New Delhi, June 7
On his first day as the sixth chairperson of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Justice K.G. Balakrishnan (retired) had a word of advice for the victims of 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy.

More than 20,000 persons died in the leakage of Methyl Isocyanate (MIC) from Bhopal’s Union Carbide India Limited, eight of whose employees were today convicted by a Bhopal court for fatal criminal negligence committed 26 years ago.

“Inadequacy of sentence is a ground for appeal,” the new commission chairperson said, when asked if he concurred with weak IPC sections — 304-A (death by negligence) and 304-II (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) —being slapped against accused in the case where the Union Carbide chief Warren Anderson was not even mentioned among the culprits.

“Murder is different from culpable homicide for which the accused in this case were tried. This judgment is not on the basis of the number of persons killed,” Justice Balakrishnan said in reference to the meagre sentencing of two years. He added that aggrieved parties could appeal against the inadequate sentence.

The aforesaid sections provide for a maximum of two years imprisonment — which leading lawyer Prashant Bhushan termed a “travesty of justice”.

Back at the NHRC, the media was in full attendance today to find out what the new head of India’s human rights watchdog thought of violations in the country. “I have not fixed any priority areas yet as I have only just taken over. I am told the Commission has one lakh pending petitions. I will have to go through them,” he said, replying to a Tribune query.

On Khap panchayats, which routinely pronounce extra-judicial verdicts even ordering killings of people married outside the gotra, the former CJI said, “Khaps panchayats are social groups. If they violate human rights, they will have to be considered under the laws.” Asked if he favoured the banning of Khaps and what he thought of Khaps’ diktats, the NHRC chairperson added: “Khap issue is complex and the Government is considering it.”

About Khaps’ demand of amending the Hindu Marriage Act to ban same gotra marriages too, Justice Balakrishnan expressed no opinion in the rights perspective. He said it was the Parliament’s job to amend laws.

The former CJI was largely guarded in his response to questions like the one on whether governments should sit on mercy petitions for years considering the accused didn’t know where he stood -- whether he would live or die. “Those whose mercy petitions are pending with the Government are living their life. You want them to be executed immediately? There is no prescribed time frame to dispose of such petitions”, he said in reply to a question on whether mercy petitions should be considered in a time-bound manner. The former CJI didn’t give away his mind on whether capital punishment should be allowed.

He, however, said India awarded very meagre death sentences. “In some neighbouring countries, 30 persons are executed in a month,” he said, sympathizing with naxals who, the NHRC chief added, had no education, no hospitals or roads; he termed the naxal problem complex, not making any policy suggestion.

For the record, India saw over 94000 human rights violations last year. Uttar Pradesh topped the list with 58 per cent of all cases. Delhi, Gujarat and Bihar followed suit. Though some NHRC heads have, in the past, rued the fact that the Commission had limited powers to force compliance by states, Justice Balakrishnan today said the Commission had “enough teeth”.

Chandigarh, June 7
Three senior military doctors, including an Air Commodore, could face a court martial over what the Armed Forces Tribunal has found to be “callous manner, inhuman approach and failure of performance of duty” while handling the case of a jawan who had suffered 100 per cent disability in the line of duty. In a scathing order, the tribunal has imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh on the doctors and ordered disciplinary action against them.

Havildar Moharsingh of Rajasthan had received multiple injuries on head and other parts of the body while travelling in an Army truck during Operation Falcon near Tawang in February 2002. After a six-month hospital stay in Pune, Command Hospital, Lucknow, suggested that he be invalided out.

The invaliding medical board assessed his disability of motor neuron disease as 80 per cent for life and attributed it to military service. His case was forwarded to the Principal Controller of Defence Accounts (Pensions), which rejected his claim for disability pension on the grounds that it was constitutional in nature and not related to military service.

Moharsingh went for an appeal medical board (AMB), which described the percentage of his disability as nil and held that the disability suffered by him was not attributable to or aggravated by military service. Thereafter, he sought judicial redressal to his grievances.

The tribunal summoned the petitioner and looking at his pathetic condition wherein he was brought in on a stretcher, it ordered the Commandant of the Military Hospital, Jaipur, to medically examine him.

The medical board held last month assessed his disability as 100 per cent and attributed it to military service. The medical expert opined that Moharsingh was suffering from a progressive, degenerative neurological disorder with no specific treatment.

Observing that the report of the AMB, comprising Air Commodore DP Joshi, Col SB Singh and Lt Col Shobana Das, was not only contrary to that of two other boards, but also did not mention the reasons for assessing disability as nil, the Tribunal held that AMB was grossly incorrect and deserved to be deprecated.

“We direct that these three officers be subjected to disciplinary action under the Army Act. It is expected that necessary action against them shall be taken at the earliest and the result thereof be intimated to the Tribunal,” the Bench ordered while imposing costs of Rs 1 lakh to be paid to the petitioner by the government to be recovered from the salaries of the AMB members.

The incident reflects inhuman treatment that had crossed all boundaries of humanity by superior Armed Forces medical officers, whose actions resulted into injustice and restrained the authorities to grant disability pension to the petitioner, the tribunal observed.

Lucknow, June 7
About 27 persons, mostly young girls from the brides’ family, received burn injuries when a man of the bridegroom’s entourage poured acid on them during a wedding ceremony in Bulandshahr district today.

According to ADG (Law and Order) Brij Lal, one person, Kailash Meena who was part of the baraat, has been arrested.

For Veerpal of Alipur village, about 40 km from Bulandshahr, the happy occasion of the marriage of his two daughters turned tragic when during the “tika” ceremony a member of the baraat, which had come from Bharatpur in Rajasthan, reported to have accidentally sprinkled acid instead of water on the family members and friends of the brides.

According to the police, five of the injured are in a critical condition and have been admitted to Bulandshahr district hospital.

The district police said it was only after investigation that they would be able to confirm if the incident was an accident. However, a local TV channel claimed that the incident occurred following arguments between both parties after some young men allegedly teased females of the brides’ party.

Lucknow, June 7
The ruling BSP retained the Domariyaganj Vidhan Sabha seat defeating its nearest BJP candidate with a record margin of 15,842 votes.

However, it was an embarrassing defeat for the Samajwadi and Congress party candidates, who managed fourth and fifth positions respectively, forfeiting their deposits in the process.

BSP’s Khatoon Taufique defeated her nearest BJP rival in the bypoll. She got 44,765 votes, while Prem Prakash, alias Jippy Tiwari, of the BJP received 28,923 votes. Sachidanand of the newly floated Peace Party managed 26,336 votes.

Samajwadi Party, which was runner up in 2007 state Assembly election, slipped to the fourth position and its candidate Kamal Yusuf got 21,924 votes.

Similarly, the Congress was placed fifth, with its candidate Ashok Kumar Singh receiving 19,206 votes.

The seat had fallen vacant following the demise of Khatoon's husband and BSP MLA Taufeeq Ahmad in January last.

New Delhi, June 7
In what is a shocker, needle of suspicion is now pointing towards officials at the Army headquarters here for allegedly providing clandestine help to a Major-level officer facing allegation of espionage. The officials have not been identified so far.

The attempt could have helped the Major escape the ongoing probe being conducted by the National Investigating Agency (NIA). The Major, belonging to 21 Bihar Regiment, was in possession of more than 2,500 secret and sensitive presentations of the Forces stored on his personal computer. The probe has revealed that the documents were deleted when the computer was supposedly seized by the Army authorities, well placed sources in the government confirmed today.

The civilian intelligence agencies, on being tipped-off by their US counterparts in April, had informed the Army that seized the computer, sources said. The Defence Ministry has been informed about the seriousness of the matter, the attempt to delete the files, besides the need to investigate the source of sensitive information that the Major had possessed.

When the NIA started its probe, it had sent the computer for an analysis to the Central Forensic Science Laboratory, Hyderbad, which said the files had been deleted from the computer’s hard disc. Using a restoration technique, it was able to find how the files were deleted. The NIA recalled the Major presently posted with the 108 Brigade at Tri-services Command, Andaman Nicobar.

Sources here said no names had been pinpointed so far. The Major is under questioning and, in all likelihood, will face the strictest possible action.

The documents stored on the computer are not the kinds to be in the possession of a Major. Some of these presentations were contingency plans that the Forces had drawn up to counter Pakistan on Rajasthan and Punjab frontier, besides modes of deploying Forces in battle scenarios.

The probe will also cover as to who provided the documents and how did the Major got hold of the sensitive strategic documents normally discussed at the highest level. The Major got the classified data from multiple sources, but has not yet revealed his contacts during repeated questioning.

The matter had first come to light when US intelligence, investigating a tip-off from the David Coleman Headley’s interrogation, were keeping tabs on an ISI computer. A huge flow of classified Indian Army data was noticed.

The Major, in his initial questioning, had maintained that his computer might had been hacked by the ISI. Sources said it was hard to believe that how the ISI knew that the Major had stored such sensitive data on his computer.

Patna, June 7
The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has refuted tall claims of former Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav that the overall performance of the Railways during his tenure (2004-09) was “splendid”. In its recent report submitted to the Centre, the CAG has said the Railways did not perform well during that period, rather its performance deteriorated marginally during 2008-09 - the fag end of Lalu’s tenure.

According to a top official in the Railway board, the CAG report had made some startling revelations about the growth rate of the Railways not only in its earnings and expenditure but also infrastructure development. Lalu, the then Railway Minister, had claimed that cumulative cash surplus of the Railways was Rs 90,000 crore. But according to the CAG report it was only about Rs 39,412 crore. The report also says revenue surplus rather showed a declining trend during the last leg of Lalu’s term. As per the CAG report, the Railways could achieve only 28 per cent of the total target of 11th Five-Year Plan in the initial two years.

In infrastructure development, the target was to add 2,000 km of new track, but it could build only 513 km new lines during the stipulated period. Similarly, against the target of 10,000-km gauge conversion, it could complete only about 2,612 km. Track doubling work also remained much behind the target. Against the target of 6,000 km, it could complete only about 789 km. The report further says the target was to electrify 3,500 km routes but the Railways could complete the work on only about 1,299 km during that period.

According to the CAG report, earnings from passenger traffic declined from a peak of 15.21 per cent in 2007-08 to 10.52 per cent in the subsequent year. Similarly, annual rate of growth of freight loading had declined from a peak of 10.7 per cent in 2005-06 to 4.97 per cent in 2008-09. The earnings from traffic spent on operations also went up to 90.46 per cent in 2007-08. In 2006-07 it was about 75.94 per cent.

Notably, the White Paper brought out by Railway Minister Mamta Banerjee had also refuted Lalu’s claims on the performance and cash surplus of the Railways during his tenure. The CAG report has further substantiated it.

Jaipur, June 7
The battle royale between the erstwhile members of the royal family over inheriting late Rajmata Gayatri Devi’s property worth hundreds of crores has intensified with her stepson Prithviraj Singh and grandson Devraj Singh battling it out in the court.

In a fresh move, lawyer of Rambagh Palace GK Garg has claimed that Gayatri Devi was a tenant in Lilypool, her French-style residence here. He further claimed that they have the documents to prove her tenancy and could also establish their legal sanctity in the court.

However, the lawyer of Gayatri Devi’s grandson, MM Ranjan said Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II had given Lilypool to Gayatri Devi on a lease of 99 years. He dubbed the claim of the Rambagh Palace as a “lie”.

Last month too, Prithviraj Singh had accused Gayatri Devi’s grandchildren, Devraj Singh and Lalitya Kumari, of attempting to sell off Lilypool in a clandestine manner. He didn’t stop at merely levelling allegations against them, but went a step ahead by getting public notices published in the local dailies.

In the public notice, he had cautioned potential buyers against purchasing the property, while claiming it as his own. He has identified himself as the manager of the Rambagh Palace Hotel Pvt Ltd and dubbed Lilypool as the company’s property in the notice.

“After the death of Gayatri Devi her grandchildren were wrongfully calling themselves the inheritors and attempting to sell the property located on the Sawai Ram Singh Road (opposite SMS School),” read the notice. On the other hand, responding to Prithviraj’s claim over Lilypool, Devraj’s office said, “According to the last will of the late Rajmata, her grandchildren have inherited all movable and immovable properties of Gayatri Devi.”

The royal family members have not been fighting over Lilypool alone. A few days back, Prithviraj Singh had even questioned the right to inheritance of Devraj Singh and his sister Lalitya Kumari as their father late Jagat Singh was adopted by the royal family of Isarda in Sawai Madhopur district.

In response to Devraj’s contention before a local court that his father was never an adopted child of the Isarda ruler, Prithviraj has submitted a couple of photographs and documents in the court to corroborate late Jagat Singh’s adoption by the then Isarda ruler, Bahadur Singh, on February 2, 1957.

The court was also told that even Gayatri Devi had mentioned about the adoption of her son (Jagat) in her memoirs, A Princess Remembers, along with pictures of the ceremony. Prithviraj’s counsel also contended that a public declaration was also made about the adoption by publishing it in the local newspapers of the time.

He also presented some revenue records in which Jagat Singh has been identified himself as son of Bahadur Singh. Meanwhile, former Jaipur ruler Bhawani Singh has also moved a plea before the court, informing it that a petition over the property dispute was already pending before the Delhi High Court, wherein he (Bhawani Singh) has claimed to be the sole heir of the former Jaipur ruler Sawai Man Singh II.

Earlier, Prithviraj Singh and his step-niece Urvashi Devi moved a lower court, disputing the last will of Gayatri Devi on two main grounds. First, it was alleged that Gayatri Devi’s late son Jagat Singh had disinherited his children, Devraj and Lalitya, and vested all rights to his properties in his mother (Gayatri Devi) on June 23, 1996.

Secondly, it was alleged that Devraj and Lalitya took advantage of Gayatri Devi’s deteriorating health during her last days and got the will in their favour. Countering the charges, Devraj had questioned the right of his step-uncle Prithviraj Singh and cousin Urvashi Devi in challenging the will of former Rajmata of Jaipur.

Devraj and Lalitya are children of late Jagat Singh, the only son of Gayatri Devi, the third wife of Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II. The late Maharaja had two earlier marriages and the present head of the family, Bhawani Singh, is the son from his first wife. He had two more sons, Prithviraj Singh and Jai Singh, from the second wife.

Chandigarh, June 7
Pump liberal financial assistance in the agriculture sector and related fields like research and irrigation if foodgrain production is to keep pace with the growing population of the country.

This was the near-unanimous view of politicians and experts at the first meeting of the Working Group on Agriculture Production held here today. the meeting was chaired by Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

The Working Group was constituted by the Prime Minister when he convened a meeting of Chief Ministers to discuss price rise on April 8.

Hooda stressed the need to double foodgrain production by 2040, which, he said, was possible only with a 2.5 per cent annual growth.

The meeting was attended, among others, by Punjab Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal, West Bengal Finance Minister Asim Kumar Dasgupta, Bihar Agriculture Minister Renu Kumari Kushwaha and Union Agriculture Secretary PK Basu.

Hooda said there was a dire need for ushering in another green revolution as foodgrain production in the country had either declined or stagnated during the current decade. The second green revolution could be ushered in only through a dynamic approach, a focused strategy and application of new tools of science and technology in agriculture to address second-generation problems.

He said the degradation of soil health, fragmentation of land-holdings, imbalanced use of fertilisers, inadequate availability of quality seed, poor mechanisation, depletion of water resources, knowledge gap and poor dissemination of technologies were mainly responsible for low productivity.

Badal sought liberal financial assistance from the Central Government for renovation and strengthening of network of canals. He said farmers in Punjab were under heavy debt (Rs 36,000 crore in all). This burden was driving them to suicide.

He urged the Centre to waive all agricultural loans as a one-time measure. He also sought a special package for farmers cultivating land along the international border.

Dasgupta said the demand-supply gap in specific food items like pulses and oilseeds should be significantly reduced in the next five years. The entire exercise of enhancement of agricultural production should be socially sustainable. He urged the Centre to allow a subsidy of 50 per cent on power for the agricultural sector. He pleaded that the minimum support price should be fixed for all crops.

Kushwaha said subsidy on diesel for irrigation should be a part of regular schemes.

Chairman of the Punjab Farmers’ Commission GS Kalkat said technology could be accepted by farmers only if they got support services. He said average productivity of various crops in eastern parts of the country was very low. Hence, emphasis should be laid on this area to increase agricultural production.

Vice Chancellor of CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar, KS Khokhar, suggested liberal financial assistance for research and development in the agricultural sector, especially in biotechnology.

The next meeting of the group will be held at Patna.

Chandigarh, June 7
Having woken up to the “over-theoretic” manner in which Science subjects are taught in Class X and XII, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) is all set to revamp the system.

In what may prove to be a revolutionary step, the CBSE is considering reduction of theory topics in Science papers of Class X and XII, in addition to increasing the weightage (proportion of marks) of laboratory and project work. The number of experiments required to be done by the students will be increased.

From Class IX onwards, it would be made mandatory for the students to do laboratory work and related projects for every topic taught.

“Science is a dynamic stream and needs reviewing every now and then. We want more and more students to develop interest in pure Sciences. This can only be possible if they divert from learning by rote to discovering the reasons behind each scientific theory through experiments and projects. It is possible that we might go in for fifty-fifty division of marks between theory and laboratory work,” said Rama Sharma, CBSE spokesperson from New Delhi.

Interestingly, the decision has been taken after analysing this year’s Board results that indicated that many students were unable to perform to their optimum in the subject and move away from the stream because of faulty orientation.

The Board has recently deleted a large number of topics from the Class IX and X syllabi. It had even introduced written test based on laboratory work to ensure that students actually worked in laboratories.

Jaipur, June 7
Train services have been hit on the Jodhpur-Jaisalmer rail section following heavy rains triggered by cyclone Phet in the western parts of the desert state.

According to a North-Western Railway spokesman, railway tracks were inundated and a few bridges were seen overflowing as rainfall lashed several areas between Phalodi and Jaisalmer.

He said Jaisalmer-Delhi via Jodhpur Intercity, Jaisalmer-Jodhpur, and Lalgarh-Jaisalmer trains were either terminated or reverted to the destinations.

Heavy to light rains lashed the western districts of Jodhpur, Barmer and Jaisalmer affecting normal life and traffic, both rail and road, since yesterday night.

The rainfall was recorded in the range of 30 to 70 mm at these places, a Met official said.

The Railways also deployed several roadways buses from Phalodi station to take passengers to their destination, the spokesman added.

Mumbai, June 7
As a part of its 'Save Water' campaign, the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) will paste one lakh stickers on auto rickshaws and taxis in the city reminding citizens about the importance of water.

The stickers will be in English, Marathi, Hindi, Gujarati and Urdu, with a picture urging citizens to save water. "The stickers will be put on the front of all 2,000 MCGM vehicles, including those of Commissioner and Additional Municipal Commissioners," a civic official said.

"We will approach auto rickshaw and taxi unions pursuing them to put up stickers on windscreen of the vehicles.With this we intend to continue to create awareness among people," the official said. The civic body has printed about one lakh stickers that cost it Rs 2 lakh, the official said.

The MCGM has been taking majors like building borewells, desalination plants, grey water recycling, setting up rain water harvesting plants besides creating awareness among Mumbaikars in view of the acute water shortage being faced by the city since last monsoon. "Through this, we think, people would be reminded of saving water even during and after the monsoon. On our part we would continue creating awareness," the official said.

Today people have realised the importance of saving water. The need of the hour is to come out of water crisis situation and work jointly, the official added. Earlier, as part of the 'Save Water' campaign MCGM had shot an advertisement with Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar urging Mumbaikars to save water. — PTI 

Chandigarh, June 7
Pump liberal financial assistance in the agriculture sector and related fields like research and irrigation if foodgrain production is to keep pace with the growing population of the country. This was the near-unanimous view of politicians and experts at the first meeting of the Working Group on Agriculture Production held here today. the meeting was chaired by Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

The Working Group was constituted by the Prime Minister when he convened a meeting of Chief Ministers to discuss price rise on April 8.

Hooda stressed the need to double foodgrain production by 2040, which, he said, was possible only with a 2.5 per cent annual growth.

The meeting was attended, among others, by Punjab Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal, West Bengal Finance Minister Asim Kumar Dasgupta, Bihar Agriculture Minister Renu Kumari Kushwaha and Union Agriculture Secretary PK Basu.

Hooda said there was a dire need for ushering in another green revolution as foodgrain production in the country had either declined or stagnated during the current decade. The second green revolution could be ushered in only through a dynamic approach, a focused strategy and application of new tools of science and technology in agriculture to address second-generation problems.

He said the degradation of soil health, fragmentation of land-holdings, imbalanced use of fertilisers, inadequate availability of quality seed, poor mechanisation, depletion of water resources, knowledge gap and poor dissemination of technologies were mainly responsible for low productivity.

Badal sought liberal financial assistance from the Central Government for renovation and strengthening of network of canals. He said farmers in Punjab were under heavy debt (Rs 36,000 crore in all). This burden was driving them to suicide.

He urged the Centre to waive all agricultural loans as a one-time measure. He also sought a special package for farmers cultivating land along the international border.

Dasgupta said the demand-supply gap in specific food items like pulses and oilseeds should be significantly reduced in the next five years. The entire exercise of enhancement of agricultural production should be socially sustainable. He urged the Centre to allow a subsidy of 50 per cent on power for the agricultural sector. He pleaded that the minimum support price should be fixed for all crops.

Kushwaha said subsidy on diesel for irrigation should be a part of regular schemes.

Chairman of the Punjab Farmers’ Commission GS Kalkat said technology could be accepted by farmers only if they got support services. He said average productivity of various crops in eastern parts of the country was very low. Hence, emphasis should be laid on this area to increase agricultural production.

Vice Chancellor of CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar, KS Khokhar, suggested liberal financial assistance for research and development in the agricultural sector, especially in biotechnology.