INSERT INTO `articles` (`id`, `category_id`, `subcategory_id`, `title`, `description`, `status`, `create_date`, `modify_date`, `homepage_display`, `author`, `image`, `subheading`) VALUES
(20360, 53, 62, 'An Agricultural Nightmare -Deepak Gopinath', '<div align="justify">\r\n-Outlook\r\n</div>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n<br />\r\n<em>India has long been the sleeping giant of global agriculture. But its misguided policies while boosting short-term output, yet may transform India into a food importer </em>\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nAfter decades on the sidelines of international agricultural trade, India was poised last year to become a major food supplier, overtaking traditional exporters of food grain and meat. This could prove to be flash in the pan. The sudden rise and fall of India as food exporter is of its own making: populist calculation by the ruling coalition, sacrificing sustainable policy. India''s shining as a grain exporter could also signal general decline of the country''s agriculture industry, with falling aquifer levels and degradation of soil.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nIndia has long been the sleeping giant of global agriculture. Despite being the world''s second largest producer of agricultural goods, including rice and wheat, it''s been slow to integrate into global markets, preferring instead to maintain a relatively restrictive trade policy. The country limits imports to products such as oilseeds and high-protein seeds known as pulses, which cannot be produced domestically in adequate quantities. India tends to curb exports to safeguard domestic supplies.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThat has changed. India overtook Thailand to become the world''s biggest rice exporter- shipments accounted for 25 percent of global exports. Wheat exports also rose sharply, with India''s share reaching 5 percent; the country also overtook Brazil to become the world''s biggest exporter of buffalo, capturing 24 percent of the global beef market.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nIndia''s newfound position as leading food exporter will be short-lived, however. Government policies that prioritize the production of rice and wheat and a new right-to-food law that''s now before the parliament will not increase food security. Instead, policies will drive food inflation, accelerate India''s transformation into a net grain importer and increase its dependency on global markets for non-cereal foods. India will be forced into the global food marketplace and not on its own terms.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe main driver of India''s unusually large grain exports last year, and of its coming shift into a major food importer, is the government''s food procurement and distribution system, set up to provide subsidized rice and wheat to the poor.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe system is supposed to work like this: The government provides farmers production incentives by committing to open-ended purchases of rice and wheat at annually specified minimum support prices, or MSPs, with farmers free to sell either to the government at the MSP or at market prices, whichever is higher. MSPs are supposed to be floor prices, designed to provide farmers with a safety net in case of a collapse in market prices. The grain procured by the government, by individual states and also by the Food Corporation of India, FCI, is then added to a central pool managed by the FCI. Grain stocks in the central pool are then distributed to the poor via the so-called Public Distribution System, PDS.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nIn reality the system leads to a series of dysfunctional outcomes, including food inflation, overproduction of rice and wheat relative to non-cereal commodities, accumulation of excess grain stocks and rapid erosion of the country''s agricultural productive capacity.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nSeeking to shore up its popularity, the government has rapidly increased MSPs of rice and wheat over recent years. The result: MSPs tend to exceed market prices during the procurement season. Selling to the government is the first rather than the last resort for farmers- especially in major grain-producing states such as Punjab and Haryana, where the government now procures almost all grain arrivals.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe pro-cereal policy has been successful in boosting output, but at a cost. Production of non-cereal foods such as pulses, oilseeds, fruits and vegetables- in increasingly high demand as incomes increase- has lagged, driving up prices and benefiting those countries that meet India''s growing demand.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe government''s commitment to open-ended purchases of wheat and rice at ever-higher MSPs has led to a cycle of ever-increasing procurement. The government buys approximately one-third of total cereal production. This also contributes to food inflation. Elevated MSPs and state taxes keep private traders out of the grain market and discourage high stock levels. So open market availability of wheat and rice falls after the end of the procurement season- thus boosting prices. Wheat and rice prices rose 23 percent and 10 percent year on year, respectively, through November 2012, even as the country was exporting. \r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nHigh levels of procurement have resulted in rapid accumulation of grain stocks, now 66 million tons, more than double the required buffer. To place this in perspective, India''s wheat stocks are equivalent to Australia''s entire annual production of the grain, while its stocks of rice are 50 percent more than Thailand''s yearly output.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe level of stocks far exceeds the government''s storage capacity and results in significant wastage. The government has estimated preventable post-harvest losses of food grain at about 20 million tons per year, equivalent to 10 percent of total production. Faced with excess stocks and need to make room for the next harvest, the government is forced to resort to exports.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThose exports, and the entire cycle of events making them necessary, are unsustainable. India''s breadbasket states are reaching the limits of productive capacity. The overproduction of grains due to ever-rising MSPs has rapidly depleted underground aquifers and sharply reduced soil fertility. With the government concentrating procurement activities and agricultural investment in terms of capital, fertilizers and infrastructure in northern and western states, productivity in the country''s eastern states, primarily rain-fed, has stagnated despite attempts to raise yields. The government will have no alternative but to increasingly depend on international markets when output in the major grain-producing states starts to lag demand.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nPerversely, the government''s planned National Food Security Bill will only accelerate this process. The bill creates a right to food for two-thirds of India''s 1.2 billion people and requires the government to distribute heavily subsidized food grain on a massive scale. The law is a major plank of the governing UPA coalition''s electoral strategy for 2014, and the government is pushing it despite well-documented failures of the public distribution system to get food to the right people. Almost 40 percent of the grain in the public system- which distributed 24 million tons of wheat and 32 million tons of rice in 2011-12- does not reach intended recipients and is diverted to open markets.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe food security bill will increase procurement targets and require higher MSPs, further skewing farmer incentives towards cultivation of grains. The law will reduce exportable surpluses over the next two years because it will require the FCI to carry higher stocks of grains in order to avoid having to resort to large, expensive imports in case of a drought. The law will also hasten India''s transformation into a net grain importer by putting additional pressure on already overstressed farmland.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe end result of these policies will be India''s forced integration into global agricultural markets, not only as a grain importer, but also as a leading buyer of non-cereal commodities. This will benefit grain exporters in the Americas, pulse producers such as Canada, Australia and Myanmar, and palm oil exporters in Indonesia and Malaysia.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nIndians will lose out. Food inflation, primarily driven by protein-rich foods such as pulses, dairy, meat and eggs, in addition to post-harvest shortages of grains in the open market, will continue to weigh on incomes. And price volatility will increase as the country'' import dependency increases exposure to the vicissitudes of global markets. The sleeping giant of global agriculture may be waking to a nightmare.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n<em>Deepak Gopinath is global markets director of the emerging markets research and consulting service, Trusted Sources. Rights:Copyright &copy; 2013 Yale Center for the Study of Globalization. YaleGlobal Online</em>\r\n</p>', NULL, '2013-04-07', NULL, 1, 'Outlook, 1 April, 2013, http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?284740', '', NULL),
(20361, 53, 62, 'Odisha Govt Extended Undue Benefits to Posco: CAG', '<div align="justify">\r\n-Outlook\r\n</div>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n<br />\r\n<em>Bhubaneswar: </em>The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has found Odisha Government of extending undue benefits to South Korean steel major Posco in allotment of a piece of land in the state capital here.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n&quot;The company was extended undue benefit in allotment of land disregarding zonal regulation and charging of premium at a reduced rate,&quot; the CAG in its latest report tabled in the Assembly yesterday said.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe CAG observation was made based on the performance audit on the land allotments by the state government''s General Administration department headed by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. The auditor has come across widespread irregularities in land allotments.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe CAG report said that the country arm of South Korean Steel major POSCO-India had applied for allotment of a plot measuring 12,000 square feet for its Chairman-cum-Managing Director''s (CMD) residence-cum-guest house in 2006.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nHowever, later it enhanced the requirement twice to 25,000 sq.Ft in April 2007 and later 2 acres for the same purpose.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n&quot;Though the same area was earmarked in the Comprehensive Development Plan of the Bhubaneswar Capital city for commercial use, the company was allotted 1.700 acres land in January 2008 at a premium of Rs 25 lakh per acre against prevalent market value of the land of Rs 64 lakh per acre resulting in a loss of Rs 66 lakhs to the state government,&quot; the CAG has observed.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe CAG report also observed that the land was lying vacant till June 2012.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n&quot;The company, thus, was extended undue benefit in allotment of land disregarding zonal regulation and charging of premium at a reduced rate,&quot; the CAG said in its report.\r\n</p>', NULL, '2013-04-07', NULL, 1, 'Outlook, 7 April, 2013, http://news.outlookindia.com/items.aspx?artid=794745', '', NULL),
(20362, 53, 62, 'Don&#039;t keep people on death row in limbo, CJI Altamas Kabir tells govt -Pradeep Thakur', '<div align="justify">\r\n-The Times of India\r\n</div>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n<br />\r\nAsking the government not to keep mercy petitions of death row convicts pending for a long time, Chief Justice of India Altamas Kabir on Sunday said execution of death penalty should not be delayed. He also faulted the government for not informing Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru''s family members before he was hanged.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n&quot;If a death penalty is to be awarded and it is there under the system, then the quicker things are done the better it is for everybody,&quot; Justice Kabir said at a press conference with law minister Ashwani Kumar after a meeting of chief ministers and chief justices of high courts on judicial reforms.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe inordinate delay in disposing of mercy petitions has been a cause of concern with one such convict, Devender Pal Singh Bhullar, approaching the apex court. Citing the delay of 11 years in adjudicating his mercy plea by the President, Bhullar said his death penalty should be commuted to life imprisonment. The apex court has reserved its judgment in the case.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nTaking cue from Bhullar, several others whose mercy pleas were delayed moved the apex court, citing similar reasons. Among them are three convicted for the assassination of former PM Rajiv Gandhi and four aides of killed brigand Veerappan. The court has put off their cases till the Bhullar matter is decided.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nOn Saturday, following a petition filed by a civil rights group, the SC stayed for four weeks the execution of eight convicts on similar grounds. The delay in carrying out death sentences in these cases ranged from three to 12 years.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe parliamentary standing committee on home affairs had last month recommended that all mercy petitions should be decided by the President within three months.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nOn the news of Guru''s hanging reaching his family after two days, Justice Kabir said, &quot;The principle has always been that families have been informed about the execution.&quot;\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe decision to execute Guru was communicated to his family which reached them two days after he was hanged on February 9.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe law minister, however, skirted the Guru issue and said he would rather &quot;comment on things that will happen in future and not what has happened in the past&quot;.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nJustice Kabir concurred with the law minister''s views and said, &quot;The law minister has rightly said these are issues which have already taken place in the past and I think these things should not be raked up again today.&quot;\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe two-judge bench which stayed the execution of eight convicts on Saturday had also referred to the Guru case and said, &quot;It should not happen as it happened in the J&amp;K case (Afzal''s hanging).&quot;\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe bench added, &quot;Intimation of the execution reached the relatives of the person (Afzal) after his hanging. That is bad. The relatives lost an opportunity to meet the condemned prisoner for one last time before his execution.&quot; \r\n</p>', NULL, '2013-04-08', NULL, 1, 'The Times of India, 8 April, 2013, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Dont-keep-people-on-death-row-in-limbo-CJI-Altamas-Kabir-tells-govt/articleshow/19436028.cms', '', NULL),
(20363, 53, 62, 'Most big patented drugs skip India -Rupali Mukherjee', '<div align="justify">\r\n-The Times of India\r\n</div>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n<br />\r\nBig pharma may be crying hoarse over India''s &quot;weak'''' intellectual property environment, but over the past five years or so, they have introduced only a handful of their patented blockbusters in the country. That''s not all. The contribution of patented drugs in the Rs 72,000-crore pharma retail market is not even 1%, indicating that multinationals have been traditionally slow and have a poor track record in introducing blockbusters here. This also busts the myth that India may &quot;suffer'''' as it hasn''t actually seen a huge swell of launches or the entire basket of products from MNCs since the Patent Act was modified in 2005.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n<br />\r\nDetails of patented drugs marketed in the country appear hazy. At best, market research firm, IMS Health, which tracks about 95% of the patented drugs market, estimates their share to be 0.9% (for the 12-month period ended Feb).\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nBesides, there are direct-to-patient sales of niche cancer and HIV drugs, and also some through exclusive stockists and carry forward agents.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nTaking these into account, their share would go up marginally to 2% of the total drug sales in the country.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nMost of these medicines carry eye-popping price tags (see chart), and MNCs which market them register low volumes but high value through their sale.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nSome of the highest selling patented drugs in the market include diabetes drugs Januvia family (Merck), Galvus (Novartis) and Onglyza (BMS); Enbrel ( Wyeth), Victoza (Abbot and Novo Nordisk) and Trajenta ( Boehringer Ingelheim). Others like Erbitux (Merck), Remicade (Janssen/Fulford), Actemra ( Roche), Orencia (BMS), Fasturtec (Sanofi) and Entecavir (BMS) are used in life-threatening diseases like cancer and Hepatitis C.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nSays Kumar Hinduja, senior director strategy planning, IMS Health India, &quot;The share of patented drugs-brands captured by us-has grown from 0.3% to 0.9% over four years. These drugs are expected to grow and corner 6-8% of the total market by 2016.&quot;\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nIncidentally, the IMS made this projection last year.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nIrked with the Supreme Court judgement on Novartis'' Glivec, big pharma has been pretty vocal that going forward there would be a reluctance on the part of MNCs to launch innovative products given the negative environment in India. Novartis India VC and MD Ranjit Shahani had recently told TOI that the company will be cautious in investing in India, especially with regard to introduction of innovative medicines.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nBusting a few myths propagated by the pharma giants, professor Brook K Baker of Health GAP (Global Access Project) says in a blog, &quot;Big Pharma doesn''t site its research and development facilities based on whether there is a maximalist patent regime there or not. It does R&amp;D for a global market, not for a particular country. For example, drug companies don''t do diabetes research for Indian diabetics in India and for British diabetics in the UK. They site their research facilities where there are good scientists, good infrastructure, favourable taxes, etc.&quot;\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nDefending the Indian patent law, he adds: &quot;Studies show that there have been hundreds of patents on medicines in India since it revised its Patent Act in 2005. In fact, those studies also show that India has probably been too lenient in granting weak patents and that it has not properly been applying section 3(d) to weed out evergreening. In sum, it is not impossible to get a patent on medicines in India, you simply have to meet lawful strict standards on what is inventive and patentable.&quot;\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nIndustry expert point out that wherever MNCs have launched niche drugs meant for cancer and HIV, they have imported minuscule quantities of these, only to satisfy the patent regulation of ``local working of the patent&quot;.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nIn fact, a case in point is the compulsory licence which was issued to Natco on cancer drug, Nexavar, as the patent-holder Bayer had not adequately &quot;worked'''' the patent, or not made the drug accessible at a reasonably affordable price.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nSection 83 of the Indian Patents Act says that patents are granted to encourage inventions and to secure that the inventions are worked in India on a commercial scale, and to the fullest extent that is reasonably practicable without undue delay.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nSays Leena Menghaney, lawyer with MSF, an international humanitarian organization: &quot;India has time and again shown it balances intellectual property with the very real needs of people in developing countries and is developing jurisprudence that responds to right to health and public health. R&amp;D in new essential medicines is costly and it is important that financing for it is available. But paying for R&amp;D through monopoly pricing leads to rationing and exclusion of people in need. This is not acceptable. Companies should take guidance from this decision and leave the Indian Patents Act-which is carefully balanced to protect patents for innovations and the public interest-alone.&quot; \r\n</p>', NULL, '2013-04-08', NULL, 1, 'The Times of India, 8 April, 2013, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Most-big-patented-drugs-skip-India/articleshow/19435388.cms', '', NULL),
(20364, 53, 62, 'India moves ahead to get WHO’s polio eradication certificate-Aarti Dhar', '<div align="justify">\r\n-The Hindu\r\n</div>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n&nbsp;\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n<em>Entering third polio-free year, India must destroy all wild poliovirus lab samples by December</em>\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nHaving successfully completed two polio-free years, India is preparing to receive the crucial polio eradication certificate from the World Health Organisation (WHO).\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe certificate is issued on completion of incident-free three years. This primarily involves the destruction or safe storage of all laboratory sources of wild poliovirus. The storage should be in laboratories that meet international standards of biosafety.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nTo achieve this, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has set up a National Task Force for Containment of Wild Poliovirus. Chaired by the Director-General of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), it will identify laboratories that could store wild poliovirus or potentially infectious material.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nWild poliovirus could be present in certain types of clinical samples stored at or below minus 20 degrees Celsius. These could have been collected for investigations not related to wild poliovirus detections. There are several medical colleges/universities, colleges and research institutions that work on infectious material and, therefore, have clinical samples collected over several decades. Information from these institutions will be collected and compiled for preparing a national inventory.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe process has to be completed by December and failure to do so will delay the certification process. Cabinet Secretary Ajit Seth has personally written to the Chief Secretaries of State governments on behalf of the Health Ministry, seeking their cooperation in taking the process forward with a sense of extreme urgency. A pre-tested form has been sent to all laboratories and institutions to elicit information on wild poliovirus.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe WHO''s Global Action Plan for containment of wild polioviruses advises that when polio cases are decreasing, national health authorities must alert laboratories, encourage destruction of all unneeded wild poliovirus material and compile an inventory of all laboratories retaining such materials.\r\n</p>', NULL, '2013-04-08', NULL, 1, 'The Hindu, 8 April, 2013, http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/india-moves-ahead-to-get-whos-polio-eradication-certificate/article4591883.ece', '', NULL),
(20365, 53, 62, 'India leads the world in dengue burden: Nature-N Gopal Raj', '<div align="justify">\r\n-The Hindu\r\n</div>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n<br />\r\n<em>THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: </em>Dengue, the world''s most rapidly spreading mosquito-borne viral disease, is taking a far bigger human toll than was believed to be the case. As many as 390 million people across the globe could be falling victim to the virus each year, according to a multinational study published by Nature on Sunday.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nIndia emerges in the analysis as the country with the world''s highest dengue burden, with about 34 per cent of all such cases occurring here.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nAccording to the World Health Organisation (WHO), incidence of dengue has shot up 30 fold in the past 50 years. Its estimate has been that globally there were 50-100 million dengue infections taking place annually.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nFor their study, Samir Bhatt at the University of Oxford and his colleagues used a map-based approach to model how many dengue cases were occurring in various parts of the world, thereby capturing its global distribution.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThey estimated that worldwide, 96 million people suffered each year from &lsquo;apparent infections'' where the disease was severe enough to disrupt an individual''s regular routine. In addition, there were 294 million asymptomatic infections.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nWith &quot;large swathes of densely populated regions coinciding with very high suitability for disease transmission,&quot; Asia bore 70 per cent of the apparent infections that took place, the scientists pointed out in the paper.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nAfrica contributed about 16 per cent of the global dengue infections and the Americas 14 per cent.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n&quot;I consider it to be the most comprehensive study of dengue disease burden to date,&quot; said Duane J. Gubler, an internationally known expert on the disease, when asked for his views on the Nature paper.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe study''s estimate of 390 million infections was &quot;much closer to the actual figure than the 50 million WHO is still using,&quot; observed Professor Gubler, who is now with the Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School in Singapore.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n&quot;Considering that mosquito control has failed in all dengue-endemic countries, that over half of the world''s population now lives in urban areas, and that dengue is an urban disease, even that number may be too low,&quot; he said in an e-mail.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe study estimated that India had the largest number of dengue cases, with about 33 million apparent and another 100 million asymptomatic infections occurring annually.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nHowever &quot;these are estimates and there are many gaps which we now need to fill,&quot; cautioned Jeremy Farrar, a senior author of the study, in an e-mail. &quot;But it would not surprise me that India was home to the most dengue [patients] globally.&quot;\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe model used in the study could help provide a framework to estimate the burden of disease. Inevitably, there were gaps in the data and one needed to extrapolate from other areas. Better data collection should be encouraged so that the estimates were as accurate as possible, said Professor Farrar, who is director of the Wellcome Trust Vietnam Research Programme and Oxford University Clinical Research Unit Hospital for Tropical Diseases in Vietnam.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n&quot;We have a tremendous problem of dengue all over India,&quot; said Umesh C. Chaturvedi, agreeing with the finding of the paper. A virologist who has studied the disease, he is a scientific consultant to the Indian Council of Medical Research.\r\n</p>', NULL, '2013-04-08', NULL, 1, 'The Hindu, 8 April, 2013, http://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/health/policy-and-issues/india-leads-the-world-in-dengue-burden-nature/article4592098.ece', '', NULL),
(20366, 53, 62, 'Naxalites set up own military school in Dandakaranya -Bharti Jain', '<div align="justify">\r\n-The Times of India\r\n</div>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n<br />\r\nThe CPI (Maoist) has formed its own elite training ''institute'' in the Dandakaranya forests, a Naxalite bastion, to transform tribal cadres into Communist professionals equipped to handle tasks related to the Central Committee, the outfit''s apex decision-making body.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe Buniyadi Communist Training School (BCTS), a brainchild of CPI (Maoist) top gun Ganapathy, has been churning out professionally-trained Communists since 2009 with basic military skills and knowledge of Hindi, social studies, mathematics and science.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nEach tribal cadre undergoing the six-month course at BCTS, which operates in Dandakaranya only, with the actual venue changing with every batch, is taught military intelligence and action team subjects, a surrendered courier for the CPI (Maoist) central committee recently told the Chhattisgarh police.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nDandakaranya special zonal committee (DKSZC) member K Ramachandra Reddy alias Raju is in charge of the school and key Maoist leaders like Takalapalli Vasudeva Rao alias Ashanna are training Maoist cadres between 14 to 21 years in military intelligence and action team missions such as assassination of legislators and senior police officers.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe BCTS which trains 30 to 35 students in each batch, has trained four batches so far. The fifth batch is reportedly undergoing training in Dharba area. The cadres trained in the school are assigned important duties, mostly in works related to the CPI (Maoist) central committee.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe motive behind the decision to form BCTS - taken at a 2009 DKSZC meeting attended by CC members Ganapathy, Katakam Sudarshan alias Anand and Tippiri Tirupati alias Devuji - was to overcome the acute leadership problem being faced by the CPI (Maoist). The surrendered central committee courier, who is barely 19 and hails from a poor Gond family in Maad area of Chhattisgarh, has revealed that the Takalapally Vasudev Rao alias Ashanna heads both the Dandakaranya action team as well as military intelligence (MI).\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe action teams have been actively plotting to go after high-profile targets, according to the surrendered Naxalite who was barely 12 when inducted into the dalam. He told the police that the DK action team had last year attempted to kill a senior police official and even tried to attack a DGP-rank officer traveling in a train from Raipur to Howrah. The Maoist courier said actions teams conduct reconnoitres ahead of important raids and ambushes. The DK action team, he revealed, had looted 17 tonnes of explosives from Bhanupuri and 17,000 explosive devices from Narayanpur in 2009, as well as 16 tonnes of explosives from Gadchiroli in 2010. Ashanna is currently planning to reconstitute the action team and has identified cadres from different companies for the same.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe surrendered courier put the strength of armed cadres in Dandakaranya at about 3,000 and that of the militia at 5,000 cadres. The Dandakaranya committee has a technical wing with a manufacturing unit near Gobel in Kucoanar area. This unit makes 12 bore guns, .315 guns, rocket launcher shells, grenade launcher shells and refills of 12 bore and .315 cartridges. It also manufactures barmars, pipe bombs, claymore mines and pressure bombs.\r\n</p>', NULL, '2013-04-08', NULL, 1, 'The Times of India, 5 April, 2013, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Naxalites-set-up-own-military-school-in-Dandakaranya/articleshow/19391664.cms', '', NULL),
(20367, 53, 62, 'Two bills, two punishments for sexual harassment -Nagendar Sharma', '<div align="justify">\r\n-The Hindustan Times\r\n</div>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n<br />\r\nThe Criminal Laws (Amendment) Act, or anti-rape law, approved by the President on April 3 says the offence is punishable with three years'' imprisonment and provides for a fine.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nBut the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Bill passed by Parliament in February only provides for a penalty and departmental action. \r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe law ministry has said in an internal government note that the women and child development and home ministries should review this second bill before it is sent to the President for his assent.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nIt has advised changes to make the punishment similar to the one under the first bill.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n&quot;There cannot be two deterrents for an offence that has the same definition in both bills. Since sexual harassment is now a criminal offence mentioned in the IPC, it would not be advisable to retain it as a civil offence as well,&quot; the law ministry has stated.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe Justice JS Verma panel, whose report formed the basis for changes in criminal laws following the December 16  Delhi gang rape, had also questioned some of the bill''s key provisions, including one which provides for conciliation between the complainant and the accused.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n&quot;This is in violation of the mandate prescribed by the Supreme Court in the Vishakha verdict, which stated that in matters of harassment and humiliation, any attempt to compromise is another way of undermining the dignity of women,&quot; the panel had stated in its report.\r\n</p>', NULL, '2013-04-08', NULL, 1, 'The Hindustan Times, 8 April, 2013, http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/NewDelhi/Two-bills-two-punishments-for-sexual-harassment/Article1-1038995.aspx', '', NULL),
(20368, 53, 62, 'New mechanism: price of cancer drugs set to fall -Himani Chandna Gurtoo', '<div align="justify">\r\n-The Hindustan Times\r\n</div>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n<br />\r\nCancer drugs will cost almost 25% less if the regulator implements a new formula that calls for a price cap. The price regulator National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) is considering a pricing mechanism similar to the one for insulin products - which has brought down prices by<br />\r\nup to 40% - for 33 cancer drugs, most of them generics.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nBasically, the lowest price from the list of drugs in a particular category will be the maximum that would be billed to a patient. Pharma firms will not be allowed to sell cancer drugs above the ceiling price.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nAt present, prices of cancer drugs are not regulated. The NPPA allows a maximum of 10% increase in prices in a year.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nWhen the new pharma policy, expected in May, is implemented, prices of 33 cancer drugs of the 138 available - both patented and generics - in the Indian market will be regulated by the NPPA.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n&quot;We have not finalised a new price mechanism but our approach is to adopt a mechanism on the lines of insulin pricing, tweaked according to the incoming DPCO (Drug Price Control Order),&quot; NPPA chairman CP Singh told HT.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n&quot;Prices will fall by 10-25% even if DPCO 2013 asks us to follow the simple average method under the new drug policy.&quot;\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe DPCO, which is yet to give its nod to the NPPA plan, decides the pricing policy.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nState drug controllers have been asked by the NPPA to collect price data from market and pharma firms.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n&quot;For patients, a fall in prices is a blessing. Most of the 33 cancer drugs are generics, and not innovators, which will offer a level-playing field to the companies,&quot; said Ranga Iyer, former president of Organisation of Pharmaceutical Producers of India.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe relief will come close on the heels of the Supreme Court dismissing Swiss drugmaker Novartis attempt to win patent protection for its cancer drug Glivec.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n It is estimated that every year more than 7,00,000 people are detected with different types of cancer in India. By 2030, India''s cancer rate, says World Health Organisation, will grow by 78%.\r\n</p>', NULL, '2013-04-08', NULL, 1, 'The Hindustan Times, 8 April, 2013, http://www.hindustantimes.com/Entertainment/Wellness/New-mechanism-price-of-cancer-drugs-set-to-fall/Article1-1038984.aspx', '', NULL),
(20369, 53, 62, 'Shut all mines in tribal areas-Iftikhar Gilani', '<div align="justify">\r\n-DNA\r\n</div>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n<br />\r\n <em>Tribal minister shoots letter to 9 guvs seeking cancellation of leases.</em>\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nUnion tribal affairs minister V Kishore Chandra Deo has asked governors of nine states to invoke their special powers to revoke lease agreements and MoUs signed between state governments and corporates to extract mineral wealth in tribal areas.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nPointing out that power lobbies were disregarding land regulations, he castigated the Congress-ruled Andhra Pradesh government. The union minister, who is also from Andhra Pradesh, said the higher echelons of power in the state were themselves trying to brazenly distort not only the law but also  constitutional safeguards against the interests of tribal and other forest-dwellers.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nIn an identical letter written on April 4 to the governors of Bihar, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh, the minister even linked indiscriminate mining activities to national security by propelling the Left Wing extremism.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nHe even went to the extent castigating his own government saying the insensitivity to the plight and problems of this entire population is the greatest challenge the nation is facing at present. \r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n&quot;The main threat today is the mining in Schedule V areas which has shaken the confidence and faith of the people in the region in our democratic system.&quot;\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nHe has reminded governors that Article 244 of the Constitution vests not only independent legislative authority on them but also allows them to restrict any law of parliament or state legislature from its implementation to a scheduled area in their states to protect rights of tribes and marginalised sections. \r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n&quot;The governor may repeal or amend any Act of parliament or of the legislature or any existing law which is for the time being applicable to the area in question, when good governance or peace is distributed due to issues related either with land or money lending,&quot; writes the minister. \r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nHe further told governors that they are not bound by the aid and advice by the council of ministers under these circumstances.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe minister further urged the governors to use their executive powers and revoke lease agreements which are proving a threat to peace and good governance in these areas. \r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n&quot;I would like to emphasise the fact that the leases and MoUs are mere arrangement s/agreements between two parties and are not exactmetns of either assembly of parliament,&quot; he said.\r\n</p>', NULL, '2013-04-09', NULL, 1, 'DNA, 9 April, 2013, http://www.dnaindia.com/india/1820356/report-dna-special-shut-all-mines-in-tribal-areas', '', NULL),
(20370, 53, 62, 'Govt seeks details of schools defying RTE', '<div align="justify">\r\n-The Times of India\r\n</div>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n<br />\r\n<em>BANGALORE: </em>To tighten the noose around private unaided schools not implementing theRTE Act provisions, the education department has asked block education officers to provide information on schools that haven''t followed the 25% reservation rule under the Right To Education Act. The circular, dated April 5, 2013, was issued after a number of unaided non-minority private schools refused to admit kids under provisions of the Act.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nAs per the circular, the admission process started on January 5 and all admissions were supposed to be done by March 15. But many unaided non-minority private institutions haven''t taken any application under RTE, nor have they provided seats to underprivileged kids.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe department has also sought information on schools which have received very less number of applications under the RTE quota or no applications at all.\r\n</p>', NULL, '2013-04-09', NULL, 1, 'The Times of India, 9 April, 2013, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/education/news/Govt-seeks-details-of-schools-defying-RTE/articleshow/19450196.cms?', '', NULL),
(20371, 53, 62, 'A year on, RTI applicant still awaits education department response', '<div align="justify">\r\n-The Indian Express\r\n</div>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n<br />\r\nOn January 12 last year, RTI applicant Dinesh Suryavanshi had sought information related to class XI admissions under Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005. Even after two appeals and a showcause notice issued to education department officials, he is still waiting for a response from them.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n&quot;I wanted to know about the total number of seats reserved for SC, ST candidates, the stipulated seats in management courses and the seats filled in these categories. I also sought details of total number of admissions done in August and September in colleges across Pune,&quot; said Suryavanshi.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nHe said till date he has not received any information from the department. &quot;There are a lot of discrepancies in class XI admissions and the authorities are trying to cover up. This is the reason why they are not providing me information,&quot; said Suryavanshi, a teacher at a Mumbai college.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nWhen he did not get any information under RTI, Suryavanshi filed an appeal. His first appeal was taken up for hearing on February 13, where he was given March 5 as the next date of hearing, which was later postponed to April 4. As the first appellate authority was not present on the date of hearing, it was further postponed to May 3 where it was ruled that the applicant should be provided all the information without any fee.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nFailing to receive any information despite the ruling, Suryavanshi again filed an appeal on August 21. On the date of hearing, the public information officer was not present and the assistant public information officer declared that he was yet to receive information from the deputy director of education. A decision to provide information in eight days was taken in the second appeal.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n&quot;I again wrote to Sridhar Salunke, the then director of state primary and secondary education department asking him to take action. But untill now, nothing has happened,&quot; said Suryavanshi.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nSalunke had issued a showcause notice on November 2 to deputy director of education asking him to provide details in 10 days. But nothing happened on that front too, he added. Salunke, who retired from the post last year, said he did not remember the case.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nSuman Shinde, deputy director of education, Pune division said, &quot;Suryavanshi has appealed a lot of times. Without reading the appeal, it is hard to comment on the issue. I am in Mumbai and will be able to comment only after I go through the appeal.&quot;<br />\r\n				\r\n</p>\r\n<div align="justify">\r\n<br />\r\n</div>', NULL, '2013-04-09', NULL, 1, 'The Indian Express, 9 April, 2013, http://www.indianexpress.com/news/a-year-on-rti-applicant-still-awaits-education-department-response/1099647/', '', NULL),
(20372, 53, 62, 'Priyanka, 881 others allowed to acquire land in Himachal', '<div align="justify">\r\n-The Hindu\r\n</div>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n<br />\r\nPriyanka Gandhi Vadra, daughter of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, and leading lawyer Prashant Bhushan are among 881 individual beneficiaries, companies, societies and trusts granted permission in the last three years to buy land in Himachal Pradesh. The strict land laws that do not permit outsiders or non- agriculturists to buy farm land were relaxed for these select few.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe matter of land transactions was raised by Congress MLA Rohit Thakur, BJP legislator Mahendra Singh and Lokhit Party leader Maheshwar Singh during question hour.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nRevenue Minister Kaul Singh Thakur, in his detailed written reply, said there were 52 educational societies and three private universities among the 881 entities who were permitted to buy land over the period. Several hydropower companies, corporate house, industrial units and religious bodies were also among those for whom permissions under Section 118 of the HP Land Tenancy and Reforms Act 1972 were allowed, he said.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nBesides Ms. Vadra in Shimla, the Kumud Bhushan Education Society, through Mr. Bhushan, associate of Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal, was also allowed to buy land in Palampur in Kangra by the previous BJP government. Ms. Vadra bought 922 sq. metres of land for constructing her summer house near the hill resort of Mashobara in Shimla during the previous BJP regime. The prized location at Charabara is at a height of 8,000 feet and is surrounded by thick oak and pine forests. It is just 15 km uphill from Shimla and has an Oberoi property (Wildflower Hall, a five-star deluxe hotel) in the vicinity.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nIn response to a question by Congress legislator Asha Kumari, the Minister said there were 246 cases registered in the last three years about land law violations that had come to notice. While 110 cases had been disposed of, the remaining were awaiting settlement.\r\n</p>', NULL, '2013-04-09', NULL, 1, 'The Hindu, 9 April, 2013, http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/priyanka-881-others-allowed-to-acquire-land-in-himachal/article4596797.ece', '', NULL),
(20373, 53, 62, 'Karnataka exhorts centre to hasten work on rural courts -Manu Aiyappa', '<div align="justify">\r\n-The Times of India\r\n</div>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n<br />\r\n <em>BANGALORE: </em>Nearly four years after the GramNyayalaya Act came into force, the promise to provide &quot;&quot;inexpensive justice at the doorsteps of rural litigants&quot;&quot; is still tottering in Karnataka.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nAt the joint conference of chief ministers and chief justices in New Delhi on Sunday, Karnataka chief minister JagadishShettar sough to raise this issue saying the very fact that these courts have not started functioning so far indicates that there are some basic issues which need to be addressed.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nWe should try to make these courts more realistic and more informal in nature. We should widen the base for appointment of the presiding officers instead of appointing regular judges to man these courts. To begin with we should limit the jurisdiction of these courts and with experience gained it could be expanded, '''' Shettar said.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nHe said karnataka government is always ready and willing to provide funds for establishment of GramaNyayalayas. Shettar also pressed for establishment of more juvenile justice boards, child welfare committees and child protection units in Karnataka to strengthen the Juvenile justice system.\r\n</p>', NULL, '2013-04-09', NULL, 1, 'The Times of India, 8 April, 2013, http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-04-08/bangalore/38372628_1_jagadishshettar-courts-gram-nyayalaya-act', '', NULL);
INSERT INTO `articles` (`id`, `category_id`, `subcategory_id`, `title`, `description`, `status`, `create_date`, `modify_date`, `homepage_display`, `author`, `image`, `subheading`) VALUES
(20374, 53, 62, 'Tribals resort to RTI, fight against Forest Protection Act-Alok Deshpande', '<div align="justify">\r\n-The Hindu\r\n</div>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n<br />\r\n<em>The Act grants legal recognition to the rights of traditional forest dwelling communities</em>\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n<em>Jawhar (Thane): </em>The Additional Collector''s headquarter here was abuzz even before its gates opened on Monday morning. Around 100 tribals from various villages in the Jawhar tehsil had already queued to begin what they had aptly named as first of its kind &lsquo;RTI Satyagraha'' against the alleged unlawful implementation of The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nAshok Lakhan of Anantnagar from Kogda gram panchayat, heading the queue, was carrying an application which he was about to submit under the Right to Information (RTI) Act. Till the evening, around 350 other tribals had joined Mr. Lakhan by filing RTI applications, asking the government for documents related with their claims on forest land.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n&quot;As per the provisions in the Act, I had made my claim through village level committee and was later verified by the tehsil level officers using GPS system. But when I was given the title deed two years later, the land given to me was not even 1/4th of my claim.,&quot; he told The Hindu .\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nPapers available with Mr. Lakhan indicated that his claim on the forest land was checked by government officials on June 23, 2009 using GPS. As per the results, he would get deed for land admeasuring 16,777 sq. mt. When he received the deed on August 10, 2011, the government without giving any reason neither placing the matter for hearing accepted the claim on only 3,500 sq. mt. &quot;We have given all the proof as per the Act, which solidifies my claim on 16,777 sq. mt of land. But it was not considered at all,&quot; he said.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nSakharam Wahut of Ozar from Kharonda gram panchayat, shares a similar story. His claim of six acres was reduced to 300 sq. mts which less than one acre. &quot;They didn''t even come for measuring the land and I was given the deed for 300 sq. mt. What has gone wrong with my land papers and who has done it?&quot; he said.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe said Act grants legal recognition to the rights of traditional forest dwelling communities. Those who are cultivating the land prior to December 13, 2005 but do not have the document can claim the land as long as they are cultivating the land for themselves for a livelihood. The upper limit of the claim has been set as four hectares.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThane district has a large tribal population. The district''s eight tehsils have a majority of tribal population and a large forest area. The complaints of shoddy implementation of the Forest Protection Act, 2006 are not new for this district. Two months ago, angry tribals had burned down title deeds in front of the office of Sub-Divisional Magistrate, protesting on the similar grounds. On Monday, the tribals decided to fight their case in a mature and democratic manner.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe RTI applications filed by the tribals sought all the documents related with individual''s land claim. &quot;As per the Act, the authorities are bound to inform the gramsabha if the claim is not recognised or accepted or found false. In most cases, they have not inform the beneficiary about the same, which they should. So, we want all the documentary evidence from the authorities and once we get that, we will decide our future action,&quot; said Mr. Lakhan. He said nine villages from Jawhar and one village from Vikramgad tehsil participated in RTI Satyagraha on Monday. &quot;Once the news spreads among tribals, more and more villages will join us and force the government to give us answers,&quot; he said.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nWhile there are many who have received less land than the actual claim without being verified, there are many who have made their claim almost five years back, but are yet to hear from the government.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nJayram Toke of Kagda told The Hindu that his family had made the claim for the title deed of his mother''s land in August 2008. &quot;We have followed all the procedures. We have even showed them the receipts of fine levied on us by the Forest Department before the enactment of this law. Our claim is still lying with the authorities. Instead of sitting inside the office, they should come and walk with us on the field. That might change the picture,&quot; he said.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nTain Baban Digha of Hateri had the same complaint. &quot;They just sit in the office and decide how much land to be given to whom,&quot; she said.\r\n</p>', NULL, '2013-04-09', NULL, 1, 'The Hindu, 9 April, 2013, http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tribals-resort-to-rti-fight-against-forest-protection-act/article4597291.ece', '', NULL),
(20375, 53, 62, 'Rights panel to hold full commission sitting in Raipur-Suvojit Bagchi', '<div align="justify">\r\n-The Hindu\r\n</div>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n<br />\r\n<em>Raipur: </em>For the first time since the formation of Chhattisgarh in 2000, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) will hold a &quot;full commission&quot; sitting in State capital Raipur.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nNHRC chairperson Justice K. G. Balakrishnan and its members, Justice B. C. Patel and retired diplomat Satyabrat Pal, will hold several sessions till Friday.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nAccording to sources in the NHRC, investigating officers and the special rapporteur of the commission had visited the State, but the full Commission was coming for the first time.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe NHRC will talk to people from all walks of life and the government on many issues, including the plight of bonded and child labour, conservancy workers and leprosy patients. &quot;The members will visit schools in Dantewada to figure out the state of children''s education, especially those of tribal children,&quot; said a NHRC official.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe commission will hold discussions with victims to ascertain the nature of violence allegedly committed by security forces and special police officers (SPOs). It will also check whether the situation has improved after the State-funded vigilante force, Salwa Judum, was banned and the SPOs were disarmed following a Supreme Court judgment. &quot;We would like to know about relief and rehabilitation in the last couple of years,&quot; said the official.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nSeveral individuals and NGOs have been called to testify. According to a NHRC circular, deteriorating public health condition and atrocities committed on girls in hostels are the focus areas. Doctors and other professionals will interact with the commission on these issues. Besides, caste atrocities, the impact of Maoist violence, death of undertrials in judicial custody, sexual abuse of children by teachers and allegations of running prostitution rackets will be examined.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe &quot;torture&quot; of tribal teacher Soni Sori, accused of acting as a courier between Essar Steel and the outlawed CPI (Maoist), will figure in the sessions on Thursday.\r\n</p>', NULL, '2013-04-09', NULL, 1, 'The Hindu, 9 April, 2013, http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/rights-panel-to-hold-full-commission-sitting-in-raipur/article4596788.ece', '', NULL),
(20376, 53, 62, 'Separate housing policy sought for rural poor', '<div align="justify">\r\n-The Hindu\r\n</div>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n<br />\r\n <em>&lsquo;Construct dwellings at a cost of Rs. 2 lakh each for the houseless''</em>\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n<em>Gulbarga: </em>A convention of houseless people has urged the State government to frame a separate housing policy for the poor of rural areas who are houseless and do not own sites, and constitute a village development authority on the lines of the urban development authority.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe convention was jointly organised by the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), the Karnataka Pranta Raitha Sangha, and the Karnataka Pranta Kooligarara Sangha here on Saturday.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nAddressing the gathering, State secretariat member of CPI (M) and president of the KPRS Maruti Manpade said that successive governments had neglected the housing requirements of the poor, particularly those living in rural areas.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nMr. Manpade said the State government should direct all gram panchayats to acquire 10 acres of land in all villages and construct houses and allot them to the houseless people and those who do not own sites.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nEach house should be constructed on a 25ft x 35ft plot at a cost of Rs. 2 lakh.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nMr. Manpade said that at the time of allotment, Dalit families should be given houses based on the percentage of their population in their respective villages and gram panchayats.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nA large number of people participated in the convention. Later, a procession was taken out from the venue of the convention on Nutan Vidyalaya Grounds to the Deputy Commissioner''s office, where the agitators submitted a memorandum addressed to the Chief Minister.\r\n</p>', NULL, '2013-04-09', NULL, 1, 'The Hindu, 9 April, 2013, http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/karnataka/separate-housing-policy-sought-for-rural-poor/article4595262.ece', '', NULL),
(20377, 53, 62, 'A cry in the dark -Esha Roy', '<div align="justify">\r\n-The Indian Express\r\n</div>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n<br />\r\nShe was gangraped by 16 boys, nine of them juveniles. She was beaten, cut up and her genitals mutilated. She made it to hospital, but was sent home with first-aid. When she survived to fight, she ran into an indifferent administration and influential accused. Schools denied her admission, and others mocked and threatened her.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nChances are you haven''t heard this 16-year-old''s story. Three days after the brutal attack on her, the Delhi bus gangrape would happen, and a grieving nation''s conscience would not find time or space for this distant town in remote Meghalaya.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n***\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nIt was a dark, moonless night on December 13, 2012, in Williamnagar in East Garo Hills district. Most of the houses in the town were empty as people had gathered for the annual winter ''Simsang'' festival. Like every year, the star attraction was a fashion show-cum-beauty pageant. That evening, among the jostling audience of youngsters were three teenage girls. They were excited, having convinced family members to let them go without male relatives.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nRabolin K Sangma, 16, says it was she who had convinced the other two, her closest friends, to come along. &quot;We weren''t really interested in the festival. But I had to see the fashion show,&quot; she says.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThey left at 8.30 pm, before the show had ended. Fog had crept in by then and turned the trees on the isolated stretch they took past the Sacred Heart Church to soft shadows.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThey had walked just a short while when they saw a group of boys coming towards them. &quot;They were behaving strangely. I thought, this is not okay... but I didn''t say anything,&quot; says Rabolin. Seconds later, the boys charged at them. &quot;We started running and turned into a narrow lane. We cried for help,&quot; Rabolin says.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nOne of her friends, also her cousin and neighbour, fell down and got left behind. &quot;She got up but the boys had by then started pelting stones. One hit her and she fell down again. When they got her, they stopped chasing us. We hid inside a garage for hours. We heard her screaming but we were too scared to go back.&quot;\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n***\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nSixteen boys are believed to have proceeded to rape the victim, nine of whom were minors. The victim can''t say as she blacked out. The oldest of the rape accused is 19 years old, the youngest 12. Six are 18.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nDefence counsel M L Thangal admits some of them participated directly in the assault, but adds others &quot;just hung around to watch it&quot;. &quot;According to the FIR and the statement of the victim, the leader was 19-year-old Laston Marak, who told the others what to do. Laston was the victim''s brother''s friend but apparently did not recognise her. She was pinned to the ground, kicked and hit. They tore off her T-shirt and started knifing her through her jeans, only later taking it off. The victim remembers the first three boys who raped her, after which she lost consciousness,&quot; says Thangal.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nWhen she stopped responding, the boys stuck a knife into her vagina repeatedly to get her to react.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe victim regained consciousness at some point and realised she was lying naked. Laston allegedly started to rape her again, at which point she called out his name and asked him why he was doing it. &quot;When she said his name, he asked, ''Who are you?''. She told him and he realised he knew her brother. By then, there was just Laston and another boy there. They helped her put on her jeans and gave her a T-shirt and they dropped her back home,&quot; says Thangal.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nMeanwhile, as an eerie quiet fell again over the lane, the victim''s friends came out of hiding and stopped a biker for help. &quot;He took us to the spot but by then she had disappeared and so had the boys. He then dropped us home,&quot; says Rabolin.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n***\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nAll 16 accused have since been arrested and booked for rape, &quot;common intention&quot; and criminal conspiracy. On April 3, the trial commenced in a fast-track court with the examination of five witnesses. Interestingly, the police are not showing the FIR to anyone, including the victim''s family.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nWhat has since emerged about the accused''s alleged behaviour has only added to the shock. According to the police, like the girls, the accused were present at Simsang. At the festival, they attacked a schoolteacher (no one knows why) and were carrying him to throw him into the nearby Simsang river when they spotted the victim and her friends. As they got distracted, the teacher fled. He was present at the hospital when the victim''s family brought her there later that night. He told the family about the attackers. The teacher has since disappeared.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe hospital medical report lists injuries on her neck, face and back as well as cigarette burns on her right hand. Her vagina had been mutilated. However, the attending doctor, says the family, just gave the victim an i-pill, eight stitches, some first-aid, a few painkillers, and sent her home.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe next day, a women''s rights activist, Jaynie N Sangma, took the victim back to the hospital. She would remain there for two weeks.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n&quot;She hadn''t been eating or drinking and couldn''t pass urine. I asked the doctor why she hadn''t been admitted and she said she had administered first aid. Initially, even the administration took the incident lightly and only after we held protests did they take up the case,&quot; says Jaynie.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nWhen the victim''s mother, who stays in Rongongre village, heard what had happened, she fainted. &quot;I couldn''t recognise my own daughter. Her body was swollen. I asked what had happened to her. She started crying.&quot;\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n&quot;I expect to get 100 per cent conviction,&quot; says public prosecutor P L Sebastian.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n***\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe victim has since moved out of Williamnagar. She had left her parents'' home in Rongongre, on the other side of the Simsang river, to attend school in the town, staying with her married older sister and her in-laws. A Class IX student, she had failed her final examinations and was looking to switch schools.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nRabolin prefers that her friend keep away. &quot;One day in February, the two of us had gone to the market and the family of one of the accused started abusing her. Another day, the sister of another of the accused took her photo,&quot; says Rabolin.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n&quot;When I realised the danger to her and us, I asked Jaynie to take her to Tura. One of the accused''s father is a surrendered militant and had threatened to take up arms again,&quot; says the victim''s mother.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nJaynie took the girl to her home in Tura. &quot;After several weeks, child protection officers came and took her away,&quot; she says.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n***\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nOn March 25, the State Women''s Commission took up the case and took the girl into &quot;protective custody&quot;. Member Gamchi Tamre insists the commission acted for &quot;the girl''s own protection&quot; and to ensure her identity wasn''t exposed. &quot;I couldn''t go the day of the incident, but I went as soon as possible,&quot; Tamre says.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nHowever, even the victim''s mother found it difficult to meet her in the commission''s custody. &quot;I went to the shelter but after I had waited four hours, they told me I couldn''t meet her... I was never allowed to meet her alone,&quot; she says.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe mother also claims that Tamre warned her that should she take the girl out of their custody, the government would not support the family. &quot;I am a vegetable vendor and my husband doesn''t work. What option did we have?&quot; she says.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nWomen''s groups say the reason for the commission''s actions was that one of the accused-a juvenile-is the nephew of Williamnagar MLA and Cabinet Minister for Social Welfare and Justice in the Meghalaya government Deborah Marak.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nAsked who the Women''s Commission reports to, Tamre says, &quot;We are a branch of the National Commission for Women... but we report to the social welfare department.&quot;\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n***\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nOn March 28, after much pressure, the victim was brought to Tura and allowed a five-minute interaction with a woman activist from Shillong, Agnes Kharsiing, and this journalist. &quot;You can see she''s doing fine,&quot; Women''s Commission member Angela Ingty said, ruling out any questions for the victim. &quot;What is the need for talking?&quot;\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe victim was accompanied by three women protection officers. Her head covered with a dupatta, she sat huddled in a chair in a guesthouse in Tura, eyes downcast.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nLooking small and frail, she said she was okay. &quot;I like going to school. My favourite subject used to be science and I wanted to grow up to be a doctor,&quot; she added nervously. She only looked up once and broke into a smile when she was told that Kharsiing had come from Shillong to meet her.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nHowever, at least three schools in Tura refused to take her. &quot;The headmaster of the Garo Union School said since she was an undertrial, they could not accept her. How can she be an undertrial when she is the victim?&quot; says Jaynie. The headmaster, Stanley Momen, told The Sunday Express admissions in the school had finished by the time they were approached. &quot;Why is everyone targeting me?&quot; he said. &quot;We are a semi-government school. There are government schools which these people should approach-this is a government matter. There is no question of admission in my school.&quot;\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n***\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nAfter a PIL was filed alleging sloppy handling of the case, the girl was taken out of the protection of the Women''s Commission and handed over to the care of East Garo Hills District Commissioner V K Mantri on March 31. Mantri organised for the victim to attend school in Williamnagar.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe victim''s parents, however, felt she wouldn''t be safe in the town. They handed her over to a women''s group. On April 5, the girl finally got school admission with the help of the Garo Students'' Union. For her safety, it is not being revealed where.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n***\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nAt Williamnagar, the lane where the rape occurred remains isolated. Moss-covered walls block it from view of both the huts on the left and the government colony on the right.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nAt her sister''s home, the mother remembers the things her 16-year-old liked. &quot;She is a good girl. She loved cooking, especially dried fish. In the evenings, she would watch Hindi serials on television. She wouldn''t understand the language but she loved them. She also liked dressing up and would save up to buy new clothes.&quot;\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nNow, she adds, &quot;I want her to study hard, get a job, become independent. There is no other future for her.&quot;\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nShe demands that the culprits be jailed for life and that Laston be hanged. &quot;I have watched him and another accused grow up. They were my younger son''s friends. My eldest son warned me about them. They were the town goondas... I can''t believe that this is the guy who used to accompany my son on his fishing trips.&quot;\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nLife has changed for Rabolin too. &quot;I have gone out only a couple of times (since the incident), but I never leave home after sundown,&quot; she says.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nTalking about her friend, Rabolin says: &quot;She never talked about it... withdrew into herself. Only once she told me, ''I should have died on that very spot. I should have died right then and there''.&quot;\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nAt her sister''s home, one part of the victim''s past has already been erased. The bedroom that she used has been converted into a kitchen. Two tables with gleaming steel pitchers and a stove stand where her bed once was.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n<strong>THE ACCUSED</strong>\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n* The oldest, 19-year-old Laston Marak, is alleged to have been the ringleader, instigating the boys to commit the crime.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n* He and co-accused Patrick Sangma, 18, were her brother''s friends.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n* Five other accused are 18, including Platon Marak, Chengchow Sangma, Rikrak Sangma, Kisen Marak and Chingkam Marak.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n* Of the nine juvenile accused, the youngest is 12.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n* The gang was known to get into streetfights and rob truck drivers and shopkeepers.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nIn 2012, Meghalaya saw 158 rapes, 6 were gangrapes.\r\n</p>', NULL, '2013-04-09', NULL, 1, 'The Indian Express, 7 April, 2013, http://www.indianexpress.com/news/a-cry-in-the-dark/1098688/0', '', NULL),
(20378, 53, 62, 'Kisan credit cards buoy rural demand- Dinesh Unnikrishnan', '<div align="justify">\r\n-Live Mint\r\n</div>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n<br />\r\n<em>In the two years to March 2012, the number of kisan credit cards grew by 28%, while the outstanding amount grew by 76% </em>\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nSo far, the rural job-guarantee scheme, other social programmes by state governments and the raising of minimum support prices to farmers have been cited as reasons for the continued buoyancy in rural consumption and also for inflation in food items. But there could be another insidious factor at work-kisan credit cards (KCCs).\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nCredit exposure of commercial banks to Indian farmers through KCCs has reached about `2 trillion. This money comes at a cheap interest rate of 7% to the farmer, which encourages many to use a sizeable portion for consumption and not necessarily for crop production. Bankers know about such diversion of funds but conveniently ignore it because they are under immense pressure to achieve the so-called priority sector lending target every year. Most banks do not have the tools to monitor the end use of farm loans or are reluctant to seek recovery from them, considering the political sensitivity associated with the segment.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nMore importantly, since this is mandated lending, the flow of money does not stop. It''s immune to monetary tightening by the central bank. Bankers point out that there are many instances of evergreening of such loans, as the farmer merely has to repay the loan for a day for the credit limit to be reinstated. In the two years to March 2012, the number of KCCs grew by 28%, while the outstanding amount grew by 76%, implying that much of the money has gone to existing cardholders and not fresh borrowers. There are many experts who say KCC exposure of banks could be a bad loan bubble waiting to burst if left unchecked.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nInterestingly, total credit growth to agriculture and allied activities as on 22 February was up 18.4% from a year ago, much higher than the 14.4% growth in overall non-food credit.\r\n</p>', NULL, '2013-04-09', NULL, 1, 'Live Mint, 7 April, 2013, http://www.livemint.com/Money/5Lw436OJFSu5znjXkhqrwK/Kisan-credit-cards-buoy-rural-demand.html', '', NULL),
(20379, 53, 62, 'Satellite-based study of FRA implementation ‘faulty’-Meena Menon', '<div align="justify">\r\n-The Hindu\r\n</div>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n<br />\r\nForest rights campaigners have slammed the satellite image-based study on the implementation of the Forest Rights Act (FRA) in Maharashtra as &quot;deeply faulty and obviously biased,&quot; arguing that it manipulates data and facts to make a case against the Act.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nCountering the report which a private company prepared at the behest of the State Forest Department, a critique by Madhu Sarin and others of the Campaign for Survival and Dignity says the study does not highlight its own data that only two per cent of claims it investigated could actually be &quot;false&quot; even by its incorrect interpretation. Furthermore, the satellite imagery it uses is highly unreliable and is not even internally consistent, making it impossible to verify what is actually growing on the land in question.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe Campaign says the study suffers from two major problems: a faulty and incorrect framework for analysis; and the use of satellite imagery as the exclusive basis for assessing the legitimacy of recognised forest rights.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe Forest Rights Act recognises 14 different rights, but the study has focused only on one of them: rights recognised under Section 3(1)(a) of the Act. This section recognises &quot;the right to hold and live in the forestland under the individual or common occupation for habitation or for self-cultivation for livelihood by a member or members of forest-dwelling Scheduled Tribes or other traditional forest dwellers.&quot; The Campaign says: &quot;The key word here is the right to hold and live in the forestland under &lsquo;occupation'' and not necessarily under actual cultivation.&quot; This has also been clarified by an amendment to the Act notified on September 6, 2012.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nAny of the following would be a forest dweller''s right under Section 3(1) (a): growing tree crops on the occupied land, leaving part of the land fallow for a year or two to allow it to regenerate or because the person does not have the capacity to cultivate it that year; using a part of the land for other activities ancillary to cultivation; and growing ordinary crops with a boundary marked by trees and building a shelter on the land to live in.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe study, however, is based on the wrong interpretation that rights can only be recognised on land that on a satellite picture is fully covered with ordinary crops as on December 13, 2005. Worse still, the critique says the study, using this faulty framework, has sub-divided the land over which rights have been recognised into land under cultivation, barren land, land with forest cover, or a mixture of these three. It has categorised all recognised rights having land uses other than pure cultivation as faulty or illegal. Despite this, out of 35,044 finally recognised forest rights cases analysed, 85 per cent were found to be under cultivation in 2005-06, covering a total area of 40,116 hectares (an average of just over one hectare per forest right claim).\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe remaining 15 per cent cases were found to have been either &lsquo;barren'' or &lsquo;forest'' or a combination of cultivation, barren and forest as land use. Only two per cent of the total cases were found to have forest cover representing less than one per cent of the total area over which forest rights have been recognised (and even these could consist of tree crops). If correct, this indicates a remarkable rigour in the process of verification of the claims preceding their approval, the Campaign says. Half of the remaining 13 per cent supposedly &lsquo;illegal'' forest rights cases consist of only &lsquo;barren'' land and the other half have a combination of land uses. Both should be perfectly legal in view of the clarification given by the amended Forest Rights Act rules that land under occupation can include land used for activities ancillary to cultivation, including rotational fallows and tree crops, says the critique. The Forest Rights Act does not bar recognition of land under a combination of uses, which is under occupation of the claimant, as clarified by the amendment rules.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nIn this, the study has inadvertently achieved a self-goal by attempting to prove changes in land use over the approved forest rights cases from 2005 to 2011 by superimposing the claimed lands on the Cartosat-1 satellite images and the Land Use Land Cover (LULC) maps of the National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) for the same years, says the Campaign. This comparison revealed that most of the cases classified as totally under agriculture in the NRSC maps are also classified as agriculture in the Cartosat maps; most of the cases classified as &quot;forest&quot; in the NRSC maps, however, are classified as agriculture in the Cartosat maps; only 7 per cent of the plots classified as &quot;forest&quot; in the NRSC maps are also classified as such in the Cartosat maps. There is no way to check if land classified as &quot;barren&quot; is in fact fallow cultivated land.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nDespite such major discrepancies between the NRSC LULC and Cartosat-1 maps, most of the analysis of the study relies on the NRSC satellite images - which the study itself states are problematic, the critique says. This clearly indicates that satellite imagery, particularly for small patches of land, is useless in the absence of ground verification.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nIt is also hardly surprising that some land use change has taken place on less than one per cent of the total area of the approved forest rights as that is in the nature of cultivation practices in forested areas, the critique points out. By questioning the approved forest rights post-facto, the study is not only questioning the entire system but even the functioning of the Forest Department''s own officials (including Forest Officer A.K. Jha, who was in charge of implementing the Forest Rights Act in its first years), the critique points out. \r\n</p>', NULL, '2013-04-09', NULL, 1, 'The Hindu, 7 April, 2013, http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/forest-rights-campaigners-trash-fra-satellite-report/article4591246.ece', '', NULL),
(20380, 53, 62, 'Poll delay squeeze on rural funds -Avijit Sinha', '<div align="justify">\r\n-The Telegraph\r\n</div>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n<br />\r\n<em>Siliguri, April 7: </em>If the panchayat system is dissolved and not replaced by newly elected bodies on time, at least three central schemes would come to a halt in the state, Jairam Ramesh said today.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nAccording to the Union rural development minister the national job scheme for villagers, which entails 100-days work for at least one member of a BPL family, would be hit the most. The other two schemes that would be affected are the rural drinking water supply and sanitation.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n&quot;We are concerned about the continuation of at least three schemes. The MGNREGS tops the list of schemes to be hit. The other two to be affected are the rural drinking water supply and sanitation schemes, as the tenure of the panchayats will expire by the end of next month,&quot; the Union minister told The Telegraph on way to Darjeeling.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe state government and the state election commission are at loggerheads over the security arrangements and the number of phases of the panchayat polls. The matter has reached Calcutta High Court. The poll dates cannot be finalised till a solution is reached.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n&quot;With both sides in court, there is not much possibility of polls being held in the near future and panchayats being in place by end of May,&quot; an administrative official here said.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nMaking it clear that he was only stating rules, Ramesh said: &quot;Going by the rules and legislation, no work under these schemes can be done unless there are elected bodies in place in all the three tiers of the panchayat. This is not a threat, I am just stating rules.&quot;\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nReacting to Ramesh''s statements, state panchayat minister Subrata Mukherjee said tonight in Calcutta that &quot;the Congress has no right to stop central funds for Bengal&quot;. &quot;Are the funds for the central schemes the Congress''s father''s property (Kendriya fund-er taka ki Congress-er baper sampatti)?&quot; he told The Telegraph.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nMukherjee cited the example of Andra Pradesh where the Centre has been funding various central schemes for 10 years though there has been no panchayat elections during that period. &quot;There has been no election to the rural bodies in Andhra Pradesh for the last 10 years. Then how is the Centre funding the schemes in that state?&quot; Mukherjee asked.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nIn Andhra, no panchayat election has been held since 2003 because of a pending case on reservation in the Supreme Court. The state has cited the case to get funds for the schemes but after the death of Congress chief minister YSR Reddy in 2009, the funds did become an issue.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nRamesh issued threats to Andhra Pradesh in public meetings while touring that state. &quot;But with the Congress being at the helm in the state again, MNREGS funds were not stopped both during the time of the Rosaiah and Kiran Kumar Reddy governments,&quot; said an Andhra official. Now on the basis of a Supreme court instruction, the panchayat election in Andhra is likely to be held by June.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nLate tonight, in reply to a text message query if the Andhra model was replicable in Bengal, Ramesh replied &quot;no&quot;.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nEarlier Ramesh was apprehensive about how much could the state utilise the central funds in the absence of panchayats. &quot;In the last fiscal, we had allotted Rs 4,000 crore under the MGNREGS to Bengal. In the current fiscal, we were planning to allot around Rs 5, 000 crore to Rs 7,000 crore. However, if panchayats cease to exist, we are uncertain as to how much of this funds would be utilised to employ the BPL people&quot;.\r\n</p>', NULL, '2013-04-09', NULL, 1, 'The Telegraph, 8 April, 2013, http://www.telegraphindia.com/1130408/jsp/siliguri/story_16760236.jsp#.UWQtKTfcinh', '', NULL);
INSERT INTO `articles` (`id`, `category_id`, `subcategory_id`, `title`, `description`, `status`, `create_date`, `modify_date`, `homepage_display`, `author`, `image`, `subheading`) VALUES
(20381, 53, 62, 'No meeting ground  -TK Rajalakshmi', '<div align="justify">\r\n-Frontline\r\n</div>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n<br />\r\n<em>The Land Acquisition Bill runs into a roadblock as political parties fail to reach an agreement on the substantive features of the draft Bill or on the amendments proposed.</em>\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe efforts of the United Progressive Alliance government to broker a consensus on the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill, 2012, which has been pending for over a year, have not paid off not because of the opposition to it but because of the government''s own lack of willingness to accept the changes proposed. An all-party meeting was called off at the last minute on March 20, and another one earlier failed to arrive at any agreement on the substantive features of the draft Bill or the amendments proposed. &quot;It was hardly an all-party meeting. Only representatives of six parties had been called for the meeting on March 20,&quot; said a Member of Parliament.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe draft Bill, hailed in some quarters as a landmark piece of legislation, was introduced in the Lok Sabha on September 7, 2011, to replace the Land Acquisition Act, 1894. On December 17, 2012, the government circulated a list of 187 amendments to it. &quot;Many members have not even gone through the Bill, especially the amended portions. Besides, with the amendments, it has become a new Bill,&quot; Basudeb Acharia, Lok Sabha member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), told Frontline. Justifiably, the opposition parties, including the CPI(M), had asked for more time to study the amendments and assess whether the valid concerns of farmers, the landless and those dependent on land had adequately been addressed.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe ambit of the term &quot;public purpose&quot; in the amended Bill is a point of contention. It has apparently been widened, beyond what the Standing Committee constituted to examine the Bill had recommended, thereby raising fears that the tweaked definition is more an exercise to facilitate acquisition of land for private purposes. And at a more fundamental level, there are concerns about whether or not the objective behind the draft legislation as quoted in its preamble has been met. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which initially did not seem to find much problem with the Bill and was &quot;on board&quot; according to informed sources, has also voiced its reservations regarding the amended clauses. Apart from the leaders of the Left parties, BJP president Rajnath Singh addressed a meeting of farmers in Delhi who were on a protest against some of the clauses in the Bill.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe definition of &quot;public purpose&quot; in the amended Bill includes infrastructure projects relating to agriculture, agro-processing, cold-storage facilities; industrial corridors or mining activities, national investment and manufacturing zones as designated in the National Manufacturing Policy; and any other infrastructural facilities notified by the Central government after tabling the notification in Parliament. This consolidates the view that the definition of public purpose has been widened to further the government''s objectives relating to foreign direct investment (FDI) in multi-brand retail and other policies. Public purpose also includes acquisition of land for use by public-private partnership (PPP) projects where the ownership of the land will continue to be vested in the government. The Left parties have raised the issue of ownership.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nSimilarly, clauses pertaining to the requirement of consent have been whittled down. For instance, the draft Bill laid down that the consent of 80 per cent of the project-affected people was required in cases of acquisition of land for use by the government for purposes other than those mentioned as &quot;public purpose&quot;; by public-private partnerships; and by private companies. Within the various ministries of the government, too, a debate raged over whether the consent percentage should be kept at 67 or raised to 80. It is learnt that there was considerable pressure on the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD), which drafted the Bill, to reduce it to 67 per cent from 80 per cent as laid down in the 2011 Bill.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nFinally, in what seemed to be a compromise, the amendment seeks the consent of 80 per cent of the landowners in cases of use of land by private companies and the consent of 70 per cent of the landowners in case of land acquired for PPPs. It has also been stated that the process of obtaining consent has to be carried out along with a social impact assessment (SIA) study.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe original draft said that resettlement and rehabilitation (R&amp;R) provisions were mandatory for all private purchases if the land purchased was equal or more than 100 acres in rural areas and 50 acres in urban areas (an acre is 0.4 hectare). This would mean that these provisions were not mandatory where the land acquired was less than the acreage stipulated. The amended clause says that the threshold for applying R&amp;R for all private purchases has to be notified by the respective State governments. This in itself is a good step keeping in mind the principles of federalism because land is a State subject. But by not specifying any threshold whatsoever, too much has been left to the discretion of the State government.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe earlier Bill said the SIA had to be evaluated by experts on rehabilitation, a technical expert and two non-official social scientists. The amended Bill seeks to include two representatives of the panchayat, gram sabha or municipality. The expert group was expected to look at whether the project served any public interest at all. But things have now changed with the ambit of the public interest or public purpose widened in the Bill. The amended clause gives the government powers to override the decisions of the expert committee; all it requires is to give its objections in writing. The previous draft laid down explicitly that the expert committee''s recommendations were final.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n<em>Long-term consequences</em>\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe amendments are fraught with long-term consequences. For instance, Clause 8 of the draft Bill laid down that the government would constitute a committee to examine the proposals for the acquisition of more than 100 acres and that the committee would determine whether there was a legitimate purpose and whether the public purpose was in the larger public interest. The amended version does away with the constitution of such a committee itself.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe previous version also factored in food security concerns and laid down that in any district a maximum of 5 per cent of the total irrigated multi-crop land may be acquired as a last resort and that an equivalent amount of wasteland developed for agricultural purposes.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe amended version gives the government the discretion to notify the limit of multi-crop irrigated land for acquisition &quot;taking into consideration the specific factors and circumstances relevant to the State&quot;.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nCertain amendments are deemed meaningless. For example, Clause 14 of the Bill stipulated that the SIA would lapse if the expert committee failed to give its views within 12 months; the amended version says the government can extend it beyond 12 months and the reasons have to be recorded. According to the amended version, a public hearing of the draft R&amp;R scheme has to be held in those gram sabhas and municipalities where more than 25 per cent of the land was being acquired; as per the earlier Bill, it was to be held in every gram sabha or municipality where land was to be acquired.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe amended version also gives the government the powers to delay the issuance of the declaration for the R&amp;R scheme.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe retrospective application of the Act is significant. The initial Bill provided that where a notification had been issued under the Land Acquisition Act of 1894 and no award been made, the process would be deemed to have lapsed and the acquisition would be made in accordance with the new Act.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe amended version says that where no award has been made under the 1894 Act, then all the provisions of the Bill relating to compensation and R&amp;R shall be made applicable to the acquisition, but where an award has been made, then the provisions of the 1894 Act shall be applicable. But if possession has not been taken or compensation not paid for five years or more-a fairly generous threshold -then acquisition proceedings under the 1894 Act shall deem to have been lapsed. Compensation shall be deemed to be unpaid if accepted under protest; it shall be deemed to have been paid where it is credited in the bank account of the individual whose land is sought to be acquired.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThere are strong reasons to believe that the government is deliberately delaying the passage of the Bill as under the present clause, acquisitions and awards can be made and given under the old Act. &quot;A spate of land acquisitions is taking place all over the country and it is my apprehension that the delay over the Bill is helping such large-scale acquisitions,&quot; said Basudeb Acharia.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n<em>Left pushes for a land use policy</em>\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe CPI(M) submitted a comprehensive list of amendments, 23 in all. &quot;I gave the amendments to the Minister for Rural Development on February 26. I got the response on the day of the meeting, March 7. I do not find all the issues we raised being reflected in the responses,&quot; said Acharia. For instance, the CPI(M) suggested an addition to the preamble to &quot;establish a National Land Use Commission and State Level Land Use Commissions to formulate a comprehensive, equitable, decentralised, location-specific and environmentally sustainable land use policy, following which the State and local self-governments should draw up land use plans with the objective of ensuring food and livelihood security of all those whose livelihoods depend on land&quot;. In fact, the title of the Bill itself, it said, should be &quot;Regulation of Land Use and Acquisition, Livelihood Protection, Fair Rehabilitation and Resettlement Guarantee Bill, 2013&quot;.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe Ministry responded that the amendment relating to the establishment of such commissions would be outside its legislative purview as land was a State subject. It is, therefore, curious that a Bill to do with land acquisition does not even have a perspective, parameters or a policy of land use, which will, to the logical eye, appear to be a prerequisite for any process of acquisition.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe fundamental principle underlying the amendments moved by Acharia is that land acquisition should be based on prior informed consent from all affected persons with the least displacement and for a democratically established public purpose. The cumulative outcome is that all affected persons should have an improvement in their post-acquisition socio-economic status. One suggestion by the CPI(M) is to apply the provisions for consent and R&amp;R in all cases of private purchase above the land ceiling/10 acres, whichever is lower, without any exception. Other suggestions are to define public purpose in terms of those activities that are of direct benefit to the largest number of people and do not include the furtherance of private speculation and profit, and to change the definition of infrastructure project to make it restrictive rather than inclusive on the principle of quod est necessarium est licitum, implying that only what is actually necessary is lawful.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nAdditionally, it said, phrases that gave the bureaucracy room for arbitrary action were to be removed from all parts of the Bill; there should be no bar on the jurisdiction of courts as that would violate the fundamental rights of affected persons; land should be reverted to the original owners if it was not used for the purpose for which it was acquired within two years of acquisition; and in all cases where possession of land had not been taken even though the land acquisition process had been initiated under the 1894 Act, the process of acquisition should start afresh in accordance with the new Act.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nAccording to reliable sources, the MoRD has agreed to incorporate some suggestions made by the CPI(M) regarding the vesting of full ownership of land in the government or in the public sector undertaking (PSU) concerned and the assurance that no land would be acquired in forest and tribal areas without satisfying fully the letter of the law under the Forest Rights Act. But some others have not been agreed to. They are the demand to bring under the law the regulation of private purchase of land over 10 acres in rural and two acres in urban areas or the kind of purchase that was over the prevalent land ceiling in the State concerned (whichever was lower); the imposition of a limit on acquisition of up to 2 per cent of the total cultivable land; a hike in the value of compensation in rural areas from four times the market value to six times; R&amp;R entitlements to all families who have lived in the affected area for over an year as opposed to the current requirement of three years; mandatory employment not to one but two family members; raising of the house area to be given to affected families from 50 square metres to 100 sq m plinth in both urban and rural areas; increased cash compensation to those families who do not opt for a home from Rs.1.5 lakh to Rs.5 lakh; and an increase in all allowances pegged at Rs.50,000 to Rs.1 lakh.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe suggestion that the consent of 70 per cent of all affected families in the case of acquisition for government and PSU purposes and 80 per cent for PPP projects must be made essential has also not been agreed to, the reason given being that the &quot;unanimous opinion was that it was completely non-feasible&quot;. It is important to note here that the original Bill had included all affected families, but was then limited to families losing land. This was itself a departure from the recommendations of the Standing Committee.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThere is no doubt that the 1894 Act needs to be replaced urgently. However, it suits the government not only to delay the Bill but also to push it through in a form that will benefit in the pursuance of its policies for which it needs land badly. Very recently, the Maharashtra government acquired 2,500 acres of land for a special economic zone where farmers were given compensation at the rate of Rs.1.5 lakh an acre. The land was sold to a private entity at Rs.2-3 crore an acre and it was further learnt that the company needed another 500 acres spread across 13 villages. &quot;I feel that the Bill is being deliberately delayed to facilitate land acquisition in many States. We want the Bill to be passed, but not in this form. It should have been referred back to the Standing Committee with the amendments,&quot; said Acharia.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nAccording to reports, the Samajwadi Party is averse to the acquisition of multi-cropped agricultural land, and the Trinamool Congress is opposed to the idea of the State having a role at all in land acquisition. As it stands, opinion on the Bill is divided, not only within the government, but within the UPA''s allies too. There is no doubt that it should not be passed in a hurry but it will also be an injustice to pass it without taking into account the legitimate apprehensions voiced in the interests of the majority of the people of the country.\r\n</p>', NULL, '2013-04-09', NULL, 1, 'Frontline, Volume 30, Issue 07, 6-19 April, 2013, http://www.frontlineonnet.com/stories/20130419300703200.htm', '', NULL),
(20382, 53, 62, 'Indian security forces killing Indians: SC -Dhananjay Mahapatra', '<div align="justify">\r\n-The Times of India\r\n</div>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n<br />\r\nReflecting the grievances of people in Jammu and Kashmir and north-eastern states, the Supreme Court on Tuesday said prolonged deployment of armed forces in disturbed areas was bound to result in extra-judicial killings. \r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nDealing with the issues raised by public interest litigations alleging 1,528 extra-judicial killings in Manipur in the last three decades, a bench of Justices Aftab Alam and Ranjana P Desai said, &quot;Manipur''s woes must be recognized. It has gone on for 10-15 years. If security forces are kept in a state for 10-15 years, these things are bound to happen. No one can prevent it.&quot; \r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nIt praised the painstaking efforts of the Justice Santosh Hegde committee to inquire and conclude that the six incidents of encounter referred to it were fake which resulted in the cold-blooded killing of seven persons including a 12-year-old boy. \r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe bench said it could never express the depth of sorrow felt by it on reading the findings of the inquiry report. &quot;We cannot tell you how shameful the case is. Indians were being killed by Indian security forces. What is the use of our sitting here (in the Supreme Court) if people are killed like this,&quot; the bench said. \r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n&quot;Those deaths (fake encounter killings) reflect utter callousness and no respect for human rights and no respect for the right to life,&quot; the bench said but did not forget to mention the constraints and difficult situation into which the armed forces personnel were thrown in. \r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n&quot;But we must also see the picture from the side of the security forces who are away from their families for long periods. These are young soldiers. The constant violence has a brutalizing effect on them. If you keep Army in a place for 10-15 years, these things are bound to happen. The security force personnel do not lead a normal life being stationed in the midst of constant violence,&quot; the bench said but clarified that even a single fake encounter killing was unacceptable. \r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nAdditional solicitor general Paras Kuhad made an impassioned presentation saying Justice Hegde committee''s report was being considered at the highest level in Army headquarters, ministry of home affairs, ministry of defence and the Union government and the authorities were one with the court that even a single fake encounter was unacceptable. \r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nWhen the bench made it clear that it would brook no objection to the Hegde panel report, Kuhad said, &quot;The response of the Union government and the Army will be restrained yet calibrated. We will have to show the constraints faced by the Army in difficult situations and terrain in which they operate. The Cabinet Committee on Security has to deliberate on it and formulate a final response.&quot; The court accepted his request for four weeks time to file the response. \r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe bench said, &quot;Most important part of the adjudication process in the court would be how to implement the guidelines and the dos and don''ts for the security forces to prevent fake encounter in future. But it is no less important to bring to book those guilty in the six fake encounters in 2009-10 in which seven were killed.&quot; \r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nAppearing for the petitioners, senior advocate Colin Gonsalves said there were 32 cases of fake encounter - six found by the Hegde panel, 17 found by magisterial inquiries and nine found by commissions of inquiry instituted by the state government. &quot;Manorama killing too was a blatant fake encounter,&quot; he said and demanded a special investigation team to probe and fix responsibility for the 33 killings. \r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nKuhad agreed that there were transgressions by the armed forces in some cases but said hundreds of security force personnel too were killed in the operations. The bench asked him to provide details of militants killed in operations, casualty suffered by forces, death of civilians along with the response of the Union government. \r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nManipur government through senior advocate V Giri submitted that it was ready to furnish all information including the nine cases of commission of inquiry, reports of which have not seen the light of day till now.\r\n</p>', NULL, '2013-04-11', NULL, 1, 'The Times of India, 10 April, 2013, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Indian-security-forces-killing-Indians-SC/articleshow/19468643.cms', '', NULL),
(20383, 53, 62, 'Union Minister asks Governors to cancel mining leases in Agency areas', '<div align="justify">\r\n-The Hindu\r\n</div>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n&nbsp;\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n&nbsp;\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n<em>Governors can repeal or amend any law when peace is disturbed: Kishore Chandra Deo</em>\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n<em>VISAKHAPATNAM: </em>Unrelenting in his battle against destruction of tribal habitations for exploitation of forestland and resources, Union Minister for Tribal Affairs V. Kishore Chandra Deo has written letters to Governors of various States asking them to cancel mining leases in the Agency areas.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nNoting with alarm the growth of extremism in Schedule V areas, the Union Minister said that this was due to the neglect of these areas by the people in power, who are mostly from urban areas. The growth of extremism was due to the fact that in some parts of Schedule V areas there was no governance at all, he said in his letter. The Governors had powers to repeal or amend any Act of Parliament or the legislature of the State or any existing law when good governance or peace is disturbed due to issues related either with land or money-lending, Mr. Deo noted. The Governor can invoke his or her power and forward it to President for ratification.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nHe took the opportunity to launch a scathing attack on Andhra Pradesh government for not cancelling the lease for mining bauxite in Agency areas &quot;...where higher echelons of powers are themselves trying to brazenly distort not only the laws but constitutional safeguards against the interests of tribals and other dwellers in forest areas.&quot;\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nMr. Kishore Chandra Deo said that in many cases, the State governments had facilitated signing of MoUs with non-tribal entities for carrying out mining in Schedule V areas which has led to upsurge of extremism and resultant law and order problems.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nHe urged the Governors to cancel such MoUs as they were mere arrangements between two parties and are not enactments of legislatures or Parliament.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe Union Minister called upon the Governors to invoke their powers under Art 244 read with provisions of Schedule V to ensure good governance, securing the rights of STs and forest dwellers who are the most marginalised sections of society.\r\n</p>', NULL, '2013-04-11', NULL, 1, 'The Hindu, 10 April, 2013, http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/andhra-pradesh/union-minister-asks-governors-to-cancel-mining-leases-in-agency-areas/article4600330.ece', '', NULL),
(20384, 53, 62, 'Make mining work for tribal welfare, grant a hefty royalty to local community', '<div align="justify">\r\n-The Economic Times\r\n</div>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n<br />\r\nTribal affairs minister Kishore Chandra Deohas reportedly written to the governors of nine states asking them to cancel mining concessions granted in violation of the law. The Forest Rights Act of 2006 mandates the permission of the gram sabha of a tribal community for using their habitat for purposes other than customary use.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nSo, if mining leases have been granted without the permission of gram sabhas on tribal land, such leases would be illegal and should be cancelled. But it is far from clear that the right way to go about this is for a minister at the Centre to write to the governors of states. Governors listen to the President of India. And regardless of the disposition of any state functionary, any affected citizen or group can get a court order to stop illegal activity.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nBut this is a legalistic solution that does not address development concerns. The sensible course would be to arrange things in such a way that both goals are achieved, of valuable minerals being extracted for economic use and tribal communities benefiting from such extraction, rather than becoming its victims. For this, a sizeable royalty from the mined mineral should accrue to the local community. The proposed amendment to the mining law seeks to allocate 25% of the profits of the mining operation to the local community.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThis scheme has many flaws. Profits can be manipulated by depressing the price of the initial sale of the mineral, typically to a group company, and inflating other costs. What should be done instead is to transfer to the affected tribal community a reasonable share of the value of the extracted minerals, benchmarked against globally-traded prices. And this is entirely doable.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nIn the oil and gas industry, the state appropriates close to 80% of the value generated through cesses, profit shares, royalty and taxes. Other minerals offer up a far smaller share of their value, for no valid reason. Why should the miner retain more value than is required to make mining as profitable a venture as any other?\r\n</p>', NULL, '2013-04-11', NULL, 1, 'The Economic Times, 10 April, 2013, http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/opinion/editorial/make-mining-work-for-tribal-welfare-grant-a-hefty-royalty-to-local-community/articleshow/19469054.cms', '', NULL),
(20385, 53, 62, 'Atrocities against Dalits touched their peak in 2012: study', '<div align="justify">\r\n-The Hindu\r\n</div>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n<br />\r\n <em>Study conducted by Madurai-based NGO reveal Villupuram, Virudhunagar, Dharmapuri and Theni among districts topping the list</em>\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n<em>Madurai: </em>In the last 15 years, atrocities against Dalits touched their peak in 2012 across Tamil Nadu, with Villupuram, Virudhunagar, Dharmapuri and Theni among districts topping the list.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nA comprehensive study conducted by Madurai-based NGO &lsquo;Evidence'' recently reveals that except in the Dharmapuri incident, compensation and rehabilitation had not reached the victims across the State till date as per the laws.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe study team, which had taken up 370 cases registered under the SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act of 1989, last year alone, 106 figured on physical assaults and clash against the Dalits in different parts of Tamil Nadu. This apart, crimes grievous in nature and heinous ones accounted for 28 cases. Torching of dwellings stood at 36, executive director A. Kathir said.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThough Villupuram district accounted for the highest number of Dalit population in Tamil Nadu, towns such as Tirunelveli (which ranked seventh in Dalit population), Virudhunagar (14) and Madurai (28) witnessed several crimes.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nAs per official data, 2,048 cases registered under the SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act were pending investigation at various stages in the police stations in Tamil Nadu, with Virudhunagar topping the list (176), Tirunelveli (141), Madurai and Villupuram (with 136 cases each). While 318 cases (out of 2048) were disposed at the station level, in 885 cases charge sheets had been framed and in 75 cases final reports had been prepared for filing in courts.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe findings showed that across the State, of 94 murder cases which were pending in trial courts, only in three cases conviction had been achieved. Moreover, it was all the more shocking that though 62 cases of sexual abuse against Dalit women had been reported from different towns/districts, not even a single accused had been convicted. When such was the real status of the Dalit victims, some political parties and outfits conveniently blamed the Dalits for causing confusion and even charged that baseless complaints were foisted against their community youth. This was nothing but a false campaign, Mr. Kathir said in a press release.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe only silver-lining in the study was that after 24 long years of enacting the SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act of 1989, the compensation for victims had been enhanced from a meagre Rs 2 lakh to Rs 5 lakh.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe Centre had listed as many as 22 types of atrocities as punishable, which include murder of a Dalit, sexual abuse of a Dalit woman, and so on. However, the team members found that the government had not rehabilitated the families of the Dalit victims in any manner, when there were options of providing jobs in government offices to one in the family, or offer a consolidated monthly pension of Rs 3000 or given them agricultural land with which they could survive and meet out their needs. Probably, less than one per cent of the victims'' families may have benefited from this rehabilitation.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe Evidence team has suggested as many as 17 recommendations to the government for implementation, which include stringent punishment to officials who failed to act in a fair and transparent manner in the event of a Dalit being victimised, to circulate the copies of Supreme Court directive on action against District Collectors/Superintendents of Police who failed to protect the Dalits, and to form core committees at taluk levels and identify villages which were prone for anti-Dalit attacks.\r\n</p>', NULL, '2013-04-11', NULL, 1, 'The Hindu, 10 April, 2013, http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/tamil-nadu/atrocities-against-dalits-touched-their-peak-in-2012-study/article4598951.ece', '', NULL),
(20386, 53, 62, 'Amidst the silica dust-Omar Rashid', '<div align="justify">\r\n-The Hindu\r\n</div>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n&nbsp;\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n&nbsp;\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n<em>The shortened lifespan of the quarry workers of Uttar Pradesh is spent breaking stones and residing among the pollution- laden boulders</em>\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nMired with sandy roads and rocky terrain, the landscape in south-western Allahabad creates a remarkable mirage under the blue sky.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nSome of the larger rocks here have sizeable craters formed in them -- a sign of their depletion over time, by an activity that is hazardous yet critical to the survival of many.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe ground water accumulated on the surface of these depressions make them appear like lakes, adding to the visual serenity.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nIn Shankargarh, close to the Uttar Pradesh-Madhya Pradesh border, entire families, including children, crush boulders of silica for a living; the land is mostly rocky and inapt for cultivation, leaving its inhabitants no choice.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nAn overwhelming majority of these workers belong to the Scheduled Castes category, namely, Jatavs, Kumbhis and Kols (though they are anthropologically tribal).\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nMahendra Pratap Singh, the &lsquo;raja'' of Shankargarh, has mining rights over its 46 villages, which not too long ago were fed on bonded labourers. While the old system, where the raja would lease out plots to contractors who in turn employed locals, majority of them landless and bonded labourers, at exploitative rates, is no longer functional, the quarry workers are yet to free themselves from the hold of intermediaries.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nHari Lal Saket, a Jatav who has been crushing stones for over two decades, relates how the &lsquo;dalals'' or the intermediaries enjoy the benefits of their hard slog.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n&quot;We have to break stones for at least eight hours to earn Rs 130 --- that''s the daily rate. My wife, son, daughter, brother, his family, everyone chips in. But what happens? They earn many times more by selling off what we crush.&quot;\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe local contractors or thekedaars purchase a trolley of silica sand, roughly 5-6 tons, for Rs 800 from the quarry workers. Usually the workers are given set targets or blocks of stone to crush within a certain time. The thekedaars then sell the sand, depending upon its quality, texture and colour, for, on an average Rs 400 per ton. The finished product is sold at almost four times this rate.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nNot only do the stone crushers dish out money to purchase the blasting kit -- typically, wire, cap and &lsquo;khadi'', they submit Rs 100 per trolley as royalty to the &lsquo;raja''. &quot;The munshi comes and collects it on his behalf,&quot; says Saket.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nTo fulfil the given targets, the stone crushers employ as many members of the family as possible. They share the work of breaking stones and then transporting them manually onto the trucks, some of which come from as far away as Gonda, Basti and Bahraich districts.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nIf required or to show solidarity, they may invite members from other mines or unemployed youth in the area to join them.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n&quot;If anyone wants to join us we let him (or her). How many will get work as labourers? We can''t fight the rich and the upper castes. If this stops or they put restrictions, we will die of hunger,&quot; says Inder Kol.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nCuriously, as he speaks, his infant son is busy hammering away at a small stone. &quot;Dekh dekh ke sikh raha hai (He is learning by observing us),&quot; Inder exclaims.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nIn the mid-Nineties, an NGO called Sankalp initiated a programme to help these communities by organising small &lsquo;self-help groups'' against their struggle for just wages and by educating them about their exploitation.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nAs a result, many of them obtained leases to at least 10 acres of stone quarrying on state-owned land, eliminating contractors. On the domain of the &lsquo;raja'' who seemed reluctant to deal directly with the stone-crushers, it was a rare victory.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nHowever, the economic and living conditions of these inhabitants have hardly ever improved.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe quarry workers live in cramped hutments -- in most cases, in the vicinity of their site work -- with negligible sanitation facilities and the constant exposure to silica dust. The threat of the crippling Silicosis is compounded by the scanty medical facilities in the region and no designated health centres for treating silicosis patients.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nAt a small hamlet, not too far away from Inder''s quarry, Rajkumar Rawat, 25, rests on a cot after a long day at work. Of late, he has been complaining of Silicosis-like-symptoms. But &quot;what else can we do?&quot; he rues.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nVarious reports have highlighted how silica stone crushers have a low life span, something which the inhabitants of Shankargarh are fully aware of.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n&quot;Men hardly cross 40 here,&quot; says Rawat.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nLow literacy rate, coupled with lack of employment opportunities-aggravated by the restrictions on selling forest produce -- and absence of residential rights compel the inhabitants to live by the mines.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nVarious reports have also suspected that child trafficking runs rampant in the area.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nYet, there are some who have neither the physical strength nor grit to toil in these mines. They escape the grind, in the most usual manner, by migrating to the cities. Many have left for Mumbai and Calcutta to work in the juice factories.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n&quot;Not everyone has the strength to break stones all day.&quot;\r\n</p>', NULL, '2013-04-11', NULL, 1, 'The Hindu, 10 April, 2013, http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/amidst-the-silica-dust/article4598552.ece', '', NULL),
(20387, 53, 62, 'Not by inputs alone -Yamini Aiyar', '<div align="justify">\r\n-The Indian Express\r\n</div>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n<br />\r\nApril 1 marked the third anniversary of the passage of the Right of Children for Free and Compulsory Education (RTE). There is little argument that the implementation of the RTE in these three years has been less than satisfactory. Deadlines for the enforcement of input norms - infrastructure, pupil-teacher ratios - have come and gone and potentially game-changing provisions, like 25 per cent reservation for economically weaker sections in private schools and forming school management committees, are yet to be implemented effectively. Above all, three years of the RTE has done little to guarantee quality education to India''s children. Student learning levels remain disturbingly low and as highlighted by ASER data, have in fact fallen in the last few years. This failure to effectively guarantee a right to education holds important lessons both for implementing rights-based social policy in general and the RTE in particular.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe broad social policy lesson from three years of RTE is that rights legislation, without corresponding investments in administrative capacity, is unlikely to yield results, even when all that is expected of the state is a business-as-usual expansion of the system. The main focus - and the main weakness - of the RTE is its preoccupation with promoting a business-as-usual expansion of school-level inputs: toilets, drinking water, classrooms, hiring and training teachers. To provide these inputs budgets increased, deadlines were set (all state governments were expected to meet RTE infrastructure targets by March 31, 2013) and even the Supreme Court issued orders directing state governments to meet RTE standards. Despite this focus, budgets have not been spent. In 2011-12, reported expenditure on Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) was as low as 61 per cent. And not surprisingly, progress has been slower than expected. No state met the infrastructure requirements in time for the deadline.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe truth is that spending money in government is not easy. As Accountability Initiative''s PAISA reports highlight, local administration in India suffers from serious implementation constraints. Funds are slow to travel through the system, staff capacity is low, vacancies are high, workloads are unrealistic and work-flow inefficient, making it near impossible to spend money and get things done efficiently. In the last few years, consequent to rights-based legislation, budgetary allocations and expectations of delivery from the state have risen exponentially. However, this has not been accompanied by an effort to deal with implementation constraints and strengthen local administrative capacity. Given this, the failure to meet RTE targets is hardly surprising. Our policymaking process has simply not paid adequate attention to questions of administrative capacity. As Pratap Bhanu Mehta has argued, legislative interventions and policy changes are never accompanied by a serious assessment of the administrative requirements - staff, skill-sets, training needs, management systems - to implement these changes. To expect results without investing in processes is a recipe for disaster. The RTE''s failure to meet even the most straightforward targets is proof of this.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nBut the RTE''s real failing is not the lack of adequate infrastructure in schools. Its real failing lies in the fact that three years after its passing, the country is nowhere near building an education system that guarantees quality education. The crux of the problem lies in the preoccupation with RTE input norms and the underlying assumption that greater inputs will result in improved quality. Even though targets remain elusive, in the last three years, the provision of infrastructure has occupied centrestage in all government planning, budgeting and monitoring activities related to RTE. But this focus on infrastructure, while perhaps necessary, is unlikely to result in learning gains on its own. In fact, the evidence, as highlighted recently by economist Karthik Muralidharan, shows that improvements in school-level infrastructure are not correlated with improvements in learning outcomes. This is the second and most important lesson to be learnt from three years of RTE - a business-as-usual expansion of inputs alone is simply not sufficient to ensure that India''s children receive an education.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe need to focus on education outcomes poses a greater challenge to the state than meeting infrastructure norms. Building an outcome-oriented education system necessitates grappling with issues of curriculum reform, pedagogical strategy and teacher performance management systems. None of these reforms lend themselves to neat, guideline-driven, one size fits all bureaucratic solutions that the state knows to implement. For instance, recent empirical work conclusively demonstrates that goal-oriented targeted efforts to align curricula and pedagogical strategies to student learning levels, rather than grade level expectations, can result in significant learning gains. Autonomy, flexibility and measurement are the key ingredients of ensuring this alignment. At minimum, districts and schools should have the flexibility and wherewithal to assess student learning levels and orient pedagogy and school organisation to suit these levels. But such local level autonomy is the antithesis of the current centralised bureaucratic model. So if outcomes are to be the main focus, the state will have to fundamentally transform its mode of doing business.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe good news is that the RTE , through provisions like the mandate to create school management committees (SMCs) empowered to make school-level plans, has the potential to build an alternative education system that privileges local autonomy. However, in the current system, SMCs have very limited expenditure powers - on average, SMCs receive somewhere between Rs 15,000-Rs 20,000 annually - and almost no powers over key education-related functions like teacher hiring and retention. Empowering SMCs to do their job will require a fundamental overhaul of the current planning and budgeting system, so that more funds and powers are devolved and SMCs can make plans over which they have some decision-making control. The urgent need for initiating this overhaul is the third lesson to be learnt.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nFinally, to the much contested issue of private schooling and RTE. The RTE throws up an important challenge related to how and what the state ought to regulate when it comes to private provisioning of education. Given that parents are increasingly choosing to send their children to low-cost private schools - according to Pratham''s Madhav Chavan, private school enrolment in rural India is increasing at a rate of about 3 percentage points per year - the question of regulation is critical to the future of the education system. The RTE''s preoccupation with inputs has resulted in building an input-focused regulatory system, which if implemented in its current form, runs the risk of closing down a large number of private schools. And while most states are struggling, Gujarat has developed an alternative model for recognising private schools based on learning-related performance standards. This is an innovative best practice that could be scaled up across the country, but it also places an important precondition on government - building a bureaucracy that is skilled to measure and monitor learning outcomes. The need to build these skills is the fourth lesson.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nSo does the goal of guaranteeing a right to education have any hope in India? The good news is that the RTE''s weaknesses are slowly being recognised. In recent speeches, ministers of the human resource and development ministry have acknowledged the need to focus on quality and the 12th Plan chapter on education explicitly states that improving learning outcomes is a key goal. But building an outcome-focused RTE will require a fundamental transformation of how the state goes about its business. Is the government up to the task?\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n<em>The writer is director, Accountability Initiative, New Delhi</em>\r\n</p>', NULL, '2013-04-11', NULL, 1, 'The Indian Express, 10 April, 2013, http://www.indianexpress.com/news/not-by-inputs-alone/1099968/', '', NULL),
(20388, 53, 62, 'Accessing the classroom-Aarti Dhar', '<div align="justify">\r\n-The Hindu<br />\r\n<br />\r\n<br />\r\n<em>Lack of infrastructure force children with disabilities, especially girls, to drop out from schools<br />\r\n</em><br />\r\nLesser number of girls with disabilities are enrolled in schools than boys and their enrolment has remained consistently around 40 per cent, a latest study has shown. The enrolment of girl students with disabilities was 43.57 per cent in 2009-10, 43.07 per cent in 2010-11, 41.51 per cent in 2011-12, and 40.21 per cent in 2012-13.<br />\r\n<br />\r\nComparison of boys&rsquo; and girls&rsquo; enrolment in 2012-13 indicate a gender gap in enrolment in 11 States out of the 13 States which gave relevant data for the research on &ldquo;Evaluation of the Implementation of the IEDSS Scheme in India&rdquo; conducted by the National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT).<br />\r\n<br />\r\nManipur is the only State where the percentage of differently-abled girls was more than boys while in Daman and Diu it was equal. Gujarat, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Nagaland, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu had lesser number of girls with disabilities in schools and the percentage of girls has decreased over years in Gujarat, Karnataka, Puducherry and Tamil Nadu. An increase in enrolment over the years was seen in Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Manipur, Mizoram, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha and Rajasthan.<br />\r\n<br />\r\nThe drop-out rates of such students was high across the States with the major reasons being shortage of special teachers, disturbances in Maoist-affected and tribal areas, and poverty and social stigmas attached to disability.<br />\r\n<br />\r\nThe study was focussed on the Centrally-sponsored Inclusive Education of the Disabled at the Secondary Stage (IEDSS) and found that only 12 States have appointed special teachers as provided for under the scheme. On their part, the States said non-availability of trained manpower was the major problem for appointing special teachers. Only three States have provided training to regular teachers while only seven States have given relaxation in evaluation procedures in terms of time, type of questions, grace marks/reducing passing percentage and weightage to co-curricular activities. Kerala and Haryana are the only two States having setup model schools under the scheme.<br />\r\n<br />\r\nThe study further said almost all students with disabilities liked coming to school and half of them said that they did not face any difficulty at school. A majority of the students with disabilities (83 per cent) interviewed could not specify the facilities being provided to them. Interestingly, 6.5 per cent students with disabilities liked all aspects of the school, 18.2 per cent liked studies, 15.3 per cent liked the teachers, 12.7 per cent liked classmates and friends, 11.3 per cent liked reading, 8.4 per cent liked games and sports and the rest liked other aspects of the school. Majority of the teachers (88.1 per cent) gave no response to the question regarding the strategies used for meeting the special educational needs of these students in the classroom. More than half of the teachers interviewed gave no response to the question regarding how they included these children in their regular day-to-day teaching.\r\n</div>', NULL, '2013-04-11', NULL, 1, 'The Hindu, 10 April, 2013, http://www.thehindu.com/features/education/school/accessing-the-classroom/article4598561.ece', '', NULL);
INSERT INTO `articles` (`id`, `category_id`, `subcategory_id`, `title`, `description`, `status`, `create_date`, `modify_date`, `homepage_display`, `author`, `image`, `subheading`) VALUES
(20389, 53, 62, 'Set up watchdog for electronic media: HC -Utkarsh Anand', '<div align="justify">\r\n-The Indian Express<br />\r\n<br />\r\n<br />\r\nQuoting from a speech of former British prime minister Tony Blair who compared the media to a &ldquo;feral beast&rdquo;, the Delhi High Court on Tuesday recommended the Centre to put in place a &ldquo;statutory regulatory body&rdquo; for controlling the electronic media.<br />\r\n<br />\r\nA bench led by Justice Pradeep Nandarajog rejected the idea of &ldquo;self-regulation&rdquo; by the broadcasters, underlining that the absence of state intervention on its own was no guarantee of a rich media environment. &ldquo;On the contrary, to promote a media environment characterised by pluralism and diversity, State intervention is necessary,&rdquo; ruled the court while adding that the regulatory body was required to ensure media organisations&rsquo; compliance with the provisions of the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995, and the Cable Television Network Rules, 1994.<br />\r\n<br />\r\n&ldquo;We recommend that a statutory regulatory body be constituted consisting of men and women of eminence. Security of tenure of a kind should be provided for the members of the board so that they are free from government interference,&rdquo; held the court, saying the statutory board could comprise persons of eminence in the field of law, science, art and culture, literature, history and social sciences.<br />\r\n<br />\r\nPointing out that &ldquo;social responsibilities are seen receding from artistic consciousness&rdquo;, the court noted there was no reason why the legislature should not put in place a statutory, regulatory body also for electronic media when they already had such bodies for print media and cinema under the Press Council Act and the Cinematograph Act.<br />\r\n<br />\r\nThe court said till the time Centre sets up the statutory body, the existing self-regulatory body of the Indian Broadcasting Foundation &mdash; Broadcasting Consumers Complaint Committee, would continue adjudicating complaints for violation of the programme and advertising code and other provisions. &ldquo;Its decisions shall be treated by the Union of India as the foundation to take appropriate action and pass necessary directions as also orders against the offender,&rdquo; it directed.<br />\r\n<br />\r\nThe court was hearing a PIL by NGO Indraprastha People against the objectionable content of the reality show Emotional Atyachar by UTV Software Communication Ltd. Arguing for the petition, advocate Rahul Mehra pleaded for a statutory body, contending the self-corrective mechanism in today&rsquo;s environment where media has become a money spinning devise would be an oxymoron.<br />\r\n<br />\r\nThe bench, accepting his views, observed that self-regulation was not enough in circumstances where even media personnel could be heard complaining that the taint of money has polluted the clear stream of reason, which should dictate the conscience of mass media.<br />\r\n<br />\r\n&ldquo;In the print media, paid news has already started sullying the stream of news. Similarly, the desperate rush to grab eyeballs due to higher revenue earned if viewership is more has led the broadcast media to sully itself with sensationalisation.... Transgression of individual privacy and the rush to produce programmes which may be tainted but attract viewership has been witnessed in the past,&rdquo; it said.\r\n</div>', NULL, '2013-04-11', NULL, 1, 'The Indian Express, 10 April, 2013, http://www.indianexpress.com/news/set-up-watchdog-for-electronic-media-hc/1100032/', '', NULL),
(20390, 53, 62, 'Delhi HC against self-regulation by electronic media industry -Satya Prakash', '<div align="justify">\r\n-The Hindustan Times<br />\r\n<br />\r\nAmid raging controversy over regulation of electronic media in India, the Delhi High Court on Tuesday recommended to the government to establish a statutory body to regulate the broadcast media, saying state intervention was necessary.<br />\r\n<br />\r\n&quot;Absence of state intervention on its own is no guarantee of a rich media environment. On the contrary: to promote a media environment characterized by pluralism and diversity, State intervention is necessary,&quot; a bench headed by justice Pradeep Nandrajog said.<br />\r\n<br />\r\nRecommending that a statutory regulatory body &quot;consisting of men and women of eminence&quot; be constituted, the bench said, security of tenure should be provided for its members so that they were free from government interference.<br />\r\n<br />\r\n&quot;Till this happens&hellip;as a stop gap mechanism the self-regulatory body formed by the Indian Broadcasting Foundation named ''Broadcasting Consumers Complaint Committee''&hellip;recognized by the Union of India as a body competent to take cognizance of and decide complaints pertaining to violation of the law by broadcasters&hellip;its (BCCC''s) decisions shall be treated by the Union of India as the foundation to take appropriate action and pass necessary directions as also orders against the offender,&quot; the HC said.<br />\r\n<br />\r\nThe bench was deciding a PIL against ''Emotional Atyachar'' telecast on UTV Bindass in 2010. It asked the BCCC, an industry body meant for self regulation,&nbsp; to decide the complaints of &quot;vulgarity&quot; and &quot;obscenity&quot; against reality show and the Centre would enforce the decision.<br />\r\n<br />\r\n&quot;This is a landmark verdict which would ensure that TV content is regulated through a body eminent people and not left to self-regulation, which is an oxymoron,&quot; advocate Rahul Mehra, who represented the petitioners, told HT.<br />\r\n<br />\r\nPress Council of India chairman Justice Markandey Katju has been demanding that electronic media should be brought under PCI''s jurisdiction. But the government maintained that it favoured self-regulation by the industry.<br />\r\n<br />\r\nThe court pointed out there was no regulatory body constituted under the Cable TV Networks (Regulation) Act 1995, The Cable Television Network Rules 1994, Programme Code and Advertising Code and in case of violation of these Acts and Rules it was left to the executive to ensure that the mandate of the legislation was complied with. But such a situation would be an anathema in a democratic set up inasmuch as it would put broadcast industry under the direct control of the state, it noted.<br />\r\n<br />\r\n&quot;To guarantee pluralism and diversity of opinion requires provisions for public broadcasting, commercial broadcast and print media and community-based broadcast. To ensure media pluralism may require the application of competition law by the State to prevent monopoly of forms of communications, airwaves etc.,&quot; the bench said.<br />\r\n<br />\r\nNoting that freedom of expression was not an absolute right, the bench, however, said, any reasonable restrictions could be imposed only by legislation.<br />\r\n<br />\r\nCommenting on the current electronic media scene, the HC said, there was desperate rush to grab eyeballs which had led the broadcast media to sully itself with sensationalization by adding colour and spice to events and transgressing individual privacy.\r\n</div>', NULL, '2013-04-11', NULL, 1, 'The Hindustan Times, 9 April, 2013, http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/NewDelhi/Delhi-HC-against-self-regulation-by-electronic-media-industry/Article1-1040048.aspx', '', NULL),
(20391, 53, 62, 'Tribal Affairs Minister V Kishore Chandra Deo: Fighting his own party for tribals -Nidhi Sharma', '<div align="justify">\r\n-The Economic Times<br />\r\n<br />\r\nTribal affairs minister VKishore Chandra Deo is best known for engaging Cabinet colleagues through carefully-crafted letters to get his point across. From preventing the dilution ofForest Rights Act to a directive to governors to stop mining in tribal areas, the 66-year-old activist-minister believes in winning over Cabinet colleagues politely. And he has proved one doesn''t have to be outspoken, like some of his colleagues, to get work done. <br />\r\n<br />\r\nYet, Deo, descendant of a tribal king from Andhra Pradesh''s Araku, is known for raising uncomfortable but potent issues. His latest missive was to governors of 9 states that have Scheduled-V tribal areas. He asked the governors to invoke special powers to stop illegal mining in tribal-dominated areas. Only last year did he write to Andhra governor ESL Narsimhan, pointing out specific illegalities in bauxite mining leases in Araku. He argues that illegal mining promotes spread of Left-wing extremism. And he spares not even his party''s government: &quot;It is most shocking and revolting that certain state governments, for instance, state government of Andhra Pradesh, where higher echelons of powers are themselves trying to brazenly distort not only the laws but constitutional safeguards against the interests of tribals and other dwellers in forest areas,&quot; his recent letter to governors said. <br />\r\n<br />\r\nDeo is now one of the most vocal voices on tribal rights. His repeated efforts to stop bauxite mining in Araku have finally paid off. The Centre has asked AP to cancel MoU signed with a private company. &quot;This is the result of his efforts,&quot; an aide said. He said Deo has an immense capacity for follow-up and research. &quot;He reads up and gets to the bottom of the problem,&quot; the aide added. He recalls how Deo sat in a meeting with ministry officials for almost five hours. &quot;He wanted to finalise the new guidelines under Forest Rights Act and could not understand why the bureaucrats were opposing the move, pushed by the National Advisory Council and social rights activists.&quot;<br />\r\n<br />\r\nRecollecting the meeting, Deo told ET, &quot;I wanted to settle the matter. It was an important issue for my ministry. So I told my officials - either you convince me or I will convince you. Either way, we are not leaving this room till the matter is settled.&quot; <br />\r\n<br />\r\nAs the chairman of Parliament''s committee on public undertakings he suggested how losses could be curbed during merger of Air India and Indian Airlines. While examining the working of national printing press he wanted to know why the printing of national currency was outsourced in one instance. <br />\r\n<br />\r\nIt may surprise many to know that Deo is a thorough Congressman. He was first elected to the Lok Sabha in 1977. In 1979-80, he did his first stint as minister of state for steel. He has handled several party responsibilities too. He is a trusted lieutenant of Congress presidentSonia Gandhi, who is believed to take Deo''s views, especially on AP, very seriously.<br />\r\n<br />\r\n</div>', NULL, '2013-04-11', NULL, 1, 'The Economic Times, 10 April, 2013, http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/tribal-affairs-minister-v-kishore-chandra-deo-fighting-his-own-party-for-tribals/articleshow/19467472.c', '', NULL),
(20392, 53, 62, 'CITU wants to fight unemployment by cutting work-week to 35 hrs from 48 -Shaju Philip', '<div align="justify">\r\n-The Indian Express\r\n</div>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n<br />\r\n<em>Thiruvananthapuram:</em> Thirteen years after a Left government in France adopted a 35-hour work-week to tackle unemployment and allow more time for leisure, the CPM''s trade union arm Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) has decided to campaign for the same model in India.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nReducing the weekly working hours in India to 35 from 48 was one of the main proposals agreed by the CITU''s all-India conference which concluded in Kannur Monday.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nCITU national president A K Padmanabhan said working for 35 hours a week is the only way to increase job opportunities. While better technology has increased income and improved productivity, job opportunities have come down, he said.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n&quot;We will first go for a campaign and then for an agitation to reduce weekly working hours,&quot; Padmanabhan said, adding that CITU would take the matter up with the government to amend laws in this connection.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n&quot;The model of a 35-hour work-week should first be implemented in areas where large scale automation has taken place. The strategy for implementing this, including the number of shifts, could be worked out through discussions. The new working hours should cover small scale industrial units,'''' he said.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nA report presented by CITU general secretary Tapan Sen said neo-liberalism has given rise to a jobless, rather than a job-loss growth model, severely increasing unemployment and widespread under-employment.\r\n</p>', NULL, '2013-04-11', NULL, 1, 'The Indian Express, 10 April, 2013, http://www.indianexpress.com/news/citu-wants-to-fight-unemployment-by-cutting-workweek-to-35-hrs-from-48/1100174/', '', NULL),
(20393, 53, 62, 'Housing societies not under RTI yet: Info chief-Ashutosh Shukla', '<div align="justify">\r\n-DNA\r\n</div>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n<br />\r\nThe 97th constitutional amendment made RTI activists happy because they believed that it brought co-operative housing societies under the purview of the RTI Act.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nIn February, the state passed its own ordinance implementing the amendment.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nState chief information commissioner Ratnakar Gaikwad does not stand with the activists'' consensus.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nHe spoke with dna''s Ashutosh Shukla about cooperative societies, pending second appeals and voluntary disclosure.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n<em>Your opinion on housing societies coming under RTI?</em>\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nI don''t think that they come under RTI Act. One has to read section 2h of the RTI Act to see what it covers. Just because an amendment enables something to come up, does not mean it is established by the government. Societies are a body formed by 20 people. Where is the public interest in that? Even if it did come under RTI, whom will we fine as public information officers? Private companies too are formed under Companies Act but that does not mean they come under RTI unless they are financed or adhere to some of the provisions.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n<em>What is the status of second appeals?</em>\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThere are around 23,000 second appeals in all benches. In my bench, people will be able to get orders within two months if they file an appeal today. Due to vacancies the pending appeals in greater Mumbai region are over 3,000, of which, around 1,500 are of 2011 and 1,600 of 2012. By December, 1,500 appeals of Greater Mumbai bench will be cleared.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n<em>Voluntary disclosure under section 4 of the RTI Act has not improved much.</em>\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThere is nothing much the commission can do. The state government, collectors and people heading the authority will have to take most of the initiative. We had issued directions to all public authorities to properly implement section 4. This time, a reminder will go a warning that disobedience of the commission orders will attract serious contempt under section 166 of the IPC (deals with imprisonment of public servant or fine or both)\r\n</p>', NULL, '2013-04-11', NULL, 1, 'DNA, 10 April, 2013, http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/1820758/interview-housing-societies-not-under-rti-yet-info-chief', '', NULL),
(20394, 53, 62, 'RTI activist attacked, hospitalized with head injuries', '<div align="justify">\r\n-The Times of India\r\n</div>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n<br />\r\n<em>YAVATMAL: </em>A 20-year-old youth attacked social worker and RTI activist Digambar Pajgade (52) with a sharp weapon on Tuesday morning and injured him. Passersby rushed Pajgade toGovernment Medical College, where he was admitted in the emergency ward.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe attacker inflicted deep wounds on the head of Pajgade, a resident of local Jamankar Nagar. The attacker, Mayur Vadafale, a resident of village Wagapur, fled the spot after throwing the sharp weapon on the roadside. The police have seized the weapon.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nPajgade''s wife Vandana (47) lodged a complaint at Wadgaon Road police station under section 394 of IPC and launched a manhunt for the attacker.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nVandana said she and her husband Digambar were going on the bike to the market. She had Rs 5,000 in her purse. The attacker Mayur appeared to be waiting for Digambar, and intercepted the bike. The couple got down from the bike, and Mayur immediately attacked Digambar with a sharp knife (sattur) and inflicted a deep would on the head. Mayur snatched away a gold chain and cash Rs 5,000 from Vandana before fleeing the spot.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nInvestigating PSI Naresh Randir said the police suspect old rivalry behind the attack.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nDigambar Pajgade is known for his RTI activities and has filed a number of criminal cases in various courts including the high court against big wigs involved in land scam and misappropriation of MP''s local development fund.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nPajgade had also lodged a complaint with SP Ranjan Kumar Sharma about the threat to his life and sought police protection. He has also filed a complaint with the IGP and demanded a probe into the activities of Vadafales.\r\n</p>', NULL, '2013-04-11', NULL, 1, 'The Times of India, 10 April, 2013, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/nagpur/RTI-activist-attacked-hospitalized-with-head-injuries/articleshow/19467591.cms', '', NULL),
(20395, 53, 62, 'MoEF, coal ministry delaying GoM decisions: Pawar to PM -Ravish Tiwari', '<div align="justify">\r\n-The Indian Express\r\n</div>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n<br />\r\n Alarmed by ministerial turf wars thwarting his GoM''s bid to &quot;expedite&quot; environment clearances and coal supply to eight power projects identified by the Prime Minister''s Office, Sharad Pawar is learnt to have sought Prime Minister Manmohan Singh''s &quot;intervention&quot; to ensure the GoM''s decisions are &quot;implemented in a time-bound manner&quot;.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nPawar was made chairman of the GoM on environmental and developmental issues relating to coal mining and other development projects last year.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nWarning against &quot;procedural delay or impractical interpretation of statute&quot; hampering developmental needs, the GoM, in its meeting on February 18, is learnt to have directed the environment and coal ministries to sort out issues pertaining to the eight projects.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n&quot;However, I am given to understand that the ministry of coal and ministry of environment and forests are yet to initiate the process to implement these decisions. There is an urgent need that they should jointly identify the constraints limiting our ability to expand domestic production of coal and come out with appropriate strategy,&quot; Pawar was learnt to have written to the PM recently.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n&quot;I would like to request your kind intervention... so that GoM decisions are implemented in a time-bound manner,&quot; said Pawar in his letter, pointing out that over Rs 7,00,000 crore worth of infrastructure projects were stuck.\r\n</p>', NULL, '2013-04-11', NULL, 1, 'The Indian Express, 9 April, 2013, http://www.indianexpress.com/news/moef-coal-ministry-delaying-gom-decisions-pawar-to-pm/1099650/', '', NULL),
(20396, 53, 62, 'NHRC seeks proper action against HC Registrar General-J Venkatesan', '<div align="justify">\r\n-The Hindu\r\n</div>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n<br />\r\nTaking a serious view of the inordinate delay in disbursal of the amount that led to the suicide of the parents of one of the engineers of a ship &lsquo;Pratibha Cauvery,'' the National Human Rights Commission has asked the acting Chief Justice of the Madras High Court to take appropriate action against Registrar General G. Chockalingam for his failure to perform his duty.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nIn early March, the National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC) had requested the acting Chief Justice of the Madras High Court to conduct an enquiry against the Registrar-General.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe NCBC member, S.K. Kharventhan, had forwarded the copy of the complaint from advocate T.P. Senthilkumar to the NHRC for necessary action against the Registrar-General, alleging that his gross failure to distribute the amount to the families of the seamen who were killed amounted to violation of rights.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nMr. Senthilkumar had highlighted the gross injustice meted out to K.N. Kothandapani and his wife Bharathy (parents of one of the victims), who apparently had no alternative but to commit suicide on February 22, leaving suicide notes.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nIn his letter to the NHRC, Mr. Kharventhan said as per the High Court order the shipping company deposited Rs. 30 lakh on December 3, 2012, and on December 5, 2012 the High Court directed the Registrar-General to disburse the amount to the families of the six deceased crew members.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nHe said, &quot;Even though the deceased K.N. Kothandapani and his wife Bharathy had submitted all necessary documents and affidavits to the Registrar-General, he had failed in his duty to settle the claim for nearly three months. Not only did he fail in his duty but also fail to follow the direction given by the High Court.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nDue to the lethargic attitude of the Registrar-General, Kothandapani and Bharathy committed suicide on their wedding anniversary day on February 22 leaving suicide notes to draw the attention of the State and the judiciary to their plight.&quot;\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nIn its response, the NHRC said the complaint was placed before the Commission and after perusing the complaint, it decided to forward it to the acting Chief Justice of the Madras High Court for such action as deemed appropriate. Accordingly the Commission forwarded the complaint to the acting Chief Justice.\r\n</p>', NULL, '2013-04-11', NULL, 1, 'The Hindu, 10 April, 2013, http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/nhrc-seeks-proper-action-against-hc-registrar-general/article4600662.ece', '', NULL),
(20397, 53, 62, 'Bhopal gas tragedy survivors stage protest in Mumbai', '<div align="justify">\r\n-The Hindu\r\n</div>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n<br />\r\nAround 200 survivors of the Bhopal gas disaster held demonstrations in front of the Dow Chemical''s office in Vikroli in suburban Mumbai on Tuesday, demanding that the company take up the criminal, civilian and environmental liability of Union Carbide, which they now own.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe demonstrators said they were protesting against Dow Chemical''s continuing business in hazardous chemicals when the survivors were dying in Bhopal and the next generation was facing health problems.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nEarlier, the protesters stormed the Godrej compound, where the office of the company is situated. &quot;From the year 2000, we have been making it clear to Dow Chemicals that if they decide to buy Union Carbide, they will have to take all the liabilities too,&quot; said Satinath Sarangi who led the demonstrations. &quot;Cleaning toxic material is one of them and they are simply ignoring that.&quot;\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nNawab Khan of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Purush Sangharsh Morcha said women and children were suffering from chronic illnesses after drinking contaminated ground water. &quot;Dow Chemical, since it has taken over the company, is now directly responsible for this and we have come here to make them realise that.&quot;\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nBalkrishna Namdeo of the Bhopal Gas Peedit Nirashrit Pensionbhogi Sangharsh Morch said that the Union Carbide in 1989 had paid compensation only for 3828 deaths, whereas the total number of deaths had crossed 25,000. &quot;Apart from that, the actual number of people injured in the tragedy according to the government is 5,68,293, but the company has paid compensation to only 1,02,000. They are simply not bothered about the rest.&quot;\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe demonstrators submitted a charter of demands to the representatives of Dow Chemicals.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nIn spite of repeated attempts, the company refused to comment.\r\n</p>', NULL, '2013-04-11', NULL, 1, 'The Hindu, 10 April, 2013, http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/bhopal-gas-tragedy-survivors-stage-protest-in-mumbai/article4600668.ece', '', NULL),
(20398, 53, 62, 'Assembly constituencies slide in MNREGA spend', '<div align="justify">\r\n-The Hindu\r\n</div>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n&nbsp;\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n<em>Rs. 4.7 cr. utilised last fiscal compared to Rs. 9 cr. in 2010-11</em>\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n<em>Bangalore: </em>In what could be read as an MLA report card in a way, the performance of a large number of the State''s Assembly constituencies, gauged under the national rural job guarantee schemes, progressively fell on many fronts during 2009-12.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nAccording to data pertaining to projects taken up under the Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) for 156 constituencies, in the last fiscal, the respective MLAs on an average spent less money, paid lower wages, especially in Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes'' constituencies, and covered fewer households with the mandated 100 days of work compared to 2010 and 2011.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nBangalore-based IndiaGoverns Research Institute has collated available MNREGA data for 156 Assembly constituencies over three years from 2009. The former Supreme Court Chief Justice M.N. Venkatachaliah released the report on MLA constituency progress under MNREGA at a news conference on Tuesday.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nIndiaGoverns Executive Director Veena Ramanna said the selected 156 areas had 70 per cent rural population. (They form nearly 70 per cent of Karnataka''s 224 constituencies.) The data covers nearly 5,200 gram panchayats.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nShe said the aim of the exercise was to gauge the progress of each of these constituencies in ensuring secure livelihood for its poor since 2008, when the last Assembly elections were held.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nEach constituency spent Rs. 4.7 crore on an average compared to Rs. 9 crore in 2010-11 and Rs. 13 crore in 2009-10. The percentage of families with total job cards was down to 30 per cent\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nLast year, under the schemes to ensure livelihood for unskilled rural poor, the Assembly constituencies on an average spent 48 per cent less than in the year before.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe average daily wage was Rs. 64 in 2011-12; (Rs. 80 in 2010-11; Rs. 70 in 2009-10.)\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nAs many as 65 of the constituencies spent far more in 2011-12 on materials than prescribed: material costs should not exceed 40 per cent of the project costs.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n<em>Independents score</em>\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nAgainst the State average of Rs. 4.74 crore, Independent MLA constituencies spent Rs. 36.07 crore each on an average; this is 34 per cent more money spent over the three years.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nPockets that elected governing BJP candidates spent Rs. 5.52 crore each or 17 per cent more than the State average.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nCongress-held constituencies each spent Rs. 3.74 crore on an average. JD(S)-represented constituencies spent Rs. 4.41 crore each; they also spent consistently less than the State average over the three years. \r\n</p>', NULL, '2013-04-11', NULL, 1, 'The Hindu, 10 April, 2013, http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/karnataka/assembly-constituencies-slide-in-mnrega-spend/article4599592.ece', '', NULL),
(20399, 53, 62, 'EC to convene all-party meet on changes in EVMs', '<div align="justify">\r\n-The Hindu\r\n</div>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n<br />\r\n<em>Pressing a button in the EVM will enable the voter know who he is voting for through a printing slip</em>\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe Election Commission on Tuesday informed the Supreme Court that it would convene an all-party meeting in May after the Karnataka Assembly polls to decide on changes to be made in the electronic voting machine (EVM) for introducing the Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) system.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nUnder the system, a voter, by pressing a button in the EVM, will know the candidate to whom he is voting in an election through a printing slip which will display the name and go into a box. A light will blink and the name of the candidate, his party and the serial number will be displayed before the printing takes place in a device attached to the EVM.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n<em>Swamy''s plea</em>\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nSenior counsel Ashok Desai made this submission before a Bench of Justices P. Sathasivam and Ranjan Gogoi, hearing a petition filed by Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy for a direction to introduce EVMs with voter verification slips. Dr. Swamy appeared in person in the case. The Bench recorded the submissions and posted the matter for further hearing on May 2, when the Centre would explain its stand.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nMr. Desai said the Commission had developed the VVPAT and field trials were conducted.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe Conduct of Election Rules governing the EVM had to be amended by the government before a trial could be made on introducing the new EVM in elections. The commission had also written to the Centre about the cost of the project - to the tune of Rs. 1690 crore - of installing the device in 13 lakh EVMs.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nDr. Swamy wanted the Commission to introduce the new system initially in a by-election. In his petition, he sought a direction to the Commission that in future election &quot;if the Commission desires to use EVMs, to utilise such EVMs it should incorporate a paper trail and issue a paper receipt to each voter.&quot;\r\n</p>', NULL, '2013-04-11', NULL, 1, 'The Hindu, 10 April, 2013, http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/ec-to-convene-allparty-meet-on-changes-in-evms/article4600596.ece', '', NULL),
(20400, 53, 62, 'World abolishing death penalty, but executions on rise in India -Himanshi Dhawan', '<div align="justify">\r\n-The Times of India\r\n</div>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n<br />\r\nFewer countries are carrying out executions than a decade ago, but India along with nations like Gambia, Pakistan and Japan bucked the trend to resume handing out death penalties. An Amnesty International report says that 21 countries executed convicts last year as compared to 28 in 2003.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nBut there is greater concern that Indian courts had meted out at least 78 death sentences with more than 400 estimated to be on death row at the end of this year. The new death sentences given by India (78) are second only to Pakistan (242) in the Asia-Pacific region. At least 679 new death sentences are known to have been imposed in 19 countries in the region last year.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nAccording to the report, at least 682 executions were known to have been carried out worldwide, two more than in 2011. However, these figures do not take into account executions in China.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n&quot;The 2012 figures on the use of death penalty confirm that the overall trend globally is towards abolition; only one in 10 countries worldwide carried out death sentences. However, 2012 also saw setbacks; the resumption of executions especially in Gambia, India, Japan and Pakistan as well as the alarming rise in reported executions in Iraq as compared to 2011 are of grave concern,&quot; the report said.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nAt least 1,722 people were sentenced to death in 58 countries last year. This is a decrease from 2011, when at least 1,923 people were known to have been sentenced in 63 countries worldwide, and a reduction for the second year running. In 2010, 2,024 death sentences were ordered in 67 countries.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nIndia flouted the global trend, according to the report, by carrying out its first execution since 2004 in hanging 2008 Mumbai terror attack convict Ajmal Kasab.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe international organization also expressed concern over the procedure adopted in Kasab''s case. The report pointed out that Kasab case was taken out of turn and was only announced in public after the execution was carried out. Amnesty International has written to PM Manmohan Singh seeking abolition of death penalty. \r\n</p>', NULL, '2013-04-11', NULL, 1, 'The Times of India, 11 April, 2013, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/World-abolishing-death-penalty-but-executions-on-rise-in-India/articleshow/19484938.cms', '', NULL),
(20401, 53, 62, 'Dams may dry up Ganga, warns ministerial group -Nitin Sethi', '<div align="justify">\r\n-The Times of India\r\n</div>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n<br />\r\nRecognizing that the plethora of dams built and planned in the Ganga basin could almost empty the river of its waters in the winter season, an inter-ministerial group has recommended that the projects be re-engineered to maintain 30-50% of water flow in the lean period of December-March.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe group headed by Planning Commission member B K Chaturvedi also recommended that electricity production in the existing and upcoming dams on the river''s tributaries in Uttarakhand be moderated marginally to ensure that water flow is maintained at 25% between April to October -- the period when the river has average or high water levels.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nWhile keeping the ecological flow in the river at these levels, the government could permit the dams already working or in the pipeline to continue after re-designing to ensure the recommended flow of water in the river. The move would require adjusting the tariff and power production levels marginally. The committee has also recommended that 17 proposed projects adding up to 2,633 mw capacity be reviewed after the Ganga basin study by the IIT consortium.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nSixty-nine projects are proposed or running on Bhagirathi and Alaknanda -- the two main tributaries of the Ganga river basin. These add up to a capacity of 9,020.30 mw. Of these, 17 projects are operational at the moment and 26 are under construction.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nIf accepted by the government, the report could provide the UPA a route to blunt the BJP''s shrill ''save the Ganga'' campaign. At the moment, the standard prescription given to hydrolectric projects is to let through only 10% of the river water as ecological threat but environmentalists have warned that with the multiple dams proposed on the tributaries uphill, the river could go dry for large parts of the year.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nNon-government members on board the inter-ministerial group, however, differed with the report. Sunita Narain, director general of Centre for Science and Environment, has asked for a minimum of 50% flow in all projects in the winter season between December-March. In an alternative view forming part of the report, she said the data used by the committee to limit winter flows to 30% in some projects was faulty and unverified. She contended that maintaining 50% flow in the river in winter would not lead to greater tariff for the projects or lower their power production abilities significantly.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nRajendra Singh, head of Tarun Bharat Sangh, also on board the committee, disagreed with the report demanding 75% flow in the river in winter and 50% in the summer season.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nOne of the key demands of protestors was met with the committee recommending that the flow of the river must not be intermittent but continuous.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nWhile noting that the existing 21 hydroelectric projects would face an increase of tariff from 10-20% on Alaknanda and Bhagirathi basins, the committee noted that the dams could be optimized to produce more electricity in the high-flow seasons which they are not doing at the moment.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe group proposed that six tributaries -- Nayar, Bal Ganga, Rishi Ganga, Assi Ganga, upper reaches of Dhauli Ganga, Birahi Ganga and Bhyunder Ganga -- should be kept pristine in character. The Nayar river and the Ganga river stretches between Devprayag and Rishikesh as well as that between Balganga and Tehri reservoir be declared as fish conservation reserves.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nFor the controversial 330 mw Srinagar project, the committee left it to the environment ministry to decide. \r\n</p>', NULL, '2013-04-11', NULL, 1, 'The Times of India, 11 April, 2013, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/environment/developmental-issues/Dams-may-dry-up-Ganga-warns-ministerial-group/articleshow/19485134.cms', '', NULL),
(20402, 53, 62, 'Reopen 1984 riots case against Jagdish Tytler: Court -Smriti Singh', '<div align="justify">\r\n-The Times of India\r\n</div>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n<br />\r\nThe ghost of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots has returned yet again to haunt Congress leader JagdishTytler. A sessions court on Wednesday ordered reopening of the case against him despite CBI giving him the clean chit twice.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe former Union minister is accused of instigating a mob on November 1, 1984, whose actions led to the death of three persons taking shelter in a gurdwara.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nSetting aside the order of a magisterial court, which had accepted the CBI''s closure report in 2010, the court directed the agency to record the statements of purported witnesses.<br />\r\n&quot;CBI is directed to conduct further investigation...and to record statements of witnesses, who it had come to know during the investigation itself, are claiming to be eyewitnesses of the incident,&quot; additional sessions judge Anuradha Shukla Bhardwaj said.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n&quot;Let the law take its own course,&quot; Tytler told TOI, putting up a brave front. &quot;CBI has nothing on me and I will come out clean. Today, the court has asked CBI to further investigate and has said nothing against me. This matter is purely between CBI and Lakhwinder Kaur (complainant). I am not in the picture,&quot; the veteran Congress leader said.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe court''s order came on a plea challenging the magisterial court''s order that accepted CBI''s closure report. Appearing for the riot victims and Lakhwinder Kaur, whose husband Badal Singh was one of the victims, senior advocate H S Phoolka had sought the court''s direction for further investigations. Phoolka had alleged that the agency disregarded the statement of material witnesses. Kaur in her plea had claimed there are four persons, Resham Singh, Chanchal Singh, Alam Singh and Santosh Singh, who witnessed the incident.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe CBI had sought dismissal of the Kaur''s plea saying the probe had made it clear that Tytler was not present on November 1, 1984 at Gurudwara Pulbangash in north Delhi, where three people were killed during the riots. He was at Teen Murti Bhawan, where Indira Gandhi''s body lay in state, on that day, the agency had said.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nWhile the CBI has given a clean chit to Tytler twice in the past citing the witnesses as &quot;non reliable&quot;, Wednesday''s order left the investigating agency red-faced as the court found fault with the probe for not examining all available witnesses.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n&quot;We understand that the CBI reserves its right to conclude that these witnesses were planted and not truthworthy and thus to file a closure report giving its opinion on the issue, however, it did not have any right to have not recorded the statements of these witnesses and thus to have prevented the court from forming its own opinion regarding reliability of these witnesses,&quot; it said in its 12-page order.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe CBI had contended that the statements of eyewitness Surinder Singh, who had died, were contradictory and could not be relied upon. The court, however, cited a Supreme Court judgment in another 1984 riots case against Sajjan Kumar, in which it was held that contradictions in the statements of witnesses were a matter to decided during the trial and could not be considered earlier.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n&quot;Going by the law laid down by the Supreme Court, the contradictions in the statements of witness Surinder Singh given at different points of time could not be analysed and read for or against any party at the stage of summoning,&quot; it said.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe sessions court also pulled up the trial court which had accepted the CBI''s plea that Surinder Singh was not reliable and, as he had died, the contradictions in his statements could not be explained. Citing the apex court''s judgment, the ASJ said the death of a witness could not be a ground to conclude that no evidence would come to corroborate the statements made by him. &quot;On the contrary, the trial court was required to consider if there was material on record which could corroborate the statements of the witness,&quot; the ASJ said.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe court said CBI had an &quot;obligation&quot; to record the statement of three persons based in the US, whose names were taken by Singh as fellow witnesses. &quot;The moment this statement of the witness was recorded, irrespective of whether he was telling truth or lie, the investigating agency had an obligation to have recorded the statements of these persons or at least to have made enquiries from them,&quot; it said.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nAs the court pronounced the order, a large number of riot victims gathered outside the complex cheered and raised slogans against Tytler and fellow Congress leader Sajjan Kumar, against whom another court has reserved its judgment in a riot case.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nTytler''s alleged role in the killing of the three persons - Badal Singh, Thakur Singh and Gurcharan Singh -was re-investigated earlier by the CBI after a court had in December 2007 refused to accept its closure report. \r\n</p>', NULL, '2013-04-11', NULL, 1, 'The Times of India, 11 April, 2013, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Reopen-1984-riots-case-against-Jagdish-Tytler-Court/articleshow/19484669.cms', '', NULL),
(20403, 53, 62, 'HIV, cancer patients seek access to affordable medicines-Aarti Dhar', '<div align="justify">\r\n-The Hindu\r\n</div>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n&nbsp;\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n&nbsp;\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n<em>Protesters see attempt by EU to undermine Indian judiciary in the EU-FTA pact</em>\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nPeople living with HIV, cancer patient groups and public health activists came out on the streets on Wednesday demanding that India reject the European Union''s demands in the European Union-India Free Trade Agreement (EU-India FTA) negotiations.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe protests coincide with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh''s visit to Germany to meet Chancellor Angela Merkel with the FTA on top of the agenda. On April 14 and 15, Commerce Minister Anand Sharma will be in Brussels for ministerial-level negotiations to finalise the agreement.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nAs both sides push for the early conclusion of the FTA, the latest leaks of the negotiating text show that the EU''s demands for harmful intellectual property and investment provisions have not stopped. The provisions require India to go beyond its WTO commitments and will have an adverse impact on access to medicines across the developing world, the activists said.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nY.K. Sapru of Cancer Patients Aid Association said the Supreme Court had kept Section 3(d) alive and intact in a case that had captured global attention and sparked off global debates on the need for developing countries to protect only genuine innovations in medicines .\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n&quot;Having failed to get their way at the Supreme Court in the Novartis case, we can expect the EU to push its industry''s demands for changes in the Indian law to curb the Indian judiciary,&quot; he said.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nIntellectual property enforcement measures that go beyond the WTO''s TRIPS Agreement feature prominently in the leaked text and have been adopted from the Anti-Counterfeit Trade Agreement that was roundly rejected by the European Parliament. &quot;The EU is demanding that its companies have the power to demand the freezing of bank accounts and seizure of properties of generic companies on the mere allegation of patent infringement and to drag third parties like treatment providers into litigation. These wide-ranging provisions aim to curtail the independence and discretionary powers of Indian Courts that have so far balanced patent rights with public interest in court cases,&quot; Mr. Sapru explained.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n<em>Subverting the statute</em>\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nAnand Grover, senior counsel and Director of Lawyers Collective, said the inclusion of these enforcement provisions would undermine the Indian judicial system and deprive people of access to justice. &quot;Such provisions which impede fundamental rights - such as the right to health and access to medicines - threaten to subvert the fundamental tenets of the Constitution of India.&quot;\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe EU has also been demanding the inclusion of an investor-state dispute mechanism to allow MNC pharmaceutical companies to sue the Indian government in secret, international arbitration over health policies like drug price control, compulsory licences and even patent challenges.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nAccording to Loon Gangte of Delhi Network of Positive People, with the Indian courts holding the Constitution paramount, this is a despicable attempt by the Europeans to bypass the Indian Constitution and Indian courts and move the litigation into secret tribunals overseas on the pretext of investment protection.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nIndian groups are also expressing their apprehensions over the EU''s data exclusivity demands. The Indian government has maintained that it will not accept any provisions beyond the TRIPS Agreement.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n&quot;It is not true that all our concerns on access to medicines have been addressed. Enforcement and investment measures will put another nail in the coffin of access to the affordable, quality medicines MSF relies on to treat patients across the world,&quot; Leena Menghaney of the MSF Access Campaign said. India should resist all demands that threaten public health in all their trade negotiations, she added.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe MSF is urging India not to sign the agreement unless all concerns related to access to medicines are fully addressed and have already written to Dr. Singh in this connection. \r\n</p>', NULL, '2013-04-11', NULL, 1, 'The Hindu, 11 April, 2013, http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/hiv-cancer-patients-seek-access-to-affordable-medicines/article4603574.ece', '', NULL);
INSERT INTO `articles` (`id`, `category_id`, `subcategory_id`, `title`, `description`, `status`, `create_date`, `modify_date`, `homepage_display`, `author`, `image`, `subheading`) VALUES
(20404, 53, 62, 'CITU to campaign for slashed weekly work hours -P Sudhakaran', '<div align="justify">\r\n-The Times of India\r\n</div>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n<br />\r\n<em>KANNUR: </em>The CITU will next month launch a nationwide campaign, demanding the working hours in private sector companies be slashed to 35 hours from the present 48 hours a week. The campaign is to create more job opportunities.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n&quot;One of our major discussions at the all-India conference of the CITU that concluded in Kannur on Monday was on the rising number of unemployed youth despite an increase in the productivity and profit of several organisations, especially in the manufacturing and service sector,&quot; CITU national president A K Padmanabhan told TOI over the telephone on Wednesday.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nWith the advancement of technology, especially robotics, the productivity per employee and also that of enterprises have increased. However, leading firms, including multinational companies, were not sharing their profit with the employees, he said.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nEmployment generation during the 11th plan period was just 0.7% while the GDP grew around 8%. It reflected the increased productivity of individuals and rise in profits, which didn''t create new jobs, Padmanabhan said.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n&quot;If the working hours are slashed by over 25%, it will create more employment opportunities, and we are going to launch a campaign from May 30 to June 14, demanding large corporate firms to initiate the implementation of the new pattern.&quot;\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU) has been campaigning for reduced working hours since 2011, and the pattern has been successfully implemented in several countries, including France, he claimed.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe WFTU will be launching a global campaign on October 3, 2013, demanding the reduction of working hours, the CITU leader said. Padmanabhan felt the reduced working hours would effectively address the exploitation of employees.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n&quot;If there is any adverse impact on the unorganized sector or smaller enterprises, we can always solve it through discussions. The issues pertaining to shifts, too, can be solved amicably once the managements are ready to implement the new pattern,&quot; he said, adding that technological advancement should benefit not just the employers, but the employees as well. The CITU would oppose any move to reduce salary, he said.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n&quot;Our demand is that the corporate entities-both in the service as well as manufacturing sectors-should give more profit share to employees. Even if the working hours are reduced the employees deserve their current salary,&quot; Padmanabhan said. He added the new pattern of working hours could be implemented in government sector as well.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nPadmanabhan sounded positive when asked if private firms would agree to the CITU''s demand. &quot;They will have to, because we are not demanding any undue share, but raising a justifiable demand. We know that the employees deserve a better deal,&quot; he said. \r\n</p>', NULL, '2013-04-11', NULL, 1, 'The Times of India, 11 April, 2013, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/CITU-to-campaign-for-slashed-weekly-work-hours/articleshow/19486997.cms', '', NULL),
(20405, 53, 62, 'Lessons from the East Godavari pilot-Reetika Khera', '<div align="justify">\r\n-The Hindu\r\n</div>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n&nbsp;\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n&nbsp;\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n<em>A computerised database of ration card holders and purchases is a safeguard against diversion of PDS supplies but the process can be disruptive for beneficiaries</em>\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe government has initiated an interesting pilot for the Public Distribution System (PDS) in East Godavari, Andhra Pradesh. When cardholders go to buy their PDS rations, their ration card number and UID (Unique Identification) number are punched into an &quot;e-Point of Sale&quot; (ePOS) machine. If the two match, they have to authenticate their fingerprint. If a successful authentication does not occur in five attempts, a mobile number can be entered, and a &quot;one time password&quot; (OTP) is sent to that number. After successful fingerprint authentication or use of the OTP, the sale can proceed.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n<em>Many firsts</em>\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThere are many firsts (for Andhra Pradesh) in this pilot. One, a computerised database of ration cardholders makes it possible to track purchases. Chhattisgarh and Tamil Nadu have been the pioneers in this and other States are working on it. Two, the e-POS machine, a hand-held mini-computer, has made end-to-end computerisation a reality. Further, it has neat features such as a voice-over facility (it calls out the commodity, quantity, prices and sale amount) and receipt printing device. These are important safeguards against cheating, especially the voice-over for those who cannot read or calculate easily. Three, biometric authentication has introduced a mechanism for &quot;last mile tracking&quot; previously absent in Andhra Pradesh. Four, authentication is done in real time, using the UID platform (a first in the country).\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nLast mile tracking is any mechanism that allows the government to get information on whether grain has reached the beneficiary (and not just the ration shop). Until recently, tracking mechanisms were weak or non-existent, making diversion of PDS grain relatively easy. Entries in ration cards (supposedly checked by government functionaries) were the commonly used method. In Rajasthan and Bihar, food coupons serve the same purpose - the release of grain to a dealer is linked to the number of coupons he deposits after collecting them from cardholders when they buy their rations. Recent reports suggest that food coupons work relatively well in Rajasthan, but not in Bihar. Elsewhere, &quot;smart cards&quot; to be swiped on ePOS machines are being piloted. The East Godavari pilot uses online biometric authentication.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe East Godavari pilot has taken off largely due to the patient efforts of a dedicated Joint Collector. He was assisted by a full staff of functionaries - each Mandal (equivalent to, but smaller than, a Block) has a supply officer and a Tehsildar (Civil Supplies). Preparations took nearly two years - between December 2010 and December 2012, UID numbers were issued to 82 per cent of the population. This increased to 98 per cent by January 2013 after a special request was made to UIDAI. The Joint Collector described the operation being carried out in &quot;mission mode&quot; with a &quot;war room&quot; whereby a &quot;control room had been set up to track enrolments and the seeding process.&quot; The pilot began with 47 ration shops in September 2012, and was scaled up to 100 ration shops in January 2013. Thus after two years of dedicated effort, the pilot was running in less than five per cent of the ration shops of the district.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nMany hiccups were anticipated, and solutions were put in place, such as the OTP facility to deal with failures of biometric authentication, particularly common with the elderly. The solutions, however, are not fool-proof. In Pedabrahmadevam (Samalkota Mandal), biometric authentication failed for two elderly widows, Thotakura Ratnam and Thotakura Suryakantam, who were nearly in tears when I visited them. Koppusetti Mangayamma, an elderly Antyodaya card holder, had to make four trips to get her ration. Between September and January, 16-18 per cent of all transactions were through OTP or manual override. Other problems that needed to be resolved included data entry errors of UID and/or ration card numbers, incorrect matching of UID with ration card numbers, inability of some people to come to the ration shop, etc.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nA range of unexpected situations also arose. I met people who had not enrolled for, or not got, UID numbers or whose UID number had not been seeded. Chikkala Rajeswararao''s family is correctly reflected as a four-member household in the paper records, but the ePOS shows only one family member. As the Andhra Pradesh PDS issues grain on a per capita basis, he was getting only 4 kg instead of 16 kg. In Kothapalli, a PDS outlet was closed because the machine had been taken to Kakinada for repairs. There was no fallback option.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n<em>Heart-rending</em>\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe most heart-rending case was that of Jyothi Alamadamu (Gollaprolu Mandal). A tribal resident of the Sweeper Colony, she works as a maid. She broke into tears as she described her difficult situation: her three-year old twins were starving because in January, the e-POS did not recognise her ration card number. She had not been able to buy her ration.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe purpose of listing these issues is not to find fault with the pilot, but to convey the inevitable difficulties that are bound to arise with any transition to a new system even when it is implemented with the utmost care and detailed planning. Some elements of the pilot (like integrating the UID and PDS databases) are extremely demanding in terms of personnel, planning, time and technology. In this case, one could count on a responsive administration to try to remedy the issues but such responsiveness is not the rule.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nFor the government, there are two possible gains from the new system: saving grain that was earlier diverted and de-duplication. Outright cheating in Andhra Pradesh is unusual. Unclaimed ration (due to temporary migration) cannot be carried over. So dealers diverted it. With last mile biometric tracking, such diversion is not possible. If the carryover of one month''s quota to the next is allowed, it can end the diversion of unclaimed grain. Other technologically less demanding last mile tracking methods such as food coupons and smart cards are also available.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nBiometric authentication makes way for de-duplication, i.e., eliminating &quot;duplicates&quot; and &quot;ghosts&quot; from the PDS database. In East Godavari, most &quot;ghosts&quot; and &quot;duplicates&quot; were detected during a door-to-door survey, not through biometric de-duplication. As per the data given by the district administration, 6.6 per cent duplicates (including temporary migrants) were removed. If we do not consider temporary migrants (e.g. those travelling to attend a marriage) as duplicates, the figure is smaller. To the extent that duplication is a significant issue in the PDS, de-duplication requires biometrics - local rather than UID-enabled biometrics would work equally well. In fact, local biometrics has several advantages over UID - it does not require connectivity and allows errors to be corrected locally, which makes it more practical.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nFrom the point of view of cardholders, the increase in queuing time has caused impatience and irritation. In Chendurthi village (Gollaprolu Mandal), Kakadalakshmi said &quot;what is the point of giving Re 1/kg rice if we have to forego Rs. 200 of wages in the bargain?&quot; In my brief visit to five Mandals, I did not come across any ration cardholder who enthusiastically preferred the new system to the old. Most were indifferent, and a few complained.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nOf the four features of the East Godavari pilot listed earlier, computerisation and ePOS machines are excellent initiatives, suitable for scaling up and testing elsewhere too. If anything, computerisation of the PDS has been put off for too long. As far as last mile tracking and de-duplication are concerned, the option being used in East Godavari - real-time UID-based authentication - imposes large costs (enrolment, seeding, machines, updating the database, connectivity, repairs). The government should initiate pilots to test alternatives - wall paintings or local biometrics for de-duplication; food coupons, smart cards and local biometrics for last mile tracking. Each of the alternatives seems administratively and technologically less demanding and, most importantly, less disruptive. The unique circumstances which make the East Godavari pilot successful in five per cent of its ration shops may not be easily - or at all - replicable elsewhere in the country.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n<em>(Reetika Khera teaches economics at the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi) </em>\r\n</p>', NULL, '2013-04-11', NULL, 1, 'The Hindu, 11 April, 2013, http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/lessons-from-the-east-godavari-pilot/article4603273.ece?homepage=true', '', NULL),
(20406, 53, 62, 'In Modi’s Gujarat, no Narmada water for dalits -Vijaysinh Parmar', '<div align="justify">\r\n-The Times of India\r\n</div>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n&nbsp;\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n<em>CHITALIYA (RAJKOT): </em>In the villages of Jasdan taluka in drought-hit Saurashtra, dalit women prefer to remain silent. That''s for the fear of the upper castes in a state whose chief minister Narendra Modi is busy trying to conjure up an eclectic image to subserve his perceived prime ministerial ambitions for 2014 polls.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n&quot;Those people (upper castes) will abuse us again if we speak,&quot; mumbled one of the women, only to be given a warning look by the others.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe water scarcity in Saurashtra is due to deficient rainfall, but the calamity is man-made for the dalits. Members of the community claim they are not allowed access to Narmada water, the only source of drinking water, by upper caste members. Ironically, upper caste farmers have their own borewells and don''t need Narmada water as much.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe dalits in ten villages of the taluka allege they are not even allowed to draw water from the main sump. &quot;We have to listen to casteist remarks and are even threatened if we get close to the sump,&quot; said Jaya Makwana, who fetches water under scorching sun from a source 3km farther. The worst affected are villages of Chitaliya, Khadvavadi, Kanesara, Parevala, Jivapar, Nani Lakhavad, Kothi, Barvala and Devdhari. There are around 100 dalit families in each village dominated by Kolis.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nUnable to bear both injustice and thirst, women from these villages recently approached the deputy collector with their tale of woes. But the women were allegedly threatened on their return for taking up the issue with the authorities. &quot;Should we remain thirsty because we are untouchables?&quot; Makwana fumed.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nNarmada water in Chitaliya is so erratic that villagers would not even get supply once a week. After the trip to the deputy collector''s office, water is being released once in five days. But the dalits say the main sump is still off-limits for them while the small one doesn''t get a drop.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe sump in the dailt area of Kothi village was never connected with the Narmada pipeline. &quot;Our only source was a hand-pump which went dry last month,'''' said Maniben Makwana, 65, a dalit.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n&quot;We are looking into complaints of discrimination. We have also directed the water resources department to connect hand-pumps to the pipeline,&quot; deputy collector R H Gadhavi said. \r\n</p>', NULL, '2013-04-11', NULL, 1, 'The Times of India, 10 April, 2013, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/rajkot/In-Modis-Gujarat-no-Narmada-water-for-dalits/articleshow/19470304.cms', '', NULL),
(20407, 53, 62, 'Nutrition mission to begin with 41 districts', '<div align="justify">\r\n-The Times of India\r\n</div>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n<br />\r\n<em>LUCKNOW: </em>The state nutrition mission, approved by the state cabinet here on Monday, will begin with 41 high-focus districts. These districts, say officials in the state C, account for high rate of malnutrition. The list includes Gorakhpur, Kushinagar, Deoria, Ballia, Siddharthnagar, Bahraich, Barabanki, Shravasti, Gonda and Balrampur besides the Bundelkhand region.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nOfficials said the state may look forward to the formal launch of State Nutrition Mission anytime. The project aims at improving the standards of general health and immunity among children, adolescents and expectant mothers. As per government''s own admission, of the 19 million malnourished children in India, 20% hail from UP. &quot;The blueprint for implementation of the mission is ready. It is set for launch soon,&quot; said an officer.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n Sharing more details, a senior health department official said they had examined the model of implementation being successfully used by Maharashtra, the pioneer in this regard. &quot;The Gujarat government has also adopted the model with certain changes. Another set of officials examined the Gujarat model and compared the two to draft the version for UP. The best points have been picked up for UP,&quot; he said. Inputs given by Melinda Gates of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and LG Arsenault, country head of UNICEF, which they gave in their meetings with the chief minister in February, have been incorporated into model.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nSources in the government revealed the biggest fear of the stakeholders is inter-sectoral coordination. &quot;Effective implementation of the mission would involve coordination between health, panchyati raj, rural development, child development and nutrition and social welfare departments which is quite a tedious task,&quot; said an NGO which is also working to eliminate child malnutrition.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nAware of the burden of responsibility, stake holders have urged the Akhilesh government to depute a senior IAS officer at the helm of affairs. In states where the mission has already started, the senior bureaucrat works as the director general of the mission. He is supported by directors representing departments of health, integrated child development scheme and monitoring and who instead have another set of officials to lead the programme to the last level.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nAnother major issue before the state government is to address the issue of shortage of doctors and nurses. &quot;In Maharashtra, we found that ANMs were shouldering the programme. They were equally supported by doctors and nurses who are sparsely available in UP. Stake holders are looking at filling the gap with NGO and private sector tie-ups,&quot; said an officer.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nCM''s wife and MP from Kannauj Dimple Yadav represents Uttar Pradesh in the Citizen''s Alliance Against Malnutrition, a body that comprises several social workers, NGO representatives and parliamentarians working to tackle malnutrition which is at the root of many diseases and disability in the country, is taking personal interest in the mission. Several cinestars including actor Amir Khan are also a part of this body. Dimple is taking keen interest in the mission.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nA delegation of the alliance visited UP in September and stressed the need for the mission in UP. They also asserted that positive outcomes were possible with a dedicated approach. In Maharashtra, where the mission was launched in 2005, malnutrition dipped by 16% in a span of five years (2006-12). Thereafter, principal secretaries of department of medical and health, women and child development and rural development were asked to come up with a draft for the mission, which is to be submitted to the chief secretary by November 15.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n State health department anchored the mission and its NRHM unit organised a workshop on the issue in mid-October. It was attended by nutrition mission officials from Maharashtra and Gujarat. In December, chief secretary Jawed Usmani fixed December-30 deadline for giving a final shape to the implementation plan for state nutrition mission. The draft was submitted in January.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n<strong>HEALTH UNDER THREAT</strong>\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n<em>Status of malnutrition</em>\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nCURRENT SITUATION: Uttar Pradesh has around 1.3 million severe acute malnourished children\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nUNDER-NUTRITION FIGURES OF UTTAR PRADESH (CHILDREN UNDER-FIVE YEARS OF AGE):\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nStunted (chronic under-nutrition): 57% in UP as compared to 48% in India\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nWasted (acute under-nutrition): 15% in UP as compared to 20% in India\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nUnderweight (acute and chronic under-nutrition): 42% in UP as compared to 43% in India\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n<strong>CONTRIBUTING FACTORS:</strong>\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nLOW BREASTFEEDING:\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nOnly around 33% of under-3 children (1 out of every 3) being breastfed within one hour of birth\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nOnly around 18% of 6-35 months children (1 out of every 5) have been exclusively breastfed for at least six months\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nHIGH ON MICRONUTRIENT DEFICIENCIES:\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nVITAMIN-A: Only about 34% children covered for vitamin A\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nHIGH PREVALENCE OF ANAEMIA IN ALL AGE-GROUPS (AS PER NFHS-3):\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n85% among children (6-35 months age group)\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n52% among pregnant women\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nEvery second adolescent girls is anaemic\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nLOW COVERAGE OF USE OF IODIZED SALT: Around 42.5% households reported adequate iodized salt consumption\r\n</p>', NULL, '2013-04-11', NULL, 1, 'The Times of India, 9 April, 2013, http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-04-09/lucknow/38402507_1_state-nutrition-mission-malnutrition-integrated-child-development-scheme', '', NULL),
(20408, 53, 62, 'Govt set to review buffer stock norms -Madhvi Sally', '<div align="justify">\r\n-The Economic Times\r\n</div>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n<br />\r\nThe government is reviewing the norms for keeping buffer stocks of wheat and rice required at a particular time of the year to feed the public distribution system and welfare schemes.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe demand for wheat and rice distributed through welfare schemes is expected to rise with the implementation of the food security law.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n&quot;The government is looking at the issue and we are discussing it with different departments,&quot; KV Thomas, minister for consumer affairs, food and public distribution, told ET. He said he was going to take up the issue with the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP). The prime minister has already recommended the issue to C Rangarajan, chairman, Prime Minister''s Economic Advisory Council.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThomas said the government was looking at three issues which would determine the buffer norms.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n&quot;We are looking at the government''s role in procurement and marketing of the grains, protecting the farmer''s interest by setting a minimum support price and the subsidy we are giving to private traders for bulk purchase under the Open Market sale Scheme (OMSS),&quot; he said. Buffer norms for wheat and rice have not been revised since April 2005.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nAccording to the norm, the minimum quantity of grains available with the government should be 4 million tonne (mt) of wheat and 12.2 mt rice on April 1 every year. But as on April 1 this year, the Food Corporation of India (FCI) was holding 24.2 mt wheat and 35.5 mt rice.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe government anticipates that by July1, stock holding of grains will touch 93 mt including wheat stocks at 60 mt.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n&quot;The government had kept buffer norms at a time when grain production in the country was low, which is not the situation now. As per our projection till 2040, we will have grain (wheat and rice) production touching 253.24 mt compared to the 2013-14 projection of 192.02 mt,&quot; said Thomas.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nAccording to FCI officials, the expenditure incurred by the government on holding one lakh tonne wheat per annum was 25 crore and 32 crore for rice.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n&quot;It is high time that the country evaluated how much buffer stock we need and liquidate excessive stock. This will tame food inflation, reduce food subsidy and bring rationalisation to grain market,&quot; said Ashok Gulati , chairman, CACP.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe National Centre for Agricultural Economics and Policy Research (NCAP) has submitted its recommendations on buffer norms a few months ago. &quot;We feel that buffer norms have to increase with rising production and population,&quot; said Ramesh Chand, director, NCAP. He said the Food Security Act will now ensure that the government will need around 64 million tonne wheat for the scheme as against 56 million tonne currently required to run the public distribution system.\r\n</p>', NULL, '2013-04-11', NULL, 1, 'The Economic Times, 11 April, 2013, http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/policy/govt-set-to-review-buffer-stock-norms/articleshow/19485278.cms', '', NULL),
(20409, 53, 62, 'Indian patent rulings may face legal heat internationally -Soma Das', '<div align="justify">\r\n-The Economic Times\r\n</div>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n<br />\r\nThe recent patent rulings in India may get frequently challenged in international courts if the government yields to the European Union''s demand of including matters related to intellectual property in the investors-state dispute mechanism in their proposed trade pact, health activist groups have warned.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nAn investor-state dispute resolution mechanism typically allows foreign investors to sue countries for compensation if national laws, policies, court rulings of the country infringe upon their investment rights under a free-trade agreement. The EU is pushing India to include this clause in their proposed free trade pact, claim health activists.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n&quot;The pro-public health stance recently taken by Indian courts protecting against the abuse of multinational pharmaceutical companies, as well as potential future decisions by the government to issue price controls or compulsory licenses, would be threatened should India agree on an expansive definition of investment (in the India-EU FTA), which includes all forms of intellectual property rights,&quot; said Unni Karunakara, international president of Doctors Without Borders, in a letter to PM Manmohan Singh.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nDoctors Without Borders is a global medical humanitarian organisation working in over 60 countries. It is one of several health activists groups in the country that support lowering of prices of essential medicines to make them easily accessible to the poor.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nMultinational drug makers, who have invested billions of dollars on research, are peeved with some of the recent court rulings in India, including that in the Glivec case, where the Supreme Court rejected Swiss firm Novartis'' plea to grant a patent on its leukemia drug.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe other countries that are already embroiled or have been threatened with international arbitration include Canada, Australia and Uruguay. In December, US drug innovator Eli Lilly said it would launch a legal offensive against the Canadian government under the North America Free Trade Agreement investor-state dispute mechanism. The drugmaker is seeking $100 million in compensation by challenging the decision of Canadian Courts that declared a patent on its drug Atomoxetine invalid.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nIndian drugmakers are already protesting proposed clauses in the final agreement, stipulating that mere suspicion of patent infringement by an Indian drugmaker could lead to seizure of the company''s bank accounts and immovable property.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nInjunctions could also be issued against intermediaries and third parties, like suppliers, drug distributors and procurement agencies, for infringement of intellectual property rights. Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma is scheduled to meet the EU Trade Commissioner, Karel De Gucht, in Brussels on April 15 to sort out the differences. \r\n</p>', NULL, '2013-04-11', NULL, 1, 'The Economic Times, 11 April, 2013, http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/policy/indian-patent-rulings-may-face-legal-heat-internationally/articleshow/19486296.cms', '', NULL),
(20410, 53, 62, 'Why India&#039;s welfare plans are anti-poor-Laveesh Bhandari', '<div align="justify">\r\n-The Business Standard\r\n</div>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n<br />\r\n<em>A CACP study shows how the Fisc, rising farm wages and international forces are stoking inflation</em>\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nIt''s good to see that independent thought is still present in the government. When one part of the government comes out with a serious and objective piece on how the government itself has been responsible for creating food inflation, hopefully the government is more likely to take note.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP) has come out with a discussion paper (the fourth in a series) titled &quot;Taming Food Inflation in India&quot;, penned by its Chairman Ashok Gulati and independent researcher Shweta Saini. Using econometric analyses, the paper shows how food inflation is an outcome of an increasing fiscal deficit, rising farm wages and transmission of global food inflation. These three items together account for 98 per cent of the variations in India''s food inflation between 1995-96 and December 2012. In other words, economic growth or population growth are not responsible for inflation. They, no doubt, provide the environment where external and internal forces created by government action are pushing up prices in an inordinately sustained manner.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nUnlike most other pieces of wisdom originating from the government, CACP quite unambiguously points to the fiscal deficit as among the chief culprits. And, more importantly, mentions a small checklist of critical reforms that can arrest deficit, while maintaining or improving agriculture productivity, and simultaneously giving a boost to overall economic growth. For all these reasons, CACP''s discussion paper deserves greater attention than the various reports we are accustomed to seeing - or even the Plan document for that matter.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nFertiliser subsidies are among the worst directed subsidies, not only do they reach the beneficiaries in an inadequate manner, the way they are given out simultaneously encourage underuse and overuse of the fertiliser that itself impacts productivity. This is all well known, but that CACP has also tied in the impact on the Fisc. The suggestion of directly targeting subsidies based on farm size is good, and one of those ideas whose time has come, especially with rapidly expanding banking networks and beneficiary identification mechanisms.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nEnergy subsidies are another item that CACP alludes to. The argument is that energy subsidies push up the fiscal deficit and, therefore, push up food prices. This, in turn, impacts poor Indian households quite adversely. The argument, therefore, that subsidies help the poor is quite flawed - something that CACP does well to underscore. But there is another problem with subsidies, such as those for power. They encourage overdrawing of sub-surface power, inappropriate production patterns are undesirable outcome - water-rich commodities are grown in low-water access areas, for instance. Thus, both resource allocation and production patterns are not optimal. The fact that subsidies adversely impact prices is critically important for policy makers and stakeholders to understand if India has to survive.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nIt is well known that India does not need to keep such a high buffer stock of food grains. It is not clear why the government insists on it, and it is refreshing to see CACP also point out this anomaly. So much buffer stock, of course, impacts the Fisc since it is inefficient expenditure. Also, it impacts agriculture production patterns adversely. For, if the government continues to purchase and hold food grains, the incentive to shift to high-value foods, such as proteins and fruits and vegetables, is reduced.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe study then also implicates the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) as another possible source of inflation. However, the analysis here is a bit weaker and it requires greater rigour. Notwithstanding these, the point is clear, that the priority needs to be such that a welfare programme not only provides welfare, but also boosts productivity and production. Given that the first stage of MGNREGA is over and it has matured as a welfare programme, expanding its scope of operations such that production and productivity improve should be rapidly implemented.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nInternational forces are another source of inflation, and many believe that India can do little on that. Not entirely true. India is among the largest consumers of food items and also among the largest growers. What India does has a significant impact on international prices. CACP may not say it, but it is high time India built a mechanism for both impacting international prices to its advantage and insuring the domestic consumer against fluctuations owing to international influences.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nBut the larger point of the CACP study needs to be considered. Few departments of the government are coming out with visionary agendas any more. It appears as if large parts of the government have given up. The Planning Commission and the latest documents it has brought out look like tired rehashes of the past. The Economic Survey has become just a collection of sentences put together by a command and control economic advisory set-up. A chapter or two put in by well-meaning individuals are neither here nor there. Statements by policy makers are more about the past than about the future.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nIndia needs to look ahead. The reforms created high growth that enabled welfare. But welfare without growth and subsidies without economic efficiency work against the poor. Food inflation is one such symptom. Low job creation is another. As India enters a high deficit, low-growth phase, it needs to look ahead - for the sake of its poor and underprivileged if for no one else. Looking ahead requires us to clean up where we are going wrong - a large, sustained and growing fiscal deficit is the first effect of poor economic management. Sustained inflation is another. Slowing growth is a third. A worsening current account deficit is yet another. India is entering a downward spiral and the only way out is to look ahead and incorporate sensible reforms.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n<em>The author is Director, Indicus Analytics.</em>\r\n</p>', NULL, '2013-04-11', NULL, 1, 'The Business Standard, 10 April, 2013, http://www.business-standard.com/article/opinion/why-india-s-welfare-plans-are-anti-poor-113041000611_1.html', '', NULL),
(20411, 53, 62, 'Tripura tops in MGNREGA implementation', '<div align="justify">\r\n-PTI\r\n</div>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n&nbsp;\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n<br />\r\n<em>AGARTALA: </em>Tripura has ranked first in implementing the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act in 2012-13 by providing 86.27 days of work on an average to a rural household, a state minister claimed here today.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n&quot;When the national average is 39, the state could provide 86.27 days of work to the job card holders. Tripura secured first position in implementation of the Act,&quot; State Rural Development Minister Jitendra Chowdhurytold reporters.<br />\r\nMGNREGA authorises 100 days of employment to a member of one family in a year in rural areas.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nTripura is followed by Mizoram (69.25 mandays per household) and Tamil Nadu (51.26 days of work per job card holders).\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nChowdhury said women in the state got more jobs than their male counterparts under the scheme.\r\n</p>', NULL, '2013-04-11', NULL, 1, 'The Economic Times, 9 April, 2013, http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2013-04-09/news/38404427_1_job-card-holders-agartala-tripura', '', NULL),
(20412, 53, 62, 'Why corruption isn’t a poll issue in Karnataka -Prithvi Datta Chandra Shobhi', '<div align="justify">\r\n-The Indian Express\r\n</div>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n<br />\r\n<em>If the BJP finds itself on the back foot today, it isn''t because of corruption scandals, but due to the splintering of its social coalition</em>\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nAs the stage is set for the state assembly elections in Karnataka, former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda recently made a surprising admission: corruption is not an issue in the upcoming elections, and the precipitous decline in political morality can only be arrested by the voting public.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThat realism is the source of Gowda''s frankness, and not cynicism, is clear to any keen observer of Karnataka''s politics. But the veteran politician was also stating another essential truth: that the decline in political morality is a broader social phenomenon and not unique to the political class. Hence, corruption has come to be condoned as an acceptable political practice.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nConsider the context of Gowda''s remarks. Over the past decade, Karnataka has acquired the dubious distinction of being among the most corrupt states, competing with the likes of Jharkhand. A former chief minister and three of his cabinet members are being prosecuted. Justice Santosh Hegde, in his capacity as Karnataka lokayukta, documented the plundering of natural resources and blatant violation of laws by politician-entrepreneurs. Numerous complaints have been filed with the Karnataka lokayukta against leading politicians from all parties, including former chief ministers, and investigations continue.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nYet, discomfort over the issue of corruption has been restricted largely to the English media, and possibly some upper-class activists. Politicians might invoke corruption rhetorically, but rarely do they propose concrete anti-corruption measures. The BJP government, whose national party donned the role of an anti-corruption crusader inside Parliament as the UPA''s scandals piled up and the debate over the Lokpal bill heated up, even stalled the appointments of the lokayukta for years, let alone strengthened the institution.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nWhy, then, has corruption not become a core electoral issue, despite the nationwide anti-corruption campaign in recent times?\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nConsider this: corruption is no longer a visible act, like bribe-taking or collecting commission on state projects. Rather, it has become broad-based manipulation of public policy for private profit and hence, invisible. Notions of the public good are absent from policymaking, as the politician-entrepreneur has taken centrestage. Perhaps this was true even two decades ago, when politicians began establishing capitation-fee-paying medical and technical institutions, or started mining granite. But now the scale of profits, especially from mining (iron ore in Bellary and surrounding districts), as well as the real estate industry in Bangalore, has transformed political culture and policymaking.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nNote that the beneficiaries of this new corruption aren''t the old elite from the landowning castes, but upstarts from all caste and economic backgrounds. Invariably, they have entered politics to consolidate their burgeoning business interests and mould public policy for their benefit. Janardhan Reddy is perhaps the best known example of this new breed of politician.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nIf there hasn''t been vocal opposition to such manipulation of public policy, the reason is simple: this new corruption is often justified as a victimless crime, since only the natural resources owned by the state are being exploited, and no single individual is victimised. More significantly, the spoils of this new corruption are generously shared and percolate to different sections of society. Sharing the wealth of these illicit activities has become the basis for a new political populism in Karnataka.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nFor instance, apart from feeding people, distributing free rations, clothes and cash to the needy on a daily basis, politicians also offer a wide range of services: distributing sewing machines, pressure cookers, books and scholarships to students, sending people on pilgrimages and so on. Even access to government programmes such as health or crop insurance is mediated through the local politician who will do the paperwork and pay the premium from his pocket. The goal of such largesse is to cultivate loyalty to an individual politician, rather than to a party or an ideology. Not surprisingly, crossing party lines has become quite common, and the BJP''s &quot;Operation Kamala&quot; to seduce opposition party MLAs became a celebrated political tactic.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nUnlike the Congress and the JD(S), the BJP in Karnataka was nimble enough to recognise this emerging political culture. Thus, the gateway to the south wasn''t opened by ideological purity or its Hindutva agenda. Instead, the BJP rose to power by diluting its ideology and providing political opportunities for mining barons like the Reddy brothers or the beneficiaries of the real estate boom in Bangalore. From 2004 on, these new entrants generated a new electoral paradigm of heavy spending from personal fortunes and building personal loyalty, both among party activists and voters. They came from several politically under-represented backward castes, which enabled the BJP to build a larger social coalition.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nB.S. Yeddyurappa was the ideal conduit for facilitating this expansion. Moreover, he consolidated Lingayat votes for the BJP and recruited leaders from the Congress. In 2008 and afterward, Yeddyurappa emerged as a shrewd manager of elections, and his stewardship brought rich electoral rewards for the BJP. Since the 2008 elections, he had assiduously cultivated different caste groups by dispensing state resources lavishly.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nIf the BJP finds itself on the back foot today, it isn''t because of corruption scandals or bad governance; rather, it is the splintering of the social coalition the party had assembled. The departure of Yeddyurappa and the Sriramulu-Reddy factions is a severe blow, worse than anti-incumbency. The BJP''s leaders might celebrate their exits as a cleansing and proclaim the party''s ideological purity, but even they admit in private that if the party hadn''t splintered, and if Yeddyurappa had remained the chief minister, the BJP would have come back to power despite the internal dissent, corruption scandals and conspicuous absence of a governing philosophy.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nTo say corruption isn''t an issue in the upcoming elections is to recognise the changes in Karnataka''s political culture. Watch Congress leader and CM frontrunner Siddaramaiah gingerly navigate electoral politics as he is challenged by a political neophyte (a former aide to Yeddyurappa), who has spent enormous sums of money cultivating the former''s Varuna constituency just outside Mysore. That tells the story of the Karnataka elections.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe writer teaches history at the Karnataka State Open University, Mysore\r\n</p>', NULL, '2013-04-11', NULL, 1, 'The Indian Express, 11 April, 2013, http://www.indianexpress.com/news/why-corruption-isnt-a-poll-issue-in-karnataka/1100490/', '', NULL),
(20413, 53, 62, 'The trial against other accused in 1984 riots case nearing completion-Jiby Kattakayam', '<div align="justify">\r\n-The Hindu\r\n</div>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n&nbsp;\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n<em>Court order will not impact the trial against Panewala: CBI</em>\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nEven as the Sessions court order, rejecting the CBI clean chit to Congress leader Jagdish Tytler ensures that the investigation into the 1984 riots case will continue, the trial against the other accused person in the case, Suresh Kumar alias Panewala, who is charged with murder and rioting, is nearing completion.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nA CBI source said the agency has completed the examination of 13 prosecution witnesses in the case and four more witnesses remain to be examined. There are two eyewitnesses in this case - Harminder Singh and Kuljeet Singh - who alleged that Panewala was part of the mob. Though Harminder recorded his statement under Section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code making it admissible as evidence during trial, he passed away some time ago. As the defence will not get an opportunity to cross-examine him, the prosecution will not be able to use his testimony against the accused.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe source said that the other witness Kuljeet Singh purportedly refused to identify Panewala during the trial complaining about the passage of nearly 29 years. The CBI source said that Wednesday''s order will not impact the trial against Panewala. His case is next listed for April 26.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nInitially, 31 persons were chargesheeted in the case by the Delhi Police but all were acquitted. However, on the recommendation of the Nanavati Commission, the Central government directed the CBI to investigate the case against Mr. Tytler and a case was registered in 2005.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThough the CBI gave a clean chit to Mr. Tytler while implicating Panewala, a magisterial court directed the agency to reinvestigate the case after a person claiming to be an eyewitness alleged that the CBI had not recorded his statement despite his willingness to cooperate with the agency. The case was further probed and this time the closure report was accepted by a magisterial court in April 2010. It was then that riot victim, Lakhvinder Kaur, approached the Sessions court with a protest petition against the CBI clean chit to Mr. Tytler.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe CBI questioned Ms. Kaur''s locus standi to oppose the closure report in a Sessions court. Additional Sessions judge Anuradha Shukla Bhardwaj in her order pointed out that the Supreme Court had ruled that a relative of a victim had the locus standi to appear before a magistrate at the time of considering closure reports.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nMs. Bhardwaj said the logical conclusion to this would be that if a party was given a right, it should also have a remedy when it felt aggrieved by anything done against its interest in the exercise of such right. In the present case, the magisterial court had accepted the closure report giving a clean chit to Mr.Tytler. Ms. Bhardwaj said that if Ms. Kaur did not have a remedy to file the revision petition, the very purpose of giving her the right to challenge the closure report &quot;would be frustrated&quot;.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nOn the CBI contention that the four alleged eyewitnesses in the case (not examined by the agency) had not given statements to the police when the case was first investigated and to subsequent commissions constituted to deal with 1984 riot cases, Ms. Bhardwaj said: &quot;In ordinary course, it is not for the witnesses to go to the investigating agency but it is for the agency to reach the witnesses wherever and whenever available.&quot;\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe CBI stand that eyewitness Surender Singh was making contradictory statements was also rejected by the judge who cited a Supreme Court judgment that these were matters to be decided at the stage of trial. While accepting the CBI''s right to give its opinion on the credibility of witnesses who come forward, the court also panned the agency for not recording the statements of Chanchal Singh, Santosh Singh, and Alam Singh after their names cropped up during the examination of Surender. The court said the agency &quot;prevented the court from forming its own opinion&quot; regarding the credibility of the witnesses.\r\n</p>', NULL, '2013-04-11', NULL, 1, 'The Hindu, 11 April, 2013, http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/the-trial-against-other-accused-in-1984-riots-case-nearing-completion/article4604594.ece', '', NULL);
INSERT INTO `articles` (`id`, `category_id`, `subcategory_id`, `title`, `description`, `status`, `create_date`, `modify_date`, `homepage_display`, `author`, `image`, `subheading`) VALUES
(20414, 53, 62, 'Cops put 10-year-old Dalit &#039;rape victim&#039; behind bars, upper caste villagers &#039;terrorise&#039; family -Ananya Bhardwaj', '<div align="justify">\r\n-The Indian Express\r\n</div>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n<br />\r\n<em>Bulandshahr: </em>Life, for them, had never been easy. The couple and their family of 16 live in a two-room tenement and the father, who works at a local grocery store for a daily wage of Rs 200, is the only earning member.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nTheirs is also one of four Jatav Dalit families in a majority Lodhe Rajput village just outside Bulandshahr city, and have been under pressure for long. But over the last few days, things have turned downright ugly, they said.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe couple''s 10-year-old daughter, their ninth child, was allegedly raped by a 35-year-old Rajput man on Sunday. And when the girl and her mother went to the police station in Bulandshahr to complain, the girl was made to spend the night in the lock-up.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nNow, the majority Rajputs of the village are pressuring the family to withdraw the case and leave the village of 150 houses even as the police said medical examination of the girl has not established rape or injury.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nBut the Jatav family is adamant. It is neither willing to withdraw the case nor leave the village because it is home despite everything. They hope the law will come to their rescue.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n&quot;The Rajputs say they are men. They say they get tempted when they see a girl of my daughter''s age. They are blaming us saying why did we let her go out alone,&quot; the girl''s mother told The Indian Express Wednesday.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n&quot;They have been threatening to kill us, burn down our ancestral home and stone my daughter to death if we do not withdraw the rape case. Even the village panchayat, including the sarpanch, is in favour of the accused and is asking the family to settle the matter,&quot; she alleged.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n&quot;We are so scared that we cannot go out of our house. A day after the incident, all the Rajputs came and encircled our house. They told me to settle a price for my daughter and keep quiet about the case or else they would stone her to death,&quot; the mother alleged. &quot;I picked up my daughter in an unconscious state from the road. She was traumatized and was shivering. How can they expect me to withdraw the case?&quot;\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nHearing her mother speak, the 10-year-old girl, who was lying on a cot in the verandah with a blanket over her face, murmured weakly, &quot;yes, he should not be spared&quot;.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nShe said she was walking to a local shop Sunday evening when the man, later identified as Harinder, a father of three who has since been arrested, asked her to accompany him to the field to water crops.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n&quot;I told him I am going home. He stuffed a cloth in my mouth and took me to the field where he misbehaved with me. He then said he would throw me into the river if I dare to narrate the incident to my parents,&quot; the girl said, her voice barely audible. &quot;I am very scared of the villagers.&quot;\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe girl''s four-year-old niece, who had accompanied her to the shop, said the man forced the 10-year-old to go with him and dragged her by her dress. &quot;I ran back home and told her mother. We then went looking for her,&quot; she said. The mother said the 10-year-old had bite marks on her body and scratches on her back when they found her.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nWhen they went to the Bulandshahr women''s police station to complain, the girl was made to spend the night in the lock-up with another woman. &quot;The woman inspector asked me to wait outside and took my daughter inside. She made her sit inside the lock-up through the night while I sat outside. We were sent back the next morning after a case was registered,&quot; the mother said.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nSuperintendent of Police (City), Ajay Kumar, admitted it was a lapse by the police and called it &quot;illegal confinement&quot; of the girl. He said an inquiry had been ordered against the officers on duty and that two women constables on duty had been suspended and two sub-inspectors transferred to the police lines.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nIn Lucknow, the DGP''s office Wednesday ordered that a FIR be registered against unidentified police personnel for putting the girl in the lock-up in Bulandshahr.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nKumar also said the constables had asked the girl to sit in the lock-up as they feared she would leave without registering a proper complaint. Since the SHO was busy in a crime meeting, the constables thought they would ask the girl to wait until she returns. &quot;Since the girl was a minor, her custody should have been given to her parents. The constables had no business asking her to sit inside the lock-up for the entire night,&quot; Kumar said.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n&quot;Eyewitnesses and the wife of the accused, who was reportedly with him throughout the day, have said the girl had gone to his field to pluck tomatoes, when he scolded her and asked her to go back. We have not found any evidence against the accused yet. However, we are waiting for the pathology report,&quot; Kumar added. \r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n<em>- With ENS, Lucknow inputs</em>\r\n</p>', NULL, '2013-04-11', NULL, 1, 'The Indian Express, 11 April, 2013, http://www.indianexpress.com/news/cops-put-10yearold-dalit-rape-victim-behind-bars-upper-caste-villagers-terrorise-family/1100667/', '', NULL),
(20415, 53, 62, 'Does India Inc love corruption: Not a single Indian private co part of UN initiative against graft -Vikas Dhoot', '<div align="justify">\r\n-The Economic Times\r\n</div>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n<br />\r\n <em>NEW DELHI: </em>India Inc has been conspicuously absent from a four-year-old United Nations-led global initiative against corruption, an unflattering distinction for Indian industry that could also buttress a widespread feeling that doing business in the country is difficult without bribing officials.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nNot one Indian company has yet joined a global panel of companies steered by the world body to act against corruption in their businesses and pressurise governments to stem the graft menace, forcing the head of the initiative to repeat a call to India Inc to join the fight. The panel already has top global names such as Coca-Cola, Microsoft, Siemens and Accenture. \r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n&quot;At the moment, I do not have any company from India - not one of them,&quot; Olajobi Makinwa of the United Nations Global Compact Office (UNGCO) told ET, urging the corporate sector to join the fight to remain competitive and reduce poverty. &quot;India is a big market with lots of money that offers huge avenues for corruption to thrive... The private sector must act against graft as governments don''t bribe themselves. In most cases, bribes come in the form of huge chunks of black money that flow from the private sector to the government,&quot; she said, drawing a linkage between corporate graft and black money flows. \r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nRepresentatives of Indian industry expressed surprise at the absence of local firms in the UN-led initiative, saying this could simply be because they were not aware of it. \r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n&quot;The United Nations is generally perceived as a diplomats'' group, not one for businessmen. So if the UN Global Compact wants us to join their international working group against corruption, they should approach us through industry bodies like the CII,&quot; Godrej Group Chairman Adi Godrej said. \r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nLast November, ET reported that five Indian companies had joined a global business coalition against corruption, pledging to stamp out bribery in their organisations and across their supply chains . \r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nMakinwa''s comments come at a time corruption and crony capitalism are dominating the nationaldiscourse, casting a cloud over some of the country''s top business groups and hobbling government functioning in general. \r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nSaying the private sector has immense power, she urged companies to work together against corruption. &quot;Collective action is very important in this fight against this hydra-headed problem as no company alone can fight the graft menace. If a company says we won''t pay bribes, but others continue to do so, it will be left alone. But when everyone says we are not going to pay up, then it becomes a force to reckon with,&quot; she said. Makinwa, a Nigerian national who once headed the South African chapter of Amnesty International, said she was surprised to find that although public sector Indian firms have signed integrity pacts designed by Transparency International, the private sector was yet to do so. \r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n&quot;The government and the private sector are a reflection of the society we live in,&quot; Makinwa said, suggesting that the popular discourse on corruption be reframed. &quot;We don''t want any sector to point fingers. Companies say the government indulges in extortion. The government says ''Oh no, that''s not true'', and people would say, ''both the government and private firms are bad''. That won''t take us anywhere,&quot; she said. \r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nMakinwa, in India this week to promote the UN''s attempt to integrate anti-corruption and good governance into the global development agenda when the millennium development goals expire at the end of 2015, said she would, upon her return to New York, write again to top Indian companies to sign up to UNGCO. Working together at the global level can help Indian companies share the learnings and tools developed to counter graft, which include whistleblower protection policies and risk assessment tools. &quot;A success story can tell a company that when you fight corruption, it does pay,&quot; she said.\r\n</p>', NULL, '2013-04-11', NULL, 1, 'The Economic Times, 11 April, 2013, http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-company/corporate-trends/does-india-inc-love-corruption-not-a-single-indian-private-co-part-of-un-initiative-agains', '', NULL),
(20416, 56, 0, 'Water: India’s Big Resource Challenge', '<p align="justify">\r\n<br />\r\nThe ongoing droughts and water crises in Maharashtra and Gujarat point to the multiple conflicts the beleaguered and scarce resource of water is likely to spark in the coming years. India is today the world&rsquo;s largest consumer of groundwater, but it is clear that how we extract, harvest, distribute and manage our most precious resource cannot proceed along usual lines.<br />\r\n<br />\r\nThe unsustainable over-extraction is heralding a fall in the water-table and in water quality &ndash; a phenomenon already witnessed in 60% of India&rsquo;s districts. On the other hand, there are limits to top-down policies and big-ticket projects such as big dams and river-linking projects, which are increasingly hard to locate or sustain, and come with heavy costs. Meanwhile, the water demands from individuals to agriculture and industry grow.<br />\r\n<br />\r\nIn a recent analysis, Planning Commission member Mihir Shah flags the following departures in the 12th Five Year plan, arguing that this is an attempt at radical rethinking how India manages and uses its water resources:<br />\r\n<br />\r\nReforming irrigation departments and systems<br />\r\n<br />\r\nParticipatory groundwater management networks spanning government, local elected bodies, civil society networks and research organisations<br />\r\n<br />\r\nInvesting in systems that delink power subsidies in rural areas from supply to water extractors (e.g. tubewells) to address over-extraction of groundwater<br />\r\n<br />\r\nEmphasizing small-scale water infrastructure in MNREGA e.g. watershed conservation works and drought-proofing of small farms<br />\r\n<br />\r\nBringing gram panchayats centre-stage in rural drinking water supply and sanitation schemes with a devolution index monitoring the transfer of funds and functions to these elected bodies<br />\r\n<br />\r\nMandating water audits to monitor the increasing and conflicts-generating industrial use of water<br />\r\n&nbsp;\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n<em><strong>Further Readings:</strong></em>\r\n</p>\r\n<div align="justify">\r\n</div>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n&nbsp;\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nWater: Towards a Paradigm Shift in the Twelfth Plan -Mihir Shah, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol xlviiI 40, No 3, January 19, 2013, <a href="../rural-news-update/water-towards-a-paradigm-shift-in-the-twelfth-plan-mihir-shah-18969.html">http://www.im4change.org/rural-news-update/water-towards-a-paradigm-shift-in-the-twelfth-plan-mihir-shah-18969.html</a>&nbsp;&nbsp; \r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n&nbsp;\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe Central Water Commission''s 2009 analysis of siltation in major irrigation projects\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n<a href="http://www.indiawaterportal.org/node/39399">http://www.indiawaterportal.org/node/39399</a>\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n<br />\r\nThe Central Groundwater Board''s 2012 analysis\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n<a href="http://cgwb.gov.in/documents/GROUND%20WATER%20LEVEL%20SCENARIO_November-12.pdf">http://cgwb.gov.in/documents/GROUND%20WATER%20LEVEL%20SCENARIO_November-12.pdf</a>\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n<br />\r\nAn assessment of the Gujarat government''s Jyotigram scheme which bifurcates rural farm and non-farm power supply in a bid to address subsidies and groundwater extraction:\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n<a href="http://www.iwmi.cgiar.org/publications/Other/PDF/NRLP%20Proceeding-2%20Paper%2015.pdf">http://www.iwmi.cgiar.org/publications/Other/PDF/NRLP%20Proceeding-2%20Paper%2015.pdf</a>\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n<br />\r\nAnalyses of Western India''s ongoing drought:\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n<a href="http://www.downtoearth.org.in/content/drought-equity">http://www.downtoearth.org.in/content/drought-equity</a>\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n<br />\r\n<a href="http://sandrp.wordpress.com/2013/03/30/how-is-2012-13-maharashtra-drought-worse-than-the-one-in-1972/">http://sandrp.wordpress.com/2013/03/30/how-is-2012-13-maharashtra-drought-worse-than-the-one-in-1972/</a>\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n<br />\r\nPotential synergies between NREGA and water management and restoration works:\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n<a href="ftp://ftp.solutionexchange.net.in/public/wes/cr/res-030212010.pdf">ftp://ftp.solutionexchange.net.in/public/wes/cr/res-030212010.pdf</a>\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n<br />\r\n<a href="http://www.observerindia.com/cms/export/orfonline/documents/NREGA.pdf">http://www.observerindia.com/cms/export/orfonline/documents/NREGA.pdf</a>\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n<br />\r\n<a href="http://wrmin.nic.in/writereaddata/linkimages/Convergence913729635.pdf">http://wrmin.nic.in/writereaddata/linkimages/Convergence913729635.pdf<br />\r\n</a>\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nIndustry''s competing demands for water\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n<a href="http://www.indiawaterportal.org/post/39910">http://www.indiawaterportal.org/post/39910</a>\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe Case of Maharashtra&rsquo;s <a href="tinymce/uploaded/The_Case_of_MaharashtrasDisappearing_Water.pdf" title="Maharashtra Water">Disappearing Water</a>-Ajay Dandekar and Shahaji Naravade, Economic and Political Weekly, May 4, 2013, Vol xlviiI, No 18&nbsp;\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n<strong>Image Courtesy: <a href="http://awm-solutions.iwmi.org/Data/Sites/3/userfiles/149/india/hooghly-surfacewaterpumping.jpg">http://awm-solutions.iwmi.org/Data/Sites/3/userfiles/149/india/hooghly-surfacewaterpumping.jpg</a></strong> \r\n</p>', NULL, '2013-04-12', '2013-04-30 11:57:33', 1, '', 'im4change_60Water.jpg', NULL),
(20418, 53, 62, '3 IITs among top 100 universities in Asia -M Ramya', '<div align="justify">\r\n-The Times of India\r\n</div>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n<br />\r\n <em>CHENNAI: </em>Only three institutes in the country, all of them Indian Institutes of Technology, feature among the top 100 universities in Asia, according to the first Asia University Rankings released by &quot;Times Higher Education&quot; magazine.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nWhile IIT-Kharagpur is ranked 30th, IIT-Bombay is 33rd and IIT-Roorkee 56th, the University of Tokyo secured the pole position with an overall score of 78.3, followed by the National University of Singapore with 77.5, University of Hong Kong (75.6) and Peking University (70.7).\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThe universities are ranked based on 13 performance indicators in teaching, research, knowledge transfer and international outlook.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n&quot;We are very happy with the results, because we have been striving very hard to compete with global universities,&quot; said IIT-Kharagpur officiating director S K Som. &quot;IIT-Kharagpur is a founder IIT, and we have started programmes other IITs haven''t.&quot; IIT-Kharagpur had earlier launched Vision 2020 with the aim of joining the list of the world''s top 20 universities in science and technology. &quot;We are focusing on research excellence, faculty excellence and industry linkages,&quot; Som said.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nIndividually, the three IITs have done relatively well on industry income or innovation, and have secured moderate scores in the teaching and research parameters. All three have secured low scores in terms of international outlook, with none securing more than 20 points.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nA comparison between the Asia and the world rankings shows that the IITs are a far cry from many of those above them on the list. Many of the top 20 institutions also feature in the top 100 list, whereas IIT-Kharagpur, the highest-ranked Indian university, is placed between 226 and 250 on the world ranking list.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nNo Indian institution has figured among the top 200 universities in the world in recent surveys. IIT-Bombay is placed between 251 and 275 positions, while IIT-Roorkee falls between 351 and 400 ranks on the world universities list.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nIn sheer numbers, too, Japan, with 22 universities in the top 100 Asian institutions, Taiwan with 17, China with 15 and Korea with 14 have done much better.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nSudhir Chella Rajan, head, department of humanities and social sciences, IIT-Madras, said the rankings had to be taken with a pinch of salt as much of the review was based on perception, not actual output. &quot;It is said that those with publicity departments do better,&quot; he said.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nAnalysing the performance of India''s higher education sector for the London-based &quot;Times Higher Education&quot;, Pawan Agarwal, adviser for higher education to the Planning Commission, said &quot;rapid growth in the face of staff shortages and declining per-student spending has affected standards, which is eroding public confidence in the value of Indian higher education&quot;. He said to build a world-class academy, India must develop a group of multi-disciplinary research universities capable of world-class research in a wide range of disciplinary and inter-disciplinary areas.\r\n</p>', NULL, '2013-04-12', NULL, 1, 'The Times of India, 12 April, 2013, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/education/news/3-IITs-among-top-100-universities-in-Asia/articleshow/19501799.cms', '', NULL),
(20419, 53, 62, 'Aruna Roy seeks Sonia’s help to end Medha Patkar’s fast', '<div align="justify">\r\n-The Times of India\r\n</div>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n<br />\r\nActivist Aruna Roy has sought UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi''s intervention to end the fast undertaken by fellow activist MedhaPatkar in Mumbai to protest the demolition of slums.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n&quot;I want to reiterate the urgency of this matter, given both the democratic imperative and in light of Medha''s failing health and thus request your immediate personal intervention in this matter,&quot; Roy said in a letter to Sonia.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nAccording to Roy, Union housing minister Ajay Maken requested Maharashtra chief minister Prithviraj Chavan to intervene in the matter and ensure that slum dwellers are not evicted, in violation of the existing policy of in-situ development and resettlement.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n&quot;In light of Medha''s failing health and the undeniable constitutional and moral imperative to resolve this issue in a democratic manner, I wrote to Chavanji to request that a process of dialogue with Ghar Bachao Andolan be immediately initiated,&quot; Roy said.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nSlum demolitions, in violation of the government''s policy against forced slum evictions... do incalculable damage to the public perception of the UPA government as an advocate of the ''aam aadmi'',&quot; she added.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nOn Thursday, Patkar''s indefinite hunger strike against the eviction of slum dwellers from the Golibar area of Mumbai entered the eighth day, and there are reports that her health is deteriorating. She has complained of backache and nausea.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nPatkar has alleged corruption and &quot;atrocities&quot; by builders in the city''s slum rehabilitation scheme, and called for the halting of six projects by the Slum Rehabilitation Authority, until a proper inquiry is conducted. Meanwhile, many people, including slum dwellers, are taking part in relay fasts at the Golibar ground, in solidarity with Patkar.\r\n</p>', NULL, '2013-04-12', NULL, 1, 'The Times of India, 12 April, 2013, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Aruna-Roy-seeks-Sonias-help-to-end-Medha-Patkars-fast/articleshow/19504570.cms', '', NULL),
(20420, 53, 62, 'No more clean chits', '<div align="justify">\r\n-The Hindu\r\n</div>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n<br />\r\n The dark cloud of 1984 still hangs low over senior Congress leader Jagdish Tytler, but despite a judicial inquiry''s findings against him in 2005, no credible prosecution of the former minister has been launched to date for his alleged role in instigating the anti-Sikh massacres that took the lives of nearly 3,000 innocent persons in the aftermath of the assassination of Indira Gandhi. The Central Bureau of Investigation has made two attempts to give him a clean chit, but judicial persistence has kept the probe alive. The latest order, one by an additional sessions judge in Delhi, setting aside a magistrate''s acceptance of a closure report in 2010, means that the agency would have to make yet another attempt to gather evidence against Mr. Tytler by examining witnesses whose statement it had so far declined to record. The investigation process has been tortuous, and has made little progress against political leaders who had allegedly instigated, if not actively participated in, the Delhi pogrom nearly three decades ago. It was only when the Nanavati Commission said in its 2004 report that there was &quot;credible evidence&quot; against Mr. Tytler and he &quot;very probably&quot; had a hand in organising the attacks that the first effort was made to look for testimony against him. That eight long years later the case is yet to go beyond the lower judiciary, in an investigation that began 21 years late, is a shocking commentary on the CBI''s credibility.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nBefore one describes this order as a setback to Mr. Tytler or as a boost to the campaign to bring all those involved to book, one must take note of the disturbing fact that the investigation and prosecution are still bogged down in the lower courts, and there is not even a charge sheet. Mr. Tytler has stuck to his defence that there is no evidence that he was present on the scene when the riots took place at Pul Bangash on November 1, 1984. The CBI has accepted that he was at Teen Murti Bhavan at the relevant time. The additional sessions court now wants the agency to record the testimony of those willing to say that he was present at the riots scene. The CBI would do well at least now to file a credible charge sheet in the trial court and leave it to the judicial process to determine Mr. Tytler''s guilt or innocence by due process. To aid Mr. Tytler with more clean chits will ill-serve the agency''s image. But there is a wider issue at stake too. The failure to punish the Congress politicians and police officers who allowed the Delhi massacres to happen emboldened leaders from Meerut and Bhagalpur to Mumbai and Gujarat to use large-scale communal violence for their own ends. The technology of &lsquo;modern'' riots started in November 1984. Only justice can help rid ourselves of that original sin. \r\n</p>', NULL, '2013-04-12', NULL, 1, 'The Hindu, 12 April, 2013, http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/editorial/no-more-clean-chits/article4606990.ece', '', NULL),
(20421, 53, 62, 'To lean in or not -Suparna Banerjee', '<div align="justify">\r\n-The Hindu\r\n</div>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n&nbsp;\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n<em>Even after five decades of feminism and female participation in the productive economy, the problem of women falling off the organised workforce remains a global phenomenon</em>\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nFormer Lehman Brothers Chief Financial Officer Erin Callan recently urged women not to work too hard at their professions. Her comments in The New York Times about the dangers of losing the work-life balance came on the eve of the publication of Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg''s book Lean In, a volume that exhorts women to push harder in order to advance in business. What these conflicting voices bring to the fore is that women''s participation in productive work out of home continues to be an &quot;issue&quot; despite decades of global feminism. We in India have recently learnt through the International Labour Force that the percentage of women in the organised workforce in the country has been steadily declining in the past few years, so that while in 2004-05 women formed 37 per cent of the working population, they now make up only 29 per cent.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n<em>At the workplace</em>\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nIn order for a woman to be able to hold down a job, it is essential that her employer provides her with certain amenities and conveniences needed to balance the demands on her made by her domestic duties on the one hand and those of the job on the other. As we know, workspaces in India do not provide all such facilities or provide them adequately. The result is that married women with households and young children to care for often quit jobs in order to focus exclusively on domesticity. While it is imperative on us as a society to ensure that working women are given the facilities they need at their workplaces, it is also essential to probe the issue at a deeper level. Whatever the practical modalities, the problem of women falling off the organised workforce is ultimately a function of the gendered division of labour basic to patriarchal societies, a feature that continues globally in varying degrees despite women''s participation in the productive economy.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nAs professor of anthropology Sherry B. Ortner and the late historian Gerda Lerner point out, the hierarchical home and the world divide - the public/private schism - have always been a feature of human societies, the valued &quot;public&quot; realm being the sphere of men while women remained in the unvalued &quot;private&quot; world of domesticity. In modern times, as women in industrialised democracies started to engage in productive activities out of the domestic space, their participation in the public realms of society began slowly to be accepted. But, although, the &quot;public&quot; became open to the woman, the &quot;private&quot; still remained chiefly, even completely, her responsibility. Five decades of feminism have achieved much in its fight to secure women''s rights. However, in the question of men''s participation in housework and childcare, there has been little progress. This is largely true not only for developing countries like India where men still find it demeaning to do &quot;women''s work,&quot; but for the developed Western economies as well. As feminist and author Gloria Steinem observed in an interview to The Telegraph &quot;. . . in neither country (the U.S. or India) have we solved the problem of women having two jobs - one inside the home and one out. . . . We''ve had the courage to raise our daughters more like our sons, but not to raise our sons more like our daughters.&quot;\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n<em>Differences in cultures</em>\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nThis &quot;unfinished gender revolution,&quot; as Steinem put it, influences women differently in different cultures. The Population Association of America Summit 2012 focused on the issue of dwindling Caucasian birth rates in the western world. It was observed that faced with a demanding juggle between domestic duties, particularly motherhood, and a career, women in the developed economies are increasingly choosing to forego motherhood. In countries like India, where the institution of marriage is still very strong and women''s choices are much less free - where even women themselves internalise the belief that their fulfilment consists in domesticity and motherhood - the reverse happens. Rather than suffer the exhausting tussle between the home and the world, and be continually ravaged by guilt at the perception of being &quot;imperfect&quot; wives and mothers, women here give up on careers/jobs altogether.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n<em>Sharing duties</em>\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\nRecently, the Ministry of Women and Child Development came up with a proposal to evaluate women''s contribution to the domestic sphere in economic terms. The merits and demerits of the suggestion are a live debate. What is undeniable is the need to enhance the societal perception of domestic duties so that men can be induced to share in them. Women need themselves to come out of stereotypical notions of feminine duty and demand that their spouses share the burden of domesticity. And, as a society, we need to stop romanticising the woman''s sacrifices or glorifying her crazed attempts to do it all by calling her a &quot;superwoman.&quot;\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n&quot;Post feminism&quot; - women''s supposedly free abandonment of the fight to secure gender equality in favour of a &quot;celebration&quot; of traditional womanhood - has always been a patriarchal ploy to keep women powerless in the face of feminism''s gains. In the developed economies, women have begun to see it for what is and it is time we see through the oppressive myths around womanhood generated by our own culture. Women despair of pursuing work lives in trying to live up to these mythical standards. And, in the interest of future generations, it is necessary also that we start &quot;raising our sons more like our daughters&quot; so that the latter, when they grow up, do not have to carry the cross we do.\r\n</p>\r\n<p align="justify">\r\n<em>(Suparna Banerjee is the author of Science, Gender and History: Mary Shelley and Margaret Atwood - forthcoming.) </em>\r\n</p>', NULL, '2013-04-12', NULL, 1, 'The Hindu, 12 April, 2013, http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/to-lean-in-or-not/article4607037.ece?homepage=true', '', NULL);

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