New Delhi, October 2
The two-month-old stir of the IIT Faculty Federation for better pay and promotion policies at the premiere institutes ended today, with the government yielding to the protesters, but not quite.

Keeping the contentious salary structure of teachers unchanged, Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal assured the agitating teachers of complete flexibility and autonomy of the IIT system in terms of appointments and promotions.

Emerging from an hour-long meeting with federation members at his residence, Sibal, in a significant departure from the past, said the government had agreed in principle that the guidelines it recently issued in relation to IIT faculty appointments and promotions “were only in the nature of norms, from which the IIT board/directors could deviate in exceptional conditions, which they could themselves define”.

Simply put, Sibal’s assurance means the guidelines are not binding on IITs and can be revisited if the situation so demands. For example, if in a particular discipline of the IIT, there is dearth of faculty, the institute can appoint an assistant professor without honouring the government norm of three-year teaching requirement for IIT faculty at entry. Also, the IIT can absorb the said teacher on regular basis early or later (government mandates contractual appointment) based on his performance.

“Similarly, if there are more deserving professors in the system, the 40 per cent cap on promotions can be reviewed. Ours is not an ideological stand; it is dynamic, not static. But the IIT boards would have to set up their own benchmarks and norms for promoting excellence. They must also come up with a vision for the future and recruitment policy considering their expansion. We are for every move that strengthens the IIT autonomy,” Sibal said, leaving the federation “happy and clear” with his flexibility assurance.

“The minister has clarified our gravest concerns. We are happy that the government proposals won’t rob the IITs of their flexibility. We flourish under the flexible cadre system. But for it, many of us would not even be there,” Dr Soumyo Mukerji of the IIT, Bombay, told The Tribune.

Federation head M Thenmozhi said the government had rested the doubts by terming its proposals dynamic and not static. “We have been assured that norms can be taken up at the institute level. That’s a welcome sign. Salary was not our only concern,” she said.

The MHRD has, meanwhile, asked the federation to raise its other “minor concerns” with the IIT board, which will meet in the capital tomorrow. Broadly, the government has left it on the board to frame the future strategy of IITs with respect to appointments, promotions and autonomy. The board’s proposals will be discussed at the IIT council meeting on October 19.

Sibal also said he would ensure regular redressal of IITs’ concerns through meetings of the IIT council, which hasn’t sat in a long time. “Today on Gandhi Jayanti, we want to tell the country that all is well between the government and the IITs. Both of us want excellence at IITs,” he said.

Federation members were elated over an audience with the minister. “Until a few days back, he was not willing to see us,” said a professor.

New Delhi: The HRD Ministry on Friday asked IIT boards to evolve their own system of appointments and promotions.

To begin with, the ministry has agreed to IITs’ demand of dropping the term “lecturer” from the faculty cadre as is the case with Central universities.

On the demand of recruiting a fresh appointee on regular basis as against contractual, the ministry holds that contracts would give IITs an opportunity to watch the performance of an appointee before a formal appointment. “A stage of probation is applicable to all jobs. We feel a faculty member selected as assistant professor should be assured that he will eventually be taken in as regular faculty. The IIT boards will have the freedom to absorb such a person in regular service, delay or shorten the time of such regularisation,” the MHRD says.

With the IITs opposing the ministry’s stand that only 10 per cent of the total faculty strength would be fresh appointees, Sibal said that the norm is of an advisory nature.

Another debate is this - when an assistant professor applies for promotion as associate professor, the experience required under the Fifth Pay Commission was eight years. The ministry reduced this to six, but IITs want flexibility here.

Further, IITs are against associate professors being asked to put in four years of teaching before seeking professorship.

While the MHRD today allowed IITs flexibility on this norm too, it feels an associate professor must have reasonable experience at an institute of national or international excellence to become a professor. “The background of applying candidates can be verified by selection committees,” says MHRD.

The ministry has also asked the IITs to evolve an innovative performance-related incentive scheme, recently approved by the cabinet. On the norm of three years experience needed at entry level for faculty, it has said the guideline could be ignored if there is dearth of faculty. — TNS

New Delhi, Oct 2
The government plans to use the unique identification (UIDs) cards to make direct payment of salaries to teachers in the school system.

As many as 31 crore teachers and students in the schools are expected to be covered once the national unique identification project is complete. “We will use these UIDs not just to track students that drop out but also to give direct salaries to teachers as the money often gets lost as it travels down the system. We are also looking at ways of using the UIDs at college level,” HRD Minister Kapil Sibal today said.

The central grants in forms of teachers’ salaries and other perks have long been squandered due to various reasons. Often the state governments don’t pass on the payments. Even in the madrassa system, the teachers are known to be denied their financial rights, with grants being pocketed along the way.

“Once the UIDs are ready, we can go in for direct payments. Ours would be the largest department related collaboration with Nandan Nilekani’s project and we hope to fully utilise it to the system’s benefit,” said Sibal, citing teachers’ training and appreciation as the single largest challenge for the implementation of Right to Education Act. Sibal has already discussed the issue with Nilekani and will hold another meeting to formalise the proposal. The minister also hinted that the system to evaluate teachers could include students’ rating of teachers.

Meanwhile, the HRD Ministry is all set to bring to Parliament in the forthcoming session the Right to Education Amendment Bill to exempt minority institutions from setting up school management committees. Such committees, though mandated by the RTE law, infringe upon the rights of minority institutions to manage themselves under Article 30 of the Constitution.

Interestingly, Sibal, who drafted the first RTE bill, had made this exemption provision in the original bill, which was later changed under Arjun Singh’s charge.

So far as the minority institution’s demand of exemption from setting aside 25 per cent of their school seats for disadvantaged sections goes, Sibal clarified that the provision would stay until the court struck it down. “The minority institutions can’t shy away from their social responsibility. Let the matter be decided by the court,” Sibal said when asked whether the provision would not open floodgates of litigation.

New Delhi, September 27
Adherence to Indian laws, including on reservation, would be one of the pre-requisite conditions for foreign universities interested in setting-up their campuses, says HRD Minister Kapil Sibal, who favoured 100 per cent ownership for these international institutes.

The ministry has already prepared a draft bill dealing with the issue, which it expects to put before the cabinet soon. Giving details of the draft bill on Foreign Education Providers, Sibal said they also needed to take clearance from the accreditation committee for quality control.

“Reservation laws, as applicable to Indian institutes, will be applicable to the foreign institutes. There will be no discrimination,” Sibal said when asked if these universities are expected to implement quota. The Central Educational Institutions, except minority institutions, have quota for Other Backward Classes, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in the ratio of 27 per cent, 15 per cent and 7.5 per cent, respectively.

Asked whether the international universities will have 100 per cent ownership of the campuses, Sibal said "why not". "If there is 100 per cent ownership of private sector here, why not 100 per cent ownership of foreign universities," he said.

Sibal has also made it clear that no foreign institute will be allowed to take back home the surplus income generated at their campuses in India. The surplus has to be spent for the expansion of the campus within the country. Asked if there will be objections from political parties to the provision of 100 per cent ownership to the foreign universities, Sibal said objections are welcome on any issue. — PTI

New Delhi, October 2
A significant section of BJP leaders, including Leader of Opposition LK Advani, gave a miss to a Vijaydashmi address by RSS chief Mohanrao Bhagwat delivered here today on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti. BJP president Rajnath Singh, in full RSS uniform of white shirt, khaki half pants and black cap, however, attended the function at Sangh headquarters in Jhandewalan early this morning.

Apart from Rajnath, other prominent BJP leaders present included party general secretary Vijay Goel and Leader of Opposition in Delhi Assembly Vijay Kumar Malhotra.

Not only Advani, a few of his acolytes, including Arun Jaitley and M Venkaiah Naidu, too, were absent from the gathering.

Sources said the meeting itself was rather unusual insofar as there is one Vijaydashmi address by the RSS chief every year and that is delivered by him at the Sangh headquarters in Nagpur, coinciding with the 10th and final day of Dussehra festivities. That address he has already delivered in Nagpur on the scheduled day.

But then, sources explain that in the first year of assuming the post of Sarsangchalak every new chief has a busy itinerary, with addresses to the cadres in different parts of the country as well as a series of press conferences along with that. However, it was assumed that after the press conference he held here on August 28, his contact programme for Delhi was over.

But the RSS is concerned over the state of affairs in the BJP and is pressing the party to undertake a change in leadership. It is looking actively for a replacement of Rajnath Singh and has asked Advani to step down from his post, thereby paving way for the younger generation.

Bhagwat had also indicated that none of the Advani camp followers - Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley, Ananth Kumar and Venkaiah Naidu - were being considered as Rajnath’s successors. The absence of Advani and his camp followers from today’s function is, therefore, significant in this background.

Meanwhile, Bhagwat criticised the government’s actions with regard to both internal and external security. He told the Sangh gathering: “The biggest challenge before us is the external and internal security situation. Everyone knows what Pakistan, China and Bangladesh are doing. Their actions are a cause of concern to us and require greater vigil on our borders. But the government has failed to take the necessary steps to meet these challenges.”

“We have no enmity with anyone. But the world is full of evil and some powerful countries try to impose their will on the world… To protect the values of truth and selflessness ingrained in the Indian psyche, we will have to strengthen ourselves… We have the credibility to lead the new world order. Our neighbours want us to lead. But since we lack a voice, countries are getting influenced by China,” said Bhagwat. 

New Delhi, October 2
Continuing to 'tweet' his opinion despite receiving flak, Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor now feels people should work rather than enjoy a holiday on Mahatma Gandhi's birthday.

"Gandhiji said 'Work is Workship' and we enjoy a holiday on his birthday," he said in a reply to a posting on the social networking site Twitter.

To support his contention, Tharoor cited the views of visiting Vietnamese Vice-President Nguyen Thi Doan.

"In V'nam (Vietnam), Ho Chi Minh's birthday is a working day and citizens are expected to put in an extra effort at work to honour him," he said quoting Nguyen whom he met at a dinner hosted by Vice-President Hamid Ansari last night.

Tharoor also posted that he had attended the inter-faith prayers at Rajghat.

"Gandhiji's 140th birth anniversary. Unusually sunny and bright: metaphor for light he still shines," he said.

Tharoor's comment on his Twitter in September dubbing travel in economy class as "cattle class" had evoked strong rebuke from his party colleagues. — PTI 

New Delhi, October 2
Possibly in an attempt to mollify Mamata Banerjee, the Congress today tried to downplay differences with ally Trinamool Congress over the Siliguri mayoral elections. Calling the Siliguri episode a “local” issue, the Congress asserted that the decision to ally with the Left would not affect relationship with the Trinamool chief, either at the state or national level.

The Siliguri episode has, however, highlighted the fragility of this rather tenuous relationship that the Congress has with its rather hot-tempered ally Mamata. Reacting sharply to the Congress taking support of Left Front councillors to win the Mayor’s post, Mamata had described it as a “betrayal of trust” of people.

Congress Working Committee member Keshav Rao dismissed the Siliguri alliance with the Left as a local issue and claimed that the deal was sealed without the Central leadership’s knowledge. Defending the local leadership’s decision to join hands with the Left, Rao, also the AICC in-charge for West Bengal, said it was a conscious decision of the party to leave the matter to the local leadership.

“There is no breach of trust… This has happened without the knowledge of the Central leadership. I spoke to Mamata before the election and we had decided to leave the decision to the local leadership. There are five places where she has taken help from BJP. I can rake up those issues also, but I won’t do so. There is no need for Mamata to be angry… it is a trivial issue,” Rao said.

New Delhi, October 2
The University of Cambridge yesterday announced the £35,000 scholarship per student exclusively for Indians for Ph D and M Phil degrees in Science and Technology, Economics and Social Sciences.

Releasing details of the scholarship launched in 2007 at Dr Manmohan Singh’s residence, St. John's College, a leading college of the University of Cambridge, today invited applications from October 1 to December 15, this year.

The scholarship would be based on merit through a special test in order to ensure maximum effectiveness. Large organisations like Rolls-Royce India and BP Foundation will sponsor this scholarship.

The programme is administered by the British Council which has a proven track record in managing prestigious scholarships like the Commonwealth Scholarship and Fellowship Plan, British Chevening Scholarships and others. A selection committee, comprising an appropriate nominee from each sponsor and a panel of academics and others selected by the college will be set up in India to make recommendations to the college regarding the profile of applicants.

This year too there are three scholarships on offer. For details of Dr Manmohan Singh Scholarships 2010-11 and how to apply visitwww.britishcouncil.org.in/drmanmohansinghscholarships.

Lucknow, October 2
The junior Gandhi, not the original one, appears to be the inspiration for the Uttar Pradesh Congress party leaders’ decision to visit villages in their areas that are inhabitated predominantly by ‘dalits’ and sleep in a ‘dalit’ house to mark ‘Gandhi Jayanti’ today. Last week AICC general secretary and Amethi MP Rahul Gandhi’s gesture of spending the night in the house of a ‘dalit pradhan’ of a village in Shrawasti was given wide media coverage.

Braving the sultry weather and mosquitoes 15 party leaders including UPCC president Rita Bahuguna Joshi, senior leader Pramod Tiwari, central ministers Sriprakash Jaiswal and Jitin Prasad as well as several MPs have already made plans for such visits.

Congress spokesman Virendra Madan said Rahul Gandhi is “determined to spend time with the poorest of the poor ‘dalits’ in the state to share their grievances and inform them of the various government schemes for their empowerment”. Following in his footsteps the UPCC also decided to mark ‘Gandhi Jayanti’ this year by visiting ‘dalit’ bastis, organizing ‘chaupals’ out there, hosting community meals and spending the night in a ‘dalit’ dominated village. Accordingly, Joshi is spending the night in a ‘kol’ tribal village in Meja tehsil bordering Allahabad and Mirzapur districts.

The party’s leader in the UP assembly, Pramod Tiwari, is scheduled to spend the night in the house of Devaki Pasi, the ‘dalit’ gram pradhan of Nauthia village in Pratapgarh. He also plans to visit Baghwan where he will hold a meeting and organise a community meal.

Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal is headed for the ‘dalit’ basti of Dwarikapuri Hata in Kanpur where he will organize a ‘sahbhoj’ and spend the night there.

Petroleum Minister Jitin Prasad, who will “cover” two districts, plans to hold a community lunch in Dayulriya village in Lakhimpur Khiri before traveling to his ancestral district of Shahjehanpur. There he will hold a ‘dalit chaupal’ and spend the night in Sighauli village in Khadsar.

Similarly, MPs Ratna Singh (Pratapgarh), Azharuddin (Moradabad), PL Punia (Barabanki), Annu Tandon (Unnao), Jagdambika Pal (Siddharth Nagar), Vinay Kumar Pandey (Shrawasti) and Kamal Kishore have sent detailed plans to the UPCC on their proposed visit and night stay at ‘dalit’ villages. 

Jaipur, October 2
With Rajasthan assembly opposition leader and former CM Vasundhara Raje Scindia likely to convene a meeting of the BJP legislature party in the state capital in the coming days, there are indications the row within the party over her resignation may end anytime soon.

Raje, who yesterday met LK Advani to discuss the issue, is believed to have told the BJP stalwart and former deputy PM that the party should “respect the sentiments” of 60 MLAs who are backing her for the post of leader of the opposition. She also conveyed to him the transition should be smooth and not have any damaging effect on the party.

Raje told Advani she is willing to step down from her post as desired by the BJP’s parliamentary board. At the same time she also made it clear the party would have to give her a “position in the central leadership” before she puts in her papers.

Political circles here were abuzz with the talk that Raje would soon return to the state capital and hold a meeting of the BJP legislature party where she will take her supporters into confidence before announcing her resignation. It is also likely that the party’s central observers may also attend the meeting and Raje's successor may be chosen at the same meeting.

Bikaner, October 2
Most of the cancer deaths could be preventive with simple precautions-changing lifestyle, routine screening and by avoiding particular foods. The people do not seem to be aware of the experts’ suggestions, if one is to go by the rise in the number of cancer patients in Punjab during the recent years. Dr. RK Chaudhary, Head, Acharya Tulsi Regional Cancer Treatment and Research Institute, Bikaner, in an exclusive interview to The Tribune appealed to cancer patients to quit smoking and drinking, besides, recommending to the common people not to consume only particular brands of eatables. One should keep changing food items at regular intervals to minimise the effects of cancer on the human body, he said.

Adding that cancer also relates to poor nutrition, inactivity and obesity, Chaudhry said that if everyone is physically fit with controlled body weight, the chances of being afflicted with various forms of cancer are less. He said that preventive measures are essential at the grassroots level to control this ‘deadly’ disease, which is fast spreading among the rural folk in Punjab. If a person feels unusual changes in his/her body that common medical practitioners find hard to diagnose then one should visit a good physician and go in for medical tests.

Saying that 70 per cent of the patients visiting his hospital come at an “advanced stage of cancer” due to which it becomes difficult to cure them, he said that early detection could help in better treatment.

When asked about the types of cancers that are to be found in Punjab, he said that male patients are suffering from prostate cancer, lymphoma (blood cancer), kidney cancer, colorectal cancer (bowel cancer), bladder cancer, skin cancer and common tumours in throat and other parts of the body. “Women mostly suffer from breast and uterine cancer”, he said. Chaudhary further said that they perform surgeries on at least 30 per cent of the visiting cancer patients because they come at later stages. “We remove the tumour and the patient often recovers in a short period but still we monitor patients at regular intervals to avoid recurrence of cancer.”

He said grains and vegetables produced with extensive use of fertilisers and pesticides affects the body leads to various diseases. He stressed upon the need to conduct a scientific study to determine the side-effects of the extensive use of chemicals on the human body. 

Nagaur, October 2
UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi today expressed serious concern over “increasing bureaucratic activism” in the Panchayati Raj.

Addressing a rally here to mark the golden jubilee celebrations of Panchayati Raj in India, Sonia said though the government was making all efforts, there was deterioration in the rural administration system and the voice of villagers was being muzzled.

She said: “Several state governments did not conduct timely elections for local bodies and panchayats just for gaining political mileage, which led to deterioration of Panchayati Raj system rendering them helpless. The role of the administration became increasingly important and the peoples’ voice started getting muzzled.”

Going down the memory lane, she recalled her husband and former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s contribution to enacting the Panchayati Raj Act. The UPA chairperson said: “When Rajiv Gandhi was the Prime Minister, he was saddened to see the condition of the people and took a pledge to bring a change in their living standards.”

Sonia said the Centre was committed to empowering the panchayats to enable villagers to fulfill the dream of the country’s first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru. The UPA chairperson also asked the people to strengthen the National Rural Employment Guarantee Yojana (NREGA) and Panchayati Raj.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot made announcement to handover 16 subjects back to the Panchayati Raj institutions. The Chief Minister also made announcements to increase allowances of the public representatives of Panchayati Raj institutions.

Now, the ward panch would get Rs 75 instead of Rs 40, Panchayat Samiti member would get Rs 100 instead of Rs 75 while the allowance of the Zila Parishad member has been increased from Rs 90 to Rs 125. The Chief Minister also made announcement to increase honorarium of Sarpanchs from Rs 1,000 to Rs 3,000, honorarium of Panchayat Samiti Pradhan from Rs 3,100 to Rs 5,000 and the honorarium of Zila Pramukhs from Rs 4,000 to Rs 7,500.

Admiring the decision taken by the Centre to set up Gram Nyayalay in the country, the Chief Minister said Rajasthan would initiate to establish Gram Nyayalay one each in all districts of the state. The state government is sending proposals to the government of India regarding this, he said.

Mumbai, October 2
After realising the folly of dismissing Raj Thackeray's Maharashtra Navnirman Sena as an upstart during the last Lok Sabha elections, the Shiv Sena and its ally the Bharatiya Janata Party are pulling out all stops to negate the impact of the MNS during the forthcoming assembly elections.

Clearly realising that the appeal of the MNS lies in the urban areas of Maharashtra, the Shiv Sena has chosen to concentrate in the cities leaving the bulk of the rural seats to the BJP. The Sena under Uddhav Thackeray made this choice even though he had been carrying out a long campaign against the Democratic Front government in the rural areas of Maharashtra.

According to observers, Thackeray is banking on his goodwill in the rural areas generating votes for the BJP even as he draws on father and Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray’s appeal in the cities. “Balasaheb has been saddened by the revolt of Raj Thackeray,” Uddhav tells all and sundry. Party mouthpiece Saamna went on to carry an editorial by the senior Thackeray labelling Raj a latest version of Mohammad Ali Jinnah.

The Shiv Sena has now gone one step further to warn Marathi voters in the cities that a vote for the MNS would be an indirect vote for the Congress-NCP. “If you vote for any other party, remember you will only be helping the Congress-NCP to win,” Uddhav Thackeray is saying at election meetings across Mumbai and Pune. Pamphlets warning voters against ‘wasting’ their votes on the MNS are being circulated via the network of Shiv Sena shakhas across the state. Adopting a jeering note at the rebel, the pamphlet pokes fun of Raj. “How many Marathis got jobs after the bhaiyyas (North Indians) were beaten up,” asks the pamphlets.

Uddhav Thackeray further chipped in with ample emotional appeal with his remarks that the ageing supreme would come out only to lead the victory procession of the Shiv Sena-BJP after the elections.

On his part, Raj Thackeray is conserving his ammunition and has fielded candidates in 145 of the 288 seats in Maharashtra. 

Mumbai, October 2
MNS supporters today stopped the screening of Karan Johar's new film ‘Wake Up Sid’ in some cinema halls here objecting to the use of word 'Bombay' instead of 'Mumbai' in the movie, forcing the filmmaker to apologise.