New Delhi, December 14
With the Left parties and OBC MPs joining the BJP in opposing the provisions of the Constitution Amendment Bill seeking to provide reservation in unaided educational institutions for SC/STs, the government today deferred its introduction.

The Bill, which would overturn the Supreme Court order, was aimed at providing for reservation to Scheduled Castes and Tribes in unaided educational institutions, excluding the minority institutions.

Although the Bill was part of the list of business for the day, the government’s decision to defer it was announced by Speaker Somnath Chatterjee who said HRD Minister Arjun Singh has requested for the postponement and he had acceded to it.

The BJP had announced plans for opposing the measure taking exception to exemption of minority institutions from its ambit.

CPM leader Nilotpal Basu said athough Article 30 of the Constitution provided right to establish minority institutions; the emerging reality of large number of non-minority students taking admission in such colleges and universities “cannot be glossed over”.

He, however, clarified that his party had not taken a definitive view on the issue but said the new realities should be debated.

“If reservation exists but fees are exorbitantly high, those eligible may not be actually able to access higher education. Therefore, the question of regulating the fee structure should be a sovereign function in private institutions as well,” he said.

He supported the Bill, which was withdrawn in Lok Sabha, saying “positive discrimination” favouring the SCs and STs has to be continued in the education policy.

The Parliamentary Forum for OBC MPs demanded inclusion of Backward Castes in the Bill and threatened to vote against the Bill, if their demands were not acceded.

The BJP Parliamentary Party had decided that it would oppose the Bill if it excluded from its ambit the institutions run by the minorities.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi told reporters that consultations were on to thrash out the differences and have the Bill passed in the winter session.

The government would require the Opposition support for the passage of the Bill as two-thirds majority was required.

Congress spokesman Anand Sharma said the Bill would “definitely be introduced in the present session and passed after addressing the concerns of all sections and ensuring that the amendment would also “stand judicial scrutiny.”

The Cabinet had cleared the proposed Bill on December 7 and any changes that would be made in the light of the ongoing consultations would have to go the Cabinet for approval. The winter session is slated to end on December 23.

New Delhi, December 14
Former Uttar Pradesh Police’s controversial IG Debendra Kishore Panda, who was forced to take voluntary retirement after pronouncing himself as “Doosri Radha” and adorning the attire of a woman and claming that he was wedded to Lord Krishna, today moved the Supreme Court challenging an order of Allahabad High Court granting maintenance of Rs 7,000 per month to his wife.

Claming that it was not financially possible for him to pay such a high amount to his estranged wife, who had thrown him out of home due to his abnormal behaviour, Mr Panda said at the most he could only afford to pay her Rs 4,000 per month. He also took the defence of her getting Rs 20,000 per month from their younger son working with Infosys and earning a salary of more than Rs 60,000 per month. Besides, their elder son, an Income Tax Commissioner, was also there to take care of the mother, he said..

Taking cognizance of his appeal against the High Court’s November 10 order, awarding the compensation to his wife Veena Panda, a Bench of Mr Justice B N Agrawal and Mr Justice A K Mathur issued notice to her seeking her reply to the appeal filed by her husband. Mr Panda, who had held various high positions in UP Police, Railway Police and BSF during his 34-year careers as IPS officer, claimed that his present income was merely Rs 15,211 and he was not in a position to pay the awarded amount to his wife.

The former IG had hit the headlines due to his recent behaviour and became a special attraction to TV channels for filling up their prime time news slot, said his main dispute with his wife was because he was a hard core devotee of Lord Krishna and a “deadly honest” officer and never had allowed his senior and juniors do injustice or get involved in any favourtism or illegal act.

He said his wife “never liked that he should pray to God and surrender and dedicate himself before Lord Shree Krishna in the form of Radha. He claimed he had achieved Lord Krishna and always remained in ‘sakhi bhav (in friendship) of the Lord, but his wife always laughed at him and never spared any chance in nagging and insulting him in public by calling him a fraud and impostor.” While accusing his wife of ill treatment and misbehaving with him, he alleged that she had once even “insulted Lord Krishna by picking up His idol and throwing it on the ground in a fit of rage”.

His wife had initially filed the suit of maintenance under Section 125 of CrPC before a family court at Lucknow, which culminated in the High Court awarding her the maintenance of Rs 7,000 per month.

Lucknow, December 14
If a recent initiative to generate green power in Uttar Pradesh proceeds as planned, power cuts in Agra will be a thing of the past and the fragile Taj Mahal will be saved from exposure to polluting diesel-based energy.

Under this joint Government of UP and USAID initiative, it will become possible to make Agra and the Taj a no-cut zone. At present, frequent power cuts result in the running of hundreds of diesel-based generators in the city causing enormous noise and air pollution in the Taj trapezium zone (TTZ).

According to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) second report on the Taj Mahal court case, air pollution is the main threat to the ecologically fragile Taj Mahal and controlling it is a critical factor in its protection.

The report further points out that a serious legal lacuna in the protection of the environment in the TTZ area in which the Taj is located, is that it has not been declared by the UP Government as an “air pollution control area” under Section 19(1) of the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981.

The problem arising out of this lacuna will be adequately addressed if a blueprint presented at the Renewable Energy Investors Meet at the Non Conventional Energy Development Agency (NEDA) campus in Chinhat today gets rolling.

Sharing the plan, Senior Energy and Environment Adviser at USAID S. Padmanabhan said protecting the Taj was possible if even a fraction of the potential green power in the state was harnessed.

Giving details of huge untapped energy reserves in the 110 sugar mills of the state, renewable energy specialist at NEDA M.P. Sharma said till date only 14 private sugar mills were involved in sugar cogeneration, producing approximately 200 MW of power. This is called bagasse-based cogeneration. The leaders in this sector in UP are the five sugar mills of the Balrampur Group followed by the Triveni Group of Industries.

Patna, December 14
The legendary figure of Madhubani painting, Sita Devi, died in Madhubani yesterday. She was 92.

Sita Devi was the first to bring the intricate Bharni style of Madhubani painting out of village homes and into urban drawing rooms which had fetched her the Padma Shri in 1981.

She was honoured for the first time with a state award in 1969 and the national award in 1975. She was also conferred with Bihar Ratna Samman in 1984.

Born in 1914, Sita Devi’s fans included the first President, Dr Rajendra Prasad, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Indira Gandhi, Babu Jagjivan Ram and Lalit Narayan Mishra.

According to here eldest son, Ram Dev, she was regarded as mother at Jitwarpur village for her social commitment. She had encouraged about 1,000 others in the village to learn the art of Madhubani painting.

According to noted intellectual, N.K. Jha, against many underdeveloped villages in the state, Jitwarpur stands as an exception — courtesy Sita Devi.

The approach road to the village is paved with bricks. Even roads inside the village are metalled. It was because of Sita Devi that the village first had a primary school, which was later converted into a secondary one.

Ram Dev said her mother used to stay at Pragati Maidan in New Delhi and was determined to pursue issues concerning the development of the village. “Many top political leaders used to come to my mother to see the paintings and every time she would take up some issue concerning the development of the village”, he said.

Suraj Prasad of Patna,who stays near Jitwarpur, said whatever development in and around Jitwapur area had experienced in the past, all the credit should go to Sita Devi. Ram Dev, said his mother’s dream before death was that Jitwarpur should continue to promote Madhubani paintings.

Chennai, December 14
In the continuing war of words over the allocation of funds for tsunami relief, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa today challenged Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram to take the responsibility for repaying the loan got by the state from international agencies.

Joining issue with Mr Chidambaram over his recent remarks that the primary responsibility of repaying the loans availed by the state for tsunami work was with the Centre, the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister in a statement, asked whether the Finance Minister would announce that the Centre would bear the loan burden.

Disputing Mr Chidambaram’s claim that the funds from the World Bank, ADB and other funding agencies were assistance in nature, she said it was only “loan and the state has the responsibility to repay the amount with interest.”

She said though the Union Home Minister had sanctioned Rs 2,347.19 crore for tsunami relief in the state, the Centre had released only Rs 679.61 crore.

Ms Jayalalithaa stated, “Let Chidambaram frankly admit that he has no mind to assist the tsunami victims, who have lost their houses and livelihood. It is not enough to write rice on a piece of paper. Only if rice really reaches their homes, people can cook and take meals. Mr Chidambaram should stop issuing statements citing government orders alone.”

“Let the Central ministers from Tamil Nadu and those, who claim to be the driving force for the Central government from the state, not indulge in acts to divert the attention of the people,” Jayalalithaa said in an obvious reference to DMK President M. Karunanidhi.

She said they should help the state by getting funds sought for tsunami and rain relief works.”

Mr Chidambaram had said it was distressing to note that the state government had raised questions about the relief and rehabilitation package provided by the Centre, nearly a year after the tsunami devastated the Tamil Nadu coastline. It was a matter of deep regret that an unnecessary controversy should be raised at this stage, he had stated.

New Delhi, December 14
The Andhra Pradesh Government today moved the Supreme Court to challenge the state High Court judgement striking down the 5 per cent reservation for Muslims provided by the Congress government, headed by Y S Rajshekhar Reddy.

The AP Government’s counsel Manoj Saxena filed a special leave petition (SLP) in the apex court registry today. The government counsel is expected to make a special mention of the petition before a Bench of Chef Justice Y K Sabharwal tomorrow for its early hearing.

Refusing to comment on the main grounds raised in the SLP before the court took it up for hearing, the counsel only said that the validity of the High Court’s November 7 order had been challenged.

Earlier, after the judgement, the Chief Minister had stated that the High Court had taken “subjective” view of the government order and the process adopted by the State Backward Classes Commission in identifying the economically backwards from among the Muslim community, who were supposed to get the benefit.

The High Court had struck down the government order on the ground that there was no “sufficient material” available before the commission as to who should be entitled for reservation among the Muslims.

The main reason for striking down the provision was that it ran contrary to Article 14 (equality before law) and Article 15 (no special preference to any religious entity) of the Constitution.

The other reason for striking down it was that by including the 5 per cent reservation to Muslims, the total percentage of reservation in the state had gone beyond 50 per cent, which was not permitted under the law as per the apex court judgement in Mandal Commission case.

The Andhra Pradesh Government in May had accepted the report of the State Backward Classes Commission, recommending inclusion of Muslims in the list of backwards by creating a separate category of 5 per cent reservation to them. The Muslims with more than Rs 2.5 lakh annual income were excluded from the benefit as they were described to be falling in the “creamy layer” of the community.

The High Court held that the commission had not done its job properly and “failed” to evolve reasonable criteria for drawing the list of deserving people from the Muslim 
community.

New Delhi, December 14
The sacred Amar Jawan Jyoti, the symbol of country’s respect to the brave soldiers who have laid down their lives in the protecting India’s borders, would be opened up for the general public for the first time on Friday when the Armed Forces celebrate the Vijay Diwas in a major way after a gap of many years to mark India’s victory over Pakistan in the 1971 war for the liberation of East Pakistan.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) officials here said that the Amar Jawan Jyoti would be opened up for the public for the first time from the morning of December 16 with they also being allowed to light a candle in remembrance of the soldiers who gave the supreme sacrfice. The MoD and the Armed Forces would be providing the public with the flowers and the candles for them to pay respect to the myrtrs.

While the public can lay flowers at the Amar Jawan Jyoti from 11 am onwards the lighting of the candles would be allowed between 6 pm and 8 pm on Friday. For the first time the Tri-Services band would also be performing at the war memorial in respect of the myrtrs.There would also be other event at the National Statdium strectching over two days.

The MoD would be celebrating the Vijay Diwas in a major way after a gap of more than five years when due to Pakistan diplomacy the affair has been kept on a low key. Besides the attack on Parliament in 2001 had further led to the Government not celebrating it in a major way.

It was on December 16 in 1971 that the Indian Army, Navy and the Air Force and the para-military forces together achieved a historic victory over the Pakistani forces. The multi-pronged swift operation was executed with great valour which led to the formation of Bangladesh. 
It was also on this day that the largest military surrender after World War II took place, when the General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Eastern Command, Lt Gen Jagjit Singh Arora accepted the instrument of surrender from Lt Gen AAK Niazi of the Pakistan Army at Dhaka.

New Delhi, December 14
The government has extended by three months the tenure of the committee looking into the incident of fire in the Sabarmati Express at Godhra station on February 27, 2002.

According to an official spokesman, the Justice U.C. Banerjee Committee has been given three more months beyond December 4, 2005.

The committee was constituted in September 2004.