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Monday,
June 18, 2001, Chandigarh, India  
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HVC all
set to nail down Virbhadra HVC not to
seek apology from Cong |
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Workers’
federation poll on June 27, 28 Feminism
‘a protest against injustice’ A railway
station losing charm Himachal
steps to boost healthcare British
envoy calls on Governor
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Paswan promises
ESI dispensary for Baddi Baddi (Solan), June 17 Addressing an impressive party workers’ rally, Mr Paswan also announced an ESI dispensary and a post office for Baddi, besides two telephone exchanges for the Doon Assembly constituency of the hill state. Referring to the party’s strategy for the coming Assembly elections in certain states, Mr Paswan said the party would broadly go with the NDA allies. However, it would demand an “honorable” settlement with the allies since the party formed in November last year had a considerable base all over the country. Mr
Paswan, who addressed the first rally in Himachal since the formation of the party, regretted that the party’s concept of “social justice” was often misunderstood. The party would wage a war against communalism, corruption and injustice to the downtrodden. Supporting reservation for women in Parliament and State Assemblies, the Union Minister wanted a national policy for uplifting the weaker sections of society. Thakur Mohinder Singh, president of the Himachal unit of the Dalit Sena and a former Himachal PWD Minister, alleged that the BJP Government in Himachal had virtually abandoned various employment generation programmes. During his tenure as a minister, he had helped provide employment to over 17,500 persons, he claimed. Blaming the Congress and the BJP for dividing society for their petty political gains, Thakur Mohinder Singh claimed that only the Lok Janshakti party could provide a viable alternative in the state. Prominent among those who spoke were Mr Lalit Gautam, Secretary-General of the party, Mr Pradeep Mishra, secretary-general of the Chhattra Dal of the party, Ms Latika Sharma, president of the Mahila Dalit Sena, Mr Ramel Singh Badial, president of the Himachal unit of the party and Ms Vinod Chandel, president of the Himachal unit of the Mahila Lok
Janshakti. |
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HVC all
set to nail down Virbhadra Shimla, June 17 HVC members are enraged over the persistent campaign by a section of the Congressmen to malign the party supremo, Mr Sukh Ram, which has been urging the high command not to take any leaders back into the Congress fold until they withdrew the charges and publicly apologised for it what has irked the party most is the fact that the issue was being raised without any rhyme or reason. Since neither Mr Sukh Ram nor any other party leader, the party sources point out, have sought re-entry into the Congress, there was no occasion for raising such a demand. The party will finalise its strategy to blunt the campaign and the meeting of its state executive here tomorrow. Indications are that the party, which had all but completely forgotten its charge sheet against Mr Virbhadra Singh will revive the demand for expediting the CBI probe into it. The party is likely to adopt a tough posture against the government which, it feels, had been soft on the former Chief Minister. The BJP itself had levelled the same charges against Mr Virbhadra Singh but after coming to power it adopted a what it terms a “friendly” attitude towards him. Mr Sukh Ram, they assert, had all through maintained that the HVC would not merge with either the Congress or the BJP and maintain its separate identity. However, still the issue was being raised by vested interests in these two faction-ridden parties. The warring factions were using the Sukh Ram issue to run down the rivals with the party. The party is also likely to discuss the issue of imposition of user charges on health
services. Mr Sukh Ram has time and again aired his reservations regarding the setting up of corporations and converting institutions into societies or some other entity. The HVC leader firmly believes that the objective which a government department failed to achieve could never be achieved by a corporation. The conversion of institutions into societies only reflected the failure of the department and the minister concerned. The government should have itself levied health charges, instead of converting hospitals into societies. By doing so it would further lose grip over them as the functioning of corporations and societies could not be monitored by the Vidhan Sabha, he said. The HVC supremo denied reports that the party was considering to withdraw support to the Dhumal Government but expressed concern over the ongoing war of words between leaders of the BJP and the
HVC. Besides discussing all these issues, the executive will also chalk out the programme for the party rally to be held at Kangra on July 6 in connection with its foundation day. The party plans to release the schemes formulated by Mr Sukh Ram as the head of the employment and resource generation committee during the rally. |
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HVC not
to seek apology from Cong Hamirpur, June 17 He lashed out at the Congress Seva Dal leaders for levelling charges against the HVC supremo, Mr Sukh Ram. He said the Congress Seva Dal leaders were interfering into sub judice issues. He said the Congress was a divided house and moreover had lost faith in the people and that was the reason that it was levelling certain charges against leaders of other parties only to divert the attention of the people from their infighting. The HVC leader also blamed the BJP government in the state for not talking any action on the charge sheet submitted by the party against the former Chief Minister, Mr Virbhadra Singh. He said the Chief Minister, Prof Prem Kumar Dhumal, should state the action taken on the charge sheet. |
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Workers’ federation poll on June 27, 28 Shimla, June
17 The spate of charges and counter-charges by rival groups regarding irregularities in the elections to the district units has raised doubts whether the ongoing election process will be completed. In fact, Mr Ganga Singh, president of the federation had quashed the election of the Shimla district unit and set up a three-member committee to inquire into the alleged irregularities. Mr Ganga Singh made it clear that the delegates from Shimla district would not be able to participate in the elections to the state body. In case of Sirmaur district, where two parallel bodies had been elected, the federation had held the elections of the body headed by Mr Bharat
Bhushan. Mr Ganga Singh, who has been accused of being soft on the Dhumal Government and compromising vital interests of employees during his two-year tenure, criticised the decision to adjust surplus drivers due to the withdrawal of official vehicles. He said under the rules the government could not change the service conditions of any category of employees. The federation would oppose this decision and, if required, launch an agitation. He said the ill-advised economy measures being taken by the government were not leading to any real saving, mainly because the federation was not being taken into confidence while taking decisions on such important matters. Listing his achievements over the past two years he said there had been four meetings of the joint consultative committee. A number of important issues like the finalisation of recruitment and promotion rules for various category of employees were settled during these meetings. Recruitment and promotion rules of 854 categories were considered, and for 805 categories the rules were approved and notified. He claimed there was no downsizing of the administration and as many as 30,000 posts had been filled during the past three years and work-charged employees were being regularised in a phased manner. Other accepted demands included enhancement of ex gratia grant, compensatory allowance, introduction of assured career schemes and settlement of cases of victimisation. |
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Feminism
‘a protest against injustice’ Shimla, June 17 The final session of the seminar focused on the study of women’s problems from sociological and historical perspectives. Alka Kumar and Debika Saha read their papers on these aspects. A detailed discussion about the status of women in 19th century Maharashtra was well-discussed by Vidyut Bhagawat, Director, Women’s Studies Centre, University of Pune. Dr Sati Chattergee of Jadavpur University spoke on the ontological aspect of the status of women. Dr Jayant Joshi and Dr Rajesh Kumar, associates of the institute, in their presentation, “Feminism and Tradition: Identifying the Hiatus in Professional Medicines dwelt with the problems of women doctors, women patients and women students in professional medicine. They highlighted the views of feminists that men through modern medicine and gynaecology had consolidated patriarchy and colonised women’s body. They were of the view that inequalities in professional and health status between men and women and women’s unequal treatment in health care, medical education and research should be the major concerns that require urgent, systematic and sustained intervention and change along with the gender analysis. Mahesh Gaur and D.V. Ujagre jointly elaborated the impact of modernity on the life of the Thar Desert women who have to cope with so many issues. Dr Kumkum Yadav of University of Delhi in her engaging paper “You and I belong to Different Worlds: Feminism, Tradition and Modernity in Mahasweta Devi’s Douloti” pointed out the glaring absence of the tribal and Dalit women in the prevailing discourse of feminism. She highlighted Mahasweta Devi’s critique of “development” and “progress” in her famous short story, “Douloti”, which revolve round a tribal woman, a bonded labourer who had to accept prostitution as a consequence of the so-called development in the tribal region. Mr K.N. Kapoor, former DGP, Himachal Pradesh, said women empowerment was fast becoming an important socio-cultural phenomenon. Dr Rajni Walia of Government College, Kotshera, based her paper on a close textual analysis of Jen Rhys’s novel, “Wide Sargasso Sea” and lucidly illustrated how the potentially radical aspect in this novel emerges in its woman protagonist’s re-searching of her “self” beyond the traditional patriarchal expectations from women. In his valedictory address, Prof V.C. Srivastava, Director of IIAS, said it was appropriate that in this year of women’s empowerment the institute organised a seminar of feminism against the backdrop of tradition and modernity. He said that feminist movement arose as protest movement against patriarchal injustices in the West. |
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A railway station losing charm Barog Besides, inferior catering arrangements at the railway restaurant, the crockery often does not seem to have been washed properly and the furniture is in poor condition. There is only one public phone at the railway station. The phone has been non-functional ever since the underground telephone cables were damaged during work on the Kumarhatti-Barog bypass. If one wants to make a call, one has to go either to the Barog market or Solan. To attract tourists, Shivalik Cottage was constructed about two years ago at the station. This cottage has proved to be a white elephant for the Railways as it is rarely booked. Sources in the Railways say as the station is located at an isolated place, tourists avoid spending the night in the cottage. Besides, there is no motorable road to the railway station and the tariff for stay in the cottage is high but the facilities are inadequate. The cottage has no TV set or telephone for making outside calls. Barog station was named after an engineer who shot himself in frustration when a tunnel under his supervision could not be aligned properly. The tunnel and the grave of the engineer lie just 1 km from the station. No information in this regard is available to tourists at the station. Interestingly, even the local Assistant Station Master expressed ignorance about the location of the old tunnel. “I have not been able to trace the tunnel for the past four years”, he says. Also, there is no statue or information available at the station about a local saint, Bhalkoo, under whose guidance an engineer, Harrington, is said to have completed the present tunnel. |
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Himachal steps to boost healthcare Shimla, June 17 Special emphasis is being laid on strengthening the health delivery system in the rural areas. For this the existing infrastructure is being, strengthened by providing modern equipments and specialised services, increasing the strength of medical and para-medical staff in health institutions and upgrading the existing medical institutions, according to an official spokesman here. A health systems corporation has been set up in the state to channelise resources from external aid agencies such as the World Bank. It will help mobilise funds for the development of a sound infrastructure. Under the health information system, a “family health card” programme has been launched in Hamirpur, Kangra, Sirmaur, Bilaspur and Kinnaur districts. A population commission has been set-up to check the growth of population in the state, the spokesman said. To ensure the availability of quality drugs to patients and to ensure rational use of drugs, a new drug policy has been formulated and is being implemented in the state. Specific public health problems are being managed through the implementation of national health programmes such as the Reproductive and Child Health Programme, the National Leprosy Control Programme, the National AIDs Control Programme, the National Tuberculosis Control Programme, the National Programme for Prevention of Blindness and National Anti-Malaria Programme etc. |
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British
envoy calls on Governor Shimla, June 17 The Governor presented a Himachali cap and shawl to the dignitary as a token of love on the behalf of the people of the state. |
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