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Current books should be replaced, says NCERT panel Central panel to monitor SYL work PIL challenges Punjab’s control over headworks |
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Man facing gallows gets 2-day reprieve The Supreme Court today gave at least two days reprieve to rape and murder convict Dhananjay Chatterjee of Kolkata from being sent to the gallows tomorrow as he in a last ditch efforts simultaneously knocked the doors of the Apex Court for relief as well as the President, Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, for clemency. Govt to ignore meeting of Gilani, Khokhar The Union Government will not debar Kashmiri separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Gilani from meeting Pakistan Foreign Secretary Riaz Khokhar here in case Mr Khokhar wants to meet him. BJP flays UPA’s plan to fiddle with history books The BJP national executive today demanded that the United Progressive Alliance government should put an immediate halt to “its nefarious efforts to re-falsify and re-distort historical research and history teaching in schools” and said that what was being termed as saffronisation by the Leftists was nothing but correcting the distortions interpolated by Marxist historians.
India, Nepal agree to tap Sapta Kosi After prolonged deliberations for over a decade, India and Nepal have finally agreed to set up a joint project office in Kathmandu that will take up field investigations and prepare detailed project report of the Sapta-Kosi high dam multi-purpose project andd Sun-Kosi storage-cum-diversion scheme in 30 months. Pondicherry Lt-Governor Jha resigns Shrouded in a number of controversies the Lieutenant-Governor of the Union Territory of Pondicherry, Mr N.N. Jha, today sent his resignation to the President. While the Pondicherry Raj Nivas confirmed his resignation no reason was cited for his sudden action.
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Current books should be replaced, says NCERT panel New Delhi, June 24 The committee members, Prof J.S. Grewal, Prof S. Settar and Prof Barun De, in their report to the HRD Minister, Mr Arjun Singh, have recommended the discontinuation of the current books and forming a committee to work out the details of the new textbooks. Citing factual errors and biased interpretations as the reason, the review committee has offered that books brought out by other institutions or even individuals based on the NCERT syllabus should be used as alternatives. “We have suggested that the books that are broadly in agreement with the NCERT texts should be made freely available to students.” “These books should be based on the curriculum of the NCERT, but must be free of all bias”, said Prof S Settar of the National Institute of Advanced Studies. Talking to The Tribune, he said “besides factual errors and sub-standard language and content, we found a philosophy running throughout the book, which we felt is objectionable and should not be passed on to the students”. Prof Settar pointed out “right from the prehistoric times to the Aryan invasion to the recent Mahatama Gandhi assassination the philosophy is reflected. It is completely lopsided”. Listing out the details of alternatives suggested, Prof Settar said “while we are not entirely ruling out the restoration of the books written by Satish Chandra, Arjun Dev and Bipin Chandra, we may also deliberate on the formulation of the new books”. The committee will also examine the books, which are being offered as alternatives to the current NCERT texts. “When you offer too many choices, confusion is bound to creep in. Therefore we are also considering the formulation of a workshop, which will include school teachers”, said Prof Settar. The workshop, he said, would “ lead to democratisation of the system. Teachers from across the country mostly from CBSE-affiliated schools will be asked to participate and on the basis of the topics included in the syllabus they can draft a question bank, which will provide the teachers an insight on what to teach and from where”. |
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Central panel to monitor SYL work New Delhi, June 24 Minister of State for Water Resources Jai Prakash Narayan Yadav today told reporters that the committee would comprise representatives from the three riparian states — Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan — involved in the dispute, besides the Water Resources Ministry. Mr Yadav said the first meeting of the committee would be held by July 2. Rajasthan Chief Minister Vijay Raje Sindhia had also recently met the Central leaders to press upon them to implement the Supreme Court decision. The sources in the ministry said despite being a supportive government at the Centre, with the decision of the ministry, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh would be further marginalised in the state on this “highly politically sensitive issue” in both the states with long term ramifications. They said due to the Supreme Court’s clear-cut orders, the Centre was bound to implement the decision. It remains to be seen in view of the strong opposition from the Akali Dal and the Bhartiya Kisan Union in Punjab, how the central agency would implement the judgement. The political parties in Punjab were working persistently to evolve a strategy to stop the implementation of the decision. But environmentalists and water conservation activists in other states are opposing the stand of Punjab on the plea that “the state has done nothing to introduce water conservation in the farm sector. Rather the state has been till recently providing free electricity to the agriculture sector.” As per the apex court order, the committee would look into the issue of construction of the canal, including the survey, prepration of detailed estimates and other preparatory works such as repair, desilting and clearance of vegetation. The central agency would execute the work within a time frame set up by the committee, which was to be set up within four weeks of the judgement. The court had observed that “more than Rs 700 crore of public revenue cannot be allowed to be washed down the drain. Only minor patches have to be completed within the territory of Punjab.” |
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PIL challenges Punjab’s control over headworks Jaipur. June 24 The petitioner, Mr D. M. Singhvi, a retired Chief Engineer of the Irrigation Department of Rajasthan, has pleaded in his PIL that the very control over the headworks was in violation of the provisions of the Punjab Reorganisation Act, 1966. As provided in the Act, the Government of India had constituted the Bhakra-Nangal Management Board which along with its other responsibilities was supposed to exercise control over headworks also under its purview, but that did not materialise till today. It was this continuance of control over headworks that Punjab was behaving in a wilful manner and did not release the due share of water as per agreements to Rajasthan. It was also stated in the petition that an agreement on the distribution of waters of the Ravi and Beas was also later signed in December, 1981, in the presence of then Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi. The signatories to the agreement included Mr Darbara Singh, Mr Shiv Charan Mathur and Mr Bhajan Lal, then Chief Ministers of Punjab, Rajasthan and Haryana, respectively. According to the details of distribution given in the petition, the share of Rajasthan from the Ravi-Beas was 8.60 MAF, while that of Punjab, Haryana, Delhi and Kashmir was 4.22, 3.50, 0.20 and 0.65 MAF, respectively. The petitioner contended that Punjab provided water at its sweet will. When more water was warranted, it reduced the supply, but increased the release when the requirement was limited, he argued. |
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Man facing gallows gets 2-day reprieve New Delhi, June 24 Chatterjee, convicted for sexually assaulting a minor girl on March 5, 1990, and then brutly murdering her, was scheduled to be hanged tomorrow morning with the authorties in Alipur jail, where he has been lodged for the past 14 years, having made every arrangement for his execution tomorrow morning. A Vacation Bench of Mr Justice K.G. Balakrishnan and Mr Justice P. V. Reddi stayed the execution for two days while hearing Chatterjee’s Special Leave Petition (SLP) as West Bengal standing counsel Tarachandra Sharma sought time to seek instruction from the state government on the issue. The Bench held a brief hearing of his SLP in the chamber of the presiding judge, Mr Justice Balakrishnan, after advocate Colin Gonsalves, appearing for the convict, sought an urgent hearing of the matter in view of his scheduled execution. In his perallel efforts to escape the eminent death sentence, the convict had filed a mercy petition before the President as well. Since the mercy petition is processed by the Ministry of Home Affairs, it had sent a communication to the West Bengal Government this afternoon for stay the execution in view of his plea being placed before the President. On the other hand reports from Kolkata said that West Bengal Advocate General had told media persons there that a communication from Rashtrapati Bhavan had stated that “the President is considering his application for clemency.” The scheduled hanging of Dhananjay Chatterjee, who was found guilty of rape and murder by the Alipur Sessions Court on August 12, 1991, had evoked much media hype in view of the death sentence being awarded by courts in the rarest of rare cases. The Calcutta High Court had confirmed his death sentence in August, 1992, which was upheld by the Supreme Court on January 11, 1992. The Apex Court had subsequently rejected his review petition 10 days latter. Though the court proceedings in his case right from the Sessions Court to Supreme Court were completed coparatively at much faster pace, his execution could not take place even when the West Bengal Governor had turned down his mercy plea on February 16, 1996, because the matter had been caught in a legal wrangle for another six years whether his clemency plea was rightly rejected or not. The Supreme Court on January 26 this year had asked the Governor to hear his mercy petition afresh, which was subsequently rejected by him on June 2 clearing the way for his execution. Hoping against hope, the accused again moved the Apex Court challenging the Governor’s order and also knocked the doors of the President with a clemency plea. |
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Govt to ignore meeting of Gilani, Khokhar New Delhi, June 24 Mr Khokhar is flying in here on June 26 evening for the Foreign Secretary-level talks scheduled for June 27-28. The Tribune understands that Foreign Secretary-designate Shyam Saran is coming here tomorrow from Kathmandu to sit in the talks between Mr Khokhar and Indian Foreign Secretary Shashank. The move is to ensure continuity as Mr Shashank is retiring on July 31 and Mr Saran taking over from him. Sources in the Pakistan High Commission, when asked by this correspondent on the purported Khokhar-Gilani meeting, quipped: "We don't want to react to speculative stories." Though the Indian Government is not unduly perturbed over Mr Gilani meeting the Pakistani Foreign Secretary here, if such a meeting takes place, the feeling here is that if this meeting were to take off it would not be in good taste. Such a meeting, if it were to take place, would not really affect the situation on the Indo-Pak front. In the past, when Pakistani officials and leaders come here, such meetings have taken place and when Indians go there they have also met leaders who happen to be a disaffected Pakistanis. It is understood that the Government of India is not going to concede two major demands the Pakistanis have been making persistently, if these are aired during the Khokhar-Shashank meeting: an internal ceasefire by the Indian security forces vis a vis terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir, and downsizing of the troops-level in Jammu and Kashmir. The view here is that both issues are internal matters of the Government of India and it was New Delhi's sovereign right to tackle the situation created by terrorism as it deems fit. As for the downsizing of troops, the government's view is that the troops level in Jammu and Kashmir has witnessed a rise only from 1990 onwards when the menace of terrorism exploded in a big way. |
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BJP flays UPA’s plan to fiddle with history books Mumbai, June 24 The NCERT books conformed to the national curriculum framework of school education-2000, it said. The Supreme Court had upheld the validity of the curriculum and rejected allegations of saffronisation, the resolution said. Opposition to the UPA’s attempt to change the text would form a weapon in the BJP’s Hindutva arsenal, the resolution hinted. The book developed during the NDA regime gave respect to all communities and religion rather than follow the Marxist attempt at denigrating India’s historical past. In the earlier NCERT text books there were passages that hurt the sensitivities of many communities like the Sikhs, the Brahmins, the Jains and the Jats through “willful denigration.” A national hero like Guru Teg Bahadur was described as a robber who committed plunder, it said. |
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India, Nepal agree to tap Sapta Kosi New Delhi, June 24 After the execution of the projects, Nepal will be able to generate 3300 MW at the Sapta-Kosi hydel project and 1357 MW at the Sun-Kosi hydel project, as per preliminary estimates. India will be a major buyer of this power from surplus power Nepal. In addition,the projects will also enable Nepal to add irrigation facility for 5.46 lakh hectares and India to add about 10 lakh hectares irrigated area mostly in north Bihar. Addressing the first press meeting of his ministry, Minister of State for Water Resources Jai Prakash Naryan Yadav today told reporters that JPA would also try to address the objections of Nepal regarding the displacement and settlement of the population staying within the project catchment area. He said the Centre had approved this project amounting Rs 29.34 crore. |
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Pondicherry Lt-Governor Jha resigns Chennai, June 24 While the Pondicherry Raj Nivas confirmed his resignation no reason was cited for his sudden action. Mr Jha, a former diplomat appointed in January this year as Lt-Governor by the previous National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government, was accused of acting in a partisan manner during the last general elections. Many Congress legislators of Pondicherry alleged Mr Jha had ordered tapping of telephone lines of Pondicherry Chief Minister N. Rangaswamy. Realising his days were numbered like many other state governors who are likely to be asked to step down following the change at the Centre, Mr Jha himself decided to resign. Mr Jha was deputed to Pondicherry from the
Andaman and Nicobar Islands in January, 2004. |
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