar. PTI: The flood situation in Bihar remained grim today with major rivers in spate while the death toll mounted to 70 with seven more deaths reported today from Jehanabad and Sitamarhi. Three deaths were reported from Jehanabad and four from Sitamarhi, state Relief and Rehabilitation Department sources said. |
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Apply Art 356 in W. Bengal: Ray CALCUTTA, Sept 5 — Mr Siddhartha Shankar Ray has recommended the application of Article 356 in West Bengal to end the 23 years of “jungle rule” in the state under Mr Jyoti Basu’s leadership. Mr Ray demanded alternatively that the Centre should immediately take over the police and law and order machinery of the state under Section (1) A of Article 356 of the Constitution. The Section says: “The President can assume to himself all or any of the functions of the government of the state and all or any of the powers vested in or exercisable by the Governor or anybody or authority in the state other than the legislators of the state.” The former Punjab Governor said: “During my governorship, once I thought of the application of Section (1) A of Article 356 in Amritsar and Gurdaspur but soon the situation in these two places improved and there was no need of it”. Mr Ray met Governor Viren J. Shah at Raj Bhavan and advised him to exercise his constitutional rights in bringing back peace and normalcy and restoring democratic functioning of the state. The veteran Congress leader, who himself is a legal luminary, pleaded for the imposition of President’s rule on West Bengal which “is now an urgent need of the day for the protection of lives and properties and normal living of the people.” After his long silence the high-profile Congress leader and Chief Minister of West Bengal in the mid-seventies, told newsmen at his South Calcutta residence that he himself felt the need to come forward to assist the newly appointed WBCC President, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, for reviving the state Congress. DMC toll tax invites resentment NEW DELHI, Sept 5 — The All-India Confederation of Goods Vehicle Owner’s Associations (AICGVOA) today expressed their resentment over the collection of toll tax by the Delhi Municipal Corporation (DMC) from goods vehicle owners at the toll check-posts and opposed any move by the Haryana Government to impose toll on goods vehicle owners. “The mode of collection of toll adopted by the DMC is not at all acceptable to the goods vehicle owners of the country,” the AICGVOA president, Mr B. Channa Reddy, in a memorandum submitted to the Union Transport Minister, Mr Rajnath Singh, the Haryana Chief Minister, Mr O.P. Chautala and the Delhi Chief Minister, Mrs Shiela Dikshit, said here. “We urge you to do whatever required in order to ensure that the toll collection by the DMC from goods vehicle owners at the toll checkposts is stopped forthwith,” he said. The levy of toll by the corporation may be within their powers technically but the mode of its collection from truck operators at checkposts is “ill-conceived, archaic and anti-truckers”, Mr Reddy said. Mr Reddy lamented that the corporation was unyielding to the advice of the Chief Minister of Delhi to review its toll policy on the untenable ground that it had become an important source of revenue for the civic body. “More than volume, the corporation should consider who was truly liable to pay,” he said. |
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‘Discrimination’ made IAS officer quit DEHRA DUN, Sept 5 — Few people have convictions and fewer still have the courage of their convictions. Mr Balwant Singh is one of them. He joined the Indian Administrative Services in 1959 but resigned after just five years in 1964 because, being a Dalit, he was allegedly discriminated against by the government. Had he continued and retired on reaching superannuation, he would have been enjoying his retirement on a comfortable pension. Mr Balwant Singh has written two books, “An Untouchable in the IAS” and “Struggle against Slavery”. The first one deals with his short career in the services. The second one deals with his student days at Rampur and later at Allahabad University from where he graduated. Both describe without any rancour the hurdles he had to face to break the shackles of unjust and inhuman practices and the discrimination his community has been suffering. “The early days in the IAS training school at Mussoorie were the happiest. Horse riding was a part of the curriculum. I became an expert rider but was not allowed to take part in a competition. Then I was asked to write a paper on the constitutional safeguards for the Scheduled Castes but was again discriminated against by not being allowed to read the paper before fellow probationers,” he alleged. His first posting was as an Additional SDM of Baghpat subdivision in Meerut district. From there he was transferred to Kanpur in the same capacity although other officers of the same batch were promoted and posted as ADMs. After six months in Kanpur, when his case was not reviewed and officers junior to him continued to be promoted, he submitted his resignation but was persuaded to withdraw it. Later, he was transferred from Kanpur to Lalitpur in Jhansi division as an SDM. He was soon transferred to Sitapur as an Assistant Commissioner, a post junior to the one he was holding earlier. No convincing reason was given except the explanation that “he had not handled the flood situation well in Lalitpur.” This was when he decided to bid goodbye to the IAS, which he had entered with high hopes. After his resignation, he studied law at Delhi University and practised as an advocate in
Saharanpur. |
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Law to ban smoking in public places mooted NEW DELHI, Sept 5 — The government plans to bring about a legislation banning smoking in public places all over the country by the year-end. This decision was announced by the Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Dr C P Thakur here today. He said the move was aimed at checking tobacco-related diseases as cancer and tuberculosis. He said the process of legislation on tobacco control would be completed this year. Addressing a joint press conference organised by the WHO here, the Health Minister said the fresh nationwide survey on the incidence of HIV/AIDS began in August and would be completed within five months. He said if the HIV drug prices were reduced further to an affordable level, the government would include the free supply of drugs to HIV/AIDS patients under the National AIDS Control Programme. Dr Thakur said the government had adopted a life cycle approach by launching a war against female infanticide and foeticide and reducing the maternal and child mortality substantially. Dr Gro Harlem Brundtland, Director-General of the WHO said that leprosy would be eradicated from the world by the end on next year. She said that a global convention on the framework on anti-tobacco campaign would be organised by the WHO in Geneva in the coming month. Dr Brundtland said the WHO was having a dialogue with the WTO to look into the pharmaceutical issues and food safety. |
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WHO office to have ayurveda cell NEW DELHI, Sept 5 — Taking cognisance of the wide acceptance of ayurveda in the South-East Asian region, the World Health Organisation today conceded India’s demand for an exclusive cell for promoting ayurveda in its South-East Asia regional office in the Capital. The Director-General of WHO, Dr Gro Harlem Brundtland told the Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare, Dr C.P. Thakur, here today that SEARO planned to set up an ayurveda cell in Delhi. Sources in the Health Ministry said WHO was holding talks with G-8 countries at the instance of G-77 countries and certain African countries to raise money for combating certain diseases such as malaria, AIDS and tuberculosis. The sources said a WHO-supported kala-azar eradication programme would be launched soon in 50 districts in three states. The programme would cover 37 districts in Bihar, 10 in Uttar Pradesh and three in West Bengal besides adjoining areas of Nepal and Bangladesh. The Health Minister requested Dr Brundtland to render financial assistance and supply free drugs for major health programmes.
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Nirankari scholar
Joshi dead NEW DELHI, Sept 5 — Veteran scholar, writer, poet and journalist of the Sant Nirankari Mission, Shashi Kant “Nirmal” Joshi, died here yesterday. He was 75. The mortal remains of Joshi were consigned to flames at the electric crematorium here this morning. Thousands of Nirankari devotees were present at the last rites. Earlier, the body was taken in a procession led by senior missionaries of the mission and Sewa Dal volunteers. Long associated with the mission’s spiritual magazine “Sant Nirankari” and other journals as their Chief Editor, Joshi was currently a senior member of the executive committee of the Sant Nirankari
Mandal, holding the charge of the magazine department. |
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Wheat export ceiling fixed NEW DELHI, Sept 5 — The government has decided to fix the quantitative ceiling for the export of wheat at 20 lakh tonnes during 2000-2001 and to permit the export of wheat products without any quantitative ceiling. It has been decided to designate the Agriculture and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) for the purpose of issuing registration-cum-allocation certificates (RCACs) for the export of wheat and wheat products. As per the Exim policy, the export of wheat is allowed freely, subject to quantitative ceilings announced by the Directorate-General of Foreign Trade from time to time and the issuing of RCACs by APEDA. |
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