New Delhi, October 6
Former Prime Minister and JD-S president H.D. Deve Gowda has predicted a hung assembly in Maharashtra. Deve Gowda on a flying visit to the Capital was speaking to mediapersons here today.

The JD-S is contesting 18 seats as an alliance partner of the third front led by the RPI of Ramdas Athawale, which also includes the two Left parties.

Gowda is going to Pune, Nashik, Kohlapur and other places tomorrow onwards to campaign for JD-S candidates. The JD-S has not a single MLA in the present Maharashtra assembly but in the previous house there were four JD-S MLAs and one member in the Legislative Council, he reminded.

The united Janata Dal was a formidable force in Maharshtra even till 1990s and when in 1999 the JD-U split into JD-U and JD-S there were 13 MLAs of the united JD-U.

While he was not willing to hazard a guess how many seats his party or the combined third front would win he felt the popularity graph of the Congress-NCP ruling alliance has plunged due to 10 years of incumbency. On the other hand the presence of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) of Raj Thackeray is likely to damage the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance too leaving little scope for any of them to be able to form a govenrment on their own without outside support.

Asked who would he support in such an event, he said this will be decided by the third front jointly only after the polls. This alliance has been forged not by any national leaders. State-level leaders of different parties came together to forge this alliance and thanks to that there was also no bickering or bad blood in seat-sharing arrangement either.

Meanwhile Deve Gowda has written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh asking for immediate central help to flood affected people of Karnataka. He said he had earlier planned to meet the Prime Minister. “But I was told he was scheduled to go for aerial survey of the flood ravaged areas of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka today,” he said explaining why he could not meet him today.

The Karnataka leader painted a very grim picture of Karnataka and said as many as 1467 villages submerged under water, killing 178 people and 4565 cattleheads. As many as 2,05,736 houses have been washed away rendering 4,52,912 people homeless and affecting 1.8 crore people from all walks of life. He felt the routine Calamity Relief Fund would be insufficient to meet the exigencies of these sudden floods and argued for more funds.

But for this he felt the best course would be to end not one but several teams of officials to assess the situation on their own and present a fair and objective report. He said the Prime Minister who spoke to him on phone agreed with Deve Gowda.

New Delhi, October 6
The national carrier, Air India, on Tuesday suspended the commander and the flight purser who were involved in a mid-air scuffle on flight IC-884 from Sharjah to Delhi. The co-pilot and the airhostess involved in the incident have also been put off duty. The four have been identified as Ranbir Arora, commander, Aditya Chopra, co-pilot, Amit Khanna, flight purser and airhostess Komal Singh.

The committee constituted by the AI management to conduct a preliminary inquiry into the incident --- that happened on October 3 --- submitted its report today. The probe confirms that altercation took place between the pilots and the cabin crew. However, the extent of involvement and culpability of each of the individuals would be determined through a regular departmental inquiry.

“Since the commander and one of the cabin crew had greater involvement as compared to the others in magnifying the altercation, the management has decided to place these two employees under suspension,” executive director (corporate communications) Jitendra Bhargava said.

It was also being alleged that the flight was allegedly left unmanned for 10 minutes during the scuffle. However, the airline had denied it. “The panel has established beyond doubt that the cockpit was not left unmanned at any stage of the flight,” Bhargava asserted.

The management has also constituted a separate five-member committee, headed by a senior woman official, to examine the charges of sexual harassment levelled by the airhostesses. The panel also has a representative from an NGO in accordance with the government guidelines.

Meanwhile, the president of the Indian Commercial Pilot’s Association (ICPA) Shailendra Singh has come out with a statement in favour of the pilots. “I have spoken to the pilot and the co-pilot. They had maintained their cool. There is a certain hierarchy in the cockpit that has to be followed.

They were not at fault,” he said. The National Commission for Women has also formed a panel to probe the charges of assault levelled by the airhostess against the two pilots after she filed a formal complaint yesterday. The pilots have been slapped with assault and molestation charges. 

Bangalore, October 6
Shop-owners and residents in Bangalore’s KR Circle and other areas in its neighbourhood will find it hard to turn down this fund-raiser when he knocks at their doors tomorrow asking them to donate money for giving relief to the flood affected people in the state.

Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa will carry out a foot march in the streets of Bangalore on Wednesday to mobilise donations from the public for flood relief. “The padayatra will start from K R Circle. The Chief Minister will then proceed to the Avenue Road, Chikpet and other areas.

The march will conclude at the Vidhan Soudha. After reaching Vidhan Soudha, the CM will sit in his chamber and receive cheques from donors there”, Bhrungeesh, media adviser to Yeddyurappa, said.

Bhrungeesh said since it would not be possible for the Chief Minister to go to each and every shop located on the route, shopkeepers might also occasionally assemble at a place and make their contributions to him for flood relief. Senior ministers belonging to Bangalore would accompany Yeddyurappa during the programme.

Similar “padayatras” will also be taken out in every district headquarters in the state tomorrow by the district in-charge ministers to mobilise donation from public.

The state government has also sought Rs 16,500 crore from the centre for rehabilitation and relief of the people affected by floods. 

New Delhi, October 6
With floods having taken a heavy toll in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today announced an ex-gratia relief of Rs 1 lakh each to the next of kin of those killed in the deluge. It will be given out of the PM’s National Relief Fund.

Separately, Union Home Minister P Chidambaram, back from his aerial inspection of the flood-hit areas, today assured the state governments that “availability of funds will not be a constraint…. focus on providing relief to the affected people”.

Pitching in the effort, the Railways announced it will transport all relief material free of charge. The relief material may be booked by District Magistrates across the country, Relief Commissioners, government and non-government organisations, recognised political parties, trusts, philanthropic organisations, social services organisations, reputed press and electronic media for transportation by rail from any station in the country to flood-affected districts of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.

The measures have been taken after consultation with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, said a statement of the Home Minister in which he added that further measures would be considered on the return of Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee from his trip abroad tomorrow.

The Defence Ministry today said over 2,200 persons have been rescued by the armed forces in the flood-hit areas. The Army, Air Force and Navy continue to be deployed for relief operations. More than 4.5 tonnes of rations have been distributed by the Army to the marooned people. The Navy’s divers are working round-the-clock.

Hyderabad, October 6
As people in Andhra Pradesh are reeling under the impact of the worst-ever floods, a political blame-game has begun with opposition parties assailing the government for tardy relief and rehabilitation works while the ruling Congress dubbed the criticism as distasteful.

Terming the disaster as “man-made”, president of Telugu Desam Party N Chandrababu Naidu said lack of planning and coordination between government agencies had caused untold miseries to the people.

Referring to the submergence of Kurnool town and several areas in Mahaboobnagar and Kurnool districts following floods in Krishna river, Naidu, who undertook an aerial survey of the affected areas, said timely release of excess water from Srisailam reservoir to the downstream areas could have averted the inundation.

“Though the Central Water Commission had forewarned about possible rise of flood levels, the irrigation officials failed to take action. Had they taken the preventive steps, the loss could have been minimised,” Naidu said.

The relief and rehabilitation measures were also woefully inadequate, the former Chief Minister said adding that the government had failed to show sense of alertness and anticipation required in tackling such situations. He also attacked the UPA government for not responding to the crisis properly and demanded that Andhra floods be declared as a national calamity and immediate financial assistance be provided to tide over the crisis.

The actor-turned-politician and president of Praja Rajyam Party Chiranjeevi also criticised the government for inept handling of the situation. The megastar of Telugu cinema today visited Kurnool town and said the relief had not reached the victims.

He appealed to people to donate liberally to the Chiranjeevi Charitable Trust to provide succour to flood victims. All the opposition parties have demanded that the floods be declared as national calamity.

State BJP President B Dattatreya said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh should have visited the state for a first-hand account of the situation. The CPI and CPM leaders also attacked the government for inadequate relief measures.

Decrying the opposition’s attitude, the Revenue Minister D Prasada Rao said it was unbecoming of them to try to garner political mileage out of human tragedy.

New Delhi, October 6
After the recent approval for increasing the quota for women in panchayats to 50 per cent in a move to empower them at the grassroots level, the Urban Development Ministry is now getting ready to move a similar proposal in the Cabinet to enhance representation of women in urban local bodies.

The ministry had finished consultations with state governments and the draft Bill, seeking 50 per cent reservation for women in urban civic bodies like municipal corporations, councils and committees, was being circulated in different ministries for their opinion, officials said. The proposal is likely to be sent to the Cabinet soon and tabled in the winter session of the Parliament.

Like in panchayats, more participation of women in urban civic bodies is expected to play a vital role in welfare and development of the weaker sections of society, particularly women, SCs and STs.

The Bill to empower women in urban local bodies is likely to be accompany the Bill to increase the quota for women in panchayats. In fact, the ministry had wanted the proposal for reservation for women in urban local bodies to go before the Cabinet, along with the one, seeking increase in reservation for them in panchayats but could not because of elections in some states.

The proposal is part of the ministry’s 100-day agenda and was also mentioned by the President in her joint address to the Parliament immediately after the UPA-II assumed power.

Before circulating the Bill, the ministry had asked for opinion from different state governments of which only about one third responded, the officials added. Some observed that while it was alright to increase reservation for women in panchayats and local bodies, yet the 33 per cent reservation proposal for women in the Parliament was still pending. “They wanted to know when the Bill would move further in the Parliament,” they added.

Since the Bill to reserve 33 per cent seats for women in Parliament and state assemblies is pending in Parliament and could not be passed because of opposition from several regional parties, political observers say the move to get 50 per cent reservation in urban and rural bodies would help the ruling Congress to argue that its commitment towards empowering women was complete.

New Delhi, October 6
The 150th birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore will be celebrated internationally by the UNESCO next year as a mark of respect to the Nobel Laureate whose literary work blends universal humanistic values and sympathy for the poor.

The executive board of UNESCO has approved a proposal of the government in this regard.

The agency will also celebrate the 100th birth anniversary of Chilean poet Pablo Neruda and 100th birth anniversary of Afro-Martinican litterateur Aime Cesaire.

The UNESCO will establish prizes and medals in the name of these literary giants. It will also organise a series of seminars and conferences across the world to spread awareness about their literary works.

“It is a great honour as the UNESCO executive board has accepted our proposal. The proposal was accepted in view of the characteristic poetry of Tagore that carries the essence of universal humanistic values,” a top official of the HRD Ministry said.

The UNESCO has prepared a summary on celebration of the birth anniversary of these litterateurs. It says the life and works of Tagore, Neruda and Cesaire would build up a "conception of the universal reconciled with the particular now that peace is being jeopardised nationally, regionally and internationally by identity-related and spiritual tension".

The summary said specific proposals for such celebrations were moved by India, Argentina, Benin, Chile, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Madagascar, Niger, Nigeria, South Africa, Togo, Uganda, United Republic of Tanzania and Zambia.

These countries have appealed to other countries to publish the work of these authors in their national languages for wider public knowledge.

Apart from being a poet, Tagore (1861-1941) had significant contribution to Indian philosophy, art, drama and novel. He had won the 1913 Nobel Prize for Literature. Tagore wrote the lyrics of the respective national anthems of both India and Bangladesh.

Chilean poet Neruda had a variety of style of poetry to his credit. He had written poems on love, despair and had composed a number of surrealistic poems. He had won Nobel prize for literature in 1971. Cesaire, an Afro-Martinican writer, also had a huge contribution to poetry and drama. — PTI 

New Delhi, October 6
Former BJP vice-president Pyarelal Khandelwal, who was suffering from cancer, died today of cardiac failure at the AIIMS here. A RSS pracharak, Khandelwal was a second- term Rajya Sabha member.

He was 84 and admitted to the RML for cancer treatment recently. Five days back when his condition worsened he was shifted to the AIIMS, party sources said.

Khandelwal, who had generally receded into the background due to his debilitating illness, shot into news repeatedly after the party’s defeat in the general elections. First he wrote to BJP president Rajnath Singh questioning the decision to reappoint LK Advani as the parliamentary party leader after the defeat. He later distanced himself from this letter.

Recently, he again wrote a letter to Rajnath questioning the expulsion of Jaswant Singh. Perceived in the BJP as a camp follower of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Khandelwal, hailing from Madhya Pradesh, said in his letter that the party would not have acted against Jaswant thus if Vajpayee had been at the helm.

His body was brought to the party office and kept in the state till noon when all senior party leaders paid their respect and placed a wreath. Vajpayee, Advani and Rajnath also issued condolence messages. 

New Delhi, October 6
A poorly developed secondary education system has ensured India lags behind its global competitors in the availability of skilled human capital. The latest World Bank report on secondary education in India reveals distressing facts about the persisting gaps in access, quality and equity, and shows how the country is squandering its demographic dividend by ignoring this critical sector that yields promising returns.

“India has a lot of catching up to do; it must equip the 12 million young people who join its labour force every year with higher levels of education and skills to be able to access better paying jobs,” states the report, detailing the loss of human capital.

The share of labour force which completed secondary education in India in 2004 was only 16 per cent - half of the percentage of workers in China, with a 31 per cent secondary education completion rate way back in 1975.

That apart, India continues to underperform in the sector. The gross enrolment ratio at secondary stage, the percentage of children of the relevant age group of 14-18 years being enrolled into secondary schools, is 40 per cent, which is much lower than the GERs of its global competitors in East Asia and Latin America.

The GERs in secondary education in East Asian countries is 70 per cent while it is 82 per cent in Latin America, the World Bank report said.

Even Vietnam and Bangladesh, with lower per capita incomes, have higher GERs in secondary schooling. Vietnam, with GDP per capita of US $620 has a 72 per cent GER as compared to India which has only 52 per cent enrolment despite a GDP per capita of $720.

Projections suggest that demand for secondary education between 2007 and 2017 will rise by 17 million students as total enrollment grows from 40 to 57 million students. “Most of this demand will come from low income groups. The challenge for the Indian government is to dramatically improve access, equity and quality,” said Sam Carlson, lead education specialist at the World Bank.

Right now 27 per cent of India’s districts have less than one secondary school per 1,000 students aged 15 to 19 years. Access to education remains shockingly inequitable, with a 40 percentage point gap in secondary enrollment rates between students from the highest and lowest expenditure quintiles.

There is a 20 percentage point gap between urban and rural enrollment rates and a 10 percentage point gap in enrollment between boys and girls (this gap has persisted for a decade).

Between states, too, there are disparities galore. Enrollment rates differ from 22 per cent in Bihar to 92 per cent in Kerala; from 4 per cent in Jharkhand to 44 in Tamil Nadu. In Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh enrollment of the general population at secondary level is 80 per cent higher than for the disadvantaged like ‘scheduled castes and tribes’ and Muslims.

Chennai, October 6
Immediately after Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi announced that his government would move the Supreme Court against the Union government’s clearance to Kerala to conduct a survey for the construction of a new dam near Mullaiperiyar, the state unit of Congress today came out strongly against the permission granted by the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests.

TNCC leader KV Thangabalu, in a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, complained that Union ministry of Environment had granted permission to Kerala unilaterally, without consulting Tamil Nadu, even while the matter was pending before the Supreme Court. He also demanded that the Union Ministry for Environment and Forests should be kept away from the issue, till a final solution was arrived.

Urging the Prime Minister to immediately withdraw the permission granted to Kerala government, he said “unless is a solution is arrived, the Prime Minister should ensure that the Union Ministry for Environment and Forests doesn’t intervene in the whole issue”.

The Kerala government, headed by CPM, was refusing to honour the Supreme Court’s interim order on February 27, 2006 which had given permission to Tamil Nadu to raise the water storage level to 142 feet, the Congress leader said and this attitude of not respecting the Supreme Court verdict was against the democratic principles and unity of the country, he said.

The Congress leader said an expert committee had already reported that the dam was strong and the Supreme Court had ratified the report. It was not right on the part of Kerala government to raise queries on the strength of the existing dam after the expert committee’s assertion and the ratification of the opinion by the apex court of the nation, he said.

“The news of the Centre’s approval had greatly agitated farmers in eight districts in southern Tamil Nadu dependent on water release from the dam’, he added.

The Congress leader’s letter had echoed the views of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister who had named Union Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh and complained he had given the nod for a survey even after he was informed that the matter was sub judice.

While announcing the Tamil Nadu government’s decision to move the Supreme Court in an official release last night, the Chief Minister said he had written a letter to Jairam Ramesh, informing about the suit filed by the State government which was scheduled to be heard on October 20.

Criticising the Union Ministry for Environment and Forests, Karunanidhi said the ministry had given its nod without seeking the views of Tamil Nadu, despite a request from him in this regard. He also complained that the concerned ministry had not replied to his letter.

According to an agreement in 1886 between the princely state of Travancore and Madras government, Tamil Nadu has the rights to use the water for 999 years. Tamil Nadu and Kerala governments signed an agreement in 1970 to renew the 1886 treaty.

The water storage level was lowered in 1979 as Kerala expressed fears about the safety of the dam. After strengthening the dam according to the recommendations of the Central Water Commission, Tamil Nadu wants to the raise water storage to the earlier level, since cultivation of more than two lakh acres of land had been stopped after the water level was lowered.

Guwahati, October 6
Thousands today bid an emotional adieu to the 10 innocent villagers who were gunned down by the Bodo tribe militants at Bhimajuli in Sonitpur district of north Assam on Sunday.

The mass cremation was held amidst tight security cover of the Army and the paramilitary force personnel on the bank of a river at Bhimajuli village. People from the neighbouring areas assembled at the cremation site and flayed the NDFB for the massacre.

The situation in the entire Sonitpur district is tense. There are also reports of sporadic incidents of violence and burning down of vehicles in different parts of the state during the bandh called by several 
organisations.

Meanwhile, the Army and police have launched a massive operation along the Assam-Arunachal Pradesh border to flush out the NDFB ultras, who are suspected to hiding in the thick forests.

With the Centre keen on brokering peace with the NDFB, the anti-talks faction of the outifit, led by fugitive chairman Ranjan Daimary alias DR Nabla, is out to make desperate strikes to derail the process, said sources. Recently, Daimary had asked his cadres to fight back the Union government’s move and had also sought assistance from some elements in Bangladesh and China. 

Faizabad, October 6
The district administration has decided to file cases against over 60 village pradhans after a preliminary investigation found that they had allegedly misappropriated the government fund for midday meals in various primary schools here, official sources said.

Faizabad district magistrate MP Agrawal has directed the District Panchayat Raj Officer (DPRO) to lodge complaints in the police stations concerned against 64 village pradhans for irregularities in arranging midday meals.

The government supplies food grains free of cost to pradhans, who are also given money to arrange for cooking and serving of meals, district chief development officer Brahmanand said.

According to reports submitted to the district magistrate from the various sources, meals were provided on an average of two months in a year in the last four years.

DPRO RS Chaudhry said complaints would be lodged under Section 149 of the IPC against the elected representatives for alleged embezzlement of the government funds and creating hurdles in the development process. “We have taken the period of four years from the date they have been elected as pradhans in 2005, in our investigation,” he said.

The magistrate decided to file case against the pradhans based on reports of teachers of the schools concerned and district level officers and complaints lodged in tehsils, an officer in the district information department said. — PTI