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Polling in Meghalaya today
Diversity cause for
trouble in N-E: Experts
Sonia sends envoy to assuage Karuna
Women keep away from ‘dirty’ politics
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Somnath Chatterjee concerned over conduct of MPs, MLAs
UP to create 1.8 lakh posts of safai karamchari
Over Rs 100 cr lost in illegal felling, smuggling of trees
PJR gains divinity after death
Lack of quality seeds hits prawn production
RSS accuses Lalu of ‘fudging, concealing figures’
Nandigram
HDW all set to re-enter defence scene
Godse was raised as a girl: Book
TRS MPs to resign on Telangana issue
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Polling in Meghalaya today
Shillong, March 2 Amid tight security, over 12 lakh voters are likely to exercise their franchise to choose 59 representatives to the 60-member House. Election to Baghmara Assembly constituency has been postponed to March 22 after the death of Congress contestant S. Sangma. Six former Chief Ministers, D D Lapang, Purno A Sangma, Salseng C Marak, E.K. Mawlong, F.A. Khonglam and J.D. Rymbai, are in the fray. All Ministers except R.G Lyngdoh, who holds the education portfolio in the Congress-led Lapang government, are seeking re-election. “Tight security arrangements have been made with the deployment of adequate para-military forces. Thirty-nine election observers will oversee polling,” chief electoral officer P. Naik said. Special arrangements for the handicapped like Braille in EVMs and ramps in the polling stations have been arranged, while forest guards have also been deployed in some polling stations to ensure that wild pachyderms do not disrupt the exercise. The election department has made arrangements for postal voting for service holders and personnel on election duty. Only 132 people of the total electorate did not possess voter ID cards but they had been issued special certificates to ensure that there was no proxy voting, he said. Total number of polling stations in the state is 1,600 with 1,543 main and 57 auxiliary polling stations. Tura constituency has the highest voter concentration of 39,698 while Mawkhar with least electorate of 7,799. Polling station having the least number of voters is Boirakupi under Dalu constituency with 70 voters. Kanshuhik polling station under Mawthengkut Assembly constituency in West Khasi Hills is the remotest polling station. The average polling station per constituency in the state is 27. The Congress is contesting all 60 seats in the state, while the United Democratic Party (UDP) is coming a close second with 52 candidates and Nationalist Congress Party with 50 candidates. The current term of the Meghalaya Assembly ends on March 10. Counting will be held on March 7.
— PTI
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Diversity cause for
trouble in N-E: Experts
Guwahati, March 2 It was one of the points on which consensus was arrived at among speakers at a national-level seminar on “Troubled Diversity, the political process in North-East India“ organised jointly by the Department of Political Science, Gauhati University, in collaboration with Indian Institute of Advanced Study (IIAS), Shimla. The three-day seminar that ended today was attended by participants from all north-eastern states, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand and Delhi. The seminar was part of a series of similar seminars being organised by the IIAS to delve deep into different aspects of diversity in the country especially in North-East and Himalayan region. IIAS director Peter Ronald deSouza said, “Deliberations by different speakers in the seminar zeroed down to few common views on the troubled diversity in the North-East.” He said, “Though it was found during the discussions in the seminar that diversity is a cause for trouble in the North-East as it too competitive, diversity is also a condition where the conflict is not driven by diversity but by factors outside diversity.” Regarding the plausible factors outside diversity that are capable of triggering conflicts in the North-East, deSouza, on the basis of wide-ranging papers presented in the seminar, mentioned about the democratic politics, absence of a consultative mechanism and may be a tentative state policy. “One of the very interesting lesson out of the seminar is about how some of colonial policies related to tribal groups continue to remain in vogue in post-colonial period for instance in case of enumeration,” he said. The IIAS director informed that the diversity in focus was not necessarily on ethnic diversity only but inclusive of varied aspects of diversity like food, health and education. ”At the conclusion of the series of such seminars on diversity, we hope to bring out a volume for audiences within and outside the country,” he said.
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Sonia sends envoy to assuage Karuna
Chennai, March 2 AICC general secretary M. Veerappa Moily on Friday drove straight to the residence of the octogenarian leader at Gopalapuram here from the airport and held a closed door meeting for around an hour. Moily was not accompanied by any state Congress leader and after the meeting described it as a “courtesy” visit. Dayanidhi Maran had met Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday complaining to her about the threat to his life and property reportedly by Karunanidhi’s elder son M.K. Azhagiri following a cable television war going on between the Maran- owned Sun TV group and the newly formed state-owned cable distribution network. An angry Karunanidhi in the DMK’s mouthpiece “Murasoli” yesterday wrote a poem lamenting that his nephew and former union commerce minister Muraosli Maran’s sons could attempt to sling mud on his sons and warned Dayanidhi with dire consequences. He even threatened that if the Marans try to befall the mighty Dravidian tree (the DMK), they would be given a befitting reply by party workers and asked them to go into hiding. Following such a harsh reaction from the Dravidian leader Sonia Gandhi got the message that the Marans are “untouchable” to the DMK and though Dayanidhi is still a DMK MP and swears by Karunanidhi, the Marans were, in fact, moving closer to the opposition AIADMK. Realising the DMK was the potential ally of the Congress in Tamil Nadu and also had other regional and Left parties along with them in an alliance and the Lok Sabha poll due next year, Sonia Gandhi did not waste time in expressing solidarity with Karunanidhi and sent a message that their relation was intact. According to sources, Moily assured Karunanidhi that in future Dayanidhi would not get an audience with the Congress president and the party would not touch the Marans with a barge pole.
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Women keep away from ‘dirty’ politics
Shillong, March 2 As per information gleaned from the Election Commission (EC), there are only 19 women candidates out of the total of 331 candidates in the fray for the March 3 Assembly election to 59 out of the total 60 constituencies. That amounts to just 6 per cent. Election to one constituency has been put off due to the death of a candidate. Among the prominent political parties, Congress has fielded three women among its 60 candidates while the BJP has fielded just one among its 23 candidates. There are only two women candidates among 49 for the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). “As politics has been converted into a dirty game of money and muscle power, women who want to get through in a correct and noble way, choose to stay away from politics. Even families do not support their daughters in politics as they are expected to take care of their children and household,” said Patricia Mukhim, prominent social worker and noted columnist from Meghalaya. She added, “Of course, more women in the poll fray are expected in a matrilineal society in Meghalaya, but the reality is just the opposite. It is because political parties have failed to create more space for women as the men feel threatened when more women are around.” A Women’s Rights activist and joint secretary of Civil Society for Women Organisation (CSWO) Agnes has more radical views about non-participation of women in electoral politics in the state. She said, “Women here feel that politics is dirty. They are willing to participate only when the system is purged of its dirt. Women want more transparency and no corruption in the system.”
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Somnath Chatterjee concerned over conduct of MPs, MLAs
Gandhinagar, March 2 “In the frequent incidents of disruptions of the Legislature and in the growing confrontational politics, common people are perceiving a lack of seriousness in the political class in sustaining the democratic structure,” Chatterjee told the valedictory function of first ‘Sansadiya Gyan Shibir’ here. He said the image of the parliamentarians had gone down among the common people due to their own acts. “Incidents of unruly behaviour by members and disruption of proceedings of the House have unfortunately increased in recent years”, he said. “It is a matter of serious concern that on the plea of non-functioning of legislatures, other organs are intruding into the area of the Legislative organ,” he told members of Gujarat Legislative Assembly for whom the three-day shibir was held. “They are thereby crossing the Lakshmanrekha and creating an imbalance in our constitutional set up and destroying the principal of separation of powers,” said Chatterjee. “Of late, I find that the growing confrontational politics takes the upper hand, often provoking a demand for the suspension of the Question Hour, to raise issues which could very well be raised late in the day without sacrificing the question hour.”
— PTI
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UP to create 1.8 lakh posts of safai karamchari
Lucknow, March 2 Making this announcement in the Vidhan Sabha, the Chief Minister said that while inspecting rural areas, she had found them filthy and that they were also a health
hazard. "Keeping the condition of the villages in mind and also the existing levels of joblessness among the Balmiki community, my government has decided to create 1.8 lakh permanent jobs of 'safai karamcharis’ in the Class IV category and make them responsible for the cleanliness of the
villages.” "As far as possible, a person from that very village would be appointed to the post," she informed. According to her, 60,000 primary teachers had also been appointed to partially fill the existing 88,000 vacancies that had been inherited from the Mulayam Singh Yadav regime. Charging the SP government of not adequately pleading the case of the 6000 Urdu teachers whose appointment had been squashed by the Allahabad High Court, Mayawati said that she had immediately filed an appeal and managed to get relief for Urdu teachers.
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Over Rs 100 cr lost in illegal felling, smuggling of trees
New Delhi, Mar 2 The ministry of environment and forests admits that felling and smuggling of rare and costly trees like sandalwood and teak has been reported from various parts of the country during these three years and the worth of the trees lost was approximately Rs 102 crore. In the same breath it adds that “no large-scale illegal felling and smuggling of rare and costly trees like sandalwood and teak has been reported from different parts of the country. However, incidents of illicit felling and smuggling do take place,” while providing details furnished by different state governments and the directorate of revenue Intelligence in this regard. Quoting reports, the ministry says during 2005-07, a total of 2,666 sandalwood trees were illegally felled in Kerala while Karnataka reported 881 cases of smuggling of sandalwood involving a quantity of 35,299 kg. Maharashtra reported a loss of 1,404 sandalwood trees in illegal felling while there were a total of 253 case of smuggling of sandalwood involving 20.739 tonnes in Tamil Nadu during this period. And between 2006-07, cases were registered with regard to import of three consignments of sandalwood. In these cases 177.660 tonnes of sandalwood valued at Rs 1776.60 lakh was seized. Regarding illegal felling of sal and teak tree during 2003-04, 2004-05 and 2005-06, Andhra Pradesh suffered a loss of 8208.89 cubic meters amounting to Rs1633.98 lakh, Assam 5022 cubic meters (Rs 311.62 lakh), Chhattisgarh 58380 cubic meters (Rs 1287.81 lakh), Gujarat 13586 cubic meters (Rs 1360.74 lakh), Karanataka 6184 cubic meters (Rs 513.76 lakh), Himachal Pradesh 407 cubic meters (Rs 4.96 lakh), Maharashtra 268088 cubic meters (Rs 2251.12 lakh) and Haryana 10 trees (0.18 lakh). Regarding steps being taken for the protection and management of forests, the ministry says it is primarily the responsibility of state governments. The measures in this regard include legal provisions like the Indian Forest Act, 1927, the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, the Forest Conservation Act, 1980 and the Environment Protection Act, 1986. Funds are provided to states and union territories for strengthening infrastructure for protection of forests from illicit felling, fires and encroachments. Efforts are also made to involve local communities through formulation of joint forest management committees while meetings of the officials of the border states are held to strengthen inter-state protection mechanism. Patrolling of the area, creation of checkposts and barriers, mechanism of transit permit for movement of forest produce, formation of flying squads, mobile protection units and vigilance parties for regular inspection and survey and demarcation of forest areas are among other measures.
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PJR gains divinity after death
Hyderabad, March 2 Some of the ardent fans of
PJR, as he was known in political circles, have built a temple for him in the city. The temple, complete with a life-size idol of PJR and a line up of daily rituals to perpetuate his memory, has come up in the Borabanda area which falls in the Khairatabad Assembly constituency represented by the late legislator for five terms. Amidst chanting of hymns, the temple was opened by PJR’s son P. Vishnuvardhan Reddy. His family members and a large number of his followers attended the ceremony. As part of consecration rituals, “Palabhishekam” (pouring of milk) was conducted inside the “sanctum sanctorum”. “My father is like a God for millions in the city. He has endeared himself to the people by championing their cause. Like Jesus Christ and Sai Baba, he was born a human but remains a God in the hearts of people,” Vishnuvardhan Reddy said. Sixty-year old Reddy died of a massive heart attack on December 28. He suffered cardiac arrest while on his way to attend a party meeting here and died on the way to hospital. He is survived by his wife, three daughters and a son. Elected to the Andhtra Pradesh Assembly for five terms in 1978, 1985, 1989, 1994 and 2004, PJR was the Congress Legislature Party leader during 1994-99 when he led the 26-member Congress group in the Assembly. He had served as a minister in the previous Congress regimes during 1980s and 1990s. A critic of Chief Minister
Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy, he had turned a dissident when he was not accommodated in the cabinet after the Congress regained power in the 2004 elections. Reddy was also a strong votary of the Telangana statehood cause.
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Lack of quality seeds hits prawn production
Chennai, March 2 But then, be prepared to shell out a huge sum as black-tiger prawns supply is going down with stagnant production over the past several years. India is the leading producer of black-tiger prawns in the world but today the prawn farmers are faced with the problem of stagnant production due to lack of quality seeds and financial support from the government. According to I.P.R. Mohan Raju, president of the Prawn Farmers Federation of India, “Although India is the leading producer of black-tiger prawns in the world, the production in our country is stagnant for the past few years. The primary reason for the stagnation is the inadequate supply of quality seeds. The hatchery operators depend on the supply of wild brood stock for the production of seeds. The quality and quantity of this wild brood stock has deteriorated over the past few years.” The hatchery operators depended on the supply of wild brood stock for the production of seeds but the quality and quantity of this had deteriorated over the past few years. The federation, the first national platform for prawn farmers constituted by state federations of the 10 maritime states and union territories, would collaborate with the hatchery operators and the government to address this issue, he said. India has over 1,50,000 hectares under prawn cultivation with around 1.2 to 1.4 million hectares potential brackish water area available. More than 91per cent of the 1,00,000 plus farmers are small scale with land holding of less than two hectares. About 6 per cent of the farmers’ own land only between two to five hectares and the remaining three percent own land over five hectares. Total production is around 1,35,000 tons with an average production of less than 1000 kg per hectare. Farming methods are mostly extensive or modified extensive with less than 20 per cent of the farms having electricity connections. Black-tiger (Penaeus monodon) is the major species cultivated constituting over 97 per cent of the total production. More than 90 per cent of the 135,000 tons produced and over 94 per cent of the value of exports come from small-scale farmers. Said V. Balasubramaniam, general secretary of the federation, “Lack of institutional finance and insurance coverage is a big deterrent for the growth of the small farmers. More than 90 per cent of the over Rs 3,000 crore invested in prawn farms in India is from the pockets of the small farmers or borrowed from unorganised money lenders. More over, more than 90 per cent of the production cost is financed by credit from the dealers of inputs and companies, since the farmer does not get any type of crop loan from financial institutions. “This drives the cost of production up by 20 to 30 per cent, since credit is involved at various levels in the chain of crop input supplies. If farmers get institutional financing and insurance coverage for their crop, the accrued benefits will make him more competitive in the world market,” he said.
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RSS accuses Lalu of ‘fudging, concealing figures’
New Delhi, March 2 “There is no “indrajal” (magic) in Lalu’s budget. It tries to create an illusion and conceal from the people and its supreme body --Parliament-- the reality,” the RSS said in latest issue of its mouthpiece “Organiser”. The railway minister says he has done an ‘indrajal’- magic with the Railway Budget and shown a ‘profit’ of Rs 25,000 crore even after giving slew of ‘concessions’. But the reality, Organiser says, is that Lalu has given no concession, and neither has he made any cut in fares of freight at any level. “Lalu announced Rs 21,578 crore as surplus in his 2007-08 Budget. The reality is the excess for 2006-07 amounts to less than half at Rs 10,206 crore as given in the detailed Explanatory Memorandum of the Budget. Accordingly, there was Rs 416 crore reduced net revenue last year. The Budget speech is silent on this non-performance,” it adds. This calls for serious introspection, the Organiser says, adding that “it is unlikely that Railways would have a surplus of Rs 25,000 crore in 2008-09 either. It may even be less than the actual figures of 2007-08”. It further goes on to add that in reality Lalu has given “precious little” to passengers. “Even four per cent cut in fares on sleeper class fare and eight per cent in AC-3 tier and chair car announced in the last year’s Budget has not been passed on to the passengers. There was a clause that it would be effective after the introduction of new LHB coaches. Since not many sleeper coaches were added, chairman Railway Board K.C. Jena announced, soon after presentation of the new Budget, the benefit could not be given.”
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Nandigram
Kolkata, March 2 A large contingent of the CRPF and other armed forces had been rushed to the village in the afternoon from the Haldia and Ghatal subdivisional headquarters to control the situation. Senior police officials from the district headquarters at Chinsura also left for Nandigram village. Over 70 persons belonging to both the CPM and the BRC had been arrested. As a precautionary measure, orders under Section 144 CrPC have been imposed in the area. Meanwhile, the Trinamool Congress and the BRC have given a call for 12-hour Nandigram bandh tomorrow protesting against the attack by CPM activists. According to reports, supporters of the Trinamool Congress and BRC workers had taken out a procession at Nandigram, asking the people to boycott the forthcoming panchayat elections in the village. The CPM activists were also taking out a procession at that time calling the people for exercising their franchise in the panchayat polls. At the Tekhali bridge and the Nandigam market areas, the two groups clashed in which many persons sustained injuries. BRC leader Becharam Manna alleged that an armed CPM group suddenly attacked them at the Tekhali bridge and the Nandigram market areas when they were bringing out a procession asking the villagers for boycotting the forthcoming panchayat polls. But the local CPM leader S.Guria denied the charges Instead, he alleged that the BRC and Trinamool workers, backed by several Maoists activists, carrying in hands rifles and other lethal weapons, suddenly attacked the CPM poll procession.
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Boon for cancer patients
Mumbai, March 2 Explaining the working of the TomoTherapy system, co-inventor Paul Reckwerdt says it will now be possible to apply the radiation treatment only to the areas affected by cancer cells. “Earlier, even surrounding areas were subjected to radiation that killed healthy cells resulting in a number of side-effects,” says Reckwerdt. Under the TomoTherapy system, which incorporates the functions of normal CT scan machine, the patient is subjected to thousands of beamlets of different intensities. “Though even the surrounding areas are also subjected to some amount of radiation, this is within tolerable limits. The advantage of TomoTherapy system over traditional methods of radiation is that serious side effects like loss of appetite, which takes a heavy toll on cancer patients is minimised. Reckwerdt, a mathematician, along with his physicist partner Thomas Rockwell Mackie began work on the system in 1989 with assistance from the University of Wisconsin, where both were then employed. Initial assistance came from venture capitalists and grants from the federal government that provided the much needed seed money for the venture. “From 1989 to 2001 it was working, thinking and research till the first prototype was ready,” said Reckwerdt. There were disappointments too. General Electric, which was associated with the project at the beginning pulled out in 1994-95 after the company closed down its radiation therapy division. “My wife then mortgaged her house to raise funds. We also got money from other sources,” says Reckwerdt of his earlier disappointments without rancor against GE and its legendary CEO Jack Welch. “It was all worth it, because today, I am the president of the company,” says Reckwerdt. After the first prototype of the machine was up and its running in 2001, it took another two years for the first commercial version to be shipped. In Mumbai for the launch of the TomoTherapy machine at the TMC, Reckwerdt says, 200 such machines have been installed so far in hospitals around the world.” “We are in talks with several corporate hospitals in India, who have expressed interest in the machine,” says Amardeep Sethi, vice-president of Kirloskar Theratronics, the exclusive distributors of TomoTherapy in India. He added that the company had 15 engineers certified by the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, four of whom had undergone extensive training in the USA at the TomoTherapy factory and at some customer sites within the US. Tata Memorial’s machine has been functioning at its Advanced Centre for Treatment Research & Education in Cancer (ACTREC) facility at Kharghar in Navi Mumbai for the past three months. According to Tata Memorial officials, the ‘Helical TomoTherapy Hi-Art’ system, as it is called, has already helped treat several patients even before its official inauguration. The TomoTherapy machine is available at a price of Rs 17 crore and can treat 25-30 patients per day. One machine typically operates for eight to 10 hours at a stretch.
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HDW all set to re-enter defence scene
Mumbai, March 2 HDW along with other suppliers like the French DCNS and Spain’s Navantia are the contenders for the Indian Navy’s follow-on purchase order for submarines. Six Scorpenes from DCNS are being built jointly by India and France at the Mazgaon Docks in Mumbai. India is in the market for six more submarines and is expected to spend around three billion euros on the order. Sources say, the HDW is offering its Type 214 submarines for the Indian Navy. Way back in the 1980s, the HDW had offered this submarine’s predecessor Type 219 that was to be built jointly at the Mazgaon docks. However, the subsequent political controversy that followed allegations of kickbacks to top government functionaries saw the HDW submarine deal being scrapped in 1988. The entire submarine assembly facility at the MDL was then mothballed and the shipyard gradually reduced its workforce till the Scorpene deal came through a few years ago. While the DCNS has offered the Scorpene AIM 2000 to augment its existing fleet with the Indian Navy, Spain’s Navantia has offered its S-80 class submarines to the Indian Navy. According to information provided by the HDW to the Navy, the Type 214 would have a diving depth of over 400m, four of its eight torpedo tubes can be modified to fire the BrahMos missiles, say sources.
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Godse was raised as a girl: Book
New Delhi, March 2 “As a child, his (Nathuram’s) parents and brothers believed that he possessed oracular powers. He would sit before the family goddess, staring fixedly at a spot of soot smeared in the centre of a copper tray, and soon fall into a trance,” writes Manohar Malgaonkar in “The Men Who Killed Gandhi.” “While in the trance, he would see some figures or writing in the black spot before him, much as a crystal-gazer is supposed to see in his glass ball. Then one or other member of the family would ask him questions and his answers were those believed to be those of the goddess, who spoke through his mouth,” 94-year-old Malgaonkar, an ex-serviceman and a civil servant, writes. The new edition of the book, first published in 1978, carries hitherto unpublished photographs and documents related to Gandhi's assassination.
— PTI
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TRS MPs to resign on Telangana issue
New Delhi, March 2 The resignation of TRS supremo K. Chandrasekhar Rao and three of his colleagues would be followed by the resignation of 16 party MLAs and three MLCs from the Andhra Pradesh Assembly the next day. — PTI
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