The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	DISABLED-UNFRIENDLY India embarrassed as pvt airline tags top UN official as ‘paralysed’ Aditi Tandon Tribune News Service New Delhi, May 19 India suffered a huge embarrassment today after revelations that private airliner Indigo exhibited acute disregard for the rights of a differently abled top UN official aboard its flight 6E 176 from Mumbai to Delhi on Thursday. This time, the victim of routine violation of disability rights by private Indian airlines happened to be the UN Special Rapporteur for Disability Shuaib Chalken, a South African national and the very man who advises the UN on disabled-friendly policies. But that mattered little to Indigo staff, that made Chalken relinquish his personal wheelchair during the checks at the counter, asking him to shift to a poor-quality airline wheelchair instead (international practice is to let the differently abled use their wheelchair); then tagged him as “paralysed” in the boarding pass; finally, in the absence of an aisle wheelchair inside the aircraft, physically moved him from the airline wheelchair to a seat in the front row that didn’t belong to him. When the holder of the seat landed, there was an ugly spat. “Until that moment, I felt it was funny. But when original holders of the seat came and started demanding that I be removed, I felt utterly humiliated. And all this because the airline did not have the equipment to accommodate me in my allotted seat,” Chalken told TNS today. He said he had, before boarding, asked the airline staff several times if they had an aisle chair. “They answered in the affirmative. But when we reached the door of the aircraft and it was time to shift from the airline wheelchair to the aisle wheelchair, I found there was no aisle wheelchair in the aircraft. I was bodily lifted by the staff and taken around before being seated in a row someone else had booked. Everyone else was watching,” a perturbed Chalken said, adding that the incident can’t be viewed in isolation and was indicative of the general apathy towards human rights of the differently abled in India. Disability Rights Group (DRG), a national organisation of the differently abled, immediately complained to the Government through the Ministers of Civil Aviation and Social Justice Ajit Singh and Mukul Wasnik respectively, but they had not responded until today. Javed Abidi, chairperson, DRG, who was recently elected head of Disability Rights International, said in a letter to Ajit Singh, “This happened on an airline you included in the committee to look at violation of disability rights by private airlines. I dread to think what this committee will produce. As an Indian, my head hangs in shame. I am sure Mr Chalken will remember this incident fondly in his reports to the UN Human Rights Council and to the UN General Assembly. Indigo denied most allegations except that their staff wrote “paralysed” on Chalken’s boarding pass. “The check-in staff inadvertently mentioned “paralysed” on Mr Chalken’s boarding pass. We are taking serious action against the staff. It’s not the usual process we follow. We regret the inconvenience to Mr Chalken and hope he will see this experience as an aberration and not the rule at Indigo,” the airline said today.
	On Didi’s first year in office, ally Congress, CPM flay her party Kolkata, May 19 Ally Congress and opposition CPM spoke in once voice against continued alleged attacks on partymen by Trinamool Congress whose government in West Bengal celebrated its first anniversary today. "Trinamool Congress has been attacking our partymen, their houses and our party offices," state Congress chief Pradip Bhattacharya said. "It is natural that the new government has been working in the last one year but we demand improved law and order in the state," Bhattacharya said. Left Front chairman and CPM state secretary Biman Bose described the celebrations as a "jamboree." "They held a jamboree at a cost of Rs 20 crore today, but at the same time they are crying about lack of funds. It is a sheer waste of money," Bose told reporters. The CPI(M) leader alleged Left workers, particularly his partymen, were being targeted by the ruling party. The ally Congress was also acerbic over Mamata's charge that the Centre was not helping the state financially. "It is true that state government is facing a grave financial crisis. But it is untrue that the Centre has not helped Bengal financially," said Bhattacharjee, whose party is a partner of Banerjee's Trinamool Congress in the government. He said the original borrowing limit of the state was Rs.17,828 crore while West Bengal had borrowed more than Rs.20,000 crore from the market. The state has not been able to utilise the central funds fully," he said. When asked about the state government's stand on the debt waiver as demanded by Banerjee, Bhattacharjee said: "The Congress feels that the moratorium is not a solution. It must find ways to increase its revenue." (Agencies)
	BJP emissary fails to convince sulking Yeddy Shubhadeep Choudhury/TNS Bangalore, May 19 With BS Yeddyurappa making his dissatisfaction with the BJP obvious, Dharmendra Pradhan, BJP general secretary and in-charge of the party’s affairs in Karnataka, today returned to Delhi empty handed. Senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley, who too was supposed to come to Bangalore for a troubleshooting visit, eventually did not turn up perhaps sensing the futility of the exercise. Even as Pradhan was in the city, sulking former chief minister Yeddyurappa announced that he would not attend the party National Executive to be held in Mumbai from May 24. Yeddyurappa pointed out that Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi was also unlikely to attend the BJP National Executive meeting. He said there were problems in Rajasthan, Gujarat and Karnataka and wanted the party to introspect and resolve them. “After Atal Bihari Vajpayee, a leader like LK Advani is leading the party. He is capable of taking decisions for the good of the party. However, Ananth Kumar (also a party general secretary and Bangalore-South MP) is not allowing him to take decisions and resolve crisis. Ananth Kumar is trying to keep the party under his clutches”, Yeddyurappa said. He alleged that Kumar was preventing any other MP from Karnataka from coming into prominence. Yeddyurappa also said that he was hurt at the way he was treated in the party, which he built in the last 40 years. Acknowledging that he had met Pradhan, he said that he also spoke by phone to Gadkari and Jaitley and added that he was not asking the party for any position. Yeddyurappa also complained that the party high command was not making efforts to resolve the political crisis even though assembly elections were scheduled early next year. He also expressed displeasure over the decision to choose retired bureaucrat Ramakrishna for the Rajya Sabha ignoring seniors like BJP spokesperson Nirmala Seetharaman. Pradhan was submitted a memorandum with signature by 75 BJP MLAs for reshuffling of the portfolios of ministers and expansion of the cabinet. It is well-known that Chief Minister Sadananda Gowda wants to drop some of the staunch loyalists of Yeddyurappa from the Cabinet but is not getting the go ahead from the party’s high command.
	Yeddy opens new office amid speculation Tribune News Service Bangalore, May 19 Former Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa on Friday opened a new office for himself two days after the CBI sleuths raided residences and other establishments belonging to him and his kin to probe his connection with mining companies. About seven ministers loyal to Yeddyurappa and 20 BJP MLAs were present when the office was formally inaugurated. Denying that opening of the office was an indication that he was preparing to float a new party, Yeddyurappa said since he would be quitting his official residence at Race Course Road here and moving to his personal residence at Dollars Colony, it became necessary for him to have a place where he could meet people. He said the office at Malleswaram (same building which housed the office of the state BJP before it shifted to a new building) was at an accessible distance from railway station, bus terminus and Vidhana Soudha.
	16 pilgrims killed in bus-truck collision Shahira Naim/TNS Lucknow, May 19 At least 16 pilgrims, including women and children, perished when the bus carrying them to Bahraich went up in flames on the Gonda-Bahraich highway after colliding with a stationary truck late last night. A magisterial inquiry has been ordered to ascertain the cause of the accident and the heavy casualty. The private bus carrying around 60 pilgrims was coming from the Sufi shrine in Kachochasharif in Ambedkar Nagar and was going to the Urs of another Sufi saint Ghazi Salaar in Bahraich before proceeding for the Ajmer Urs. According to Bahraich district magistrate Kinjal Singh, around 12 charred bodies have so far been recovered and 44 people who suffered burn injuries have been admitted to the district hospital. The condition of more than a dozen is reported to be serious. Two such critically injured passengers have been referred to the Trauma Centre in Lucknow. The accident occurred in area falling under Kotwali police station around 10.30 pm last night. The bus lost control and caught fire after colliding with a stationary truck parked outside a sugar mill. The DM said the explosion which caused the bus to go up in flames was apparently caused by LPG cylinders kept in the bus.
	Road construction in Bihar slow: Ramesh New Delhi, May 19 Expressing concern over the "slow" pace of completion of road projects in Bihar, Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh today said around 10,000 km of road length still needs to be finished there. "Completion of road work is lagging behind in Bihar. Though the state has spent 52 per cent of the allocated budget for this, only 37 per cent of road network has been constructed," Ramesh told reporters. The Centre, he said, has raised the issue with Bihar government and the rest of the 10,000 km of roads in the state will not be finished before 2006-17. "We have raised this issue of gap in expenditure and work done regarding the on-going road projects in Bihar with the state government," he said. Ramesh said that since September 2011, road construction work has begun to cover Naxal-affected areas in the state. He expressed satisfaction over the recent steps taken by Bihar government- recruitment of engineers, finalisation of core network and state claiming responsibility of the finished roads- to increase the pace of completion of road projects. "We are happy that Bihar government has taken the responsibility of 30 roads and in next two weeks 300 more roads will be undertaken by it. It is also a positive step by the state government that they have finalised the core network programme," Ramesh said. He claimed the Centre under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna (PMGSY) has constructed 2100 roads in the state. Ramesh also expressed apprehension over the giving the responsibility of road construction to five central agencies in the state. "We have decided that the central agencies will not be involved anymore in road construction projects in the state. It is the responsibility of the state government and they should do it," he said. — PTI
	Ministry not keen on SRK as ‘brand ambassador’ Vibha Sharma/TNS New Delhi, May 19 With Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan being in the news for all the wrong reasons, the Rural Development Ministry is understood to be reconsidering its proposal to make him the ‘brand ambassador’ for its sanitation scheme “Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan”. Sources said even though Shah Rukh was still keen to be a part of the Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh’s “Clean Picture”, for which “Dirty Picture” star Vidya Balan had already been roped in, the opinion emerging now was that he should stay low, at least till the time dust settles on the latest controversy involving King Khan, now bestowed with not-so-flattering title “king of controversies”. “He has been in the news for all the wrong reasons,” a government functionary said, adding that with the amount of negative publicity that he has received in the past few years, he was hardly the role model the government would like to link one of its key programmes with. In fact, the recent incident at the Wankhede Stadium is just one of the many controversial episodes in which Shah Rukh managed to emerge as the main protagonist. Apart from being hauled up for smoking in a stadium, his brawl with director Farah Khan’s husband Shirish Kunder at the “Agneepath” party thrown by actor Sanjay Dutt left a bad taste in everyone’s mouth. While Shah Rukh managed to make up with “good friends” Farah and Shirish, the fracas he had with Salman Khan at Katrina Kaif’s birthday bash is yet to be resolved. SRK’s close encounters with the US immigration authorities in recent years have not gone down well with the authorities. He was detained for two hours at the White Plains Airport by the immigration authorities when he was on the way to give a lecture at Yale University recently. He was detained at Newark Airport in New Jersey in 2009 and questioned.
	Cricket bosses split over ban on SRK’s entry into Wankhede Shiv Kumar/TNS Mumbai, May 19 Top administrators of Indian cricket are split over the five-year ban on entry of actor Shah Rukh Khan into the Wankhede Stadium handed down by the Mumbai Cricket Association yesterday. Senior officials of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, which owns the Indian Premier League, have already initiated back-channel negotiations between the actor at the MCA in a bid to sort out the matter. A high-profile MP from the Congress party who is also an official of the BCCI is behind the move to broker a settlement between Khan and the MCA officials, sources said. The actor, who enjoys considerable political support, already has West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee coming out in his support. MCA president and Union Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh said he was waiting for the reaction from the BCCI.
	Crime against women up in Bengal: NCW chief New Delhi, May 19 The National Commission for Women (NCW) feels the crime against women has “increased” in West Bengal under the Mamata Banerjee-led government. It criticised the state government for transferring officers who have cracked rape cases even before investigations were completed. NCW Chairperson Mamta Sharma said the state government had promised “neutral” investigations in all cases related to crime against women, but they were still waiting to see if the promises were kept. “Incidents of crime against women in West Bengal had been increasing gradually before, but the state has witnessed a sudden spurt in such cases under the present government, especially in the last couple of months,” Sharma said in an interview. She said a recent NCW report had showed that increase in reported rape cases in the state was twice the national average. However, she hastened to add that she was “not saying that the state is unsafe for women under Mamata Banerjee”. A three-member NCW team, led by member Wansuk Syeim, had visited the state last month. In its report, the team took exception to the transfer of officers investigating rape cases, besides demanding a “neutral” investigation and financial and other assistance to rape victims. — PTI
	ITBP squad scales Mt Everest, to ski down Chinese side to set record Tribune News Service New Delhi, May 19 A six-member team of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police today scaled Mt Everest. The team will now attempt to ski down the summit from the Chinese side to set a record. The squad, which was flagged off from here on April 6, made to the summit at 8:30 am (IST) today and unfurled the Tricolour and the ITBP colours to mark the event, ITBP spokesperson Deepak Pandey said. The six-member squad will now attempt to the ski down from the Chinese side. The attempt is a part of golden jubilee celebrations of the ITBP. If the paramilitary team successfully skies down from the 8,848 m peak somewhere later this month, it would become the first Indian expedition team to do so. ITBP Director General Ranjit Sinha talked to the successful mountaineers through a satellite phone just after they climbed the peak. The team is led by Second-in-Command Ratan Singh Sonal, while the other members of the successful squad are head constable Pradeep Kumar Negi, constable Pasing Sherpa, (both had scaled the peak in 2006 also), constable Devendra Singh, head constable Virendra Singh and constable Krishna Prasad Gurung. The team climbed the peak from the Chinese side, which is considered much tougher route than the more-frequently taken route through Nepal. The ITBP, a border guarding force along the 3,488 km long Sino-Indian frontier, has scaled the Everest three times earlier, but this is the first time they are skiing down from the Chinese side to create a world record. The ITBP team would be wearing camera-mounted helmets to record the event.
	Language a big barrier in Somali pirates’ trial Shiv Kumar/TNS Mumbai, May 19 The lack of official interpreters is proving to be a tough task for the police who is grappling with the trial of 120 pirates from Somalia, who were arrested by the Indian Navy in the high seas over the past several months and brought to Mumbai. Officers of the Yellow Gate police station, who hold custody of the pirates responsible for the offences on the Western Coast, have roped in MBA students from Somalia to act as interpreters. "We are taking the help of Somalian students at Pune University as we could not get any trained translators from the government," said Inspector MG Tope of the Yellow Gate police station, who is probing the piracy cases. According to the state Home Department officials, they haven't been getting any consular services for the arrested Somalians since there is no effective government in that country. The pirates are too poor to afford any lawyers of their own and are utilising the legal assistance provided by the government. On the request of the Union Home Ministry, the Maharashtra Government has set up a fast-track court to speed up the trial of the pirates.
	New selection process for armed forces still being studied Tribune News Service New Delhi, May 19 Defence Minister AK Antony on Wednesday, in a statement made in the Rajya Sabha, said new selection process for recruiting officers to the armed forces was being studied. Antony said a programme has been initiated at the Service headquarters for a “De Novo” selection system of recruitment to keep in line with the changing technologies, which an officer is required to operate. The main objective of the programme is to take into cognisance the socio-economic changes that may have taken place in the psyche of today’s youth. This will also identify the skill variety that is required to face tomorrow’s warfare involving technological advancement and operational challenges. This also aims at developing more candidate-friendly assessment system involving economy of testing time and automation. “Work is still in progress to develop ‘De Novo’ selection systems,” Antony said. Antony was presenting his side in response to recommendations of the Parliamentary Standing Committee which had pointed out, “Even when the selection procedure for civil servants, IIT graduates and also of the higher level recruitments made by the private sector are constantly being reviewed over the years, the armed forces are clinging to the same set of selection system for the past 63 years, except one modification.” The new system is being developed by the Defence Institute of Psychological Research. The committee had said that over the years with the advent of new technology, wars are now being fought differently and focus has been shifted from person-to-person combat to complex integrated system involving computers, high-speed communication equipment and sensors. The advantage of modern systems in fighting the wars in the night has again forced nations to develop night-fighting capabilities resulting in relying more on technology than conventional methods. ‘De Novo’ selection system It will take into cognisance the socio-economic changes that may have taken place in the psyche of today’s youth It will also identify the skill variety that is required to face tomorrow’s warfare involving technological advancement and operational challenges It also aims at developing more candidate-friendly assessment system involving economy of testing time and automation
	Demand for ‘Frontier Nagaland’ gathers steam Bijay Sankar Bora/TNS Guwahati, May 19 Even as Nagaland is awaiting a solution to its vexed political problem and a way out of the currently prolonged negotiations between the Government of India and Naga rebel group NSCN-IM, the demand for a Frontier Nagaland, a separate state comprising four eastern Nagaland districts, has gained ground. Eastern Nagaland People’s Organisation (ENPO), which has been spearheading the movement for ‘Frontier Nagaland’, has sought a high-level meeting with the Government of India involving Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh to “discuss the long-pending issues of Eastern Nagaland.” An ENPO delegation led by its president Pongom Khiamniungan recently met Union Home Minister P Chidambaram and other senior Government of India officials recently in New Delhi to press its demands as well as for a meeting with the PM. After decades of what they claim to be neglect by the “stronger Naga tribes”, four districts of eastern Nagaland - Tuensang, Mon, Longleng and Kiphire - have raised the demand for a separate state called Frontier Nagaland and already placed the demand before Nagaland Assembly. The demand for the separate state cuts across party lines. The ENPO has 20 MLAs (who represent the 20 Assembly constituencies of the eastern districts) in its fold. Interestingly, 14 of the 20 ENPO members belong to the ruling Nagaland People’s Front (NPF) while six belong to the opposition Congress. The ENPO had earlier submitted its demands to the Prime Minister in November 2010, but the Centre referred the matter to Nagaland government. The Chief Minister of Nagaland, Neiphiu Rio, requested the ENPO to withdraw its demand for statehood.
	Mamata’s unfulfilled promise of returning Singhur land to farmers Subhrangshu Gupta/TNS Kolkata, May 19 West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s promise for returning 400 acres to the unwilling farmers and utilising the remaining around 600 acres of Tata Motor’s land at Singhur is still hanging in the balance in the wake of the legal obstacles. Legally, the land is still under the possession of Tata Motors, though the state government, by passing a law, had “taken over” the land. The Act was challenged in the Supreme Court and the Calcutta High Court is yet to deliver any final judgment on the present status of 996.46 acres, which the Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee government had acquired for Tata Motor’s Nano car project at Singhur. In the face of the farmers’ agitations and Mamata’s stiff resistance, Ratan Tata had abandoned the Singhur project and shifted it to Gujarat. But the land was neither disposed of nor returned to the government. After assuming the Chief Minister’s office, Mamata, by enacting a law in the Assembly, had taken back the Singhur land, but she could neither return the said 400 acres to the farmers nor utilise the remaining some 600 acres otherwise. The Calcutta High Court, which was to deliver a final judgment on the Singhur land controversy this week, finally withheld the judgment following petitions made by seven “unwilling farmers”, who demanded that their views be also heard by the Bench before any final judgment was delivered.