The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Casteism root cause of honour killings: Speaker
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, November 9
Days after the Global Human Development Report 2011 placed India behind its South Asian friends on critical indicators of gender equality, Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar today said caste and dowry system were the root cause of man-woman barriers in India and must be eliminated to ensure gender parity.

Strongly condemning honour killings, the Speaker, while delivering the 17th Justice Sunanda Bhandare Memorial Lecture in memory of Justice Bhandare who boldly took up the cause of women, said caste system was the root cause of honour killings.

“I believe that gender equality and women empowerment can be achieved only when we are able to address the caste and dowry system. The deep-rooted caste system is the root cause of honour killings. The proponents of this system propagate marriages within the caste to ensure the persistence of caste-based social inequalities and are opposed to any dilution of this rigid system through inter-caste marriages. This practice must be condemned and women should be free to decide the course of their future,” she said.

Agreeing that despite women-specific laws there continued to be differences between the de jure and de facto status of women, she called for an end to dowry system. “This system has resulted in female foeticide, female infanticide, and discrimination against the girl child. The adverse sex ratio is a consequence of dowry system. Responsible citizens must act as agents of change to end it,” she said.

Hailing the 73rd and 74th amendments to the Constitution that reserved seats for women in panchayats, Meira Kumar said access to developmental benefits still remained conditioned by social attitude towards women.

“These prejudices manifest themselves in low literacy rate for women. The gap between the male literacy rate of 82.14 per cent and the female literacy rate of 65.46 per cent is about 17 per cent,” she said.

“Labour markets in industry and services sector also are male dominated. Women workers account only for a third of our workforce with a higher percentage of women in the informal sector,” the Speaker noted with concern.

She said it was a matter of grave concern that even in this era of globalisation and despite a visible increase in the number of women in key positions, primary production activities such as manufacturing and construction remained male dominated. “Women continue to lag behind in quality entrepreneurship and employment due to lack of skill, capacity building and education,” she said, seeking a favourable legislative regime for women.

	BHULLAR CASE SC: Victims’ human rights ignored R Sedhuraman Legal Correspondent New Delhi, November 9 The Supreme Court today lamented that some political parties and sections of people were putting pressure for commuting the death sentence awarded to terrorists into life term by totally ignoring the agony and human rights of terror victims. A Bench comprising Justices GS Singhvi and SJ Mukhopadhaya made this observation while hearing the plea of Devender Pal Singh Bhullar, sentenced to death for the September 10, 1993 bomb attack on the then Youth Congress president, MS Bitta. During the day-long hearing, senior counsel KTS Tulsi, arguing for Bhullar, pleaded for sparing the life of his client in view of the eight years’ delay by the government in rejecting his mercy petition. The delay had resulted in the solitary confinement of Bhullar all these years which was inhuman and cruel. This reduced him to a mental wreck necessitating his treatment at the Institute of Human Sciences and Behaviour at Sahibabad, since December 2010, Tulsi contended. The Bench wanted to know the consequences of judicial delays in such cases. Should the convicts be let off with a life term even in the event of delays in holding the trial and disposing of their appeals by the high courts and the Supreme Court as they faced agony from day one of their prosecution and trial, it asked. “The trauma is more acute when the mercy petition is pending,” Tulsi argued. Contending that the government had not even bothered to give the reasons for the delay except for stating that the Constitutional process did take time, Tulsi said the situation had come to such a pass that warranted the SC to “tighten the screws on the government” on the issue.
	Announcement on Telangana likely soon Suresh Dharur/TNS Hyderabad, November 9 All eyes are riveted on Delhi for the much-awaited announcement on the Telangana issue, expected “anytime after November 10”. Given the bitter regional divide in Andhra Pradesh, the UPA leadership is believed to be in favour of a “middle path” that could satisfy the aspirations of all the three regions - Telangana, Rayalaseema and coastal Andhra. The Congress leadership is reportedly not willing for creation of a separate Telangana state. Instead, an autonomous and statutorily empowered Telangana Regional Council may be announced to ensure rapid development of the backward region. The proposed council, with a separate budgetary allocation, will be headed by a Chairman who will have the status of deputy chief minister. There is speculation in political circles that the former APCC Chief D Srinivas, who was recently nominated to the Legislative Council, could be made chairman of the proposed Telangana Council. Though the Telangana protagonists have made it clear that nothing short of a separate Telangana state with Hyderabad as the capital would satisfy the people of the region, the Centre is likely to push for the autonomous council to redress the long-standing grievances of the region. The sources also said that a reasonable financial package for the all-round development of Telangana could also be part of the compromise formula being considered by the Centre.
	Hazarika laid to rest Guwahati, November 9 Legendary singer Bhupen Hazarika was laid to rest on the soil of Assam on the banks of Brahmaputra. Mortal remains of the cultural icon, who mastered the art of heart-to-heart communication with masses, were consigned to flames by his son Tez Hazarika at 10:30 am on Wednesday, amid gun salutes by Assam police personnel. The cremation, held at a sprawling plot inside Gauhati University campus close to Brahmaputra river, brought down curtains on the unprecedented two day-long pilgrimage of lakhs of fans who thronged Judges’ Field in Guwahati to pay their last respects to the ‘Jajabor’ (roving artiste), who strived for national integration and global brotherhood. Gauhati university authorities donated a 30-year-old Sandal tree so that its sweet-smelling wood could be used to make the funeral pyre for Hazarika, who composed and tuned the varsity anthem - Jilikabo Luitore Par…. Senior BJP leader Sushma Swaraj, Assam Governor JB Patnaik, Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, Union minister Paban Singh Ghatowar were among the dignitaries present.
	Cong edifice set to crumble: BJP Aditi Tandon/TNS New Delhi, November 9 The BJP today warned UPA allies to reposition themselves for safety, saying the edifice of the Congress was about to crumble. Cornering PM Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi once again on the burning issues of corruption and price rise, the main opposition party said it was giving a wake-up call to the friends of the UPA because the Congress-led coalition was set to crumble under the weight of its own sins. The BJP issued a special warning to West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress Chief Mamata Banerjee, daring her to show her trademark firmness on petrol price hike. “The Congress is not alone responsible for corruption and inflation. Its coalition partners are equally responsible and they should reconsider their alliance with the Congress. The UPA allies should help people of the country to get rid of the Congress party. They should stop escaping their responsibility,” BJP spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain said, slamming Sonia Gandhi’s speeches on the issue of corruption (read the one read out in Uttarakhand today). “What has the UPA chairperson ever done about corruption apart from delivering speeches? Allies should ask the Government and not be content with plum ministerial portfolios. They have a collective responsibility in the price rise and corruption issues because they are part of the Cabinet,” Hussain said.
	‘Green’ nod to Lavasa-1 Tribune News Service New Delhi, November 9 The multi-crore hill city project Lavasa today overcame the green hurdle with the Environment Ministry granting clearance for its first phase subject to “strict compliance” of certain terms and conditions. “The ministry, hereby, accords environmental clearance for the project as per provisions of the Environmental Impact Assessment Notification, 2006, and its subsequent amendments, subject to strict compliance of terms and conditions,” an MoEF order said. The ministry’s decision came after the Maharashtra Government filed a case against the promoters of Lavasa Hill City for alleged violations of the Environment Protection Act. “We have now got environment clearance from the Ministry of Environment and Forests and the stakeholders will be happy to hear this,” Ajit Gulabchand, chairman, Lavasa Corporation, was quoted as saying. He said the decision would also reassure hundreds of villagers and workers engaged in the construction of the hill city project. The ministry had laid down five pre-conditions, as suggested by the Expert Appraisal Committee, for Lavasa to comply with before the grant of environment clearance. These conditions include demarcation of land usage which includes open spaces, diverting five per cent of its expenses for corporate social responsibility, creation of an environment restoration fund, which in turn will be monitored by a verification and monitoring committee and a submission by the company that violations would not be repeated.
	Hazare raps Chavan Shiv Kumar/TNS Mumbai, November 9 Social activist Anna Hazare hit out at Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan for backing the controversial Lavasa resort project. In a letter to Chavan, Hazare and fellow activist Medha Patkar accused him of undercutting the state’s own pollution control agency by recommending that the Environment Ministry can give the green signal for the project. “It is strange and shocking that the Chief Minister has made a public utterance supporting the commencement of phase 1 of the project, with clearance from the Union Environment Ministry on the same day, when the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) filed a criminal complaint against Lavasa,” the letter said. The activist also accused Chavan of committing contempt of court as the Bombay High Court had ordered the Maharashtra Government to file a case against the project. The MPCB has filed a complaint against the promoters of the project for violating the Environment Protection Act (EPA). The project is backed by Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar and his daughter Supriya Sule (an MP) used to be a former shareholder in it. According to reports, Pawar had meetings with senior officials in New Delhi to press for environmental clearance for the project. Work on the project was stayed by former minister for environment Jairam Ramesh.
	Australia amends student visa programme Ashok Tuteja/TNS New Delhi, November 9 With its reputation of being an attractive destination for international students taking a beating in recent years, Australia has announced implementation of a number of changes to the student visa programme, focusing on improving the competitiveness of its international education sector and the integrity of the visa programme. The changes flow from the recent strategic review of Australia’s student visa programme by Michael Knight. Further changes, including streamlined visa processing arrangements for participating universities, are due to be implemented in 2012. Under the new changes, from November 5, student visa applicants will need to include confirmation of enrolment (COE), issued by their intended education provider, as part of their student visa applications. This is aimed at improving processing time as students will no longer need to wait for a pre-visa assessment (PVA) letter to be issued by the Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) before arranging their COE. Changes have also being made to reduce the financial requirements for assessment level (AL) 3 and 4 students. A new genuine temporary entrant (GTE) criterion was also implemented on November 5. This will assist Australia to ensure that students are intending a temporary stay only for the purposes of their education.
	India calls for UN Council expansion Tribune News Service New Delhi, November 9 Dismissing the annual report of the UN Security Council as a ‘statistical compilation of events’, India has called for the expansion of the Council in both permanent and non-permanent categories and an improvement in its working methods. Speaking on reform of the Security Council on behalf of India at the UN, Nominated Rajya Sabha member HK Dua pitched for continuation of the ongoing inter-governmental negotiations for the expansion of Council. He recalled that India was among the originators of an initiative on a short resolution launched earlier this year calling for UN reform. “The success of the ongoing initiative is clear from the fact that an overwhelming majority of UN member-states have expressed their firm support for the same, including more than 80 delegations who have done so in writing,’’ he added. Dua noted that India was a member of two groupings devoted to early reform of the Security Council, namely G-4 and L-69. The positions of these two groups have a number of common elements with other member-states which have made proposals on the subject. The G-4 comprises Indian, Brazil, Japan and Germany, which consider themselves eligible for seats in the Security Council. The L-69 consists of a diverse group of 40 countries from Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, Asia and the Pacific.