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Shun “chalta hai”
attitude, PM to bureaucracy
Pro-quota leaders up the ante |
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BJP executive to meet
on May 29
Karachi, Mumbai consulates put on back burner
PM to look into move to change Chandigarh building bylaws
CPM for more seats first
Girls outshine boys in CBSE results
BHU doctors to take out rath yatra
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Shun “chalta hai”
attitude, PM to bureaucracy
New Delhi, May 27 Expressing his displeasure over the present state of affairs in agricultural sector, the Prime Minister blamed the bureaucrats for creating hurdles in the growth of agricultural sector, especially the extension services. As against a target of 4-per cent growth rate in the agricultural sector during the 10th Five-Year Plan ( 2002-07), the farm sector has so far managed growth of below 2 per cent annually, leading to suicides by thousands of farmers across the country. “We must have the ambition to get away from this attitude of ‘chalta hai’…. All over the country I find that bureaucratic hurdles have put a stop to revitalising our extension services. “I hope our scientists and technologists and the Ministry of Food and Agriculture will look into how we can find new pathways to revitalise our extension services,” said the Prime Minister here today. Delivering the valedictory address at the International Conference on Agriculture for Food, Nutritional Security and Rural Growth here today, the Prime Minister said,“ We have to think afresh in the way credit is extended to farmers.” He said the institutions should acquire a calibre to breed excellence as a social commitment and as an integral part of their thought process. The conference was organised by The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI). Earlier, Prof Swaminathan, Chairman of the National Commission on Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Security of India, informed the Prime Minister that a report of Punjab Farmers’ Commission, headed by Prof G.S. Kalkat, had clearly brought out that farmers in Punjab were in deep distress following the rise in input costs, falling of water-table and stagnation in wheat-paddy yields. “Agriculture may be growing in the state, but farmers are becoming poorer,” said the architect of green revolution, adding government should consider agriculture as a priority sector considering its importance for food security and livelihood for 650 million farmers. The Prime Minister assured that resources would not be a constraint as the government was committed to improve the nutritional status of women and children. Prof Swaminathan, however, wondered why government was delaying the appointment of Biotechnology Regulatory Authority to push agricultural research in the country, though Science and Technology Minister Kapil Sibal had made an announcement in this regard in January. Strangely, the Prime Minister and Mr Sibal, who also spoke on this occasion, did not speak on the issue. He, however, admitted leakage of food subsidy and inefficient management of agricultural affairs. “The resources are there, the infrastructure is there, but I will be the last one to say that we have found an efficient delivery mechanism so that there is no leakage…,” he said. To sustain a higher rate of economic growth and make it more equitable and inclusive, our growth process had to be certainly more broad-based, Mr Sibal said.
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Pro-quota leaders up the ante
New Delhi, May 27 Former Prime Minister V.P. Singh cautioned the United Progressive Alliance government not to bend before the anti-reservation protestors and announced a massive rally on May 30 in Lucknow. “We will hold a rally in Lucknow on May 30 to raise the issue of exploitation of farmers and repression of weaker sections, including Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and OBCs,” he said. Among others, Left party leaders A.B. Bardhan, D. Raja, Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav and Chemicals and Fertilisers Minister Ram Vilas Paswan would also address the rally, he added. IJP President announced to join hands with Mr V.P. Singh's ‘Jan Morcha (JM),’ to fight for the rights of farmers and Dalits. Blaming the media for fuelling the anti-reservation stir, he said, “We hold much bigger rallies in support of reservation that are never reported by media,” adding vested interests, including lobbies of private educational institutions, were funding the anti-reservation stir. “We criticise the dilly-dallying approach of the UPA government at the Centre which is trying to appease the protesting doctors. It cannot dare to move backward on the issue of reservation in view of the majority of opinion,” Dr Udit Raj said. He said, “Without offering any alternative to provide equal opportunities to the suppressed classes, the doctors are opposing the reservation, exhibiting their castiest mindset. “We would ourselves had come to support them had they launched protest against reservation of seats for the NRIs and admission through huge capitation fee. “It seems that they are not worried for the merit, but want to keep away weaker sections from gaining higher education.” Dr Udit Raj added that had the government introduced compulsory education there would not have been any need for reservation. Opposing any attempt by the government to keep out any section of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes from quota by introducing ‘creamy layer’, the Former Prime Minister said, “Over the past 60 years, successive governments have provided only 14 per cent reservation as against a provision of 22 per cent for these castes.” Dr Udit Raj said a Bill aiming to ensure reservation for SCs was still pending in the Rajya Sabha for the past one-and-a-half-year. The government should take steps, including ensuring reservation for SC and STs, as promised in the National Common Minimum Programme.
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BJP executive to meet
on May 29
New Delhi, May 27 The meeting, first after Mr Rajnath became the party president, will also pass a resolution focusing on the party’s stand on issues of national importance, including the raging controversy over the OBC quota in institutions of higher education. A full session would be devoted to discuss the strategy to be adopted by the party cadres in the assembly elections in states like Uttar Pradesh, Uttaranchal and Punjab, party spokesperson Prakash Javadekar told The Tribune here. The party was also likely to draw road maps for various agitational programmes in the next three months, especially to highlight the “failure” of the UPA government to tackle terrorism and internal security situations effectively, control inflation and rise in prices of essential commodities, check suicides by farmers and its policy of “appeasement of minorities”. Stress would also be on Jammu satyagraha in which workers and leaders from various states would participate in June to condemn the recent massacre of innocent Hindu villagers in Doda and other parts of Jammu and Kashmir and the failure of the Congress-led state government and the Central Government to check “ethnic cleansing” by terrorist groups. While the resolution to be passed during the two-day meeting would make a mincemeat of the two-year performance of the Manmohan Singh government “replete with scams and scandals”, it was also expected to attack the foreign and economic policies of the UPA.
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Karachi, Mumbai consulates put on back burner
New Delhi, May 27 A couple of weeks ago, the Maharashtra government had identified three properties for Pakistan government for setting up its Consulate in Mumbai. The Ministry of External Affairs had given these addresses along with the contact numbers to the Pakistan High Commission here. No contact has been made with the owners of these properties on behalf of the Pakistan government. Moreover, Islamabad had till recently been scouting for property in Mumbai on rent for setting up its consulate. The Pakistanis had made preliminary inquiries in respect of certain properties but dropped them like hot potato after finding them grossly expensive. But now, Pakistan does not want to rent a property and wishes to make an outright purchase, which means that even if Islamabad were to acquire the property today, the construction will take several years. Yet another tell-tale pointer is that while till late last year, the High Commissioner and Deputy High Commissioner of Pakistan had personally evinced interest in the hunt for Pakistani consulate site in Mumbai, it is no longer so. Neither the High Commissioner nor the Deputy High Commissioner has paid a visit to Mumbai for this purpose in last four months. New Delhi has taken a cue from the Pakistani diplomatic symbolism and reposted the diplomatic, official and non-diplomatic staff it had appointed several months ago for Karachi. Mr Navdeep Suri, who was Joint Secretary (West Africa) in the MEA headquarters here when he was appointed India’s Consulate-General in Karachi, is continuing to work as JS (WA) in the MEA. Mr Rudrendra Tandon, is another Indian diplomat, whose Karachi assignment has gone sour. Mr Tandon was in Paris when MEA picked him for Karachi. He packed his bags in Paris and came here. Months after cooling his heels, Mr Tandon has finally been appointed as Deputy Secretary on deputation in the Prime Minister’s Office.
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PM to look into move to change Chandigarh building bylaws
New Delhi, May 27 Dr. Singh gave this assruance to Tourism and Culture Minister Ambika Soni who apprised him about the ongoing raging debate in Chandigarh on this issue. Mrs. Soni, who had an hour-long meeting with the Prime Minister and gave him a detailed briefing on how the Governor’s decision is destroying the city’s design and
architecture for which it is widely acclaimed. Dr. Singh is learnt to have said that he will seek a report from the governor in this regard. The
Governor, who doubles as the Administrator of the Union Territory, has given his consent to a change in the building laws to allow construction of multi-storey buildings on partitioned plots. The move has exercised the local residents, who have petitioned the local authorities as well as the MPs from Chandigarh and Punjab to seek their intervention. Responding to a letter from Mrs. Soni, Gen. Rodrigues had maintained that the”world has changed and so have our people’s aspirations” while maintaining that the Chandigarh Administration was taking all necessary steps to keep the city’s character intact, as envisioned by Le Corbusier. “That is why we take the advice of as many people as possible,” the note added cryptically. Mrs. Soni had written to Gen. Rodrigues to express her concern about the move to change the construction laws which, she pointed out, was contrary to what was envisioned by Le Corbusier, the world-renowned
architect of Chandigarh. Seeking the Governor’s immediate intervention in this matter, Mrs. Soni maintained out that any such far-reaching decision should not be taken without a public debate. Stating that Chandigarh’s
architecture is recognised the world-over, Mrs. Soni told the Governor that on his recent visit to India, French President Jacques Chirac had invited her to join the club, of which he himself is a member, of all those who reside in cities designed by Le Corbusier.
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CPM for more seats first
Kolkata, May 27 Instead, the enhanced quota of 27 per cent reservation for the OBCs be met only by increasing the number of seats in the AIIMS, IITs, IIMs and other medical and engineering colleges, it said. Talking to mediapersons, the Politburo member, Mr Sitaram Yechuri, also a Rajya Sabha MP from West Bengal, claimed they had already conveyed this demand to both Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Mrs Sonia Gandhi and they had accepted the demand in principle. Accordingly, he advised the striking students to call off their agitation forthwith and help restore normalcy in the hospitals and other institutions. However, Mr Yechuri's advice did not reach the striking doctors and the students in the city. On the contrary, when Mr Yechuri was rendering the advice through press, two groups at the Calcutta Medical College and Hospital were busy clashing over the decision of closing down the emergency wards and other units at the hospital. The clash occurred when several Class-Four hospital staffers and some members of the patients’ families demanded the doctors to resume their duties and attend to the patients. The situation got normalised gradually at the intervention of the senior doctors and the police and the striking doctors started attending the patients by opening a few parallel emergency units.
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Girls outshine boys in CBSE results
New Delhi, May 27 With a pass percentage of 77.70 as against 76.73 of the boys, the girls have outscored boys in five regions, barring Chennai where the boys have a pass percentage of 90.74. The overall pass percentage is 77.16. Chandigarh, which has an overall pass percentage of 82.41, has girls performing better than their male counterparts with a pass percentage of 84.14, which is slightly less than last years’ 84.33. The boys with a pass percentage of 81.21 have performed better than last years’ 80.68. Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya has stolen the march over other schools, Kendriya Vidyalaya (90.63 per cent), independent (85.94 per cent), Central Tibetan (72.29 per cent), government-aided schools (62.42 per cent) and government schools (54.07 per cent).
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BHU doctors to take out rath yatra
Lucknow, May 27 Meanwhile,
the SGPGI junior doctors called off their strike late last night and returned to work today after the hospital authorities served them termination notices under the ESMA. However, in a face-saving measure, the President of the Junior Doctors Association of the SGPGI, Mr Amit Goel, said they had called off the strike in response to the President Kalam’s appeal to all striking doctors to come back to work.
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