New Delhi, January 21
A decision by the Union Human Resource Development Ministry to revoke deemed university status to Nava Nalanda Mahavihara, Bihar, the premier Buddhist research institution with 125 foreign students on its rolls, has taken the Prime Minister-headed Culture Ministry by surprise.

The two wings of the government were now set to clash on the issue, with the Culture Ministry today making it clear that it would not allow the dilution of the Mahavihara, a move that would, as per sources, hurt Buddhist sentiments and India’s goodwill in South-East Asia. Mahavihara was one of the three government-funded deemed universities declared unfit for the status.

“We have referred the matter to the Prime Minister and will also write to the HRD Ministry. The issue involves sentiments of Buddhists, those interested in Pali and dedicated to Theravada school of Buddhism,” sources in the Culture Ministry, which funds the Mahavihara, said.

The university is acclaimed for instructions in Pali and Theravada school of Buddhism, considered the closest to early Buddhism. It, however, is most credited for publishing the first Pali-Hindi dictionary, whose first volume was released by the President in 2007 when India was observing the 2050th Mahaparnirvana of Lord Buddha.

That apart, the Ministry of Culture is most concerned about Mahavihara’s future considering it recently set up the Xuan Zang — seventh century Chinese traveller who studied at Nalanda — memorial here in collaboration with the China. “The Chinese foreign and religious minister and our top dignitaries attended the inaugural of the memorial… A diplomatic question is involved here,” sources said, adding everything possible would be done to ensure the university did not lose its repute and foreign students’ interests were safeguarded. Interestingly, PN Tandon, who headed the HRD review committee and recommended revocation of deemed status to the Mahavihara, was also a member of the panel that had earlier approved the status for the university.

“Now the committee wants us to revert to the same Magadh University whose poor academic standards had caused us to seek deemed status in the first place,” Mahavihara vice-chancellor R Panth said.

New Delhi, January 21
Punjab continues to top the list of states witnessing bride desertions by their NRI spouses.

When it comes to foreign lands from where maximum harassment of married Indian women is being reported at the hands of their husbands, the USA leads the pack, with 130 of the 331 cases recorded in the last one year by the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs. The UK with 44 cases, Canada with 37 and Australia with 23 are next in the line. The USA and the UK account for around half of such cases.

Back home, the situation in North India is grim, with NRI brides from Punjab facing severe harassment; 87 cases of Punjabi women left in the lurch by immigrant men were reported in the last year. Data with the ministry, which is now working with the National Commission for Women, to evolve bilateral mechanism to protect Indians married abroad, shows that desertion is both an urban and rural phenomenon.

This explains why the second position goes to Delhi, where 59 such cases have been recorded in just one year. Andhra Pradesh (with 32 cases) comes next in the line, followed by Haryana and Tamil Nadu (21 cases each), Uttar Pradesh (19), Gujarat (17), Maharashtra (16), West Bengal (13) and Madhya Pradesh (four).

Even women from strife-torn Jammu and Kashmir are now facing harassment at the hands of immigrant husbands, who often leave them in the lurch, making matters worse in cases where the separated couples also have children.

That the trend is rising is evident from 177 cases that the NRI Cell on NCW premises has registered in the six months that it has been functional. Counselling is on in 125 cases, with the NCW now pushing for a separate legislation to cover NRI affairs, especially matrimonial disputes, maintenance of women and children, ex parte divorces, alimony, settlement and transfer of matrimonial property, succession and personal laws.

“We have written to the government to consider bilateral agreements with countries like the USA and the UK where NRI brides land in difficult situations and ex parte divorces are obtained by husbands taking advantage of easy separation laws prevailing in those countries,” Girija Vyas, chairperson of the NCW said.

The commission is also pushing for India to exercise its rights under Article 10 of the Hague Convention of 1968 which clarifies that nations are not bound by judgments taken in other countries, especially if they run contrary to their own laws.

Changes in the Passport Act of 1967 and the Hindu Marriage Act were also being mooted, said Vyas, disagreeing in general with Women and Child Development Minister Krishna Tirath’s view that dual passports for women marrying abroad, would help.

“I can’t comment on that. But we are recommending changes to the Passport Act,” she said, calling for a central legislation for mandatory registration of marriages to ensure coverage of every woman marrying abroad. The NCW is also preparing a website where information about such women will be fed.

“We want to make it mandatory for NRI men marrying Indian women to give an undertaking regarding their latest whereabouts and credentials. We should also know their family line-up so that we can contact people if they leave their wives behind. In most cases, matrimonial families refuse to fend for the abandoned women,” Vyas said.

New Delhi, January 21
Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh today rebutted Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar over introduction of Bt brinjal on his stand that clearance by the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee was final and Centre did not have any say in that.

Ramesh is understood to have asserted that the Centre has every right to take the final decision on introduction of the country’s first genetically modified food since the issue related to public safety. The commercialisation of Bt brinjal, though cleared by the expert panel last year, triggered a controversy and several states opposed its introduction during the national public consultations initiated by Ramesh. On Wednesday, Pawar said the GEAC’s decision on introduction of Bt brinjal would be final and Centre did not have any say on the issue.

The Environment Minister said, “The expert panel may well be a statuary body, but when a critical issue like human safety is involved, government has every right and to take the final decision based on suggestions.”

New Delhi, January 21
Former Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon has been appointed the National Security Adviser (NSA), replacing MK Narayanan who has been sent to West Bengal on gubernatorial assignment, sources in the PMO confirmed tonight.

The Appointments Committee of Cabinet today approved the appointment of Menon, whose retirement in August last was marked by a controversy over the Sharm-al-Sheikh statement between India and Pakistan, and a formal announcement would be made shortly.

“I am humbled and conscious…it’s a big responsibility and I will do my best,’’ the 60-year-old former diplomat said.

Menon will be the fourth occupant of the key office. The NSA’s post was created in 1998 to oversee the management of the country’s security, both in the immediate term and long term. Brajesh Mishra was the first NSA till 2004, and was succeeded by JN Dixit, who died in January, 2005, thereafter, Narayanan held the job.

There was a toss up between Menon and another former Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran, who is the Prime Minister’s special envoy for climate change, for the NSA’s post. The dice turned in favour of Menon as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh did not wish to disturb Saran, especially in view of crucial negotiations India has been holding with key nations on climate-related issues.

A trusted lieutenant of the Prime Minister, Menon, brings a wealth of experience to his new portfolio. In the rank of a Minister of State (MOS), Menon will be India’s point person for all major diplomatic and strategic initiatives. However, there are indications that issues pertaining to internal security will now be handled exclusively by the Home Ministry. His predecessor Narayanan was in charge of internal security too, but he came in for scathing attack over the government’s handling of the security apparatus following the 26/11 terror attacks.

Menon retired from the foreign service with many achievements to his credit, particularly for navigating the historic Indo-US nuclear deal through choppy waters. So strong were his credentials that Menon had superseded nearly 16 of his seniors to claim the job of the Foreign Secretary in September, 2006. He served as India’s envoy to China, Pakistan, Israel and Sri Lanka.

New Delhi, January 21
A Parliamentary Committee today slammed the government on its decision to merge national carriers Air India and Indian Airlines, saying the decision was taken in haste and without required consultation and homework.

Coming out clearly in support of employees, it said the turnaround of National Aviation Company of India Ltd (NACIL) was not possible by shifting the burden of crisis on to their shoulders and blaming them for ills of the company. The committee, in fact, asked the Centre to write off all losses of the national carrier, saying they were caused primarily by “irrational and misplaced” policies.

“The committee has found that the decision to merge Indian Airlines and Air India was taken in haste, without required homework and consultations. In the process, it has given rise to so many problems - financial, administrative and operational - which could not be foreseen by the people who took this decision,” the panel headed by CPM leader Sitaram Yechury noted. The two national carriers were merged in March 2007.

A major recommendation of the committee is conversion of National Aviation Company of India Ltd, which manages the merged entity, into a holding company with NACIL-A and NACIL-I as “separate functional units”. It said the ministry should bring about regulations to control flight schedules in such a way that the public sector NACIL gets priority in all routes and prime times routes. “Too many flights chasing one and the same directions are leading to total chaos and loss to the civil aviation industry as a whole and this should be controlled and regulated.”

The committee questioned the logic behind purchasing a large number of aircrafts when the aviation industry was under huge losses due to the global recession. Observing that Air India should defer its aircraft-buying plan “to reduce debt burden”, it recommended a probe into the plan “to fix responsibility for taking such ambitious decision that has become a big financial liability”. “The one and only way of overcoming the problem is to change the often irrational and misplaced policy decisions of the government,” the committee felt.

Taking the ministry to task on granting bilateral air traffic rights, it said it was dismayed that even after Air India’s “earnest plea” for checking unrestricted entry of foreign airlines in India, “the government looked the other way and decided to grant further bilaterals to various foreign airlines, thus making NACIL more vulnerable to operational difficulties and losses.”

Pointing out that Air India and Indian Airlines had a different fleet of Boeing and Airbus planes and had separately worked out their acquisition plans, it said NACIL also continued to lease aircraft or renew their leases even when new planes were being delivered to it.

New Delhi, January 21
The Union government today approved the setting up of a national knowledge network (NKN) that will connect all major educational institutions like the IITs, the IIMs and top universities for exchange of information and research.

The decision to have a national knowledge network was taken at the meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Infrastructure headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

“One of the important recommendations of the National Knowledge Commission (NKC) is to inter-connect all knowledge institutions through high speed data communication network. This would encourage sharing of knowledge, specialised resources and collaborative research,” a statement issued after the meeting said.The government’s decision to set up such a network was announced in 2008-09 and an initial amount of Rs.100 crore was allocated to the Department of Information Technology, Ministry of Communications and IT for this.

The architecture of the NKN will be scalable and the network will consist of an ultra-high speed core (multiples of 10Gbps and upwards) to provide a nationwide ultra high-speed data-network highway.

The IT mesh will connect around 1,500 institutions and the setting up of core network is expected to be completed in a span of two years.

The network will enable scientists, researches and students from diverse spheres across the country to work together for advancing human development in critical and emerging areas.

“NKN will catalyze knowledge sharing and knowledge transfer between stakeholders seamlessly --- that too across the nation and globally. NKN is expected to encourage a larger section of research and educational institutions to create intellectual property,” the statement further said.

It will allow sharing of high performance computing facilities, e-libraries, virtual classrooms and very large databases.

Health, education, grid computing, agriculture and e-governance are the main applications identified for implementation and delivery on NKN. Applications such as “countrywide classrooms” will address the issue of faculty shortage and ensure quality education delivery across the country.

New Delhi, January 21
The Group of Ministers (GoM) constituted last December to consider education reforms in India today cleared two major legislations to streamline academic functioning of higher education institutions and improve their quality.

The much-awaited Prohibition of Unfair Practices in Technical, Medical, Educational Institutions and Universities Bill fell through again, with the most vocal opposition coming from GoM chairman Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar. But, the group cleared the HRD Ministry’s proposals for mandatory assessment and accreditation of higher education institutions and the draft law to establish tribunals for adjudication of disputes concerning stakeholders in higher education. The approval was also granted to 374 model degree colleges in backward districts where gross enrollment ratio is less than the national average.

With Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee backing HRD Minister Kapil Sibal today, the accreditation law went through the GoM in the nature it was proposed. It entails the establishment of an independent regulatory authority, to function as a norm setting body that will register multiple accrediting agencies.

These will then grant accreditation to institutions that will be given time to fall in line. Even the existing National Assessment and Accreditation Council will have to apply for a licence to the new body to become a registered accrediting agency for higher educational institutes.

The other major draft law that the GoM cleared for the Cabinet late night today involves the creation of a two-tier education tribunal system to adjudicate disputes in higher education and school education. The tribunals will exist at national and state levels. While the latter will entertain education disputes vis-à-vis employees, students, teachers in their jurisdiction, the national tribunal will hear cases involving the regulating body - like the proposed National Council for Higher Education and Research (NCHER)- and institutions.

It will also hear cases involving irritants like those that may arise out of NCHER taking a view against a certain accrediting agency or those related to university affiliations. It is learnt that the two draft laws sailed through with “minor modifications”.

Jaipur, January 21
The Jaipur Literature Festival, the leading literary event of the subcontinent, took off to packed audiences on its inaugural day at the Diggi Palace here today.

The festival started with a recitation of the English translation of ancient Indian poetry by noted lyricist and scholar Arvind Krishna Malhotra.

Addressing the inaugural session, writer William Dalrymple, who is also one of the organisers, said the festival has grown immensely since it was first conceived as an addition to the Jaipur Virasat International Festival in 2006.

“In the first year, we played host to 18 Indian authors and one international author, Hari Kunzru. Last year, we managed to get 147 writers and today our list boasts of 220 authors,” he averred.

Writer Namita Gokhale said this year’s festival will focus on Dalit writers. The aim is to promote indigenous Dalit literature that has remained on fringe for years, she added. Faith Singh of the Jaipur Virasat Foundation said: “In Rajasthan, we have an extraordinary culture and the festival has played an important role in understanding the value of our heritage. It has become a jewel in the crown.” Noted playwright and actor Girish Karnad, who was supposed to deliver the keynote address, could not make it to Jaipur due to flight delay.

Malhotra read out from “Time and Space”, an anthology of Indian poetry spanning 2,500 years, which was followed by noted lyricist Gulzar reading one of his poems, ‘Kitab’, which focused on a clash between books and computers.

Later, writer Vikram Chandra participated in a one-hour reading session of his book, ‘Sacred Games’. Chandra’s book is the first person account of a criminal don called Ganesh Gaitonde, who rises from being a petty criminal to a central role in Mumbai’s underworld.

New Delhi, January 21
Defence Minister AK Antony has reportedly asked Chief of Indian Army General Deepak Kapoor as to what was the basis of disciplinary action against only one of the four senior generals facing a probe in an alleged land scam in West Bengal.

Well-placed sources confirmed that Antony has asked the Army Chief as to why only Lt-Gen PK Rath had been served a show-cause notice for possible court martial proceedings while the others would face only administrative action. The latter is a very mild reprimand as compared to a court martial.

The Defence Minister, who has maintained that the guilty will be punished, wanted to know from the Army Chief as to why the report of the court of inquiry (CoI) was not accepted in totality. The Army chief’s January 11 ruling is in contrast to the recommendation of Eastern Army Commander Lt-Gen VK Singh, who had after the CoI claimed that there was enough ground for the termination of Military Secretary Lt-Gen Avadesh Prakash’s service. The CoI was conducted on the orders of Lt-Gen VK Singh. Antony today said his ministry was monitoring the action the Army chief was taking in the land scam. “You know, the Army has started some procedure. He has taken some action... We are watching that,” Antony told reporters on the sidelines of a NCC function.

Last week, Adjutant General Mukesh Sabharwal issued notices for taking administrative action against Military Secretary Lt-Gen Avadesh Prakash, Lt-Gen Ramesh Halgali and Maj-Gen P Sen. This, however, means the Military Secretary will be saved from the ignominy of facing a sack. Under the Army Act, administrative action could be as wide as issuing a warning to termination from service.

New Delhi, January 21
Amid questions being raised on the credibility of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), its chairman RK Pachauri today went mum on the “Himalayan blunder” of the UN body on climate change.

Under attack on the goof-up by the Nobel Prize winning UN body, Pachauri refused to answer any query on the international scientists’ unsubstantiated claim carried in its 2007 report that Himalayan glaciers would disappear by 2035.

Pachauri, who had convened a press conference to unveil a road map for India’s energy security, prepared by TERI, the organisation he heads, said: “I would hold a press conference on the issue.”

As mediapersons continued to badger him with queries on the issue, he said, “I do not want to speak on the issue right now.” In response to a query whether he would resign as the IPCC chairman, he said he would answer the question at a separate press conference.

Lately, there have also been allegations of financial impropriety against TERI and Pachauri.

On Wednesday, the UN panel had expressed regret that it erred on the Himalayan glaciers.

Hyderabad, January 21
The spate of suicides continued in Telangana region over statehood issue even as the UPA government came under increasing pressure to announce a specific time-frame for carving out the new state.Ignoring appeals by political parties and the government not to resort to extreme steps, three more persons committed suicide today in support of the statehood cause.

Meanwhile, normal life remained paralysed across Telangana for the second day today due to the shutdown called by Telangana activists.

The suicide deaths were reported from Nizamabad and Medak districts. All of them left suicide notes saying they were depressed over the delay in formation of separate Telangana state. A young Telangana supporter, Suresh, hanged himself in his house in Kamareddy town of Nizamabad district. In a suicide note, the youth said he was saddened over the delay in granting statehood.

In Medak district, A Dasarath and N Kishen ended their lives.Earlier, self-immolation by MCA student Venugopal Reddy in thecity had triggered protests yesterday on the Osmania University campus here, the nerve centre of the statehood movement.

BRIEFLY

Pre-paid mobiles back in JK
New Delhi: Less than three months after the Ministry of Home affairs banned prepaid mobile services in Jammu and Kashmir, an order was on Thursday issued to restore the services. A new set of guidelines for verifying new connection applicants and re-verifying the existing ones had been issued, an official of the Ministry of the Home Affairs said. — TNS