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Sunday,
June 24, 2001, Chandigarh, India  
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Female
foeticide on rise in Punjab, Haryana BJP warned
against alliance with BSP
Flesh trade racket busted |
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Infighting
mars Iskcon ‘rath yatra’ MQM chief
alleges repression on Sindhis B’desh
criminal held in Delhi Rs 8-cr
deficit WB Budget presented
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Female foeticide on rise
in Punjab, Haryana New Delhi, June 23 There is sharp decline in the female-male ratio (sex ratio) in the country, specially in the northern states with female foeticide being an accepted practice. The situation is particularly alarming in the zero to six years age group with the growing number of families preferring a male child over the female child. Decline has been more in the past decade with the greater number of prosperous states following the practice of female foeticide. The more prosperous the state, sex ratio is steadily declining. Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Himachal and Chandigarh give the lead in the practice with Gujarat and Maharastra also contributing in the overall decline in the national average. Decline is more predominant in the zero to six years age group in Punjab, Haryana, Himachal and Delhi. According to official figures, there has been steady decline in the female population since 1901. Then the national average stood at 972 females per 1000 males. The 2001 census figures point out that it now declined to 933 women for every 1000 men. The Union Territory of Chandigarh, which is also the Capital of Punjab and Haryana has recorded the lowest sex ratio with just 793 women for every 1000 men. Equally shocking are the figures from Haryana, Punjab and Delhi where the figures stand at 869, 886 and 821 women per 1000 men respectively. Although BIMARU states like Bihar, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh have a better overall sex ratio but in some pockets the ratio has touched a disquieting low of 600 females to a 1000 males. The national average has declined from 945 in 1991 to 927 in 2001 in this age group. The worst affected by the practice of female foeticide is the state of Punjab. Sex ratio in the zero to six years age group has declined from 875 in 1991 to 753 in 2001, a decline of a 82 points. In Haryana it has declined by 59 points from 879 to 820. Himachal and Chandigarh show a decline of 54 points from 951 to 897 and 899 to 845 respectively. Then comes Delhi and Gujarat with both states losing out on the sex ratio by 50 points. While in Delhi the ratio has declined from 915 to 865, in Gujarat it has dipped from 928 to 878. The state of Jammu and Kashmir also has an average which is much lower than the national average. India banned sex determination tests in 1994, But use of ultrasound tests for the purpose now were a common feature. These now are available in the villages or small towns also of the prosperous states. The Ministry of Human Resource Development under which the Department of Women and Child Development falls has sought the intervention of state governments for the implementation of the Pre-Natal Diagnostic Tecniques (Regulation and Prevention of Misuse) Act, 1994 seeking to prevent female foeticide. |
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BJP warned against alliance with BSP Dehra Dun, June 23 Talking to mediapersons here this afternoon, Mr D.K. Tyagi, General Secretary of the BRP, said the current political gimmicks being played by both these parties indicated that these had gone for a secret pact to fight the coming Uttar Pradesh Assembly election together. He ruled out any possibility of alliance with the Samajwadi Party in the coming state election. He lashed out at the Uttaranchal Government for having failed on all fronts. The BRP announced to launch “Jan Chetna Abhiyaan” in the hill state from next month to press for the rights of the minorities in the state. Mr Tyagi demanded from the state government the constitution of a Minority commission, Haj committee and Minority finance commission for the minority population. The BRP demanded from the Central Election Commission the delimitation of Assembly constituencies on the basis of population distribution in accordance with the Census — 2000. It is worth mentioning that the Election Commission has announced the delimitation of the constituencies in accordance with the Census of 1971. |
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Flesh trade racket busted New Delhi, June 23 The accused — Jahangir Khan, Shabbir Khan, Barik Khan and Mohammad Alam — worked in the farm house as watchmen. They had reportedly brought the women from Assam. They had earlier sold off two women in Haryana. A police team has been sent to Haryana to recover the
women. |
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Infighting
mars Iskcon ‘rath yatra’ Kolkata, June 23 The dispute over the authority of holding the ‘rath yatra’ was settled in the Calcutta High Court on Thursday with the ISKCON bureau represented by the faction at Mayapur, the global headquarters of the ISKCON and headed by Mr Dayaram Das, being granted permission to organise it for the first time in over 20 years’ history of the ISKCON festival. While the group led by suspended president of ISKCON’s Kolkata temple and chairman of the ISKCON Revival Movement, Mr Adridharan Das, alleged that the yatra this time lacked its usual lustre with “pint-sized” chariots, Mr Dayaram Das, secretary Jagadhartiya Das said they were forced to conduct the festival in small chariots as the Kolkata group had “deliberately damaged” ISKCON’s conventional chariots. Amidst the war of attrition, the three bedecked chariots took their usual route from Central Avenue in the heart of the city via the arterial Chowringhee Road, Shakespeare Sarani, Park Street and Camac Street to end at the Maidan, where the idols would be rested for nine days. Thousands thronged the yatra route to get a glimpse of the gods. Police personnel were deployed in strength to avoid any untoward incident during the festival. “Though it is unfortunate, the ISKCON bureau had to settle for the chariots from Mayapur, where the festival is held on a smaller scale,” Mr Jagadhartiya Das said. The spokes and structure of the chariots as well as the floats were systematically destroyed by Mr Adridharan’s group since they were denied permission to hold the coveted festival, he alleged. “It is highly embarrassing and disappointing to see such a glorious festival marred’’, Mr Adridharan said.
PTI |
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MQM chief alleges repression
on Sindhis New Delhi, June 23 Hussain recited the famous poem of Iqbal in an interview with Zee television network and said “every Pakistani should make these lines his ideal”, Pakistani media reports said. Urdu daily ‘Din’ quoted Hussain as saying that recent firing on Sindhi demonstrators, protesting against severe water shortage due to “blockade” of river water by Punjab province, “refreshed the memory of brutalities during Jallianwalla Bagh in British India”. “There can be absolutely no two opinions that every officer of the police and Rangers of the Punjabi administration in occupied Sindh has become General Dyer which has been manifested by direct and indiscriminate spraying of bullets on innocent people,” he was quoted as saying. The MQM chief also asked Kashmiri “jehadi” outfits whether they would “declare ‘jehad’ against those who opened indiscriminate fire upon innocent Sindhi protesters” and whether they would start ‘jehad’ against “the ruthless and oppressive personnel of police and paramilitary Rangers to free the occupied Sindh.” The Sindh province has been witnessing large-scale unrest on the water shortage issue especially in the last two weeks, with MQM, the Jiye Sindh Quami Mahaz and the Awami Tehrik organising protests and strikes on the issue. A large number of senior leaders and activists, reports in ‘Dawn’, ‘The Nation’ and other dailies said, were picked up from their homes, taken into custody and tortured. Senior Awami Tehrik leader Vishnu Mal, who led a group of party workers in observing a fast on the same issue, was quoted in “Dawn” as telling reporters at the Hyderabad Press Club that Gen Musharraf “was performing the role of a ‘chowkidar’ (watchman) for Punjab”. Similarly, the Pakistan Oppressed Nations Movement, in a resolution, criticised the pro-Punjab policies of the military regime and accused Punjab of “committing dacoity” by stopping and diverting the water from the Cheshma-Jhelum link canal. Stating that this had led to almost total destruction of agriculture sector in Sindh, the organisation said “Bengalis and Mujibur Rehman were not in favour of separation but they were forced (to go for this option)”, the dailies quoted the resolution as saying.
PTI |
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B’desh criminal held in Delhi New Delhi, June 23 The accused, Mohammad Salim Raja, was arrested in the Bharat Nagar area of New Friends Colony in South Delhi. He lived there along with his brother-in-law, the police said. The accused, who had links with underworld dons of Bangladesh, shot the crime reporter, Shamsur Rahman, of The Daily Jankantha as one reporter had exposed the hawala racket in Bangladesh through his news stories. His news stories had led to the arrest of a communist leader and leading gangsters of hawala racket. The reporter was threatened several times by the underworld dons not to write news stories on hawala racket. The accused and his associates shot him dead when the reporter continued exposing hawala
criminals. |
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Rs 8-cr deficit WB Budget presented Kolkata, June 23 Unlike the previous year, this budget has shown a deficit of Rs 8 crore. There are proposals to decrease the prices of tea, scientific equipments on information technology and essential consumer goods. The budget placed before the House at 3 p.m. laid emphasis on development of roads and transport and infrastructure to attract NRIs and new investment in the state. An emphasis was also made to help the unemployed youth by providing an ad hoc allotment of Rs 100 crore as “unemployment assistance” in the budget. An interim vote on accounts for four months was already passed at the Assembly prior to last Assembly elections on February 6. Today’s budget includes the provision for the remaining eight months. Dr Dasgupta claimed that the budget would help government’s plan for a rapid industrialisation. Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharyya also said it was the people’s budget as it stressed mainly on development works. It would benefit the poor and common people. But the Congress leader Mr Atis Sinha felt it was a “pro-industry” budget which would help the common people in no way. The Leader of the Opposition, Mr Pankaj Banerjee of the Trinamool Congress also criticised the budget. |
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