Mumbai, November 7
After more than a fortnight of uncertainty, the new government of Maharashtra under incumbent Chief Minister Ashok Chavan of the Congress was sworn in by Governor S C Jamir here this evening. Chagan Bhujbal of the Nationalist Congress Party was sworn in as his deputy. In all, 16 ministers from the Congress and 20 from the NCP were sworn in today.

According to sources, the timing of swearing-in was chosen by astrologers who were consulted for the auspicious hour for the new government to take office.

In a clear indication that the new government wanted to begin on a clean slate, all the heavy weights of the Congress and the NCP found berths in the new Ashok Chavan cabinet. Among those part of the new grouping include Narayan Rane of the Congress and RR Patil of the NCP who had issues with their respective party leaderships during the last government.

While Rane was seen as a dissident after being denied the post of Chief Minister by the Congress, Patil was unhappy at being dislodged as Deputy Chief Minister by the NCP after the 26/11 terror attacks in Mumbai.

Others who made it to the cabinet include Rajendra Darda, Patangrao Kadam, Naseem Khan and Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil of the Congress. The NCP’s own stars included Ajit Pawar, Sunil Tatkare, Anil Deshmukh and Babanrao Pachpute.

Today’s swearing in came after several days of wrangling over the share of cabinet berths by the two parties and portfolios to be shared by them.

Maharashtra has a history of jumbo cabinets with former Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde carrying 69 ministers during his tenure as CM earlier this decade. However, the size of the cabinet in Maharashtra has been fixed at 15 per cent of the strength of the house.

Meanwhile, sources say there is some amount of scrambling for portfolios within both the Congress and the NCP. As per the decentralised power sharing deal practiced in Maharashtra, Chavan will allocate the portfolios allotted to the Congress party to his MLAs while Bhujbal is to do the same with the NCP ministers. Both leaders are expected to consult with their respective party leaders on the matter.

The portfolios are to be announced over the next few days, according to sources.

New Delhi, November 7
Senior Congress leaders Sushil Kumar Shinde and Vilasrao Deshmukh are upset as their children have been left out of the council of ministers. There is a good chance that Deshmukh’s son Amit or brother Diliprao might be accommodated at a later stage.

Another addition could be a supporter of Minister of State for Information Technology Gurudas Kamat.

A conspicuous miss in today’s ceremony was Kripashanker Singh. The Mumbai Congress president was a front runner for a ministerial berth but appears to have been left out due to allegations linking him to former Jharkhand chief minister Madhu Koda.

According to the deal between the Congress and the NCP, the former will keep 23 ministries, including the Chief Minister’s post and the NCP 20. The NCP is expected to retain key ministries - home, finance, PWD and power.

Sources say the NCP may also keep a part of rural development ministry, which the Congress had really been pushing for. The Congress has relatively minor ministries, except the public health portfolio which is the only ministry it managed to wrangle from the NCP after a fortnight-long negotiations.

So while the Congress might have scored a win by getting larger number of portfolios than its ally, it had to concede on their quality.

New Delhi, November 7
Days before Prime Minister Manmohan Singh leaves for the US on November 22 as the first state guest of the Obama administration, Iran is sending its Foreign Minister to India for crucial talks with New Delhi on a variety of issues.

Manouchehr Mottaki is expected to be in the Capital in mid-November to meet the PM, External Affairs Minister SM Krishna and other Indian leaders. The visit comes at a time when major world powers, led by the US, are engaged in negotiations with Iran over its controversial nuclear programme. Washington has often urged India to use its influence with Iran and persuade it to cooperate with the world community in resolving the nuclear issue.

The Iranian nuclear programme also figured at the India-EU Summit in the Capital here. While recognising Iran’s right to peaceful uses of nuclear energy, both India and the EU underlined the need for Iran to meet all its international obligations.

Besides the nuclear issue, the two countries are concerned over the deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan and cross-border terrorism. Iran recently became a victim of terrorism emanating from Pakistan when a suicide bomber killed 29 persons, including senior Revolutionary Guards commanders, in southeastern Iran. Pakistan-based Jundollah (God’s soldiers), an ethnic Baluch Sunni insurgent group, was said to be behind the attack.

On the economic side, Mottaki is expected to discuss with his Indian interlocutors the much talked about Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) gas pipeline, also dubbed as the peace pipeline.

India has been under pressure from Washington not to participate in the 1,724-mile pipeline that will pass through the Pakistani territory into India from Iran. This is one of the reasons why India is going slow on the project though it has not officially pulled out of it. New Delhi has also expressed apprehensions over the security of the pipeline, transit fee and other logistical issues.

Because of India’s ambivalence, China is said to have conveyed to Iran and Pakistan its keenness to join the pipeline project. The Iranian envoy had recently cautioned India not to delay a decision on the pipeline or Tehran would have no option but to explore the possibility of making China a party in the project.

New Delhi, November 7
The love-hate relationship between Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee and her predecessor Lalu Prasad Yadav has seen another manifestation with the Trinamool Congress leader ordering the removal of chairmen of all Railway Recruitment Boards (RRBs) across the country, appointed during the tenure of RJD chief.

The decision to overhaul the recruitment process came as the RRBs, located in 20 cities across the country, are mired in controversy and accusations of large-scale corruption, irregularities and leaking of question paper prepared for the recruitment.

Recently incidents of paper leak were also reported from RRBs in Allahabad and Ajmer. Officials at the railways said the minister had appointed new chairmen for all RRBs. The post of chairman is given to senior railway officials with tenure of three years.

Mamata appointed new chairmen of 20 RRBs as part of a revamping exercise. The orders for the appointment of the new chairmen were passed two days back.

The latest move from the Railway Minister comes just months after she ordered a CBI inquiry against Lalu over allegations made by a group of Janata Dal (U) MPs last year that people were persuaded to cede land to the railways in exchange of jobs and contracts during his tenure.

The MPs had handed over papers to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, which they claimed included affidavits of people and copies of sale deeds, which indicted Lalu.

Incidentally, Banerjee and Prasad have not been on the best of terms and soon after taking over, Banerjee had even cast doubts about the financial turnaround her predecessor had claimed to have brought about in the Railways.

Railway officials said most chairmen were appointed during Lalu’s tenure and a majority of them were yet to complete their terms. They added that the exercise was not only aimed at streamlining the recruitment process, making it corruption free, but also to ensure that local people get representation.

RRBs are assigned with the responsibility of carrying out recruitment of Group C and Group D staff for vacancies in divisions and zones allocated to them.

Recently Mamata had also announced conducting railway recruitment exams in Urdu and reports suggest that the recruitment was likely to be held in other local languages too to help local youth gets jobs.

Till now railway examinations were conducted only in English and Hindi. Officials said under the revamp exercise, the ministry is also set to announce benefits for minority women and those belonging to economically backward classes.

Also, recruitment examinations would be held on the same day throughout the country to benefit people from all states.

New Delhi, November 7
India requires more than 27,000 additional institutions of higher learning to meet the ambitious target of Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER) of 30 per cent for 2020. By the end of the 11th Five Year Plan, the government seeks to reach 15 per cent GER.

The figure of 27,000 institutes includes 14,000 colleges of general higher education, 12,775 additional technical and professional institutions and 269 additional universities.

At the consultative meet on higher education, organised by the Union HRD Ministry today, MPs raised concerns on the entry of private sector and foreign institutions in the Indian education sector.

They wanted to know if enough regulatory frameworks were being envisaged for private participation and whether foreign universities, when they come to India, would make profits. They also wanted the government to incentivise people entering the teaching profession, considering that the country needs additional five lakh teachers at the elementary level alone.

Concerns were also raised on the inadequate numbers of faculty in state universities and colleges and proliferation of technical institutions.

Congress MP Chinta Mohan was extremely vocal about the need to have more consultations on the proposed overarching body for higher education regulation — National Council for Higher Education and Research (NCHER). Mohan, it may be mentioned, was against the suspension of some AICTE officers, earlier booked for graft.

Another MP said Chairs for specialised studies on Central Asian nations and other parts of the world were required to produce adequate number of scholars in these areas. A suggestion was also made to have indigenous knowledge in university curriculum.

Responding to concerns, HRD minister Kapil Sibal assured the MPs that the mandate of the proposed NCHER would be enforcing quality and good governance procedures in higher education institutions. He also clarified that financial constraints would not allow the Centre to have an SSA type programme for the country in higher education and that when foreign universities come to India they would not be allowed to make profits through tuition fees.

“In the West, universities depend on endowments for a larger percentage of their finances but we won’t allow foreign varsities to make profits on tuition fee,” he said, adding that a world-class humanities institute needed to be set up.

On NCHER, the minister, who is keen to bring the bill in the forthcoming parliament session, said the Yashpal Committee and National Knowledge Commission, which recommended the said body, had conducted extensive consultations with stakeholders and academicians before preparing their reports.

New Delhi, November 7
India’s public spending on education continues to be abysmally low at just 0.6 per cent of the GDP in contrast with 1 per cent in the US and 0.9 per cent of the GDP in the UK.

What’s more - 40 per cent of the union budget for technical education in 2009-2010 has been allocated to the IITs, and 40 per cent of the funds for medical education this year will go to AIIMS - indicating the disparity in allocation.

The latest FICCI-sponsored survey on higher education sector, while making a case for public-private partnership, further reveals that the financing structures in higher education are not only complex, but also are poor when seen in the global context.

The public spending per student in India is as low as $1162 whereas the corresponding amount is $10,616 in the US and $10,060 in the UK.

If that was less, 80 per cent of the total income of all higher education institutes in India comes from government funding alone. As many as 75 per cent of these institutes are charging very low fees - less than Rs 50,000 per student per annum - an amount which is very low in comparison with the developed nations.

On the contrary, in the West, students’ fees contribute very less to the total income of the private teaching institution. In Yale, this contribution is 19 per cent as against 95 per cent in Indian private higher education institutes, like Manipal University.

In governmental higher education institutions, however, tuition fee contribution to the institute’s income remains very low. “While tuition fee as a percentage of total expenditure on higher education in India in 2007 was 19 per cent; in the US it was 36 per cent. With the sources of funding being limited, private sector participation in higher education sector is a must,” said Amitabh Jhingan of Ernst and Young.

With the public spending already low and the challenges in higher education mounting, the report calls for an effective public-private partnership in higher education if India had to achieve its target of 20 per cent Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER) by the end of 12th plan and 30 per cent GER by the end of 2020.

The challenges of delivery on this front are clear from the fact that whereas India achieved only 11 per cent GER in higher education in 63 years of its freedom, it now seeks to achieve 1 per cent every year till the end of the 12th Plan.

New Delhi, November 7
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati today failed to get interim relief from the Supreme Court in the Taj Heritage Corridor scam case as the court refused to give urgent hearing to her petition challenging an Allahabad High Court order.

The HC has decided to entertain a PIL seeking revival of a corruption case against her in the multi-crore scam. An apex court Bench comprising Justices RV Raveendran and B Sudershan Reddy said it would hear the matter on Monday, but senior counsel Mukul Rohtagi, appearing for Mayawati, said the matter was listed before the HC also on the same day.

The Bench then accepted Rohtagi's plea for holding the hearing on November 16. Earlier, he had pleaded that the apex court quash the HC notice to his client as the PIL amounted to abuse of the process of law. How many times the same issue could be raked up, he wanted to know. However, the Bench said it was not inclined to hear the plea today.

Now Mayawati will have to answer to the Allahabad High Court notice that has sought her response to the PIL. The PIL has questioned then governor TV Rajeswar's 2007 refusal to allow the CBI to prosecute Mayawati and her Cabinet colleague for their alleged role in the corruption case.

Jaipur, November 7
Even as the Pink City has been grappling to come to terms with the IOC inferno, it has been gripped by swine flu with 44 cases being reported in the last two days. Incidentally, most of those who tested positive were school children.

So far, 102 persons have tested positive for the deadly H1N1 virus in the state. Of these, 13 persons have died. Twenty students of SMS School alone have tested positive for H1N1, after which the school has been shut for a week. Similarly, Maharani Gayatri Devi School (MGD) School has been closed till November 11 after one of its students tested positive yesterday.

The sudden spurt in number of cases, particularly among children, has sent the parents into a tizzy and they are now queuing up at testing labs at SMS Hospital and other private labs to get their kids scanned. They are worried about the situation and are wary of sending their children to school in wake of H1N1 scare. “Though the scenario is scary, we can’t keep our children home. However, if the situation worsens in the coming days, I won’t send my kids to school,” said Ashok Kenwatia, whose two children study in a private school.

With the pandemic spreading among the school children, the health authorities as well as the schools are taking no chances. Principal Health Secretary GS Sandhu said any school, suspecting swine flu cases among its students, can contact the health directorate and ask for help, adding that a team of doctors from the directorate would inspect the school and screen children, if needed.

Various schools have already initiated precautionary measures like not conducting morning assembly and sensitising students about do’s and don’ts for prevention of the disease.

What has added to the concerns of the state administration is the fact that the onset of the tourist season has made the state all the more vulnerable to the swine flu threat as tourists can be carriers of the virus. The authorities are now gearing up to ensure proper screening of tourists visiting the state to deal with the threat.

Meanwhile, waking up to the rising threat of swine flu, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has asked the health department to increase medical stores with licence to sell Tamiflu tablets.

New Delhi, November 7
Defence Minister AK Antony yesterday reiterated his opinion on the Indo-Pakistan relations saying “all terrorist camps in Pakistan were intact with many operating in the vicinity of army bases. There are various terrorists groups operating from Pakistan, but despite India’s repeated requests all terrorist camps are intact. Antony said unless Pakistan makes serious and convincing efforts, it won’t help in improving relations with Pakistan. “We are not lowering our guard. If something happens we will act accordingly,” he said in response to a question about what would India’s reaction be in case of another terrorist attack. Just last week the Home Minister had said “ we will retaliate in case of another attack”.

Asked about reports of the Lashkar-e-Taiba targeting the National Defence College (NDC) an elite boarding school in India, Antony said: “We know very well that there are forces who now and then are creating problems in India. We are making all out precautions across the country.”

On Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama, Antony repeated the stance of the Prime Minister saying, he (Dalai Lama) was an honoured guest of India but he would not be allowed to indulge in political activities here.

Patna, November 7
If you dare to seek information under the Right to Information Act in Bihar, you should also be prepared to be booked in a fabricated criminal case and you may also be sent to jail. The criminal charges may vary from murder to attempt to murder, kidnapping or extortion. You can even be charged with rape or attempt to outrage the modesty of a woman. It also implies to the elderly persons, retired soldiers and physically handicapped.

At least 49 such cases were brought to light here today during a people’s court (Jan Sunwai) named ‘Meri Awaz Suno’ organised by Humlog, a social organisation and Bihar Right to Information Manch. A physically handicapped person, Birendra Kumar Sah, native of Pirmaker village under Bihar’s Saran district, narrated his woes to the audience about how he and his brother were framed in false case of murder by the local police at the behest of his village pradhan (Mukhia) for seeking information under the RTI Act about appointment of school teachers.

Another such victim, Ram Balak Sharma, a native of Manikpur village under Lakhisarai district, narrated his tale of being framed in an attempt to rape case for seeking information about the absence of doctors and para-medical staff in his district’s government hospital.

Both Sharma and his co-applicant Ramchandra Mandal were arrested and sent to jail by the police. They were released on bail after 26 days of imprisonment. A score of similar victims from different parts of the state narrated their respective story of harassment at the hands of government officials for seeking information under the RTI Act.

The convenor of Humlog Trust, Praveen Amanullah, said several such cases were being reported to her organisation from across the state and she had brought the matter to the notice of state Information Commission but it went in vain. Subsequently, she moved the State Human Rights Commission with the plea that it was violation of an individual’s rights to be victimised and penalised for seeking information under the law of the land.

Taking cognisance of her case wise complaint, the commission has asked the Chief Secretary to take stern action against the guilty officials for harassing and terrorising the information seekers within four weeks from the date of receipt of commission’s directive.

Supreme Court advocate and a civil rights activist, Prashant Bhushan, who was also present on the occasion, said it was becoming a nationwide trend to delay and dilute the RTI Act by the government officials.

New Delhi, November 7
Leader of Opposition LK Advani who turns 82 tomorrow is not likely to announce his retirement on this occasion. Instead there is speculation in BJP circles that the announcement might now come only after the winter session of Parliament concludes tentatively on December 21.

Sources say eventually the retirement of the grand old man of the BJP might not come this year at all.

Advani has been asked by RSS chief Mohanrao Bhagwat to look for a successor and this might not be possible till the party has elected its new president in place of incumbent Rajnath Singh.

In fact, the whole election process has been delayed because of internal problems within the BJP and the assembly elections in Maharashtra, Haryana and Arunachal Pradesh. As a result, the party may not be able to keep up with the timetable about electing the new president before the year end, indicated the sources.

Thus, in effect the whole process of change of leadership both at party level and also in Parliament, as desired by Bhagwat, might not take place this year at all, the sources indicated.

Already the RSS chief has given Advani a free hand to choose his successor and oversee a smooth succession plan in the party as well.

A BJP leader echoed similar sentiments, saying Advani is not stepping down now but there is a possibility of him quitting once a new president is chosen. This means the much awaited announcement might come only around February-March 2010, party sources said.

Meanwhile, Bhagwat said in an interview to a news channel that the BJP’s new president would be from outside Delhi. He ruled out the possibility of Delhi-based second generation leaders like Arun Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj, M Venkaiah Naidu or Ananth Kumar succeeding Rajnath Singh.

BJP and RSS sources have hinted at the possibility of former Goa chief minister Manohar Parikar or BJP Maharashtra chief Nitin Gadkari succeeding Rajnath. These two fit the bill because the three preconditions laid down by Bhagwat are that the next leader should be with a committed Sangh background, should be under 60 years of age and should not be Delhi-based. Both these leaders meet all the three conditions.

New Delhi, November 7
RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat has said Vande Mataram was not against any religion in the country and, therefore, all Indians, whatever religious background they hail from, should have no problem in reciting the song.

In an interview on Aaj Tak Editor Prabhu Chawla’s weekly programme ‘Seedhi Baat’, Bhagwat said: “Everyone in India will have to recite Vande Mataram. It is for all Indians and was a part of our freedom movement too. There was a time when both Hindus and Muslims used to sing it together… To say ‘Bharat mata ki jai’ and Vande Mataram is no religious puja or idol worship. ‘Sabko Vande Mataram kehna hoga (Everyone in India will have to say Vande Mataram).”

The RSS chief spoke on a slew of subjects ranging from Vande Mataram to demolition of Babri Masjid. He circumvented the questions whether Muslims felt threatened after the demolition of Babri Masjid, saying: “I would say that the wishes of the Hindu society were ignored by the government. The anger against the system was taken out on the structure.”

Asked about his feelings about the contentions issued relating to Babri Masjid, Uniform Civil Code and Article 370 and whether this made minorities insecure, he said: “Just tell me why is there no rational dialogue regarding such matters. For 90 years there has been no court judgement (on the Ram Mandir). And when nothing happens, the average man loses his balance.”

If a Ram Mandir was built peacefully, the act would sink Hindu-Muslim differences, claimed Bhagwat.

Guwahati, November 7
Putting an end to speculations and rumours about whereabouts of the two ‘missing’ leaders of the banned United Liberation Front of Asom — ‘foreign secretary’ Sashadhar Chowdhury and ‘finance secretary’ Chitrabon Hazarika — the Assam Police yesterday claimed they had surrendered before the BSF in Tripura.

Additional Director General of the Assam Police (Intelligence) Khagen Sharma told The Tribune the BSF had informed the Assam Police about the surrender of the two ULFA leaders. “We are preparing to bring them here in a day or two,” he said. The two ULFA leaders are wanted in many cases in Assam. The police had earlier issued a warrant against Sashadhar Chowdhury. Both the leaders were believed to be in Bangladesh along with other top leaders of the outfit for a long time.

Meanwhile, a human rights organisation in Assam is helping the families of the two ULFA leaders to file a habeas corpus petition in Gauhati High Court to seek more information about the two ULFA leaders. ULFA’s military spokesman Raju Baruah had contacted a couple of media houses through e-mail on November 4, disclosing that the two ULFA leaders who had been staying in Bangladesh for years had been “abducted” from Dhaka by some unidentified persons.

New Delhi, November 7
Former journalist Jarnail Singh who hit the headlines recently after hurling a shoe at Union Home Minister P Chidambaram has penned down the agony of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in a book, ‘I Accuse: the Anti-Sikh Violence of 1984’.

During the book-release function here last night, Jarnail Singh, who gathered information from riot-affected localities, said the Sikh community would never be able to forget the 1984 episode. Foreword in the book has been written by noted journalist-turned-writer Kushwant Singh while Darshan Kaur, a riot victim, released it. The book is also available in Hindi, and is titled ‘Kab Kategi Chaurasi’ (When will 1984 pass). Penguin has published it.

Jarnail called upon Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to take steps to ensure justice for the victims, saying “only justice and action against the culprits could ensure that such incidents were not repeated”. “The Prime Minister says we should forget and move forward. But forgetting is no solution. Instead, we should get justice,” he said.

The book starts with Jarnail’s personal experience as an 11-year-old during the riots and ends with a chapter, 'Why I hurled the shoe’.