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IAF can pull a gun on Naxals
Flood relief: K’taka too gets Rs 1,000 cr
MSM at risk as condoms fail test
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Expulsion robbed me of my ‘izzat’, says Jaswant Singh
UP state mental hospitals in need of nurses
Family feud can’t result in filing of false rape case: SC
Overseas Study
Two-pronged plan to counter Naxalites
TMC, Cong bury the hatchet
7 die after consuming ‘spurious’ liquor
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IAF can pull a gun on Naxals
New Delhi, October 10 However, he reiterated that the government would not involve them in a combat role in the anti-Naxal operations, which was the primary responsibility of the state government and central paramilitary forces. “After carefully preparing safeguards and operational details, for self defence only, we will give the operational clearance. When we give permission, we will first inform the Air Force,” Antony told reporters here on the sidelines of an international flight safety conference organised by the IAF. “There is no proposal to deploy the armed forces in anti-Naxal operations. The IAF will have a limited role to transport the paramilitary forces and casualty evacuation. There is no proposal to engage the IAF in a combat role in the operations,” he said. The Defence Minister said the government was “very clear that we will avoid deployment of armed forces to maximum extent in internal security situation.” Antony said internal security was “purely the primary duty” of state governments and paramilitary forces and that the Centre would extend all help to them. IAF chief Air Chief Marshal PV Naik had a fortnight ago sought Defence Ministry’s permission to defend air force helicopters and crew members operating in Naxal-hit areas. The Defence Ministry’s stated position is not to use armed forces in internal security role and that the IAF proposal would have to be considered by a higher authority such as the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) to permit the IAF to use force to defend itself when attacked by Maoists. If permitted, the IAF would deploy its Garud special force commando to man the guns to be mounted on the helicopters operating in the Maoist-hit areas for transporting paramilitary personnel and for casualty evacuation.
— PTI
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Flood relief: K’taka too gets Rs 1,000 cr
Bangalore, October 10 The Prime Minister made the announcement at a press conference in Raichur today. He had yesterday announced the same amount for Andhra Pradesh for taking up flood relief work in the state. The PM also took stock of relief measures initiated by the state government at a meeting attended by Chief Minister Yeddyurappa and Union Ministers SM Krishna, M Veerappa Moily and others. Manmohan Singh also announced Rs 1 lakh ex-gratia to each of the families of victims of the unprecedented floods which left 226 people dead and caused large-scale devastation. The PM said a Central team would soon be deputed to the state for an on-the-spot assessment of the extent of damage. “I announce an interim relief of Rs 1,000 crore for Karnataka. For the 226 precious lives lost in the flash floods and rain havoc, I have announced a compensation of Rs 1,00,000 lakh to the next of kin or kith of the victims,” the PM said. The PM had earlier conducted an aerial survey of the flood-hit areas in Raichur, Gulbarga and Bijapur districts. The Chief Minister and Union Law Minister M Veerappa Moily, who hails from the state, accompanied the PM from Hyderabad and apprised him of the damage caused by torrential rains in northern districts of the state. “I have assured the state government that the Union Government would stand behind it in these times of crisis. Money will not be a constraint to make good the losses. But there are procedures to determine the extent of funds to be released,” Singh said. Asserting that the Centre would never discriminate with states on political affiliations, he assured the BJP-ruled government of full support in rehabilitating the affected people. On the inter-linking of rivers to check recurrence of such deluge, the Prime Minister said a new plan would be initiated to prevent floods that cause so much damage to life and property. “Knowledge derived from these flash floods in the neighbouring states of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh will be utilised to finalise the plan. The Centre will treat the affected people in both the states alike in relief and rehabilitation works,” he said. Thanking the Prime Minister for the interim relief, Yeddyurappa expressed hope that the Centre would release another Rs 2,000 crore so that houses could be built for 75,000 families and 219 villages could be shifted to higher plains from low-lying areas near the banks of Krishna and Tungabhadra rivers. “This will be our top priority. Land will be sanctioned soon so that sites could be formed at the earliest. My cabinet colleagues, including district in-charge ministers, will visit the flood-hit villages to assess the requirements of the affected people”, Yeddyurappa said.
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MSM at risk as condoms fail test
New Delhi, October 10 Men who have sex with men (MSM) - the group with the highest HIV prevalence rate of 7.41 per cent in India (against the national adult HIV prevalence of 0.3 per cent) - have been asking the government to supply condoms supported with separate lubricant sachets, which are known to reduce the risk of transmission due to enhanced
efficacy. But so far there has been near-negligible distribution of these lubricants through the government system. The National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO), however, claims it has been making the supplies to all states except those where procurement of lubricants is a problem. The ground reality, however, seems different, as was clear from several groups of MSM which gathered in the Capital today to petition the visiting UNAIDS executive director Michel Sidibe on their concerns over the supply of unsafe condoms - something, they said, was putting them at increased risk. “NACO may say a lot of things. Having a budget for lubricants is one thing and making it available to the state AIDS control organisations for procurement is another, of which there is little manufacturing because of zero procurement. The 3.25 million MSM which NACO has estimated belong to the most-at-risk and economically deprived community. You can’t expect them to buy lubricants from the market. A good quality lubricant costs not less than Rs 35 for three sachets. And MSM can’t arrange that kind of money,” Aditya Bandopadhyay, an activist with MSM National Taskforce today told The Tribune. Constrained by funds, MSM (who have high sexual activity and therefore face increased HIV risk) end up using oil-based lubricants, which are no good either. Globally, the norm is to use water-based lubricants for high-risk populations that indulge in sexual practices which strain the condom. Oil-based lubricants, in field testing, have been found to be less effective against tearing. It may be mentioned here that South Africa, North America and Thailand have been long supplying condoms with separate lubricants. In India, the demand has been for supplying lubricant sachets to prevent tearing in the process of sexual contact. The government, for its part, had under NACP III provided a budget for around 11 million lubricant sachets for the MSM population. “But that doesn’t suffice. That comes to three sachets per MSM, most of who make a living from sex work. Besides, even these lubricants have not been supplied fully, not even in the Capital,” Bandopadhyay said. MSM have now been asking the government to procure lubricants from manufacturers to make their production sustainable. “Right now there is no procurement policy, which is why there is little manufacturing,” said an activist of the MSM National Taskforce. For recall, NACO had removed the requirement for lubricant component from the global application for HIV funds filed this July, promising it would address the issue on its own. But MSM say the promise has not been kept. NACO disagrees, with officials saying: “We have the budget for lubricants, we even enhanced it recently, and we have been supplying, except in some states.”
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Now, MNS threatens Aussies
Mumbai, October 10 The threat was made by Shishir Shinde, who during his earlier stint in the Shiv Sena dug up the pitch at the Wankhede Stadium in 1991 thereby scuttling a match between India and Pakistan. Shinde, who quit the Shiv Sena to join the MNS to protest his old party's softening stand on various issues, made this threat on Friday night at the party's rally at Shivaji Park in Central Mumbai. "If they step into Maharashtra I will be the first to hit them with a chappal,” Shinde said. Later today, Shinde reiterated his stand before newspersons. Speaking to reporters, Shinde said he would happily beat up Australian cricketers with bottles and slippers for their silence on the attacks on Indians. He was further quoted by an evening newspaper as saying that it was okay to beat up the Australian cricketers because Shane Warne, the only cricketer to condemn the attack on Indians, was not part of that country's team anymore.
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Expulsion robbed me of my ‘izzat’, says Jaswant Singh
“For us, izzat (esteem) is everything. If that is gone, nothing is left. I have been robbed off my izzat,” he said. Opening new fronts of attack against his former colleagues, Singh today said he had opposed LK Advani’s ‘Rath Yatra’ and wanted removal of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi after the post-Godhra communal violence. Recalling the events preceding the demolition of Babri Masjid in 1992, Singh said he had opposed the Rath Yatra of Advani and warned the party of the negative repercussions. “I was the only person in the party’s national executive meeting to have opposed the Rath Yatra explaining the repercussions it would have. But, mine was the lone voice,” he said.Singh was speaking to reporters in a meet-the-press programme organised by Andhra Pradesh Union of Working Journalists (APUWJ). He also launched his book ‘Jinnah-India, Partition, Independence’ in the city. Recalling the Gujarat communal riots, the former Union Minister said, “I had condemned the Gujarat riots along with Atal ji and sought Modi’s removal. Singh, who was expelled by the party following controversy over his book, made it clear that he had no plans to join any other party. Firmly ruling out return to the BJP fold, he said, “I will spend my last days fighting corruption in all walks of life, work for peace between India and Pakistan and further Hindu-Muslim unity.” A defiant Singh also asserted that he would not quit Chairmanship of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC). “The post is no office of profit. It is the prerogative of the Lok Sabha Speaker to decide who should head the PAC. I have no desire for positions,” he said.
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UP state mental hospitals in
need of nurses New Delhi, October 10 While all other states have moved on from old times and altered the rules as required under the Mental Health Act and state mental health rules, UP stands out as an exception, with two of the state mental hospitals at Varanasi and Barreilly still not possessing a dedicated nursing cadre. “Uttar Pradesh is the only state in the country where mental hospitals still function like lunatic asylums. During the British period, the asylums were under the direct control of the prisons wing of the home department. There was no dedicated nursing or subordinate cadre. UP still does not have one,” said top sources in the Union Health Ministry, which recently refused “modernisation grant” worth Rs 3 crore each to Barreilly and Varanasi state mental hospitals, asking them to create the nursing cadre first. Though the funds were eventually released to Varanasi, which said it had written to the state health department to sanction posts of nurses, the action finally taken was no good either. For a 331-bedded state mental hospital at Varanasi, Mayawati’s government has sanctioned four posts of nurses, making a mockery of mental health rules that clearly specify the requirement of one nurse per three beds. To make matters worse, the Varanasi hospital is currently being manned by a single psychiatrist with virtually no support staff. The situation at Barreilly is no better, with the sources informing that the mental health hospital there has no nurses for its 250-bed strength. “We have repeatedly urged the authorities concerned to take action. We also know the member secretary in charge of the UP State Mental Health Authority has been pursuing the matter with the state government, but to no avail,” said health ministry sources. The matter is already in the notice of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), which had earlier pointed out gross deficiencies in the state mental hospitals of UP following a field visit. It was upon the pursuance of NHRC and finally the order of the Supreme Court that the State Mental Hospital at Agra was eventually renamed as the Institute for Human Behaviour and made autonomous though the state partially funds it - with a Rs 400-grant per day per patient, and this inclusive of staff salaries! Dr Sanjay Gupta, Head of Department of Psychiatry at Benaras Hindu University today admitted that whereas psychiatry departments functioning under the Central government were doing well (like his own department), the ones under the state were in poor shape. “The state hospitals are in dire need of mental healthcare specialists, nurses and support staff. We, at BHU, have five faculty members and 12 junior residents whereas the Varanasi hospital is working with a lone psychiatrist and virtually no nurses,” he told The Tribune on the occasion of World Mental Health today. State mental health experts also confirmed the sorry state of affairs, with no dedicated nurses available and few doctors on rolls.
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Family feud can’t result in filing of false rape case: SC
New Delhi, October 10 A Bench comprising Justices VS Sirpurkar and Deepak Verma also ruled yesterday that overnight delay in the filing of the FIR was not a valid reason for rejecting the case as such criminal assaults caused mental turmoil. “When an FIR by a Hindu lady is to be lodged with regard to commission of offence like rape, many questions would obviously crop up for consideration before one finally decides to lodge the FIR,” the Bench said while upholding the four-year sentence awarded to the convicts -- brothers aged 19 and 22 years. Obviously, the Bench said, the victim “must have also gone through great turmoil and only after giving it a serious thought, must have decided to lodge the FIR." While the crime was committed at 7 pm on July 23, 1983, in Begusarai, Bihar, the FIR was lodged the following morning at 8.30 am. The Bench also did not accept the reason cited by the convicts that rape was not confirmed by the medical examination of the victim. “No doubt, it is true that the doctor could not give any definite opinion with regard to commission of offence.” But, admittedly, the victim was already married and therefore it was not necessary that some external or internal injuries should have been found on her person, the court reasoned. Further, the court was not convinced that the brothers had been implicated due to inter-family feud. "Enmity between the two families would not lead to such a serious consequence of lodging an FIR of commission of gang rape by the appellants." The court based its verdict on the statements of three witnesses. “They all have said in one voice with regard to the manner in which the offence was committed by the appellants. The said evidence inspires confidence, more so, when the evidence was recorded almost after eight years from the date of commission of the offence, yet, there is great consistency therein."
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Overseas Study
New Delhi, October 10 Officials said the two countries pledged to effectively tackle matters relating to the quality of education. They recognised that poor quality and unscrupulous education providers were simply unacceptable. The Indian delegation at the meeting was led by G Gurucharan, Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs (MOIA), while the Australian side was headed by Colin Walters, chief executive officer of the Australian Education International. The Australian team briefed India on the measures underway to improve the well-being of international students. The Indian side also apprised the Australians of the measures being considered by New Delhi to regulate enrolment agents and making it mandatory for students to register themselves prior to their departure for studies abroad. The meeting reached agreement on a number of practical measures, including collaboration in developing robust regulatory mechanisms for the activities of education providers and enrolment agents in the two countries and develop a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on the better management of student mobility between the two countries. Regarding the provision of a student information service by MOIA for prospective students, it was decided that the service will include Australia’s new manual for international students and information for Indian students intending to study there. Also, a registration system would be put in place by India.
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Two-pronged plan to counter Naxalites
New Delhi, October 10 First it will insert special forces in 5/6 hand-picked districts in the naxal-hit areas to “clean up” the area. Second it will kick start the process of adding infrastructure in these districts and have rounded development. A sum of Rs 7,300 crore will be spent in the four-maoist -affected states out which Rs 1,000 crore will be spent in this fiscal alone. This will be on schools, hospitals, rural schemes and others. Once these hand-picked districts are “cleaned up” the forces will move onto the next batch of districts and repeat the process. Contours of the grand plan okayed by the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) emerged on yesterday. A major thrust will be on unleashing developmental works in areas cleared off the Left-wing extremists. Union home secretary GK Pillai told the reporters that within 30 days of security forces moving in and dominating the area the government would be able to restore civil administration. Replying to specific question as to what could be the time frame on the operations, Pillai said, “It will take anything upto 18 months for the forces to dominate the area.” Sources said the new strategy will be just a increased level of force deployment. The Indian Air Force will help out with images taken from unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV’s) that have sensors.
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TMC, Cong bury the hatchet
Kolkata, October 10 Accordingly, the TMC will fight in seven seats in south Bengal, while the remaining three seats of Sujapur, Raiganj and Kalchini will be left to the Congress as demanded by them, Roy said.
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7 die after consuming ‘spurious’ liquor
Jaipur, October 10 According to the police, five persons, including a woman and a minor girl, died yesterday after they consumed ‘spurious’ liquor at Atitmand village near Beawar and at Sadabhoj Ka Badia, also in Rajsamand. Two more persons died at a government hospital in Beawar this morning, while a few persons are still under treatment.
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Hyderabad, October 10