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Pro-quota parties for Bill in monsoon session
Govt to assess water storage
in Chinese barrage over Sutlej
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Parties play politics over oil price hike
Women head only 3 Cong committees out of 102 Cong for special session of UP Assembly
Sir Chottu Ram formula can still save farmers’ lives
Gopalganj case: Phulwaria SHO suspended
4 families given notices to vacate houses One killed in
Andhra polling Pranab does not rule out Kargil-type conflicts Mini-ministerial meeting on WTO deadlock by
July-end,
Water shortage jeopardises marriage ceremony
9 of marriage party electrocuted
Encourage organ donation, says Vice-President
Priest rubbishes Jayamala’s claim
Row over Gujarat riots’ correspondence
Five Naxals shot dead
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Pro-quota parties for Bill in monsoon session
New Delhi, July 2 In a resolution adopted at a national seminar on social justice for OBCs, organised by Pattali Makkal Katchi of Tamil Nadu here, the parties asked the government to bring the legislation with ‘greater alacrity and urgency’ as the first government-sponsored legislation of the session. “The legislation for implementing this policy should be brought before Parliament in the ensuing monsoon session itself without any further discussion or debate or soliciting opinions from outsiders and without subjecting to the influence of any vested interests,” the resolution said. The media came in for sharp criticism, as the resolution lamented the role played by it in the recent anti-reservation agitation and said the protests were “media hyped”. It said quota in media was a constitutional “imperative”, and that as a majority of the media was in the private sector, it viewed reservation as a “compulsory need” to implement this in this sector. In judiciary, the resolution argued that justice can be ensured only if judges belonging to different sections of society were appropriately represented. Emphasising that the OBCs who have entered the government services in the absence of reservation policy were at a disadvantage at the stage of promotion, the parties requested the government to pass necessary orders providing reservation in promotion to OBC employees. Recalling that the previous governments have not implemented the recommendations of the Kaka Kalekar Commission and the Mandal Commission, the parties lamented that this closed the “doors of opportunities” of education and employment to OBCs and thus “banned their entry into the temples of learning and livelihood”. Arguing against the implementation of the quotas in phases, former Prime Minister V P Singh said, “It has to be done in one stroke. There should be no instalments. “Even if there is a need of increasing the number of seats, it should be done from the next year itself,” he added. He favoured a country-wide referendum on reservations. “Let the issue be settled once and for all.” “The private sector is getting everything at concessional rates. So we will have to demand action from them also,” CPI general secretary D Raja said, adding that the Union Government can bring in a model law for reservation in primary schools and other institutions also. Claiming that globalisation has benefited only five per cent of the country’s population, JD(U) president Sharad Yadav said, “The private organisations take all benefits and subsidies from the government, so they should also implement the government policy.” While they demanded the legislation for quota in the private sector in the monsoon session, the resolution did not specify a timeframe for implementing reservation in media and judiciary. Noting that countries like the USA, South Africa and Malaysia have quota in the private sector, the resolution reminded the ruling coalition that with a clear mandate of the Common Minimum Programme in hand “there was no need for any further dialogue either with industry or anybody”.
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Govt to assess water storage
in Chinese barrage over Sutlej
New Delhi, July 2 Sources said the Ministry has called for relevant information from all quarters by Monday to make an assessment of the water storage capacity of the barrage. The assessment will require some ‘‘engineering studies,’’ including use of satellite images. The sources said the quality of assessment will depend on database available with various government agencies. It will also require making an assessment of the location of the barrage and the topography of the area. Terming barrages as ‘‘diversion structures,’’ sources said the officials would look into the depth of the barrage shown in satellite images in terms of its capacity to release water. The Himachal Pradesh Government is likely to urge the Centre to seek information from China about the barrage,reported to be located across Zada gorge in west Tibet. The state, which has suffered fury of floods in the Sutlej over the past few years, wants to take precautions to prevent any unusual gain or slide in the levels of water in the river. A flood in the Sutlej in 2000 had caused massive damage to life and property in Kinnaur and Rampur area of Shimla district. Landslides in Parechu tributary of the Sutlej in Tibet in 2004 had created a huge reservoir of water threatening flash floods in Kinnaur and Rampur. When the reservoir breached last year, loss of life in floods was contained due to the alertness of the official machinery. Sources said construction of a barrage could not lead to any immediate threat of floods as it was a structure designed scientifically. They said unlike a reservoir caused by landslides which has perennial threat of bursting, there were little chances of such a breach in a barrage. However, they said the construction of a barrage could be part of ‘‘water politics’’ normally pursued by countries as part of their geo-political strategies. They said agreements with China about sharing hydrological data on the Sutlej had not been of much use in the absence of a water sharing treaty with that country.
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Parties play politics over oil price hike
New Delhi, July 2 Some Congress-ruled states, including Delhi, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Punjab, had given marginal relief to consumers by exempting the hike in petrol and diesel prices from sales tax. BJP-ruled states and Left-ruled states had declined to oblige, saying the Centre should first bring down Central taxes, leaving the consumer in the lurch. “It is joke that although the price of petrol and diesel had been hiked by Rs 4 and Rs 2 a litre by the Centre, the prices were withdrawn by just between 40 paise and 80 paise per litre and that too, in some states”, said the leader of a truck operators’ union, adding that petrol and diesel prices had been affecting transport costs, leading to rise in prices of essential commodities. Petroleum Minister Murli Deora, in a self-congralatory style, had written a letter to eight Chief Ministers, complimenting them for their decision not to impose state taxes on hike in petrol and diesel prices. Consumers in states like Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and West Bengal had not got any relief. The issue was likely to be raised by opposition parties and Left parties in the monsoon session of the Parliament later this month. Mr Deora, in a communication to the Chief Ministers of Delhi, Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Tamil Nadu, Himachal Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Maharashtra and Goa, pointed out that the reduction in sales tax by these states was commendable and supplemented efforts of the government to keep the impact of spiralling world oil prices at the minimum level on Indian consumers. He also emphasised the need for other state governments to consider taking similar steps.
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Women head only 3 Cong committees out of 102 Lucknow, June 2 The three women presidents — Ms Poonam Mishra
(Sitapur City Congress Committee), Ms Arti Bajpeyi (Unnao City Congress Committee) and Ms Usha Dubey
(Kannauj District Congress Committee) — are Brahmins. Commenting on the absence of women in the party’s district-level leadership, UPCC spokesperson Akhilesh Singh says women are not prepared to take full-time responsibility at the district level as it is a strenuous job while women have to devote time to family and children. According to him, women are more interested in joining the Mahila Congress or taking up a position in the state office than working at the district level. The other factor that strikes one is the overwhelming high number of Brahmins finding a place on the list. There are 33.33 per cent Brahmins (34 out of 102), against 11.76 per cent Dalits and less than 25 per cent
OBCs. The UPCC list virtually belies the vision that the AICC has been trying to give the state unit by inducting more women, OBCs and Dalits in decision-making positions in the grassroot-level structures to bring back the lost support base of the party. This strategy has been favoured in most brainstorming sessions that have been held in recent months to revive the party in the state either in Delhi or in Lucknow. Muslims having a 27.45 per cent share in the list has strengthened the hope that the party has been earnestly working towards their return to the party fold after being disillusioned with the Samajwadi Party. The most refreshing change is the presence of new faces as around 83.33 per cent (85 persons) are first-timers between in the age group of 35 to 45 years, who are expected to inject vigor in the party. The chiefs of 81 out of the 112 district and city Congress units have been changed. Changes on 10 seats have been put on hold as consensus between various factions has not been arrived at. The list is with the AICC, awaiting Ms Sonia Gandhi’s final word. Commenting on the list, UPCC President Salman Khurshid says great care has been taken to bring in young persons with experience and accommodate the outgoing team in some responsible positions. Mr Akhilesh Singh says almost all new faces have been associated with the Youth Congress and have actively participated in orientation camps held across the stat, in which Mr Rahul Gandhi has actively participated.
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Cong for special session of UP Assembly Lucknow, July 2 Decrying the new-found love of Mulayam Singh Yadav for the RSS, UP Congress Legislative party leader Pramod Tiwari demanded an apology from him for comparing the RSS cadre with freedom fighters. On the 31st anniversary of Emergency on June 26, Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav had announced a monthly pension of Rs 500 for MISA and DRI detainees, many of whom are from the RSS and had also re-christened them as soldiers of democracy. The coming months promise a lot of fireworks both inside the Vidhan Sabha and on the streets as the party has worked out an elaborate schedule of prorgammes to mobililise people across the state for the next three months as a run-up to the Assembly poll, announced UPCC president Salman Khurshid.
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Sir Chottu Ram formula can still save farmers’ lives
New Delhi, July 2 Farmer leaders have warned that unless drastic steps were immediately taken by the Centre and state governments, thousands of farmers in other states including in Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, UP, Karnataka would be forced to commit suicide this year. Taking a dig at the UPA government and the role of public funded R&D in the country, the apex body of farmers’ organisations — the Federation of Indian Farmers Associations — demanded a national package for agriculture and a probe into failure of Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) to develop GM crops over the years. “The farmers have paid around Rs 1125 crore over the past four years to Monsanto as a royalty for buying BT cotton crop, though the company was ready to transfer the technology to the ICAR for just Rs 18 crore in 1996. The negligence and failure of government and ICAR have resulted in heavy debts on farmers, which needed to be probed by a Parliamentary Committee or an independent body,” said Mr Chengal Reddy, Chairman of the Federation. Farmer leaders said “Had the government implemented a simple formula of Sir Chottu Ram, Agriculture Minister in the undivided Punjab, that farmers would not be asked to pay interest more than the principle amount, thousands of lives would have been saved.” They claimed that even during the British period farmers’ suicides might have not reached such proportions, as over the past few years touching 50,000. It indicated UPA government’s sincerity towards the farm sector. Sir Chottu Ram had also made a provision that non-tillers like money lenders will have no right to get agricultural land from farmers in lieu of debt. He also set up debt conciliation boards in each district to resolve disputes between borrowers and lenders to save farmers from the clutches of money lenders. The formula, which later became an Act, is not applied any more. The mechanism evolved by the legendary farmers’ leader provided that a farmer who has taken a loan from any lending agency would not be required to pay interest in excess to the principal amount borrowed by him. Despite the state’s relatively high level of economic prosperity, the Punjab farmers today lead the country in rural indebtedness. The total annual rural debt of the state was Rs 24,000 crore in 2003-04 — more than its gross annual earnings from agriculture. Notably, during tough years for farmers in early thirties, Sir Chottu Ram took initiatives to enact the Punjab Relief Indebtedness Act, 1934 and the Punjab Debtor’s Protection Act 1936, which emancipated the peasants from the clutches of the money lenders and restored the right of land to the tiller. Chairman of the National Farmers Commission M.S. Swaminathan has also recommended that the government should ensure that all the farmers are given adequate credit at 4 per cent interest rates, besides remunerative minimum support price for all the major crops and a national insurance policy for agriculture. The commission, which submitted its report to the government months ago is still hoping that the government would take note of its recommendations. Finance Minister P. Chidambaram has also accepted that only 4 crore farm households out of around 10 crore farm households have access to institutional credit and the rest especially the small and marginal farmers are forced to take loans from the money lenders at 36-50 per cent interest rate.
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Gopalganj case: Phulwaria SHO suspended
Patna, July 2 The state government yesterday suspended the officer in charge (OC) of the Phulwaria police station in Gopalganj in connection with the alleged assault on a candidate for the Block Development Committee chief’s post by RJD MP and Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav’s brother-in-law Sadhu Yadav on June 29. The District Magistrate (DM) of Gopalganj, Mr Murlidhar Rai, said the OC Ajit Kumar Singh had been made a co-accused in the case for sitting idle at the police station instead of going to the venue of the election where Mr Yadav allegedly had assaulted Dinesh Sah, a candidate for the post of chairman. Mr Yadav reportedly had resorted to strong arm tactics to ensure the victory of the sister-in-law of his “jijaji”, Mr Lalu Prasad, who was the wife of his elder brother Gulav Rai. While the OC has already been suspended, the DM had recommended to the state election commission for suspension of Subdivisional Officer Parameshwar Ram and Deputy Superintendent of Police Shanker Jha on charge of dereliction of duty. Mr Rai had postponed the election for the post following the incident and barred entry of Mr Yadav into the district till July 3. An arrest warrant was issued against Sadhu Yadav on June 29 by the DGP, Mr Ashish Ranjan Sinha, following registration of an FIR by the BDO of Phulwaria, Mr Umashanker Ram. The MP, however, was yet to be traced. The Chief Minister already gave “free hand” to the police to probe into the case of the “drunken brawl” by his party MLA Sunil Pandey at a city hotel last Saturday, following which a case was filed before the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate. He also asked the Electricity Department to take rent from another party MLA for his unauthorised stay at the department’s bungalow at Bhagalpur.
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Teenager saves aunt from being forced into flesh trade
Ghatoli (Bharatpur), July 2 Questioning the custom of the Bedia community, to which he belongs, of sending adolescent girls to brothels, Deepak has insisted that his young aunt be married instead. A social worker of the community says Deepak has ignored his grandmother’s threats of ending her life if he comes in the way of sending her to a city for prostitution. His grandmother has yielded and Deepak has become a young hero as his aunt has found a home in Gwalior. Such winds of change have not swept across all families of the Bedia community here. A social worker who has been crusading for the rights of girls says the village, which has a population of 1192, has 70 families of the Bedias, the Nats and the Kanjars. Fiftyeight families are reported to have pushed their girls into prostitution. Prof K.K. Mukherjee, director-founder of the Gram Niyojan Kendra, a non-government organisation running seven non-formal education centres in eight Bharatpur villages, says members of the Bedia community have traditionally been entertainers and women have got into prostitution later, but it will be unfair to paint them with the same brush. He says girl-child prostitution is an integral part of the flesh trade and the percentage of girls entering the trade before the age of 18 in Rajasthan is 67.4 per cent. There are some families in Bharatpur which are opposed to the idea of sending girls to brothels. Fiftyeight-year-old Bhagwan Das has four daughters, all of whom are married. He says government intervention in employment opportunities for the Bedia community in Bharatpur villages is necessary for putting an end to the custom. He cites the example of Madhya Pradesh, where the custom has been dying gradually because of job schemes offered by the government. A social worker of the same community says male members of the community, who should protect their daughters and sisters, force them into prostitution, expecting them to send money home from time to time and turning up at brothels to claim money if they fail to do so. Despite being coerced by members of their families to join the flesh trade, the girls do not sever ties with their parents and brothers back home. Members of the Bedia community take great pride in the fact that the girls come home and join them during festivals and weddings.
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4 families given notices to vacate houses Ayodhya, July 3 The district administration has served notices to four families living near the boundary walls, asking them to vacate their houses within three days. The four families facing eviction notices today sent fax messages to the Chief Minister, the District Magistrate and to the Commissioner, substantiating their claim by pointing out that they had been living in their houses for generations and had valid ration cards and their names were on the voters' list as well. The ADM, Mr Narendra Patel, who is officiating as DM in the DM’s absence, officially claimed that the eviction notice was only to return the land to its rightful owner. However, the decision to send eviction notices, following a visit to the complex by the Faizabad Range Deputy Inspector-General of Police, Mr Prashant Kumar, on June 21 to review the security arrangements, has made observers believe that the real purpose was to acquire the land to tighten security by building additional watch towers and further barricade the area. Terrorists reportedly gained entry into the makeshift Ram Janambhoomi temple on July 5 last year from the area facing the boundary walls, claims the police. This land is outside the 68 acres acquired by the Central Government in 1993 under an ordinance and therefore, can be used for security purposes. The Ayodhya Ordinance, 1993, had clearly specified that the acquired land would be used for spreading “peace and communal harmony”. The land was to be put to five specific uses –to build a temple, mosque, museum, library and for civic amenities. Security structures can not be allowed to come up on the acquired land. Heightened threat perception has forced the district administration to resort to such arm-twisting tactics, said a local resident on the condition of anonymity.
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Hyderabad, July 2 The polling, covering 11 out of the 22 districts, was “by and large peaceful barring stray incidents of clashes by political rivals and hurling of bombs,” Director-General of Police (DGP) Swaranjit Sen told reporters here this evening. Meanwhile, State Election Commission Secretary G.N. Rao told reporters that repoll would be ordered in 38 polling stations in the districts of Guntur (16), Chittoor (three), Mahabubnagar (10), Nellore (two), Rangareddy (two) and Srikakulam (five) following complaints of poll irregularities. However, he said reports on the conduct of elections from some districts were yet to be received and the total number of polling booths going for repolling would be announced later. According to election commission sources, 55 per cent of over 1.91 crore voters exercised their franchise by 3 pm. The final figure would be announced late in the night. The DGP said most of the incidents, including hurling of bombs, clashes and stabbing, were reported from Guntur district. A Congress activist was stabbed to death in Kanaparru village of the Nadenla mandal of Chilakaluripet circle in Guntur district. Four cases of bombs being thrown were reported from Ikkuru, Kanaparrui, Chinna Garlapadu and Gonepuedi villages in Guntur district. However, no one was injured in the incidents, he said. The police fired in the air at three places to quell violent crowds in Guntur, Mahabubngar and Nellore districts. — PTI
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Pranab does not rule out Kargil-type conflicts
New Delhi, July 2 “There is an overall acceptance by the comity of nations that war is ruled out... but I do not completely rule out local conflicts or intrusions like the one that happened in Kargil,” the Defence Minister said in an interview to DD News Channel to be telecast tonight. He said India was conducting an experiment to resolve outstanding issues with its neighbours through defence diplomacy. “Defence diplomacy has become an important ingredient of our overall diplomacy,” he said in the Doordarshan programme ‘War and Peace’. He said the international community considered India, China and Japan as important players in keeping peace in the Asian region. “The recent MoU with China is the first framework of its kind between the two countries and there is a scope for building deeper relations on the strength of it.” He said the MoU would not have any negative impact on relations with other neighbouring countries. He said the government was looking into the second part of the Ajay Vikram Singh Committee Report, aimed at making a career in armed forces more attractive. “We also plan to establish more sainik schools in the country so that more young boys could be groomed for the services,” he said and added: “In the next 10 years, the armed forces will be fully equipped to meet any eventuality”. — UNI
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Mini-ministerial meeting on WTO deadlock by
July-end, says Nath New Delhi, July 2 “I hope that there is another meeting by the end of this month,” Commerce Minister Kamal Nath told reporters on his arrival from Geneva this morning. The mini-ministerial meeting is expected to make efforts to break the deadlock over agricultural and industrial tariffs. WTO chief Pascal Lamy is likely to take initiative in this regard.
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Water shortage jeopardises marriage ceremony
Patna, July 2 With Bihar known for its severe drought, besides flood as another major natural calamity, Ajmeri Bigha is witness to the irony of how a budding relationship in the form of a marriage can be derailed as there is little water to quench the parched throats of baaraatis, rest aside entertain them. The latest in the round to add to the woes of the people in this village regarding the last-minute cancellation of marriage because of lack of water was experienced in May, when a groom’s family reportedly turned their back on Jai Mangal Sao’s daughter even as she had waited wrapped in full bridal finery. The groom’s family was worried on knowing that water was like liquid gold in the village and the bride’s family had little to ensure that the baaraat would not be inconvenienced because of this. Bride Nirmala now carries the social stigma of a broken marriage for which she is not responsible and perhaps tries to console her being guided by the adage that sometimes destiny denies. According to the district administration, as of now, the only source of water in this village is community tankers. The people here are never sure of the supply of water through tankers on a regular basis. As a result, no shaadi without paani continues to break relations even before the knot is tied in the village, infested by Maoists, who take advantage of the situation to misguide people through their anti-government campaign.
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9 of marriage party electrocuted
Kanpur, July 2 According to the police, the ill-fated bus was carrying members of a marriage party from Kannauj. The bus was parked under a high-tension power line, when some of the passengers decided to climb the roof of the bus to sleep. The high-tension power line snapped and fell on the victims, resulting in the tragedy. Five persons were burnt alive, on the spot, while nine others were injured seriously, in the accident. The police rushed the injured to the hospital with the help of villagers. Four of the injured succumbed to their injuries on way to the hospital, raising the number of killed to nine. The remaining three injured were admitted to the city hospital. The condition of one of the injured is stated to be critical. The deceased have been identified as Kuldeep, Rohit, Sidhgopal, Deep Singh, Monu, Mahavir, Collector, Sunna and Vijay.
— UNI
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Encourage organ donation, says Vice-President
Patna, July 2 Mr Shekhwat was inaugurating the blood bank of the Indian Red Cross Society, Bihar chapter, here. He was of the view that voluntary donors of blood and organs must be encouraged to save precious lives, especially that of the poor. Recalling the contribution of late Sunil Dutt, cine star- turned-politician, Mr Shekhawat said a cheque which Dutt had signed to save the life of a patient, a day before he was declared dead, had set an example. Such information should be spread to help people imbibe the culture of donation to save lives, he stressed. Mr Shekhawat also recalled how lives of three or four serious patients were saved by doctors of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) when family members of a critically injured victim of a road accident had agreed to donate his kidneys, liver and heart.
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Priest rubbishes Jayamala’s claim
Thiruvananthapuram, July 2 The temple, which bars the entry of women devotees, aged between 10 and 50 years has always maintained strict vigil to stop any women devotee who has achieved puberty from entering the temple, the chief temple priest Thantri Kantararu said. The actors’ claim that she had entered the sanctum sanctorum of the temple at the age of 27 in 1987 raised a storm as it also questioned the tradition of keeping women away from the revered hill shrine. The vigil of the temple had been stepped up after a case before the high court of a woman entering the shrine during the shooting of a film.
— UNI
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Row over Gujarat riots’ correspondence
New Delhi, July 2 A full Bench of the CIC is expected to soon take up for adjudication the citizen's plea to direct the PMO to disclose the classified correspondence between the two top Constitutional functionaries, CIC sources told PTI. This is the first time since the inception of the CIC that a full Bench comprising all five Commissioners will be sitting to decide a matter of this nature and importance which is considered to be highly sensitive in view of the rigid stance taken by the PMO on it. It was widely speculated earlier that Narayanan had made certain critical observations on the Narendra Modi Government and the BJP-led NDA ministry for alleged ineffective handling of the riots.
— PTI
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Five Naxals shot dead
Jagdalpur, July 2 “On a tip off about Naxal presence in Aturbeda village of this district, the police reached the village, the police team did not find the Naxals and was returning when the ultras triggered a landmine blast,” District Superintendent of Police Sundarraj P. said.
— UNI
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