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CMYK
ND-ND
DELHI, TUESDAY, JULY 8, 2014
Printed at Chennai, Coimbatore, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Madurai,
Noida, Visakhapatnam, Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi, Vijayawada,
Mangalore, Tiruchirapalli, Kolkata, Hubli, Mohali, Allahabad,
Malappuram, Lucknow, Anantapur and Nellore
ALVA GETSGUJARAT, GOAPAGE 10
CHANDIGARH: A group of 28Iraq returnees on Mondayled a complaint
with theChandigarh police against amanpower consultancyrm that also
doubles as atravel agency for dupingand causing themsubstantial
nancial losses.They have also threatenedto protest in front of
thePunjab Assembly, whichmeets for its budget sessionon July 15, if
their moneywas not returned.
Talking to The Hindu thegroup leader, SukhwinderSingh, who lives
in Kharartown in S.A.S. Nagar districtof Punjab on the outskirtsof
Chandigarh, said thegroup, which had membersfrom Punjab,
Haryana,Himachal Pradesh,Rajasthan and Chandigarh,were contracted
foremployment in Iraq by aChandigarh-based
company Shiv Enterprises.They were given tounderstand that they
wouldget a monthly salaryranging between 500 and800 US dollars by a
reputedBritish constructioncompany.
Sukhwinder, who wasunder debt of over Rs.5 lakhincurred during
themarriage of his daughter in
February this year, had tomortgage his wifesjewellery to arrange
for theRs.1.5 lakh charged as fee bythe manpower consultancycompany
owned by aperson he identied asSunny. Other members ofthe group
also paid thesame amount. WhileSukhwinder was employedas a mason to
lay tiles,
others were engaged ascarpenters, plumbers,electricians, foremen
andhelpers.
From April to May thisyear, the group landed atBaghdad in
batches andrealised they wereemployed by a local Iraqicompany,
which madethem work for 14 hoursinstead of the promised 10,provided
no food orresidence and after 40 dayswork denied them
salaries.Finally, they approachedthe Indian Embassy, whicharranged
for their ticketsback home and theyreturned on July 4.
Subsequently, the groupapproached the companythat had arranged
theiremployment, seeking arefund as the terms of theircontracts had
not beenhonoured. However, Sunnyaunted some papers,which he had
made themsign, to argue that he owed
nothing. The group thenlodged a complaint with thepolice. The
policesummoned Sunny, who inturn sought time tillWednesday to sort
out thematter and make necessaryrefunds wherever they weredue.
Meanwhile, reports fromvarious places indicate thatmore people
who returnedfrom Iraq have begun toseek refund from agenciesthat
arranged for theiremployment contracts.
An Amritsar-basedOverseas ManpowerRecruiters Council hasappealed
to the State aswell as the Centralgovernments to providethem
protection fromharassment.
The council membersalleged that some Iraqreturnees were
makingfalse allegations just toextort money from therecruiting
agents.
Iraq returnees lodge complaint against recruitment
agentsSarabjit Pandher
Workers who recently returned home from Iraq,coming out of a
police station after lodging acomplaint against a manpower
consultancy firm inChandigarh. - PHOTO: AKHILESH KUMAR
BRIEFLYCBI does polygraphon victims fathersNEW DELHI: The CBI
onMonday did lie-detectortests on the fathers of thetwo cousins
from Badaunin Uttar Pradesh who wereallegedly raped and
killed.Protesting the move, thevictims brother sat on anindenite
fast at JantarMantar here.
Strong quake hits MexicoTUXTLA GUTIERREZ (MEXICO):A
6.9-magnitude earth-quake on the Pacic Coastjolted southern
Mexicoand Central America onMonday, killing at leasttwo people and
damagingdozens of houses.
YOUNG WORLD 8 Pages (Tabloid)
GRANVILLEAUSTIN DEAD PAGE 11
Regd. DL(ND)-11/6110/2006-07-08 RNI No. TNENG/2012/49940 ISSN
0971 - 751X Vol. 4 No. 161 CITY EDITION 26 Pages Rs. 8.00
www.thehindu.in
NEW DELHI: Some of the top Del-hi University colleges haveclosed
their admissions alto-gether, while some have veryfew of their
courses still openunder the third cut-off list re-leased on Monday
night.
Shri Ram College of Com-merce, Hindu College and Ram-jas College
have closedadmissions to all their courses.
The principals of all threecolleges told The Hindu theyare full
and counting withdraw-als too, a fourth list is unlikely,although
sometimes seats openup in the fth or sixth list, whenstudents leave
the colleges forprofessional courses. Oursanctioned strength is 750
andwe have already admitted 820students. Unless there areheavy
withdrawals at the timeof professional entrances, wewill not be
bringing out anymore lists, said Hindu Collegeprincipal Pradyum,
adding thatsometimes seat in Sciencesopen up when students leavefor
Engineering or Medicine.
Hans Raj College was one of
the few colleges to have many ofits courses still open. B.A.
(Pro-gramme) is available at 88 to94.50 per cent, lower even
thanKhalsa College which is asking89 to 90 per cent.
Commerce,English, Economics, History,Physics and Chemistry are
alsoopen at Hans Raj, amongothers.
Kirori Mal, which closed ad-missions to most of its coursesin
its second list, has opened itagain for B.Com, Commerceand History
due towithdrawals.
Among the girls colleges, Mi-randa House has its B.A.
(Pro-gramme), English, History andChemistry courses still open.
On the South Campus, LadyShri Ram College is still offer-ing
B.A. (Programme), English,Commerce and Economics at97 per cent each
as also PoliticalScience.
Kamala Nehru College hasstill got its doors open for
B.A.(Programme) in the range of82.50 to 89 per cent, along
withEconomics. Gargi College hasclosed all its admissions.
Vijetha S.N.
Students waiting for admission at Kirori MalCollege on Monday.
PHOTO: MEETA AHLAWAT
Third cut-off list offers few seats
MUMBAI: Watchman SajjadMughal, held guilty on June 30of
molesting and murdering25-year-old law professionalPallavi
Purkayastha, was sen-tenced to life imprisonment onMonday by a
sessions courthere.
Purkayastha and her anchad rented an apartment atBhakti Park in
June 2012. Ac-cording to the police, Mughalwas aware that
Purkayasthawas alone on the night of Au-gust 9, 2012. He
disconnectedthe power supply to her 16thoor . When she called him
tocomplain, he arrived with anelectrician and took away herat keys.
He later sneaked intothe at when Purkayastha wassleeping and
attempted to rapeher. When she resisted, he
killed her.Session court judge Vrushali
Joshi while pronouncing thesentence said the case did notfall
under the rarest of rarecategory.
Immediately after the ver-dict was pronounced, the con-vict
pleaded for leniency. Thecourt, however, said the mini-mum sentence
(life till the re-mainder of his natural life) hadbeen awarded to
him. Themaximum punishment isdeath. The court has awardedyou the
minimum punishmentpermissible under the law.
The parents of the victimwere, however, disappointedby the
verdict. My daughterwas stabbed 16 times by the ac-cused. If this
does not qualify asrarest of rare then what does?,the victims
father Atanu Pur-kayastha told this reporter.
Pallavi killer gets life Staff Reporter
Jeweller robbedNEW DELHI: A 50-year-oldjeweller was robbed bytwo
bike-borne assailantsoutside his shop, barely afew metres away from
thelocal police station atBhajanpura in North-EastDelhi. Details on
Page 3
NEW HOME FOR BIRDSPAGE 2
NEW DELHI: The Modi govern-ment on Monday blamed theprevious
United ProgressiveAlliance government for therise in prices with
Union Fi-nance Minister Arun Jaitleyclosing a short duration
dis-cussion on the subject in theRajya Sabha by asserting thatthe
prices were under controland there was no need forpanic.
Mr. Jaitley pointed out thathis government had inheritedthe
legacy of price rise andhad taken immediate steps tocontain prices
as compared tothe UPA government whichhad stepped in to check
onionprices only it touched Rs. 100per kilo. He was replying to
adiscussion in which over 25members from all
partiesparticipated.
Jaitley puts theblame on UPA Sandeep Dikshit & B. Muralidhar
Reddy
NEW DELHI: The opening day ofParliaments budget sessiongot off
to a stormy start onMonday with OppositionMPs storming the well
ofboth Houses protestingagainst a range of issues, in-cluding
increase in prices ofpetroleum products and es-sential commodities,
rail farehike and the ordinance relat-ing to the Andhra
PradeshRe-organisation Bill, the lastone raised by the
TelanganaRashtra Samithi.
Matters were sorted outsmoothly in the Rajya Sabhawith Union
Finance MinisterArun Jaitley immediatelyconceding a discussion
onprice rise, but in the Lok Sab-ha, Parliamentary AffairsMinister
M. Venkaiah Naidusaid the government was will-ing to debate the
issue onlyunder Rule 193 that doesntentail a vote. The
Oppositionhowever, demanded an ad-journment motion under
Rule 56. As a result, while theRajya Sabha had a discussion,the
Lok Sabha was repeatedlyadjourned, nally winding upat 2.10 p.m.
In the Upper House, theOpposition, including theCongress,
CPI(M), BSP andthe SP, staged a walkout ex-pressing dissatisfaction
with
Mr. Jaitleys explanation.The Lok Sabha was ad-
journed soon after it con-vened at 11 a.m. due to theprotest.
Post lunch, SpeakerSumitra Mahajan allowed adiscussion under Rule
193,which the Congress turneddown. The Speaker thencalled it a day.
Page 10
Price rise stalls Lok Sabha on Day 1Adjournments mar session;
govt. concedes discussion in RSSmita Gupta & Sandeep
Dikshit
NEW DELHI: The Congress hasdrafted a four-page letterstating the
reasons why itsleader in the Lok Sabha Mal-likarjuna Kharge should
begiven the Leader of the Op-position status.
The party, in an effort tostrengthen its claim, is plan-ning to
send the letter toSpeaker Sumitra Mahajaneven as it is circulating
amemorandum articulatingits case for the post amongpre-poll allies
in the UPA.
The Congresss DeputyLeader in the Rajya Sabha,Anand Sharma, said
on Mon-day that the party and its al-lies would submit thedemand
for Leader of theOpposition status to theSpeaker in writing for
animmediate decision.
On the opening day of Par-liaments budget session, the
Congress stepped up thepressure on the governmentto give it the
post, with itsparliamentary party chair-person Sonia Gandhi
tellingjournalists: We are the sin-gle largest party and we
have
a pre-poll alliance. Hence, weare entitled to get the post
ofLeader of the Opposition inthe Lok Sabha.
But the principal Opposi-tion partys arguments fellon deaf ears,
with at leastthree senior Cabinet Minis-ters stressing that the
Con-gress did not have thenumbers to make the claim.
The letter to the Speaker,Congress sources said,stressed that
there is onlyone Act The Salary and Al-lowances of Leaders of
Op-position in Parliament Act,1977 that denes who theLeader of the
Opposition canbe and that makes no men-tion of the strength
requiredto qualify for the official sta-tus.
It also stresses that theUPA, the largest Oppositionpre-poll
alliance, has 60 MPs,more than 10 per cent of thestrength of the
House.
Another report on Page 10
LoP post ours, insists SoniaSmita Gupta & Anita Joshua
NEW DELHI: Indias diplomaticoutreach to bring home 46nurses as
well as help thou-sands of other Indians in Iraqleave the
violence-torn coun-try was steered by NationalSecurity Adviser Ajit
Dovaland Intelligence Bureau Di-rector Asif Ibrahim, who ewto
Baghdad and Riyadh re-spectively last month, TheHindu has
conrmed.
Their missions, whichwere kept secret at the time,
were powered by phone callsfrom External Affairs Sush-ma Swaraj
to her counter-parts in the region.
At the end of June, the sit-uation for both the 46 nursesin
Tikrit as well as 39 men inMosul seemed bleak, with noreal
intelligence on rebelgroups that were in charge ofthem and why they
were be-ing forcibly held. The ISIShad taken control of
severalcities, including Tikrit, Mo-sul and the Baiji renery.
At places, they were assist-
ed by Baathist groups stillloyal to the residual regime ofSaddam
Hussein, and rebelmilitary commanders from
the Iraqi army, who held ar-eas in a loose tactical coali-tion
as ISIS, which made iteven more difficult to openclear lines of
communica-tion.
Faced with a grim situa-tion, Prime Minister Naren-dra Modi
asked Mr. Doval toconvene a high-level meetingto discuss the latest
intelli-gence on the ghting in Tikritand Mosul, as well as the
pos-sibilities for a mass evacua-
tion of all Indians in Iraq, ifnecessary. A day after
themeeting, on June 25, Mr. Do-val went on a top secret mis-sion to
Iraq to understandthe position on the groundand make high-level
contactsin the Iraqi government.
Since the conict zone inIraq is held mainly by Sunniinsurgents
and militantgroups, Mr. Ibrahim was dis-patched to Riyadh on
June25-26 to speak with seniorofficials about intelligence onthese
groups. Page 10
Suhasini Haidar
NSA Doval went on secret mission to Iraq
Indians arrive from Iraqin New Delhi on Monday.PHOTO: SUSHIL
KUMAR VERMA
EXCLUSIVE
cylinders before nalising thecriteria.
The Centre could seek theStates help to compile the da-tabase of
consumers of fuelsubsidies for plugging leakag-es and improving
targeting.
Two or three States havealready implemented pilotsand we would
like to talk tothe States in the implementa-tion of our innovative
model,said Mr. Pradhan.
In the current scal, subsi-dy on diesel, LPG and kero-sene is
estimated at Rs.115,548 crore. Of this, LPG ac-counts for Rs.
50,324 croreand kerosene Rs. 29,488crore. The subsidy cost on
die-sel is estimated is Rs. 35,736crore but if the monthly
retailprice increases continue asplanned, it could come down.
In 2013-14, the governmenthad paid Rs. 70,772 crore incash
subsidy while upstreamrms had borne as their shareRs. 67,021 crore
of the subsidybill. In 2012-2013, the govern-ment had paid out Rs.
100,000crore and the upstream com-panies had taken a hit of
Rs.60,000 crore.
NEW DELHI: The Modi govern-ment is working on
eligibilitycriteria for subsidised LPGcylinders and it is likely
thathouseholds with incomesabove a certain threshold willnot be
provided the subsidy.The government is also ex-ploring if the
kerosene sub-sidy can be delivered throughDirect Benet
Transfer(DBT). DBTs for the subsidyon LPG cylinders that hadbeen
suspended by the previ-ous government are likely tobe resumed.
The Modi governmentsstrategy for rationalising theballooning
fuel subsidy is togo for better and transparenttargeting, Minister
of Petro-leum and Natural Gas Dhar-mendra Pradhan told
TheHindu.
We wont cut the subsidyto the poor; instead we willreduce the
governmentssubsidy bill by plugging theleakages and through
bettertargeting, Mr. Pradhan said.We will have a public debateon
who should get subsidised
Centre to set income
cut-off for subsidised LPG
Puja Mehra
NEW DELHI: The SupremeCourt held on Monday thatfatwas issued by
Muslim sha-riat courts (Dar-ul-Qazas) donot have legal sanctity
andcannot be enforced if they in-fringed on the fundamentalrights
of an individual.
A Bench of Justices C.K.Prasad and Pinaki ChandraGhose gave the
ruling on apublic interest writ petitionled in 2005. Advocate
Vish-wa Lochan Madan, in his pet-ition, said a woman fromKukda
village in Muzaffarna-gar district of Uttar Pradeshwas raped by her
father-in-law, following which the vil-lage panchayat passed a
fatwaasking her to treat him as herhusband. The Dar-ul-Uloom
also declared that she had be-come ineligible to live withher
husband. This was en-dorsed by the All-India Mus-lim Personal Law
Board aswell.
Disposing of the petition,the Bench said the fatwa hadno legal
sanction. It cannotbe enforced by any legal proc-ess, either by the
Dar-ul-Qazaissuing it or the person con-cerned, or for that
matteranybody.
The Bench said the fatwacould simply be ignored. Incase a person
or a body triesto impose it, the act would beillegal. The Bench
said fat-was on rights, status and obli-
gation of individual Muslims,in its opinion, would not
bepermissible unless asked forby the person concerned or,in cases
where the person isunable to do it, by a personinterested.
Fatwas touching upon therights of an individual at theinstance
of rank strangersmay cause irreparable dam-age and, therefore,
would beabsolutely uncalled for. Itshall be in violation of
basichuman rights. It cannot beused to punish the innocent.No
religion, including Islam,punishes the innocent, theBench said.
Religion cannot be al-lowed to be merciless to thevictim. Faith
cannot be usedas a dehumanising force.
Reactions: Page 10
J. Venkatesan
Fatwas not legal, says SCIt cannot be used topunish the
innocent
NEW DELHI:The Su-premeCourt onMondaycleared thedecks for
theappoint-ment of Lt.Gen. Dalbir
Singh as the next Army Chiefby refusing to grant an
urgenthearing to challenger Lt. Gen.Ravi Dastane. Lt. Gen. Singh
isscheduled to take over fromGen. Bikram Singh on August1,
2014.
Lt. Gen. Dastane contendedthat Lt. Gen. Singhs nomina-tion was
based on a whollyillegal promotion as ArmyCommander two years
ago.
Lt. Gen. Dastane, who wasalso in the race for the ArmyCommanders
post in 2012,said his career subsequentlystagnated while Lt.
Gen.Singh rose in the ranks de-spite a disciplinary and vigi-lance
ban.
The apex court had agreedto hear the case sometime inSeptember
2014. But Lt. GenDastane chose to move an ap-plication before the
vacationcourt in June, seeking an ur-gent date.
What is the hurry? Thereis no urgency in the case. It isonly a
matter of vindication ofyour service, nothing to dowith the Army
Chiefs selec-tion, Justice T.S. Thakursaid. The Bench ordered
thatthe application be posted forhearing in September, thusensuring
a smooth takeoverfor Lt. Gen Singh on August 1.
SC clears decks
for Dalbir Singh
as Army Chief
Lt. Gen.Dalbir Singh
Krishnadas Rajagopal
-
CMYK
ND-ND
CITY2 THE HINDU TUESDAY, JULY 8, 2014
NOIDA/DELHI
Poor infrastructure in schoolsNot even one of the 429 municipal
school buildings in SouthDelhi scores 100 per cent on basic
infrastructure, a seniorcivic body official admitted on Monday.
Page 4
Congress workers stage protestProtesting against the BJP
Government over rail farehike and price rise, Congress workers on
Monday tried togherao the Parliament. Page 5
ENGLISH:THE FAULT IN OUR STARS(New Release: Shailene
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(Faridabad).HOLIDAY (Akshay Kumar,Sonakshi Sinha, GovindaSumeet
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CINEMA
NEW DELHI: Even as theOkhla Bird Sanctuary is inthe news this
year due tothe poor arrival of waterfowl and the NationalGreen
Tribunalproceedings on restrictingthe constructions aroundit, the
birds appeared tohave found a new habitata few kilometres of
theYamuna at Shanti Van.
According to ecologistand conservationist T.K.Roy, a tiny lake
at ShantiVan has attracted a largenumber of resident waterbird
species and theseinclude several which arein the InternationalUnion
for Conservation ofNature red-listedthreatened species. It is
surprising that thesebirds have made landfallin the summer
monthswhereas it is usually inthe winters that birdsock to Delhi.
It is rare forthese birds to comeduring the scorchingsummer season
as aroundthis time the smallerwetlands get dried up.
Mr. Roy said a numberof water bird species havecome in and these
includethe spot-billed duck,common moorhen, white-throated
kingsher, cattleegret, little egret,intermediate egret,
black-winged stilt, purpleheron, grey heron, Indianpond heron,
striatedheron, black-headed ibis(endangered species),white-breasted
waterhen,
and red-wattled lapwing.In all the euphoria
surrounding the arrival ofthe water birds, theconservationist
isconcerned about thewell-being of the birds asa large number of
straydogs attempt to huntthem there. Althoughthis is the
breedingseason for the residentwater birds, there hasbeen no
nesting of any ofthe species as stray dogshave been attempting
tohunt them.
Mr. Roy said theauthorities concerned atthe Shanti Van need
toprotect and conserve thistiny wetland and it wouldbe a great help
if the entryof stray dogs are alsocurbed.
Winged visitors find anew home at Shanti Van
Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar
Some of the winged visitors at Shanti Van in New Delhi (from
left)common moorhen, purple heron and (below) black-headed ibis
FOR A SPOT OF PEACE
NEW DELHI: Jamia Millia Isla-mia appointed Prof. MehtabAlam of
Faculty of Engi-neering and Technology asits new proctor and
securityadvisor this past week.
Professor Alam was previ-ously an Inspector Generalin the Border
Security Force(BSF).
Speaking about thechanges to The Hindu, Prof.Mukesh Ranjan,
media co-ordinator at Jamia Millia Is-lamia said: These are
justroutine administrative mea-sures that the V-C has takento bring
about a fresh orien-tation to processes and torejuvenate the
system.
(With inputs fromAkshita Nagpal)
Jamia Millia Islamiagets a new proctor Delhi City Bureau
NEW DELHI: Gone are the dayswhen one of the most versa-tile food
in a poor manskitchen used to be potatoesand onions.
The average Delhi womanis having a tough time manag-ing her
house-hold budget asthe prices of vegetables arealways in a ux.
Vegetablesthat add the much neededzing to Indian food such asginger
and garlic are beingsold at Rs 200 and Rs 100 perkg
respectively.
They are now among thepriciest in South Delhi.
Anita Singh, a resident ofVasant Kunj said the prices ofonion,
tomato and potatohave gone up and every timeshe visits the market,
theprices are higher than before.
Renu Rani, who resides inNorth West Delhi, and is ateacher,
said: Potato and to-mato are staple tropical foodsin Delhi. If the
prices keepincreasing at this pace, whatwould a common man do?These
are not luxury goodsbut are basic necessities.
Pradeep Mishra, DeputySecretary of Agricultural Pro-duce
Marketing Committee(APMC), Azadpur, explainedthe phenomenon saying
theprice of onion has gone up inrecent past as earlier the cropwas
coming from Rajasthanand had a low shelf life. How-ever, now the
onions are be-ing brought from Nasik andare of very good
quality.
He also said the prices ofother vegetables have alsogone up
because of the qualityof produce that is now com-ing into the
market issuperior.
Rajendra Sharma, formerpresident of the Committee,said all the
local vegetableswhich are coming in fromnearby areas are not
expen-sive and still come within Rs 4to Rs 10 per kg.
He also said that the prices
of onions are being shown tobe high whereas the fact isthat the
onions are of differ-ent varieties and hence theprices vary
according to thegrading.
The onions which are toosmall are cheaper. If you seetheir rate,
it would be less. Ifyou would go by the rate ofthe large onions
which aregenerally purchased by hotelsetc, they are expensive.
Also,the onions which are cleanand glossy are sold at a higherrate.
So there are many otherthings that determine theprice variation, he
said.
Mr Sharma also said thatif the government is sayingthat prices
are high due tohoarding, then did they ndany illegal practice going
onduring the raid? The market-ing committees are respon-sible for
keeping a check onall this.
PRICEY POTATOES NO MORE THE STAPLE DIETPrices of onion, garlic
and ginger also push up the household budgetAkanksha Jain
NEW DELHI: To provide onions and potatoesat wholesale rate to
people, the DelhiGovernment on Monday decided to sellvegetables
through Fair Price Shops(FPS). The State Government alsodecided to
sell onions on the no prot no loss basis through Mother
Dairy(Safal) outlets in the city.
The Food and Supplies Departmenthas been ordered to step up the
efforts forsale of onions and potatoes at thewholesale rates
through Fair Price Shops.More than 288 FPS have already
beenidentied for this purpose and more areto follow. The vegetables
to be sold atwholesale prices will be made available bythe Delhi
Agricultural Marketing Board,an official said.
Onions and potatoes would also be soldthrough 380 Safal outlets
in Delhi for the
next three months. This will reduce the prices at the
outlets. An awareness campaign will alsobe launched to make
people aware aboutthe rates in Delhi as well as the rates atwhich
they are being sold at Safal outlets,at the FPS and through the
mobile vans,an official said.
The decisions were taken at a high-level meeting to review
measures tocontrol the prices of essentialcommodities in Delhi. The
meeting waschaired by Dr. M.M. Kutty, PrincipalSecretary (Finance),
and was attended byDivisional Commissioner-cum-PrincipalSecretary
(Revenue), Commissioner(Industries), Commissioner(Development), PWD
Secretary,Transport Commissioner andCommissioner (Food &
Supplies) apartfrom senior officers from civic bodies andthe Delhi
Jal Board.
Fair Price Shops to assuage the pinch
Vishal Kant
NEW DELHI: One may trail theother while scaling amountain, yet
they alwaysstep onto the summittogether. For it shouldnever be the
case later on inlife that we had fought overwho reached the
summitrst, say twin sisters, Tashiand Nungshi Malik.
The 23-year-olds born to aHaryanvi father and Gorkhamother have
just returned toIndia after scaling NorthAmericas tallest
peak,Mount McKinley, takingtheir total score to six out ofthe
worlds seven tallestpeaks. As part of theirMission2for7 which is
forthe cause of the Indian girlchild and to promote genderequality,
they are due toclimb Antarcticas tallestpeak in November.
We will together climbthe highest peaks on theseven continents
to promotemountaineering as a sportand to save and empower thegirl
child, states the
brochure that the twins handout at a press conferencehere on
Monday. Theyounger one, Tashi, pointsout that children and evenher
own cousins prefer toplay with gadgets ratherplaying out in the
open.
Over the weekend, thetwins addressed a largegathering of male
villagersnear their fathers village inSonepat in a State that
isnotorious for its skewed sexratio. Men wearing thetraditional
turbans came tolisten to my sister and Ispeak and we were
surprisedto nd that they wereencouraging and referred tous often as
the daughters ofthe village, says Tashi.
Nungshi, says they areoften asked why they climbmountains.
People arealways asking us what is thepoint in climbing
mountains;it is not like there is a pot ofgold sitting on the
summit.Basically, it makes us moveout of our comfort zone andwe
have discovered so muchmore about ourselves, she
says. Seriousmountaineering has alwaysbeen a male forte and
asyoung girls we have deedthat stereotype. It is not justus but the
people behind uswho have made this happen.
Both look over at theirfather, Virender Singh Malik,as the
object of theirinspiration. Our father has
treatment for boys and Ieven started harbouringsimilar notions,
he says.
Yet, much later the Armyofficer went through achange in mindset
and evenmarried a woman his parentswere not happy with and
alsodecided not to have morechildren after his twindaughters were
born. Now,
he is his daughtersmanager elevated fromsecretary status, he
jokes,looking after their everyneed before an expeditionand
arranging for nances.Whether they slept onMount Everest or not,
Icould not sleep a wink whenthey were away. I was veryaware that I
was the one whoencouraged them to take thisup, he says.
With climbing expeditionstaking a toll on his pocket,Mr. Malik
stays up nightswriting proposals tocorporates, charitable trustsand
government officesasking for funding for hisdaughters. The good
thing isthey have been able to scalesix peaks in the rst
attemptitself. At least, they did notwaste my money, he laughs.But,
the government has nopolicy on mountaineering atthe moment which is
causinga lot of problems. In someStates, mountaineeringcomes under
tourism and inothers it is under sports.There is no clarity.
always stood by our side andallowed us to achievewhatever we
want. Mr.Malik has his own story totell. I was born after
threesisters and I remember veryvividly a trip to Haridwarwhere my
mother thankedthe almighty that a boy wasborn to her. As I grew
older, Inoticed the preferential
After Everest in their kitty, these twins target Antarctica
Sowmiya Ashok
Virender Singh Malik with his daughters, Tashi (left) and
Nungshi Malik at apress conference in New Delhi on Monday. PHOTO:
SHIV KUMAR PUSHPAKAR
NEW DELHI: Stating that theDelhi University had in-dulged in
enough drama dur-ing the controversysurrounding the roll-back ofthe
four-year undergraduateprogramme (FYUP) andpointing to the shocking
in-action of the administrationin undertaking steps to res-tructure
the second and thirdyear courses, the Delhi Uni-versity Teachers
Association(DUTA) has demanded thatthe administration should
ei-ther get to work or else beprepared to face renewed ag-itation
from the teachersbody. It has also urged thePresident, who is also
the Vis-itor of the university, to in-tervene.
The task should have beeninitiated on June 21, when theUGC order
stating that FYUPwas at variance with the na-tional policy was
received. In-stead all were witness to asordid drama:
announcementof V-Cs resignation, not go-ing through with the
resigna-tion, organising a formula of ablended FYUP signed by
per-sons close to him as an appealby eminent persons, not
dis-playing revised admissionschedules prominently on thewebsite,
and reported state-ments by officials that therestructuring is the
UGCsheadache, said DUTA presi-dent Nandita Narain on Mon-day, which
was the last day ofadmissions under the secondcut-off list.
The DUTA also said thatthe assignment of teachingwork to
teachers, timely ap-
pointment of teachers andpreparation of time-table sothat
teaching can start oncommencement of the aca-demic session requires
theprocess of restructuring to becarried out without any delay.
The batch of students whohave suffered the most due tohasty
experimentation of theworst kind deserve urgent at-tention so that
they can beprovided the best possiblecourses in the second andthird
year programme andcan be brought on par withthe pre-FYUP Honours
pro-gramme, added DUTA vice-president Harish Khanna.
After waiting for a week,hoping that Vice-ChancellorDinesh Singh
will wake up tothe enormous responsibili-ties towards students,
12members of the AcademicCouncil have submitted arequisition for a
meeting ofthe body. Prof. Dinesh Singhhas convened many meetingsof
the Academic Council onemergent basis on regular,non-urgent
matters. We de-mand that he convenes themeeting at once on this
mosturgent matter. He has noright to hold on to the office ofthe
Vice-Chancellor and playtruant, obstruct and jeopar-dise the
careers of thousandsof young students, added Ms.Narain.
Restructure DU second,third year courses: DUTAVijetha S.N.
We demand that theV-C convene theAcademic Councilmeeting at
once
buildings will now be eval-uated for their sustainabilityand
green building standardsby both TERIs Green Ratingfor Integrated
Habitat As-sessment (GRIHA) and theUSGBCs Leadership in En-ergy and
Environmental De-sign (LEED).
Several studies have esti-mated that most of the build-ings
projected to be standingin 2030 in India have yet to
be built. The demand for en-ergy, water and other inputsfor
these buildings and thosethat already exist will be stag-gering.
Designing and con-structing green buildingswould ensure that India,
andthe world, do not get lockedinto a pattern of resource
useintensity that would be un-sustainable, said Dr. R.K.Pachauri,
Director-General,TERI.
NEW DELHI: The Energy andResources Institute (TERI)on Monday
signed an agree-ment with the US GreenBuilding Council (USGBC)for
strengthening the sus-tainability and green stan-dards for the
existing as wellas the new buildings in Delhiand other parts of the
coun-try. Based on the agreement,
Dual system to evaluate green buildings Anumeha Yadav
-
NEW DELHI: A seven-year-old girl wasallegedly gang-rapedby her
three minorneighbours in WestDelhis PaschimVihar, the police saidon
Monday.
The incident tookplace on July 3 whenthe three boys, whoalso
reside in thesame locality, took thevictim to a nearbypark on the
pretext ofgiving her a mangoand allegedly rapedher there.
The police havetaken all the accused aged between 10 and15 years
intocustody and producedthem before theJuvenile JusticeBoard.
Theincidentcame to lighton Sundaywhen thevictimsprivate
partsdevelopedsomeproblems.She narratedthe incident
on being asked by hermother. Later, themother informed
thepolice, a senior policeofficer said.
Based on themothers complaint, acase has beenregistered at
thePaschim Vihar policestation, and furtherinvestigation is on,
theofficer said. PTI
Three minorsaccused of raping 7-year-old neighbour
The accused aged between 10 and 15 years have beenproduced
beforethe JuvenileJustice Board
CMYK
ND-ND
3THE HINDU TUESDAY, JULY 8, 2014NOIDA/DELHI
CITY
Published by N. Ram at Kasturi Buildings, 859 & 860, Anna
Salai, Chennai-600002 and Printed by S. Ramanujam at HT Media
Limited, B-2, Sector 63, Noida, Distt. Gautam Budh Nagar, U.P.,
also at HT Media Ltd. Plot No. 8, Udyog Vihar, Greater Noida Distt.
Gautam Budh Nagar, U.P. 201306, on behalf of KASTURI & SONS
LTD., Chennai-600002. Editor-in-Chief: N. Ravi (Editor responsible
for selection of news under the PRB Act), Editor: Malini
Parthasarathy
DELHI TODAYJuly RISE 05 31 July RISE 05 31 July RISE 05 32
08SET 19 23
09SET 19 22
10SET 19 22
RISE 15 09 RISE 16 10 RISE 17 11TUE SET 01 32 WED SET 02 19 THU
SET 03 12
Woman shot dead in West DelhiNEW DELHI: A 40-year-oldwoman was
shot dead onMonday by an unidentifiedperson in West DelhisNajafgarh
area, the policesaid.The incident took place inthe morning in
BabaHaridas Nagar when thewoman identified asVidya was returning
toher parents home afterattending a court hearing. Vidya, who was
separatedfrom her husband, was shotat in the head by a person,who
fled from the spot.She was rushed to a nearbyhospital where she
wasdeclared brought dead. The police suspect theinvolvement of
Vidyasbrother, who is on the run,as there was some propertydispute
between them. PTI
NEW DELHI: It was a humid, un-comfortable day in the Capitalon
Monday even though themercury remained below the40 degrees Celsius
mark.
According to the MeT De-partment, the day temperatureat
Safdarjung observatory wasrecorded at 38.8 degrees, two
notches above normal.But it was the humidity
which caused discomfort toDelhiites as it oscillated be-tween 40
and 85 per cent.
The city registered a mini-mum of 26.8 degrees, whichwas one
notch below normal.
PTI
Humidity woes for Delhiites
NEW DELHI: A 50-year-old jew-eller was robbed by two bike-borne
assailants outside hisshop, barely a few metresaway from the local
policestation at Bhajanpura inNorth-East Delhi.
According to the police, theincident took place when thejeweller
was closing the shut-ter of his shop for the day onSunday evening.
The victimhas told the police that he wasrobbed of gold worth
aroundRs.55 lakh.
The incident was reportedaround 8-15 p.m. from ThanaRoad in
Bhajanpura. A policeofficer investigating the casesaid the
jeweller, Manoj Jain,had placed a bag containing
gold and some cash right nextto him while he was lockingthe
shutter.
According to the victim,two men stopped their mo-torcycle and
tried to pick upthe unguarded bag. When hetried to pull the bag
away, therobbers pushed him as a re-sult of which he fell down.
Inthe meantime, the robberssped away from the spot,said the police
officer. Mr.Jain has claimed that the bagcontained jewellery
worth
Rs.55 lakh and Rs.25,000 incash.
The officer added that therobbers were armed but didnot use
their pistols duringthe loot. It was only whensome locals tried to
chasethem that they pointed theirpistols at them, added
theofficer.
Mr. Jain, who is sufferingfrom a kidney ailment, had tobe helped
by locals to reachthe police station which isjust a few metres away
from
his shop. He also lives in thesame locality with his wifeand two
daughters.
Relatives of the victim sus-pect that the robbers mighthave been
planning the rob-bery for a while as they werewell aware of the
shops clos-ing time. They also appearedto know that Jain
workedalone at the shop.
A senior police officer post-ed in North-East Delhi saidthe
accused were yet to beidentified. So far no eyewit-ness has come
forward toidentify the accused. Localsand the victim could not
notedown the number plate of thetwo-wheeler, said the offi-cer. A
case has been regis-tered at the Bhajanpurapolice station.
Stolen bag had jewellery worth Rs.55 lakh, Rs.25,000 cash
Kritika Sharma
Jeweller robbed a few metres awayfrom police station in
Bhajanpura
Two bike-borne men lifted the bag when theowner was shutting
down his jewellery shop
Police suspect robbers had planned the act asthey seemed to know
the shops closing time
The Delhi Governmenthad in 2011 proposed theintroduction of
integratedsmart cards that can be usedfor both buses and
metrotrains. But the proposal,which aimed to make travel
seamless, has been stuck infiles ever since.
The smart card-basedelectronic ticketing systemwas to cover the
Delhi Metro,all private buses under thecluster scheme as also
over
6,500 Delhi Transport Cor-poration buses. But the con-cept
failed to materialise dueto lack of coordination be-tween different
agencies.
With the installation ofthis system, the governmentwould have
also got the exactdata on the usage of the ser-vices, helping in
better util-isation of buses and routes.
The challenge is now be-fore the Narendra Modi Gov-ernment,
which is also rulingDelhi through the Lieuten-ant-Governor at the
mo-ment, to take the schemeforward.
U-turn for bettermanagement
Flyovers are not the onlysolution to traffic problemsin the
National Capital Re-gion. In Noida, the compara-tively inexpensive
and easierto build U-turns are makingthe flow of vehicles more
orderly.U-turns may force you to
drive 200 metres extra, butthey make the traffic move-ment safer
as drivers areforced to stay on their side.Flyovers and
under-passestake years to make, apartfrom the huge costs
involved.
While U-turns may needmore space than signals orcuts, they are
being used allover the NCR from Noida toSouth Delhi, outside
AIIMS.But in the absence of en-forcement, they can alsoprove to be
traffic hazards.For instance on Noidas Da-dri Road, vehicles often
gothe wrong way to avoid trav-elling a few yards more.
The traffic police and localauthorities need to work outa way to
implement road en-gineering plans that includeU-turns.
(By Kritika Sharma andDamini Nath)
Smart proposal stuck in files An integrated card for metro and
bus users is yet to materialise
NEW DELHI: Hospitals acrossthe city have reported anincrease in
vector-bornediseases such as dengue andmalaria and
othermonsoon-related diseaseslike viral fever, common flu,eye and
stomach infectionthis year.
There is a slow butsteady rise in the number ofwater and vector
bornediseases this season. Withsummers intense heatgiving way to
rains and highhumidity levels, the city hasregistered a slight jump
inthe number of seasonaldiseases. Hygienicsurroundings, eating
cleanand home-cooked food,staying away from crowdedplaces and
protectingoneself from mosquitoescould go a long way inensuring a
disease-freespell, said Delhi MedicalCouncil member Dr.
AnilBansal.
Dengue, malaria andchikungunya have regularlybeen plaguing the
city andfigures speak forthemselves. As per theCentral Government
data,Delhi in 2009 reported 1,153cases of dengue and threedeaths,
2010 saw 6,259dengue cases and eightdeaths, in 2011 1,131 casesand
eight deaths werereported while 2012 saw1,584 cases and four
deaths(till November that year).Chikungunya cases too werereported
from the city.Eighteen cases werereported in 2009, 120 in2010, 110
in 2011 and six in2012.
The annual surge in thesediseases, especially aroundthe monsoon,
has promptedboth the Central and Delhihealth departments to
spellout their preparedness totackle the outbreak ofdiseases.
Hospitals have beeninstructed to keep adequateavailability of
dengue
testing kits for properdiagnosis. They have beentold to ensure
that there isadequate staff, beds, blood/platelets ready to tackle
thebi-annual cycle of dengueand malaria in the city.
Availability of beds andblood/platelet will be shownon the
department websitefrom July 15 and hospitalshave been asked to
nominatea nodal officer who will be intouch with the Centraldengue
cell, noted DelhiHealth Secretary S.C.L. Das.
The Health Departmenthas also directed their labsto be in full
preparednesswith reagents andchemicals.
Inspection teamsconstituted by the drugcontroller will be sent
todifferent blood banks inorder to keep a check on themalpractices
in supply chainmanagement of bloodcomponents., noted asenior health
official.
Also roped in this year forthe cause are residentswelfare
associations andDelhi Medical Associationmembers who will beworking
alongside the civicbodies under a collectiveprogramme called
DelhiAgainst Mosquito Fightthe Bite Campaign.
All municipal and healthauthorities need to work in
tandem to tackle the threateffectively and we (RWAs inDelhi) are
prepared to takethis across the city, hand inhand with the
authorities,noted Sanjay Kaul ofPeoples Action.
Dr. Satish Koul of InternalMedicine at Columbia AsiaHospital
said: Every yearduring the summer/monsoon months, most ofour focus
is on dengue,especially in urban areas.We educate people on
thesymptoms and how toprevent the disease.Prevention is by
eliminatingthe breeding of mosquitoes.However, we need to
makepeople aware thatcomplications from malariacan be life
threatening tooand they should not take itlightly.
While in most casesmalaria can be treated, somestrains of the
disease maycause more seriousproblems such as damage tothe heart,
lungs, kidneys orbrain. Malaria may alsorecur in people due
toabsence of effective immuneresponse, incompletetreatment and
unhinderedexposure to mosquito bites,he noted.
Hospitals gear up for monsoon threatsBindu Shajan Perappadan
CULTURE Triveni Kala Sangam: Exhibitionof Water Colours by
BheemMalhotra, 25, Tansen Marg, 11 a.mto 7 p.m Alcoholics
Anonymous: PrakashGroup: Vikaspuri, Delhi Governmentdispensary, KG1
Block; PrimaryPurpose Group: Church of theResurrection, near Mother
DairyBooth, DDA Market, Rohini;Jeevandhara Group: Khyber Pass,Civil
Lines, St. Thomas BaptistChurch; Programme of RecoveryGroup: Dwarka
Health Centre,Sector-12; Prashanti Group: LordMahavir School,
Sector-29, adjacentto Brahmaputra Shopping Complex;Svikar Group:
Old Seemapuri, Delhi
Govt. dispensary, Gole Chakkar;A.A. Ujala Group:
MasihgarhChurch, Sukhdev Vihar, nearEscorts Heart Institute;
A.A.Ashadeep Group: C-1, SafdarjangDevelopment Area, SahodaySchool;
Jagriti Group: St. ColumbasSchool, Bhai Vir Singh Marg, nearGole
Dak Khana; A.A. Just ForToday Group: B-68, Luke Church,Defence
Colony; A.A. My TimeStarts Now Group: Fortis HospitalDirectors
Conference Room,Vasant Kunj; Vishwas Group: BastiVikas Kendra,
Jawahar Camp, KirtiNagar, Sector-6; and A.A. ShaktiWomens Group:
MasihgarhChurch,Sukhdev Vihar, near EscortsHeart Institute, 7
p.m.
IN THE CAPITAL TODAY
-
CMYK
ND-ND
4 THE HINDU TUESDAY, JULY 8, 2014NOIDA/DELHI
CITY/NCR
NEW DELHI: Trouble for the AamAadmi Party is not over yet.
Thecore set of volunteers of the par-ty, who were instrumental in
en-suring its stunning debut in DelhiAssembly elections last
year,have formed a parallel organisa-tion to regroup themselves
afterthey failed to get a platform with-in the party to express
their griev-ances.
Several active AAP volunteers,who have now joined the
AAPVolunteers Action Manch(AVAM), which was formed re-cently by
some disgruntled vol-unteers, said they were forced tocome up with
an alternative afterthe party leadership ended updoing the same
thing which itused to accuse other parties ofdoing absence of
swaraj (selfrule) and absence of internal de-mocracy in the
functioning of theparty.
The AAP, however, washed itshands off and sent press
releasesstating it had nothing to do withthe AVAM.
There are thousands of volun-teers who invested their time,
en-ergy and career in the party in itsinitial days. Now, when
wanted tohave debate in the party aboutseveral important issues
like de-cision-making process, the party
leadership treated us as if wewere juveniles, said another
se-nior AAP volunteer, who is stillwith the party but supports
theAVAM. One of the brainchild be-hind the AVAM is Karan Singh,
aformer close confidant of ArvindKejriwal. He defended formingthe
AVAM saying this was just aninitiative to initiate dialogueamong
the party volunteers andchalk out a roadmap for themwho were
feeling the void afterthe polls.
A large number of these volun-teers include those who joinedthe
party when they were stu-dents of institutions like the IITsand the
Tata Institute of SocialSciences. Some of them took sab-batical
from studies and theirjobs to work for the party duringthe Delhi
Assembly polls last De-cember.
When asked if they have leftthe AAP, they categorically
re-sponded that the party does notbelong to a particular set of
peo-ple and it was equally theirs as itwas of anybody else.
The AVAM has been launchedby some people who claim this tobe the
official channel for solic-iting volunteer feedback andgrievances.
AAP would like to cat-egorically state that it DOES NOTendorse this
organisation, said arelease on the partys website.
Say there is absence of swaraj, internal democracy in the
party
Mohammad Ali
Trouble brewing in AAP as core volunteersregroup to form
alternative organisation
NEW DELHI: The Aam AadmiParty on Monday declaredthat it will
raise the powerissue in the ongoing BudgetSession of Parliament.
Theparty also claimed that itsParliamentary leaderDharamvira Gandhi
hadmentioned the issue in theall-party meeting convened
byParliamentary AffairsMinister Venkaiah Naidu.
While alleging that privatediscoms in the Capital weretrying to
scuttle the CAGaudit, the AAP said: The AAPis of the clear view
that theabsence of an electedgovernment in Delhi is beingused as an
excuse to quietlypush anti-people decisionslike the imminent
electricitytariff hike, for which nobodywill take the
responsibility.
It is the duty of the BJP-led NDA Government at theCentre, which
is currentlycontrolling the Delhi
administration, to direct theofficials concerned to firmlydeal
with the discoms, whichhave now made it a habit totake the people
for a ride, theparty said in a statement.
The party, which ruledDelhi for 49-days, said it willraise the
issue in Parliamentas the Budget of Delhi will alsobe presented
there. The CAG,Shashi Kant Sharma, in aletter to
Lieutenant-GovernorNajeeb Jung, had criticisedthe ineffective role
of thethree top Delhi governmentofficials in facilitating theaudit
of three discoms.
AAP to raise powerissue in ParliamentMohammad Ali
The absence of anelected government inDelhi is being used as
anexcuse to quietly pushanti-people decisions
NEW DELHI: Thousands ofnew faces greeted stu-dents who returned
to theSouth Delhi municipalschools last week as an en-rolment drive
by the localcivic body turned out to bea success.
A total of 12,050 newstudents were added toSouth Delhi
MunicipalCorporation school rollsduring a 15-day enrolmentcampaign
that focused onlow-income neighbour-hoods. The
door-to-dooradmission campaign,Neev, was launched byEducation
Committee
chairperson Ashish Soodon June 14 and went ontill June 30.
Mr. Sood said on Mon-day that 55 to 60 per cent
partment is to make surethe new students keepturning up for
class. Forthe next 15 days, schoolinspectors will frequentlyvisit
all schools with thedata of the new studentsto check if they are
attend-ing class. Also, teachersand NGO volunteers willgo to the
homes of thosestudents who are notcoming to school, saidMr.
Sood.
Currently, there arethree lakh students in thecorporations 589
schoolsand around 35,000 chil-dren in South Delhi areout of the
ambit of formaleducation.
ents to send their childrento school as many of themwere
breadwinners fortheir families. Apart fromthat there are
childrenwho look after theiryounger siblings as bothparents are out
to work,explained Mr. Sood.
One of the aims of thedrive was to increase thenumber of girls
going toschool and it was able toachieve this as more girlsthan
boys signed up ineach of the corporationsfour zones. A total of
6,932girls took admission,while 5,118 boys signed up.
Now, the challenge be-fore the Education De-
of those enrolled had al-ready begun attendingclasses.
Our biggest challengewas to convince the par-
Over 12,000 students added to SDMC schools Damini Nath
NEW DELHI: Not even one of the 429municipal school buildings
inSouth Delhi scores 100 per centon basic infrastructure, a
seniorcivic body official admitted onMonday.
Ashish Sood, the chairperson ofthe South Delhi Municipal
Corpo-rations Education Committee,said the Engineering
Departmentofficials responsible for the delayin repair work will
have to facethe music.
The truth is that not even oneof the 589 schools, which
operatefrom 429 buildings, is a 100 percent ready on basic
infrastructurelike toilets, water facilities, etc.,
said Mr. Sood. When schools reconvened after
summer vacations last week, therenovation work was supposed tobe
finished. But, despite havingthree meetings with the engi-neers,
Mr. Sood said some workwas still pending in each school.
Strict action is going to be tak-en against the engineers at
fault,said Mr. Sood, adding that theSouth Zone of the SDMC was
theworst in terms of completion ofprojects.
However, Education Depart-ment deputy director N.K. Ghaisaid the
delay will not affect stu-dents. This is routine renovationthat we
do every summer. It istrue that no school is fully done,
but these are minor projects likepainting of boundary walls,
etc.,said Mr. Ghai.
He explained that out of the429 buildings, around 300
neededrepairs as the rest are new struc-tures.
New initiatives
The civic body will be looking tochange this in the coming
monthswith a range of initiativesplanned. A social audit
committeewill be constituted soon to inde-pendently look into basic
facili-ties in the schools.
We have identified a seniorbureaucrat and two journalists tobe a
part of this committee. Weare waiting for their final consent
and the terms of reference for thecommittee have been
finalised,said Mr. Sood.
Apart from that, the corpora-tion will be inviting NGOs,
publicsector undertakings and corpo-rate houses to take up
infrastruc-ture and training projects inSDMC schools. The
corporationhad two years ago proposed aadopt a school policy, which
wasopposed by teachers and workersunions.
Earlier, the NGOs were show-ing us their areas of interest
andexpertise and tailoring their plansfor us. But, now we will call
theNGOs, PSUs and corporatehouses and tell them what weneed, said
Mr. Sood.
No school in South Delhi has 100 % infrastructureDamini Nath
NEW DELHI: Two senior RashtriyaSwayamsevak Sangh leaders,
RamMadhav and Shiv Prakash, have beendeputed to join the BJP. While
Mr.
Madhav, national spokesperson of theSangh, is expected to join
at a seniorposition, the BJP has also carved out arole for Mr.
Prakash.
According to sources in the BJP,the decision, yet to be formally
an-
nounced, was taken at a meeting ofthe Sangh.
It is not the first time that the RSShas deputed its
functionaries to takeup positions in the BJP. These ap-pointments
are in keeping with thetradition, said a source, playing downthe
Sanghs growing influence in thepartys functioning.
Two senior RSS leaders to join BJPSpecial Correspondent
-
CMYK
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5THE HINDU TUESDAY, JULY 8, 2014NOIDA/DELHI
STATE
Disclaimer: Readers are requested to verify &make
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NEW DELHI: With the RailwayMinistry focusing on generat-ing
revenue through privateinvestment in real estate de-velopment at
major stations,modernisation plans of someof these stations in the
city,which have largely remainedon paper till now, could get
afillip, officials said.
Ahead of the Common-wealth Games, the railwayshad planned to
develop theNew Delhi railway station in-to a world class station at
awhopping cost of overRs.10,000 crore. However,the grand plans
could not kickoff due to paucity of funds.
Apart from providing mod-ern facilities at major stationslike
Old Delhi, Nizamuddinand Sarai Rohilla, the IndianRailway Stations
Develop-ment Corporation is workingon development of Anand Vi-har
and Bijawasan into mod-ern stations. However, mostof these projects
are movingat a snails pace.
Northern Railway officials,
however, are hopeful thatthese projects will gathersteam as the
new governmenthas been laying thrust on de-velopment of real estate
own-ed by the railways, especiallythose near the station
prem-ises.
At a recently held meet-ing, the Prime Minister gave
clear instructions for devel-opment and commercial ex-ploitation
of real estate. ThePrime Minister even sharedan example of the
Vadodrabus stand, which has been de-veloped in the
public-privatepartnership model. The busterminal building apart
fromhaving space for its core oper-
ations, houses several com-mercial blocks, which havebeen leased
out for officesand shopping, a senior rail-way official said.
The proposal to upgradethe New Delhi station to glob-al
standards included separa-tion of arrival and departureareas,
regulating entry andexit at the main gates, mod-ern high-capacity
parking lot,food courts, lounge, etc. It al-so included separating
theticketing area from the con-course, relocating the railwaymail
service and improvingother areas such as parcel,washing lines base
kitchenand food handling.
Apart from the financialconstraints, the project was
also opposed by several land-owning and enforcementagencies,
saying that Con-naught Place was alreadycongested and massive
com-mercial development nearthe shopping arcade will addto the
chaos.
Officials said while availa-bility of funds is one of themajor
impediments in mod-ernisation of stations, com-mercial exploitation
of thespace available at the stationscould, in fact, help the
rail-ways in generating revenuethat will take care of the
oper-ational cost.
Not only New Delhi,which is close to ConnaughtPlace, even
stations like TilakBridge and Shivaji Bridge,which are close to CP
andITO, respectively, would beideal locations for commer-cial
exploitation. However,everything depends on thegovernment, said an
official.
Officials said real estate de-velopment will also preventempty
railway land from be-ing encroached upon by theland mafia.
Modernisation of railway stations could get a fillip Projects to
gather steam as govt. focuses on commercial exploitation of real
estateVishal Kant
Real estatedevelopment will also prevent emptyrailway land
frombeing encroachedupon by the land mafia
NEW DELHI: Terming the publicinterest litigation against Ja-nata
Dal (United) leader NitishKumar motivated, the DelhiHigh Court on
Monday dismis-sed a writ petition seeking adirection to the CBI to
registera case against him for the al-leged irregularities during
histenure as the Railway Minister.
Petitioner Mithlesh KumarSingh had sought details ofdocuments
relating to pur-chase of jacks, appointment ofcandidates in the
RailwayRecruitment Board, Patna, al-leged financial irregularities
inextension of railway lines andan alleged scam in procure-ment of
concrete sleepers inthe Railways during Nitish Ku-mars tenure
between 2001and 2004.
For this, the petitionersought directions to the Rail-way
Ministry, Railway Board,Prime Ministers Office, LokSabha
Secretariat, CBI Direc-tor and Planning Commission.
A Division Bench compris-ing Chief Justice G. Rohini and
Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw ob-served the petitioner had earli-er
filed a writ petition in 2011,which was dismissed, while ac-cepting
the version that theCBI had not found any sub-stance in the matter
and hadsubmitted that no action waswarranted in the case.
The petitioner then soughtinformation under the Right
toInformation Act and movedthe court seeking review of itsorder.
The review petition wasdismissed in 2012 with thefinding that a CBI
inquiry hadbeen conducted and its reportwas placed before the
StandingCommittee of Railways.
The petitioner again pur-sued his remedies under theRTI Act and
filed the publicinterest petition while claim-ing that there was no
record ofCBI investigation in the mat-ter. However, the Court
saidthe records shown to it had dis-closed that a CBI inquiry
wasindeed conducted and the pet-itioner was not entitled to sec-ond
or third round of litigationon the same aspect.
The Bench wondered as towhy the petitioner was target-ing Mr.
Kumar for the pastthree years by filing one pro-ceeding after
another and whatwas the source of his informa-tion and knowledge.
No plau-sible answer has beenforthcoming. We suspect thepetition to
be motivated andnot in public interest, said theCourt.
The Bench said the HighCourts should not encouragerushing to the
Court againstnon-registration of FIRs. Theremedy was to approach
thepolice authorities or the Ma-gistrate or file a criminal
com-plaint, the Court said.
PIL seeking CBI case againstNitish Kumar dismissedMohammed
Iqbal
Nitish Kumar
have been employed by the se-curity agencies at various
es-tablishments and offices andwell as how many of them
havelicensed firearms. According toofficials, various agencies
haveclosed down their business butthe information has not
beenpassed onto the Home Depart-ment and some security agen-cies
have passed on theirlicences without authorisationto other
individuals to operatesecurity agencies. Further,many of the
licences are due toexpire in 2015.
Mr. Singh said all private se-curity agencies have beenasked to
upload informationabout deployment of securitystaff to various
establishmentsat http://home.delhi.gov.inand registering under
Infor-mation submission by SecurityAgencies.
NEW DELHI: The Delhi Govern-ment is creating a database
ofprivate security agencies oper-ating in the Capital and hasmade
it mandatory for all suchagencies to furnish informa-tion online by
July 21. So far,the Home Department has is-sued 504 licences issued
by theDepartment of Home and gov-erned by the Delhi Private
Se-curity Agencies (Regulation)Rules, 2009, to private
securityagencies on the recommenda-tion of the Delhi Police
Licens-ing Branch after verifying theantecedents of
proprietors,partners and directors of thecompany.
The initiative is aimed atequipping the departmentwith the
knowledge of howmany supervisors and guards
Govt. tightens noose onprivate security agencies Staff
Reporter
NEW DELHI: After a month-longstrike and repeated sit-inprotests
by workers of hotrolling steel mills in Wazir-pur, the owners of 23
mills onMonday agreed to give theworkers eight-hour shiftsand pay
them minimumwages.
Over 800 workers in the 23plants struck work on June 5protesting
their workingconditions, denial of mini-mum wages and legal
bene-fits. Owners of the hot rollingsteel mills said they had
re-sumed production on June27 after an agreement wassigned in the
presence of la-bour officials, but labour offi-cials and workers
disputedthis. After receiving work-
ers complaint that they werenot allowed to enter theplant
premises by the ownerson June 28, 29, we issuedshow cause notices
to theplant owners for violatingthe Industrial Disputes Act,and
gave them time to re-spond till Monday, said a la-bour official at
the labourcourt at Nimdi Colony.
The workers claimed theyfound the plant gates lockedwhen they
tried to enter theplants a day after the agree-ment was signed on
June 27.They sent goons to the areaswhere our demonstrationwas
passing through. Theplant owners wanted to pro-voke us into
violence so thatour strike becomes invalid,said Jai Prakash, a
worker.
While a few workers re-
turned to work on June 28,workers from 15 cold rollingsteel
mills also joined thestrike.
On Monday, the owners ofthe 23 plants agreed to payRs.10,374 to
skilled workersand Rs.8,918 to semi-skilledworkers as per the
minimumwage norms for nine-hourwork shifts, which will in-clude a
lunch break and twotea breaks.
There were no problemsor resistance. We had begunwork on June
27. We havebeen paying minimum wag-es. What we have agreed tonow
will only reduce theworking hours and the plantswill not run 24
hours like be-fore, said Jai Kumar Bansal,president Garam Rolla
Em-ployers Association.
Anumeha Yadav
Wazirpur steel workers to get8-hour shift, minimum wages
slogans against Prime Minis-ter Narendra Modi.
Speaking to reporters after
NEW DELHI: Protesting againstthe BJP Government over railfare
hike and price rise, Con-gress workers on Mondaytried to gherao
Parliament.However, the party workersmarching towards Parlia-ment
from Jantar Mantarwere prevented from doing sodue to heavy security
ar-rangements made in the areaahead of the first Budget Ses-sion of
the Narendra ModiGovernment.
Congress leaders andworkers, led by the Delhi Pra-desh Congress
Committeespresident Arvinder Singh,tried to break the
barricadesnear the Parliament Streetpolice station and shouted
the protest, Mr. Singh said:Ever since the BJP come topower,
prices of essential
commodities have gone up.Before the elections, the BJPhad
promised 30 per centcheaper electricity. But nowthe power discoms
are tryingto hike the tariff and peopleare feeling cheated.
Slamming the NarendraModi Government, DPCCchief spokesperson
MukeshSharma alleged that the Cen-tral Government was doingnothing
to control prices ofessential commodities. Ev-erything is getting
expensiveduring this governments re-gime. The BJPs slogan acchedin
aane wale hain (gooddays lie ahead) was just aneyewash. People have
startedfeeling buray din (bad days)since the BJP has come topower,
he said.
Congress workers protest against price rise Vishal Kant
Congress workers staging a protest at ParliamentStreet on Monday
against price rise and rail farehike. PHOTO: V. SUDERSHAN
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6 THE HINDU TUESDAY, JULY 8, 2014NOIDA/DELHI
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7THE HINDU TUESDAY, JULY 8, 2014NOIDA/DELHI
VARIETY/SOUTHERN REGION
Those who can put the welfare of others beforeeverything else
are few. But it is these few who sustainthe world, said Malayaman,
in a discourse. If at all theworld still exists, it is because of
good people, says theTamil work Puranaanooru.
The Puranaanooru lists the qualities of these goodpeople. Nectar
is available only to celestials, andmortals do not have access to
it. Nectar, if consumed,confers immortality on one. So if at all
someonemanages to lay his hands on nectar, he will not bewilling to
share it with others. But a good man is onewho will seek out
deserving people and share it withthem. The Tamil work Paditrupathu
says if a good mannds something sweet, he will share it with
others.
Fear is a major factor that governs our actions, andif we fear
that doing something will result in sorrowfor us, we will refrain
from doing it, even if it is theright thing to do. But good people
are not deterred byfear. The Tamil work Naladiyar says that
whatever oneshould know, should be learnt; ones actions shouldbring
happiness to everyone. Those who live their livesin this manner
will never know sorrow.
Puranaanooru says the virtuous never have lowmorale. They are
never dejected. They never doanything with a selsh motive. The
Tamil workManimekalai also extols seless people. ThePuranaanooru
says that it is the virtuous who keep theworld alive. This verse
was not written by an ordinarypoet. The poet in this case was not
one who needed agift from anyone for, he was the king of Madurai.
Hemust have written it with a view to inculcating goodvalues in his
subjects.
Sustaining theworld
FAITH
Across
8 Help deal with plague(1,3,2)
9 Irritation carried byskin growth cosmetics(3,5)
10 Moving proton is anelementary particle (8)
11 Tips for brunch? Ask rotior another flatbread(6)
12 Brand name to tick offsports equipment (9,6)
14 Bird in cage, onecaptured by a shooter(7)
16 Redeeming features ofSheraton in Goa (7)
19 What Rapunzel did isshed inhibitions(3,4,4,4)
22 Say capital Australianpoet (6)
24 Just batting or gettingboundaries? (8)
25 Common question for amusician (8)
26 Nothing new purchasedafter spending capital(6)
Down
1 Award Oscar toBlanchett after all (8)
2 Bondage is mostlyshowing discrimination(6)
3 A positive promotion to
attract and recruit (10)4 Sunset Boulevard star's
detailed finalperformance (7)
5 Upcoming poet isboring (4)
6 Caribbean jelly one putin a tin (8)
7 Starter is on tray wehear (6)
13 Extraordinary break-inat large financialinstitution (6,4)
15 Clubs hosting hollowwomen and men (8)
17 Dancing we held in acity (3,5)
18 Two hours wasted onrum writer (1,1,5)
20 Computer program isbuggy redo it (6)
21 Draft a plan for ward?(4,2)
23 Absolutely grand burp(4)
THE HINDU CROSSWORD 111311 2 3 4 5 6 7
8 9
10 11
12 13
14 15 16 17
18
19 20 21
22 23 24
25 26
B A C T R I A N P A E L L A
E L Y R N L L
D R O M E D A R Y G R A S P
L G B U L M A
A F G H A N I P R O S A I C
M I P C P I A
E X P A N S I O N I S M
S R U F D I
S T R E A M L I N I N G
V C E C A H P
I T C H I E R A N N A T T O
C A A A T S L
U N M E T L E I S U R E L Y
N E E O R E P
A L L U D E A N A Y S I SL
Buzzer
Solution to puzzle 11130
Central ReservePolice
The UnionGovernment isconsidering a proposal toexpand the
CentralReserve Police to dealwith communal riots,sabotage and
otherdisturbances that mightbreak out in any part ofthe country.
The mainidea is to make specialpolice help available toStates in
times of need.The proposal, it is learnt,has been mootedfollowing
the riots inEastern India and acts ofsabotage in some parts ofthe
country. Hitherto, thearmy was being sent tohelp the civilian
police todeal with extraordinarysituations. TheGovernment is
believedto be not in favour ofutilising the army forsuch purposes,
especiallyduring Emergency. TheState Governments havebeen advised
to keep awatch on those areaswhere law and order are
likely to break downbecause of the activitiesof communal
elements,saboteurs and otheranti-social forces.
Tanker brings U.S.wheat
Point Montara, a U.S.tanker, carrying a littleover 16,000 tons
of whitewheat from the U.S. forMaharashtra State,arrived in Madras
on July5. Mr. R. Venkataraman,Minister for Industries,paid a visit
to the harbourand witnessed theunloading operations.The ship, which
shouldhave unloaded the wheatat Bombay where shearrived on June 19,
couldnot do so owing tocongestion at the port.The
specialrepresentative of theships owners, the PacicCoast
TransportCompany Wilmington,California, Capt. H.G.P.Thomas,
specially ew toIndia and got in touchwith the officials andarranged
to get the shipdiverted to Madras. It isstated that PointMontara is
the rst shipof its kind to touchMadras port.
(dated July 8, 1964)
FROM THE ARCHIVES
Watch out Bollywood, Kutcher goes desi
Ashton Kutcher and his pregnant fiance Mila Kunis were dressed
intraditional Indian attire at a friends wedding at the Borgo
Egnazia
Resort in Savelletri di Fasano, Italy. Kutcher also took to the
dance floor and treated thecrowd to a Bollywood-style number.
Kutcher sported
an aqua-blue embroidered kurta teamed upwith a white dhoti and
topped of
with a red turban. Kunis wore amint ghagra choli with
silveraccents, which hid her baby bump.
PTI
Extant: Halle BerrysTV outing
Halle Berry is certainly awelcome TV presence as thestar of
Extant, a 13-episodethriller that premieres on U.S.channel CBS on
Wednesday. Thepremise of the show is thatBerrys character was
somehowimpregnated while on a soloyearlongouter-spacemission. If
that is not enough,her son back onearth turns outto be a robot.
AP
Homeland will thrilldespite Brodys death
Homeland may have lost itsanti-hero Nicholas Brody to anIranian
gallows, but the hit U.S.TV show will continue to thrill,its
creator says. HowardGordon said the surviving cast,led by CIA
analyst CarrieMathison, had plenty ofdramatic mileage in the
fourthseason due to premiere laterthis year. Reuters
CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu ChiefMinister Jayalalithaa hasasked the
Centre to initiateimmediate steps to nd apermanent and
pragmaticsolution to the shermen is-sue in Palk Bay.
In a letter to Prime Minis-ter Narendra Modi on Sun-day, Ms.
Jayalalithaa said shewas condently looking for-ward to early and
decisive ac-tion by the Centre under hisleadership to resolve
thislong-standing issue.
The right of livelihood ofTamil Nadu shermen, whohistorically
and traditionally
sh in Palk Bay, was contin-uously infringed upon by theSri
Lankan Navy. And, theunlawful apprehension ofthe shermen continued
un-abated.
On July 5, 20 shermenfrom Rameswaram and Man-dapam in four
mechanisedboats were again apprehend-ed by the Lankan Navy andtaken
to Thalaimannar, SriLanka, she pointed out.
The historical rights weresimply signed away as part ofthe
ill-advised Indo-SriLankan agreements of 1974and 1976, which also
unilat-erally ceded Katchatheevu toSri Lanka without having
anyforesight or concern for the
plight of Tamil shermen,she said.
As already pointed out byher, the two agreementswere a subject
matter of awrit petition pending in theSupreme Court. In this
con-text, the Tamil Nadu govern-ment continues to reiteratethat the
issue of the Interna-tional Maritime BoundaryLine [IMBL] and
Katchath-eevu cant be treated as a set-tled issue.
Only the retrieval ofKatchatheevu would ensurethe restoration of
safety andsecurity of Tamil shermenslivelihood in the
traditionalwaters of Palk Bay, the ChiefMinister said, urging
the
Centre to impress upon theSri Lankan government torein in its
Navy and to refrainfrom apprehending innocentshermen who were
inpeaceful pursuit of their live-lihood in their traditionalshing
waters.
Thanking the Prime Min-ister for his effective inter-vention
that led to thespeedy release of 184 sher-men from Sri Lankan
custo-dy since the new governmenttook office at the Centre,
theChief Minister sought Mr.Modis immediate interven-tion to secure
the release of37 shermen and 45 shingboats currently in the
SriLankan custody.
Jayalalithaa seeks quick steps byPM to resolve fishermen issue
Special Correspondent
CHENNAI: While the social mediahas provided an opportunity
tochallenge suppression of facts,what was lacking was
powerfulsocial organisations to createan alternative public sphere
toundermine corporate control ofinformation, said Professor Ai-jaz
Ahmad.
Such an alternative publicsphere is there, in embryonicform, but
the discrepancy be-tween corporate power and op-position media is
still so greatas to be incalculable, he saiddelivering the
inaugural lec-ture, Fact as Democratic Val-ue, to the 2015 batch of
theAsian College of Journalism .
Evaluating the role of the so-cial media vis--vis the
corpo-rate-owned media capable ofbringing the most expensiveand
advanced hardware to thesites of news, the professor ofpolitical
science said it had cre-ated a very complex and contra-dictory
reality.
On the one hand, a merehandful of corporations controlperhaps as
much as 90 per cent
of information ows that arepublicly and easily available and
which constantly invadeour living spaces. On the otherhand, the
cheapening of the dig-ital media and uploading facil-ities implies,
at least inprinciple, that far more demo-cratic means of production
andcirculation are now at hand.
Prof. Ahmad told the stu-dents that while he had no rea-son to
watch televisionchannels, very few facts he usedin his writings
came now frombig newspapers. I get most ofmy facts through
alternativesources, mostly on the web orthrough direct
communicationon email, Skype and others whoare also involved in the
act ofgathering the real truths of ourtime, he said.
Likening the situation ofjournalists working for the
cor-porate-owned media to ErnestoChe Guevaras famous wordsuttered
in the early days of theCuban revolution, you are in-side the belly
of the beast. Youcan kick harder, he said, Youcould kick harder or
not. Thatwill be your choice.
Special Correspondent
Social media, both anopportunity and challenge
TIRUNELVELI: A Chennai police team picked upfor interrogation M.
Natarajan, husband ofSasikala, condante of Chief Minister
Jayala-lithaa, from a bungalow near Five Falls atCourtallam on
Monday in connection with acase of alleged cheating.
The detention was kept a secret as the teamexecuted the
operation even without inform-ing the Courtallam police or the
SpecialBranch police here.
Natarajan detained
Special Correspondent
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CMYK
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TUESDAY, JULY 8, 2014
8 THE HINDU TUESDAY, JULY 8, 2014NOIDA/DELHI
EDITORIAL
Truly memorable tennis tournaments produce
more than quality matches; they also throw
up hints about the future of the game. Wim-
bledon 2014 did both. The extraordinary
mens nal between Novak Djokovic and Roger Feder-
er was indeed a classic, a contest in which power was
matched by renement. It was also a match where
effort demanded not just perspiration, but a range of
attributes from clever innovation to sheer audacity.
But history will also remember this years event as the
crucible in which an exciting new breed of players grew
to display their potential and true promise. These are
young men and women who are readying to occupy the
top echelons of the game as the power structure shifts,
as it must, to a new generation. Among them are Grigor
Dimitrov, Eugenie Bouchard, Milos Raonic and Nick
Kyrgios names that are likely to become more famil-
iar to tennis-lovers in the days to come. But the mens
nal rst, because the ethereal must be placed above
the worldly. Yes, it had its moments of psychodrama
the twists and turns that can transform a tennis match
into suspenseful theatre. But its real worth lay in the
near awless quality of play reected most of all in a
sparkling array of groundstrokes in which each player
constantly challenged the other to surpass himself.
Djokovic, who served better and came good at some
critical moments, who was the deserved winner but
only just. As for hearts, it was Federer, who was looking
for his 18th Grand Slam which would have made him
the oldest Wimbledon champion in the open era of
tennis who stole them before a packed and fawning
house on Centre Court.
With the Djokovic-Federer nal and the womens
trophy going to former Wimbledon champion Petra
Kvitov, tennis remained in familiar hands. But there
were intimations of change, most forcefully expressed
in the games of two bright young talents Dimitrov
and Bouchard. The former, who has an uncharacter-
istic resemblance to Federer in playing style, has the
all-round game to beat anyone on his day almost took
Djokovic out in his semi-nal, failing only to press
home the advantage at a couple of critical moments. As
for Bouchard, she may have been crushed by a rampag-
ing Kvitov in the womens nal, but her journey in the
tournament provided a glimpse into the changing face
of womens tennis. In an age where the Williams sisters
and Maria Sharapova seem to be slowly fading, the
place at the top is ready for challenges from a clutch of
players such as Bouchard, Simona Halep and Sabine
Lisicki. In short, as Wimbledon 2014 ended with one
fantastic match, it also opened up a host of intriguing
possibilities for the future of the game itself.
A very specialWimbledon
Few people today remember the let-ter written on August 7, 2013
by Mr.Narendra Modi, then Chief Minis-ter of Gujarat, to Prime
Minister
Manmohan Singh. In this letter, available onthe Bharatiya Janata
Party (BJP) website,Mr. Modi criticised the National Food Secu-rity
Act (more precisely, the Ordinance) forproviding too little. He
felt pained to notethat the food security ordinance does notassure
an individual of having two meals aday, and pointed out that [the]
proposedentitlement of 5 kg per month per person is hardly 20 per
cent of his [sic] daily calorierequirements. Similar sentiments
were ex-pressed in Parliament on August 27, 2013,during the Lok
Sabha debate on food securi-ty, when one BJP speaker after another
crit-icised the Act for being measly andrestrictive half baked as
Ms. SushmaSwaraj put it.
Facts and ction
One reason why these and related factstend to be forgotten is
that they are at oddswith the mythology of social policy
culti-vated by some sections of the media. Thismythology involves a
number of fallacies.First, India is in danger of becoming a
nannystate, with lavish and unsustainable levels ofsocial spending.
Second, social spending islargely a waste unproductive handoutsthat
dont even reach the poor due to corrup-tion and inefficiency.
Third, this wastefulextravaganza is the work of a bunch of
old-fashioned Nehruvian socialists and assortedjholawalas who led
the country down thegarden path during the United
ProgressiveAlliance (UPA) years. Fourth, the electoratehas rejected
this entire approach peoplewant growth, not entitlements. Fifth,
theBJP-led government is all set to reversethese follies and
rollback the welfare state.
These ve claims have acquired an aura ofplausibility by sheer
repetition, yet theyhave no factual basis. Let us examine themone
by one.
The idea that social spending in India istoo high would be
amusing if it were not soharmful. According to the latest World
De-
velopment Indicators (WDI) data, publicspending on health and
education is just 4.7per cent of GDP in India, compared with 7per
cent in sub-Saharan Africa, 7.2 per centin East Asia, 8.5 per cent
in Latin Americaand 13.3 per cent in OECD countries. Eventhe
corresponding gure for least devel-oped countries, 6.4 per cent, is
much higherthan Indias. The WDI database does notinclude social
security spending, but the re-cent Asia Development Bank report on
so-cial protection in Asia suggests that India isalso an outlier in
that respect, with only 1.7per cent of GDP being spent on social
sup-port compared with an average of 3.4 percent for Asias
lower-middle income coun-tries, 5.4 per cent in China, 10.2 per
cent in
Asias high-income countries and a cool 19.2per cent in Japan. If
anything, India isamong the world champions of social
under-spending. The view that social spending is awaste has no
factual basis either. The criticalimportance of mass education for
economicdevelopment and the quality of life is one ofthe most
robust ndings of economic re-search. From Kerala to Bangladesh,
simplepublic health interventions have broughtdown mortality and
fertility rates. Indiasmidday meal programme has well-docu-mented
effects on school attendance, childnutrition and even pupil
achievements. So-cial security pensions, meagre as they are,bring
some relief in the harsh lives of mil-lions of widowed, elderly or
disabled per-
sons. The Public Distribution System hasbecome an invaluable
source of economicsecurity for poor households, not just inshowcase
States like Tamil Nadu but even inStates like Bihar and Jharkhand
where itused to be non-functional. Of course, there issome waste in
the social sector, just as thereis much waste in (say)
universities. In bothcases, the lesson is not to dismantle the
sys-tem but to improve it there is plenty ofevidence that this can
be done.
UPAs handouts
The expansion of public services and so-cial support in India,
such as it is, has little todo with any nostalgia of Nehruvian
social-ism. It is a natural development in a country
with a modicum of democracy. A similarexpansion, on a much
larger scale, happenedduring the 20th century in all
industrialiseddemocracies (with the partial exception ofthe United
States). It also happened in com-munist countries, for different
reasons.Many developing countries, especially in La-tin America and
East Asia, have gonethrough a similar transition in recent
dec-ades. So have Indian States where the under-privileged have
some sort of political voice,such as Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Many
otherStates, including Gujarat, are now learningfrom these
experiences at varying speed.
Did the UPA lose the recent election be-cause voters were fed up
with handouts?This is an odd idea in many ways, starting
with the fact that there were few handouts tobe fed up with. The
UPA did launch theNational Rural Employment Guarantee Act(NREGA is
not exactly a handout), but thatwas in 2005, and if anything, it
helped ratherthan hindered the UPA in the 2009 election.After that,
there were no major social policyinitiatives on the part of the
UPA, except forthe National Food Security Act which is yetto be
implemented. By 2014, the UPA-II gov-ernment had little to claim
credit for, andplenty to be blamed for scams, ineptitude,food
ination, the direct benet transferasco and more. Meanwhile, the BJP
had thethree things that really matter in an election(money,
organisation and rhetoric) is it asurprise that three voters out of
10 decidedto give it a chance?
Coming to the fth claim, there is littleevidence that a rollback
of social pro-grammes is part of the BJPs core agenda. Asmentioned
earlier, many BJP leaders (in-cluding Mr. Modi as well as the new
FinanceMinister, Mr. Arun Jaitley) have vociferous-ly demanded a
more ambitious NationalFood Security Act. Some of this is
posturingof course, but the BJPs willingness to sup-port food
security initiatives is already welldemonstrated in Chhattisgarh.
Nothing pre-vents it from doing the same at the nationallevel.
Similar remarks apply to the NationalEmployment Guarantee Act: some
BJP-ledState governments did a relatively good jobof implementing
it, and the late GopinathMunde clearly expressed his support for
theAct as soon as he was appointed Minister forRural
Development.
Possible backlash
Having said this, there are also ominoussigns of a possible
backlash against these andother social programmes. Some
overenthu-siastic advisers of the new government havealready put
forward explicit proposals towind up the Employment Guarantee Act
andthe Food Security Act within 10 years, alongwith accelerated
privatisation of health andeducation services. As if on cue,
RajasthanChief Minister Vasundhara Raje recentlysent a letter to
the Prime Minister question-ing the need for an Employment
GuaranteeAct. The corporate sector also tends to behostile to
social spending, if only because itmeans higher taxes, or higher
interest rates,or fewer handouts (incentives as they arecalled) for
business. Corporate lobbies, al-ready inuential under the UPA
government(remember the person who said that theCongress was his
dukaan?) are all the moregung-ho now that their man, Mr. Modi, is
atthe helm. Even a casual reading of recenteditorials in the
business media suggeststhat they have high expectations of
devas-tating reforms in the social sector. That iswhat the
mythology of social policy is reallyabout.
This is not to deny the need for construc-tive reform in health,
education and socialsecurity. If one thing has been learnt in
thelast 10 years, it is the possibility of improvingpublic
services, whether by expanding theright to information, or
introducing eggs inschool meals, or computerising the
PublicDistribution System, or ensuring a reliablesupply of free
drugs at primary health cen-tres. But these small steps always
begin withan appreciation of the fundamental impor-tance of social
support in poor peoples lives.
The forthcoming budget is an opportunityfor the new government
to clarify its standon these issues. Without enlightened
socialpolicies, growth mania is unlikely to delivermore under the
new government than it didunder the previous one.
(Jean Drze is visiting professor at theDepartment of Economics,
RanchiUniversity.)
On the mythology of social policyIndia is among the world
champions of socialunderspending. Without enlightened
socialpolicies, growth mania is unlikely to deliver moreu