 |
|
|
Institutions gear up to meet quota challenge
Left criticism bound to happen, says Sibal
Coalitions have come to stay, says Somnath
Manmohan, Musharraf likely to meet in September
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Sonia Gandhi in proactive avatar
AIIMS docs not paid for strike period
4 police wings exempted from Information Act
IMD downgrades monsoon prediction
Release ministers, CPI asks Israel
Flash floods in 2 districts bordering Nepal
|
|
Institutions gear up to meet quota challenge
New Delhi, July 1 The additional funds that the government will provide to meet the expenses that will be incurred on expanding infrastructure, increase in number of seats and recruitment of faculty will help institutions upgrade and improve, they say. “The 27 per cent reservation should be seen as an opportunity to strengthen the existing infrastructure and build and provide quality education to a larger number,” said Prof Panjab Singh, Vice-Chancellor, Benaras Hindu University, who is also in the sub-group for Central Universities. Pointing out that the concerns over the implementation in one go are not groundless, he, however, said that a “staggered implementation would have its own problems”. Prof Singh accepted that implementing the reservation in one go is difficult for science, engineering and management institutes. “In case of arts, you can try to fit in 20 more students in a class of 40, but in case of medicine or engineering, it is important to have laboratories in place before you increase strength.” He said, “The government has agreed to release funds, which is a good sign especially for those institutions that had been looking for additional help to improve their conditions.” A member of another sub-group, however, said the construction of classrooms and hostels apart from upgrading libraries would require both time and money. “Any rush on the part of the government could lead to serious problems”. Some of the members in the sub-groups for management and engineering have already pointed out their concerns and have suggested a staggered implementation. The directors of IIMs had expressed scepticism over the proposal to introduce quotas from the next academic session. Meanwhile, as two of the five sub-groups working under the Oversight Committee having overshot the June 30 deadline for submitting their inputs, the interim report that was scheduled to be presented on July 10 is likely to be deferred. The sub-groups on technological and engineering institutions and management institutions are yet to submit their inputs to the Oversight Committee, which will, in turn, based on these suggestions, present an interim report to the government. Committee Chairperson, M. Veerappa Moily had pointed out that he would meet each and every sub-group chairperson before reaching any conclusion. In keeping with this, he had a detailed discussion with M. Anandakrishnan, who heads the sub-group on technical and engineering institutions, yesterday. While the final report is to be submitted by August 31, the Committee is likely to meet in July 13.
|
|
Left criticism bound to happen, says Sibal
New Delhi, July 1 In an interview to CNN-IBN for its Devil’s Advocate programme to be telecast tomorrow at 8.30 pm, Mr Sibal said the Left had an ideology and had every right to criticise. “We’ll debate with them, we’ll try and convince them and we’ll do whatever we can to try and run the government for five years. That’s all.” Mr Sibal was asked about the nine-page critique of two years of the UPA government released by the Left parties last month and to which the government has so far not formally responded. Talking specifically about the comment by the Left parties that material conditions had not improved under two years of the UPA government, he said, “We are not afraid of anybody. We’ll carry on implementing the Common Minimum Programme. We’ll do it honestly and we’ll do things for the people and have programmes for the people. And I’m sure the programmes will reach the people.’’ Asked about comments in the press that “Dr. Manmohan Singh needs to seize control of his government” and that “the Prime Minister (must) reinvent himself,” the minister said, “I am sorry that this kind of criticism is being levelled against a Prime Minister who today enjoys the kind of respect that perhaps very few Prime Ministers enjoy in the international community.” Quoting extensively from the government’s economic performance statistics, he suggested that it was only the media that was attacking the Prime Minister’s image. “The figures show that the Prime Minister’s image is only battered through the media. The facts show otherwise.” Asked specifically whether the Prime Minister was too shy and retiring to be an effective leader of government, Mr Sibal said, “My answer is that Dr Manmohan Singh is a different kind of Prime Minister. He’s a different kind of man. We all know that he’s self-effacing, modest, honest, (with) oodles of integrity and wants to do something for the common people of this country.” To a question about the way Union Ministers Meira Kumar and Arjun Singh were perceived to have created their own agenda regarding reservations rendering the Prime Minister silent, Mr Sibal said, “You’re talking about little things that have happened. The education sector is not only about reservations.” Asked whether the Prime Minister would complete the full five years in office, the Minister began by saying that that such questions should never be answered because any government could commit suicide, but added that he believed the government would last 10 years. “First of all, such a question should never be answered for the simple reason the people of this country decide whether the government will be in power or not. Any government can be brought down before five years. Any government can commit suicide before five years. Any government can last not just five years but 10 years. I believe the government is going to last 10 years,” he said.
|
|
Coalitions have come to stay, says Somnath
New Delhi, July 1 "Democracy in India is time tested. There should be no doubts about its efficacy. The people of our country have changed the government through peaceful means," Mr Chatterjee said replying to questions during his interaction with the President and legislators of the state Parliament of Berlin. "Democracy, pluralism, secularism and federalism enhance commonality between India and Germany. This commonality makes us best partners in our endeavour to make the world a better place to live in," the Speaker said. During his meeting with German Minister of Economy and Technology, Mr Chatterjee made a passionate appeal to go for mutually beneficial investments in a big way in India.
"Out greatest asset is the vast pool of young talent in our country. This diverse talent will definitely help us strengthen the partnership between the two countries", he said.
|
|
|
Manmohan, Musharraf likely to meet in September
New Delhi, July 1 The chances of the two leaders meeting in Cuba have brightened all the more as Dr Manmohan Singh is not visiting Pakistan this year and is also not going to attend the United Nations General Assembly in New York this September. This would be the first meeting between the two leaders in this year as they had last met on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York in September last. The Havana meeting would be crucial and would set the pace for the next round of composite dialogue process. The two neighbours have so far had three rounds of talks. It was earlier tentative that the two countries’ foreign ministers would review the outcome of the third round here in the third week of July. It is not clear as of now whether the foreign minister-level review meeting would take place or not. India does not have a full-fledged Foreign Minister ever since Mr K. Natwar Singh resigned as External Affairs Minister in wake of the Volcker report. Diplomatic observers see little chance of the Prime Minister, who himself holds the portfolio of External Affairs Minister, appointing a regular Foreign Minister in the near future. Dr Manmohan Singh managed without a regular Foreign Minister when US President George Bush and French President Jacques Chirac visited India earlier this year. It is understood that Pakistan has already conveyed through diplomatic channels that diluting the level of the composite dialogue process review meeting would not be acceptable to Islamabad. In view of the resources currently available to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, he can field Minister of State for External Affairs E. Ahamed for the review meeting. In case, Pakistan does not accept dilution of the review level, the meeting itself can be postponed. The two countries’ Foreign Secretaries would be meeting in any case. Under the new India-Pakistan arrangement, Foreign Secretaries’ meeting precedes the Foreign Minister-level review meeting.
|
|
Sonia Gandhi in proactive avatar
New Delhi, July 1 After convening a meeting of the party’s working committee to discuss the issue of price rise, Ms Gandhi has now convened a meeting of Congress Chief Ministers next week on this specific matter. At the same time, she is following up on her recent tour of Rajasthan with a visit to Opposition-ruled Madhya Pradesh on Monday, where she is scheduled to address a convention of party workers. Similar trips to other Opposition-ruled states like Orissa, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand are also on the cards. Ms Gandhi’s move to convene CWC and
CMs’ meetings followed a growing sense of unease in the party over the spurt in prices of essential commodities like wheat, pulses and sugar. The party’s “aam
admi” plank has taken a hit and the overwhelming feedback from the state units is that the Congress is fast losing ground and will pay a heavy price for letting down the poor and underprivileged sections whose cause it proclaims to champion. Congress insiders said next week’s meeting of Chief Ministers (the date is yet to be fixed) will focus on how the recent spurt in prices of essential commodities had hurt the party’s pro-poor image and the necessary steps that the state bosses need to initiate to contain inflation and deal with hoarders. As in the case of the Congress Working Committee (CWC), the participating Chief Ministers will be expected to explain how they had tackled this problem so far. The effort is to send out a message that the Congress is concerned about the “aam
admi” and is taking appropriate measures to tackle this problem. While putting its own house in order, Ms Gandhi’s forays into Opposition-ruled territory are aimed at deflecting attention from its own shortcomings by exposing the deficiencies of their political rivals.
|
|
AIIMS docs not paid for strike period
New Delhi, July 1 In a communication, Medical Superintendent, Dr D.K. Sharma said that that if any such order pertaining to the sanction or release of salaries of the resident doctors for the strike period has been issued, it is null and void since no administrative or financial approval was granted for the release of the salary. Sources in the AIIMS Faculty Association said that the Director is playing games with the resident doctors. The President of the AIIMS Resident Doctors Association, Dr Binod
Patro, told TNS that the accounts office told them the salaries would not be paid as the management is waiting for the Supreme Court’s orders on the issue. He said that the decision not to release salaries would affect 1100 resident doctors. The AIIMS and Maulana Azad Medical College Resident Doctors’ Association have moved an application in the Supreme Court seeking directions to the Health Ministry not to deduct the salary of doctors who took part in the 19-day long stir.
|
|
|
4 police wings exempted from Information Act
Lucknow, July 1 However, citizens can seek information from these wings on matters relating to corruption and human rights violations. Announcing this, Chief Secretary N.C. Bajpai said that this was a long-standing demand of the Home Department that has finally been approved by the Cabinet presided over by Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav. Commenting on the decision, former Director General of police I.C. Dwivedi, who also the coordinator of a Right to Information campaign in the state, said it was virtually a signal by the politician-bureaucrat nexus to the forces to continue with their actions without worrying about the issue of accountability. “This is to tell the forces that we will protect you from the ill-consequences of your actions”, observed Mr Dwivedi. Explaining the mindset of the forces of which he has been a part for many years, Dwivedi said that for so many years, the policeman has been trained to withhold information. “This is the only way that no one can question him if he favours someone or disfavours another either on his own or on the behest of his boss”. According to the former DGP what the decision actually means in practical terms is that no one will have the right to summon the case dairies and recorded statements while the investigations are on. However, Dwivedi, who in recent months has put his energy behind the implementation of the RTI Act, is not unduly perturbed. “To begin with, the state government itself has ensured that the RTI Act can be upheld in case of corruption and human rights violation which will take care of the majority of cases concerning the police forces.” Quoting Section 8 (1) j of the RTI, he said, “Information which cannot be denied to the Parliament or a state legislature shall not be denied to any person.”
|
|
IMD downgrades monsoon prediction
New Delhi, July 1 On April 24, the IMD issued the first-stage forecast for this year's monsoon rains between June-September that said the rainfall for the country as a whole was likely to be 93 per cent of the LPA, with a model error of plus or minus five per cent. In its fresh update issued today, the IMD predicted the rainfall during this period likely to be 92 per cent, plus or minus four per cent, of the LPA. It has also gave the forecast for four broad homogeneous regions. For the North-west — Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, Uttranchal and Uttar Pradesh — it predicted the rainfall to be 91 per cent, plus or minus eight per cent. For Central India, the prediction is 91 per cent, South Peninsula 97 per cent and North-east 94 per cent of the LPA, all with a model error of plus or minus eight per cent, which many weather experts feel is too wide a range for a clear-cut picture of the country’s most awaited weather phenomenon. Since its onset, the realised rainfall over the country as a whole till June 28 has been deficient that possibly led the IMD to revise its predictio, experts say, adding “June has not been so good and the overall picture does not appear to be too encouraging as of now.” In all likelihood the country more hi-tech couple model, based on parameters of statistical and dynamic models, will be in place by 2008. Scientists from several agencies are
collaborating on the model that will correlate ocean, land and atmospheric parameters.
|
|
Release ministers, CPI asks Israel
New Delhi, July 1 In a letter to Israel Ambassador to India David Danieli, the CPI has expressed shock over the latest military offensive launched by the armed forces of Israel in the Gaza Strip. The letter written by Gurudas Dasgupta, leader of the CPI Parliamentary Group, reads: “During the raids, almost one-third of the Palestinian Council of Ministers and a large number of MPs have been arrested by the invading Israeli forces. It is obvious that the Israeli forces are bent upon destroying the elected government of Palestine. The arrest of ministers and MPs is a blatant violation of all international laws and norms.”
|
|
Flash floods in 2 districts bordering Nepal
Patna, July 1 Following the release of waters from the barrages by Nepal, the waters have led to the inundation of the two districts in Bihar. Official sources informed that water level in rivers like Bagmati and a few others, which originate from Nepal and pass through North Bihar, are flowing over the danger level.
|
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Mailbag | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
Videos
