The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Saharanpur gurdwara colleges, school bind communities
Of 8,000 students in three institutes, nearly 6,000 are Muslims; gurdwara mgmt plans degree college for girls
Shiv Kumar Sharma
Tribune News Service

Gurdwara rejects admn’s claim
Gurdwara people have rejected the administration’s claim that a hall was being constructed on the gurdwara premises on Saturday when it was attacked
They said the pillars and a portion of the concrete roof of the hall had been constructed several months ago and anyone could visit and see whether the work was on or not
The Gurdwara Singh Sabha president asserted that Sikhs whose population was about 7,000 in Saharanpur always worked for the betterment of all communities

Saharanpur, July 27
Gurdwara Singh Sabha in Saharanpur, which was attacked by miscreants, is known for conducting a lot of philanthropic work, benefiting all communities in the area.

The gurdwara management has been running three educational institutes — Guru Nanak Girls Inter College, Guru Nanak Boys Inter College and Guru Teg Bahadur Public School. The total strength in these institutes is 8,000, of which 6,000 are Muslim boys and girls and Sikh students only 68.

“Nearly 3,000 students are studying in only Guru Nank Girls Inter College. The number of Muslim girl students is 1,800,” said Narinder Kohli, cashier, Gurdwara Singh Sabha.

He said they were planning to open a “degree college” near the gurdwara so that girl students didn’t have to go to another area for higher studies.

Kohli rejected the claims of the administration that a hall was being constructed on the gurdwara premises at 4 am on Saturday when people from the other community attack it.

He said anyone could visit and see whether the work was on or not. He said the pillars of 110 by 115 feet and a portion of the concrete roof of the hall were constructed several months ago.

He claimed the gurdwara management had bought the said 2,850 sq ft land from the son of Mansha Devi in 2001 where the hall was being constructed.

Gurdwara Singh Sabha president Balbir Singh Dhir said Sikhs whose population was about 7,000 in Saharanpur always worked for the betterment of all communities.

Kohli added that the Sabha bought two kothis, namely Pili Kothi and Lal Kothi, both spread in an area of 2,183 sq ft to build a degree college for girls on April 30, 2014.

“The work of demolition was going on of the Lal Kothi. The labourers work only in day time. When the miscreants attacked yesterday morning, no construction or demolition work was going on that time. Miscreants attacked the place of worship.

However, the gate of the Gurdwara was timely locked by sewadar Hardeep Singh and the Gurdwara staff and the devotees were saved,” he added.

Act tough on rioters: Amarinder to UP Govt

New Delhi: The Congress today condemned the rioting and arson in Saharanpur and criticised the Samajwadi Party government of failing to protect the life and property of innocent people. The party asked the state government to act swiftly and bring the perpetrators to book. A day after authorities in UP denied the Congress delegation permission to reach the riot-hit area, party Deputy Leader in the Lok Sabha Amarinder Singh said here the government must identify the persons responsible for the provocation leading to the clashes resulting in death of three persons. — TNS

Govt seeks jurists’ views on Bill to scrap collegium system

New Delhi, July 27
The government will seek views of jurists and former judges on the proposed Judicial Appointments Commission Bill it plans to bring in Parliament to replace the present collegium system where judges appoint judges.

Sources said Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad will listen to top jurists and former judges tomorrow to elicit their views on the Bill.

The government has already written to leaders of major political parties seeking their support for the Bill. The leaders have also been asked to give their views on the issue. The move comes in the wake of claims that the previous UPA regime had nudged the Supreme Court collegium to recommend an extension for a Madras High Court judge who was under corruption cloud.

Sources said the NDA government was not averse to the previous UPA government’s plan to put the composition and functions of the proposed Judicial Appointments Commission Bill in Constitution.

By giving constitutional status to the composition and functions of the proposed commission, the UPA had sought to ally fears of the judiciary that the composition and functions can be tweaked by any future government. The BJP then had raised the issue of constitutional status for the proposed body. — PTI

Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad

Law Minister to hear views today
Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad will listen to top jurists and former judges on Monday to elicit their views on the Bill
The government has already written to leaders of major political parties seeking their support for the Bill. The leaders have also been asked to give their views on the issue

Govt to firm up stand on UPSC exams soon

New Delhi, July 27
Amid protests from Civil Services aspirants against the new exam pattern, the government today convened a high-level meeting to resolve the issue. The meeting was chaired by Home Minister Rajnath Singh and attended by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Minister of State for Prime Minister’s Office Jitendra Singh among others.

“There was a discussion on the issue and ways to resolve it,” a senior government official, who attended the meeting, said here. A decision on whether or not to change the syllabus of civil services examination and postpone the preliminary test, slated to be held on August 24, is likely to be taken soon, he said.

The meeting, which was held at the Home Minister’s residence, was also attended by SK Sarkar, Secretary, Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), and officials from the PMO and Union Public Service Commission (UPSC). The issue has been raised in Parliament too. The government has urged them to call off their protest which intensified from Thursday night. — PTI

Centre mulls amending anti-dowry law

New Delhi, July 27
Amid rising number of complaints regarding the misuse of anti-dowry law, the Centre is mulling introducing penal provisions in the Act that will ensure punishment or penalty to those who make false charges.

The Union Ministry of Women and Child Development is also contemplating giving more teeth to the Dowry Prohibition Act by strengthening the existing provisions and widening the definition of “dowry”.

“Recently, a rise in the incidents of misuse of the anti-dowry law has come to the notice of the ministry. In some cases, women falsely implicate their husbands and in-laws for various other reasons. “If the allegations turn out to be false, the case gets closed. So there are discussions going on about changing some provisions under which the misuse of the Act may invite punishment or penalty,” an official in the ministry said. — PTI

4 House panels formed
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 27
Even as the Congress continues with its struggle to secure the Leader of the Opposition position in the Lok Sabha, the four new committees, including the much-coveted Public Accounts Committee (PAC), were formed with near unanimity in the House.

The PAC, which by convention is headed by a member of the Opposition, has 15 members with former Food Minister KV Thomas of the Congress tipped to head it. The members include Hamirpur MP Anurag Thakur (BJP), former Uttrakhand Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal `Nishank” and senior MPs Bharatruhari Mahtab (BJD) and former Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker M Thambidurai (AIADMK).

Although 20 members had filed their nominations for the elections, five of them withdrew. Similarly, 21 nominations were filed for the 15-member Committee on Public Undertakings, but seven withdrew leaving only 14 members. These include former Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Shanta Kumar, Saugata Roy (Trinamool), Ramesh Bais, Yogi Aditya Nath and Dilipkumar Gandhi (all BJP) among others.

The other panels – the 20-member Committee on Welfare of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and 30-member Estimates Committee too did not see any contest.

Mumbai on alert after terror threat
Tribune News Service

Mumbai, July 27
Mumbai has been put on alert after Police Commissioner Rakesh Maria received a letter threatening to carry out terror attacks in the city. The letter written in Hindi sent to Maria’s office on Friday challenged him to prevent the senders from taking revenge for Gaza attacks. “Rok sakey to rok lo. Hum badla lenge (Stop us if you can. We will take revenge),” the note penned by “Mujahideen” said. “The one-page letter was delivered to the police control room on Friday,” a police officer said.

The officer said the letter may have been sent from Delhi. The note went on to warn Maria that he “was lucky in 1993”. Tiger Memon of the Dawood Ibrahim gang had carried out a series of bomb blasts in March that year. Maria was the investigator who cracked the case.

The letter also warned of “revenge for Gaza”. The anti-terror squads of the Mumbai police are already on alert during the month of Ramadan as a precautionary measure. Maria told reporters today that all police stations, crime branch units and ancillary branches had been put on alert.

“We are verifying the authenticity of the letter. However, we are not taking the threat lightly. The Crime Branch and all the police stations have been alerted,” Maria said. The Police Commissioner has been given “Z” category security after some members of the Indian Mujahideen had threatened to eliminate him.

Maria had recently issued an internal circular to the police department, which had reference to terror attacks at various places in the past, including Maharashtra, during the “festival season” and asked the personnel to be alert.

(With agency inputs)

LCA Tejas delayed further, to miss Dec deadline
Ajay Banerjee
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 27
India’s indigenous Light Combat Aircraft (LCA), the Tejas, projected to replace the ageing Soviet-era MiG 21 fighter jets, has got delayed yet again – this time for six months or so.

The December 2014 deadline for the final operational clearance (FoC) has been put on hold as around 1,700 parametres still need to be validated before the plane is inducted into the Indian Air Force.

These 1,700 parametres — all vital for creating flight manuals and laying down specifics of the single engine plane — just cannot be completed within the next five months, top sources confirmed. The Ministry of Defence expects that the tests will be completed by the middle of 2015 and only then can clearance be given to fly these planes be given.

The tests are being conducted at the National Flight Test Centre (NFTC) of the Aeronautical Development Agency which has been supplied with half a dozen limited series production of the Tejas for carrying out the tests. These planes do some 30 sorties a month which are studied and analysed before moving onto the next step. The test for full integration of the warplanes weapons package and its electronic warfare suite besides the networking to enable pilots to log onto the IAF dedicated net.

In the meantime, the manufacturers of the Tejas — Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) — a Ministry of Defence-owned public sector undertaking, has sought more time to start supplying the jets. The first of the ‘production series’ planes was to be delivered to the IAF in July this year, however, this deadline has been pushed to September, sources confirmed, adding that at least two should be delivered by the year-end.

The IAF on its part has informed the MoD that it will raise a squadron of the planes once it has at least 5-6 of the jets and the remaining can be added in stages. A squadron is normally 18 planes. The HAL has a capacity to produce eight of the Tejas per year. The IAF ordered 40 of the first lot of Tejas Mark-I – that is two squadrons and some war reserves. With these numbers, the IAF wants the HAL to ramp up capacity and increase it to at least 14 planes per year.

Sources said the MoD has moved a proposal that will entail infrastructure cost sharing by the IAF, the HAL and the Navy – the HAL is also making a Naval variant and developed a prototype for operations on the sea-borne aircraft carriers.

The initial operational clearance (IOC) for LCA Mark-1 was received in December last year and India has spent nearly US $4 billion (about Rs 24,000 crore) – not much as these are niche technologies. The Mark-I of the plane is powered by the US company General Electric GE 404 engines.

The HAL is planning a Mark-2 with additional features such as upgraded avionics and active electronically scanned array radar and the ability to reach supersonic speed. This will be powered by a GE 414 engine – the same used by the Boeing Super Hornet F-18-A.

The reason
The final operational clearance has been put on hold as around 1,700 parametres still need to be validated before the Tejas is inducted into the Indian Air Force
These parametres are vital for creating flight manuals and laying down specifics of the single engine plane and cannot be completed within the next five months
The Ministry of Defence expects that the tests will be completed by the middle of 2015

DGCA to seek safety audit by US agency

New Delhi, July 27
With new procedures in place and skilled manpower recruited to carry out aviation safety surveillance, the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) is ready to seek a fresh audit of India’s safety oversight mechanism which was downgraded in January by its US counterpart FAA.

In a bid to meet all deficiencies in 33 areas found by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) after it carried out two safety audits last year, the DGCA has been in an overdrive to recruit flight inspectors, one of the key findings of the US aviation regulator.

Following these deficiencies, the FAA had downgraded India from the top Category-I to II on January 31 this year.

While a large number of full-time Flight Operations Inspectors (FOIs) and other skilled and technical manpower have already been recruited, a spate of interviews are still on to further enhance the strength of such officials to enable DGCA fulfil all the criteria and seek a fresh audit.

The sources said DGCA has sought a meeting with FAA next month to submit its final report and make a comprehensive presentation on the progress made in rectifying the defects and allaying the concerns expressed by the US regulator.

The FAA’s downgrade of the country’s safety mechanism came after it found deficiencies in 33 areas, including severe shortage of skilled manpower even at the top levels in India’s aviation regulator and lack of regulations and procedures on safety surveillance and related issues.

The DGCA had appointed US-based firm, The Wicks Group (TWG), under a bilateral assistance programme funded by the United States Trade and Development Agency to help rectify the defects and get the topmost Category-I status restored by FAA.

TWG is understood to have presented an interim report on the progress made by the DGCA expressing satisfaction. The DGCA has begun the second round of interviews of pilots, including for senior posts of Chief FOI and his deputy, with the aviation regulator striving to meet concerns expressed on clean record and efficiency of candidates for such senior posts. The first round of interviews was held in March.

Earlier, the FOI jobs used to be carried out by pilots and engineers employed with Air India and private carriers but sent on deputation to DGCA which, at times, led to conflict of interest.

Recruitment of full-time FOIs and training programmes are crucial for India to get the Category-I status in safety rankings restored by the FAA.

The downgrade has barred Air India and Jet Airways from expanding their operations to the US and impacted code-share arrangements with their American counterparts. — PTI

Allaying concerns
US safety regulator FAA had downgraded India from the top category-I to II on January 31 pointing out deficiencies in 33 areas
The DGCA has been in an overdrive to recruit flight inspectors, one of the key findings of the US aviation regulator
It has sought a meeting with the FAA next month to submit its final report and make a presentation on the progress made in rectifying the defects

Defence Ministry fixes anomalies in rank pay case
Vijay Mohan
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 27
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has rectified some of the anomalies contained in its orders issued earlier to implement the judgment of the Supreme Court in the rank pay case pertaining to the Fourth Pay Commission.

On implementation of the Fourth Pay Commission, the component rank pay had been deducted from the salary of officers, while calculating their total emoluments and fixing their status vis-à-vis civilian officials. Consequently their emoluments were fixed lower than what they should actually have been if rank pay had been included in the calculations.

Similar anomalies also existed in the Fifth Pay Commission. The anomaly was only discovered years later and thereafter commenced a long legal battle, with the apex court finally ruling in 2010 that the deduction of the rank pay had been illegal.

When the MoD issued orders to implement the SC’s judgment, some phrases were “twisted”, resulting in not only the benefits being restricted to lesser number of officers, but also denying rectification of similar anomalies in the Fifth Pay Commission.

The SC had ruled that officers were entitled to befits and arrears “with effect from” January 1, 1986, but the MoD order stated that benefits would be given to officers in service “as on” January 1, 1986.

This implied officers who got commissioned after this date would not be granted the benefits even though the same pay commission was applicable to them. The service community had contended that the MoD’s orders were not in sync with the essence and sprit of the SC judgment.

While the Service Headquarters took up the issue with the government, a number of veterans, whose arrears and pension fixation were also affected, moved a contempt petition against the MoD. The MoD had also referred the matter to the Attorney General, who had given his opinion in favour of the officers on several issues.

The MoD’s orders issued on Thursday state that the words “as on 1.1.1986” in the earlier order be substituted by “w.e.f.1.1.1986”. New clauses have also been incorporated in the new order which state that similar benefits would also be extended for recommendations of the Fifth Pay Commission, which too contained the same anomaly pertaining to rank pay.

CAG joins UN board of auditors
Tribune News Service

Comptroller and Auditor General Shashi Kant Sharma

New Delhi, July 27
Indian’s Comptroller and Auditor General Shashi Kant Sharma took over as a member of the board of auditors of the United Nations from China.

Consequent upon his election to the UN board of auditors for a period of six years, Sharma assumed charge from Liu Jiayi, Auditor General of the National Audit Office of China at the 68th regular session of the Board in New York on Friday, the CAG spokesman B S Chauhan said here today.

Sharma said the work of the Board of Auditors is critical to the good governance of the UN. India, together with other colleagues on the board, would seek to contribute towards strengthening the mechanism for economfy, effectiveness and accountability in the UN system. The election of CAG India is a reflection of the confidence of the international community in the expertise and capabilities of the institution.

Audit responsibilities entrusted to India include audit of the UN peace keeping operations, UNICEF, United Nationals joint staff pensions fund and the UN university as well as other UN offices and entities around the world. CAG audit teams have already commenced the exercise.

The other members of the board include Sir Amyas Morse, CAG of UK and Northern Ireland and Ludovick S L Utouh, CAG of Ireland. The board derives its mandate from the 1946 general assembly resolution which provides for audit of accounts in accordance with the UN Financial Regulations and Rules and International Standards of Auditing.

Bugging devices at Gadkari’s house trigger controversy

New Delhi, July 27
A controversy erupted over a report of bugging devices having been found in Nitin Gadkari’s residence, but the Union Minister today dubbed it as “highly speculative” even as the Congress said it reflected the lack of faith and mutual trust among NDA ministers.

A media report has claimed that high-power listening devices were found in the bed room at the 13 Teen Murti Lane residence of Road Transport and Highways Minister Gadkari, the Road Transport and Highways Minister.

It said the discovery was “accidental” and a debugging exercise was immediately ordered. “Reports in a section of the media about listening devices having been found at my New Delhi residence are highly speculative,” Gadkari said on Twitter. Sources also denied any such devices were recovered, which the report said were of high quality and of a type normally used by western agencies. — PTI

Minister rubbishes media report
A media report has claimed that high-power listening devices were found in the bedroom at the 13 Teen Murti Lane residence of Nitin Gadkari
It said the devices were of high-quality and of a type normally used by western agencies
"Reports in a section of the media about listening devices having been found at my New Delhi residence are highly speculative," Gadkari said on Twitter
Issue must be investigated: Manmohan
Former PM Manmohan Singh said there should be an investigation into the report of bugging devices having been found in Gadkari's residence
“If Ministers' houses are bugged, it is not a good sign. It should be investigated. How can it happen? It should be explained by the government in the House," he said

Google mapping under CBI scrutiny

New Delhi, Jul 27
The CBI has registered a preliminary enquiry (PE) against Internet giant Google over Mapathon 2013, an event organised by the US company, for allegedly violating laws by mapping sensitive areas and defence installations, prohibited by law.

The CBI registered the PE based on a complaint filed by Surveyor General of India’s office to the Union Home Ministry in which Google was accused of indulging in activities of mapping several areas which were not included in the maps of the country, sources said. Google had not taken permission from the Survey of India (SoI), country’s official mapping agency, before organising a mapping competition in February-March 2013 when they asked citizens to map their neighbourhoods, especially details related to hospitals and restaurants.

Alarmed by Mapathon, the SoI asked Google to share its details where they found that there were several coordinates having details of sensitive defence installations which are out of the public domain.

The SoI said only it was mandated to undertake ‘restricted’ category surveying and mapping, and no other government or private organisations or individuals are authorised to do so.

Google India said: “We are in touch with authorities. We take national regulations and security seriously. We are not aware of any privacy issues and have nothing more to share.” — PTI

UN hails India’s efforts to keep up global peace

New Delhi, July 27
The UN has appreciated India’s contribution to global peace keeping efforts in meetings with top Indian Army brass.

A four-member UN delegation led by Herve Ladsous, Under Secretary General of United Nations at the Department of Peace Keeping Operations, called on the Chief of Army Staff General Bikram Singh and RK Mathur, Defence Secretary and Vice Chief of Army Staff on July 25, an Army statement said.

“The delegation appreciated India’s contribution to peacekeeping. Ladsous lauded professionalism, commitment and dedication of Indian peacekeepers. “The discussions covered many issues related to current UN peace keeping efforts,” it said. — PTI

Sushma calls Nepal visit successful

Kathmandu, July 27
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj today described her three-day visit to Nepal as successful during which the two neighbours agreed to finalise the text of a power trade deal and “review and adjust” a crucial treaty of 1950 to reflect the current realties.

“I am satisfied with my visit to Nepal and it was more successful than expected,” Swaraj said at the Tribhuvan International Airport here today.

“I had come here with high expectations and aspirations and the visit turned to be much more successful than I had expected earlier,” Swaraj said.

“I have already said that the visit would strengthen Nepal-India relations and we have prepared a full roadmap for the purpose,” she said.

Swaraj said both sides removed hurdles and agreed to step up cooperation in many key areas of defence, security, trade and hydro power. — PTI

Pact on IAEA scrutiny comes into force

New Delhi, July 27
The Additional Protocol (AP) related to scrutiny of India’s civilian nuclear facilities by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), mandatory under the Indo-US nuclear deal, has finally come into force.

The Safeguards Agreement between the Indian Government and the IAEA for the Application of Safeguards to Civilian Nuclear Facilities entered into force on July 25, the IAEA said. It was signed by the two sides in 2009.

India’s Resident Representative Rajiva Misra handed over the notification on the fulfilment of India’s constitutional and statutory requirements to IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano. — PTI

Two TCs suspended for strip-searching woman

Mumbai, July 27
A woman passenger (65) was allegedly strip searched by two women ticket checkers after she erroneously entered the first class compartment of a suburban local while carrying a second class ticket, following which the TCs have been suspended.

After a preliminary investigation, the two women TCs have been suspended, said Western Railway Divisional Railway Manager Shailendra Kumar.

The woman had boarded a suburban local from Andheri station on July 25 and had mistakenly entered the class-I compartment, with a class-II ticket, according to her family members. “When my mother-in-law was asked to show her ticket to the inspector present in the compartment, she was found to be travelling with a second class ticket. She was then made to get off the train at Mira Road station and was taken to the ticket checking staff’s room,” the woman’s son-in-law claimed. “When she was asked to pay the fine, my mother-in-law told them she was not carrying more than Rs 25 with her. It was then that she was verbally abused and asked to remove her clothes to prove that she was not lying,” he alleged. — PTI

NHRC calls for cess on mining activities
Ravi S Singh
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 27
National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) chairperson Justice KG Balakrishnan has recommended a cess on mining and other activities that exploit natural resources and cause diseases, especially silicosis. The revenue generated from the levy could be spent on the welfare of workers employed in such high-risk vocations.

He was addressing a national conference on silicosis organised by the NHRC. Justice Balakrishnan was critical of the governments for not conducting surveys to ascertain the identities of those afflicted with the disease, making it difficult for the commission to deal with the issue of compensation to them as mandated by the Supreme Court.

He expressed concern at the “callous” attitude of the state governments in dealing with the disease, which is incurable but preventable. He observed that migrant labourers were most vulnerable to silicosis and their sufferings get exacerbated due to the lack of medical treatment.

He recommended a law to compel the employers to take preventive measures against the disease.

Kedarnath yatra resumes
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, July 27
After an 11-day suspension caused by bad weather, the Char Dham yatra to Kedarnath resumed today with a batch of 53 pilgrims leaving Sonprayag for the shrine.

With some improvement in the weather conditions and opening of roads in Garhwal, the Rudraprayag authorities today resumed the Kedarnath yatra. A total of 53 pilgrims who were staying put in Sonprayag left for Kedarnath after the Rishikesh-Kedarnath highway was cleared of blockade.

While key Rishikesh-Kedarnath and Rishikesh-Badrinath highways were opened to traffic, smaller interconnecting roads remained closed.

The Guptkashi-Kalimath road was blocked at Kavilta. Similarly, the Chamoli-Karanprayag-Tharali road in Chamoli district and the Karanprayag-Gwaldam road were blocked. The Rishikesh-Gangotri highway continued to remain blocked at Ganganani. The district administration and Border Roads Organisation were trying to clear debris from the roads and open these to traffic.

Rivers in the state continued to be in spate with the Ganga flowing at 292.35 m in Haridwar, 1.65 m below the danger mark. The weather department has predicted heavy rain, especially in Uttarkashi, Nainital and Dehradun districts, for July 28.

R-Power to acquire hydro assets in HP, Uttarakhand
Sanjeev Sharma
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 27
In one of the largest acquisitions in the power sector, Anil Ambani’s Reliance Power has entered into an MoU with Jaiprakash Power Ventures to acquire its hydropower assets located in Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand.

These are Baspa stage II and Karcham Wangtoo power plants in HP and Vishnuprayag in Uttarakhand with capacity of 1800 MW and asset size of Rs 10,000 crore.

The proposed acquisition by Reliance Power comes just two days after the Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (TAQA) pulled out of the deal to acquire JP Power Ventures hydro power plants in a deal estimated at $1.6 billion due to change in business strategy. There were reports that Adani and JSW had also expressed interest in acquiring these assets post the TAQA pullout.

Reliance Power, a part of the Anil Ambani-led Reliance group, said in a late evening statement that its subsidiary, Reliance CleanGen Ltd. (RCL) and Jaiprakash Power Ventures Ltd. (JPVL), a subsidiary of Jaiprakash Associates Ltd. (JAL), have announced the signing of an exclusive memorandum of understanding for the 100% acquisition by RCL of the entire hydroelectric power portfolio of JPVL.

Gujarat panel suggests ban on jeans for primary teachers
Manas Dasgupta

Ahmedabad, July 27
The BJP government in Gujarat may ban wearing of jeans by teachers in primary schools of the state if it accepts in toto the report of a committee set up to suggest measures for improving the quality of education at the primary level.

The committee set up by the education minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasma submitted its report within a month, recommending a “dress code” for primary teachers, both men and women.

It has suggested a ban on wearing of jeans by teachers. It says male teachers should be asked to wear only trousers, while women should wear either sarees or salwar-kameez.

Committee chairman Jagdish Bhavsar claimed the women teachers should consider its alternate suggestion of salwar-kameez as a major relief granted to them as the government was mulling making saree compulsory for women teachers.

The committee believed using jeans in schools “lowered the dignity” of the teachers and sent out a “wrong signal” to students in their formative stage.

“The teachers should wear only such dresses in the schools that carry with it the prestige of the profession,” the recommendations said.

The committee has also suggested that the primary teachers should be discouraged from carrying mobile phones in classrooms.

In case any teacher is found carrying a mobile and it rings more than once in a classroom, the teacher should be penalised with deduction in wages to an appropriate extent, it suggested.

It also recommended installation of CCTV cameras classrooms to keep a watch on the activities of the teachers and students.

The state Congress has described the committee’s suggestion as “the Taliban face of the BJP government”.

State Congress spokesperson Manish Doshi said instead of wasting its time on such futile issues, the government should concentrate on providing better facilities to students and teachers in primary schools including clean drinking water, toilet facilities and proper implementation of the mid-day meal scheme.

“The entire attempt is to divert the people’s attention from the acute shortage of teachers in the primary schools,” Doshi said.

Dress code
In its report, a committee set up by the state Education Minister has recommended a dress code for primary teachers, both men and women
It suggests male teachers should wear trousers, while women should wear either sarees or salwar-kameez
It says wearing of jeans in schools ‘lowers the dignity’ of the teachers and sends a ‘wrong signal’ to students in their formative stage