Jatin Gandhi
New Delhi, September 30, 2006
A section of the country’s Muslim leadership wants the government to do away with Haj subsidies. A group of Muslim MPs has proposed the setting up of a Rs 1,500-crore corporation based on Islamic laws or Shariah that will manage the country's Haj pilgrims and also offer investment services.
The government pays Rs 250 crore a year to subsidise Haj — a move that has raised questions about the need for a secular state to do so. Within the community too there seems to be a new urge to take ownership of Haj. “Haj subsidies give the community a bad name,” said Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, a BJP MP and member of the Haj Committee of India.
Shariah prohibits Muslims from earning interest on their investments. The proposed corporation will, therefore, invest deposits made by Muslims in industrial and agro-business activities. “The institution will use the crores of rupees generated through such investments for the management of Haj and development of infrastructure,” said K Rehman Khan, Rajya Sabha deputy chairman, who is spearheading the move.
The MPs want the government to pay Rs 750 crore as seed money. “All we want is three years Haj subsidy,” said Khan. “We can raise a similar amount through foreign direct investment or from Muslims here.” The corporation even plans to buy aircraft.
The MPs submitted their proposal to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh earlier this year. It says an autonomous body should be created, separate from the Central Haj Committee. “The prime minister has assured Rs 300 crore,” said MP Furkan Ansari.
The move for the new body has gained momentum with the controversy over Haj subsidies erupting again and the Supreme Court recently allowing them to be continued for now.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print.aspx?Id=c3d6a366-00ad-422b-b7d6-9573037cafbc
© Copyright 2007 Hindustan Times
Sunday, May 20, 2007
For them, patience is more a compulsion than virtue
Jatin Gandhi
New Delhi, November 03, 2006
They have been waiting for years to be united with their families. But for hundreds of missing children languishing in state-run institutions in the Capital, administrative red tape has resulted in a lost childhood.
The Department of Social Welfare routinely issues advertisements with photographs of missing children in various national dailies. Ironically, the department is aware of the addresses and whereabouts of the families of many of these children. Rules, however, prevent officials from actually taking these children back to their villages.
Gidda, 16, has spent the past seven years in various homes run by the Delhi government. His family lives in Cuttack, Orissa. The authorities know his family's whereabouts, down to the street on which they live. Yet, they have not been able to move beyond sending postcards or placing advertisements in the hope that someone from his family will claim him.
It's pretty much the same for Bunty, 13, of village Parasia in Chhindwara in Madhya Pradesh. The department estimates issuing at least a dozen advertisements for him, fewer than those issued for Gidda because Bunty came to the missing children's home at Alipur in 2003.
There are over 1,500 missing children in the 23 children's homes that the department runs in Delhi.
Earlier this week, the department put out an ad listing 26 missing children now lodged at the Alipur boys' homes. The department knows the street or village addresses of half these children; another three are from Delhi. Yet, department rules do not allow moving beyond ads.
"Every year we place advertisements in eight national dailies," a department official proudly proclaims. "After a child comes to us, we conduct investigations for three months and try to find his family by informing the police and sending postcards to his village with his or her picture. If we get a response to the correspondence, and the parents are too poor to come here, we send the child back with a police escort," he adds.
This has gone on for years. Officials admit that while the department has a budget for advertisements and correspondence, no representative is ever sent to the child's village. "The rules have no such provision," they add. So, while hundreds of children spend their childhood in the confines of state-run institutions year after year, the lack of a simple provision in the rules prevents the authorities from uniting them with their families.
"The rules need to be changed," said Vikram Srivastava, Manager (Development Support), Child Rights and You (CRY). "Even now if parents manage to reach Delhi they have to go to each and every children's home to look for their child. We need a centralised data base for all missing children," he added.
"I have just joined the department as director. I will take a closer look. We will try to eliminate all that is redundant," said Jaishri Raghuraman, Director, Social Welfare, Delhi. Raghuraman said she is keen on bringing changes but the Vidhan Sabha session is keeping her busy these days. "I will look into it after the session," she said.
Children like Sudama (13) of Sitapur and Dinesh (14) of Gwalior have spent years waiting for the rules to change. For them, patience is more a compulsion than a virtue.
Email: jatin.gandhi@hindustantimes.com
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print.aspx?Id=6ee5a84d-994c-4dae-a309-86e13be2bfe0
© Copyright 2007 Hindustan Times
New Delhi, November 03, 2006
They have been waiting for years to be united with their families. But for hundreds of missing children languishing in state-run institutions in the Capital, administrative red tape has resulted in a lost childhood.
The Department of Social Welfare routinely issues advertisements with photographs of missing children in various national dailies. Ironically, the department is aware of the addresses and whereabouts of the families of many of these children. Rules, however, prevent officials from actually taking these children back to their villages.
Gidda, 16, has spent the past seven years in various homes run by the Delhi government. His family lives in Cuttack, Orissa. The authorities know his family's whereabouts, down to the street on which they live. Yet, they have not been able to move beyond sending postcards or placing advertisements in the hope that someone from his family will claim him.
It's pretty much the same for Bunty, 13, of village Parasia in Chhindwara in Madhya Pradesh. The department estimates issuing at least a dozen advertisements for him, fewer than those issued for Gidda because Bunty came to the missing children's home at Alipur in 2003.
There are over 1,500 missing children in the 23 children's homes that the department runs in Delhi.
Earlier this week, the department put out an ad listing 26 missing children now lodged at the Alipur boys' homes. The department knows the street or village addresses of half these children; another three are from Delhi. Yet, department rules do not allow moving beyond ads.
"Every year we place advertisements in eight national dailies," a department official proudly proclaims. "After a child comes to us, we conduct investigations for three months and try to find his family by informing the police and sending postcards to his village with his or her picture. If we get a response to the correspondence, and the parents are too poor to come here, we send the child back with a police escort," he adds.
This has gone on for years. Officials admit that while the department has a budget for advertisements and correspondence, no representative is ever sent to the child's village. "The rules have no such provision," they add. So, while hundreds of children spend their childhood in the confines of state-run institutions year after year, the lack of a simple provision in the rules prevents the authorities from uniting them with their families.
"The rules need to be changed," said Vikram Srivastava, Manager (Development Support), Child Rights and You (CRY). "Even now if parents manage to reach Delhi they have to go to each and every children's home to look for their child. We need a centralised data base for all missing children," he added.
"I have just joined the department as director. I will take a closer look. We will try to eliminate all that is redundant," said Jaishri Raghuraman, Director, Social Welfare, Delhi. Raghuraman said she is keen on bringing changes but the Vidhan Sabha session is keeping her busy these days. "I will look into it after the session," she said.
Children like Sudama (13) of Sitapur and Dinesh (14) of Gwalior have spent years waiting for the rules to change. For them, patience is more a compulsion than a virtue.
Email: jatin.gandhi@hindustantimes.com
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print.aspx?Id=6ee5a84d-994c-4dae-a309-86e13be2bfe0
© Copyright 2007 Hindustan Times
Beware of identity thieves on Net
Jatin Gandhi
New Delhi, November 03, 2006
It sounds like the plot of a Hollywood thriller: Someone replicates your identity and pastes your photograph and personal details on the Internet. But, it is happening so close home, and with such regularity, that it is scary, not thrilling. Think twice before you put your pictures and personal details like cell phone numbers on websites where these can be freely accessed.
Profiles of unsuspecting members of social networking sites and home pages are being increasingly replicated, pictures morphed and abused at an alarming rate. The targets are mostly women.
In some cases, young women have found their pictures morphed and turned into pornography. A 22-year-old university student from Bathinda, Punjab had to put in a frantic appeal to the web master and others users of the networking site she was on. Someone had stolen her pictures and contact details on her user profile and created a fake mirror profile. She got to know only after she was flooded with obscene calls on her cell phone. “It was impossible to tell everyone who had visited the fake profile that it was not me,” she says.
For a student of MES College, Bangalore, the experience was even more harrowing. Her pictures were morphed and posted on the Internet. “She was disturbed for so many days. She had put up her pictures innocently for friends to see,” a teacher told HT on Saturday.
Experts say with social networking sites becoming more and more popular among the younger generation, such instances are rising alarmingly. “The bad news is that there is no prevention. You should avoid putting your pictures on the website,” says cyber-security analyst Subimal Bhattacharjee. He adds that victims should approach the local police and the web master of the website where the manipulation has taken place.
The police also advise prevention. “People should not put up their pictures. They can be misused,” says Sanjay Shintre, DCP (crime) Thane. The Thane Police booked a 19-year-old management student, Abhishek, for faking a profile of his former schoolmate on September 28 this year. It was the first recorded case of its kind in the country.
Shintre adds that in case of Abhishek, the police were able to achieve a breakthrough because the complainant was forthcoming. Two more complaints have been received since then but did not translate into cases because the victims withdrew.
The instance of misuse is much higher. For instance, on a popular networking site alone, 270 members have reported fake profiles being created in the last few weeks. The menace is spreading as fast as social networking on the net.
Email: jatin.gandhi@hindustantimes.com
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print.aspx?Id=fdc8b5b5-b590-4026-a792-10caed13b4e7
© Copyright 2007 Hindustan Times
New Delhi, November 03, 2006
It sounds like the plot of a Hollywood thriller: Someone replicates your identity and pastes your photograph and personal details on the Internet. But, it is happening so close home, and with such regularity, that it is scary, not thrilling. Think twice before you put your pictures and personal details like cell phone numbers on websites where these can be freely accessed.
Profiles of unsuspecting members of social networking sites and home pages are being increasingly replicated, pictures morphed and abused at an alarming rate. The targets are mostly women.
In some cases, young women have found their pictures morphed and turned into pornography. A 22-year-old university student from Bathinda, Punjab had to put in a frantic appeal to the web master and others users of the networking site she was on. Someone had stolen her pictures and contact details on her user profile and created a fake mirror profile. She got to know only after she was flooded with obscene calls on her cell phone. “It was impossible to tell everyone who had visited the fake profile that it was not me,” she says.
For a student of MES College, Bangalore, the experience was even more harrowing. Her pictures were morphed and posted on the Internet. “She was disturbed for so many days. She had put up her pictures innocently for friends to see,” a teacher told HT on Saturday.
Experts say with social networking sites becoming more and more popular among the younger generation, such instances are rising alarmingly. “The bad news is that there is no prevention. You should avoid putting your pictures on the website,” says cyber-security analyst Subimal Bhattacharjee. He adds that victims should approach the local police and the web master of the website where the manipulation has taken place.
The police also advise prevention. “People should not put up their pictures. They can be misused,” says Sanjay Shintre, DCP (crime) Thane. The Thane Police booked a 19-year-old management student, Abhishek, for faking a profile of his former schoolmate on September 28 this year. It was the first recorded case of its kind in the country.
Shintre adds that in case of Abhishek, the police were able to achieve a breakthrough because the complainant was forthcoming. Two more complaints have been received since then but did not translate into cases because the victims withdrew.
The instance of misuse is much higher. For instance, on a popular networking site alone, 270 members have reported fake profiles being created in the last few weeks. The menace is spreading as fast as social networking on the net.
Email: jatin.gandhi@hindustantimes.com
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print.aspx?Id=fdc8b5b5-b590-4026-a792-10caed13b4e7
© Copyright 2007 Hindustan Times
Soft, slow and steady
Jatin Gandhi
New Delhi, October 27, 2006
Wajahat Habibullah speaks softly. So softly that at times it’s hard to hear him. But when he is voicing his opinion on the Central Information Commission (CIC) he heads, he is loud and clear.
Set up to administer the Right to Information Act a year ago, the career bureaucrat says the Commission is limping along for want of funds and staff: “We have a sanctioned staff strength of 79 but are functioning with just 30 people.” Worse, the Commission continues to function out of a makeshift office in a government guesthouse in the old JNU campus building. “At that time, we received 10 to 15 appeals a month. Last month we received around 600. We need more space to function,” he says.
The result? The appeals continue to pile up and the disposal rate is less than 50 per cent.
Ironically, the UPA government counts the RTI legislation as one of its biggest achievements, along with the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme.
Also ironically, at the opening of the three-day meet to mark one year of RTI, protestors stood up to interrupt President APJ Kalam’s inaugural address. Their grouse was against Habibullah: He was soft on erring officials who denied information, despite the Act, they said.
Though shaken by the protests, Habibullah went on attending the deliberations as though nothing had happened. Three days later, as the meet concluded, he rose to brief the gathering that included Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. “One of the informal consensus on the opening day was to sack me,” he said with wry humour. “I do not know whether that consensus still stands after three days of deliberations.”
Earlier, Habibullah had refused to be drawn in the debate to amend the Act by keeping file notings out. Although his colleague and fellow commissioner, OP Kejriwal spoke up against the move, Habibullah kept quiet and his silence was interpreted as sympathy for the government’s so-called intentions.
Habibullah met the criticism by saying that as CIC, his role is that of an arbiter, not activist. He believes in going by the book, exercising only those powers that the Act confers on the Commission. “Civil society expects us to assert the right of the citizen. That is not our role,” he says.
Habibullah is no stranger to criticism. While serving in the United States, a paper he had written on Jammu & Kashmir created controversy. Yet, he remains the Centre’s interlocutor on Kashmir.
But it’s not been brickbats all the way. He has his share of admirers. Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dixit recently promised that RTI awareness would be made a part of the school curriculum. The suggestion had come from the CIC.
Making transparency and accountability a part of the system is what Habibullah says he wants. Parallels have often been drawn between his office and that of the Chief Election Commissioner.
The CIC has been criticised for not doing what the likes of T.N. Seshan or James Michael Lyngdoh did. “The CEC is an established institution. My role is to establish the Commission. But first let us have the ship sailing,” he says.
For now, that course is far from smooth.
Email: Jatin Gandhi: jatin.gandhi@hindustantimes.com
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print.aspx?Id=257e1c72-7219-4a00-ac94-3e6b8615cd76
© Copyright 2007 Hindustan Times
New Delhi, October 27, 2006
Wajahat Habibullah speaks softly. So softly that at times it’s hard to hear him. But when he is voicing his opinion on the Central Information Commission (CIC) he heads, he is loud and clear.
Set up to administer the Right to Information Act a year ago, the career bureaucrat says the Commission is limping along for want of funds and staff: “We have a sanctioned staff strength of 79 but are functioning with just 30 people.” Worse, the Commission continues to function out of a makeshift office in a government guesthouse in the old JNU campus building. “At that time, we received 10 to 15 appeals a month. Last month we received around 600. We need more space to function,” he says.
The result? The appeals continue to pile up and the disposal rate is less than 50 per cent.
Ironically, the UPA government counts the RTI legislation as one of its biggest achievements, along with the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme.
Also ironically, at the opening of the three-day meet to mark one year of RTI, protestors stood up to interrupt President APJ Kalam’s inaugural address. Their grouse was against Habibullah: He was soft on erring officials who denied information, despite the Act, they said.
Though shaken by the protests, Habibullah went on attending the deliberations as though nothing had happened. Three days later, as the meet concluded, he rose to brief the gathering that included Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. “One of the informal consensus on the opening day was to sack me,” he said with wry humour. “I do not know whether that consensus still stands after three days of deliberations.”
Earlier, Habibullah had refused to be drawn in the debate to amend the Act by keeping file notings out. Although his colleague and fellow commissioner, OP Kejriwal spoke up against the move, Habibullah kept quiet and his silence was interpreted as sympathy for the government’s so-called intentions.
Habibullah met the criticism by saying that as CIC, his role is that of an arbiter, not activist. He believes in going by the book, exercising only those powers that the Act confers on the Commission. “Civil society expects us to assert the right of the citizen. That is not our role,” he says.
Habibullah is no stranger to criticism. While serving in the United States, a paper he had written on Jammu & Kashmir created controversy. Yet, he remains the Centre’s interlocutor on Kashmir.
But it’s not been brickbats all the way. He has his share of admirers. Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dixit recently promised that RTI awareness would be made a part of the school curriculum. The suggestion had come from the CIC.
Making transparency and accountability a part of the system is what Habibullah says he wants. Parallels have often been drawn between his office and that of the Chief Election Commissioner.
The CIC has been criticised for not doing what the likes of T.N. Seshan or James Michael Lyngdoh did. “The CEC is an established institution. My role is to establish the Commission. But first let us have the ship sailing,” he says.
For now, that course is far from smooth.
Email: Jatin Gandhi: jatin.gandhi@hindustantimes.com
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print.aspx?Id=257e1c72-7219-4a00-ac94-3e6b8615cd76
© Copyright 2007 Hindustan Times
Online soliciting on sexed-up Orkut
Jatin Gandhi and Jairaj Singh
New Delhi, October 23, 2006
Orkut's profile has taken another hit. Google’s social-networking site, which created controversy with its hate-India communities, also abounds with over 100 communities that solicit sex and prostitution from Indian cities.
Dhirender Singh, secretary in the Ministry of Information Technology, said the ministry would file an affidavit with the Maharashtra High Court in the case on hate-India communities and added that soliciting would also be dealt with.
A search on Orkut lists communities from "Call Girls" to "Sex in Mumbai than Delhi". HT correspondents posed as customers and sent emails to these communities that have over 5,000 members from Pune, Bangalore, Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad and Bhopal.
"Are you a virgin?" replied one. "I’ll mail you back with my price and place." Another, named Sachin and whose profile listed him as 'a pimp and a gigolo,' responded, "I’m willing to have sex but for a price we have to decide." Sex on the internet is nothing new, but Orkut makes soliciting easy through its open message boards.
Add to the fact that the website is hugely popular with young Indians, compared with other social-networking sites like Hi5, Myspace and Friendster.
Soliciting is a crime under the Immoral Trafficking Prevention Act while Section 67 of the Information Technology Act prohibits the transmission of obscenity in electronic form.
However, the Delhi Police said someone like Sachin could not be booked. "Saying that one is available for sex for a price is not obscenity or soliciting under the IT Act," said Prabhakar, deputy commissioner of Delhi Police’s Cyber Cell.
"While obscenity is banned, soliciting on the Net that does not use obscene language or pictures is not," says Rajan Bhagat, PRO, Delhi Police. But Orkut is filled with indecent pictures.
Police say they need a complaint to act. Subimal Bhattacharjee, cyber security analyst, disagrees. "Police can take cognisance of such offences," he says. "If police feel a certain website needs to be blocked, that can be done too."
Sex and the Net Google’s social-networking site Orkut has over 100 communities that solicit sex and prostitution from Indian cities.
Moreover, the website is very popular with young Indians, Cyber security analysts say that if a website has to be blocked, police can do so by reporting it to the IT Ministry’s Computer Emergency Response Team.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print.aspx?Id=3bb23430-e12d-4c0e-b774-02397281e447
© Copyright 2007 Hindustan Times
New Delhi, October 23, 2006
Orkut's profile has taken another hit. Google’s social-networking site, which created controversy with its hate-India communities, also abounds with over 100 communities that solicit sex and prostitution from Indian cities.
Dhirender Singh, secretary in the Ministry of Information Technology, said the ministry would file an affidavit with the Maharashtra High Court in the case on hate-India communities and added that soliciting would also be dealt with.
A search on Orkut lists communities from "Call Girls" to "Sex in Mumbai than Delhi". HT correspondents posed as customers and sent emails to these communities that have over 5,000 members from Pune, Bangalore, Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad and Bhopal.
"Are you a virgin?" replied one. "I’ll mail you back with my price and place." Another, named Sachin and whose profile listed him as 'a pimp and a gigolo,' responded, "I’m willing to have sex but for a price we have to decide." Sex on the internet is nothing new, but Orkut makes soliciting easy through its open message boards.
Add to the fact that the website is hugely popular with young Indians, compared with other social-networking sites like Hi5, Myspace and Friendster.
Soliciting is a crime under the Immoral Trafficking Prevention Act while Section 67 of the Information Technology Act prohibits the transmission of obscenity in electronic form.
However, the Delhi Police said someone like Sachin could not be booked. "Saying that one is available for sex for a price is not obscenity or soliciting under the IT Act," said Prabhakar, deputy commissioner of Delhi Police’s Cyber Cell.
"While obscenity is banned, soliciting on the Net that does not use obscene language or pictures is not," says Rajan Bhagat, PRO, Delhi Police. But Orkut is filled with indecent pictures.
Police say they need a complaint to act. Subimal Bhattacharjee, cyber security analyst, disagrees. "Police can take cognisance of such offences," he says. "If police feel a certain website needs to be blocked, that can be done too."
Sex and the Net Google’s social-networking site Orkut has over 100 communities that solicit sex and prostitution from Indian cities.
Moreover, the website is very popular with young Indians, Cyber security analysts say that if a website has to be blocked, police can do so by reporting it to the IT Ministry’s Computer Emergency Response Team.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print.aspx?Id=3bb23430-e12d-4c0e-b774-02397281e447
© Copyright 2007 Hindustan Times
Gandhi versus Gandhi: First cousins' first duel in poll battlefield
Jatin Gandhi
New Delhi, September 23, 2006
Indira Gandhi’s two grandsons are poised for a head-to-head confrontation during the forthcoming Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections. The elections will see Congress MP Rahul Gandhi and his younger cousin, the BJP’s Feroze Varun Gandhi, campaign against each other’s parties.
The elections are expected to be held early next year — dates are still to be announced by the Election Commission, though the Congress campaign has officially begun and the BJP is expected to get its campaign off the ground from Ayodhya early next month.
Rahul Gandhi, 36, is a first-time Lok Sabha member from Amethi in UP while Feroze Varun Gandhi, his 26-year-old cousin, is a member of the Bhartiya Janata Party. This is not the first time that the two will campaign for opposing political forces, but this is the first time that they will meet head-to-head.
BJP General Secretary Arun Jaitley confirms: “Varun will be utilised extensively for campaign.” He has been asked to concentrate on campaigning in the Rohelkhand belt, party sources say.
Significantly, the Rohelkhand belt with 49 assembly segments includes Bareily. Rahul is being projected as the face of the Congress in these elections and is expected to campaign extensively in the same belt.
“He will attend all the big rallies across the state with the Congress president,” says a Congress MP who is part of the core team assisting Rahul in UP.
Rahul had led his mother Sonia Gandhi’s campaign in the Rae Bareli Lok Sabha by-election earlier this year, a seat she won with a record margin. The win was seen as the Amethi MP’s coming of age and he was praised for his efforts by the party at the Congress Working Committee’s meeting held after the election.
During the 2004 Lok Sabha elections, when Rahul contested his first Lok Sabha election from Amethi, Varun had refused to campaign against him or UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi. The UP elections seem to be a break from the past. “I have said I will never campaign against my family but these are local elections. The party rules,” says Varun. “My campaign is never against people but for issues, for the progress of UP and social change,” he adds.
The younger Gandhi’s father Sanjay Gandhi had registered his first Lok Sabha win from Amethi in 1980. After his death in an air crash, his wife Maneka Gandhi parted ways with her mother in-law Indira Gandhi. She contested from Amethi against Rahul’s father Rajiv Gandhi only to lose her deposit. She is now the BJP MP from Philibit.
Varun is a hot contender for the BJP’s ticket to the Vidisha Lok Sabha seat, elections for which are likely to be held soon.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print.aspx?Id=8fb53982-9abb-48e5-9d1a-85509eed4fca
© Copyright 2007 Hindustan Times
New Delhi, September 23, 2006
Indira Gandhi’s two grandsons are poised for a head-to-head confrontation during the forthcoming Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections. The elections will see Congress MP Rahul Gandhi and his younger cousin, the BJP’s Feroze Varun Gandhi, campaign against each other’s parties.
The elections are expected to be held early next year — dates are still to be announced by the Election Commission, though the Congress campaign has officially begun and the BJP is expected to get its campaign off the ground from Ayodhya early next month.
Rahul Gandhi, 36, is a first-time Lok Sabha member from Amethi in UP while Feroze Varun Gandhi, his 26-year-old cousin, is a member of the Bhartiya Janata Party. This is not the first time that the two will campaign for opposing political forces, but this is the first time that they will meet head-to-head.
BJP General Secretary Arun Jaitley confirms: “Varun will be utilised extensively for campaign.” He has been asked to concentrate on campaigning in the Rohelkhand belt, party sources say.
Significantly, the Rohelkhand belt with 49 assembly segments includes Bareily. Rahul is being projected as the face of the Congress in these elections and is expected to campaign extensively in the same belt.
“He will attend all the big rallies across the state with the Congress president,” says a Congress MP who is part of the core team assisting Rahul in UP.
Rahul had led his mother Sonia Gandhi’s campaign in the Rae Bareli Lok Sabha by-election earlier this year, a seat she won with a record margin. The win was seen as the Amethi MP’s coming of age and he was praised for his efforts by the party at the Congress Working Committee’s meeting held after the election.
During the 2004 Lok Sabha elections, when Rahul contested his first Lok Sabha election from Amethi, Varun had refused to campaign against him or UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi. The UP elections seem to be a break from the past. “I have said I will never campaign against my family but these are local elections. The party rules,” says Varun. “My campaign is never against people but for issues, for the progress of UP and social change,” he adds.
The younger Gandhi’s father Sanjay Gandhi had registered his first Lok Sabha win from Amethi in 1980. After his death in an air crash, his wife Maneka Gandhi parted ways with her mother in-law Indira Gandhi. She contested from Amethi against Rahul’s father Rajiv Gandhi only to lose her deposit. She is now the BJP MP from Philibit.
Varun is a hot contender for the BJP’s ticket to the Vidisha Lok Sabha seat, elections for which are likely to be held soon.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print.aspx?Id=8fb53982-9abb-48e5-9d1a-85509eed4fca
© Copyright 2007 Hindustan Times
Politicians dial 0 for luck, power
Jatin Gandhi
New Delhi, September 15, 2006
Zero may not add up to much. But for many of the country's numerology-obsessed politicians, it is zero that will bring them power and glory.
Haryana Deputy Chief Minister Chandermohan's mobile-phone number boasts six zeros. "Zero is the universally powerful number according to the Hindu mythology," he says.
Union ministers Sharad Pawar and Kapil Sibal too have phone numbers that end in a series of zeros. Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh's cell-phone number ends in three zeros. But, he says, it is a question of easy recall rather than numerology: "It is easy for the common man to remember my number."
Others have other lucky numbers. For Akhilesh Das, MoS for steel, it is four. "Four is good for me and the UPA government," he says. Evidence? The results of the 2004 Lok Sabha election were declared on May 13. Do the math: one plus three is four and the polls brought the Congress to power. Manmohan Singh took oath on May 22 — another four.
The number 666 is generally identified with Satan. Not for Sanjay Nirupam, the Shiv Sena MP-turned-Congressman, whose phone number ends with the diabolical figure. "My birthday is on the sixth," he says. "I try and get a six in everything: my phone number, car number plates."
Mumbai-based numerologist Sanjay B Jumaani says, "Cellphones dominate our lives so I advise my clients to have numbers that are lucky for them."
RSP MP Abani Roy sports a mobile number with two sixes in the end. But the Marx man is no friend of numerology. "It was allotted to me by Parliament," he says.
(With Sujata Anandan in Mumbai)
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print.aspx?Id=8abbbddc-5eb1-4f6f-947c-3e3186cc3d30
© Copyright 2007 Hindustan Times
New Delhi, September 15, 2006
Zero may not add up to much. But for many of the country's numerology-obsessed politicians, it is zero that will bring them power and glory.
Haryana Deputy Chief Minister Chandermohan's mobile-phone number boasts six zeros. "Zero is the universally powerful number according to the Hindu mythology," he says.
Union ministers Sharad Pawar and Kapil Sibal too have phone numbers that end in a series of zeros. Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh's cell-phone number ends in three zeros. But, he says, it is a question of easy recall rather than numerology: "It is easy for the common man to remember my number."
Others have other lucky numbers. For Akhilesh Das, MoS for steel, it is four. "Four is good for me and the UPA government," he says. Evidence? The results of the 2004 Lok Sabha election were declared on May 13. Do the math: one plus three is four and the polls brought the Congress to power. Manmohan Singh took oath on May 22 — another four.
The number 666 is generally identified with Satan. Not for Sanjay Nirupam, the Shiv Sena MP-turned-Congressman, whose phone number ends with the diabolical figure. "My birthday is on the sixth," he says. "I try and get a six in everything: my phone number, car number plates."
Mumbai-based numerologist Sanjay B Jumaani says, "Cellphones dominate our lives so I advise my clients to have numbers that are lucky for them."
RSP MP Abani Roy sports a mobile number with two sixes in the end. But the Marx man is no friend of numerology. "It was allotted to me by Parliament," he says.
(With Sujata Anandan in Mumbai)
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print.aspx?Id=8abbbddc-5eb1-4f6f-947c-3e3186cc3d30
© Copyright 2007 Hindustan Times
Judges Inquiry Bill generating intense debate
Jatin Gandhi
New Delhi, December 22, 2006
Even before it has been debated in Parliament, The Judges (Inquiry) Bill, 2006, that was introduced in the Lok Sabha on December 19, the last day of the winter session, is generating intense debate outside.
The bill that aims at setting up the National Judicial Council to investigate and inquire into complaints against judges of the Supreme Court and high courts is "inadequate" according to former Union Law Minister and Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) General Secretary Arun Jaitley.
"Judicial independence should not be compromised but there has to be an effort where improprieties can be effectively checked. I have my reservations whether the proposed mechanism will be effective,” Jaitley told HT on Saturday. Jaitley was the law minister when the NDA government had proposed a similar council with non-judges as members as well.
The council proposed now by the UPA government will have the Chief Justice of India (CJI) as its chairperson and two senior most judges of the Supreme Court and two chief justices of the high court, all four to be nominated by the CJI, as members. “In the entire accountability process being proposed, there is no one from outside the fraternity of judges. There is a need for having a nominee of the law minister or the government on the council for ensuring accountability,” Jaitley said.
The bill was introduced by Union Law minister HR Bhardwaj in the Lok Sabha and aims at “establishing the National Judicial Council to undertake preliminary investigation and inquire into allegations or misbehaviour or incapacity of a Judge of the Supreme Court or of a High Court."
It bars the council from investigating acts committed more than six months before the date of complaint. “No such complaint shall be entertained and inquired into with respect to any act or conduct constituting misbehaviour which has taken place six months prior to the filing of the complaint," the procedure laid down in the bill states. The bill also lays down a period of six months for the council to complete the inquiry within a period of six months. “The six-month period stipulated for completing the inquiry could be insufficient,” said Prashant Bhushan, senior advocate of the Supreme Court.
Bhushan added: "The council should not have sitting judges because they are already overburdened and they should not decide on brother judges with whom they share the bench every day. The council lacks the necessary investigative powers making the bill a non-starter.”
Former CJI Justice VN Khare said setting up the council will give the backing of a law to the "in-house procedure set in motion by the Supreme Court in 1997."
"There has been a rapid deterioration in society and judges come from the same society. Judges need to be judged. This bill is a starting point," Justice Khare said. He recalls that as CJI he had expressed ‘helplessness’ in dealing with the Mysore sex scandal, allegedly involving three judges of the Karnataka High court, "because there was no accountability mechanism available then."
Email Jatin Gandhi: jatin.gandhi@hindustantimes.com
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print.aspx?Id=988a29e1-ffb2-46c9-8453-771a14f18c2a
© Copyright 2007 Hindustan Times
New Delhi, December 22, 2006
Even before it has been debated in Parliament, The Judges (Inquiry) Bill, 2006, that was introduced in the Lok Sabha on December 19, the last day of the winter session, is generating intense debate outside.
The bill that aims at setting up the National Judicial Council to investigate and inquire into complaints against judges of the Supreme Court and high courts is "inadequate" according to former Union Law Minister and Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) General Secretary Arun Jaitley.
"Judicial independence should not be compromised but there has to be an effort where improprieties can be effectively checked. I have my reservations whether the proposed mechanism will be effective,” Jaitley told HT on Saturday. Jaitley was the law minister when the NDA government had proposed a similar council with non-judges as members as well.
The council proposed now by the UPA government will have the Chief Justice of India (CJI) as its chairperson and two senior most judges of the Supreme Court and two chief justices of the high court, all four to be nominated by the CJI, as members. “In the entire accountability process being proposed, there is no one from outside the fraternity of judges. There is a need for having a nominee of the law minister or the government on the council for ensuring accountability,” Jaitley said.
The bill was introduced by Union Law minister HR Bhardwaj in the Lok Sabha and aims at “establishing the National Judicial Council to undertake preliminary investigation and inquire into allegations or misbehaviour or incapacity of a Judge of the Supreme Court or of a High Court."
It bars the council from investigating acts committed more than six months before the date of complaint. “No such complaint shall be entertained and inquired into with respect to any act or conduct constituting misbehaviour which has taken place six months prior to the filing of the complaint," the procedure laid down in the bill states. The bill also lays down a period of six months for the council to complete the inquiry within a period of six months. “The six-month period stipulated for completing the inquiry could be insufficient,” said Prashant Bhushan, senior advocate of the Supreme Court.
Bhushan added: "The council should not have sitting judges because they are already overburdened and they should not decide on brother judges with whom they share the bench every day. The council lacks the necessary investigative powers making the bill a non-starter.”
Former CJI Justice VN Khare said setting up the council will give the backing of a law to the "in-house procedure set in motion by the Supreme Court in 1997."
"There has been a rapid deterioration in society and judges come from the same society. Judges need to be judged. This bill is a starting point," Justice Khare said. He recalls that as CJI he had expressed ‘helplessness’ in dealing with the Mysore sex scandal, allegedly involving three judges of the Karnataka High court, "because there was no accountability mechanism available then."
Email Jatin Gandhi: jatin.gandhi@hindustantimes.com
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print.aspx?Id=988a29e1-ffb2-46c9-8453-771a14f18c2a
© Copyright 2007 Hindustan Times
Sidhu, the indomitable
Jatin Gandhi
December 08, 2006
In his own words, Navjot Singh Sidhu is a die-hard optimist who sees an opportunity in every crisis. Sidhu’s past and present do not belie his words. The man is, indeed, like a phoenix, someone who has made a career of rising from the ashes.
Whether as a cricketer, commentator or politician, each trough in Sidhu’s path has only put him on top of a bigger wave. The lower it takes him, the higher he rises.
When the Punjab and Haryana High Court held Sidhu guilty in an 18-year-old road rage killing last week, the first-time Parliamentarian from Amritsar showed how, in a short time in politics, he had honed his skills at political shrewdness and perfected them into an art. He did what a much more experienced politician like Shibu Soren could not. Sixer Sidhu went on the front foot, took the high moral ground and hit a political six — he immediately resigned from the Lok Sabha.
“Technically, he didn’t have to resign. But he took the moral position and everyone appreciated it,” says Arun Jaitley, former Union Law minister and BJP General Secretary. Jaitley, who is the BJP’s man in charge of Punjab, sees great potential in Sidhu, the crowd-puller politician-celebrity in improving his party’s fortunes in the Northern state. Little wonder then that three days later when the court pronounced its sentence, he seemed to have gained political muscle.
Sentenced to three years of rigorous imprisonment, flanked by Jaitley and Shiromani Akali Dal chief Parkash Singh Badal, Sidhu emerged as though the court had declared him a hero and not a killer. By the evening, the BJP-SAD combine had announced that he would be its ‘star campaigner’ in the coming Punjab elections. And yesterday, Sidhu shared the dais in Moga with BJP president Rajnath Singh, L.K. Advani and former Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral, where he was launched as the BJP’s face in Punjab. Singh and Advani’s presence at the rally concretised the fact that the BJP is backing Sidhu with all its might.
A new star had been born.
Patiala peg
“I will get a chance to go to Patiala and be with my family after two and a half years,” was the first thing Sidhu told HT on Saturday, when he was asked to react to his conviction. For those who came in late, here’s the backgrounder: Contesting the 2004 Lok Sabha election from Amritsar on a BJP ticket, the cricketer-turned-commentator-turned TV personality who hails from Patiala was dubbed an outsider by his political opponents.
To use a Sidhuism, he declared before batting an eyelid that he would not set foot on Patiala’s soil and would live in Amritsar for as long as he represented the people of the constituency. He won the election, got himself a house in Amritsar’s posh Ranjit Avenue, and has never been back to Patiala.
“I didn’t even go back for my father-in-law’s funeral,” Sidhu says with characteristic Jat-Sikh pride. “But now that I am no longer the Amritsar MP, I can go home. I have met my son only twice during this time. And if there is one person I have wronged by keeping my word to the people of Amritsar, it is my wife,” he says rather emotionally. Ask if he speaks to his wife, Navjot, too in Sidhuisms, he quickly returns to his normal self: “When she is around I don’t speak. I have always said my wife is deadlier than a terrorist.”
It’s not just politics. Navjot Singh Sidhu has just as successfully cast himself on television.
There is The Great Indian Laughter Challenge show, advertisements and cricket commentary. His Sidhuisms resound in the Lok Sabha as well, and Speaker Somnath Chatterjee has been known to demand a Sidhuism or two to liven up debates and discussions, on the occasions that he has got up to speak.
Introducing a Calling Attention motion on the Amritsar SEZ, Chatterjee said of the hon’ble MP: “He is a young honourable member, very athletic and very popular.” At another time, at the peak of his rhetoric, when Sidhu called Amritsar ‘a dying city’, the Speaker responded, “How can Amritsar die with you as the representative?”
Sidhuisms have indeed won him many fans and he knows it. Sidhu works overtime in coining these little quips that he doles out at the drop of a hat, catch and wicket. “A Sidhuism is like a honey-bee. It has a short body, it is sweet and has a sting in the end,” he says. Sometimes, they sting rather hard. And sometimes they rebound.
In 2003, for instance, Sidhu was dropped by ESPN-Star for his outspoken style. But, he says, he remains grateful to the channel for giving him his first break.
And he’s had his share of ups and downs. When he made his debut in international cricket in 1983, Sidhu was dubbed the ‘strokeless wonder’ and eventually dropped after he struggled with the bat. In 1987, he returned as ‘sixer Sidhu’, eventually playing 51 tests, 136 one-dayers, with a test match top-score of 201. In 1996, with the Indian side touring England, in a brazen display of indiscipline, he walked out of the team, packed his bags and came back home. Yet, he was brought back in the side, and he went on to score a Test double century next year during India’s 1997 tour of West Indies.
Those who vouch for him say the man is ready to pull off a similar feat in politics now after having given up his Lok Sabha seat. However, much depends on the outcome of his appeal against the conviction that he says he will file in the Supreme Court.
Ah well. If the apex court too finds him guilty, his one-liners would be used to entertain fellow criminals in Patiala jail.
Email Jatin Gandhi: jatin.gandhi@hindustantimes.com
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print.aspx?Id=37fd88c5-cc45-4fe2-8167-5f0e76c47392
© Copyright 2007 Hindustan Times
December 08, 2006
In his own words, Navjot Singh Sidhu is a die-hard optimist who sees an opportunity in every crisis. Sidhu’s past and present do not belie his words. The man is, indeed, like a phoenix, someone who has made a career of rising from the ashes.
Whether as a cricketer, commentator or politician, each trough in Sidhu’s path has only put him on top of a bigger wave. The lower it takes him, the higher he rises.
When the Punjab and Haryana High Court held Sidhu guilty in an 18-year-old road rage killing last week, the first-time Parliamentarian from Amritsar showed how, in a short time in politics, he had honed his skills at political shrewdness and perfected them into an art. He did what a much more experienced politician like Shibu Soren could not. Sixer Sidhu went on the front foot, took the high moral ground and hit a political six — he immediately resigned from the Lok Sabha.
“Technically, he didn’t have to resign. But he took the moral position and everyone appreciated it,” says Arun Jaitley, former Union Law minister and BJP General Secretary. Jaitley, who is the BJP’s man in charge of Punjab, sees great potential in Sidhu, the crowd-puller politician-celebrity in improving his party’s fortunes in the Northern state. Little wonder then that three days later when the court pronounced its sentence, he seemed to have gained political muscle.
Sentenced to three years of rigorous imprisonment, flanked by Jaitley and Shiromani Akali Dal chief Parkash Singh Badal, Sidhu emerged as though the court had declared him a hero and not a killer. By the evening, the BJP-SAD combine had announced that he would be its ‘star campaigner’ in the coming Punjab elections. And yesterday, Sidhu shared the dais in Moga with BJP president Rajnath Singh, L.K. Advani and former Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral, where he was launched as the BJP’s face in Punjab. Singh and Advani’s presence at the rally concretised the fact that the BJP is backing Sidhu with all its might.
A new star had been born.
Patiala peg
“I will get a chance to go to Patiala and be with my family after two and a half years,” was the first thing Sidhu told HT on Saturday, when he was asked to react to his conviction. For those who came in late, here’s the backgrounder: Contesting the 2004 Lok Sabha election from Amritsar on a BJP ticket, the cricketer-turned-commentator-turned TV personality who hails from Patiala was dubbed an outsider by his political opponents.
To use a Sidhuism, he declared before batting an eyelid that he would not set foot on Patiala’s soil and would live in Amritsar for as long as he represented the people of the constituency. He won the election, got himself a house in Amritsar’s posh Ranjit Avenue, and has never been back to Patiala.
“I didn’t even go back for my father-in-law’s funeral,” Sidhu says with characteristic Jat-Sikh pride. “But now that I am no longer the Amritsar MP, I can go home. I have met my son only twice during this time. And if there is one person I have wronged by keeping my word to the people of Amritsar, it is my wife,” he says rather emotionally. Ask if he speaks to his wife, Navjot, too in Sidhuisms, he quickly returns to his normal self: “When she is around I don’t speak. I have always said my wife is deadlier than a terrorist.”
It’s not just politics. Navjot Singh Sidhu has just as successfully cast himself on television.
There is The Great Indian Laughter Challenge show, advertisements and cricket commentary. His Sidhuisms resound in the Lok Sabha as well, and Speaker Somnath Chatterjee has been known to demand a Sidhuism or two to liven up debates and discussions, on the occasions that he has got up to speak.
Introducing a Calling Attention motion on the Amritsar SEZ, Chatterjee said of the hon’ble MP: “He is a young honourable member, very athletic and very popular.” At another time, at the peak of his rhetoric, when Sidhu called Amritsar ‘a dying city’, the Speaker responded, “How can Amritsar die with you as the representative?”
Sidhuisms have indeed won him many fans and he knows it. Sidhu works overtime in coining these little quips that he doles out at the drop of a hat, catch and wicket. “A Sidhuism is like a honey-bee. It has a short body, it is sweet and has a sting in the end,” he says. Sometimes, they sting rather hard. And sometimes they rebound.
In 2003, for instance, Sidhu was dropped by ESPN-Star for his outspoken style. But, he says, he remains grateful to the channel for giving him his first break.
And he’s had his share of ups and downs. When he made his debut in international cricket in 1983, Sidhu was dubbed the ‘strokeless wonder’ and eventually dropped after he struggled with the bat. In 1987, he returned as ‘sixer Sidhu’, eventually playing 51 tests, 136 one-dayers, with a test match top-score of 201. In 1996, with the Indian side touring England, in a brazen display of indiscipline, he walked out of the team, packed his bags and came back home. Yet, he was brought back in the side, and he went on to score a Test double century next year during India’s 1997 tour of West Indies.
Those who vouch for him say the man is ready to pull off a similar feat in politics now after having given up his Lok Sabha seat. However, much depends on the outcome of his appeal against the conviction that he says he will file in the Supreme Court.
Ah well. If the apex court too finds him guilty, his one-liners would be used to entertain fellow criminals in Patiala jail.
Email Jatin Gandhi: jatin.gandhi@hindustantimes.com
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print.aspx?Id=37fd88c5-cc45-4fe2-8167-5f0e76c47392
© Copyright 2007 Hindustan Times
Sidhu may contest against Amarinder
Jatin Gandhi
New Delhi, December 08, 2006
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which launched former member of Parliament Navjot Singh Sidhu as its star campaigner with a massive rally at Moga on Friday, wants to field the cricketer-politician from Patiala against Chief Minister Amarinder Singh in the coming assembly elections in Punjab.
Sources in the BJP say the party is thrilled that Sidhu is back in Patiala. But the party will be able to field him only if the Supreme Court allows him to contest. Sidhu is to appeal in the apex court against his conviction last week by the Punjab and Haryana High Court in a case of culpable homicide.
BJP General Secretary Arun Jaitley has been saying for a long time that Sidhu alone can offer a tough fight to the Punjab CM on his home turf.
When Sidhu was Amritsar MP, the party did not want to waste a parliamentary berth. Nor could it have utilised him in the campaign against Amarinder Singh in Patiala.
Sidhu had pledged in Amritsar that he would not go to Patiala as long as he was the people's representative there. He resigned from Lok Sabha last week after the Punjab and Haryana High Court verdict and is now back in Patiala.
"I couldn't go to Patiala as long as I was an Amritsar MP. Now if my generals decide that I contest against Amarinder Singh, I will. I want to fight against tyrannical rule," Sidhu told HT on Saturday.
"He will be our star campaigner in Punjab. We will use him all over and in whichever possible manner we can," Jaitley said. He did not deny or admit that the party would field Sidhu.
On instructions from party seniors, the BJP general secretary had accompanied Sidhu to Chandigarh when his sentence was announced. "Both Rajnathji and Advaniji said I must go with him," Jaitley added.
While Sidhu has already conveyed his readiness to contest against Amarinder Singh, the Shiromani Akali Dal, the BJP's dominant partner in the state, too has welcomed the suggestion, sources within SAD say.
SAD General Secretary Sukhbir Badal said that while the seats have not been allocated, the party is happy with Sidhu returning to Patiala. "Sidhu is a good friend. He is a strong campaigner and people love him," Badal said.
Sidhu is already preparing for the battle. His famous one-liners are ready. "Loktantra mein logon kaa raaj hai kissee raja ka nahin (in democracy it’s the people who rule)," he says. The obvious reference is to the CM, who hails from Patiala's royal family.
Email Jatin Gandhi: jatin.gandhi@hindustantimes.com
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print.aspx?Id=561c79f7-48e6-4689-b0e9-56c2ee3b3bf6
© Copyright 2007 Hindustan Times
New Delhi, December 08, 2006
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which launched former member of Parliament Navjot Singh Sidhu as its star campaigner with a massive rally at Moga on Friday, wants to field the cricketer-politician from Patiala against Chief Minister Amarinder Singh in the coming assembly elections in Punjab.
Sources in the BJP say the party is thrilled that Sidhu is back in Patiala. But the party will be able to field him only if the Supreme Court allows him to contest. Sidhu is to appeal in the apex court against his conviction last week by the Punjab and Haryana High Court in a case of culpable homicide.
BJP General Secretary Arun Jaitley has been saying for a long time that Sidhu alone can offer a tough fight to the Punjab CM on his home turf.
When Sidhu was Amritsar MP, the party did not want to waste a parliamentary berth. Nor could it have utilised him in the campaign against Amarinder Singh in Patiala.
Sidhu had pledged in Amritsar that he would not go to Patiala as long as he was the people's representative there. He resigned from Lok Sabha last week after the Punjab and Haryana High Court verdict and is now back in Patiala.
"I couldn't go to Patiala as long as I was an Amritsar MP. Now if my generals decide that I contest against Amarinder Singh, I will. I want to fight against tyrannical rule," Sidhu told HT on Saturday.
"He will be our star campaigner in Punjab. We will use him all over and in whichever possible manner we can," Jaitley said. He did not deny or admit that the party would field Sidhu.
On instructions from party seniors, the BJP general secretary had accompanied Sidhu to Chandigarh when his sentence was announced. "Both Rajnathji and Advaniji said I must go with him," Jaitley added.
While Sidhu has already conveyed his readiness to contest against Amarinder Singh, the Shiromani Akali Dal, the BJP's dominant partner in the state, too has welcomed the suggestion, sources within SAD say.
SAD General Secretary Sukhbir Badal said that while the seats have not been allocated, the party is happy with Sidhu returning to Patiala. "Sidhu is a good friend. He is a strong campaigner and people love him," Badal said.
Sidhu is already preparing for the battle. His famous one-liners are ready. "Loktantra mein logon kaa raaj hai kissee raja ka nahin (in democracy it’s the people who rule)," he says. The obvious reference is to the CM, who hails from Patiala's royal family.
Email Jatin Gandhi: jatin.gandhi@hindustantimes.com
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print.aspx?Id=561c79f7-48e6-4689-b0e9-56c2ee3b3bf6
© Copyright 2007 Hindustan Times
Manual scavenging to live past 2007
Jatin Gandhi
New Delhi, November 24, 2006
Manual scavenging to live past 2007Despite stern reminders from UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, the government is all set to miss its 2007 deadline for eradicating the inhuman practice of manual scavenging.
Lakhs of Dalits are still employed all over the country as manual scavengers for removing and carrying human excreta from toilets that are not connected to a drainage system. In the process, they are subjected to not just extreme forms of untouchability but also several health hazards.
In 2004, the government had resolved to end the practice before 2007, after the Planning Commission drew up a comprehensive plan. The Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation was entrusted with the task. With just a month to go, the task is far from achieved. "The government cannot meet the deadline. Not enough has been done in that direction," said Santosh Chaudhary, chairperson, National Commission for Safai Karamcharis.
Kumari Selja, Minister of State for Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation conceded: "2010 might be a more realistic deadline."
Chaudhary is only echoing UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi's concerns on the problem. The Congress president had recently written to the Prime Minister expressing concern that "very little or no progress has been made on the issue of liberation and rehabilitation of manual scavengers." Gandhi's letter, a copy of which is with HT on Saturday, was a follow-up to her communication as chairperson of the National Advisory Council (NAC) in October 2004 advising the government to eradicate the problem "within a given period of time".
The Prime Minister has assured the UPA chairperson of 'concrete and time-bound action' and has instructed the ministries of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation and Social Justice and Empowerment to hasten efforts towards eradication of manual scavenging in August 2006. The ministries have not moved beyond preparing a status note on the problem.
"We are preparing a Cabinet note. We have asked the states for data," Selja said. She added that the ministry is taking a realistic view, because 'ultimately the states have to eradicate the problem'.
But, says Bezwada Wilson who refused to be a manual scavenger like his parents and formed the Safai Karamchari Andolan (SKA): "At the current speed, the target cannot be achieved even by 2010." The SKA approached the Supreme Court in 2003 for a ban on manual scavenging. Ironically, there already is a law in place—the Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Act. It was passed 13 years ago, but the government continues to struggle with the problem.
"The law is a football. The implementation of the ban was moved from the Social Justice and Empowerment ministry to the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation. Ever since, the two ministries have been blaming each other for non-implementation," said Chaudhary. She added that despite spending Rs 750 crore on the rehabilitation of manual scavengers the problem persists.
Chaudhary said the problem exists in most states, including the Nand Nagri area of Delhi. She had suggested a meeting of all chief ministers to be held on the matter, a suggestion that has been agreed to but will only be implemented next year, long after the deadline has passed.
Email Jatin Gandhi: jatin.gandhi@hindustantimes.com
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print.aspx?Id=fb53fb28-2917-4b50-82f7-f7e909f3e593
© Copyright 2007 Hindustan Times
New Delhi, November 24, 2006
Manual scavenging to live past 2007Despite stern reminders from UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, the government is all set to miss its 2007 deadline for eradicating the inhuman practice of manual scavenging.
Lakhs of Dalits are still employed all over the country as manual scavengers for removing and carrying human excreta from toilets that are not connected to a drainage system. In the process, they are subjected to not just extreme forms of untouchability but also several health hazards.
In 2004, the government had resolved to end the practice before 2007, after the Planning Commission drew up a comprehensive plan. The Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation was entrusted with the task. With just a month to go, the task is far from achieved. "The government cannot meet the deadline. Not enough has been done in that direction," said Santosh Chaudhary, chairperson, National Commission for Safai Karamcharis.
Kumari Selja, Minister of State for Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation conceded: "2010 might be a more realistic deadline."
Chaudhary is only echoing UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi's concerns on the problem. The Congress president had recently written to the Prime Minister expressing concern that "very little or no progress has been made on the issue of liberation and rehabilitation of manual scavengers." Gandhi's letter, a copy of which is with HT on Saturday, was a follow-up to her communication as chairperson of the National Advisory Council (NAC) in October 2004 advising the government to eradicate the problem "within a given period of time".
The Prime Minister has assured the UPA chairperson of 'concrete and time-bound action' and has instructed the ministries of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation and Social Justice and Empowerment to hasten efforts towards eradication of manual scavenging in August 2006. The ministries have not moved beyond preparing a status note on the problem.
"We are preparing a Cabinet note. We have asked the states for data," Selja said. She added that the ministry is taking a realistic view, because 'ultimately the states have to eradicate the problem'.
But, says Bezwada Wilson who refused to be a manual scavenger like his parents and formed the Safai Karamchari Andolan (SKA): "At the current speed, the target cannot be achieved even by 2010." The SKA approached the Supreme Court in 2003 for a ban on manual scavenging. Ironically, there already is a law in place—the Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Act. It was passed 13 years ago, but the government continues to struggle with the problem.
"The law is a football. The implementation of the ban was moved from the Social Justice and Empowerment ministry to the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation. Ever since, the two ministries have been blaming each other for non-implementation," said Chaudhary. She added that despite spending Rs 750 crore on the rehabilitation of manual scavengers the problem persists.
Chaudhary said the problem exists in most states, including the Nand Nagri area of Delhi. She had suggested a meeting of all chief ministers to be held on the matter, a suggestion that has been agreed to but will only be implemented next year, long after the deadline has passed.
Email Jatin Gandhi: jatin.gandhi@hindustantimes.com
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print.aspx?Id=fb53fb28-2917-4b50-82f7-f7e909f3e593
© Copyright 2007 Hindustan Times
For a starry future, let's land on the moon
Jatin Gandhi
New Delhi, November 18, 2006
For every power cut in a metro today, the government blames high demand and short supply. Fast forward to 2026. A sudden power cut in Delhi leaves a whole new generation of school children stunned.
Things have changed, they have never heard of electricity shortage before.
The government beams a statement asking residents not to panic: Helium 3 is abundant and more supply from the moon is on its way.
The lunar fuel supply outpost on the moon has made arrangements to ensure a shortage-free summer. But, on the other hand, the treaty on sharing resources of the moon with China remains unsigned. The two superpowers disagree on the terms.
Welcome to the new reality. The moon is not just a future destination for honeymooners and scientists but also a rich source of fuels, minerals and even land. It will also serve as a base station for inter-planetary exploration.
With the success of the first phase of the European Space Agency’s (ESA) moon mission SMART 1 in September this year, lunar exploration scientists believe that the time has come to look at the moon in a different light — as a base for space exploration and a source of Helium 3, which is pegged as earth’s future fuel.
Scientists say the coming decade will be crucial with unprecedented focus on the moon. The powers of the world, including the US, Europe, China, Japan and India, are all sending missions to the moon.
While, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has recently announced its decision to put a man on the moon by 2020, Chandrayan 1, the unmanned moon mission is expected to be launched in 2008. Before that happens, China’s Chang’e and Japan’s SELENE 1 missions would have already been launched in 2007.
Japanese space agency, JAXA’s SELENE 1 mission “is the biggest and the most sophisticated lunar orbiter since Apollo era,” says Jung Kawaguchi, head of the Japanese lunar exploration programme.
By 2008 NASA will launch the lunar reconnaissance orbiter (LRO), potentially followed by a lander in the early 2010s. The next 10 years will be the most significant period in lunar exploration, according to Steve Durst, director, International Lunar Observatory, Hawaii.
“A launchpad to the solar system, a gateway to the stars, the moon is quickly becoming this decade’s preferred off-Earth destination for a flotilla of national, international and private commercial lunar enterprises,” says Durst.
The moon will provide the first off-Earth base for inter-planetary research in the near future, says Prof Bernard H Foing, principal project scientist of the recently concluded SMART 1 mission by the European Space Agency (ESA). “The moon is interesting scientifically to understand the origin and evolution of Earth-like planets, but also to test new technologies, and learn to establish robotic and human outposts beyond Earth,” he says.
Scientists say inter-planetary research missions from the Earth are too expensive and fuel inefficient because of the gravitational force. Earth’s gravitational pull is six times that of the moon.
Then there is Helium 3 — believed to be the fuel of the future. The moon’s surface has about one million tones of it. Picture this: just 25 tonnes of the element, which can be carried back on a space shuttle, is enough to provide electricity to the US for one year. Setting up a lunar mining base will enable man to bring Helium 3 shipments to the earth. India’s moon mission Chandrayan 1 will study the chemical and mineral composition of the moon’s surface in great detail.
The future will see the moon as a destination for tourism and colonisation too. While American private enterprises have already begun selling plots of land on the moon, it will be possible to go to the moon for honeymoon one day. “It will happen some day. However, when it appears is a matter of time-scale,” says Kawaguchi.
Japan expects to use the moon as a base for space exploration and sees prospects of humans staying there for long periods. “There will be human presence on the surface of the moon in the later half of 2010s and beyond. A lunar stay for several months is expected. Constructing a lunar base or modules will occur with the appropriate sharing of roles,” he adds.
Email jatin.gandhi@hindustantimes.com
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print.aspx?Id=d7646ccf-8535-4957-a8b6-9ea426f45c82
© Copyright 2007 Hindustan Times
New Delhi, November 18, 2006
For every power cut in a metro today, the government blames high demand and short supply. Fast forward to 2026. A sudden power cut in Delhi leaves a whole new generation of school children stunned.
Things have changed, they have never heard of electricity shortage before.
The government beams a statement asking residents not to panic: Helium 3 is abundant and more supply from the moon is on its way.
The lunar fuel supply outpost on the moon has made arrangements to ensure a shortage-free summer. But, on the other hand, the treaty on sharing resources of the moon with China remains unsigned. The two superpowers disagree on the terms.
Welcome to the new reality. The moon is not just a future destination for honeymooners and scientists but also a rich source of fuels, minerals and even land. It will also serve as a base station for inter-planetary exploration.
With the success of the first phase of the European Space Agency’s (ESA) moon mission SMART 1 in September this year, lunar exploration scientists believe that the time has come to look at the moon in a different light — as a base for space exploration and a source of Helium 3, which is pegged as earth’s future fuel.
Scientists say the coming decade will be crucial with unprecedented focus on the moon. The powers of the world, including the US, Europe, China, Japan and India, are all sending missions to the moon.
While, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has recently announced its decision to put a man on the moon by 2020, Chandrayan 1, the unmanned moon mission is expected to be launched in 2008. Before that happens, China’s Chang’e and Japan’s SELENE 1 missions would have already been launched in 2007.
Japanese space agency, JAXA’s SELENE 1 mission “is the biggest and the most sophisticated lunar orbiter since Apollo era,” says Jung Kawaguchi, head of the Japanese lunar exploration programme.
By 2008 NASA will launch the lunar reconnaissance orbiter (LRO), potentially followed by a lander in the early 2010s. The next 10 years will be the most significant period in lunar exploration, according to Steve Durst, director, International Lunar Observatory, Hawaii.
“A launchpad to the solar system, a gateway to the stars, the moon is quickly becoming this decade’s preferred off-Earth destination for a flotilla of national, international and private commercial lunar enterprises,” says Durst.
The moon will provide the first off-Earth base for inter-planetary research in the near future, says Prof Bernard H Foing, principal project scientist of the recently concluded SMART 1 mission by the European Space Agency (ESA). “The moon is interesting scientifically to understand the origin and evolution of Earth-like planets, but also to test new technologies, and learn to establish robotic and human outposts beyond Earth,” he says.
Scientists say inter-planetary research missions from the Earth are too expensive and fuel inefficient because of the gravitational force. Earth’s gravitational pull is six times that of the moon.
Then there is Helium 3 — believed to be the fuel of the future. The moon’s surface has about one million tones of it. Picture this: just 25 tonnes of the element, which can be carried back on a space shuttle, is enough to provide electricity to the US for one year. Setting up a lunar mining base will enable man to bring Helium 3 shipments to the earth. India’s moon mission Chandrayan 1 will study the chemical and mineral composition of the moon’s surface in great detail.
The future will see the moon as a destination for tourism and colonisation too. While American private enterprises have already begun selling plots of land on the moon, it will be possible to go to the moon for honeymoon one day. “It will happen some day. However, when it appears is a matter of time-scale,” says Kawaguchi.
Japan expects to use the moon as a base for space exploration and sees prospects of humans staying there for long periods. “There will be human presence on the surface of the moon in the later half of 2010s and beyond. A lunar stay for several months is expected. Constructing a lunar base or modules will occur with the appropriate sharing of roles,” he adds.
Email jatin.gandhi@hindustantimes.com
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print.aspx?Id=d7646ccf-8535-4957-a8b6-9ea426f45c82
© Copyright 2007 Hindustan Times
Headless National Advisory Council dying a slow death
Jatin Gandhi
New Delhi, November 10, 2006
After the exit of UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi as the head, the National Advisory Council (NAC) – set up to monitor the implementation of the National Common Minimum Programme (NCMP) – is dying a slow death.
The post of the NAC chairperson has remained vacant since Gandhi's resignation in March this year. Sources in the party say that she is not keen on taking the position again.
"She feels that the spirit of sacrifice that she showed by resigning as MP and chairperson will be questioned by the opposition if she again takes up the position as NAC chairperson," a senior leader of the Congress party told HT on Saturday.
With Gandhi no longer at the helm of affairs, there is not much left to manage for the premier think-tank set up in 2004. The Congress president remained in the chair from July 2004 to March this year.
During this period the NAC was very active, meeting as many as 22 times, though the rules stipulated just one meeting every quarter.
Gandhi resigned on March 23 after the opposition alleged that the post of NAC chairperson was an office of profit and called for her disqualification as an MP. After Gandhi's resignation, the NAC has not had even one formal meeting, NAC sources said.
While the Congress president was at the helm, the NAC gave direction and impetus to the programmes and policies of the government in consonance with the NCMP, drawing from the expertise and experience of its members and Gandhi's ability to command the government.
The proposal to change the un-notified Freedom of Information Act to the powerful Right to Information Act came from NAC. So did the idea of making the UPA's flagship employment guarantee scheme specifically rural.
The NAC made several significant interventions under Gandhi, sources say. "The NAC proposed and the government disposed but only when Sonia Gandhi headed it," says a member.
"Without the Congress President as its head, why would senior ministers listen to the NAC?" asked former Chattisgarh Chief Minister Ajit Jogi. "The position can not be held by anyone else other than her. This is the first time the Congress is heading a coalition government, if it was our party's government alone, the direction to the government would have come from the Congress Working Committee, in a coalition this function was being performed by the NAC until she (Gandhi) resigned," he adds.
Under Gandhi, the NAC sent 30 important advisories and communications to the government and after she stepped down, none.
NAC member Dr NC Saxena says, "Naturally, without the leader, things are not the same but it is for the government to decide what it wants to do. Her being at the helm of affairs provided the necessary impetus and direction to the NAC's work."
The government can nominate as many as 20 members to the NAC, but there are only nine members right now. It has not replaced the three members who resigned in the past.
The delay in the appointment and Gandhi’s refusal to take up the post she vacated is closely linked to the fact that the office of profit law is caught in a legal tangle.
While the Parliament (prevention of disqualification) Act, 2006 has been challenged in the Supreme Court, the Election Commission is looking into a petition seeking the disqualification of Rajya Sabha member and Minister of State Jairam Ramesh for being a member of the NAC.
The office of profit law, which was signed by President APJ Abdul Kalam in August, exempts an MP who holds the post of NAC chairman from attracting disqualification. But members of the panel do not figure in the exempted category.
In the event, until the apex court delivers its verdict, the Congress would not like to put Gandhi into further embarrassment by asking her to head the panel. But if the verdict upholds the law as passed by Parliament, Congress workers and UPA partners are bound to mount pressure on Gandhi to once again head the panel.
The NAC chairperson's is a union cabinet rank position, a power that does not lie with the others, sources point out.
So a headless NAC is also toothless, they add.
Email jatin.gandhi@hindustantimes.com
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print.aspx?Id=8854ceae-6858-4b7c-8982-fe78028adb8c
© Copyright 2007 Hindustan Times
New Delhi, November 10, 2006
After the exit of UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi as the head, the National Advisory Council (NAC) – set up to monitor the implementation of the National Common Minimum Programme (NCMP) – is dying a slow death.
The post of the NAC chairperson has remained vacant since Gandhi's resignation in March this year. Sources in the party say that she is not keen on taking the position again.
"She feels that the spirit of sacrifice that she showed by resigning as MP and chairperson will be questioned by the opposition if she again takes up the position as NAC chairperson," a senior leader of the Congress party told HT on Saturday.
With Gandhi no longer at the helm of affairs, there is not much left to manage for the premier think-tank set up in 2004. The Congress president remained in the chair from July 2004 to March this year.
During this period the NAC was very active, meeting as many as 22 times, though the rules stipulated just one meeting every quarter.
Gandhi resigned on March 23 after the opposition alleged that the post of NAC chairperson was an office of profit and called for her disqualification as an MP. After Gandhi's resignation, the NAC has not had even one formal meeting, NAC sources said.
While the Congress president was at the helm, the NAC gave direction and impetus to the programmes and policies of the government in consonance with the NCMP, drawing from the expertise and experience of its members and Gandhi's ability to command the government.
The proposal to change the un-notified Freedom of Information Act to the powerful Right to Information Act came from NAC. So did the idea of making the UPA's flagship employment guarantee scheme specifically rural.
The NAC made several significant interventions under Gandhi, sources say. "The NAC proposed and the government disposed but only when Sonia Gandhi headed it," says a member.
"Without the Congress President as its head, why would senior ministers listen to the NAC?" asked former Chattisgarh Chief Minister Ajit Jogi. "The position can not be held by anyone else other than her. This is the first time the Congress is heading a coalition government, if it was our party's government alone, the direction to the government would have come from the Congress Working Committee, in a coalition this function was being performed by the NAC until she (Gandhi) resigned," he adds.
Under Gandhi, the NAC sent 30 important advisories and communications to the government and after she stepped down, none.
NAC member Dr NC Saxena says, "Naturally, without the leader, things are not the same but it is for the government to decide what it wants to do. Her being at the helm of affairs provided the necessary impetus and direction to the NAC's work."
The government can nominate as many as 20 members to the NAC, but there are only nine members right now. It has not replaced the three members who resigned in the past.
The delay in the appointment and Gandhi’s refusal to take up the post she vacated is closely linked to the fact that the office of profit law is caught in a legal tangle.
While the Parliament (prevention of disqualification) Act, 2006 has been challenged in the Supreme Court, the Election Commission is looking into a petition seeking the disqualification of Rajya Sabha member and Minister of State Jairam Ramesh for being a member of the NAC.
The office of profit law, which was signed by President APJ Abdul Kalam in August, exempts an MP who holds the post of NAC chairman from attracting disqualification. But members of the panel do not figure in the exempted category.
In the event, until the apex court delivers its verdict, the Congress would not like to put Gandhi into further embarrassment by asking her to head the panel. But if the verdict upholds the law as passed by Parliament, Congress workers and UPA partners are bound to mount pressure on Gandhi to once again head the panel.
The NAC chairperson's is a union cabinet rank position, a power that does not lie with the others, sources point out.
So a headless NAC is also toothless, they add.
Email jatin.gandhi@hindustantimes.com
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print.aspx?Id=8854ceae-6858-4b7c-8982-fe78028adb8c
© Copyright 2007 Hindustan Times
Beware, web is out to snare you
Jatin Gandhi
New Delhi, November 03, 2006
Think twice before you put your pictures and personal details like cell phone numbers on websites where these can be freely accessed.
Profiles of unsuspecting members of social networking sites and home pages are being increasingly replicated, pictures morphed and abused at an alarming rate. The targets are mostly women. In some cases, young women have found their pictures morphed and used for pornography.
A 22-year-old university student from Bathinda, Punjab, had to put in a frantic appeal to the web master and others users of the networking site she was on. Someone had stolen her pictures and contact details on her user profile and created a fake mirror profile.
She got to know of it only after she was flooded with obscene calls on her cell phone. "It was impossible to tell everyone who had read the fake profile that it was not me," she says.
For a student of MES College, Bangalore, the experience was even more harrowing. Her pictures were morphed and posted on the Internet. "She was disturbed for many days. She had put up pictures for her friends to see," her teacher told the Hindustan Times on Saturday.
Experts say with social networking sites becoming popular, such instances are rising alarmingly. “The bad news is that there is no way to stop this. You should avoid putting your pictures on the website," says cyber-security analyst Subimal Bhattacharjee. He adds that victims should approach the local police and the web master of the website where the manipulation has taken place.
The police, too, think that the only way out is to avoid uploading pictures on the Net. The Thane police booked a 19-year-old management student, Abhishek, for faking a profile of his former schoolmate on September 28 this year. It was the first recorded case of its kind in the country.
Thane Dy Commissioner of Police Sanjay Shintre said in case of Abhishek, the police were able to achieve a breakthrough because the complainant was forthcoming.
At least 270 members of a popular networking site have complained of fake profiles being created in the last few weeks.
jatin.gandhi@ hindustantimes.com
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print.aspx?Id=9032ac06-552e-4486-bc24-ae8cf11c170b
© Copyright 2007 Hindustan Times
New Delhi, November 03, 2006
Think twice before you put your pictures and personal details like cell phone numbers on websites where these can be freely accessed.
Profiles of unsuspecting members of social networking sites and home pages are being increasingly replicated, pictures morphed and abused at an alarming rate. The targets are mostly women. In some cases, young women have found their pictures morphed and used for pornography.
A 22-year-old university student from Bathinda, Punjab, had to put in a frantic appeal to the web master and others users of the networking site she was on. Someone had stolen her pictures and contact details on her user profile and created a fake mirror profile.
She got to know of it only after she was flooded with obscene calls on her cell phone. "It was impossible to tell everyone who had read the fake profile that it was not me," she says.
For a student of MES College, Bangalore, the experience was even more harrowing. Her pictures were morphed and posted on the Internet. "She was disturbed for many days. She had put up pictures for her friends to see," her teacher told the Hindustan Times on Saturday.
Experts say with social networking sites becoming popular, such instances are rising alarmingly. “The bad news is that there is no way to stop this. You should avoid putting your pictures on the website," says cyber-security analyst Subimal Bhattacharjee. He adds that victims should approach the local police and the web master of the website where the manipulation has taken place.
The police, too, think that the only way out is to avoid uploading pictures on the Net. The Thane police booked a 19-year-old management student, Abhishek, for faking a profile of his former schoolmate on September 28 this year. It was the first recorded case of its kind in the country.
Thane Dy Commissioner of Police Sanjay Shintre said in case of Abhishek, the police were able to achieve a breakthrough because the complainant was forthcoming.
At least 270 members of a popular networking site have complained of fake profiles being created in the last few weeks.
jatin.gandhi@ hindustantimes.com
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print.aspx?Id=9032ac06-552e-4486-bc24-ae8cf11c170b
© Copyright 2007 Hindustan Times
Paper tiger Indiapost joins the cyber circus
Jatin Gandhi and Ripu Daman Singh
New Delhi, December 29, 2006
Paper cards sent by post lost the battle to e-greetings and SMSes a long time ago. The latest to realise this, and innovate accordingly, is Indiapost, the country’s postal department.
On December 23, Indiapost launched e-greetings that combine traditional post with the pace of the internet. The user selects a greeting on the Indiapost website and a printout is delivered to the addressee in a day’s time — the last leg being covered by the friendly postman.
“Our business is changing and we are gearing up for that,” says RRP Singh, general manager, business development division, Department of Posts.
The innovation was forced upon Indiapost by the decline in normal mail, and the resultant blow to its revenue. The department saw a decline of over 15 per cent in unregistered mail last year. And the numbers continue to fall. On the other hand, the ‘other business services’ category — which includes e-post — registered a 150 per cent increase in revenue.
Paper-card and gifts companies like Archies too have had to step into e-greetings. Archies charges an annual fee of Rs 300 for the usage of 100 cards. “Our e-traffic peaks during the festive season. Our revenues from e-greetings have gone up by 10 per cent this year,” says Pramod Arora, executive director, Archies. The company's paper-card business registered a decline last year.
Estimated to be worth Rs 250 crore, the e-card market in India is seeing traffic during festive seasons like never before. "Our revenue has increased by 15 per cent," says Manish Saraf, senior manager, 123 India, a free e-greeting site.
Another favourite is the SMS. Industry sources say SMS traffic goes up by 200 per cent during the Christmas-New Year season. India’s expanding mobile network now has more than 10 crore subscribers. The Internet and Mobile Association of India estimated mobile users exchanged 730 million SMSes during 2005-06 — about a tenth of them in the festive season. Says Harish Gandhi, vice-president, VAS & NPD, Bharti Airtel Limited, “Statistics indicate heavy SMS traffic during festivals.”
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print.aspx?Id=3c55aec2-0691-4532-b3d3-8782f8b0dc4c
© Copyright 2007 Hindustan Times
New Delhi, December 29, 2006
Paper cards sent by post lost the battle to e-greetings and SMSes a long time ago. The latest to realise this, and innovate accordingly, is Indiapost, the country’s postal department.
On December 23, Indiapost launched e-greetings that combine traditional post with the pace of the internet. The user selects a greeting on the Indiapost website and a printout is delivered to the addressee in a day’s time — the last leg being covered by the friendly postman.
“Our business is changing and we are gearing up for that,” says RRP Singh, general manager, business development division, Department of Posts.
The innovation was forced upon Indiapost by the decline in normal mail, and the resultant blow to its revenue. The department saw a decline of over 15 per cent in unregistered mail last year. And the numbers continue to fall. On the other hand, the ‘other business services’ category — which includes e-post — registered a 150 per cent increase in revenue.
Paper-card and gifts companies like Archies too have had to step into e-greetings. Archies charges an annual fee of Rs 300 for the usage of 100 cards. “Our e-traffic peaks during the festive season. Our revenues from e-greetings have gone up by 10 per cent this year,” says Pramod Arora, executive director, Archies. The company's paper-card business registered a decline last year.
Estimated to be worth Rs 250 crore, the e-card market in India is seeing traffic during festive seasons like never before. "Our revenue has increased by 15 per cent," says Manish Saraf, senior manager, 123 India, a free e-greeting site.
Another favourite is the SMS. Industry sources say SMS traffic goes up by 200 per cent during the Christmas-New Year season. India’s expanding mobile network now has more than 10 crore subscribers. The Internet and Mobile Association of India estimated mobile users exchanged 730 million SMSes during 2005-06 — about a tenth of them in the festive season. Says Harish Gandhi, vice-president, VAS & NPD, Bharti Airtel Limited, “Statistics indicate heavy SMS traffic during festivals.”
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print.aspx?Id=3c55aec2-0691-4532-b3d3-8782f8b0dc4c
© Copyright 2007 Hindustan Times
Rotten Nithari bones may not yield DNA results
Jatin Gandhi
New Delhi, January 19, 2007
As time goes by, the task of establishing the identities of the dead — whose bones were found near Moninder Singh Pandher's house in Noida — is becoming more and more difficult. Sources at the Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics (CDFD), Hyderabad, where the bone samples are to be sent, told Hindustan Times that success in identifying the dead is not guaranteed.
Sources added if the samples are not in good condition the tests could fail as the bones were lying dumped in a sewage drain for a few to several months.
Sources in the CBI say that the investigations into the Nithari serial killings "depend largely on the outcome of the DNA profiling of the bones found near Pandher's house." Meanwhile, scientists say delay in sending the bone samples is making the task ahead even more difficult.
"We will have to conduct a lot of experiments before we can conclusively say that the identity of the dead can be established from the bone samples that we are receiving. Only after the experiments succeed we will know whether we can get the DNA profiles of the victims from these bones," sources at the Laboratory of Molecular Genetics, CDFD, said.
The DNA profiling will be done at this laboratory. "As it is bones are not the easiest ways of establishing the DNA profile of a body. Once we get the samples we will have to ascertain whether those are useful or not. Lying in the drain for so long, the bones would have been attacked by bacteria and other micro-organisms," sources at the laboratory added.
In any case, even if the preliminary experiments at the laboratory are a success, it could take several months to identify the dead and match them with their parents' DNA. CDFD had earlier handled forensic evidence from the mass graves discovered at Gujarat. "It took us around three months to carry out the experiments in that case. That time we had received around 20 samples. This time it could take us six months if the number is indeed as large as 40," Dr J Gauri Shankar, Director CDFD said. He confirmed that delaying the experiments could cause degradation of the bones collected by the police in the Noida killings case.
The first batch of skeletal remains was fished out from the drain behind D5, Sector 31, in the last week of December, 2006. The Gautam Budh Nagar police had contacted CDFD for sending these samples over and collected blood samples of parents whose children had gone missing for DNA matching. "Once the case was transferred to the CBI, we handed over the forensic evidence and the blood samples we had collected to the CBI," SSP RKS Rathore said.
Sources in the CBI said more samples are being collected and it won't be till the end of January that these will be sent to CDFD.
Email Jatin Gandhi: jatin.gandhi@hindustantimes.com
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print.aspx?Id=a97d2497-ecfb-49b6-aa89-59d23f4521e1
© Copyright 2007 Hindustan Times
New Delhi, January 19, 2007
As time goes by, the task of establishing the identities of the dead — whose bones were found near Moninder Singh Pandher's house in Noida — is becoming more and more difficult. Sources at the Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics (CDFD), Hyderabad, where the bone samples are to be sent, told Hindustan Times that success in identifying the dead is not guaranteed.
Sources added if the samples are not in good condition the tests could fail as the bones were lying dumped in a sewage drain for a few to several months.
Sources in the CBI say that the investigations into the Nithari serial killings "depend largely on the outcome of the DNA profiling of the bones found near Pandher's house." Meanwhile, scientists say delay in sending the bone samples is making the task ahead even more difficult.
"We will have to conduct a lot of experiments before we can conclusively say that the identity of the dead can be established from the bone samples that we are receiving. Only after the experiments succeed we will know whether we can get the DNA profiles of the victims from these bones," sources at the Laboratory of Molecular Genetics, CDFD, said.
The DNA profiling will be done at this laboratory. "As it is bones are not the easiest ways of establishing the DNA profile of a body. Once we get the samples we will have to ascertain whether those are useful or not. Lying in the drain for so long, the bones would have been attacked by bacteria and other micro-organisms," sources at the laboratory added.
In any case, even if the preliminary experiments at the laboratory are a success, it could take several months to identify the dead and match them with their parents' DNA. CDFD had earlier handled forensic evidence from the mass graves discovered at Gujarat. "It took us around three months to carry out the experiments in that case. That time we had received around 20 samples. This time it could take us six months if the number is indeed as large as 40," Dr J Gauri Shankar, Director CDFD said. He confirmed that delaying the experiments could cause degradation of the bones collected by the police in the Noida killings case.
The first batch of skeletal remains was fished out from the drain behind D5, Sector 31, in the last week of December, 2006. The Gautam Budh Nagar police had contacted CDFD for sending these samples over and collected blood samples of parents whose children had gone missing for DNA matching. "Once the case was transferred to the CBI, we handed over the forensic evidence and the blood samples we had collected to the CBI," SSP RKS Rathore said.
Sources in the CBI said more samples are being collected and it won't be till the end of January that these will be sent to CDFD.
Email Jatin Gandhi: jatin.gandhi@hindustantimes.com
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print.aspx?Id=a97d2497-ecfb-49b6-aa89-59d23f4521e1
© Copyright 2007 Hindustan Times
SC's nod on MPs expulsion to result in another round of bypolls
Jatin Gandhi
New Delhi, January 12, 2007
The Supreme Court's nod to the expulsion of 11 MPs - 10 from the Lok Sabha - in the cash-for-query scam will result in yet another round of bypolls. Just about half way through its term, the 543-member Lok Sabha has already seen 32 vacancies of MPs through resignation, expulsion or death.
Filling these through bypolls costs taxpayers crores of rupees and keeps the election apparatus busy throughout the year.
Manabendra Shah, the 85-year-old MP from Tehri in Uttaranchal died last week creating another vacancy, while Amritsar MP Navjot Singh Sidhu quit in December 2006 after he was pronounced guilty by the Punjab and Haryana High Court in a case of road rage killing.
While Sidhu has approached the apex court for permission to contest the Amritsar by-election, Congress President Sonia Gandhi quit on March 23 last year over the office-of-profit issue only to return with a thumping victory in May.
TRS chief K Chandrasekhara Rao quit in September to demand a separate Telengana state and returned as the Lok Sabha MP within two months. While 13 LS members have resigned so far, nine have died and 10 have been expelled.
Unofficial estimates put the cost of the 2004 Lok Sabha elections at Rs 1,150 crores. Election Commission of India sources say mobilising the election apparatus for individual bypolls in constituencies costs more that it does for general elections.
"Democracy comes at a cost," says KJ Rao, former advisor to the ECI. "Apart from the public expenditure, the amount of black money that candidates pump into the election process is phenomenal. It seems to be increasing with every election," he adds.
Four existing chief ministers of states – Mulayam Singh Yadav, Nitish Kumar, Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Shivraj Singh Chouhan - were members of the current Lok Sabha but resigned their Parliamentary seats to become CMs.
Sushil Kumar Modi quit to assume power as Kumar's deputy in Bihar. The resignations also triggered resignations in the assemblies to pave way for their election to the state legislature.
The state assemblies saw 35 assembly bypolls in the year 2005-06 alone.
Old and ailing politicians continue to fight elections and get elected, term after term. Tehri MP Shah who died on January 5 had been bedridden for a long time. The oldest MP elected to the fourteenth Lok Sabha, 94-year-old Ramachandra Veerappa from Bidar in Karnataka died in July 2004, shortly after being elected to the house.
Former ECI advisor Rao feels a national debate is necessary on fixing a retirement age for parliamentarians. The average age of the present Lok Sabha members is 55.
E-mail Jatin Gandhi: jatin.gandhi@hindustantimes.com
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print.aspx?Id=dd5fb429-991e-4014-b864-f775177e9070
© Copyright 2007 Hindustan Times
New Delhi, January 12, 2007
The Supreme Court's nod to the expulsion of 11 MPs - 10 from the Lok Sabha - in the cash-for-query scam will result in yet another round of bypolls. Just about half way through its term, the 543-member Lok Sabha has already seen 32 vacancies of MPs through resignation, expulsion or death.
Filling these through bypolls costs taxpayers crores of rupees and keeps the election apparatus busy throughout the year.
Manabendra Shah, the 85-year-old MP from Tehri in Uttaranchal died last week creating another vacancy, while Amritsar MP Navjot Singh Sidhu quit in December 2006 after he was pronounced guilty by the Punjab and Haryana High Court in a case of road rage killing.
While Sidhu has approached the apex court for permission to contest the Amritsar by-election, Congress President Sonia Gandhi quit on March 23 last year over the office-of-profit issue only to return with a thumping victory in May.
TRS chief K Chandrasekhara Rao quit in September to demand a separate Telengana state and returned as the Lok Sabha MP within two months. While 13 LS members have resigned so far, nine have died and 10 have been expelled.
Unofficial estimates put the cost of the 2004 Lok Sabha elections at Rs 1,150 crores. Election Commission of India sources say mobilising the election apparatus for individual bypolls in constituencies costs more that it does for general elections.
"Democracy comes at a cost," says KJ Rao, former advisor to the ECI. "Apart from the public expenditure, the amount of black money that candidates pump into the election process is phenomenal. It seems to be increasing with every election," he adds.
Four existing chief ministers of states – Mulayam Singh Yadav, Nitish Kumar, Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Shivraj Singh Chouhan - were members of the current Lok Sabha but resigned their Parliamentary seats to become CMs.
Sushil Kumar Modi quit to assume power as Kumar's deputy in Bihar. The resignations also triggered resignations in the assemblies to pave way for their election to the state legislature.
The state assemblies saw 35 assembly bypolls in the year 2005-06 alone.
Old and ailing politicians continue to fight elections and get elected, term after term. Tehri MP Shah who died on January 5 had been bedridden for a long time. The oldest MP elected to the fourteenth Lok Sabha, 94-year-old Ramachandra Veerappa from Bidar in Karnataka died in July 2004, shortly after being elected to the house.
Former ECI advisor Rao feels a national debate is necessary on fixing a retirement age for parliamentarians. The average age of the present Lok Sabha members is 55.
E-mail Jatin Gandhi: jatin.gandhi@hindustantimes.com
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print.aspx?Id=dd5fb429-991e-4014-b864-f775177e9070
© Copyright 2007 Hindustan Times
Nithari villagers rue police bias
Jatin Gandhi
Nithari (Noida), January 6, 2007
Nithari villagers rue the fact that when three-year-old Anant Gupta, son of Adobe CEO Naresh Gupta, was kidnapped on his way to school from his house in Noida's Sector 15-A, the Special Task Force (STF) was flown in from Lucknow to take over the case from the local police the very next day and assistance of the Delhi Police was sought.
In sharp contrast, it took the police six days to form a team to investigate into the multiple murders of Nithari's children. "The police didn't make any concrete progress in the case despite many complaints," Bikram Pradhan, the village headman says.
Villagers say it was mere coincidence that led the police to the victims' skeletons in the drain near D5, Sector 31, Noida - main accused Moninder Singh Pandher's house -- where the murders were allegedly committed. "All we got from the police was lathis when we lodged a protest. Innocent villagers who did not even protest were caught and beaten up," said M Appanna, 35, a rickshaw-puller who lives in Nithari.
National Commission for Women (NCW) member Nirmala Venkatesh agrees with the villagers that the police operated in the matter with a class bias. She said the police did not "purposefully act on the directions of the NCW". She adds, "This is a major instance of police not listening to the poor. If the rich are aggrieved they can attack the government. This is a classic case of injustice to the downtrodden."
Former Director General of Police, Uttar Pradesh, Prakash Singh, says the UP government and Noida police acted differently in the Anant Gupta kidnapping case and the Nithari killings. "The rich and the powerful generally get prompt attention. In rural areas like Nithari the pleas of the poor are seldom heard," he says. "In UP and Bihar, policing has been on a downward slope in the last 10 years. While we hear that the decline has been arrested in Bihar, in UP it continues," he adds.
Singh says that the state police are under constant pressure to play down the crime figures. He added, "When the crime figures go up, the government and politicians in power are questioned. There is debate in the Legislative Assembly. To avoid all that the police are under constant pressure to manage the crime figures."
So while the rich and the powerful get a hearing, the poor bear the brunt of the police's attempts to keep the number of cases registered low.
Email Jatin Gandhi: jatin.gandhi@hindustantimes.com
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print.aspx?Id=a348c81a-6ba2-4a0c-8f44-3b7272e51915
© Copyright 2007 Hindustan Times
Nithari (Noida), January 6, 2007
Nithari villagers rue the fact that when three-year-old Anant Gupta, son of Adobe CEO Naresh Gupta, was kidnapped on his way to school from his house in Noida's Sector 15-A, the Special Task Force (STF) was flown in from Lucknow to take over the case from the local police the very next day and assistance of the Delhi Police was sought.
In sharp contrast, it took the police six days to form a team to investigate into the multiple murders of Nithari's children. "The police didn't make any concrete progress in the case despite many complaints," Bikram Pradhan, the village headman says.
Villagers say it was mere coincidence that led the police to the victims' skeletons in the drain near D5, Sector 31, Noida - main accused Moninder Singh Pandher's house -- where the murders were allegedly committed. "All we got from the police was lathis when we lodged a protest. Innocent villagers who did not even protest were caught and beaten up," said M Appanna, 35, a rickshaw-puller who lives in Nithari.
National Commission for Women (NCW) member Nirmala Venkatesh agrees with the villagers that the police operated in the matter with a class bias. She said the police did not "purposefully act on the directions of the NCW". She adds, "This is a major instance of police not listening to the poor. If the rich are aggrieved they can attack the government. This is a classic case of injustice to the downtrodden."
Former Director General of Police, Uttar Pradesh, Prakash Singh, says the UP government and Noida police acted differently in the Anant Gupta kidnapping case and the Nithari killings. "The rich and the powerful generally get prompt attention. In rural areas like Nithari the pleas of the poor are seldom heard," he says. "In UP and Bihar, policing has been on a downward slope in the last 10 years. While we hear that the decline has been arrested in Bihar, in UP it continues," he adds.
Singh says that the state police are under constant pressure to play down the crime figures. He added, "When the crime figures go up, the government and politicians in power are questioned. There is debate in the Legislative Assembly. To avoid all that the police are under constant pressure to manage the crime figures."
So while the rich and the powerful get a hearing, the poor bear the brunt of the police's attempts to keep the number of cases registered low.
Email Jatin Gandhi: jatin.gandhi@hindustantimes.com
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print.aspx?Id=a348c81a-6ba2-4a0c-8f44-3b7272e51915
© Copyright 2007 Hindustan Times
UP Police defied two national commissions on Nithari
Jatin Gandhi
Noida, January 5, 2007
Uttar Pradesh Police ignored directions not only of the National Human Rights Commission, but also of the National Commission of Women (NCW) to investigate the case of missing children and women from Nithari village. The NCW had directed UP police to investigate the matter as far back as September 2005.
The police’s refusal to act on directions given by two of the most important institutions of the country resulted in one of the most horrific crimes in recent times.
At the time when the NCW had directed the police to investigate into the matter, only six children and women had gone missing from the village, NCW sources told Hindustan Times on Saturday. The Commission had warned the Noida police that it suspected a human trafficking racket operating in Nithari.
"I could not imagine that the kidnappings could be linked to a barbaric crime like this. I suspected a human trafficking racket. I summoned the police and told them to act fast," said Nirmala Venkatesh, member, NCW. "When we started inquiring into the complaints received by the Commission, I received many clues that these were kidnappings. I gave the police a list of those clues that ran into three pages," she said.
Venkatesh added that she had told the police to arrest a tea-stall owner, Parimal Biswas and his wife Rita, in the village to interrogate them. "Our inquiry revealed that two were connected to the kidnappings and could reveal further. The police caught the two but let them off the same day without making any headway."
The Commission has now asked the state government for an Action Taken Report (ATR) in the matter.
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), on the other hand, received two complaints of disappearances from Nithari as early as 2004. "The Commission closed the cases after investigations," NHRC sources said. Commission sources added that cases are closed only after directions have been issued to the police to act in the matter.
The NHRC received two more complaints from Nithari residents after 2005. "The complaints are being investigated by the Director General (Investigations)," sources said.
"The police have displayed an obvious bias in the matter," said Bikram Pradhan, the village headman. "We never got a decent hearing with the police officers because our people are poor. When a rich man’s son was kidnapped, the same set of officials worked overtime to ensure that the boy was recovered in record time," he said drawing parallels with the Nithari killings and the kidnapping of three-year-old Anant Gupta.
E-mail Jatin Gandhi: jatin.gandhi@hindustantimes.com
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print.aspx?Id=d203653b-7eae-4b37-9498-e6099b1d3bac
© Copyright 2007 Hindustan Times
Noida, January 5, 2007
Uttar Pradesh Police ignored directions not only of the National Human Rights Commission, but also of the National Commission of Women (NCW) to investigate the case of missing children and women from Nithari village. The NCW had directed UP police to investigate the matter as far back as September 2005.
The police’s refusal to act on directions given by two of the most important institutions of the country resulted in one of the most horrific crimes in recent times.
At the time when the NCW had directed the police to investigate into the matter, only six children and women had gone missing from the village, NCW sources told Hindustan Times on Saturday. The Commission had warned the Noida police that it suspected a human trafficking racket operating in Nithari.
"I could not imagine that the kidnappings could be linked to a barbaric crime like this. I suspected a human trafficking racket. I summoned the police and told them to act fast," said Nirmala Venkatesh, member, NCW. "When we started inquiring into the complaints received by the Commission, I received many clues that these were kidnappings. I gave the police a list of those clues that ran into three pages," she said.
Venkatesh added that she had told the police to arrest a tea-stall owner, Parimal Biswas and his wife Rita, in the village to interrogate them. "Our inquiry revealed that two were connected to the kidnappings and could reveal further. The police caught the two but let them off the same day without making any headway."
The Commission has now asked the state government for an Action Taken Report (ATR) in the matter.
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), on the other hand, received two complaints of disappearances from Nithari as early as 2004. "The Commission closed the cases after investigations," NHRC sources said. Commission sources added that cases are closed only after directions have been issued to the police to act in the matter.
The NHRC received two more complaints from Nithari residents after 2005. "The complaints are being investigated by the Director General (Investigations)," sources said.
"The police have displayed an obvious bias in the matter," said Bikram Pradhan, the village headman. "We never got a decent hearing with the police officers because our people are poor. When a rich man’s son was kidnapped, the same set of officials worked overtime to ensure that the boy was recovered in record time," he said drawing parallels with the Nithari killings and the kidnapping of three-year-old Anant Gupta.
E-mail Jatin Gandhi: jatin.gandhi@hindustantimes.com
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print.aspx?Id=d203653b-7eae-4b37-9498-e6099b1d3bac
© Copyright 2007 Hindustan Times
The loopholes in MCD's online complaint cell
Jatin Gandhi
New Delhi, January 26, 2007
If you have ever lodged a complaint with the Municipal Corporation of Delhi's online complaint cell, chances are that it has met with the same fate as Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit's complaint.
While inaugurating the online complaint service on March 12, 2005, Dikshit had lodged a complaint, sources in the Chief Minister's office told HT on Saturday. "As a gesture to highlight how useful the service was, she had lodged a complaint about the condition of a particular road. The bad stretch is yet to be repaired," sources said.
Of every 12 complaints, made on the MCD’s computerised Public Grievances Redressal System, just one gets attended to. According to the records of the MCD's Information Technology (IT) Department, of the 8,425 complaints registered till January 25, only 744 had been ‘redressed’. The figures are available on the civic body's website (www.mcdonline.gov.in).
Sources in the MCD’s IT department, which maintains the online track record of the complaint registration system, say that ‘redressal’ in MCD parlance does not necessarily mean that a complaint has been addressed. "An officer can report a complaint as redressed when he either assigns the task to someone, completes it himself or even rejects it," sources said. So, the actual figures for redressal could be far lower.
There are several departments in the MCD that have not redressed a single complaint – namely the Town Planning, Legal, Finance and Accounts, Factory Licensing, Advertisement and Architecture departments.
The IT department has a grim record of redressing complaints. Of the 47 complaints it has received, only 10 have been redressed. Deputy Commissioner (IT), Vijay Singh, said: "Due to sealing, everything else has taken a back seat. We are doing just emergency work. We are not getting enough time but we will improve our record." As for the bad performance of other departments, Singh added, "We have given laptops to all the DCs. We will train them."
Sources added that the IT department has already held two training sessions for MCD officials on redressing complaints made through the online mechanism but things haven’t changed. "We train officials periodically," an IT department official said.
"All they are telling you in the name of redressal is how many complaints have been read. Whether the few complaints that have been opened by anyone have been attended to at all is another matter," Sanjay Kaul, president, People’s Action, an association that works towards getting the civic authorities to act on citizens’ problems. "The MCD works in an auto-obstruct mode. The entire effort is directed towards generating and sustaining corruption. You can’t expect them to resolve problems," said Kaul.
Deep Mathur, official spokesperson of the MCD, said: "I cannot comment off-hand. It looks like a problem of reconciliation of figures to me." Officials of the IT department, on the other hand, said the figures on the website were auto-generated. "The moment a complaint appears, it gets added. As soon as an official redresses it, it gets added to the list. The list is updated everyday, on its own," an official said.
At the time of launching the system in March 2005, the MCD had harped on this aspect of the online redressal system. They had hoped the transparency and increased accountability would lead to quicker redressal.
E-mail Jatin Gandhi: jatin.gandhi@hindustantimes.com
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print.aspx?Id=22651e98-5f3a-40aa-9670-7e9d5bf8c127
© Copyright 2007 Hindustan Times
New Delhi, January 26, 2007
If you have ever lodged a complaint with the Municipal Corporation of Delhi's online complaint cell, chances are that it has met with the same fate as Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit's complaint.
While inaugurating the online complaint service on March 12, 2005, Dikshit had lodged a complaint, sources in the Chief Minister's office told HT on Saturday. "As a gesture to highlight how useful the service was, she had lodged a complaint about the condition of a particular road. The bad stretch is yet to be repaired," sources said.
Of every 12 complaints, made on the MCD’s computerised Public Grievances Redressal System, just one gets attended to. According to the records of the MCD's Information Technology (IT) Department, of the 8,425 complaints registered till January 25, only 744 had been ‘redressed’. The figures are available on the civic body's website (www.mcdonline.gov.in).
Sources in the MCD’s IT department, which maintains the online track record of the complaint registration system, say that ‘redressal’ in MCD parlance does not necessarily mean that a complaint has been addressed. "An officer can report a complaint as redressed when he either assigns the task to someone, completes it himself or even rejects it," sources said. So, the actual figures for redressal could be far lower.
There are several departments in the MCD that have not redressed a single complaint – namely the Town Planning, Legal, Finance and Accounts, Factory Licensing, Advertisement and Architecture departments.
The IT department has a grim record of redressing complaints. Of the 47 complaints it has received, only 10 have been redressed. Deputy Commissioner (IT), Vijay Singh, said: "Due to sealing, everything else has taken a back seat. We are doing just emergency work. We are not getting enough time but we will improve our record." As for the bad performance of other departments, Singh added, "We have given laptops to all the DCs. We will train them."
Sources added that the IT department has already held two training sessions for MCD officials on redressing complaints made through the online mechanism but things haven’t changed. "We train officials periodically," an IT department official said.
"All they are telling you in the name of redressal is how many complaints have been read. Whether the few complaints that have been opened by anyone have been attended to at all is another matter," Sanjay Kaul, president, People’s Action, an association that works towards getting the civic authorities to act on citizens’ problems. "The MCD works in an auto-obstruct mode. The entire effort is directed towards generating and sustaining corruption. You can’t expect them to resolve problems," said Kaul.
Deep Mathur, official spokesperson of the MCD, said: "I cannot comment off-hand. It looks like a problem of reconciliation of figures to me." Officials of the IT department, on the other hand, said the figures on the website were auto-generated. "The moment a complaint appears, it gets added. As soon as an official redresses it, it gets added to the list. The list is updated everyday, on its own," an official said.
At the time of launching the system in March 2005, the MCD had harped on this aspect of the online redressal system. They had hoped the transparency and increased accountability would lead to quicker redressal.
E-mail Jatin Gandhi: jatin.gandhi@hindustantimes.com
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print.aspx?Id=22651e98-5f3a-40aa-9670-7e9d5bf8c127
© Copyright 2007 Hindustan Times
Nithari; the biggest crime ignored by cops
Jatin Gandhi
Noida, January 26, 2007
What happened in Nithari may be the biggest crime that the Gautam Budh Nagar police chose to ignore for a long time. But, it may not be the only one. The district saw a murder every four days in 2006 – 84 murders took place last year, yet the police did not bat an eyelid.
Picture this: According to the statistics available on the website of the Noida police, 105 unidentified bodies have been found in the district since March 2005 – despite claims of thorough investigations by the police, nearly half the bodies remain unidentified. In less than two years, 169 people have gone missing.
Statistically, every week since March 2005, five residents have either been murdered, found lying dead somewhere or have simply gone missing.
The police, however, remain unfazed by the goings on in the world of crime around them. When confronted with the statistics, Senior Superintendent of Police RKS Rathore said he was surprised at the figures and he would have to check them up before he could comment. After two days of 'checking', when Rathore spoke to HT on Saturday, he said: "The numbers of murders this year has shot up due to Nithari. Otherwise, before the 17 murder cases of Nithari were added to the list, there had been 67 murders. That was a marginal increase over 2005, in which we registered 60 murders." That's still a citizen being murdered every six days.
"It is not too alarming because there have been no organised crime cases. Two cases of kidnapping for ransom were reported last year and both were worked out. We have studied the cases and in some instances we found people's tolerance towards one another is decreasing," Rathore said. A police official in-charge of crime records in the district said the unidentified dead were "often cases of suicide or accidents. Many died due to illness. For each one we have registered cases."
With the police's claims of 'no organised crime', the district has 149 criminals declared as 'wanted by the police' on the loose and another 460, who have been declared history-sheeted.
Email Jatin Gandhi: jatin.gandhi@hindustantimes.com
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print.aspx?Id=574a3958-12eb-4054-8f59-70538072abfa
© Copyright 2007 Hindustan Times
Noida, January 26, 2007
What happened in Nithari may be the biggest crime that the Gautam Budh Nagar police chose to ignore for a long time. But, it may not be the only one. The district saw a murder every four days in 2006 – 84 murders took place last year, yet the police did not bat an eyelid.
Picture this: According to the statistics available on the website of the Noida police, 105 unidentified bodies have been found in the district since March 2005 – despite claims of thorough investigations by the police, nearly half the bodies remain unidentified. In less than two years, 169 people have gone missing.
Statistically, every week since March 2005, five residents have either been murdered, found lying dead somewhere or have simply gone missing.
The police, however, remain unfazed by the goings on in the world of crime around them. When confronted with the statistics, Senior Superintendent of Police RKS Rathore said he was surprised at the figures and he would have to check them up before he could comment. After two days of 'checking', when Rathore spoke to HT on Saturday, he said: "The numbers of murders this year has shot up due to Nithari. Otherwise, before the 17 murder cases of Nithari were added to the list, there had been 67 murders. That was a marginal increase over 2005, in which we registered 60 murders." That's still a citizen being murdered every six days.
"It is not too alarming because there have been no organised crime cases. Two cases of kidnapping for ransom were reported last year and both were worked out. We have studied the cases and in some instances we found people's tolerance towards one another is decreasing," Rathore said. A police official in-charge of crime records in the district said the unidentified dead were "often cases of suicide or accidents. Many died due to illness. For each one we have registered cases."
With the police's claims of 'no organised crime', the district has 149 criminals declared as 'wanted by the police' on the loose and another 460, who have been declared history-sheeted.
Email Jatin Gandhi: jatin.gandhi@hindustantimes.com
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print.aspx?Id=574a3958-12eb-4054-8f59-70538072abfa
© Copyright 2007 Hindustan Times
Stolen identites
Shreevatsa Nevatia, Jatin Gandhi and Neha Mehta
New Delhi, January 28, 2007
Like many of the past-forty generation, Jyoti Gupta (name changed) had no idea what online social networking meant. She also had no knowledge of its most popular face in India, orkut.com. Gupta was, however, rudely forced to cast aside her ignorance on December 31. “The phone rang every 5 minutes. There would be sex-crazed men on the other end, asking, ‘Do you look like the girl in the photo?’”
Convinced that this was a prank, Gupta chose to ignore the persistent pestering. But after being woken up many times at odd hours, she decided to do something about it. “We were getting calls from Singapore, Dubai and Canada. Most callers would mention the name of my neighbour’s 23-year-old daughter. Some would keep repeating the word ‘Orkut’. So I decided to ask what this was all about.”
When Gupta finally rang the bell next door, she found the neighbours distraught. The father, whose daughter works as an airhostess, tearfully confessed to having seen the offending profile of his daughter on Orkut, the social networking website. She had been made out to be a nymphomaniac, and worse still, the photographs on the site were of her in uniform. Adding insult to injury, the creator of the fake profile had given out the family’s precise address and the residential phone numbers of others who lived in the same central Delhi housing block.
Once the family reported the fake profile to Orkut, it was taken off. But it came back after only a couple of days, and it continues to be online to this day. At the direction of Kamini Lau, Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate of Delhi, a case has been registered. The Economic Offences Wing of the Delhi Police is conducting investigations and will present a report on February 9. The family of the airhostess did not want to be quoted until the investigations were over, but Gupta’s husband let slip one quip: “This is the dark side of Orkut.”
As of January 2006, 5 million of Orkut’s 40 million users were Indian. With the site becoming more popular in the country by the day, this number is estimated to have zoomed up. And with every new profile added, the scope of identity theft multiplies.
Online and paranoid
The ordeal of the Guptas and their neighbours is not unique. Last year, a 20-year-old undergraduate student of Bangalore’s MES College found her Orkut pictures morphed and posted as nudes. “She went into depression and would break down frequently,” recounts her teacher M. Archana. Finally, the girl’s peers and teachers were able to rid her of the trauma by explaining that it was all someone else’s doing.
Nalini Bhaskar, a Master’s candidate at the Delhi University, has started taking the precaution of blurring her online pictures. As a measure of the paranoia that surrounds Orkut at present, it is worthwhile to note that Bhaskar and several other Orkutians insisted on anonymity in this story.
Many are taking more drastic steps. Mehak Nair, a media professional in Mumbai, has taken all her pictures off Orkut. She says, “The it’s-alright-until-it-happens-to-me logic doesn’t apply anymore. A few months ago, a friend spotted another profile with my picture. I still haven’t found it, but it scares me.”
Copying and pasting of pictures is an option that can easily be made unavailable to users by Orkut’s administrators. The site, which is owned by Google, has circulated a feedback form asking users to suggest new features. If enough people tick the box saying ‘Restrict the copy and paste function of photos’, the service would be barred.
Numbers aside, one would assume that the plight of the airhostess and others would be enough reason for Orkut to act. But no corrective step has been taken yet. The fear is that one does not even need to publicly display one’s picture on the site for identity to be stolen. With increasing ubiquity of phone and digital cameras, the transfer of pictures to computers has become commonplace. All it takes for your character to be defamed is malicious intent, an Internet connection, and your picture on the perpetrator’s PC.
It’s not just about pictures. A 24-year-old television employee in Mumbai has stayed off social networking sites after someone hacked into her account and sent her online friends lewd messages from her account.
A sizeable majority of female Orkut users do confess to being stalked by male strangers, who bombard message books with overtures that range from ‘Do you want to make friendship’ to ‘Do you want to make love’. Nandeeta Seth, who works with a finance firm in Delhi, says, “I was scrapped by a few unknown women, but then found out that they were just men faking their way through.” Seth has now resorted to sending friends private messages, and not public ‘scraps’ — an Orkut message.
Even though the majority of users on Orkut are in their twenties, the site has become popular among schoolgoers, too. A class XI student of Delhi’s Sardar Patel School says, “There were only about 5 Orkut members in May in my school; there must be close to 300 now. They are mostly between classes 9th and 12th. You need to be at least 18 years of age to be on Orkut. So we have lied about our age.”
Just another online tool
Whether a community — virtual or real — would be good or bad is essentially in the hands of the members. Orkut itself hosts communities such as ‘Orkut Police’ and ‘We Hate Fake Profiles’, which trawl Orkut mobilising users against fraudsters.
Twenty-nine-year old Hemanshu Kumar, who teaches at the Delhi School of Economics, is an active Orkutian. He says, “Rather than demanding a blanket ban on Orkut, one needs to realise that one has a responsibility unto himself or herself. Such pages can easily be avoided and one needs to be careful about the personal information put up."
Kumar’s optimism is a result of his Orkut experience, which has been “overwhelmingly positive”. Orkut enabled Kumar to network with a number of Pakistanis through communities such as the Indo-Pak Friendship Club. When Kumar finally took the next step and travelled to Pakistan, he met a number the Pakistani Orkutians. He found that there were many on the other side who were willing to open their arms and homes. “Orkut gave me an opportunity to meet so-called ‘real’ people from Pakistan.”
Himani Ramachandran, who is studying filmmaking at Symbiosis in Pune, points toward other advantages. “We had organised a college fest and much of the publicity and organisation happened through Orkut. Kailash Kher was performing; we found all his Pune fans on Orkut and scrapped them about the details of the event.”
Gauri Ishwaran, principal of Sanskriti School, acknowledges that cyber-stalking is a painful reality. But she concedes, “Orkut is not a bad site for making friends.” Mehak Nair concurs passionately. “Thanks to Orkut, I have been able to get in touch with friends from the 1st standard,” she says. Nair, who believes she is now addicted to Orkut, says, “Life without Orkut would be painful and vacuous in the short-term.”
Much like the divergent opinions on the Orkut communities, the verdict on the social networking site itself clearly remains divided.
Email Shreevatsa Nevatia: shreevatsa@hindustantimes.com
Email Jatin Gandhi: jatin.gandhi@hindustantimes.com
Email Neha Mehta: neha.mehta@hindustantimes.com
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print.aspx?Id=332a925f-f3c6-4e63-b8ce-ee96721f7db6
© Copyright 2007 Hindustan Times
New Delhi, January 28, 2007
Like many of the past-forty generation, Jyoti Gupta (name changed) had no idea what online social networking meant. She also had no knowledge of its most popular face in India, orkut.com. Gupta was, however, rudely forced to cast aside her ignorance on December 31. “The phone rang every 5 minutes. There would be sex-crazed men on the other end, asking, ‘Do you look like the girl in the photo?’”
Convinced that this was a prank, Gupta chose to ignore the persistent pestering. But after being woken up many times at odd hours, she decided to do something about it. “We were getting calls from Singapore, Dubai and Canada. Most callers would mention the name of my neighbour’s 23-year-old daughter. Some would keep repeating the word ‘Orkut’. So I decided to ask what this was all about.”
When Gupta finally rang the bell next door, she found the neighbours distraught. The father, whose daughter works as an airhostess, tearfully confessed to having seen the offending profile of his daughter on Orkut, the social networking website. She had been made out to be a nymphomaniac, and worse still, the photographs on the site were of her in uniform. Adding insult to injury, the creator of the fake profile had given out the family’s precise address and the residential phone numbers of others who lived in the same central Delhi housing block.
Once the family reported the fake profile to Orkut, it was taken off. But it came back after only a couple of days, and it continues to be online to this day. At the direction of Kamini Lau, Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate of Delhi, a case has been registered. The Economic Offences Wing of the Delhi Police is conducting investigations and will present a report on February 9. The family of the airhostess did not want to be quoted until the investigations were over, but Gupta’s husband let slip one quip: “This is the dark side of Orkut.”
As of January 2006, 5 million of Orkut’s 40 million users were Indian. With the site becoming more popular in the country by the day, this number is estimated to have zoomed up. And with every new profile added, the scope of identity theft multiplies.
Online and paranoid
The ordeal of the Guptas and their neighbours is not unique. Last year, a 20-year-old undergraduate student of Bangalore’s MES College found her Orkut pictures morphed and posted as nudes. “She went into depression and would break down frequently,” recounts her teacher M. Archana. Finally, the girl’s peers and teachers were able to rid her of the trauma by explaining that it was all someone else’s doing.
Nalini Bhaskar, a Master’s candidate at the Delhi University, has started taking the precaution of blurring her online pictures. As a measure of the paranoia that surrounds Orkut at present, it is worthwhile to note that Bhaskar and several other Orkutians insisted on anonymity in this story.
Many are taking more drastic steps. Mehak Nair, a media professional in Mumbai, has taken all her pictures off Orkut. She says, “The it’s-alright-until-it-happens-to-me logic doesn’t apply anymore. A few months ago, a friend spotted another profile with my picture. I still haven’t found it, but it scares me.”
Copying and pasting of pictures is an option that can easily be made unavailable to users by Orkut’s administrators. The site, which is owned by Google, has circulated a feedback form asking users to suggest new features. If enough people tick the box saying ‘Restrict the copy and paste function of photos’, the service would be barred.
Numbers aside, one would assume that the plight of the airhostess and others would be enough reason for Orkut to act. But no corrective step has been taken yet. The fear is that one does not even need to publicly display one’s picture on the site for identity to be stolen. With increasing ubiquity of phone and digital cameras, the transfer of pictures to computers has become commonplace. All it takes for your character to be defamed is malicious intent, an Internet connection, and your picture on the perpetrator’s PC.
It’s not just about pictures. A 24-year-old television employee in Mumbai has stayed off social networking sites after someone hacked into her account and sent her online friends lewd messages from her account.
A sizeable majority of female Orkut users do confess to being stalked by male strangers, who bombard message books with overtures that range from ‘Do you want to make friendship’ to ‘Do you want to make love’. Nandeeta Seth, who works with a finance firm in Delhi, says, “I was scrapped by a few unknown women, but then found out that they were just men faking their way through.” Seth has now resorted to sending friends private messages, and not public ‘scraps’ — an Orkut message.
Even though the majority of users on Orkut are in their twenties, the site has become popular among schoolgoers, too. A class XI student of Delhi’s Sardar Patel School says, “There were only about 5 Orkut members in May in my school; there must be close to 300 now. They are mostly between classes 9th and 12th. You need to be at least 18 years of age to be on Orkut. So we have lied about our age.”
Just another online tool
Whether a community — virtual or real — would be good or bad is essentially in the hands of the members. Orkut itself hosts communities such as ‘Orkut Police’ and ‘We Hate Fake Profiles’, which trawl Orkut mobilising users against fraudsters.
Twenty-nine-year old Hemanshu Kumar, who teaches at the Delhi School of Economics, is an active Orkutian. He says, “Rather than demanding a blanket ban on Orkut, one needs to realise that one has a responsibility unto himself or herself. Such pages can easily be avoided and one needs to be careful about the personal information put up."
Kumar’s optimism is a result of his Orkut experience, which has been “overwhelmingly positive”. Orkut enabled Kumar to network with a number of Pakistanis through communities such as the Indo-Pak Friendship Club. When Kumar finally took the next step and travelled to Pakistan, he met a number the Pakistani Orkutians. He found that there were many on the other side who were willing to open their arms and homes. “Orkut gave me an opportunity to meet so-called ‘real’ people from Pakistan.”
Himani Ramachandran, who is studying filmmaking at Symbiosis in Pune, points toward other advantages. “We had organised a college fest and much of the publicity and organisation happened through Orkut. Kailash Kher was performing; we found all his Pune fans on Orkut and scrapped them about the details of the event.”
Gauri Ishwaran, principal of Sanskriti School, acknowledges that cyber-stalking is a painful reality. But she concedes, “Orkut is not a bad site for making friends.” Mehak Nair concurs passionately. “Thanks to Orkut, I have been able to get in touch with friends from the 1st standard,” she says. Nair, who believes she is now addicted to Orkut, says, “Life without Orkut would be painful and vacuous in the short-term.”
Much like the divergent opinions on the Orkut communities, the verdict on the social networking site itself clearly remains divided.
Email Shreevatsa Nevatia: shreevatsa@hindustantimes.com
Email Jatin Gandhi: jatin.gandhi@hindustantimes.com
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http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print.aspx?Id=332a925f-f3c6-4e63-b8ce-ee96721f7db6
© Copyright 2007 Hindustan Times
US stamp on Indian babudom
Jatin Gandhi
New Delhi, February 3, 2007
Indian bureaucrats now need an American stamp of approval before they can qualify as top brass. Starting this year, three US-based universities will train officers at different stages of their careers and only those who get a ‘satisfactory’ report will be empanelled for promotion.
The government has chosen the John F Kennedy School of Government (KSG) at Harvard University, Duke University, and Syracuse University to carry out the task. Initiated by the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, the move is a follow-up of the recommendations of an expert panel headed by YK Alagh. It is part of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s ambitious plan to revamp the bureaucracy.
The first module of training for 95 IAS officers with 28 years of service concluded last week. The four-week training programme on ‘Governance Challenges for India’ was held at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A) and was designed jointly with KSG.
The officers who attended it will need a certificate from KSG before they can move on to the next rank of additional secretary or secretary.
Many officers are angry. "There is a lot of irritation in the batch," a joint secretary who participated in the programme told Hindustan Times on Saturday. "Neither KSG nor IIM-A have the experience or competence to issue us certificates," the officer said.
Another officer said the programme was ‘out of context’. "The case studies were not from our situation. The complexities of India are very different," he said.
But the government is unfazed. On Wednesday, the ministry signed a similar agreement with Syracuse University, New York, and IIM Bangalore to train officers with 15 years of service in April. Duke University will conduct a programme for officers with nine years of service.
"There has been criticism... But this is just the beginning and things will get better," said LK Joshi, who signed the agreements as secretary of the ministry. Satyananda Mishra, who replaced Joshi as the ministry’s secretary on Thursday, was unavailable for comment.
E-mail Jatin Gandhi: jatin.gandhi@hindustantimes.com
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print.aspx?Id=937ab1ec-87f8-4b99-972d-750d87cf223c
© Copyright 2007 Hindustan Times
New Delhi, February 3, 2007
Indian bureaucrats now need an American stamp of approval before they can qualify as top brass. Starting this year, three US-based universities will train officers at different stages of their careers and only those who get a ‘satisfactory’ report will be empanelled for promotion.
The government has chosen the John F Kennedy School of Government (KSG) at Harvard University, Duke University, and Syracuse University to carry out the task. Initiated by the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, the move is a follow-up of the recommendations of an expert panel headed by YK Alagh. It is part of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s ambitious plan to revamp the bureaucracy.
The first module of training for 95 IAS officers with 28 years of service concluded last week. The four-week training programme on ‘Governance Challenges for India’ was held at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A) and was designed jointly with KSG.
The officers who attended it will need a certificate from KSG before they can move on to the next rank of additional secretary or secretary.
Many officers are angry. "There is a lot of irritation in the batch," a joint secretary who participated in the programme told Hindustan Times on Saturday. "Neither KSG nor IIM-A have the experience or competence to issue us certificates," the officer said.
Another officer said the programme was ‘out of context’. "The case studies were not from our situation. The complexities of India are very different," he said.
But the government is unfazed. On Wednesday, the ministry signed a similar agreement with Syracuse University, New York, and IIM Bangalore to train officers with 15 years of service in April. Duke University will conduct a programme for officers with nine years of service.
"There has been criticism... But this is just the beginning and things will get better," said LK Joshi, who signed the agreements as secretary of the ministry. Satyananda Mishra, who replaced Joshi as the ministry’s secretary on Thursday, was unavailable for comment.
E-mail Jatin Gandhi: jatin.gandhi@hindustantimes.com
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print.aspx?Id=937ab1ec-87f8-4b99-972d-750d87cf223c
© Copyright 2007 Hindustan Times
In Punjab politics, only the son rises
Jatin Gandhi
Chandigarh, February 9, 2007
When it comes to preferring sons to daughters, politicians in Punjab lead from the front. As the state goes to polls, the double speak of these leaders is evident.
The poll will see the debut of five politicians' sons but no daughters. Of the 1050 candidates contesting the polls, only 49 are women.
The Congress has fielded three first timers each who are sons of former ministers or prominent politicians.
Rajnish Kumar who's father Dr Kewal Krishan was the speaker in the Amarinder Singh government is in the fray from Mukerian. Former minister Balram Dass Arora's son Aman Arora pipped his sister Sonia Arora for the Congress ticket from Sunam. He will face sitting MLA Parminder Singh Dhindsa (who was incidentally is former Union Minister SS Dhindsa's son). Last time around it was the sister who had contested against Dhindsa and lost. The Banur seat has former minister Hansraj Sharma's son Rakesh Sharma contesting on the party ticket.
The Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal) has fielded former finance minister Capt Kanwaljit Singh's son Jasjit Singh from Kharar. Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) chief Simranjit Singh Mann has fielded his son Emman Singh Mann on the party's ticket from Sirhind.
"The message to the people is clear: if the political legacy is to be passed on, it must go to the son, not the daughter or daughter-in-law," says Dr Pramod Kumar, Director, Institute of Development and Communication (IDC). "So the wife or the daughter has to canvas actively for candidate but is rarely is the candidate herself," he adds.
The Congress has fielded 10 women, the SAD five and its alliance partner, the Bhartiya Janata Party, one. "Parties, that otherwise support 33 per cent reservation for women in their manifestoes, haven't fielded even 10 per cent women. The feudal ethos is reinforced in their lists," says Dr Pam Rajput, Director, Women's Resource and Advocacy Centre.
In principle, the parties are opposed to gender discrimination but not at the cost of seats. "We are against what people are doing to the girl child.
If we come to power, we are going to be strict against those who discriminate on the basis of gender," says Sukhbir Badal, General Secretary, SAD.
On why his party couldn't even field five per cent women, he says, "We try to give representation to all sections." For the SAD's heir apparent, women are only a section that needs representation.
Meanwhile, in the Congress too, chief minister Amarinder Singh's son Raninder Singh, who became general secretary of the Punjab Congress during Amarinder's regime, is preparing for the future.
Email Jatin Gandhi: jatin.gandhi@hindustantimes.com
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print.aspx?Id=67025475-18df-4dde-8fcb-cab339e4b732
© Copyright 2007 Hindustan Times
Chandigarh, February 9, 2007
When it comes to preferring sons to daughters, politicians in Punjab lead from the front. As the state goes to polls, the double speak of these leaders is evident.
The poll will see the debut of five politicians' sons but no daughters. Of the 1050 candidates contesting the polls, only 49 are women.
The Congress has fielded three first timers each who are sons of former ministers or prominent politicians.
Rajnish Kumar who's father Dr Kewal Krishan was the speaker in the Amarinder Singh government is in the fray from Mukerian. Former minister Balram Dass Arora's son Aman Arora pipped his sister Sonia Arora for the Congress ticket from Sunam. He will face sitting MLA Parminder Singh Dhindsa (who was incidentally is former Union Minister SS Dhindsa's son). Last time around it was the sister who had contested against Dhindsa and lost. The Banur seat has former minister Hansraj Sharma's son Rakesh Sharma contesting on the party ticket.
The Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal) has fielded former finance minister Capt Kanwaljit Singh's son Jasjit Singh from Kharar. Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) chief Simranjit Singh Mann has fielded his son Emman Singh Mann on the party's ticket from Sirhind.
"The message to the people is clear: if the political legacy is to be passed on, it must go to the son, not the daughter or daughter-in-law," says Dr Pramod Kumar, Director, Institute of Development and Communication (IDC). "So the wife or the daughter has to canvas actively for candidate but is rarely is the candidate herself," he adds.
The Congress has fielded 10 women, the SAD five and its alliance partner, the Bhartiya Janata Party, one. "Parties, that otherwise support 33 per cent reservation for women in their manifestoes, haven't fielded even 10 per cent women. The feudal ethos is reinforced in their lists," says Dr Pam Rajput, Director, Women's Resource and Advocacy Centre.
In principle, the parties are opposed to gender discrimination but not at the cost of seats. "We are against what people are doing to the girl child.
If we come to power, we are going to be strict against those who discriminate on the basis of gender," says Sukhbir Badal, General Secretary, SAD.
On why his party couldn't even field five per cent women, he says, "We try to give representation to all sections." For the SAD's heir apparent, women are only a section that needs representation.
Meanwhile, in the Congress too, chief minister Amarinder Singh's son Raninder Singh, who became general secretary of the Punjab Congress during Amarinder's regime, is preparing for the future.
Email Jatin Gandhi: jatin.gandhi@hindustantimes.com
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print.aspx?Id=67025475-18df-4dde-8fcb-cab339e4b732
© Copyright 2007 Hindustan Times
NRIs eye prosperity wave, pump in dollars
Jatin Gandhi
Hoshiarpur/Jalandhar
It is raining NRIs in Punjab. With India clocking an impressive growth rate and making waves the world over, an estimated 50,000 NRIs are in the state to throw their weight behind the candidates.
The community wants a stake in the prosperity wave and the easiest way to do it is to tap those who will rule the state for the next five years.
“This election is different from those in the past. For the first time, NRIs are supporting parties and their candidates on such a large scale,” says Resham Singh Hayer, president of the NRI Sabha, an association of NRIs that works for the community’s interest.
Hayer says the election has provided an opportunity to NRIs to visit their relatives and explore future prospects in Punjab at the same time. “There are more than 50,000 NRIs camping in Punjab this election,” says Manjit Singh Dasuya, senior vice-president of the North American unit of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD).
The unit, he says, is chipping in with both time and money for the electoral battle, but is not willing to reveal the amount that has been pumped in.
“The NRIs are spending their own money on the campaign and travel. Some have thrown lavish parties for candidates. Even if each one of them spends a few thousand dollars each, the money flowing in is enormous,” said Pritam Singh Narangpur, former president of NRI Sabha.
The lush expanse is making way for mega projects and malls and NRI investments are at an all- time high. Land prices have shot up from several thousands an acre from the last election to a few crores now. The community obviously wants a stake in the multiplying millions. “We left Punjab for better prospects abroad. If investing in Punjab means profits, why should our children live thousands of miles away from home,” said Mohan Singh, a transport business owner from Montreal, who has been camping in his native village Chabbewal for the past month to campaign for a friend.
“We want the government to promise that our investment will be safe. In return, we will campaign for them. Our village alone has 25 families with relatives abroad. Our word does matter,” he said.
Email Jatin Gandhi: jatin.gandhi@hindustantimes.com
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print.aspx?Id=c329523e-4200-4b7d-83f4-3e0e9d4005d2
© Copyright 2007 Hindustan Times
Hoshiarpur/Jalandhar
It is raining NRIs in Punjab. With India clocking an impressive growth rate and making waves the world over, an estimated 50,000 NRIs are in the state to throw their weight behind the candidates.
The community wants a stake in the prosperity wave and the easiest way to do it is to tap those who will rule the state for the next five years.
“This election is different from those in the past. For the first time, NRIs are supporting parties and their candidates on such a large scale,” says Resham Singh Hayer, president of the NRI Sabha, an association of NRIs that works for the community’s interest.
Hayer says the election has provided an opportunity to NRIs to visit their relatives and explore future prospects in Punjab at the same time. “There are more than 50,000 NRIs camping in Punjab this election,” says Manjit Singh Dasuya, senior vice-president of the North American unit of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD).
The unit, he says, is chipping in with both time and money for the electoral battle, but is not willing to reveal the amount that has been pumped in.
“The NRIs are spending their own money on the campaign and travel. Some have thrown lavish parties for candidates. Even if each one of them spends a few thousand dollars each, the money flowing in is enormous,” said Pritam Singh Narangpur, former president of NRI Sabha.
The lush expanse is making way for mega projects and malls and NRI investments are at an all- time high. Land prices have shot up from several thousands an acre from the last election to a few crores now. The community obviously wants a stake in the multiplying millions. “We left Punjab for better prospects abroad. If investing in Punjab means profits, why should our children live thousands of miles away from home,” said Mohan Singh, a transport business owner from Montreal, who has been camping in his native village Chabbewal for the past month to campaign for a friend.
“We want the government to promise that our investment will be safe. In return, we will campaign for them. Our village alone has 25 families with relatives abroad. Our word does matter,” he said.
Email Jatin Gandhi: jatin.gandhi@hindustantimes.com
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print.aspx?Id=c329523e-4200-4b7d-83f4-3e0e9d4005d2
© Copyright 2007 Hindustan Times
Saturday, May 19, 2007
The sweet, sweet taste of success ? or failure
Jatin Gandhi
Ludhiana, February 9, 2007
The tradition of supporters weighing candidates in coins is passé. Ladoos are in. Not only because these are cheaper but also because the candidate has no choice but to distribute the sweets he gets.
Satpal Gosain, who is contesting the election from Ludhiana East on the Bharatiya Janata Party ticket, has been weighed in ladoos twice in the last two days. “This is a new thing, earlier it was always coins,” says Pran Bhatia, Gosain’s associate.
The economics is simple. For a candidate weighing 80 kg — and there are many in the fray who weigh even more — distributing one rupee coins costs Rs. 8,000. Ladoos, at Rs. 40 a kilo are much cheaper. “Coins are used as campaign funds but the ladoos get distributed there and then. How many ladoos can a candidate take with him?” quips Neelam Kapoor, whose brother Harish Rai Dhanda is the SAD candidate from Ludhiana West. Dhanda, she says, has been weighed in ladoos, sometimes coins and once even in dry-fruit.
Agricultural commission agents in Fazilka constituency of Ferozepur weighed Congress candidate and sitting MLA Mohinder Kumar Rinwa, 43 times over a span of two days, mostly in ladoos. The agents who preferred ladoos to coins ended up saving over Rs 1.5 lakh.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print.aspx?Id=c2a687c9-1df5-4ea3-abe5-56586e50766a
© Copyright 2007 Hindustan Times
Ludhiana, February 9, 2007
The tradition of supporters weighing candidates in coins is passé. Ladoos are in. Not only because these are cheaper but also because the candidate has no choice but to distribute the sweets he gets.
Satpal Gosain, who is contesting the election from Ludhiana East on the Bharatiya Janata Party ticket, has been weighed in ladoos twice in the last two days. “This is a new thing, earlier it was always coins,” says Pran Bhatia, Gosain’s associate.
The economics is simple. For a candidate weighing 80 kg — and there are many in the fray who weigh even more — distributing one rupee coins costs Rs. 8,000. Ladoos, at Rs. 40 a kilo are much cheaper. “Coins are used as campaign funds but the ladoos get distributed there and then. How many ladoos can a candidate take with him?” quips Neelam Kapoor, whose brother Harish Rai Dhanda is the SAD candidate from Ludhiana West. Dhanda, she says, has been weighed in ladoos, sometimes coins and once even in dry-fruit.
Agricultural commission agents in Fazilka constituency of Ferozepur weighed Congress candidate and sitting MLA Mohinder Kumar Rinwa, 43 times over a span of two days, mostly in ladoos. The agents who preferred ladoos to coins ended up saving over Rs 1.5 lakh.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print.aspx?Id=c2a687c9-1df5-4ea3-abe5-56586e50766a
© Copyright 2007 Hindustan Times
Railways pull the chain on disabled
Jatin Gandhi
New Delhi, April 7, 2007
Tarlochan Singh Bhatia, 47, needs crutches to walk. Despite his disability, Bhatia has been the proud breadwinner of his family for the past 19 years.
But lately his self-assurance has given way to a mix of anxiety and insecurity . Before the month ends, the phone booth he runs at the New Delhi Railway Station will be allotted to someone else. Girish Menon, 48, who runs a phone booth at railway station, told HT: "If they don't extend our contracts, we are doomed."
The Railway Board has scrapped the scheme under which the disabled were allotted phone booths. "The agreement ends on April 27. The ministry has refused to extend it. I cannot think of anything beyond this booth. I have no other means of livelihood,"says Bhatia.
The booths were allotted under a central scheme to rehabilitate the disabled in 1981, the International Year of the Disabled. Like Bhatia, there are about 10,000 other booth owners across the country For all of them, this will be the cruellest April of their lives.
Vayalar Ravi, minister for overseas affairs, had written to Railway Minister Lalu Prasad in November 2006 seeking an extension for the disabled booth owners. In his reply on February 26, 2007, Lalu said: "There is no proposal for further extension of the contracts of these booth holders."
Girish Menon, 48, who runs a phone booth at Ernakulam railway station, told HT: "If they don't extend our contracts, we are doomed." As general secretary of the Indian Railway Public Telephone Booth Holders Association (Handicapped Persons), Menon had also petitioned the railway minister in March to reconsider the vacation notices. However, ministry sources confirmed that the decision was unlikely to change.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print.aspx?Id=b700c669-6810-4b54-9906-4aff7e02d805
© Copyright 2007 Hindustan Times
New Delhi, April 7, 2007
Tarlochan Singh Bhatia, 47, needs crutches to walk. Despite his disability, Bhatia has been the proud breadwinner of his family for the past 19 years.
But lately his self-assurance has given way to a mix of anxiety and insecurity . Before the month ends, the phone booth he runs at the New Delhi Railway Station will be allotted to someone else. Girish Menon, 48, who runs a phone booth at railway station, told HT: "If they don't extend our contracts, we are doomed."
The Railway Board has scrapped the scheme under which the disabled were allotted phone booths. "The agreement ends on April 27. The ministry has refused to extend it. I cannot think of anything beyond this booth. I have no other means of livelihood,"says Bhatia.
The booths were allotted under a central scheme to rehabilitate the disabled in 1981, the International Year of the Disabled. Like Bhatia, there are about 10,000 other booth owners across the country For all of them, this will be the cruellest April of their lives.
Vayalar Ravi, minister for overseas affairs, had written to Railway Minister Lalu Prasad in November 2006 seeking an extension for the disabled booth owners. In his reply on February 26, 2007, Lalu said: "There is no proposal for further extension of the contracts of these booth holders."
Girish Menon, 48, who runs a phone booth at Ernakulam railway station, told HT: "If they don't extend our contracts, we are doomed." As general secretary of the Indian Railway Public Telephone Booth Holders Association (Handicapped Persons), Menon had also petitioned the railway minister in March to reconsider the vacation notices. However, ministry sources confirmed that the decision was unlikely to change.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print.aspx?Id=b700c669-6810-4b54-9906-4aff7e02d805
© Copyright 2007 Hindustan Times
Party hoppers rebel for a cause: tickets
Jatin Gandhi
February 14, 2007
Ludhiana
The Aya Ram-gaya Ram experience might have once been strictly confined to Haryana — the state carved out of Punjab in 1966 — but political turncoats in the parent state are trying hard to reclaim the honour these days.
Till a few days ago, more than a dozen candidates in Punjab did not belong to the parties they are contesting from today. The Shiromani Akali Dal and the Bharatiya Janata Party are diametrically opposed to the ideology of the Congress. But that has not prevented either of them from fielding the rebels from the rival parties.
Congress MLA from Muktsar, Sukhdarshan Singh Marar is one instance. Contesting these days on an Akali ticket, Marar had won the 2002 elections as an Independent. He then joined the Congress before switching to the SAD. Rivaling his ideological leap is Gurbachan Singh Babbehali, the SAD candidate from Gurdaspur.
“The Congress will lose. Its rule in the state has been corruption-ridden and there has been no development,” he says. Babbehali, incidentally, had cited his “loyalty and faith in the policies of the Congress” to apply for a party ticket last month. He was then the general secretary of the party’s state unit. “But I am with the Akalis now," he points out, when reminded of his former ties with the Congress.
Babbehali faces former Delhi Police Commissioner P.S. Bhinder in the Feb ruary 13 contest. Bhinder is the Congress candidate. Till recently, he was a bitter critic of the Congress’s handling of the militancy in the state.
Then there is former militant and All India Sikh Students' Federation president Harminder Singh Gill — confidante of Khalistan votary Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale who was killed in Operation Bluestar — now the Congress candidate from Patti in Amritsar. He faces Adesh Pratap Singh Kairon of the SAD. Kairon is the grandson of former chief minister and arguably the most powerful Congress leader Punjab has seen — Pratap Singh Kairon.
The list goes on. Rajpura Congress MLA Raj Khurana got saffronised just before the election. He is in the race as a BJP man this time. Congress candidate from Pacca Kalan in Bathinda, Makhan Singh, thought the Congress was anti-Punjab till last month, when he was an Akali.
Bahujan Samaj Party candidate from Dhuri in Sangrur, Dhanwant Singh Dhuri, has left the Congress thrice. Former SAD MP Prem Singh Chandumajra hhad left the party but returned just in time last month to get the party ticket from Lehra.
The SAD MLA from Shatrana in Patiala, Nirmal Singh, is now a Congress candidate. While the party lost Singh to the Congress, it welcomed Con gressman Master Hamir Singh Ghagga. Singh and Ghagga are both pitched against each other in the electoral battle, just like they were in 2002. Only, they have swapped parties. SAD general secretary Sukhbir Singh Badal, who insiders say had the biggest say in deciding the candidates for the party, says ‘winnability’ is the sole reason guiding ticket distribution.
Satirist Jaspal Bhatti has his own take on the phenomenon. In this land of turncoats, he says, the colour of the turban determines your company: blue for Akalis, white for the Congress. Bhatti suggests politicians learn the art of dyeing turbans or hire their own dyers.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print.aspx?Id=ffdaada5-7ae6-4763-934c-ec3accc826b3
© Copyright 2007 Hindustan Times
February 14, 2007
Ludhiana
The Aya Ram-gaya Ram experience might have once been strictly confined to Haryana — the state carved out of Punjab in 1966 — but political turncoats in the parent state are trying hard to reclaim the honour these days.
Till a few days ago, more than a dozen candidates in Punjab did not belong to the parties they are contesting from today. The Shiromani Akali Dal and the Bharatiya Janata Party are diametrically opposed to the ideology of the Congress. But that has not prevented either of them from fielding the rebels from the rival parties.
Congress MLA from Muktsar, Sukhdarshan Singh Marar is one instance. Contesting these days on an Akali ticket, Marar had won the 2002 elections as an Independent. He then joined the Congress before switching to the SAD. Rivaling his ideological leap is Gurbachan Singh Babbehali, the SAD candidate from Gurdaspur.
“The Congress will lose. Its rule in the state has been corruption-ridden and there has been no development,” he says. Babbehali, incidentally, had cited his “loyalty and faith in the policies of the Congress” to apply for a party ticket last month. He was then the general secretary of the party’s state unit. “But I am with the Akalis now," he points out, when reminded of his former ties with the Congress.
Babbehali faces former Delhi Police Commissioner P.S. Bhinder in the Feb ruary 13 contest. Bhinder is the Congress candidate. Till recently, he was a bitter critic of the Congress’s handling of the militancy in the state.
Then there is former militant and All India Sikh Students' Federation president Harminder Singh Gill — confidante of Khalistan votary Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale who was killed in Operation Bluestar — now the Congress candidate from Patti in Amritsar. He faces Adesh Pratap Singh Kairon of the SAD. Kairon is the grandson of former chief minister and arguably the most powerful Congress leader Punjab has seen — Pratap Singh Kairon.
The list goes on. Rajpura Congress MLA Raj Khurana got saffronised just before the election. He is in the race as a BJP man this time. Congress candidate from Pacca Kalan in Bathinda, Makhan Singh, thought the Congress was anti-Punjab till last month, when he was an Akali.
Bahujan Samaj Party candidate from Dhuri in Sangrur, Dhanwant Singh Dhuri, has left the Congress thrice. Former SAD MP Prem Singh Chandumajra hhad left the party but returned just in time last month to get the party ticket from Lehra.
The SAD MLA from Shatrana in Patiala, Nirmal Singh, is now a Congress candidate. While the party lost Singh to the Congress, it welcomed Con gressman Master Hamir Singh Ghagga. Singh and Ghagga are both pitched against each other in the electoral battle, just like they were in 2002. Only, they have swapped parties. SAD general secretary Sukhbir Singh Badal, who insiders say had the biggest say in deciding the candidates for the party, says ‘winnability’ is the sole reason guiding ticket distribution.
Satirist Jaspal Bhatti has his own take on the phenomenon. In this land of turncoats, he says, the colour of the turban determines your company: blue for Akalis, white for the Congress. Bhatti suggests politicians learn the art of dyeing turbans or hire their own dyers.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print.aspx?Id=ffdaada5-7ae6-4763-934c-ec3accc826b3
© Copyright 2007 Hindustan Times
Uma Bharti's new hues
Jatin Gandhi
April 21, 2007
Catch her on an aircraft and she will talk endlessly about her fear of flying. But, that has neither stopped Uma Bharti from flying high nor prevented her from campaigning in a chopper. Before she gets into the elevator, she gets two of her security guards to firmly hold back the elevator doors.
Then, like a little girl, she jumps in scared. "Mujhe lift se bhi bahut dar lagta hai (I am scared of the lift too)," she tells you. But Ms Bharti wanted to move up the political ladder in the Bharatiya Janata Party so fast that she dumped it for a political elevator: She floated her own BJP - the Bharatiya Janashakti Party - in April last year. She is a sanyasin fond of fast cars.
That's how Bharti is, "full of contradictions," remarks a seasoned politician who has seen her for years. "I am the real BJP," she had declared after being expelled from the original BJP in December 2005. When she floated her own party in Ujjain on April 30, 2006, she said her party would fight against the BJP's misuse of Hindutva for political gain.
Less than a year later, and contradicting herself once again, Bharti withdrew all her party's candidates from the ongoing Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections "to prevent a split in the Hindu vote" in favour of the original BJP. Her move left former Delhi Chief Minister Madan Lal Khurana in a state of shock.
The next day, on April l4, he announced his resignation from Bharti's BJP of which he was vice-president. "I am deeply disappointed. I don't think I will be able to talk about this for a month or maybe even longer," he says. He goes on to add that he has felt completely 'let down if not betrayed' by Bharti's move to side with the party that shunned them.
Despite denials, Bharti's move is being seen as a comeback bid backed by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad's Ashok Singhal. Insiders say it wn not be easy for her pull this off, with not many in the party's top rung happy to see her back. It is not that she has never been able to pull off a victory She was elected to the Lok Sabha five times riding the Hindutva wave. The BJP, led by Bharti, swept a historic win in the December 2003 Madhya Pradesh assembly elections ending the decade-old Congress regime.
The nun ascended to the chief minister's throne to become the first woman in the state to do so. She has had her share of setbacks too. Within a year of becoming CM, a nonbailable warrant was issued against her in the Hubli rioting case and she was forced to resign from the post. As per her wishes, Babulal Gaur succeeded her When a Karnataka court exonerated her, Bharti's supporters wanted her back as CM, but the party gave the post to Vidisha MP Shivraj Singh Chouhan.
In 1984, when she contested the Lok Sabha poll for the first time, Bharti had lost to the sympathy wave in favour of the Congress generated by Indira Gandhi's death.
Her candidates could not win the Bada Ma1hera assembly seat and also lost the Lok Sabha bypolls for Rae Bareli, Vidisha and Bhagalpur. It remains to be seen whether Bharti's move to pull out her candidates in favour of the BJP is a winning one.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print.aspx?Id=ab74e10b-f30f-4d2b-a620-cabbd1d23732
© Copyright 2007 Hindustan Times
April 21, 2007
Catch her on an aircraft and she will talk endlessly about her fear of flying. But, that has neither stopped Uma Bharti from flying high nor prevented her from campaigning in a chopper. Before she gets into the elevator, she gets two of her security guards to firmly hold back the elevator doors.
Then, like a little girl, she jumps in scared. "Mujhe lift se bhi bahut dar lagta hai (I am scared of the lift too)," she tells you. But Ms Bharti wanted to move up the political ladder in the Bharatiya Janata Party so fast that she dumped it for a political elevator: She floated her own BJP - the Bharatiya Janashakti Party - in April last year. She is a sanyasin fond of fast cars.
That's how Bharti is, "full of contradictions," remarks a seasoned politician who has seen her for years. "I am the real BJP," she had declared after being expelled from the original BJP in December 2005. When she floated her own party in Ujjain on April 30, 2006, she said her party would fight against the BJP's misuse of Hindutva for political gain.
Less than a year later, and contradicting herself once again, Bharti withdrew all her party's candidates from the ongoing Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections "to prevent a split in the Hindu vote" in favour of the original BJP. Her move left former Delhi Chief Minister Madan Lal Khurana in a state of shock.
The next day, on April l4, he announced his resignation from Bharti's BJP of which he was vice-president. "I am deeply disappointed. I don't think I will be able to talk about this for a month or maybe even longer," he says. He goes on to add that he has felt completely 'let down if not betrayed' by Bharti's move to side with the party that shunned them.
Despite denials, Bharti's move is being seen as a comeback bid backed by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad's Ashok Singhal. Insiders say it wn not be easy for her pull this off, with not many in the party's top rung happy to see her back. It is not that she has never been able to pull off a victory She was elected to the Lok Sabha five times riding the Hindutva wave. The BJP, led by Bharti, swept a historic win in the December 2003 Madhya Pradesh assembly elections ending the decade-old Congress regime.
The nun ascended to the chief minister's throne to become the first woman in the state to do so. She has had her share of setbacks too. Within a year of becoming CM, a nonbailable warrant was issued against her in the Hubli rioting case and she was forced to resign from the post. As per her wishes, Babulal Gaur succeeded her When a Karnataka court exonerated her, Bharti's supporters wanted her back as CM, but the party gave the post to Vidisha MP Shivraj Singh Chouhan.
In 1984, when she contested the Lok Sabha poll for the first time, Bharti had lost to the sympathy wave in favour of the Congress generated by Indira Gandhi's death.
Her candidates could not win the Bada Ma1hera assembly seat and also lost the Lok Sabha bypolls for Rae Bareli, Vidisha and Bhagalpur. It remains to be seen whether Bharti's move to pull out her candidates in favour of the BJP is a winning one.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print.aspx?Id=ab74e10b-f30f-4d2b-a620-cabbd1d23732
© Copyright 2007 Hindustan Times
Naxals to attack Special Economic Zones: report
Jatin Gandhi
Email Author
New Delhi, April 20, 2007
Naxals to attack Special Economic Zones: reports
Naxals have resolved to attack Special Economic Zones (SEZs) and their promoters in the country, a secret intelligence report sent to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has warned.
The secret report warns that Naxals “have seriously decided to take on SEZs and their promoters and this it is believed will be the first attack on global imperialism.” It adds that the Naxals believe that the success of the attack is “very crucial for the survival of the movement in the 21st century.”
Spelling out the government’s concern, a senior home ministry official told HT on Saturday: “The Naxals are trying to focus on people who are losing their land to SEZs. It is an emotive issue and such people are likely to listen to just about anyone who tries to sway them.”
Sources in the ministry added that Naxal activities in the country have gone down except in Chhatisgarh and the Naxals are desperate to fuel the movement.
Confirming the Naxals’ stance, CPI(Mao) leader Varavara Rao, said the decision to oppose the setting up of SEZs was taken at the ninth Unity Congress of the Naxals that was held at a secret location earlier this year. “A resolution was passed. We are opposing SEZs because these are nothing but implementation of the World Bank’s constitution,” Rao said.
The report also points out at the moderate and educated leaders among the Naxals are losing grip over the movement giving way to “criminal and lumpen elements”. This development signals at Naxal strikes getting bloodier in the future, sources said.
The meeting of the Coordination Centre for Anti Naxal Operations headed by the Union Home Secretary and comprising chief secretaries and Directors General of Police will be held in New Delhi on April 26, sources in the ministry said.
Sources said the government is focusing its attention on the new threat and the issue will figure in a big way in the meeting. The meeting was earlier scheduled for April 24 in Raipur but it was decided to reschedule it for April 26 and the venue was changed to Delhi.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print.aspx?Id=240f3899-7fd9-4329-bc6e-b65fd9031cad
© Copyright 2007 Hindustan Times
Email Author
New Delhi, April 20, 2007
Naxals to attack Special Economic Zones: reports
Naxals have resolved to attack Special Economic Zones (SEZs) and their promoters in the country, a secret intelligence report sent to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has warned.
The secret report warns that Naxals “have seriously decided to take on SEZs and their promoters and this it is believed will be the first attack on global imperialism.” It adds that the Naxals believe that the success of the attack is “very crucial for the survival of the movement in the 21st century.”
Spelling out the government’s concern, a senior home ministry official told HT on Saturday: “The Naxals are trying to focus on people who are losing their land to SEZs. It is an emotive issue and such people are likely to listen to just about anyone who tries to sway them.”
Sources in the ministry added that Naxal activities in the country have gone down except in Chhatisgarh and the Naxals are desperate to fuel the movement.
Confirming the Naxals’ stance, CPI(Mao) leader Varavara Rao, said the decision to oppose the setting up of SEZs was taken at the ninth Unity Congress of the Naxals that was held at a secret location earlier this year. “A resolution was passed. We are opposing SEZs because these are nothing but implementation of the World Bank’s constitution,” Rao said.
The report also points out at the moderate and educated leaders among the Naxals are losing grip over the movement giving way to “criminal and lumpen elements”. This development signals at Naxal strikes getting bloodier in the future, sources said.
The meeting of the Coordination Centre for Anti Naxal Operations headed by the Union Home Secretary and comprising chief secretaries and Directors General of Police will be held in New Delhi on April 26, sources in the ministry said.
Sources said the government is focusing its attention on the new threat and the issue will figure in a big way in the meeting. The meeting was earlier scheduled for April 24 in Raipur but it was decided to reschedule it for April 26 and the venue was changed to Delhi.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print.aspx?Id=240f3899-7fd9-4329-bc6e-b65fd9031cad
© Copyright 2007 Hindustan Times
Small cities to have five star hotels
Jatin Gandhi
New Delhi, May 04, 2007
Call it the trickle down effect. By 2010 or so, travellers to smaller cities like Bathinda, Indore, Jalpaiguri or Surat would have the luxury of staying in five star hotels.
Zoom Developers, a real estate company is planning to set up five stars in places like Bathinda, Indore and Kochi. Bhagwati Banquets and Hotels Limited will develop a 100-room five-star hotel in Surat. Jalandhar may soon have its second five star hotel soon.
"There are as many as six five-star hotels coming up in different places in Kerala," says Kamal Sharma, secretary general of the Federation of Hotel and Restaurants Association of India (FHRAI). "Most five stars are coming up in places that are in tourists destinations or have big commercial enterprises like SEZs coming up," Sharma adds.
With the economy booming and the fact that the middle class travells more for work and leisure, hotel occupancy rates are at an all time high. Industry watchers say the hotel industry is poised for maximum growth in smaller cities in the coming years.
According to a study conducted by FICCI and Evalueserve, the revenue per available room in the country increased last year to Rs 3,765 from Rs 2,966 in 2005, registering an increase of nearly 30 per cent. While average room rates increased from Rs 4876 to Rs 6206 in the same period. Everybody wants to cash in on the boom.
"The hotel industry is booming because of the real estate boom and we wanted to encash the opportunity as well. There is bigger potential for growth in smaller towns," says Pradeep Jain, chairman, Parsvanath Developers Private Limited. The company, initially a real estate developer too has entered the hotel business. It is now setting up hotel projects in Ujjain, Haridwar, Indore, Lucknow, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad and Kochi. Jain adds that the growth in the industry will be largely in tier-2 and tier-3 cities in the next five years or so.
Zoom Developers is also setting up 20 budget category hotels in cities such as Raipur, Bilaspur, Bhubaneshwar and Nagpur. "The shortage of rooms in smaller towns is around 61,000 right now. The gap between demand and supply is expected to widen further," says Ramneek Bawa, the company's CEO.
"As of March 31, 2007, the average demand for hotel rooms in smaller cities was 120 per cent as compared to about 90 per cent in bigger cities. The hotel trade in smaller cities is expected to grow at 8.8 per cent. So we decided to enter the hotel industry," Bawa adds.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print.aspx?Id=03d52c9e-3f45-4690-bc84-50f9e3e57a2e
© Copyright 2007 Hindustan Times
New Delhi, May 04, 2007
Call it the trickle down effect. By 2010 or so, travellers to smaller cities like Bathinda, Indore, Jalpaiguri or Surat would have the luxury of staying in five star hotels.
Zoom Developers, a real estate company is planning to set up five stars in places like Bathinda, Indore and Kochi. Bhagwati Banquets and Hotels Limited will develop a 100-room five-star hotel in Surat. Jalandhar may soon have its second five star hotel soon.
"There are as many as six five-star hotels coming up in different places in Kerala," says Kamal Sharma, secretary general of the Federation of Hotel and Restaurants Association of India (FHRAI). "Most five stars are coming up in places that are in tourists destinations or have big commercial enterprises like SEZs coming up," Sharma adds.
With the economy booming and the fact that the middle class travells more for work and leisure, hotel occupancy rates are at an all time high. Industry watchers say the hotel industry is poised for maximum growth in smaller cities in the coming years.
According to a study conducted by FICCI and Evalueserve, the revenue per available room in the country increased last year to Rs 3,765 from Rs 2,966 in 2005, registering an increase of nearly 30 per cent. While average room rates increased from Rs 4876 to Rs 6206 in the same period. Everybody wants to cash in on the boom.
"The hotel industry is booming because of the real estate boom and we wanted to encash the opportunity as well. There is bigger potential for growth in smaller towns," says Pradeep Jain, chairman, Parsvanath Developers Private Limited. The company, initially a real estate developer too has entered the hotel business. It is now setting up hotel projects in Ujjain, Haridwar, Indore, Lucknow, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad and Kochi. Jain adds that the growth in the industry will be largely in tier-2 and tier-3 cities in the next five years or so.
Zoom Developers is also setting up 20 budget category hotels in cities such as Raipur, Bilaspur, Bhubaneshwar and Nagpur. "The shortage of rooms in smaller towns is around 61,000 right now. The gap between demand and supply is expected to widen further," says Ramneek Bawa, the company's CEO.
"As of March 31, 2007, the average demand for hotel rooms in smaller cities was 120 per cent as compared to about 90 per cent in bigger cities. The hotel trade in smaller cities is expected to grow at 8.8 per cent. So we decided to enter the hotel industry," Bawa adds.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print.aspx?Id=03d52c9e-3f45-4690-bc84-50f9e3e57a2e
© Copyright 2007 Hindustan Times
Vote to make Taj one among the 7 wonders
Jatin Gandhi, Hindustan Times
New Delhi, May 18, 2007
Vote to make Taj one among the 7 wonders
It's a string of sevens that India would surely want to be a part of. On 7/7/7, or July 7 if you please, the world will get its new seven wonders of the world. And, among the list of probables is India's own, Taj Mahal. The catch, however, is that the Taj needs nearly 30 crore votes to make it to the list.
Millions across the globe are expected to vote online or on phone till July 6 to select the seven new wonders from a list of 21. The campaign to replace the old wonders of the world – of which only the pyramids of Egypt remain – is being run by a privately funded organisation from Zurich in Switzerland, The New7Wonders Foundation (N7W). The list includes the Taj Mahal, The Great Wall of China, Chichen Itza in Mexico, Japan's Kiyomizu Temple, Machu Picchu in Peru, The Easter Island Statue – Chile, Kiyomizu Temple in Japan, The Sydney Opera House, The Statue of Liberty, The Eiffel Tower in Paris and the city of Timbuktu in Mali. With, the Pyramids already there in the list, there are just six slots to be filled.
The N7W campaign began in 2001. At the end of 2005, the N7W panel chose 21 candidates from the top 77 nominees that had earned the most votes, and these 21 are now in the final stage of the competition. The official N7W 21 finalist candidates were announced by the panel's President and former UNESCO Director General, Prof Federico Mayor, on January 1, 2006 in Zurich. The new list will be announced at a ceremony in Lisbon, Portugal, on July 7.
Interestingly, while the new wonders will be drawn after millions across the globe vote their favourites, the original seven wonders of the world were listed by one man, Philon of Byzantium in 200 BC. He chose the Lighthouse of Alexandria, the Temple of Artemis, Zeus’s statue, Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus and the Pyramids of Egypt. For the last 500 years or so, only the Pyramids remain and the new list will be out in less than seven weeks from now.
The problem for getting the Taj on the list on the new wonders of the world is that though India has the numbers, internet penetration and awareness about the ongoing campaign are rather low. "When the list of 21 was drawn, Taj Mahal ranked the 20th. It received only 1.6 per cent of the total votes. It was really a close shave," says Bharat Kapadia, Executive Director, I Media Corporation Limited (IMCL) – the company that will launch the Vote for Taj campaign on May 21.
"AR Rahman has composed a special anthem for the campaign to put the Taj on the list. It will be played on TV. We are also planning 15-city concerts. The idea is to generate a nation-wide wave," Kapadia adds. "It is very tough to get the required numbers. We estimate 30 crore votes should take Taj Mahal to the top of the list," he adds. The country has roughly half that number of mobile, landline and internet connections. Converting these numbers into votes is the challenge.
(with inputs from Gaurav Bhagowati)
How to vote for the Taj:
SMS on 4567 or call landline number 1255545 to register your vote. To do it online, log on to www.indiainfo.com
© Copyright 2007 Hindustan Times
New Delhi, May 18, 2007
Vote to make Taj one among the 7 wonders
It's a string of sevens that India would surely want to be a part of. On 7/7/7, or July 7 if you please, the world will get its new seven wonders of the world. And, among the list of probables is India's own, Taj Mahal. The catch, however, is that the Taj needs nearly 30 crore votes to make it to the list.
Millions across the globe are expected to vote online or on phone till July 6 to select the seven new wonders from a list of 21. The campaign to replace the old wonders of the world – of which only the pyramids of Egypt remain – is being run by a privately funded organisation from Zurich in Switzerland, The New7Wonders Foundation (N7W). The list includes the Taj Mahal, The Great Wall of China, Chichen Itza in Mexico, Japan's Kiyomizu Temple, Machu Picchu in Peru, The Easter Island Statue – Chile, Kiyomizu Temple in Japan, The Sydney Opera House, The Statue of Liberty, The Eiffel Tower in Paris and the city of Timbuktu in Mali. With, the Pyramids already there in the list, there are just six slots to be filled.
The N7W campaign began in 2001. At the end of 2005, the N7W panel chose 21 candidates from the top 77 nominees that had earned the most votes, and these 21 are now in the final stage of the competition. The official N7W 21 finalist candidates were announced by the panel's President and former UNESCO Director General, Prof Federico Mayor, on January 1, 2006 in Zurich. The new list will be announced at a ceremony in Lisbon, Portugal, on July 7.
Interestingly, while the new wonders will be drawn after millions across the globe vote their favourites, the original seven wonders of the world were listed by one man, Philon of Byzantium in 200 BC. He chose the Lighthouse of Alexandria, the Temple of Artemis, Zeus’s statue, Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus and the Pyramids of Egypt. For the last 500 years or so, only the Pyramids remain and the new list will be out in less than seven weeks from now.
The problem for getting the Taj on the list on the new wonders of the world is that though India has the numbers, internet penetration and awareness about the ongoing campaign are rather low. "When the list of 21 was drawn, Taj Mahal ranked the 20th. It received only 1.6 per cent of the total votes. It was really a close shave," says Bharat Kapadia, Executive Director, I Media Corporation Limited (IMCL) – the company that will launch the Vote for Taj campaign on May 21.
"AR Rahman has composed a special anthem for the campaign to put the Taj on the list. It will be played on TV. We are also planning 15-city concerts. The idea is to generate a nation-wide wave," Kapadia adds. "It is very tough to get the required numbers. We estimate 30 crore votes should take Taj Mahal to the top of the list," he adds. The country has roughly half that number of mobile, landline and internet connections. Converting these numbers into votes is the challenge.
(with inputs from Gaurav Bhagowati)
How to vote for the Taj:
SMS on 4567 or call landline number 1255545 to register your vote. To do it online, log on to www.indiainfo.com
© Copyright 2007 Hindustan Times
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