The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	Govt gets 2 weeks to reply on SC/ST quota in KVs Aditi Tandon/TNS New Delhi, April 26 Despite two years of implementation of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009, the government needs time to figure out whether its own central schools - Kendriya Vidyalayas - can continue to reserve 22.5 per cent seats, as earlier, for SC/ST students. Such reservation would leave only 2.5 per cent seats for students of weaker and disadvantaged sections which, according to the RTE Act, have been guaranteed 25 per cent quota. Unable to divulge its stand on the matter, the Human Resource Development Ministry has sought more time to file its response to the query raised by the Delhi High Court as to whether Kendriya Vidyalayas can go on with the policy of reserving 22.5 per cent seats for SC/ST students. The counsels appearing for the government (Ministry of HRD) told the court that the reply received from the ministry in that respect did not answer the query raised by the court and, therefore, they needed two weeks more to file an appropriate reply. On the last date of hearing (February 27), a Division Bench of the high court headed by Acting Chief Justice AK Sikri had directed the HRD Ministry to look into and examine the matter and submit views on that aspect. The court passed these directions while hearing a PIL filed by the Social Jurist, a civil rights group, through activist-lawyer Ashok Agarwal. The petitioner has challenged the validity and legality of the guidelines for admission to KVs in Class I in the academic year 2011-12 whereby the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangthan has introduced reservation within reservation in 25 per cent reserved seats for the children belonging to disadvantaged group and economically weaker section under Section 12(1)( c) of the RTE Act. “Such reservation within reservation is impermissible under the law,” Agarwal argued. Granting the government two weeks to file its reply, the court adjourned the hearing to July 4. SEAT-SHARING Kendriya Vidyalayas have been reserving 22.5% seats for SC, ST students This leaves just 2.5% quota seats for disadvantaged and economically weaker students Under the RTE Act, economically weaker students are entitled to 25% seats
	MNREGA job hours to be changed for women Amendment of Act to resolve discrepancies between legal, NREGA wage on the anvil Aditi Tandon/TNS New Delhi, April 26 To provide succour to women workers across rural India, the government is mulling changes in the job timings prescribed under the rural employment guarantee law. For the first time since the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act was passed, the Ministry of Rural Development today admitted that women, who outnumber men in most states under this scheme, face difficulties in starting work at 8 am and going on until 5 pm, considering they have at attend to household chores also. “The proposal we are right now considering is to alter these job timings from 8 am to 5 pm to 9 am to 5 pm with one hour interval for lunch. The Minimum Wages Act prescribes payment of wages for nine hours of work and since this is the norm we follow, we have to maintain nine working hours with one hour for lunch. We are seriously looking at this proposal and will soon be coming to a final a decision on the matter,” Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh told the Lok Sabha during Question Hour today. The major pro-women move would benefit scores of rural female workers in India, particularly in the southern states where they outnumber men in seeking work. The demand first came from the states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu where the proportion of women workers in MNREGA exceeds 80 per cent. Female workforce under the law is gradually increasing elsewhere as well. “We are seriously considering amending the Act once for all to put an end to this controversy about the discrepancy between the minimum wage under the Minimum Wages Act and the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act,” Ramesh said. While in some states (like Kerala), wages paid under MREGA are more than those paid under the Minimum Wages Act, in others (like AP, Arunachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Kerala, Mizoram, Rajasthan, West Bengal and Andaman and Nicobar Islands), where the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act wage rate is lower than the minimum wage rate as fixed by the state government under the Minimum Wages Act. “These are states where wage rate is revised but still falls lower than the legal minimum wage. This case is in the Supreme Court and the next hearing is on August 20. We have sought a clarification on the issue of discrepancy in wages. There are a large number of issues that would arise if we link the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act wage rate to actual minimum wage rate under the Minimum Wages Act. So we are considering amending the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act to end this confusion,” Ramesh said. He said government would revise the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act wage rate every year and it would be indexed to the Consumer Price Index for agricultural labour.
	Hillary to visit India in May Ashok Tuteja/TNS New Delhi, April 26 US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will visit India early next month on a two-day visit to hold talks with Indian leaders on regional and global issues as well as bilateral ties. During her visit in the first week of May, Hillary and External Affairs Minister SM Krishna are expected to discuss the situation in the Af-Pak region extensively. Hillary will also call on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. India and the US are scheduled to hold a strategic dialogue in Washington on June 13.Prior to arriving in New Delhi, Hillary will visit China and Bangladesh as part of her three-nation Asia tour. In India, apart from New Delhi, she will also visit Kolkata. In Kolkata, she is scheduled to meet Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Governor MK Narayanan. Hillary's visit to Kolkata is being seen in line with her tradition of visiting at least one Indian state during all her visits. Sources said her visit to India was planned at a short notice. It will be followed by a host of high-level visits from the US in May. Hillary’s visit comes amid suggestions that the momentum in the Indo-US relations has cooled recently as New Delhi is seen to be moving slowly on economic reforms sought by the US and is hesitating over US’ calls to end oil imports from Iran.
	Prez poll: UPA’s efforts on consensus gather pace Anita Katyal Our Political Correspondent New Delhi, April 26 The ruling coalition’s efforts to forge a consensus on a candidate for the Presidential poll are picking up pace. After Congress president Sonia Gandhi initiated the process yesterday at a meeting with NCP chief and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, she has deputed Defence Minister AK Antony to speak to DMK supremo M Karunanidhi in this connection. Antony is expected to travel to Tamil Nadu in the coming days. Pawar has already said his party wants a consensus on a non-partisan candidate. The Congress will follow up these discussions with another key ally, Trinamool Congress chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee when she comes to Delhi to participate in the CM’s conference on NCTC slated for May 5. Congress sources said after consulting UPA allies, the Congress president will reach out to parties extending outside suppport to the UPA. These include Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD). In addition to the Trinamool Congress, the support of the Samajwadi Party is crucial as the two parties have a substantial number of votes in the electoral college. There are reports that the two parties will work in tandem to push the candidature of of somebody who is not from the Congress ranks. However, they are keeping their cards close to their chest. Trinamool Congress leader Sudip Bandopadhyay said their party will discuss names of candidates once the election is notified. “Let the Congress propose a name first; we will give our reaction later,” he added. The May 5 conference will also provide an opportunity to other CMs to hold parleys on the Presidential poll, particularly since the regional parties hold the key in this election. Tedious affair n Both the Congress-led UPA and the BJP-headed NDA are wooing the regional satraps n The BJP is encouraging regional parties to use their clout to install a non-Congressman in the Rashtrapati Bhavan n The Congress, on the other hand, could drive a bargain with parties like the Samajwadi Party by offering it the vice-president’s post n President Pratibha Patil demits office in 3 months and her successor will be elected on July 25
	Jan 16 troop movement was a training drill, Antony tells RS New Delhi, April 26 Defence Minister AK Antony today said the Army troop movement in January was undertaken for training purpose and was aimed at refining mobilisation drills and preparedness of the force in foggy and wintry conditions. In a written reply to Rajya Sabha, Antony said, "The movement was purely for training purpose, aimed at refining mobilisation drills and ensuring operational preparedness of Army despite adverse weather conditions." According to a newspaper report, the central intelligence agencies reported that on the night of January 16, there was an unexpected and non-notified movement by a key military unit around Delhi in the direction of the capital. Stating no such report was received by the Defence Ministry about such troop movement, Antony said, "On January 16, one of the units of Para-Brigade carried out mobilisation to practise mounting from an alternate airfield other than Agra in fogged-out condition." A similar exercise was carried out by Hisar-based 33 Armoured Division, where a mechanised infantry battalion was mobilised towards Bahadurgarh located west of Delhi to validate its loading, movement and occupation of a harbour in poor visibility, the minister said. — TNS
	us-india-japan dialogue China’s aggressive posturing dominates Ashok Tuteja/TNS New Delhi, April 26 China’s aggressive posturing in the South China Sea and its growing profile in the Asia-Pacific region were the hot topics of discussion at the US-India-Japan trilateral dialogue held in Tokyo. This was the second time top officials of the three countries met to share their perceptions on Asia Pacific, South Asia and maritime security. Opportunities for cooperation among the three countries in different areas were also discussed. Sources privy to the meeting held on Monday said strengthening the East Asia Summit (EAS) and discreetly checking China’s rise to ensure Beijing plays a constructive and not dominant role were also on the table at the meet. The potential for greater disaster-relief cooperation was also discussed since the tsunami of March last year demonstrated the practical utility of close coordination. The first such trilateral dialogue was held in Washington in December last year while the third meeting of the trilateral mechanism will be held in New Delhi before the end of the year. These meetings are seen as an attempt by the three countries to develop a relationship that has the economic and military weight to balance China. Strategic observers say that there certainly exists some logic behind India, Japan and the US working together, and that too in a region that lacks solid security architecture. China’s increasingly belligerent posture in the South China Sea and the perceived decline of overall US influence have driven both India and Japan to work out a reformed partnership with the US. In view of a fiscally insecure environment, Washington, on its part, too appears keen on sharing the burden of securing the region. Given its attempt to maintain a neutral foreign policy, India had reservations about the trilateral arrangement with the US and Japan lest it came at the expense of its other relationships, particularly the complex ties with China. However, the US had satisfactorily addressed some of India’s concerns in this regard before the trilateral dialogue was launched. The US feels that India’s participation in the dialogue would strengthen Asia’s regional institutions, such as the EAS and the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN). Trilateral talks n Officials of the three countries shared their perceptions on Asia Pacific, South Asia and maritime security n Opportunities for cooperation among the countries also discussed n The first such trilateral dialogue was held in Washington last December n The third meeting of the trilateral mechanism will be in New Delhi before the year-end
	The curious case of Tara Chand: When justice failed its own Saurabh Malik Tribune News Service Chandigarh, April 26 He was an integral part of the justice delivery machinery. And, then was done in by it. Serving as Registrar (Additional) when BK Roy was the Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, Tara Chand was hounded and humiliated for offences he never committed. It eventually took him nine agonising years to find justice in the familiar corridors of righteousness. Victim of system A classic example of justice delayed and denied for so many years, the case assumes significance as it was the High Court's own employee at the receiving end. Like in so many other cases, the maxim of innocent till proven guilty was never applied. Tara Chand was implicated, booked, arrested, and retired prematurely, only to emerge as a casualty of a system that punishes you even before the establishment of guilt and pronouncement of sentence. Only early this month, after he waged a prolonged and exhausting battle for justice, was Tara Chand exonerated by the very court that had initiated proceedings against him. As he left the High Court after applying for a copy of the judgment that marks the end of legal action against him, Tara Chand, now 62 years of age appeared visibly relieved, but was reticent about the case that robbed him of his position, his happiness and even social standing. Life in exile "Those were the longest years of my life," he said. "Living in the society, I was still exiled. Twisting and tossing in bed, I would often ask God on sleepless nights — Why this? Why me? But faith kept me going; and now that it's all over, I am gathering the shreds of my life and am beginning to live again," he added. Positioned behind the imposing desk in the miniscule chamber of power adjoining the impressive courtroom of the Chief Justice in the early years of the new millennium, Tara Chand could never have imagined that the powers that be of the institute he served would eventually turn against him. Always immaculately dressed with his gelled hair tightly pressed backwards, he had no inkling that the who's who of the High Court would, in fact, leave him disheveled by levelling allegations of possessing asserts disproportionate to his known sources of income. The move was initiated on the administrative side during Chief Justice Roy's tenure. The case files The registration of the case came as a rude shock to him. On September 22, 2003, at about 11.30 pm, he was booked by the Chandigarh Police under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988. The case was registered at Sector 3, Police Station, on a complaint by the High Court Registrar-General. The entire process was carried out on the basis of an anonymous complaint received by the High Court. Tara Chand was accused of amassing Rs 15 lakh more than his known sources of his income. Properties acquired and disposed of during the check period between April 1978 and August 2003 were referred to, while initiating the action. Available information suggested that the Registrar-General filed the complaint with the police on the directions of then Chief Justice Roy. He shared strained relations with brother judges and was eventually transferred to the Gauhati High Court at Guwahati. In Tara Chand's case, just about two months after the registration of the case, a challan under Section 173 of the CrPC was filed in Court of Special Judge. Charges were framed against him vide order dated June 2, 2005. He was also charge-sheeted for major penalty vide memorandum dated May 17, 2004, for amassing assets disproportionate to his known sources of income. Unending ordeal The registration of the case was just the beginning of the ordeal. His services were placed under suspension the day the case was registered. Chief Justice Roy entered adverse remarks in his annual confidential report on June 2, 2004, for the year ending December 31, 2003. The remarks were inconsistent with 25 years of outstanding reports that included two appreciation letters by former Chief Justices. On June 7, 2004, his pre-mature retirement orders were issued by Chief Justice Roy. Tara Chand claimed it was against the Supreme Court mandate. Much before that on October 1, 2003, Tara Chand gave himself up before the police. In one of the bail pleas, Tara Chand wrote: "Where the prejudice is strong, the judgment is weak". Bail was twice denied to Tara Chand by Special Judge Ram Singh Baswana - once before the filing of the challan and the other after it. His bail plea was finally allowed by Justice Rajive Bhalla of the High Court. A departmental inquiry too was initiated. The breather On January 22, 2008, the Inquiry Officer — Haryana District and Sessions Judge-Cum-Registrar (Vigilance) — observed and concluded in his report: "The department has totally and miserably failed to establish any charge against the delinquent official". The inquiry officer, VK Jain, took note of the fact that "it is also very clear that the case of the department is based upon false/incorrect documents, upon totally wrong and distorted calculations…..Various investments have been illegally and malafidely added in order to exaggerate the assets of the delinquent officer…. Thus, it is proved that the delinquent officer and his family have no disproportionate assets". The inquiry report was accepted by High Court; and on July 30, 2008, the pre-mature retirement order was revoked. Tara Chand was deemed to have retired on June 30, 2007, on attaining the age of superannuation. Thereafter, vide order dated July 23, 2008, the suspension period was also treated to be duty period and he was held entitled to all consequential benefits. Adverse remarks in the ACR too were expunged and the report was upgraded on May 31, 2008. After the breather, Tara Chand moved the High Court again in 2010 for quashing the FIR on the ground that the criminal case and the chargesheet for major penalty were "based on the same set of facts and evidence, involving same movable and immovable assets". Tara Chand claimed the FIR and the subsequent proceedings were liable to quashed, since charges had not been established against him in the departmental inquiry accepted by the High Court. Exonerated, finally Tara Chand also filed a representation before the High Court on August 25, 2011, for the withdrawal of the case as all adverse circumstances had been wiped out. Taking up the matter, Justice Rakesh Kumar Garg ruled: "Neither the prosecution nor the complainant has pointed before this Court any other material which was not before the Inquiry Officer and on the basis of which, any offence can be made out against the petitioner. Thus, once in departmental proceedings, such allegations have not been accepted, which were the very basis of initiation of the instant criminal proceedings against him, in such a situation, the continuation of the FIR in question and subsequent proceedings arising there from will be a futile exercise…. This petition is accepted and the FIR in question and the subsequent proceedings arising there from are hereby quashed". On April 2, Tara Chand could finally walk out as a free man but the wounds of those years — the shame and mortification, would take a long time to heal.
	Akhilesh not in favour of CM under Lokayukta Tribune News Service Lucknow, April 26 Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav today categorically stated that his party was not in favor of bringing the CM officer under the Lokayukta’s scanner. "We are committed to making the Lokayukta an institution with teeth but bringing the CM’s office under its purview is not on the cards," he said while interacting with the media while inaugurating a photo exhibition at the Lalit Kala academy here. He was responding to a status paper submitted by the present Lokayukta Justice N K Mehrotra.
	Indians prefer long-term job security to salary, says survey Mumbai, April 26 With the market uncertainty, Indian employees are preferring financially healthy companies and long-term job security, a survey says. Long-term job security and financial health of the company are the most-often selected factors by 64 per cent employees, followed by career progression opportunities (50 per cent), says a recent Randstad India report. Salary and employee benefits, which topped the chart in 2011, has dropped to the third position, it adds. Long-term job security seems to be the top preference in the telecom sector, but not in the automotive sector. Competitive salary and employee benefits were rated as top factors by employees of the transport and logistics sector, while the same were rated lowest by those in the travel and tourism sector. International career opportunities was rated the top factor by the energy sector employees. The survey also showed that men tend to prefer innovative companies that are financially healthy and offer quality products and services, good training and career prospects, whereas women look for factors like easy accessibility, flexible work arrangements, pleasant atmosphere. — PTI
	Lack of floodlights hits BSF vigil on B’desh border Bijay Sankar Bora/TNS Guwahati, April 26 The Border Security Force (BSF) guarding the India-Bangladesh border is eagerly awaiting the completion of installation of floodlights along the frontier for the sake of more effective vigil during the night hours. A source in the BSF here said lack of floodlights along the long border with Bangladesh, which has many unfenced areas till date besides the riverine stretch in the Dhubri sector in Western Assam, make keeping effective vigil a tough task, especially during moonless nights. The length of the India-Bangladesh border in the Dhubri sector is 134 km that comprises of 77.3 km land border and 56.7 km riverine border. The frontier headquarter of the BSF based in Guwahati has jurisdiction over 495 km stretch of the country’s border with Bangladesh and it is divided under three sectors -- Dhubri sector in Assam, Coochbehar and Falakata sectors in West Bengal. The Dhubri sector is notorious for cattle smuggling and infiltration across the border and the BSF is having a tough time guarding it, especially after the restraint order issued by the Government of India barring the paramilitary force from resorting to open fire at suspicious movement across the border. The maximum deterrent that can be used by the BSF now is stun grenades which have momentary impact on infiltrators. “The restriction imposed on the BSF men from opening fire has emboldened the infiltrators and smugglers to our disadvantage,” a senior BSF official said. So far, floodlight posts have been installed in some areas on the land border, but no progress has been made in the case of the riverine border area. Land of darkness n The India-Bangladesh border has many unfenced areas besides the riverine stretch in Western Assam's Dhubri sector n Installation of floodlights along the border in the Dhubri sector was sanctioned in 2006 n Work on the project was allotted in 2008, while actual work started in 2009 n Though it was scheduled to be completed by December 2012, there is a remote chance of its completion
	All-weather earth observation satellite launched Shubhadeep Choudhury/TNS Bangalore, April 26 India today successfully launched its first indigenous day-night and all-weather radar imaging satellite RISAT-1. It is slated to boost country's remote-sensing capabilities and facilitate agriculture and disaster management. Till now, India depended on images from a Canadian satellite as existing domestic remote-sensing spacecraft cannot take pictures of the earth during cloud cover. "The satellite can give valuable data like soil moisture, glacier positions and other details," Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chairman K Radhakrishnan said. Asked whether the satellite would serve any defence purposes, Radhakrishnan said, "The primary objective of the satellite is to facilitate agricultural operations during the kharif season." The launch of RISAT-2, the second series radar imaging satellite, predated the launch of RISAT-1 as the fabrication and launch of RISAT-1 was postponed in the aftermath of the 2008 Mumbai attacks in order to prioritise the launch of the Israel-made RISAT-2 for surveillance from the sky. While RISAT-2 has an X-band synthetic aperture radar (SAR) widely associated with military usage, the SAR aboard RISAT-1 launched today is C-band. The Israeli satellite procured by India is also much lighter and smaller (300 kg only) in comparison to the massive 1,858 kg RISAT-1. The inclination of RISAT-1 with respect to the equator is 97.55 degree, whereas the inclination of RISAT-2 is 41 degree. ISRO spokesperson Satish said the resolution of RISAT-1 was three to 15 m, depending on the position. The resolution of RISAT-2 is said to be 1 m. It means any object measuring 1 m or more can be distinguished from its background by the SAR aboard RISAT 2. Possibly, the SAR of RISAT 2 can picture even smaller objects. These differences notwithstanding, RISAT-1 is an important breakthrough nevertheless. The most important thing about RISAT-1 is that it is a radar imaging satellite and will not be handicapped by the absence of light like the pre-RISAT series of satellites using panchromatic cameras for imaging the earth. The SAR gives the satellite an all-weather and day-night capability of imaging the earth. It is a significant technological advancement and ISRO engineers are justly proud of it. "Only the US, Canada, Japan and the European consortium have this technology so far," PS Veeraraghavan, Director of the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, Thiruvananthapuram, told reporters after the launch. The spacecraft was injected into the orbit by Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle PSLV C-19 about 19 minutes after a perfect lift off at 5.47 am at the end of the 71-hour countdown from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota, near Chennai. The mission was described as a "grand success" by the ISRO chief. The satellite has been deployed at an altitude of 480 km. It would be raised to its desired altitude of 536 km of Polar Sunsynchronous Orbit in the next three days. The four stages of heavy-duty PSLV-XL variant, used for the third time, performed without any glitch and scientists at the mission control centre broke into cheers when the rocket injected the satellite into the orbit, marking the first launch this year. The EARTH GAZER n RISAT-1 will not be handicapped by the absence of light like the pre-RISAT series of satellites n Its inclination with respect to the equator is 97.55° nIt has a resolution of 3 to 15 m, depending on position n Only the US, Canada, Japan and the European consortium have the technology so far WORKHORSE PSLV n Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle PSLV yet again proved its reliability by completing its 20th successful flight in a row when it launched RISAT-1, the heaviest satellite ever lifted by it n It took PSLV C-19 about 19 minutes after a perfect lift off (at 5.47 am) from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota, near Chennai, to put RISAT-1 in orbit.