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Bihar plans to recruit 20,000 policemen
Internet drug smuggling calls international
attention
State govt indifferent to Godhra riot relief: NHRC
CPM to review UPA govt’s performance
NDA to seek EC Chawla’s removal
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Carnal pleasures can be had for a song in Pune area
Bihar’s obsession with guns visible in Holi sales
N-deal: Bihar vies for share
India, China confident of settling border dispute
Receding glaciers may hit eco-system
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Bihar plans to recruit 20,000 policemen
New Delhi, March 12 To begin with, he plans to recruit ex-servicemen to fill slots lying vacant for nine years under the previous regime. He has ordered that all posts in the police force be filled within four months. Addressing a gathering of industrialists and economists from the World Bank and the Planning Commission at an ASSOCHAM seminar on investment opportunities in Bihar here yesterday, Mr Kumar said although he does not have a magic wand to change the face of Bihar, he is doing his best to build a new Bihar. “Vacancies in the police force have to be filled. Despite constraints of strength, the same police force is working. We have told the Home Minister that we want the policemen to be trained in police training academies across the country. He has assured us help. Investment or no investment, law and order situation in Bihar has to be improved and we will leave no stone unturned to ensure that Bihar is peaceful,” the Chief Minister said. Bihar Chief Secretary G.S. Kang told TNS that the state presently has a police force of 48,000. Mr Kang said the government would recruit 20,000 more policemen, including 5,000 ex-servicemen as a stopgap arrangement for a year. Apart from this, the state plans to recruit 15,000 policemen. Mr Kang said the state government had begun the process of advertising the vacancies in various newspapers. |
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Internet drug smuggling calls international
attention
New Delhi, March 12 While the number of such Internet pharmacies operating in India has not yet reached an alarming proportion, the situation is worrying enough to demand the setting up of adequate control and preventive measures in the country. Noting that smuggling of drugs by Internet and mail was emerging as a major problem for drug law enforcement agencies the world over, the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) has urged different countries of the world to participate in effective regional and international cooperation for preventing drug diversion and abuse. Calling for drafting appropriate actions to counteract such activities, the 2005 INCB report released last week says smuggling of drugs through mail has now become an important way of supplying to illicit markets. It also suggested all governments to ensure regular and thorough search of the mail for illicit drug consignments, to become a routine procedure for their respective law enforcement agencies. The INCB also asked the governments to enact legislation that allowed the control and screening of all routes of international mail in and out of the country, including private premises of international mail courier companies. INCB member M.M. Bhatnagar told The Tribune that the Board was in favour of countries issuing guidelines and legislation on prescription practices of Internet pharmacies. Lauding India’s efforts in effectively cracking one such Internet pharmacy in April 2005, the report said that a major international trafficking organisation involved in illegally distributing pharmaceuticals via the Internet was busted in a joint operation conducted by India in collaboration with Canada, Costa Rica and the USA. As far as India is concerned, steps have been taken for combating in-house drug abuse and smuggling to other countries through regional cooperation. In August 2005, India and Pakistan agreed their respective narcotics control departments should enter into an MoU to intensify mutual cooperation and liaison on drug control issues. However, despite strict controls and legislation, it continues to be easy to obtain many scheduled drugs without prescription in India and other South Asian countries. Pharmaceuticals continue to be diverted in India and smuggled to countries in South Asia and other regions. Trafficking in codein-based cough syrups in India is a major concern and as per the report , diazepam and nitrazepam are also being diverted for abuse in India or smuggled into other countries. Incidentally, India also happens to be the main illicit manufacturer of mathqualone. There is also a growing illicit trade of synthetic heroin in India. It is believed that synthetic heroin is manufactured mainly in cities in the north of the country, for which the INCB has asked India to take adequate measures to check it. |
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State govt indifferent to Godhra riot relief: NHRC
New Delhi, March 12 In its annual report for 2003-04, tabled recently in Parliament, the NHRC stated that the compensation paid to the victims displaced by the riots was grossly inadequate. The commission stated that it continued to be concerned about the relief, rehabilitation and resettlement of victims. The NHRC said it had proposed several measures for relief and rehabilitation of riot victims, but found the state government less than forthcoming or cooperative in responding to the It said the report of the state’s Chief Secretary, sent to the commission in September, 2003, in response to the recommendations made by the NHRC, was more intended to block any action on the issues suggested by the commission than to address those. As per the report of the police, the total damage to property was to the tune of Rs 687.34 crore whereas the state government had distributed only Rs 56.37 crore among the persons affected, which was about nine per cent of the loss. The commission had made a formal reminder to the state government to set up the authority, but the state government sent a letter to the commission in December, 2003, saying it had not accepted the suggestion. |
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CPM to review UPA govt’s performance
New Delhi, March 12 The announcement came after the party’s decision-making body met in Delhi for three days to discuss the Budget, the Indo-US nuclear pact and elections in West Bengal. The party also discussed its strategy for the ensuing poll in its strongholds of Kerala and West Bengal. "The Central Committee just concluded has discussed the forthcoming elections in five states and the strategies and alliances to be entered into," party Politburo member Sitaram Yechury told reporters. When asked about the party’s chief ministerial candidate for Kerala, he said, ''It is too immature to discuss about it as the state unit will meet on March 15 to finalise the list of the candidates, followed by campaigning.'' The party was in talks with the AGP faction led by Brindaban Goswami in Assam where it wanted to cobble together a non-BJP, non-Congress alliance. The alliance could be firmed up soon, he added. In Tamil Nadu and Pondichery, CPM does not have much stake. CPM is grappling with the problem of selection of a leader to spearhead its campaign in Kerala, where it wanted to field only one Politburo member out of the three from the state. Mr Yechury said a decision on all these aspects would be announced only after the state committee meeting to be held in Thiruvananthapuram. |
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NDA to seek EC Chawla’s removal
New Delhi, March 12 Sources in the NDA said that their delegation planned to present to the President a memorandum signed by more than 200 MPs to press for their demand for Mr Chawla’s removal. Sources said that 225 MPs from the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha belonging to the BJP-led Opposition alliance had signed the memorandum. The memorandum accuses Mr Chawla of having links with the Congress and urges the President to impress upon the Chief Election Commissioner to recommend his removal. Alleging that Mr Chawla became Election Commissioner because of his ``proximity’’to the Congress, the memorandum cites several instances to substantiate its allegations against him on his role during the Emergency as Secretary to the then Lieutenant-Governor of Delhi. An NDA delegation led by NDA Convener George Fernandes and Opposition leader L.K. Advani had met the President earlier too on February 14 and sought his intervention to ensure Mr Chawla’s removal from the poll panel. |
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Carnal pleasures can be had for a song in Pune area
Pune, March 12 In the past 20 years, there has been negligible appreciation in the selling price of sex in the brothels inhabited by 4000 commercial sex workers (CSWs). But nobody is complaining. A single act fetches elderly commercial sexual workers an amount as low as Rs 15. The amount varies from Rs 15 to Rs 1000 depending on the
appearance and age of the sex worker and the time that the customer wishes to spend with her. A commercial sex worker-turned peer educator told TNS that in the early 80s, the rate for elderly sex workers was as low as Rs 3.50. It may sound incredible but the harsh reality is that a large number of women working in the brothels have been trapped by middlemen on the promise of a job. Speaking on conditions of anonymity, the peer educator recalled how her neighbour in Gulbarga in Karnataka lured her to Pune by promising her a job. Ms Michele Andine, Project Director of Pathfinder International, a Boston- based organisation working to empower CSWs to make informed choices terms the economics of the sex trade as a``question of supply and demand.’’ Andine says : ``It is a classic economic situation where the money is where the work is. Persons belonging to all strata of society come to Buddhwar Peth. The possibility of getting high rates is low because the customer can always move next door.’’ While clarifying that Pathfinder International is not in the rescue business, Ms Andine says that they are working on the condom negotiation skills of the sex workers through a network of peer educators. Asked if the organsiation is working towards improving the bargaining capacity of the workers, the Project Director says , ``there is not much we can do about money. That is about market economy.’’ What is even more alarming is that social workers don’t rule out the possibility of commercial sex workers continuing to work despite being on Anti Retroviral Therapy for HIV infection. ``It becomes an economic necessity for people. If people had choices, the world would look very different,’’ said a social worker. The gays are happy earning Rs 50 for oral and anal sex. Tobacconists selling beetle leaves in the red light area make the job of the clients easy by stocking a variety of flavoured and coloured condoms. The availability of condoms at subsidised rates by voluntary organisations and free supply of condoms by the government has served to reduce the birth rate and sexuallty transmitted infections in the brothels. At the same time, it has encouraged the belief among CSWs and MSMs that use of condoms eliminates chances of HIV infection. Two postgraduate students from Kolhapur told TNS that they have been earning money by having casual sex with heterosexual men. ``We learnt from fellow students that we could earn money. Our parents have no inkling of our activities. It would be better if they accept us for what we are otherwise we will end our lives. We earn anythingbetween Rs 50 to Rs 150 at lodges. The person who seeks our services also pays the hotel bills.’’ Ms Andine says that condom use among clients is now as high as 90 per cent, according to a survey done in Pune. The interventions by peer educators have by and large been well-received. ``There is certainly some resistance but the brothel owners also know that it is in the interest of their trade to keep these women healthy,’’says Ms Andine. She disagrees with the observation that condom
availability has taken away the fear of HIV infections from the minds of sex workers.``Many are still aware they are at risk but the problem is that condom is the only tool available for preventing infections. The other tool is total abstinence that is not realistic for sex trade.’’ Dr Lakshmi Mali, clinic manager at a Mukta clinic run by Vanchit Vikas, an organisation supported by Pathfinder International , said that the real challenge before them was to convince the CSWs to use condoms with regular partners. ``Unlike other clients, the sex workers feel emotionally attached to regular partners. They trust them blindly.’’ The organisation offers a package of health services to reduce sexually transmitted infections. |
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Bihar’s obsession with guns visible in Holi sales
Patna, March 12 Chief Minister Nitish Kumar may have promised to transform Bihar into a crime-free state. But this does not seem to have the desired impact yet on the mindset of the people in general to come out of the prevalent gun culture that had dominated the state for more than past one decade. This is evident from the mood of the Holi revelers who are now thronging the city markets to purchase pichkaris. Chinsese pichkaris in the form of AK-47 rifles, sten guns and revolvers have hit the markets here, which would be used to spray colour by revelers on Holi. According to Anand Singh, a local shopkeeper, all these arms look-alike pichkaris, ranging from Rs 300 to Rs 1,000 are selling like hotcakes. These pichkaris are flooding the local markets through Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata. Guddu Sharma, a student of class X, says: “Guns are nothing new in Bihar. Gun culture was part of the socio-political system here for long”. Guddu too purchased an AK-47 rifle to sprinkle colour on his friends. |
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N-deal: Bihar vies for share
Patna, March 12 For once, both Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and his bete noire RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav seem to be sharing a common goal on this issue. Mr Yadav had on last Tuesday met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh seeking installation of a nuclear power plant in electricity-starved Bihar. According to the Railways Minister, the discussion with the Prime Minister was fruitful. On his part, Mr Kumar said even before Mr Yadav’s initiative, the NDA had put forth its views before the UPA government at the Centre for setting up a nuclear power plant in the state. |
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India, China confident of settling border dispute Kumarakom (Kerala), March 12 “The talks are moving in the right direction. The two countries are working to evolve a methodology for the settlement of the dispute, based on parameters and guiding principles agreed to between the two governments earlier,” Narayanan told journalists after a round of talks with the Chinese delegation at the Kumarakom lake resort here. “Our effort is to extricate talks from the logjam. I will be dishonest if I say that it will be settled in this round,” Narayanan said after talks with the Chinese delegation led by China’s Executive Vice-Foreign Minister, Dai Bingguo. The seventh round of India-China talks began in Delhi yesterday and the scene was shifted to the picturesque spot here for two days. — PTI
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Receding glaciers may hit eco-system
New Delhi, March 12 Many persons are suffering from its after-affects — uncontrollable bronchial coughs and asthmatic attacks. Environmental experts feel that India’s climate is changing and perhaps, not slowly. This is a result of an increasing concentration of greenhouse gases and sulphate aerosols in the atmosphere. These receding glaciers are expected to affect the Himalayan eco-system and the lives of people who inhabit the Indo-Gangetic plains. Experts expect that by 2025, a majority of India’s population will be concentrated in cities and fresh water withdrawals in cities will rise. This will compound the problem of water scarcity. Environmentalists have recommended a series of initiatives to grapple with the problem. There are plans to capture carbon dioxide emissions in the air and neutralise those in the earth system, says Dr Chadha, director of Global Hydrological Solutions. |
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