Lucknow, June 29
CPM General Secretary Prakash Karat here today ruled out chances of any compromise on the BHEL issue during his forthcoming talks with UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi tomorrow.

Upholding his party’s earlier stand, Mr Karat said his party could consider going back to the coordinating committee for talks only if the UPA government decided to backtrack on BHEL.

Sharing his fears, Mr Karat said, “If we accept any compromise in the BHEL case, we would have to accept many things that are likely to follow”.

According to him a list of other profit-making units had already been prepared and decks were being cleared for their disinvestment as well.

“There is no point in going to the coordination committee if the norms of the common minimum programme (CMP) are to be violated,” he said. Giving an inkling of the future course of action, he said, “If we don’t go to the coordinating committee, we can take up the issue of violation of the CMP on the floor of Parliament.”

Reiterating the CPM stand to look forward to the formation of an alternative government, Mr Karat said the recent party convention in Delhi had accepted a resolution to this effect.

Asked if the ruling Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh would be part of the said Third Front, he said all Left and secular forces would be part of it.

At a meeting with Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav, Mr Karat discussed the Left’s opposition to the UPA government.

He dismissed the charge that the Left noises over the CMP and oil prices were part of the party’s strategy to build an anti-Centre tempo for the forthcoming state polls in West Bengal and Kerala.

Declaring that the real challenge for the party was to broaden its base outside these states, Mr Karat asserted that there was no insecurity in these states and nor was there any reason to redesign their national policy to suit the interests of a particular region.

New Delhi, June 29
Representing the millions who stand for peace, 91 women from across the country who have been nominated for this year’s Nobel Peace Prize are in themselves stories of peace, love, caring and nurturing. These peace activists include some who have been working out of the limelight for well over half-a-century.

A case in point being Shantaji, who has been working relentlessly for the past 50 years. The 75-year-old Shantaji is revered as “the dharna lady” and “Shanta toofani,” indefatigability on a huge range of issues defines her work. A woman with no formal education, she is driven by her conviction that education is essential to a person’s understanding of the world and today works with the Ankur Society for Alternatives in Education.

“We received 2,000 nominations from India alone, but since we had a ceiling to go by, we could include just 1,000. These women are not individuals, but representatives of millions of others and all of them are daily engaged in working for a better future”, said Kamla Bhasin, South Asia Coordinator of the project 1,000 Women for the Nobel Peace Prize 2005.

Stressing on the need for acknowledging and applauding their services, she said, “These women strive for reconciliation, demand justice, and rebuild what has been destroyed. They transform conflicts. They fight against poverty and for human rights, they educate and heal and find solutions to a great many forms of violence”.

Announcing the names of these extraordinary women Ms Bhasin said, 25 per cent of the women who had been nominated were those who work at the grassroots and the maximum number of nominations was from South Asia. These women who cut across the social fabric have faced threats, overcome personal tragedies and even challenged the archaic and the abhorrent. “Peace is not just the absence of war, presence of poverty, violence, rape and discrimination all amount to the absence of peace”, added Bhasin. Among those who have been nominated are noted Gandhian Nirmala Deshpande, Kiran Bedi, Sushobha Barve, Rashida Bee, Mohini Giri, Mrinal Gore, Shabnam Hashmi, Indira Jaising, Vina Mazumdar, Medha Patkar, Lakshmi Sahgal, Mallika Vikram Sarabhai and Mrinalini V. Sarabhai, Teesta Setalvad, Vandana Shiva, Aruna Roy, Ajeet Cour, and Mahashweta Devi.

New Delhi, June 29
The Centre today presented the draft of the National Urban Transport Policy to states and union territories, seeking to promote public transport system over private vehicles and bringing about a more equitable allocation of road space with people, rather than vehicles, as its main focus.

Inaugurating the Conference of Chief Ministers on the National Urban Transport Policy, Union Urban Development Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said the Centre will encourage each city with a population of more than 40 lakhs to start planning for a mass transit system and adopting a technology that would best suit the city requirements in a 30-year time frame.

“In this context, the Centre will encourage introduction of all types of proven public transport technologies including rail-based MRTS, light rail, mono-rail systems, high-capacity bus systems on dedicated lanes, sky bus and electric trolley bus and any other mode of public transport which is techno-economically viable,” he said.

Mr Azad said even cities with population of 10 lakh and above could be considered for some systems. He said the government would encourage use of “non-motorised systems” like bicycles.

The Minister indicated that the National Urban Renewal Mission will help in promoting non-motorized modes of transport by way of construction of separate ways for bicycles and pedestrians, bypasses, container depots and truck-parking terminals, outside the city limits.

Laying stress on integrated land use and allocation of parking space, Mr Azad said state governments should amend building by-laws in all cities with population of above 10 lakhs to make it mandatory to provide adequate parking space in residential and office complexes.

“The population of India’s six major metropolitan cities has increased by about 1.8 times from 1981 to 2001 but the number of motor vehicles has gone up six times during the same period. This has caused not only congestion on the roads, increased travel time, cost and inconvenience to commuters, but also severe air pollution,” Mr Azad said.

He said the Centre would promote investment in public transport. For this, it would provide 60 per cent financing for preparation of project reports and offer equity participation and viability gap funding.

Mr Azad also underlined the use of cleaner technologies like compressed natural gas to check pollution.

The draft policy discourages use of personal motor vehicles by way of high parking fees, levy on petrol and diesel sold within a city, limiting roads space for personal vehicles. While emphasising mandatory parking space for all commercial and residential properties, it said parking fees should be imposed in tune with the cost of urban space occupied and preference in allocating parking space be given to public transport and non-motorised modes.

The draft policy said all urban development and planning bodies in states would be required to have in house transport planners as well as representation from transport authorities in their managements.

“The government would extend support for the preparation of such integrated land use and transport plans, to the extent of 50 per cent of the cost involved in developing such plans, provided the city also demonstrates its willingness to act with them,” he said.

Each city would develop its integrated master plan keeping in view its future growth around a pre-planned transport network .

The policy envisages an Urban Metropolitan Transport Authority to oversee development of public transport. It said use of private vehicles for daily trips may be discouraged through market mechanisms such as higher fuel taxes, higher parking fees and reduced availability of parking space.

Lucknow, June 29
The case of the rape survivor from Muzaffarnagar continued to be in the limelight today with Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav maintaining that whatever the “dharma gurus” have done must be right.

However, CPM General Secretary Prakash Karat, speaking to the press, took the line not much different from the BJP. He called for reforms in the personal laws as, these in their present form, were exploitative for women.

Representative of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board Kamal Farooqui (AIMPLB), speaking to The Tribune, clarified that the Board had not deliberated on the ongoing controversy surrounding the legality of the Muzaffarnagar rape victim’s marriage. The views expressed by two members of the Board — Ms Naseem Iqtidar Ali and Maulana Khalid Rashid Firangi Mahali —were entirely their personal, he asserted.

Mr Farooqui said if the press briefing had been official and on behalf of the Board, senior office-bearers, including president or general secretary, would have been present.

In a hastily initiated damage-control exercise following the widespread censure of the stand taken by these two members of the AIMPLB, including Ms Iqtidar, the lone woman member on its executive, Mr Farooqui said the Board represents all sects of Islam hence it could not take an official stand upholding the view of only one particular sect.

Commenting on the so-called dissolution of the Muzaffarnagar rape victim’s marriage, the All-India Shia Personal Law Board issued a statement spelling out the Shia point of view. It declared that the relationship between the Muzaffarnagar husband and wife was “halal”.

Meanwhile, the Association for Advocacy and Legal Initiatives team leader and human rights lawyer Tulika Srivastava, in a press statement re-emphasized that in Islam a woman’s right to personal decision through consent had been established through various schools of legal and religious thought, as witnessed in the fact that a marriage is not valid without her consent.

Drawing attention to the law of the land, Tulika pointed out that in the light of the Dissolution of Muslim Marriage Act, 1939, and the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights) Divorce Act 1986 dissolving the rape victim’s marriage had no legal sanction.

According to her “No divorce or process for one can be initiated by anyone, except the husband and the wife, nor can anyone pronounce a divorce without an application being made for one. In fact, under the present Muslim Personal Law only the husband can pronounce the triple talaq, no one else, unless it is the wife, by power vested in her through delegation”.

Under the law, there is no space for a third party intervention in a divorce, unless it is a Judge of a Family Court or such other designated court. To claim power of initiating such processes or pronouncing such decrees by any other body or organisation is illegal and amounts to commission of fraud upon the society, the community and particularly the individuals concerned, maintained Tulika

She also criticised the media for ignoring the Supreme Court ruling of maintaining the privacy of a survivor of sexual offence. “Naming her, showing her face by the media has ensured that this experience will follow her all her life. The right to privacy and survival is her human right. It must be respected by all,” pointed out Tulika.

New Delhi, June 29
BJP President Lal Krishna Advani is not going to quit either as Leader of the Opposition or party chief with indications of the RSS reconciling to his holding of dual posts.

Party sources denied that the issue of Mr Advani holding dual posts arose at the Monday meeting of the party office-bearers and said that the decision of divesting Mr Yashwant Sinha of party spokesmanship was taken at the meeting.

It is true that Mr Advani himself strongly believes in the principle of one-man-one-post but it was the party which forced him to head the BJP and now his continuation at both posts was of “immense significance”, a senior office-bearer told The Tribune.

In the past few days, parleys and consultations between the RSS and the BJP have led to the removal of “misunderstanding” on Mr Advani’s view on Pakistan founder Mohmmad Ali Jinnah and the BJP’s subsequent statement on Mr Jinnah had initiated a process of reconciliation, a leader said, adding that the reservations about the BJP President in the Sangh quarters were slowly on the way out.

In the wake of the four-day RSS Prant Pracharak Baithak (meeting) in Surat from July 2, BJP leaders M Venkaiah Naidu, Rajnath Singh and Bal Apte met Sangh joint general Suresh Soni at ‘Keshavkunj’ in Jhandewalan during which various issues, including the Jinnah controversy, figured.

Sources said that discussions at Jhandewalan between the Sangh functionary and the BJP leaders and NDA convenor George Fernandes’s meeting with RSS chief K S Sudarshan yesterday in Nagpur had helped in ironing out many of the differences.

Only after the meeting in Jhandewalan, the RSS issued a press advisory dissuading mediapersons to come to Surat as media reporting often leads to lot of misunderstanding and creates misplaced apprehensions.

The RSS has begun to see the positive impact of Mr Advani’s line of thinking as he has made himself a lot more acceptable to non-Sangh circles while remaining steadfast on basic Sangh ideology, a leader said.

The message, which will come out from the Surat meeting, will lay the foundation of a mature relationship between the RSS and the BJP, sources said.

The BJP, on its behalf, will reciprocate the RSS’s Surat gesture at Chennai next month, where it will through deliberations and resolutions make it clear that it was very much part of the Sangh.

Sources said that neither the RSS nor the BJP was on a “confrontationist” course and both want to consolidate mutual ties.

Mumbai, June 29
One worker died and the fate of 14 trapped in a flooded tunnel near Shahpur in Thane district, 150 km from here, is unknown.

According to state police officials, parts of an under construction dam of the Sonda hydel project gave way at 6 pm yesterday after heavy rains lashed the region. The tunnel is part of the Ghatghar Pumped Storage Hydro Electric Project.

All 15 workers carrying out emergency work inside the tunnel were trapped. — TNS

New Delhi, June 29
Demolition of the school structure, perhaps, that’s not what the authorities Khalsa Boy’s Primary School would expect in its diamond jubilee year. But, that’s what the school, established in 1930 on Bangla Sahib premises got as a gift from the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee.

Guru Harkishan Girls Senior Secondary School, also located on the same premises, has been razed. Why the school buildings located in the historic gurdwaras for several decades have been demolished, is being questioned by parents.

“Beautification of the Bangla Sahib Gurdwara Complex,” is the rationale that one gets from the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee for their action. School structures, considered to be temples of imparting knowledge, were an eyesore to the lakhs of devotees who throng this gurdwara each year.

Interestingly, the parents of Khalsa Boys’ Primary School approached the Delhi High Court for restraining the school from being shifted to a new location. Mr Justice S. Ravindra Bhat in his order restrained the authorities from shifting the school from the existing location till August 9, the next date of hearing.

When asked Delhi Sikh Gurudwara Management Committee’s president Paramjit Singh Sarna said it was a government-aided school, (where Sikh body contributes 5 per cent of the annual budget), and the government funds 95 per cent of the school budget. The schools are only being shifted not closedown, he said and asked, “why should a school be run from a religious premises?”

When pointed out that the High Court had passed an order and the gurdwara panel had demolished the school structure itself, Sarna said: “The court order is ex-parte. How can the judiciary intervene in gurdwara affairs.” Interestingly, with the demolition of the school structure and shifting to new location, it would loose its recognition from the government. The school was perhaps the first recognised Khalsa School in the Capital.

The Delhi School Education Act, 1973 states that a recognised school ceases to function or is shifted to a different locality without previous approval of the appropriate authority, its recognition shall lapse on such ceaser or shifting and for the purpose of recognition be treated as a new school.

Another complication is that Khalsa Boy’s Primary School is located in the New Delhi Municipal Committee area and is proposed to be shifted to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi. While NDMC gives 95 per cent aid to schools located in its jurisdiction, the MCD does not give such aid to schools.

The issue has taken political colour with the Shiromani Akali Dal Panthic (Jathedar Santok Singh) president Manjit Singh Greater Kailash attacking the gurdwara panel of “ruining” the educational institutions run by it.

He said the gurdwara panel neither took the consent of parent, government authorities, nor were its members taken into confidence. “Since Sarna has formed the committee, he has not called even one meeting of the executive committee. Beautification of the gurdwara is necessary, but not at the cost of the school,” he said.

Most of the students studying in these two schools are from poor sections of society and it would be impossible for many to send their wards to the new premises, which is located a few kilometres away, Manjit Singh said.

New Delhi, June 29
The rain gods are now smiling over most parts of the country, except for a few places in west Rajasthan and Jammu and Kashmir.

Delhi, which technically includes Haryana and Chandigarh as far as meteorological sub-division carved by the Indian Meteorological Department is concerned, today experienced good rainfall that brought down the day temperature to a pleasantly cool level. The monsoon covered the entire Punjab and also most of the Jammu region. Its northern limit is now at Barmer, Jodhpur and Bikaner in Rajasthan.

As of now all one can do is keep the fingers crossed that the prediction of a normal rainfall, especially after some flip-flop by the meteorological department in the past one week, comes true.

On June 26, the met office declared the widespread rains occurring in the area as pre-monsoon showers. The very next day on June 27, it declared that monsoon had arrived, leaving everyone pleasnatly surprised. The met office attributed this turnabout on technicalities best understood by them.

They said monsoon circulation had suddenly strengthened with the formation of an organised trough. Explaining it further, they said when the met office declared that monsoon had arrived, it meant not just rains but monsoon winds and clouds, besides very high humidity.

Today most of the North India experienced good rains with Hisar receiving 32 mm, Shimla 27.4 mm and Amritsar 60.2 mm of rain. Met officials say the region is all set to receive very good rains in the next 24 to 48 hours.

Adding that there is a depression over the Bay of Bengal very close to Jharkhand along with an upper air cyclonic circulation building over Gujarat, they say very good rains are expected in central India.