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| Thursday, September 14, 2000, Chandigarh, India   
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25 years’ search for justice ends Farmers ‘to gain’ from
globalisation Kingpin of train robbers
held Govt ‘committed’ to
ceasefire with NSCN |
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Forestry to be school subject
soon Involve Pak in
talks: Hizb HC seeks test report
on defence copters Ultimatum to 50
accused for engaging counsel Even first puff can
be lethal: study 2 youths drowned
in Yamuna
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25 years’ search for justice ends in tragedy NEW DELHI, Sept 13 (UNI) — There is no light at the end of the tunnel. Nirmal Kumar Jain’s worst fears have come true. Jain, who had lost his daughter during his 25-year long and treacherous struggle for justice, recently lost his only son also due to administrative apathy. This happened despite his repeated pleas for justice to courts and the National Human Rights Commission and for compassion to the President and the Prime Minister, thus highlighting the fact that in a country with population of 1000 million, everything comes at a premium, except human lives which remains the cheapest commodity. In fact, Jain had filed an application in the District and Sessions Court of Damoh and also approached the Madhya Pradesh High Court on August 8 for speeding up the process of justice as he apprehended that deprived of justice and driven by abject poverty and unemployment, his two children might also follow the path of their elder sister who had self-immolated two years back. And on August 22, the worst happened as his 24-year old son committed suicide by consuming insecticide. The young man, who had educated up to the post-graduate level by cutting beetle nuts, could not bear the hardships that had befallen the family due to judicial delays. Jain, whose earlier pleas to President K.R. Nararyanan were returned with the seal of ‘refused’, has once again written to him. But this time the letter, a copy of which was made available to UNI, has not urged the President for justice and compassion, but only informed him about the recent tragedy so that he could realise what judicial delays and executive inaction could drive poor people to. 55-year-old Jain’s only crime was that as an RSS worker he had protested against the imposition of the Emergency in 1975 and went to jail. And for this he paid a heavy price. Jain, who was working in the Kendriya Sehkari Bank, Damoh was sacked by the manager of the bank in 1976 by falsely implicating him in a case of misappropriation. After a protracted legal trial of 17 years, Jain was acquitted of all charges of misappropriation and a case registered against the bank manager who had falsely implicated him. It is still pending in the court. In the meantime, the manager retired and become a member of the Boards of Directors of the bank. Through his influence he blocked all of Jain’s efforts for reinstatement or to get financial compensation from the bank. By this time, Jain was financially ruined, his house was sold and he was suffering from tuberculosis. His family was forced to seek shelter with relatives. When his son died, Mr Jain was in Damoh, his wife was at Samaria and daughter was at Shahpura with their relatives. Its not that nobody came to his help, but most of them did lip service in the form of recommendations and assurances and nothing was material. Despite repeatedly being asked by the NHRC, the Prime Minister’s office, various social organisations and other people, the Madhya Pradesh government refused to take any steps to alleviate Jain’s sufferings. In reply to his appeals for help the PMO had informed Jain in 1998 that it has written to the Chief Secretary of the Madhya Pradesh government for his reinstatement. But, even after two years nothing happened. In 1997, the NHRC had also written to the Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister asking him to personally look into matter and ensure that Jain gets adequate assistance under prevailing governmental scheme to enable him survive without poverty bordering on destitution. The NHRC chairperson told the Chief Minister that Jain had suffered for no fault of his and redressal should be provided by the state government. As the state government took no step, the NHRC again wrote to the Chief Minister on January 31, 2000 asking him to provide some assistance in view of the acute hardships and destitution faced by the family. But all these appeals fell on deaf ears resulting in the recent tragedy. Now the death of his only son has left Jain totally heartbroken as evident from his letter to the President which said
“mujhe ab nyay nahin chahiye. Meri bas itni prarthana hai ki aap vaidhanik pramukh hone ke nate aisee wyawastha kar dein ki koi anya Nirmal ki tarah 25 sal nyay ke liye mar ke aik aik karke apani auladein nahin khoye. Meri patni awam bachhon ne asahniya vedana and dar ka sagar dekha hai. Mere bate in supari kat kar padhai ki thi aub main uski degree ka kya karoon (I do not want justice now. My only request to you is that as the Constitutional head of the country you should make such a provision so that no one should die each day for 25 years like me and see his children die one by one. My wife and kids had suffered immense pain and trauma. My son had studied by cutting beetle nuts, what should I do with his degrees now.)” |
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Farmers ‘to gain’ from
globalisation NEW DELHI, Sept 13 — The Indian agriculture will gain from the process of globalisation by reaping gains in terms of higher exports and higher incomes for farmers, the Union Agriculture Minister, Mr Nitish Kumar said here today. Addressing representatives of farmers, leaders of political parties and voluntary organisations at a meeting called to elicit the views of the participants on the process of agricultural reforms under the World Trade Organisation, Mr Kumar said trade policies would have to be dovetailed with domestic policies in order to encourage larger investments in sectors where the country has a comparative advantage. On the ongoing negotiations at the WTO, he said efforts would be made to ensure that the liberalisation of trade does not threaten the viability of the Indian agriculture, rural employment and the livelihood of the rural masses. “Our primary objective during the review of agreement on agriculture will be to ensure the continued food security of our people, including the 100 million farmers and 75 million agricultural labourers”, he said. Mr Kumar said Article 20 of the agreement on agriculture provides for negotiations on the agreement one year before the end of the implementation period for the purpose of continuing the process of reforms in the international trade in agricultural commodities. Accordingly, the negotiations have commenced in March this year in the WTO. All member countries are expected to submit their proposals by December 31 this year. Giving details of the agreement on agriculture under the WTO, the minister said the long term objectives of the agreement were to establish a fair and market-oriented agricultural trading system and to initiate a process of reforms on the support and protection given to the agricultural sector in order to correct and prevent restrictions and distortions in world agriculture markets. This agreement incorporates three commitments on the part of member countries in the areas of market access, domestic support and export subsidies. On the removal of quantitative restrictions, the minister assured that India had considerable flexibility for imposing higher level of tariffs within the bound level on import of agricultural produce to deal with possible adverse consequences of the removal of QRs. |
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Kingpin of train robbers
held HARDWAR, Sept 13 — The police has made a major breakthrough by busting inter-state gangs of robbers who used to operate on the Northern Railway routes and loot passengers by drugging them. The gang had thus looted several hundred Bihari labourers and other passengers by
drugging them either in the railway compartments or on railway platforms. A senior police officer told TNS on telephone that the police was able to nab the kingpin of the gang and his sweet heart from
platform No. 4 from the Hardwar railway station. The kingpin identified
as Kishan, alias Jal Singh (53 years), was arrested alongwith Saroj alias Pushap. Both of them were disguised as sadhus when the police arrested them. Kishan, alias Jal Singh, hails from Bhindara village in Bharatpur district of Rajasthan while Saroj belongs to Muzzaffar Nagar. Both of them have been living as husband and wife for the last six years. The police recovered a large quantity of tablets which were used for drugging, powder, biscuits laced with poisonous substance from an abandoned railway bogey which the duo had converted into its temporary home. During the past six months, the gang members drugged over 30 Bihari labourers in the Barauni Express between Ludhiana and Saharanpur. All of them were found lying unconscious in the compartments. Many such cases were detected at the Ambala cantonment railway station also. The gang used to operate on the Hardwar, Saharanpur, Bharatpur, Morababad, Gaziabad, Delhi, Ganganagar and Chandaosi railway lines. Their other groups operated on the Ludhiana-Saharanpur-Delhi railway line. The kingpin is reported to have told the police that they live in railway platforms or travel in compartments disguised as sadhus, astrologers or some other form of beggars so as to win the sympathy of unsuspecting passengers. They used to win their confidence and drug them before looting. A large number of drugged passengers had died also. |
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Govt ‘committed’ to
ceasefire with NSCN NEW DELHI, Sept 13 — The representative of Government of India for Naga Peace Talks, Mr K Padmanabaiah, has made it clear that while the Centre will consider extension of ceasefire with the NSCN(I-M) to other areas in the North East, but any such extension should not be interpreted as a step towards “recognition of their (NSCN’s) claim to greater Nagaland.” “I must clearly mention that none of the representatives of the Government of India has agreed to extend the ceasefire in all Naga areas.... Yet the Centre stands by its commitment to the ceasefire agreement with the NSCN(I-M) as an entity with a view to furthering the cause of peace,” Mr Padmanabaiah said in a letter to NSCN Chairman Isak Chishi Swu. “The Government of India would consider extension of ceasefire with the NSCN (I-M) to other areas of the North East subject to the condition that NSCN(I-M) accepts and agrees to issue a statement that extension of ceasefire to other areas will not be interpreted by them as a step towards recognition of their claim to greater Nagaland,” he said. Stating that the term ‘Naga areas’ was vague and has not even been defined, he pointed out that NSCN’s repeated references to the Naga areas had given a feeling of unrest and apprehension in the minds of the other state governments, as indicative of “your claim for greater Nagaland directly or indirectly”. |
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Forestry to be school subject
soon DEHRA DUN, Sept 13 — The Union Ministry of Human Resource Development is seriously considering introducing forestry as a regular subject at school education level in all states and union territories of the country. The syllabus of the classes has already been prepared by an expert committee of the Forest Research Institute (FRI), Dehra Dun, and forwarded to its parent organisation, the Indian Council of Forest Research and Education, Dehra Dun, for final touches. Disclosing this while talking to The Tribune here today, Dr V.N. Singh, officiating Director, FRI, and Dean, deemed university, said, “The Ministry of HRD approached the council last year to design a syllabus for all classes of school education level so that it may be introduced as a regular subject. The FRI experts immediately responded to such a move and worked hard for preparing the syllabus. Here it is worth mentioning that the new national forest policy framed recently aims to target forestry at the grassroots level by imparting education among children. This will help in developing an eco-friendly system of nature among the masses in the near future. He said: “It is unfortunate on the part of our education policy that there are no specialised teachers in most of the universities and colleges where forestry is offered as a part of the subject curriculum. They come from a background of botany, zoology or other branches of science. Minimum qualification of M.Sc. (forestry) or its allied subjects should be made mandatory for teachers engaged in teaching forestry as a subject”. The ICFRE has recently written to all state governments and the Union Government demanding a
permanent recruitment policy for forest and its allied departments. Initiative should also be taken in recruiting expert staff for teaching forestry and its allied subjects. At present, Kerala is the only state in the country where 50 per cent vacancies of the Forest Department are reserved for candidates holding specialised degrees in forestry and its allied subjects. Dr V.N. Singh further said, “The FRI has introduced two new subjects — M.Sc. in environment management (two years) and postgraduate diploma in biodiversity conservation (one year) — from the current academic session to bring up more forest experts. Apart from this, the FRI is already running M.Sc. (forest economics and management), M.Sc. wood science and technology, postgraduate diploma in plantation technology and diploma in pulp and paper technology courses.” The FRI has successfully arranged campus interviews by liaisoning with the private companies to offer job opportunities to the pass-out students. Except postgraduate diploma in plantation technology, the pass-outs of the last session of all other courses have been offered jobs with a minimum start of Rs 9000 per month plus accommodation by reputed companies. In reply to a question, Dr V.N. Singh, who has also worked as General Manager for few years in Tamil Nadu Tea Plantation Company, said the plantation companies were facing recession these days. Therefore, the FRI did not get any better response from them. But 10 out of the 15 pass-out students of this course have opted for junior research fellowships in various organisations which is not embarrassing. The FRI, pioneer institute is imparting education in different branches of forestry and environment, made a humble beginning from the Forest School established in 1878. Initially named as Imperial Forest Research Institute, the FRI came into being a 1906. Later renamed as the Forest Research Institute and College it had a number of centres located at different places of the country administering research as well as training of forest officers and forest rangers. In 1988, on reorganisation of forestry research in the country and creation of the ICFRE the training research centre were given independent status. Later, in 1991 the FRI was given the status of deemed university. |
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Involve Pak in
talks: Hizb NEW DELHI, Sept 13 (PTI) — The Hizbul Mujahideen today clarified that it would consider bilateral negotiations with the Centre only after the latter confirmed that the Kashmir dispute would be resolved through a tripartite agreement among India, Pakistan and people of Kashmir. “Before considering any future modalities, India should accept that there are three parties attached to the issue of Kashmir dispute,” Hizbul Mujahideen spokesman Salim Hashim told
PTI over phone from Islamabad. He said the exact modalities, whether India talks to Kashmiri people first or India talks to Pakistan can be worked out once the tripartite nature of the dispute is accepted. |
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HC seeks test report
on defence copters NEW DELHI, Sept 13 (PTI) — The Delhi High Court today sought from the Centre a test report on a private firm's anti-collision lights (ACLs) approved for defence helicopters allegedly without any tests at the risk of safety. A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Arijit Passayat and Mr Justice d k jain asked the Defence Ministry, the Chief Executive of Centre for Military Airworthiness and Certification
(CEMILAC), the Director of Aeronautics (Ministry of Defence) and the Delhi-based company Electro Magneto Parmanento (EMP) to submit the institutional test report of the
ACLs by October 19, the next date of hearing. The government counsel told the Bench that the test of the
ACLs could not be conducted at Central Research Institute (CRI),
Dehradun, because of some faults in the machines. The quality of the
ACLs for the defence helicopters was challenged in a public interest litigation
(PILL) by retired Wing Cdr Prabhjot Singh Sandhu alleging that the Defence Ministry gave its approval to the
EMP for manufacturing of the equipment without proper investigation about infrastructure available with the company and its capacity to manufacture and supply the same. Commander Sandhu's counsel Amit s chadha, while requesting the court to summon entire record from the
CRI dehradun, claimed that the test conducted at the institute as per the court's earlier direction, had "failed". However, the court said let the ministry submit the test report and its affidavit first. |
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Ultimatum to 50
accused for engaging counsel COIMBATORE, Sept 13 (PTI) —The special court, trying the Coimbatore serial blast cases, yesterday gave an ultimatum to about 50 accused to appoint their counsel before the next hearing of the case on September 18. When all 167 accused were produced, Special Judge M. Thanikachalam asked nearly 50 accused, including the main accused, S.A. Batcha, who have yet to appoint lawyers, on their decision on arranging lawyers. As the accused sought some more time, Mr Thanikachalam said if they failed to appoint their counsel by the next hearing, the court would take steps to provide lawyers from the government panel of legal aid. Batcha, however, opposed the move to appoint counsel from the panel. He said they wanted lawyers of their choice and was even heard saying that all accused would refuse to attend the court, if lawyers were appointed from the panel. |
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Even first puff can
be lethal: study NEW DELHI, Sept 13 (UNI) — Why is it that your first cigarette can leave you hooked for life? For years, scientists the world over have been trying to figure out why so many people cannot stop smoking, despite widespread awareness that it causes heart disease and cancer. However, a recent study that tries to explain, for the first time, the addictive effect of nicotine has found that nicotine in a single cigarette can trigger a long-lasting chemical change in brain cells, often manifested in heightened feelings of ecstasy after taking the first puff. Studies by neurobiologists Daniel McGehee and Hulbert Mansvelder from the University of Chicago on slices of rat brain have shown that exposure to nicotine leads to an increased level in their brains of the neurotransmitter dopamine, responsible for feelings of pleasure, and that high levels of the chemical last for hours after exposure to nicotine. |
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2 youths drowned
in Yamuna NEW DELHI, Sept 13 — Two youths, Shyam (18) and Subhash (14), drowned in the Yamuna river last evening when they came to immerse the idols of Lord Ganesha in the river. They reportedly entered the river with the idols to immerse them in deep water. While they were going, their legs slipped and they fell into the deep water. Probably they did not know swimming. Personnel of the Delhi Fire Service, Flood Control Department and divers were called soon after the incident. However, the bodies of the youths could not be traced till this evening, the police said. |
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