DARJEELING HILLS: GJM bandh paralyses Darjeeling, agitators damage 6 vehicles
FROM DECCAN CHRONICLE
Siliguri, May 15: The 48-hour bandh called by Gorkha Janamukti Morcha crippled life in Darjeeling hills on Saturday, even as suspected members of the outfit damaged six vehicles on a highway connecting the region to Sikkim, police said. “The attack on six private vehicles on NH 31A, the road link to Sikkim, might have been carried out by members of Highway Protection Committee, an unofficial wing of GJM, to tactically enforce the bandh without directly violating the Supreme Court order to keep the highway out of the purview of shutdowns,” IGP (North Bengal) Mr K.L. Tamta, said.
The highway was open, but movement of vehicles to Sikkim was less than normal as the news of the attack on the vehicles spread, Mr Tamta said.
Meanwhile, the three hill sub-divisions of Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Kurseong wore a deserted look with all shops, markets and business establishments closed and vehicles keeping off the roads. With the administrative-level tripartite talks on Gorkhaland failing to yield results, the GJM has revived its agitation for a separate state. The party has called a separate 10-day bandh on June 12 in Siliguri. GJM general secretary Roshan Giri told PTI that the party has been “forced” to renew its demand for Gorkhaland as both the state and the Centre was not ready to consider its demand for demarcation of territory for the proposed interim hill council, which has demanded inclusion of Siliguri and adjoining areas in the Dooars and Terai.
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Listen to the mountains speak
BY SHONALI MUTHALALY
Looking for a rejuvenating holiday in the Himalayas, off the tourist traps, where you can connect with nature and parts of yourself that you had forgotten? Look no further…
It is a chilly 3 a.m. Yet, I find myself slouching grouchily through a garden brandishing a frightfully pink yoga mat. Surrounded by nauseatingly cheerful people: A fiesta of track pants, tattoos and chic, jewelled turbans.
Spiritual Rishikesh is not easy to love. Certainly not at first sight. Not if your mantra is materialism, at any rate. Or if your idea of a holiday involves croissants in bed at 11.00 a.m.
Yet, by 4.00 a.m., we're meditating in cross-legged silence on a stony floor, 'awakening our chakras'. Well, some of us are. My chakras only respond to mochaccinos. Fortunately, no one frowns on Shavasana, that deliciously languid yoga posture. So I lie down and sneakily nap till breakfast.
And a good thing too.
We're at Parmarth Niketan, set in Rishikesh's Swarg Ashram area on the east bank of the Ganga. Where the action never stops.
Signing up with 'Connect With Himalaya' for a healthy, holistic holiday, I imagine spas, boutiques and river cafes. I quickly learn that Gaurav Punj's idea of rejuvenation differs vastly from mine. (In hindsight, I should have got suspicious when his packing list included an LED torch, Electral packets and running shoes instead of eyelash curlers, body shimmer and stilettos.)
Ideal setting
Our power-holiday begins at Parmath, where Rishikesh's annual International Yoga Festival is in full swing. Resting at the foothills of the Himalaya, beside India's most holy river, Rishikesh has drawn the spiritually inclined for centuries: powerful mystics seeking solitude, yogis training their bodies into lithe time-capsules, troubled truth seekers desperate for redemption.
They came quietly, setting up kutirs in caves and rocks, living lives dedicated to silence. Then in 1968, The Beatles visited Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's ashram (now closed), and introduced Rishikesh to the Western world. Suddenly India, specifically this sleepy town, was the cure to disenchantment. Everyone from hippies, high on marijuana and music, to health junkies, touting veganism and six packs, flooded Rishikesh. And Rishikesh absorbed them all.
Today, in addition to being a serious centre for yoga and spirituality, it has grown into a refuge for an eclectic collection of karma chameleons, soul searchers and bendy yogis from across the world. They arrive in droves for the festival, all impossibly toned, enviably flexible and inevitably festooned with the usual Kundalini-questing paraphernalia: jingling silver lockets, lotus tattoos and chunky rudraksha malas.
To be in Rishikesh is to be far away. Cut away from your world, and all its trappings. It's both disconcerting and vaguely thrilling. Especially during the electric Ganga Arti, when singing, music and lamps welcome sunset by the river. As the prayer reaches a crescendo, people release bobbing diyasinto the swift inky water, where they rush away in warm circles of light.
At the festival there's plenty of kooky jumping, vaguely-embarrassing garden dancing and obscure new-age philosophy. But the most satisfying (and difficult) classes are the ones taught by yogis determined to stay true to the principles of their school — even if they do jazz things up with music and fluidly choreographed movement.
Mohan Bhandhari, for instance, co-founder of YogiYoga in China, takes classes on Hatha Yoga. Los Angeles-based Marla Apt teaches the restorative postures of Iyengar yoga. And Kishen Shah, adjunct professor at UCLA, leads students though active and static meditation, demonstrating how stillness can be as challenging as intense movement.
Yet, it isn't all flexing, sweating and downward dogs. We ramble around the Lakshman Jhoola area, crammed with pretty handicraft stores, twinkling tea stalls and quirky cafes. Watch silvery fish from boats that take us across the river. Pant two km uphill to Kunjapuri temple, majestically overlooking the Gangotri range.
Further upstream at Shivpuri, the Ganga changes character, roaring impatiently at the muddling white water rafters. The first rapid grabs and tosses us playfully, the second has us clinging to our slippery boat in terrified delight, the third forces us to dive in, screaming with the shock of icy water. In half an hour we're ‘body surfing' blissfully, holding a rope dangling from the boat and thinking deep thoughts. Such as — what's for tea?
Crisp onion pakodas and frothy coffee, in case you're wondering — intensely satisfying in the way only comfort food can be when you're hungry and exhausted. We're now at Ganga Riviera, run by Anil Bisht of Adventure Trails. A former mountaineer still gripped by a love affair with the Himalaya, Anil has set his camp right by the river, but well away from the madding crowd. Access involves a half-an-hour walk, followed by luggage-bearing mules.
Silences that speak
Our trek from here is on the old — and startlingly scenic — Badrinath paidal marg, cut into the cool rock for shade. It's so silent you can practically hear the mountains breathe. Till you hear the tinkle of an ambling horse's collar bell. Or run into a shepherd, carrying an adorably cuddly lamb, amid a roadblock of woolly sheep and shaggy sheepdogs.
At night, the sky practically bursts with stars, as we curl up by the toasty bonfire at camp, listening to chilling stories about mountain spirits. As the fire dies, we stumble towards our welcoming canvas tents in pitch darkness, led by flickering lanterns.
There's nothing quite as satisfying as being bone tired, wrapped in a fluffy quilt and lulled to sleep by the murmur of a mighty, and now comfortingly familiar, river.
Discover Himalayas
‘Connect With Himalaya' (CWH) is all about exploration, far away from the tediously over-run tourist traps. Run by Gaurav Punj and Rujuta Diwekar, both passionate about the mountains and their people, two-year-old CWH is about being an active participant rather than a gawking tourist.
The duo encourage trekkers to experience Himalaya the way the locals always have: Taking on the challenges of the terrain by foot, following paths of the shepherds and sleeping under the stars. They also focus on giving back to the community, often poor mountain villages that generally benefit the least from big group tour-style tourism.
(More details at www.connectwithhimalaya.com/)
BY SHONALI MUTHALALY
Looking for a rejuvenating holiday in the Himalayas, off the tourist traps, where you can connect with nature and parts of yourself that you had forgotten? Look no further…
It is a chilly 3 a.m. Yet, I find myself slouching grouchily through a garden brandishing a frightfully pink yoga mat. Surrounded by nauseatingly cheerful people: A fiesta of track pants, tattoos and chic, jewelled turbans.
Spiritual Rishikesh is not easy to love. Certainly not at first sight. Not if your mantra is materialism, at any rate. Or if your idea of a holiday involves croissants in bed at 11.00 a.m.
Yet, by 4.00 a.m., we're meditating in cross-legged silence on a stony floor, 'awakening our chakras'. Well, some of us are. My chakras only respond to mochaccinos. Fortunately, no one frowns on Shavasana, that deliciously languid yoga posture. So I lie down and sneakily nap till breakfast.
And a good thing too.
We're at Parmarth Niketan, set in Rishikesh's Swarg Ashram area on the east bank of the Ganga. Where the action never stops.
Signing up with 'Connect With Himalaya' for a healthy, holistic holiday, I imagine spas, boutiques and river cafes. I quickly learn that Gaurav Punj's idea of rejuvenation differs vastly from mine. (In hindsight, I should have got suspicious when his packing list included an LED torch, Electral packets and running shoes instead of eyelash curlers, body shimmer and stilettos.)
Ideal setting
Our power-holiday begins at Parmath, where Rishikesh's annual International Yoga Festival is in full swing. Resting at the foothills of the Himalaya, beside India's most holy river, Rishikesh has drawn the spiritually inclined for centuries: powerful mystics seeking solitude, yogis training their bodies into lithe time-capsules, troubled truth seekers desperate for redemption.
They came quietly, setting up kutirs in caves and rocks, living lives dedicated to silence. Then in 1968, The Beatles visited Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's ashram (now closed), and introduced Rishikesh to the Western world. Suddenly India, specifically this sleepy town, was the cure to disenchantment. Everyone from hippies, high on marijuana and music, to health junkies, touting veganism and six packs, flooded Rishikesh. And Rishikesh absorbed them all.
Today, in addition to being a serious centre for yoga and spirituality, it has grown into a refuge for an eclectic collection of karma chameleons, soul searchers and bendy yogis from across the world. They arrive in droves for the festival, all impossibly toned, enviably flexible and inevitably festooned with the usual Kundalini-questing paraphernalia: jingling silver lockets, lotus tattoos and chunky rudraksha malas.
To be in Rishikesh is to be far away. Cut away from your world, and all its trappings. It's both disconcerting and vaguely thrilling. Especially during the electric Ganga Arti, when singing, music and lamps welcome sunset by the river. As the prayer reaches a crescendo, people release bobbing diyasinto the swift inky water, where they rush away in warm circles of light.
At the festival there's plenty of kooky jumping, vaguely-embarrassing garden dancing and obscure new-age philosophy. But the most satisfying (and difficult) classes are the ones taught by yogis determined to stay true to the principles of their school — even if they do jazz things up with music and fluidly choreographed movement.
Mohan Bhandhari, for instance, co-founder of YogiYoga in China, takes classes on Hatha Yoga. Los Angeles-based Marla Apt teaches the restorative postures of Iyengar yoga. And Kishen Shah, adjunct professor at UCLA, leads students though active and static meditation, demonstrating how stillness can be as challenging as intense movement.
Yet, it isn't all flexing, sweating and downward dogs. We ramble around the Lakshman Jhoola area, crammed with pretty handicraft stores, twinkling tea stalls and quirky cafes. Watch silvery fish from boats that take us across the river. Pant two km uphill to Kunjapuri temple, majestically overlooking the Gangotri range.
Further upstream at Shivpuri, the Ganga changes character, roaring impatiently at the muddling white water rafters. The first rapid grabs and tosses us playfully, the second has us clinging to our slippery boat in terrified delight, the third forces us to dive in, screaming with the shock of icy water. In half an hour we're ‘body surfing' blissfully, holding a rope dangling from the boat and thinking deep thoughts. Such as — what's for tea?
Crisp onion pakodas and frothy coffee, in case you're wondering — intensely satisfying in the way only comfort food can be when you're hungry and exhausted. We're now at Ganga Riviera, run by Anil Bisht of Adventure Trails. A former mountaineer still gripped by a love affair with the Himalaya, Anil has set his camp right by the river, but well away from the madding crowd. Access involves a half-an-hour walk, followed by luggage-bearing mules.
Silences that speak
Our trek from here is on the old — and startlingly scenic — Badrinath paidal marg, cut into the cool rock for shade. It's so silent you can practically hear the mountains breathe. Till you hear the tinkle of an ambling horse's collar bell. Or run into a shepherd, carrying an adorably cuddly lamb, amid a roadblock of woolly sheep and shaggy sheepdogs.
At night, the sky practically bursts with stars, as we curl up by the toasty bonfire at camp, listening to chilling stories about mountain spirits. As the fire dies, we stumble towards our welcoming canvas tents in pitch darkness, led by flickering lanterns.
There's nothing quite as satisfying as being bone tired, wrapped in a fluffy quilt and lulled to sleep by the murmur of a mighty, and now comfortingly familiar, river.
Discover Himalayas
‘Connect With Himalaya' (CWH) is all about exploration, far away from the tediously over-run tourist traps. Run by Gaurav Punj and Rujuta Diwekar, both passionate about the mountains and their people, two-year-old CWH is about being an active participant rather than a gawking tourist.
The duo encourage trekkers to experience Himalaya the way the locals always have: Taking on the challenges of the terrain by foot, following paths of the shepherds and sleeping under the stars. They also focus on giving back to the community, often poor mountain villages that generally benefit the least from big group tour-style tourism.
(More details at www.connectwithhimalaya.com/)
Plastic lens may soon replace laser eye surgery
IANS
An eye specialist performing a laser operation on a patient. According to the researchers, the new treatment changes the path of light entering the eye by using a synthetic lens inserted in front of the natural lens.
Scientists from Moorfields Eye Hospital in London have come up with a novel treatment to correct short-sightedness in people.
According to the researchers, the new treatment changes the path of light entering the eye by using a synthetic lens inserted in front of the natural lens.
Myopia or short-sightedness is a condition where the eye focuses images in front of the retina instead of directly on it. This means objects further away appear blurred.
Experts have carried out a review to compare these phakic intraocular lenses with laser surgery.
“Our findings suggest phakic IOLs are safer than excimer laser surgery for correcting moderate to high levels of short-sightedness,” dailymail.co.uk quoted lead author Allon Barsam as saying.
“Although it’s not currently standard clinical practice, it could be worth considering phakic IOL treatment over the more common laser surgery for patients with moderate short-sightedness,” Barsam added.
A year after surgery, the percentage of eyes with 20/20 vision without spectacles was the same for both procedures, but patients undergoing phakic IOL treatment had clearer spectacle corrected vision and better contrast sensitivity.
IANS
An eye specialist performing a laser operation on a patient. According to the researchers, the new treatment changes the path of light entering the eye by using a synthetic lens inserted in front of the natural lens.
Scientists from Moorfields Eye Hospital in London have come up with a novel treatment to correct short-sightedness in people.
According to the researchers, the new treatment changes the path of light entering the eye by using a synthetic lens inserted in front of the natural lens.
Myopia or short-sightedness is a condition where the eye focuses images in front of the retina instead of directly on it. This means objects further away appear blurred.
Experts have carried out a review to compare these phakic intraocular lenses with laser surgery.
“Our findings suggest phakic IOLs are safer than excimer laser surgery for correcting moderate to high levels of short-sightedness,” dailymail.co.uk quoted lead author Allon Barsam as saying.
“Although it’s not currently standard clinical practice, it could be worth considering phakic IOL treatment over the more common laser surgery for patients with moderate short-sightedness,” Barsam added.
A year after surgery, the percentage of eyes with 20/20 vision without spectacles was the same for both procedures, but patients undergoing phakic IOL treatment had clearer spectacle corrected vision and better contrast sensitivity.
Nepal, China ink zero tariff deal
PTI
Nepal and China have inked a landmark agreement that will allow duty free access to 350 Nepali goods in Chinese market.
Nepalese Commerce Secretary Purushottam Ojha and Chinese Ambassador to Nepal Qiu Guohong signed the agreement on behalf of their respective governments, officials said on Saturday.
As per the agreement, China will provide duty free access to 4,721 items of Least Developed Countries including 350 produced in Nepal.
Majority of these items are agro-products such as apple, mushroom, orange, ginger, tomato, onion, strawberry grapes and honey.
This is a welcome step and it will help Nepal greatly to reduce the trade deficit, said leading industrialist Binod Chaudhari, who is also president of Nepal Confederation of Industries.
Nepal’s trade with China currently stands at $500 million and Nepal suffers a trade deficit of around $444 million.
PTI
Nepal and China have inked a landmark agreement that will allow duty free access to 350 Nepali goods in Chinese market.
Nepalese Commerce Secretary Purushottam Ojha and Chinese Ambassador to Nepal Qiu Guohong signed the agreement on behalf of their respective governments, officials said on Saturday.
As per the agreement, China will provide duty free access to 4,721 items of Least Developed Countries including 350 produced in Nepal.
Majority of these items are agro-products such as apple, mushroom, orange, ginger, tomato, onion, strawberry grapes and honey.
This is a welcome step and it will help Nepal greatly to reduce the trade deficit, said leading industrialist Binod Chaudhari, who is also president of Nepal Confederation of Industries.
Nepal’s trade with China currently stands at $500 million and Nepal suffers a trade deficit of around $444 million.
MEDICAL COUNCIL OF INDIA DISSOLVED
MCI DISSOLVED
President Pratibha Patil on Saturday gave her assent to an ordinance dissolving scam-tainted Medical Council of India (MCI) and replace it with a seven-member panel of eminent doctors.
The panel will be in charge till the next one year, Health Secretary Sujatha Rao said.
The President signed the ordinance dissolving the MCI General Council, official sources in the Rashtrapati Bhavan said. The ordinance has also been notified by the Union Law Ministry.
The Government has said it would bring in a new law for the formation of an overarching body to regulate medical education in the country.
MS. Rao had said on Friday, a draft law for the formation of such a body would be formulated within a month. She added that the draft law would be a legislative response to the credibility crisis which the MCI was in.
MCI president Ketan Desai was arrested on April 22 by CBI for allegedly accepting bribe of Rs. 2 crore to give permission to a Punjab medical college to recruit a fresh batch of students without having requisite infrastructure.
The MCI was established in 1934 under the Indian Medical Council Act, 1933, now repealed, with the main function of establishing uniform standards of higher qualifications in medicine and recognition of medical qualifications in India and abroad.
In 1956, the old Act was repealed and a new one was enacted. This was further modified in 1964, 1993 and 2001.
The objectives of the Council include maintenance of uniform standards of medical education, both undergraduate and postgraduate and recommendation for recognition or de-recognition of medical qualifications of medical institutions of India or foreign countries.
Keywords: Medical Council of India, Ketan Desai, corruption charges
President Pratibha Patil on Saturday gave her assent to an ordinance dissolving scam-tainted Medical Council of India (MCI) and replace it with a seven-member panel of eminent doctors.
The panel will be in charge till the next one year, Health Secretary Sujatha Rao said.
The President signed the ordinance dissolving the MCI General Council, official sources in the Rashtrapati Bhavan said. The ordinance has also been notified by the Union Law Ministry.
The Government has said it would bring in a new law for the formation of an overarching body to regulate medical education in the country.
MS. Rao had said on Friday, a draft law for the formation of such a body would be formulated within a month. She added that the draft law would be a legislative response to the credibility crisis which the MCI was in.
MCI president Ketan Desai was arrested on April 22 by CBI for allegedly accepting bribe of Rs. 2 crore to give permission to a Punjab medical college to recruit a fresh batch of students without having requisite infrastructure.
The MCI was established in 1934 under the Indian Medical Council Act, 1933, now repealed, with the main function of establishing uniform standards of higher qualifications in medicine and recognition of medical qualifications in India and abroad.
In 1956, the old Act was repealed and a new one was enacted. This was further modified in 1964, 1993 and 2001.
The objectives of the Council include maintenance of uniform standards of medical education, both undergraduate and postgraduate and recommendation for recognition or de-recognition of medical qualifications of medical institutions of India or foreign countries.
Keywords: Medical Council of India, Ketan Desai, corruption charges
Friday, May 14, 2010
Reflection Must Not Be Bypassed
by Swami Chidananda
The Divine Life Society
Radiant Immortal Atman! Blessed seekers, sadhaks! Vedanta should be properly received, properly taken in, to be digested. If food is not thoroughly chewed in the mouth, it does not get properly digested in the stomach and intestines. In spite of eating the best of food, one’s health remains unsatisfactory. One feels something is wrong and looks for a cause outside—“perhaps the food is not properly cooked.” But the cause is inside, because one has not received it properly, one has not thoroughly chewed it. It is the same if Vedantic teaching is not properly received.
All of you are sadhaks, bhaktas, Vedantins; you know the scriptures. You are all familiar with the three steps of Vedantic sadhana, the path of knowledge: sravana, manana and nididhyasana (hearing, reflection and deep meditation). Systematic manana is done by no one; it is not done by anyone. Sravana is done, but that also not with a concentrated mind. No systematic manana is practised as a sadhana, whereas it is one of the three fundamental sadhanas of the Vedanta—sravana sadhana, manana sadhana and nididhyasana sadhana.
If we listen to Vedanta, soon afterwards we get the feeling that we are brahma-jnanis; we get the feeling that we are well versed in Vedanta. And it is in developing this feeling that your ajnana (ignorance) has succeeded in deceiving you. Maya has attained victory. For this is the worst type of ignorance, and it means that the more you get the superficial outer knowledge, apara vidya, book knowledge, the deeper becomes your pride and the deeper becomes your delusion. You think you are a jnani, and thus your pride grows, your delusion increases, which means you have gone deeper into the darkness of ignorance.
So it is not jnana that has increased. Actually, seemingly it is jnana, because you are able to deliver lectures, you are able to answer questions. You are able to say “I know” and enter into arguments and discussions with learned pundits. You put very intricate, clever questions to senior mahatmas to test their knowledge and to display how well you are versed in Vedanta. This display makes one vain and pride is increased, which means you have gone deeper into the darkness of ignorance and bondage. This is a very great hazard upon the spiritual path.
Therefore, we should know how to listen with sincerity, with humility, with purity, with a sattvic attitude—“I do not know, pray enlighten me, I wish to know.” Jijnasa means humility—“I do not know.” Look at the attitude of Arjuna after initially arguing, discussing, debating and trying to show off his knowledge. He eats humble pie: “Please, I do not know what to do; please show me the way, tell me.” It is the beginning of wisdom.
Thus you must be very careful when proceeding upon the path of sravana, manana and nididhyasana. When you do sravana (hearing) you must do it in a proper way. Then only your manana (reflection) will yield. But the vast majority of Vedantic students do sravana and then want to do nididhyasana, attain nirvikalpa samadhi, brahma-jnana. Manana is easily bypassed. Very few people do manana, very few people do sravana in the right and proper manner, and therefore their knowledge becomes their great stumbling block. They go into greater darkness.
This is said because statements like sarvam khalvidam brahma (all this is verily Brahman) are so easily misunderstood. “Everything is only Brahman so why should I unnecessarily control my senses? Why should I avoid things—‘one should neither avoid things nor cultivate things.’ ” Also, nigrahah kim karishyati (What can restraint do?)—that sentence from the Gita becomes the downfall of many aspirants. They justify their lack of self-restraint, lack of samyam, their subordination to sense appetites and desires under the guise of sruti, the teachings of the great ones.
Brandy also is Bhagavan’s. But then we know that Bhagavan’s anirvachaniya sakti (inexplicable power) is itself maya. And through maya He Himself has manifested as things that are conducive and favourable to your spiritual growth and illumination, as well as conditions and manifestations that are adverse and unfavourable to your spiritual growth. So you must know how to discriminate between this manifestation of Brahman and that manifestation of Brahman, even though all are Brahman. There are certain manifestations of Brahman that are to be accepted and cultivated; there are certain manifestations of Brahman that are to be carefully avoided even though knowing that they are Brahman.
How you should do it is something quite up to you. It depends upon how much manana you have done. How can one accept one aspect of Brahman and reject another aspect? In this world it is necessary, and the scriptures are full of both injunctions of nishedha (prohibited actions) as well as injunctions for that which is grahya—fit to be accepted. They make no mystery of it; they speak very plainly.
What more could you ask than the very clear, unambiguous, categorical exposition of these two vibhagas (divisions) than the “Yoga of the Division between the Divine and the Demonical” given by Lord Krishna Himself in the sixteenth chapter of the Gita. He who said nigrahah kim karishyati (What can restraint do?) has also given the “Yoga of the Division of the Three Gunas” in chapter fourteen as well as the “Yoga of the Division between the Divine and the Demonical” and tells us very plainly: “daivi sampad vimokshaya (divine nature is for liberation).”
So you must know how to understand a thing with reference to its context. If He has said nigrahah kim karishyati and if He has given you the sixteenth chapter of the Bhagavad Gita, how do you relate these things, how to understand? Both are valued, and therefore you must understand the implication of nigrahah kim karishyati. You must be very, very clear about your attitude towards manifest Brahman.
Brahman in the unmanifest state is our deity, our object, our principle to be worshipped and also our goal for attainment. But Brahman in manifestation through maya has to be related to in different ways. Brahman’s manifestation as maya is indescribable; it cannot be defined. This has to be understood. And this manifestation has given Herself as vidya maya as well as avidya maya. As vidya maya, Brahman is manifest through maya as divine nature. As avidya maya, Brahman is manifest through prakriti as demonical nature. These things have to be pondered, not blindly taken in. Manana has to be done.
You must understand the implication and application of Vedantic teachings and what the Guru says—what exactly it implies. If you think over it, deeply reflect over it a hundred times, then you will be able to assimilate it. Then only Vedantic indigestion will not ensue. You will not haphazardly do something somewhere and then suffer in spite of your so-called knowledge. Therefore, avidya maya should be understood; vidya maya should also be understood. And our attitude of grahana and nigraha (accepting and restraint) should also be well defined in relationship to these two as we move about in this world.
Also, it depends upon application. A knife is there. It is amoral, it is inert, it is neutral. If you grasp it by the handle, you are safe. If you grasp it by the blade, you are not safe. So the knife has no part in the result; it is the way you handle it. In the same way the world is full of maya, and even if you are surrounded by avidya maya, if you know how to handle it, then you are safe.
So, yogah karmasu kausalam (Yoga is skill in action). You have to know in what way you should relate yourself and how to handle maya, how to be aware of both of Her aspects and in spite of that not to forget Brahman. You have to know how to always be in a brahmakara vritti (thought of Brahman alone) and at the same time see all the differences, experiencing the oneness, see all the differences. You must be able to relate yourself to things upon the basis of these differences seen, because in this worldly existence one should be wise, be skilled. These are ideas I put before you for your manana, for your calm, deep reflection, viveka (discrimination), vichara (enquiry). “What could this meaning be? If I take it to be thus...no, it contradicts some other thing. Therefore, it cannot be that. If I take it to be this wise...no, ii cannot be applied, it does not bring out the full meaning.” Thus you have to think with viveka and vichara, comparing it with other statements in the scriptures.
Therefore, every step should be done with manana; manana should be a systematic sadhana. And you must know how to relate yourself to Brahman in Its unmanifest state and Brahman manifest through maya as vidya as well as avidya. And these things should always be in our consciousness as we are moving about and dealing with the world. They should not be absent from our consciousness. Then only Vedanta can also be vyavahara Vedanta, and thus we can keep our sadhana always progressive and upward, and not get into folly and complications, not commit blunders through delusion.
God bless you to rightly receive higher teachings. God bless you with the ability to reflect deeply, do manana of received teachings. And God bless you to have the intelligence to know how to apply these received truths in your daily life and gradually, steadily progress towards brahma-jnana and liberation. God bless you! Gurudev’s grace be upon you!
by Swami Chidananda
The Divine Life Society
Radiant Immortal Atman! Blessed seekers, sadhaks! Vedanta should be properly received, properly taken in, to be digested. If food is not thoroughly chewed in the mouth, it does not get properly digested in the stomach and intestines. In spite of eating the best of food, one’s health remains unsatisfactory. One feels something is wrong and looks for a cause outside—“perhaps the food is not properly cooked.” But the cause is inside, because one has not received it properly, one has not thoroughly chewed it. It is the same if Vedantic teaching is not properly received.
All of you are sadhaks, bhaktas, Vedantins; you know the scriptures. You are all familiar with the three steps of Vedantic sadhana, the path of knowledge: sravana, manana and nididhyasana (hearing, reflection and deep meditation). Systematic manana is done by no one; it is not done by anyone. Sravana is done, but that also not with a concentrated mind. No systematic manana is practised as a sadhana, whereas it is one of the three fundamental sadhanas of the Vedanta—sravana sadhana, manana sadhana and nididhyasana sadhana.
If we listen to Vedanta, soon afterwards we get the feeling that we are brahma-jnanis; we get the feeling that we are well versed in Vedanta. And it is in developing this feeling that your ajnana (ignorance) has succeeded in deceiving you. Maya has attained victory. For this is the worst type of ignorance, and it means that the more you get the superficial outer knowledge, apara vidya, book knowledge, the deeper becomes your pride and the deeper becomes your delusion. You think you are a jnani, and thus your pride grows, your delusion increases, which means you have gone deeper into the darkness of ignorance.
So it is not jnana that has increased. Actually, seemingly it is jnana, because you are able to deliver lectures, you are able to answer questions. You are able to say “I know” and enter into arguments and discussions with learned pundits. You put very intricate, clever questions to senior mahatmas to test their knowledge and to display how well you are versed in Vedanta. This display makes one vain and pride is increased, which means you have gone deeper into the darkness of ignorance and bondage. This is a very great hazard upon the spiritual path.
Therefore, we should know how to listen with sincerity, with humility, with purity, with a sattvic attitude—“I do not know, pray enlighten me, I wish to know.” Jijnasa means humility—“I do not know.” Look at the attitude of Arjuna after initially arguing, discussing, debating and trying to show off his knowledge. He eats humble pie: “Please, I do not know what to do; please show me the way, tell me.” It is the beginning of wisdom.
Thus you must be very careful when proceeding upon the path of sravana, manana and nididhyasana. When you do sravana (hearing) you must do it in a proper way. Then only your manana (reflection) will yield. But the vast majority of Vedantic students do sravana and then want to do nididhyasana, attain nirvikalpa samadhi, brahma-jnana. Manana is easily bypassed. Very few people do manana, very few people do sravana in the right and proper manner, and therefore their knowledge becomes their great stumbling block. They go into greater darkness.
This is said because statements like sarvam khalvidam brahma (all this is verily Brahman) are so easily misunderstood. “Everything is only Brahman so why should I unnecessarily control my senses? Why should I avoid things—‘one should neither avoid things nor cultivate things.’ ” Also, nigrahah kim karishyati (What can restraint do?)—that sentence from the Gita becomes the downfall of many aspirants. They justify their lack of self-restraint, lack of samyam, their subordination to sense appetites and desires under the guise of sruti, the teachings of the great ones.
Brandy also is Bhagavan’s. But then we know that Bhagavan’s anirvachaniya sakti (inexplicable power) is itself maya. And through maya He Himself has manifested as things that are conducive and favourable to your spiritual growth and illumination, as well as conditions and manifestations that are adverse and unfavourable to your spiritual growth. So you must know how to discriminate between this manifestation of Brahman and that manifestation of Brahman, even though all are Brahman. There are certain manifestations of Brahman that are to be accepted and cultivated; there are certain manifestations of Brahman that are to be carefully avoided even though knowing that they are Brahman.
How you should do it is something quite up to you. It depends upon how much manana you have done. How can one accept one aspect of Brahman and reject another aspect? In this world it is necessary, and the scriptures are full of both injunctions of nishedha (prohibited actions) as well as injunctions for that which is grahya—fit to be accepted. They make no mystery of it; they speak very plainly.
What more could you ask than the very clear, unambiguous, categorical exposition of these two vibhagas (divisions) than the “Yoga of the Division between the Divine and the Demonical” given by Lord Krishna Himself in the sixteenth chapter of the Gita. He who said nigrahah kim karishyati (What can restraint do?) has also given the “Yoga of the Division of the Three Gunas” in chapter fourteen as well as the “Yoga of the Division between the Divine and the Demonical” and tells us very plainly: “daivi sampad vimokshaya (divine nature is for liberation).”
So you must know how to understand a thing with reference to its context. If He has said nigrahah kim karishyati and if He has given you the sixteenth chapter of the Bhagavad Gita, how do you relate these things, how to understand? Both are valued, and therefore you must understand the implication of nigrahah kim karishyati. You must be very, very clear about your attitude towards manifest Brahman.
Brahman in the unmanifest state is our deity, our object, our principle to be worshipped and also our goal for attainment. But Brahman in manifestation through maya has to be related to in different ways. Brahman’s manifestation as maya is indescribable; it cannot be defined. This has to be understood. And this manifestation has given Herself as vidya maya as well as avidya maya. As vidya maya, Brahman is manifest through maya as divine nature. As avidya maya, Brahman is manifest through prakriti as demonical nature. These things have to be pondered, not blindly taken in. Manana has to be done.
You must understand the implication and application of Vedantic teachings and what the Guru says—what exactly it implies. If you think over it, deeply reflect over it a hundred times, then you will be able to assimilate it. Then only Vedantic indigestion will not ensue. You will not haphazardly do something somewhere and then suffer in spite of your so-called knowledge. Therefore, avidya maya should be understood; vidya maya should also be understood. And our attitude of grahana and nigraha (accepting and restraint) should also be well defined in relationship to these two as we move about in this world.
Also, it depends upon application. A knife is there. It is amoral, it is inert, it is neutral. If you grasp it by the handle, you are safe. If you grasp it by the blade, you are not safe. So the knife has no part in the result; it is the way you handle it. In the same way the world is full of maya, and even if you are surrounded by avidya maya, if you know how to handle it, then you are safe.
So, yogah karmasu kausalam (Yoga is skill in action). You have to know in what way you should relate yourself and how to handle maya, how to be aware of both of Her aspects and in spite of that not to forget Brahman. You have to know how to always be in a brahmakara vritti (thought of Brahman alone) and at the same time see all the differences, experiencing the oneness, see all the differences. You must be able to relate yourself to things upon the basis of these differences seen, because in this worldly existence one should be wise, be skilled. These are ideas I put before you for your manana, for your calm, deep reflection, viveka (discrimination), vichara (enquiry). “What could this meaning be? If I take it to be thus...no, it contradicts some other thing. Therefore, it cannot be that. If I take it to be this wise...no, ii cannot be applied, it does not bring out the full meaning.” Thus you have to think with viveka and vichara, comparing it with other statements in the scriptures.
Therefore, every step should be done with manana; manana should be a systematic sadhana. And you must know how to relate yourself to Brahman in Its unmanifest state and Brahman manifest through maya as vidya as well as avidya. And these things should always be in our consciousness as we are moving about and dealing with the world. They should not be absent from our consciousness. Then only Vedanta can also be vyavahara Vedanta, and thus we can keep our sadhana always progressive and upward, and not get into folly and complications, not commit blunders through delusion.
God bless you to rightly receive higher teachings. God bless you with the ability to reflect deeply, do manana of received teachings. And God bless you to have the intelligence to know how to apply these received truths in your daily life and gradually, steadily progress towards brahma-jnana and liberation. God bless you! Gurudev’s grace be upon you!
SEBI'S ERROR
sebi's error
One great feature of capitalism is that it unleashes human potential. It is the closest thing to a meritocracy. But not always. There is a tendency for power to concentrate. For the wealthy to get wealthier. It is here that that role of regulators becomes critical. To ensure a level playing field. To promote as much competition as possible.
Stock markets are integral to a capitalist economy. And we admire India's stock market regulator, SEBI's initiatives in promoting transparency and competition. SEBI is now proposing higher capital requirements for mutual funds, investment banks and brokers. The minimum net worth requirement for mutual funds used to be Rs 100 m. It has now been increased five times to Rs 500 m.
The apparent reason is that mutual funds will be able to absorb more losses if they have higher capital. But we think SEBI has got it completely wrong this time. Quantity does not always assure quality. After all, weren't all the firms that caused the global financial crisis, very large? We think, by hiking the net worth requirement, SEBI will create a high entry barrier. One that only the wealthy can cross. Not necessarily the most talented. It will end up promoting a rich boys' club beyond the reach of many
One great feature of capitalism is that it unleashes human potential. It is the closest thing to a meritocracy. But not always. There is a tendency for power to concentrate. For the wealthy to get wealthier. It is here that that role of regulators becomes critical. To ensure a level playing field. To promote as much competition as possible.
Stock markets are integral to a capitalist economy. And we admire India's stock market regulator, SEBI's initiatives in promoting transparency and competition. SEBI is now proposing higher capital requirements for mutual funds, investment banks and brokers. The minimum net worth requirement for mutual funds used to be Rs 100 m. It has now been increased five times to Rs 500 m.
The apparent reason is that mutual funds will be able to absorb more losses if they have higher capital. But we think SEBI has got it completely wrong this time. Quantity does not always assure quality. After all, weren't all the firms that caused the global financial crisis, very large? We think, by hiking the net worth requirement, SEBI will create a high entry barrier. One that only the wealthy can cross. Not necessarily the most talented. It will end up promoting a rich boys' club beyond the reach of many
India was poised to become the world’s strongest economy by 2020.
Oil prices could reach $ 100 a barrel soon: Mukesh Ambani
PTI
Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani today said crude prices could rise to USD 100 a barrel soon.
“Crude oil prices are well above the $ 70 mark. We foresee an increase in crude price to three digits in the near future,” Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani said at an industry conference here today.
He said a sluggish growth in refining capacity would drive the price increase, he said.
“I believe the petrochemical industry should reinvest and we have to reset our thinking and must innovate to tackle these issues,” he said.
According to him, India was poised to become the world’s strongest economy by 2020.
“I believe by 2020 the balance sheet of India would be the strongest in the world. The GDP growth of India from $ 1.5 trillion to $ 5 trillion in the next ten years will make India an economically powerful country in the world,” Mr. Ambani said.
He said this century belongs to India as businesses are shifting to India from other parts of the world. “Almost 40 per cent population of the world belongs to India and China and this will create a paradigm shift. Both India and China will create a huge demand as consumption of these countries will reach new heights. Thus, India is going to be a major manufacturing hub as consumption will increase,” he said.
“This is the time developing countries like us realised the unrealised potential within us,” he said.
The world was now very much inter-connected and an economic disruption in any country will have its effect on India.
“I believe people from the corporate sector and the industry have the competency to tackle these issues. The European sovereign debt crisis again shows that Asia has the potential to become more powerful,” Mr. Ambani said.
PTI
Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani today said crude prices could rise to USD 100 a barrel soon.
“Crude oil prices are well above the $ 70 mark. We foresee an increase in crude price to three digits in the near future,” Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani said at an industry conference here today.
He said a sluggish growth in refining capacity would drive the price increase, he said.
“I believe the petrochemical industry should reinvest and we have to reset our thinking and must innovate to tackle these issues,” he said.
According to him, India was poised to become the world’s strongest economy by 2020.
“I believe by 2020 the balance sheet of India would be the strongest in the world. The GDP growth of India from $ 1.5 trillion to $ 5 trillion in the next ten years will make India an economically powerful country in the world,” Mr. Ambani said.
He said this century belongs to India as businesses are shifting to India from other parts of the world. “Almost 40 per cent population of the world belongs to India and China and this will create a paradigm shift. Both India and China will create a huge demand as consumption of these countries will reach new heights. Thus, India is going to be a major manufacturing hub as consumption will increase,” he said.
“This is the time developing countries like us realised the unrealised potential within us,” he said.
The world was now very much inter-connected and an economic disruption in any country will have its effect on India.
“I believe people from the corporate sector and the industry have the competency to tackle these issues. The European sovereign debt crisis again shows that Asia has the potential to become more powerful,” Mr. Ambani said.
soft skills for the urban poor
PRACTICAL TRAINING - Umeed: soft skills for the urban poor
BY CORDELIA JENKINS
My parents-in-law don't know I come here,“ says Meena, smiling at her own nerve.
“They say I shouldn't because I'm a married woman, but I hide it from them and come anyway.“ The 22-year-old is sitting in the computer lab of the Umeed training centre in Vasna, Ahmedabad, where Meena and her friends, Vimla Makwana, 24, and Ruksar Pa- than, 19, are attending a three- month course in information technology (IT) skills. For a fee of Rs500, the course boasts a 75% success rate with placing students in entry-level jobs in the city that pay an average salary of Rs3,500 per month.
The girls are from neigh- bouring slums in the south- east of the city. Every day, they take a 15-minute auto ride to the Umeed centre, four to a ve- hicle, to learn basic spoken English, computer skills and so-called “soft skills“ (how to dress for the job, be punctual and courteous, speak and stand with confidence).
Although they didn't know one another before starting the course, Vimla and Ruksar now regularly visit each other at home. Their fathers, a tailor and a driver, respectively, are proud to have daughters en- rolled in the Umeed pro- gramme, which is well known in the slum districts. Their mothers are pleased too, and a little envious of the opportuni- ties they've been offered. “My mother and sister say to me, `You're doing what we weren't able to do',“ says Vimla, as she straightens the black dupatta and white kurta that both she and Ruksar wear to class.
Meena does not wear the uniform; she has been at the local hospital getting a vacci- nation. “I'm pregnant too,“ she explains. “So that makes it even harder. But it's worth it. I feel I've wasted three years just sitting at home and doing nothing.“ Meena is currently staying with her parents, for her godh bharai ceremony and so is able to keep her training a secret from her disapproving in-laws, and even her husband.
Umeed The Umeed centre in Vasna is one of 47 now operating in Gujarat under the auspices of a local non-governmental or- ganization, Saath, and the market-aligned skills training (MAST) programme of the American India Foundation (AIF). Since 2007, AIF centres such as this one have been training 18-35-year-olds from the poorest backgrounds in practical skills for specific jobs in retail, hospitality, IT, data entry and nursing. AIF aims to train 100,000 youths across In- dia by 2012, and with nearly 46,000 placed in jobs in the first three years, this seems an attainable goal.
Vocational training pro- grammes already exist in the form of Industrial Training In- stitutes (ITIs), Industrial Training Centres (ITCs) and private technical skills cours- es, but Umeed takes a different approach.
For one thing, the three- month MAST course is a short- er option than the one or two years offered by an ITI. The Rs500 fee is affordable for even the lowest-income earners (the actual cost of the training is Rs5,000 per student, the rest is paid for by AIF and the Ahmedabad Municipal Board).
But the most original feature of the Umeed scheme is the di- rect contact that the coordina- tors have with prospective em- ployers. After interviewing lo- cal recruiters about the type of employees they are looking for, asking which skills they re- quire and which positions need filling, Umeed tailors a course that equips students for specific jobs they know are al- ready available.
The need The need to extend voca- tional training to those living in urban slums is becoming pressing. The number of un- der-25s in India is surging rel- ative to the country's popula- tion creating a “demographic dividend“ of potential workers, which ought to be a boon to the economy. At the same time, the country is rapidly ur- banizing; by 2050, it is expec- ted that India will be 50% ur- ban from just over 30% now. A 2010 United Nations Habitat report found that 28% of In- dians now reside in “slum con- ditions“.
As a result, the residents of urban slums will be key play- ers in India's future economic growth, or decline, says an AIF report. “Left on the margins due to poor education and lack of capital, they can be a source of discontent and unrest and a drain on the economy.“
Rajendra Joshi is the direc- tor of Saath which is acting as the implementing partner for the AIF scheme. Saath has been involved in successful slum integration projects in the city since 1989. Rather than giving poorly maintained services to slum dwellers for free, Joshi feels the urban poor should be seen as a market like any other, willing to pay for services if they are of good quality.
“We realized that the fastest growing sector is the service sector, and that requires a lot of people employed in entry- level jobs,“ Joshi says. AIF did a “market scan“ of companies that might hire workers with basic training and found that Ahmedabad's new malls, call centres, hospitals and coffee franchises were badly in need of trainable young people on starter wages. Umeed trainees have since been employed at organizations such as ICICI Bank Ltd, Café Coffee Day, the Tata group and Reliance In- dustries Ltd.
Umeed used local communi- ty leaders such as Kanji Chau- han, a resident of Behrampur, a slum area in southern Ahmedabad, to spread the word among the residents.
“Before I joined Umeed, I was working as a delivery boy,“ says Chauhan, whose two nieces have both attended courses and now work in re- tail, earning salaries of Rs4,000-5,000 per month.
“When Umeed started, we used to have a presentation about it, but now it's a brand name, so we don't need to.“ The response The three-month course consists of 300 hours of train- ing, devoted equally to techni- cal and soft skills. Individuals often need as much help learn- ing to be open and self-confident as they do in operating a computer or learning first aid.
Fatima Chhipa, 31, is an ex- student now employed at retail chain Big Bazaar as a counter representative. Chhipa was married “too young“ at 16, and, after having a son, she got a divorce and moved back home. “I was very lonely at that time,“ she says. “I was in a dark place. After Umeed, I came out of myself and started learning how to live in this world and how to deal with people. Now I'm working and standing on my own feet.“
One of Fatima's old teach- ers, Roopali Srivastava, is the centre coordinator for Be- hrampur. She's in charge of enrolment and teaches soft skills and basic spoken En- glish. “I find that the change in participants is very strong,“ she says. “Initially, the men have this Hindi movie-style persona, paan-chewing, slouching, speaking in slang. I teach them how to stand prop- erly and how to talk to people they might not have addressed before.“ But, she admits, “sometimes it's very tough to change the traditions. Some of the families don't like the uni- forms we provide, so we let the girls come here to get changed for work. You can be a good bride for your family and at the same time, you can be a good employee for your boss“.
Chirag Desai, human re- sources director at consumer durables retailer Tata Croma in Ahmedabad, has recruited from Umeed both at Tata and in his previous job at Big Ba- zaar. In both the cases, he pre- sented the idea to his bosses as “an experiment“, knowing they might not be keen to hire em- ployees from the slums. In February, Desai hired a group of 25 graduates from Umeed and, on Day 1, he gave them a tour of the swanky premises, explaining the work load: from dusting the appliances and shelf-stacking to interacting with customers. Only 12 came back on the second day.
After his last batch of re- cruits had finished their six- month training, Desai asked their families to visit. “When I asked what they knew about the store, they said they'd seen the board but had never dared to step inside,“ he says. Now, however, Desai feels the re- cruits have assimilated well. He likes Umeed graduates be- cause he knows they are seri- ous about the job. At the end of six months, he says, some of the Umeed graduates were performing better than people he'd had for three years.
AIF now faces the challenge of working out how to replicate the Umeed model around the country. MAST programmes exist in eight states and the government of Bihar has ex- pressed an interest in imple- menting the scheme there.
Consequently, AIF is looking into ways to make pro- grammes such as Umeed self- financed and thus sustainable.
One idea is to reposition Umeed as a staffing service, to which companies will pay the Rs4,500 surcharge per employ- ee hired, with a guarantee that it will replace any dropout with a new trainee.
It remains to be seen wheth- er these attempts will be suc- cessful, but, for now, Umeed is having a lasting effect on the societies it engages with. Al- most all of the graduates and current students interviewed have friends or siblings en- rolled in an Umeed course.
Nineteen-year-old Ruksar, the youngest and most serious of the three IT students at Vasna, will make sure her younger sis- ters train with Umeed. And Meena is also thinking of the future. She only has another month to go before her covert training comes to an end. “I don't know what will happen then,“ she says. “But I'm pleased to think the baby is also absorbing some of this teaching--just like in the Ma- habharata,“ she laughs.
SOURCE:LIVEMINT
BY CORDELIA JENKINS
My parents-in-law don't know I come here,“ says Meena, smiling at her own nerve.
“They say I shouldn't because I'm a married woman, but I hide it from them and come anyway.“ The 22-year-old is sitting in the computer lab of the Umeed training centre in Vasna, Ahmedabad, where Meena and her friends, Vimla Makwana, 24, and Ruksar Pa- than, 19, are attending a three- month course in information technology (IT) skills. For a fee of Rs500, the course boasts a 75% success rate with placing students in entry-level jobs in the city that pay an average salary of Rs3,500 per month.
The girls are from neigh- bouring slums in the south- east of the city. Every day, they take a 15-minute auto ride to the Umeed centre, four to a ve- hicle, to learn basic spoken English, computer skills and so-called “soft skills“ (how to dress for the job, be punctual and courteous, speak and stand with confidence).
Although they didn't know one another before starting the course, Vimla and Ruksar now regularly visit each other at home. Their fathers, a tailor and a driver, respectively, are proud to have daughters en- rolled in the Umeed pro- gramme, which is well known in the slum districts. Their mothers are pleased too, and a little envious of the opportuni- ties they've been offered. “My mother and sister say to me, `You're doing what we weren't able to do',“ says Vimla, as she straightens the black dupatta and white kurta that both she and Ruksar wear to class.
Meena does not wear the uniform; she has been at the local hospital getting a vacci- nation. “I'm pregnant too,“ she explains. “So that makes it even harder. But it's worth it. I feel I've wasted three years just sitting at home and doing nothing.“ Meena is currently staying with her parents, for her godh bharai ceremony and so is able to keep her training a secret from her disapproving in-laws, and even her husband.
Umeed The Umeed centre in Vasna is one of 47 now operating in Gujarat under the auspices of a local non-governmental or- ganization, Saath, and the market-aligned skills training (MAST) programme of the American India Foundation (AIF). Since 2007, AIF centres such as this one have been training 18-35-year-olds from the poorest backgrounds in practical skills for specific jobs in retail, hospitality, IT, data entry and nursing. AIF aims to train 100,000 youths across In- dia by 2012, and with nearly 46,000 placed in jobs in the first three years, this seems an attainable goal.
Vocational training pro- grammes already exist in the form of Industrial Training In- stitutes (ITIs), Industrial Training Centres (ITCs) and private technical skills cours- es, but Umeed takes a different approach.
For one thing, the three- month MAST course is a short- er option than the one or two years offered by an ITI. The Rs500 fee is affordable for even the lowest-income earners (the actual cost of the training is Rs5,000 per student, the rest is paid for by AIF and the Ahmedabad Municipal Board).
But the most original feature of the Umeed scheme is the di- rect contact that the coordina- tors have with prospective em- ployers. After interviewing lo- cal recruiters about the type of employees they are looking for, asking which skills they re- quire and which positions need filling, Umeed tailors a course that equips students for specific jobs they know are al- ready available.
The need The need to extend voca- tional training to those living in urban slums is becoming pressing. The number of un- der-25s in India is surging rel- ative to the country's popula- tion creating a “demographic dividend“ of potential workers, which ought to be a boon to the economy. At the same time, the country is rapidly ur- banizing; by 2050, it is expec- ted that India will be 50% ur- ban from just over 30% now. A 2010 United Nations Habitat report found that 28% of In- dians now reside in “slum con- ditions“.
As a result, the residents of urban slums will be key play- ers in India's future economic growth, or decline, says an AIF report. “Left on the margins due to poor education and lack of capital, they can be a source of discontent and unrest and a drain on the economy.“
Rajendra Joshi is the direc- tor of Saath which is acting as the implementing partner for the AIF scheme. Saath has been involved in successful slum integration projects in the city since 1989. Rather than giving poorly maintained services to slum dwellers for free, Joshi feels the urban poor should be seen as a market like any other, willing to pay for services if they are of good quality.
“We realized that the fastest growing sector is the service sector, and that requires a lot of people employed in entry- level jobs,“ Joshi says. AIF did a “market scan“ of companies that might hire workers with basic training and found that Ahmedabad's new malls, call centres, hospitals and coffee franchises were badly in need of trainable young people on starter wages. Umeed trainees have since been employed at organizations such as ICICI Bank Ltd, Café Coffee Day, the Tata group and Reliance In- dustries Ltd.
Umeed used local communi- ty leaders such as Kanji Chau- han, a resident of Behrampur, a slum area in southern Ahmedabad, to spread the word among the residents.
“Before I joined Umeed, I was working as a delivery boy,“ says Chauhan, whose two nieces have both attended courses and now work in re- tail, earning salaries of Rs4,000-5,000 per month.
“When Umeed started, we used to have a presentation about it, but now it's a brand name, so we don't need to.“ The response The three-month course consists of 300 hours of train- ing, devoted equally to techni- cal and soft skills. Individuals often need as much help learn- ing to be open and self-confident as they do in operating a computer or learning first aid.
Fatima Chhipa, 31, is an ex- student now employed at retail chain Big Bazaar as a counter representative. Chhipa was married “too young“ at 16, and, after having a son, she got a divorce and moved back home. “I was very lonely at that time,“ she says. “I was in a dark place. After Umeed, I came out of myself and started learning how to live in this world and how to deal with people. Now I'm working and standing on my own feet.“
One of Fatima's old teach- ers, Roopali Srivastava, is the centre coordinator for Be- hrampur. She's in charge of enrolment and teaches soft skills and basic spoken En- glish. “I find that the change in participants is very strong,“ she says. “Initially, the men have this Hindi movie-style persona, paan-chewing, slouching, speaking in slang. I teach them how to stand prop- erly and how to talk to people they might not have addressed before.“ But, she admits, “sometimes it's very tough to change the traditions. Some of the families don't like the uni- forms we provide, so we let the girls come here to get changed for work. You can be a good bride for your family and at the same time, you can be a good employee for your boss“.
Chirag Desai, human re- sources director at consumer durables retailer Tata Croma in Ahmedabad, has recruited from Umeed both at Tata and in his previous job at Big Ba- zaar. In both the cases, he pre- sented the idea to his bosses as “an experiment“, knowing they might not be keen to hire em- ployees from the slums. In February, Desai hired a group of 25 graduates from Umeed and, on Day 1, he gave them a tour of the swanky premises, explaining the work load: from dusting the appliances and shelf-stacking to interacting with customers. Only 12 came back on the second day.
After his last batch of re- cruits had finished their six- month training, Desai asked their families to visit. “When I asked what they knew about the store, they said they'd seen the board but had never dared to step inside,“ he says. Now, however, Desai feels the re- cruits have assimilated well. He likes Umeed graduates be- cause he knows they are seri- ous about the job. At the end of six months, he says, some of the Umeed graduates were performing better than people he'd had for three years.
AIF now faces the challenge of working out how to replicate the Umeed model around the country. MAST programmes exist in eight states and the government of Bihar has ex- pressed an interest in imple- menting the scheme there.
Consequently, AIF is looking into ways to make pro- grammes such as Umeed self- financed and thus sustainable.
One idea is to reposition Umeed as a staffing service, to which companies will pay the Rs4,500 surcharge per employ- ee hired, with a guarantee that it will replace any dropout with a new trainee.
It remains to be seen wheth- er these attempts will be suc- cessful, but, for now, Umeed is having a lasting effect on the societies it engages with. Al- most all of the graduates and current students interviewed have friends or siblings en- rolled in an Umeed course.
Nineteen-year-old Ruksar, the youngest and most serious of the three IT students at Vasna, will make sure her younger sis- ters train with Umeed. And Meena is also thinking of the future. She only has another month to go before her covert training comes to an end. “I don't know what will happen then,“ she says. “But I'm pleased to think the baby is also absorbing some of this teaching--just like in the Ma- habharata,“ she laughs.
SOURCE:LIVEMINT
NEPAL: What next for Nepal?
FROM THE GUARDIAN
BY JAGANNATH LAMICHHANE
Time is running out for Nepal to reach political consensus, but a national unity government under the Maoists could avert conflict
Four years after the Maoists and the government of Nepal signed a comprehensive peace accord, the red-dressed Maoists’ protests have once again surrounded Nepal. Since 2 May, they have been staging nationwide protests demanding the resignation of the prime minister, Madhav Kumar Nepal, and the formation of new national unity government under the leadership of the Maoist party’s chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal.
Back in 1996, Maoists instigated a people’s war in order to bring about a new democratic and federal republic. The decade-long insurgency claimed 13,000 lives and left thousands of people displaced, widowed, and both physically and mentally disabled. Victims are still waiting for justice. As the largest political party in the constituent assembly, Maoists claim that their current protest is spearheading the timely promulgation of a new constitution, which is due by 28 May. But time is running out, and new political tensions and public frustrations are gripping the country. If the major political parties fail to reach a consensus before the deadline, Nepal could plunge into conflict.
Supporters of the Maoist Communist party of Nepal march through Kathmandu on 2 May 2010. Photograph: Binod Joshi/AP
The current coalition government is headed by an unelected prime minister and a majority of unelected ministers backed by India, who has already declared its own homegrown Maoists as the country’s biggest internal security threat – it suspects that Nepalese Maoists are aiding their southern comrades. The Maoists, who have the people’s mandate to rule the country, are now in the opposition. This makes it difficult for the Nepalese government to take independent decisions and reconcile with the Maoists.
The Maoists’ urban-centered demonstrations have also further polarised Nepal’s fragile politics. Thousands of Maoist supporters were on the streets of Kathmandu and across the country earlier this month, and Maoists announced an indefinite nationwide general strike, which was called off six days later due to heavy pressure from businesses and professionals organisations. However, their protest is continuous and they have showed appreciable restraint and a willingness and commitment to peace.
The comprehensive peace accord can only survive in a reasonable power sharing and consensus among political actors. In this critical time, if the current government does not show flexibility, the ruling political parties should be blamed for further derailing the peace process. A continued political rancour would only drag this country back to its past, ending the country’s hopes for a new constitution, peace and democracy.
There is a growing nationwide resentment against the government because of its inefficiency to deliver public services and to maintain peace and order. Many feel it is ridiculous for this government to stay in power without Maoists involved. A solution for Nepal would be the formation of a national unity government under the Maoists’ leadership, which would respect the people’s mandate as given in the 2008 election for the constituent assembly. And, in the meantime, India should rethink its policy that pushes the Maoists into a corner.
FROM THE GUARDIAN
BY JAGANNATH LAMICHHANE
Time is running out for Nepal to reach political consensus, but a national unity government under the Maoists could avert conflict
Four years after the Maoists and the government of Nepal signed a comprehensive peace accord, the red-dressed Maoists’ protests have once again surrounded Nepal. Since 2 May, they have been staging nationwide protests demanding the resignation of the prime minister, Madhav Kumar Nepal, and the formation of new national unity government under the leadership of the Maoist party’s chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal.
Back in 1996, Maoists instigated a people’s war in order to bring about a new democratic and federal republic. The decade-long insurgency claimed 13,000 lives and left thousands of people displaced, widowed, and both physically and mentally disabled. Victims are still waiting for justice. As the largest political party in the constituent assembly, Maoists claim that their current protest is spearheading the timely promulgation of a new constitution, which is due by 28 May. But time is running out, and new political tensions and public frustrations are gripping the country. If the major political parties fail to reach a consensus before the deadline, Nepal could plunge into conflict.
Supporters of the Maoist Communist party of Nepal march through Kathmandu on 2 May 2010. Photograph: Binod Joshi/AP
The current coalition government is headed by an unelected prime minister and a majority of unelected ministers backed by India, who has already declared its own homegrown Maoists as the country’s biggest internal security threat – it suspects that Nepalese Maoists are aiding their southern comrades. The Maoists, who have the people’s mandate to rule the country, are now in the opposition. This makes it difficult for the Nepalese government to take independent decisions and reconcile with the Maoists.
The Maoists’ urban-centered demonstrations have also further polarised Nepal’s fragile politics. Thousands of Maoist supporters were on the streets of Kathmandu and across the country earlier this month, and Maoists announced an indefinite nationwide general strike, which was called off six days later due to heavy pressure from businesses and professionals organisations. However, their protest is continuous and they have showed appreciable restraint and a willingness and commitment to peace.
The comprehensive peace accord can only survive in a reasonable power sharing and consensus among political actors. In this critical time, if the current government does not show flexibility, the ruling political parties should be blamed for further derailing the peace process. A continued political rancour would only drag this country back to its past, ending the country’s hopes for a new constitution, peace and democracy.
There is a growing nationwide resentment against the government because of its inefficiency to deliver public services and to maintain peace and order. Many feel it is ridiculous for this government to stay in power without Maoists involved. A solution for Nepal would be the formation of a national unity government under the Maoists’ leadership, which would respect the people’s mandate as given in the 2008 election for the constituent assembly. And, in the meantime, India should rethink its policy that pushes the Maoists into a corner.
DARJEELING HILLS: Morcha issues 10-day bandh call
JUNE 12 TO JUNE 21
FROM THE TELEGRAPH
Kalimpong, May 13: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha today said it would pull out of talks for an “interim” set-up for the Darjeeling hills and revive the demand for Gorkhaland in a fresh bout of muscle-flexing that came with a 10-day shutdown call next month.
Morcha boss Bimal Gurung said “everything will remain closed” during the June 12-21 bandh, as he mounted pressure on the Centre and the Bengal government to agree to the inclusion of Siliguri and Gorkha-speaking areas of the Dooars and the Terai under the proposed authority’s jurisdiction.
“Henceforth, we will not carry forward the interim arrangement, but will work towards the creation of Gorkhaland state,” Gurung told a media conference in Deolo, 5km from Kalimpong.
The announcement came two days after the collapse of tripartite talks following differences over territory to come under the interim authority.
The bureaucratic-level talks broke down after the Centre and the state insisted the set-up be limited to the hill subdivisions of Kalimpong, Kurseong and Darjeeling.
Asked if his party would skip the next round of political-level discussions, Gurung said the exercise would be meaningless if the issue of territory was not resolved. “The meeting on May 11 at the bureaucratic level was meant to facilitate the process of resolving the issue of territorial jurisdiction before the political talks. But the Centre and the state refused to discuss the issue and said only the executive authority of the body would be discussed,” he said. “What is the point in attending talks at the political level if territorial jurisdiction is not discussed.”
A Morcha leader said there was a “sizeable” Nepali population in the Dooars. “So, if that area is not included in the set-up, we will be letting them down. That will not be good for the party’s image.”
A home ministry source in Delhi, however, expressed hope that the Morcha would attend the political talks, tentatively scheduled for May-end. But officials insisted the Morcha’s territorial demands were “unacceptable” at this juncture.
“There needs to be a political consensus. All three leading parties of Bengal — the CPM, Trinamul and the Congress — are opposed to giving additional territory,” said an official.
Gurung said the bandh would be enforced in all the areas his party wants to be brought under Gorkhaland. “Everything will remain closed, including schools and tea gardens.”
JUNE 12 TO JUNE 21
FROM THE TELEGRAPH
Kalimpong, May 13: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha today said it would pull out of talks for an “interim” set-up for the Darjeeling hills and revive the demand for Gorkhaland in a fresh bout of muscle-flexing that came with a 10-day shutdown call next month.
Morcha boss Bimal Gurung said “everything will remain closed” during the June 12-21 bandh, as he mounted pressure on the Centre and the Bengal government to agree to the inclusion of Siliguri and Gorkha-speaking areas of the Dooars and the Terai under the proposed authority’s jurisdiction.
“Henceforth, we will not carry forward the interim arrangement, but will work towards the creation of Gorkhaland state,” Gurung told a media conference in Deolo, 5km from Kalimpong.
The announcement came two days after the collapse of tripartite talks following differences over territory to come under the interim authority.
The bureaucratic-level talks broke down after the Centre and the state insisted the set-up be limited to the hill subdivisions of Kalimpong, Kurseong and Darjeeling.
Asked if his party would skip the next round of political-level discussions, Gurung said the exercise would be meaningless if the issue of territory was not resolved. “The meeting on May 11 at the bureaucratic level was meant to facilitate the process of resolving the issue of territorial jurisdiction before the political talks. But the Centre and the state refused to discuss the issue and said only the executive authority of the body would be discussed,” he said. “What is the point in attending talks at the political level if territorial jurisdiction is not discussed.”
A Morcha leader said there was a “sizeable” Nepali population in the Dooars. “So, if that area is not included in the set-up, we will be letting them down. That will not be good for the party’s image.”
A home ministry source in Delhi, however, expressed hope that the Morcha would attend the political talks, tentatively scheduled for May-end. But officials insisted the Morcha’s territorial demands were “unacceptable” at this juncture.
“There needs to be a political consensus. All three leading parties of Bengal — the CPM, Trinamul and the Congress — are opposed to giving additional territory,” said an official.
Gurung said the bandh would be enforced in all the areas his party wants to be brought under Gorkhaland. “Everything will remain closed, including schools and tea gardens.”
Reaping an organic harvest
Sikkim’s organic aspirations have started to bear fruits. According to a report, of 70,000 hectares of arable land in the State, 6000 hectares is already organic-certified. By 2015, Sikkim aims to be completely organic certified.
The State Government’s clear understanding of the fact that it needs to focus on enhancing and strengthening the local markets and produce by adopting organic farming is perhaps one of the best steps it has taken as far as sustainable development of the State is concerned.
The first step came in May 2003, when the State Government withdrew the subsidy on fertilizers. From 2006-07 onwards, the transport and handling subsidy and commission to the retailer was also withdrawn. Alongside, the Government also adopted a seven-year plan to phase out use of chemical fertilizers, by gradually replacing these with organic sources.
source; sikkim express
-
Sikkim’s organic aspirations have started to bear fruits. According to a report, of 70,000 hectares of arable land in the State, 6000 hectares is already organic-certified. By 2015, Sikkim aims to be completely organic certified.
The State Government’s clear understanding of the fact that it needs to focus on enhancing and strengthening the local markets and produce by adopting organic farming is perhaps one of the best steps it has taken as far as sustainable development of the State is concerned.
The first step came in May 2003, when the State Government withdrew the subsidy on fertilizers. From 2006-07 onwards, the transport and handling subsidy and commission to the retailer was also withdrawn. Alongside, the Government also adopted a seven-year plan to phase out use of chemical fertilizers, by gradually replacing these with organic sources.
source; sikkim express
-
GANGTOK Mayor KN Tobgay, Namchi chairperson Buddha Tamang
Sikkim Express | www.sikkimexpress.com
GANGTOK, May 12: Fifty one year old KN Tobgay was today unanimously nominated as the first Mayor of Gangtok Municipal Corporation (GMC) by the other 14 councillors after the oath taking formalities conducted today here at the east district administrative office.
Tobgay had won the Chandmari ward under GMC uncontested.
To recall, the ruling SDF party had swept all the 47 wards under GMC, Namchi Municipal Council and Nagar Panchayats of Singtam, Rangpo, Jorethang, Geyzing and Mangan in the results announced on April 29.
All the 15 councillors from GMC and ten Nagar Panchayats from Rangpo and Singtam were administrated their oaths by DC (East) D Anandan who is also the returning officer for East Sikkim.
Speaking to SIKKIM EXPRESS, Tobgay said that the priority of the GMC will be to tackle the issues of sewerage and drainage system besides decongesting the swelling capital.
The first elected Mayor is a commerce graduate from Shri Ram College under Delhi University. He has also worked as a teacher in Tashi Namgyal Academy in the mid-eighties.
Shakti Singh, councillor from Upper MG Marg was nominated for the post of deputy Mayor by the other councillors under GMC.
DPH councillor Srijani Khati, Deorali ward councillor Udai Lama and Upper Sichey ward councillor Neelu Chettri were included in the executive body of GMC.
Similarly, Singtam Nagar Panchayat got its first president as Sharvan Kumar Pradhan who had won from Daragaon ward. Meena Kumari Chettri from Pipal Dara ward was nominated as the vice-president.
Namchi chairperson Buddha Tamang
Nirmal Kumar Khati from Mandi Bazaar ward was nominated as the president and Pushpa Mishra from Chanatar ward as nominated as the vice-president of Rangpo Nagar Panchayat.
Meanwhile, as expected, Buddha Tamang from Upper Boomtar ward became the first chairperson of Namchi Municipal Council (NMC) today by the other six councillors.
The chairperson of NMC had been reserved for the Limboo-Tamang community and Tamang was the only councillor elected from these two communities.
Tamang was nominated for the post of NMC chairperson by the other councillors after the oath taking ceremony here at South District administrative office. The oaths were administrated by South DC AK Singh who is also the returning officer for NMC and Jorethang Nagar Panchayat elections.
NH Ansari from Gangyap ward was nominated as the deputy chairperson while Sonam Peden Bhutia from Upper Ghurpisey ward was included as the executive member of NMC.
Similarly, Pursottam Das Agarwal from Santinagar ward was nominated as the president of Jorethang Nagar Panchayat while Prakash Lakhandari from Daragon ward was nominated as the vice-president.
MLAs from Namchi-Singithang and Zoom-Salghari also attended the oath taking function.
In North Sikkim, Karma Jidgal Bhutia (29) from Rinzing Namgyal Marg ward was nominated unanimously as the president of Mangan Nagar Panchayat today.
Chewang Dorjee Lepcha (52) from Pentok ward as nominated as the vice president. The official swearing in function will be held on May 14.
Similarly in West Sikkim, Indra Kumar Neopany from New Geyzing ward was nominated as the first president of Geyzing Nagar Pancahyat after the formal oath taking ceremony at the West district administrative conference hall.
An IPR release informs that all the five members of Geyzing Nagar Panchayat were administrated the oath office by ADC (West).
Roshan Gurung from Kyongsa ward was nominated as the vice president of the Geyzing Nagar Panchayat.
Sikkim Express | www.sikkimexpress.com
GANGTOK, May 12: Fifty one year old KN Tobgay was today unanimously nominated as the first Mayor of Gangtok Municipal Corporation (GMC) by the other 14 councillors after the oath taking formalities conducted today here at the east district administrative office.
Tobgay had won the Chandmari ward under GMC uncontested.
To recall, the ruling SDF party had swept all the 47 wards under GMC, Namchi Municipal Council and Nagar Panchayats of Singtam, Rangpo, Jorethang, Geyzing and Mangan in the results announced on April 29.
All the 15 councillors from GMC and ten Nagar Panchayats from Rangpo and Singtam were administrated their oaths by DC (East) D Anandan who is also the returning officer for East Sikkim.
Speaking to SIKKIM EXPRESS, Tobgay said that the priority of the GMC will be to tackle the issues of sewerage and drainage system besides decongesting the swelling capital.
The first elected Mayor is a commerce graduate from Shri Ram College under Delhi University. He has also worked as a teacher in Tashi Namgyal Academy in the mid-eighties.
Shakti Singh, councillor from Upper MG Marg was nominated for the post of deputy Mayor by the other councillors under GMC.
DPH councillor Srijani Khati, Deorali ward councillor Udai Lama and Upper Sichey ward councillor Neelu Chettri were included in the executive body of GMC.
Similarly, Singtam Nagar Panchayat got its first president as Sharvan Kumar Pradhan who had won from Daragaon ward. Meena Kumari Chettri from Pipal Dara ward was nominated as the vice-president.
Namchi chairperson Buddha Tamang
Nirmal Kumar Khati from Mandi Bazaar ward was nominated as the president and Pushpa Mishra from Chanatar ward as nominated as the vice-president of Rangpo Nagar Panchayat.
Meanwhile, as expected, Buddha Tamang from Upper Boomtar ward became the first chairperson of Namchi Municipal Council (NMC) today by the other six councillors.
The chairperson of NMC had been reserved for the Limboo-Tamang community and Tamang was the only councillor elected from these two communities.
Tamang was nominated for the post of NMC chairperson by the other councillors after the oath taking ceremony here at South District administrative office. The oaths were administrated by South DC AK Singh who is also the returning officer for NMC and Jorethang Nagar Panchayat elections.
NH Ansari from Gangyap ward was nominated as the deputy chairperson while Sonam Peden Bhutia from Upper Ghurpisey ward was included as the executive member of NMC.
Similarly, Pursottam Das Agarwal from Santinagar ward was nominated as the president of Jorethang Nagar Panchayat while Prakash Lakhandari from Daragon ward was nominated as the vice-president.
MLAs from Namchi-Singithang and Zoom-Salghari also attended the oath taking function.
In North Sikkim, Karma Jidgal Bhutia (29) from Rinzing Namgyal Marg ward was nominated unanimously as the president of Mangan Nagar Panchayat today.
Chewang Dorjee Lepcha (52) from Pentok ward as nominated as the vice president. The official swearing in function will be held on May 14.
Similarly in West Sikkim, Indra Kumar Neopany from New Geyzing ward was nominated as the first president of Geyzing Nagar Pancahyat after the formal oath taking ceremony at the West district administrative conference hall.
An IPR release informs that all the five members of Geyzing Nagar Panchayat were administrated the oath office by ADC (West).
Roshan Gurung from Kyongsa ward was nominated as the vice president of the Geyzing Nagar Panchayat.
Bandh gets an apolitical highway ride
Stay-away plea flies against SC order
May 12: An “apolitical” outfit supporting the Gorkhaland cause has appealed to people to stay away from the national highway to Sikkim on May 15 and 16, the two days on which the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha has called a bandh.
The “appeal” is expected to hit Sikkim-bound traffic despite a Supreme Court directive to the Bengal government and the Centre to keep NH31A, the lifeline of the Himalayan state, free of blockades.
However, keeping in mind the apex court order, the Morcha had announced that it would not picket on the highway during its two-day bandh.
But the National Highway Protection and Welfare Association, which claimed it was apolitical but supported the Morcha cause, today said it would “appeal” to all concerned to refrain from plying vehicles on the road during the strike.
The apex court order had come on a petition filed by a Sikkim resident. Frequent strikes called in Bengal by those supporting and opposing the Gorkhaland agitation had been affecting traffic on the busy highway.
This time too, despite the court directive, owners and drivers of vehicles, especially those ferrying tourists, are reluctant to ply on NH31A during the bandh. Moreover, the three companies of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) that arrived on February 23 in compliance with the apex court order to keep the highway free of blockades left the region on May 4.
“On February 18, four vehicles on way to Siliguri were vandalised by an unidentified group during a general strike called by the Gorkha Janmukti Vidyarthi Morcha. After the incident, all vehicles bound for Siliguri returned to Sikkim,” said a Gangtok-based tour operator.
The general secretary of the Travel Agents’ Association of Sikkim, Lukendra Rasailly, said there was already a shortage of vehicles in the Himalayan state. “There could be more shortage as vehicle owners will not take the risk of plying them on the strike days,” Rasailly said. He added that the Darjeeling strike had caused overcrowding in Sikkim with tourists cancelling their bookings and moving to the Himalayan state.
The secretary of the Siliguri Taxi Owners’ Association, Kamal Khawas, however, was non-committal about the “appeal”. “About 200 vehicles run between Siliguri and different destinations in Sikkim. Let us see what happens when the strike begins,” he said.
Despite the Morcha keeping NH31A out of its protests after the court intervention, there were instances in the past when stones were thrown at vehicles plying the highway. Under the circumstances, it is unlikely that anyone will drive their vehicles on NH31A, especially with an apolitical organisation backing the shutdown call.
“We are an apolitical organisation consisting of educated youths living along the stretch between Mungpong and Rangpo. We fully support the Morcha’s statehood agitation. We, therefore, appeal to all concerned not to ply their vehicles along NH31A during the strike,” said Ajay Diyali, the general secretary of the association.
Diyali, however, said they would not picket on the highway. “It’s only an appeal. We are confident that everyone supporting the statehood demand will heed our request,” he said. On February 26, then chief secretary of Bengal Asok Mohan Chakrabarti had assured his Sikkim counterpart T.T. Dorji that the highway would be kept open at all times.
K.L. Tamta, the inspector-general of police, north Bengal, while confirming that the CRPF had left, said: “With the agitation being renewed and given the state of affairs, we have asked for four companies of the CRPF to be deployed in the hills and the highway.”
The police chief, however, ruled out the use of force to clear blockades on the highway during the Morcha strike. “In case any blockade on NH31A is reported, we will approach the agitators and remind them of the Supreme Court verdict and tell them that it should not be violated under any circumstances,” he said. “There is no question of applying force to clear the road.”
source the telegraph
Stay-away plea flies against SC order
May 12: An “apolitical” outfit supporting the Gorkhaland cause has appealed to people to stay away from the national highway to Sikkim on May 15 and 16, the two days on which the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha has called a bandh.
The “appeal” is expected to hit Sikkim-bound traffic despite a Supreme Court directive to the Bengal government and the Centre to keep NH31A, the lifeline of the Himalayan state, free of blockades.
However, keeping in mind the apex court order, the Morcha had announced that it would not picket on the highway during its two-day bandh.
But the National Highway Protection and Welfare Association, which claimed it was apolitical but supported the Morcha cause, today said it would “appeal” to all concerned to refrain from plying vehicles on the road during the strike.
The apex court order had come on a petition filed by a Sikkim resident. Frequent strikes called in Bengal by those supporting and opposing the Gorkhaland agitation had been affecting traffic on the busy highway.
This time too, despite the court directive, owners and drivers of vehicles, especially those ferrying tourists, are reluctant to ply on NH31A during the bandh. Moreover, the three companies of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) that arrived on February 23 in compliance with the apex court order to keep the highway free of blockades left the region on May 4.
“On February 18, four vehicles on way to Siliguri were vandalised by an unidentified group during a general strike called by the Gorkha Janmukti Vidyarthi Morcha. After the incident, all vehicles bound for Siliguri returned to Sikkim,” said a Gangtok-based tour operator.
The general secretary of the Travel Agents’ Association of Sikkim, Lukendra Rasailly, said there was already a shortage of vehicles in the Himalayan state. “There could be more shortage as vehicle owners will not take the risk of plying them on the strike days,” Rasailly said. He added that the Darjeeling strike had caused overcrowding in Sikkim with tourists cancelling their bookings and moving to the Himalayan state.
The secretary of the Siliguri Taxi Owners’ Association, Kamal Khawas, however, was non-committal about the “appeal”. “About 200 vehicles run between Siliguri and different destinations in Sikkim. Let us see what happens when the strike begins,” he said.
Despite the Morcha keeping NH31A out of its protests after the court intervention, there were instances in the past when stones were thrown at vehicles plying the highway. Under the circumstances, it is unlikely that anyone will drive their vehicles on NH31A, especially with an apolitical organisation backing the shutdown call.
“We are an apolitical organisation consisting of educated youths living along the stretch between Mungpong and Rangpo. We fully support the Morcha’s statehood agitation. We, therefore, appeal to all concerned not to ply their vehicles along NH31A during the strike,” said Ajay Diyali, the general secretary of the association.
Diyali, however, said they would not picket on the highway. “It’s only an appeal. We are confident that everyone supporting the statehood demand will heed our request,” he said. On February 26, then chief secretary of Bengal Asok Mohan Chakrabarti had assured his Sikkim counterpart T.T. Dorji that the highway would be kept open at all times.
K.L. Tamta, the inspector-general of police, north Bengal, while confirming that the CRPF had left, said: “With the agitation being renewed and given the state of affairs, we have asked for four companies of the CRPF to be deployed in the hills and the highway.”
The police chief, however, ruled out the use of force to clear blockades on the highway during the Morcha strike. “In case any blockade on NH31A is reported, we will approach the agitators and remind them of the Supreme Court verdict and tell them that it should not be violated under any circumstances,” he said. “There is no question of applying force to clear the road.”
source the telegraph
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Scientists discuss hydro-geology of springs in Sikkim
Karfectar, May 13 : The Sikkim government conducted a workshop on hydro-geology to bring about a better understanding of geo-hydrology of springs to make the planning of the ongoing Dhara Vikas programme more scientific.
In the mountain terrain ground water is stored in the rocks. Its accumulation and flow depends on the type and structure of rocks.
Hence understanding the geology is imperative in order to identify the type of spring and the recharge zone so as to take up artificial recharge work.
Based on this artificial recharge measures can be appropriately designed and implemented, participants at the workshop said.
The four-day workshop on 'Hydro-geology in context of springs of Sikkim' under the MGNREGA-Dhara Vikas programme, was organised jointly by the Rural Management and Development Department (RM and DD) and State Institute of Rural Development (SIRD) with technical support agencies ARGHYAM Bangalore, ACWADAM Pune, WWF Sikkim and TMI (The Mountain Institute). It concluded on May ten.
Main technical support for the workshop was provided by Mr.
Devdutt Upasani, scientist from ACWADAM, Pune (Advanced Center for Water Resources Development and Management). He is experienced in water conservation initiatives in similar mountain terrain in Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and the Western Ghats.
ACWADAM is a knowledge centre on ground water resources and is actively working with partners in several parts of the country.
Other resource persons for the workshop were Dr P.K.Das Assistant Hydro-Geologist from Central Ground Water Board, Kolkata, Mr.Dinesh Bhutia, Director SIRD, Dr Sandeep Tambe Additional Secretary RM and DD, Dr Ghanashyam Bastola from The Mountain Institute-India and Ms.
Priya Shrestha from WWF-India.
The participants were field facilitators of all the Block Administrative Centres of Sikkim, research scholars from Asoka Trust for Research in Ecology and Environment in Sikkim, Gangtok along with members of Non Governmental Organizations, Panchayats and barefoot engineers.
The team visited the Poison lake at Rinchenpong, West Sikkim, and Tamley lake at Mungran which have dried up, and discussed measures to revive these.
Of the five types of springs in the Himalayas--depression, contact, fault, fracture and karsts--the team could locate four during the field visit.
--UNI
Karfectar, May 13 : The Sikkim government conducted a workshop on hydro-geology to bring about a better understanding of geo-hydrology of springs to make the planning of the ongoing Dhara Vikas programme more scientific.
In the mountain terrain ground water is stored in the rocks. Its accumulation and flow depends on the type and structure of rocks.
Hence understanding the geology is imperative in order to identify the type of spring and the recharge zone so as to take up artificial recharge work.
Based on this artificial recharge measures can be appropriately designed and implemented, participants at the workshop said.
The four-day workshop on 'Hydro-geology in context of springs of Sikkim' under the MGNREGA-Dhara Vikas programme, was organised jointly by the Rural Management and Development Department (RM and DD) and State Institute of Rural Development (SIRD) with technical support agencies ARGHYAM Bangalore, ACWADAM Pune, WWF Sikkim and TMI (The Mountain Institute). It concluded on May ten.
Main technical support for the workshop was provided by Mr.
Devdutt Upasani, scientist from ACWADAM, Pune (Advanced Center for Water Resources Development and Management). He is experienced in water conservation initiatives in similar mountain terrain in Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and the Western Ghats.
ACWADAM is a knowledge centre on ground water resources and is actively working with partners in several parts of the country.
Other resource persons for the workshop were Dr P.K.Das Assistant Hydro-Geologist from Central Ground Water Board, Kolkata, Mr.Dinesh Bhutia, Director SIRD, Dr Sandeep Tambe Additional Secretary RM and DD, Dr Ghanashyam Bastola from The Mountain Institute-India and Ms.
Priya Shrestha from WWF-India.
The participants were field facilitators of all the Block Administrative Centres of Sikkim, research scholars from Asoka Trust for Research in Ecology and Environment in Sikkim, Gangtok along with members of Non Governmental Organizations, Panchayats and barefoot engineers.
The team visited the Poison lake at Rinchenpong, West Sikkim, and Tamley lake at Mungran which have dried up, and discussed measures to revive these.
Of the five types of springs in the Himalayas--depression, contact, fault, fracture and karsts--the team could locate four during the field visit.
--UNI
Indian traditional medicine gets pharmacopoeia commission
The government on Thursday decided to set up a Pharmacopoeia Commission at a cost of Rs. 14.08 crore for developing indigenous medicines with the aim of raising the country's share in the $62-billion global herbal drug market.
The Commission for development of Ayurveda, Siddha and Unani medicines would be set up in the wake of increasing cost of modern healthcare drugs and demand for herbal medicines, Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni told journalists after a Union Cabinet meeting.
The Commission, to be housed in Ghaziabad, would set standards for drugs in the Ayurveda, Siddha and Unani medical systems.
Earlier, a Committee set up by the Planning Commission for AYUSH (Ayurveda, Unani and Siddha) sector approved the setting up of the Commission. The panel will be responsible for publication and revision of standards on Ayurveda, Siddha and Unani drugs, as well as their formulation, development and publishing standards.
The global trade in herbal drugs is worth $62 billion. Of this, China's share was $19 billion, against a meagre $1 billion of India, a senior official said. The Commission would strive for India increased its market share.
There were 1,000 kinds of drugs and an equal number of compound formulations. The Commission would develop standards and quality specifications of identity and strength of raw material as well. It would define standard procedures for manufacturing Ayurveda, Siddha and Unani drugs, besides maintaining a national depository that would provide authentic reference of the raw material.
The Commission would be an autonomous society headed by an eminent technical person. It should work with immediate effect and would eventually become self-sustainable, the Minister said.
The government on Thursday decided to set up a Pharmacopoeia Commission at a cost of Rs. 14.08 crore for developing indigenous medicines with the aim of raising the country's share in the $62-billion global herbal drug market.
The Commission for development of Ayurveda, Siddha and Unani medicines would be set up in the wake of increasing cost of modern healthcare drugs and demand for herbal medicines, Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni told journalists after a Union Cabinet meeting.
The Commission, to be housed in Ghaziabad, would set standards for drugs in the Ayurveda, Siddha and Unani medical systems.
Earlier, a Committee set up by the Planning Commission for AYUSH (Ayurveda, Unani and Siddha) sector approved the setting up of the Commission. The panel will be responsible for publication and revision of standards on Ayurveda, Siddha and Unani drugs, as well as their formulation, development and publishing standards.
The global trade in herbal drugs is worth $62 billion. Of this, China's share was $19 billion, against a meagre $1 billion of India, a senior official said. The Commission would strive for India increased its market share.
There were 1,000 kinds of drugs and an equal number of compound formulations. The Commission would develop standards and quality specifications of identity and strength of raw material as well. It would define standard procedures for manufacturing Ayurveda, Siddha and Unani drugs, besides maintaining a national depository that would provide authentic reference of the raw material.
The Commission would be an autonomous society headed by an eminent technical person. It should work with immediate effect and would eventually become self-sustainable, the Minister said.
SIKKIM: Gangtok gets first mayor
FROM THE TELEGRAPH
Gangtok, May 12: K.N. Topgay of the SDF was today unanimously chosen the first mayor of Gangtok Municipal Corporation. The 51-year-old Topgay represents Chandmari ward. Shakti Singh Choudhary was nominated his deputy.
Topgay said his priority would be to tackle the issues of sewerage and drainage and make Gangtok cleaner. The civic body has 15 wards and all were won by the SDF. The councillors were administered oath by the Sikkim East district collector today. The SDF has also won the 32 wards of Namchi Municipal Council and the nagar panchayats of Rangpo, Singtam, Mangan, Geyzing and Jorethang.
FROM THE TELEGRAPH
Gangtok, May 12: K.N. Topgay of the SDF was today unanimously chosen the first mayor of Gangtok Municipal Corporation. The 51-year-old Topgay represents Chandmari ward. Shakti Singh Choudhary was nominated his deputy.
Topgay said his priority would be to tackle the issues of sewerage and drainage and make Gangtok cleaner. The civic body has 15 wards and all were won by the SDF. The councillors were administered oath by the Sikkim East district collector today. The SDF has also won the 32 wards of Namchi Municipal Council and the nagar panchayats of Rangpo, Singtam, Mangan, Geyzing and Jorethang.
Setting up of the Indian National Defence University (INDU)
The Union Cabinet today has accorded “in-principle” approval for setting up of Indian National Defence University (INDU) as a fully autonomous institution to be constituted under an Act of Parliament at an estimated cost of Rs.295 crore (at current price level). It also accorded the approval for acquisition of 200 acres of land at Binola in District Gurgaon, Haryana for the proposed site of INDU at an estimated cost of Rs.100 crore (at current rates).
INDU will undertake long term defence and strategic studies and create synergy between the academic community and Government functionaries. It will promote policy oriented research on all aspect relating to national security as an input to strategic national policy making. It will encourage awareness of national security issues by reaching out to scholars and an audience beyond the official machinery.
INDU will also educate national security leaders on aspects of national security strategy, national military strategy, national information strategy and national technology strategy through teaching and research.
The Union Cabinet today has accorded “in-principle” approval for setting up of Indian National Defence University (INDU) as a fully autonomous institution to be constituted under an Act of Parliament at an estimated cost of Rs.295 crore (at current price level). It also accorded the approval for acquisition of 200 acres of land at Binola in District Gurgaon, Haryana for the proposed site of INDU at an estimated cost of Rs.100 crore (at current rates).
INDU will undertake long term defence and strategic studies and create synergy between the academic community and Government functionaries. It will promote policy oriented research on all aspect relating to national security as an input to strategic national policy making. It will encourage awareness of national security issues by reaching out to scholars and an audience beyond the official machinery.
INDU will also educate national security leaders on aspects of national security strategy, national military strategy, national information strategy and national technology strategy through teaching and research.
Saving the right to information miracle
by Vidya Subrahmaniam
The RTI juggernaut has begun to roll over Indian babudom. Let us not turn the clock back.
Over the past week, there have been reports that the Prime Minister's Office, responding to Sonia Gandhi's muscular intervention, is backing off on the dreaded amendments to the Right to Information Act, 2005.
On the other hand, it is worth remembering that the amendments scare has never been too far away. It resurfaced as recently as April 30, 2010 — this time in the benign form of a friendly letter to an RTI applicant. The letter, from the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), was in response to his application seeking details of the amendments under consideration, and it confirmed that far-reaching changes were in fact under way.
And yet, whatever the outcome of this see-sawing confrontation between the government and the growing band of RTI stakeholders — activists, Information Commissioners, ordinary citizens — one thing is clear. Almost against its will, official India is changing.
The DoPT's letter is an example in itself. In the past, the department, the nodal government agency for matters relating to RTI, would get into a lather if anyone so much as asked a question. RTI activists and the Central Information Commission (CIC) fought a marathon battle to get the DoPT to acknowledge that the Act allowed access to file-notings. The department stubbornly maintained the opposite on its website, providing just the excuse the other Ministries needed to stonewall demands for file-notings.
The DoPT's April 30 letter is accommodating to the point of disbelief. In reply to “point number 8,” it says: “copy of file noting is enclosed.” Was this the same government organ that possessively clutched file-notings to its bosom? Not just the DoPT. There is reason to believe that RTI glasnost is wrecking babudom's practised ways everywhere in government. If today we know for a fact that Ms Gandhi and the Prime Minister hold opposing views on amending the RTI Act, it is thanks, ironically, to RTI. The Manmohan Singh-Sonia Gandhi correspondence was accessed by Subhash Chandra Agrawal, an RTI zealot with an unmatched penchant for bombarding government offices with complicated queries — the kind that would have normally got the government bristling.
Yet today he has in his possession documents of unimaginable importance. To name only a few: The entire 2004 and 2010 Padma awards records, including a 2004 “secret” letter from A.P.J. Abdul Kalam to Atal Bihari Vajpayee on norms for deciding the awards; information on the wealth and assets of judges as well as expenditure on the travels of judges and their spouses; files relating to appointment of judges; the Naveen Chawla-N.Gopalaswami correspondence; details of RTI amendments under consideration; and most recently, a CIC ruling extending the RTI Act to correspondence between the Prime Minister and the President.
Indian Express has scooped significant stories using the RTI Act, and recently published the entire lot of letters exchanged between Ms Gandhi and Dr. Manmohan Singh over the term of the first United Progressive Alliance government. The letters confirm what many have suspected for long: that two different visions inform the offices of the Prime Minister and the Congress president.
The CIC has far surpassed expectations, pushing the envelope to uphold transparency and accountability in the public sphere, and shaking up the judicial fraternity with its daring interpretation of the RTI Act. The CIC's January 2009 ruling that the Act covers the assets of Supreme Court judges is beyond anything one could have imagined in pre-RTI India.
To understand the import of this decision one has only to look at the incredible phenomenon of the Supreme Court appealing to itself against the Delhi High Court order upholding the CIC's ruling in the judges' assets case. Significantly, the effect of all this has been to open rather than shut doors. One judge after another has come out voluntarily to declare his assets.
A little over a month ago, this writer filed two RTI applications with the Ministry of Rural Development. Twenty days later, I got a call from the Ministry. Over the following week, officials incessantly fussed over me, worrying that I was not finding the time to go over and inspect the files. Once in the hallowed corridors of Krishi Bhawan, officials eagerly obliged with mounds of files, pointing out file-notings and such, and printing out photocopies late into the evening.
In the case of the second application, the Ministry overshot the RTI deadline of one month by five days. But no harm done. A Deputy Secretary was on the phone profusely apologising for the “unwarranted” delay. The ease with which officials parted with file-notings was a knock-out surprise. Indeed, the experience was almost surreal. Did I owe the kindness to my being a journalist or was something else happening here? The former possibility is fairly ruled out because the fourth estate is not a particular favourite of the bureaucracy.
In truth, not just me, RTI applicants everywhere are possibly finding it just a bit easier to approach the giant behemoth called the government. The term “top secret” which was the bureaucracy's single biggest weapon, no longer looks that forbidding. A correspondent from The Hindu approached a member of the Padma awards committee seeking details of the controversial Padma Bhushan award to NRI hotelier Sant Singh Chatwal. The member threw a fit: “How dare you even call me? Don't you know our decisions are secret?” Yet thanks to RTI, within days we had full information, not just on the award to Mr. Chatwal but on the 1,163 names considered by the committee. The awards committee member, like so many from the “secrecy” era, had not understood that what was secret in his time was open information today. The Hindu correspondent actually held in her hand President Kalam's “secret” note to Prime Minister Vajpayee. And the letter was handed out by the Home Ministry, once the proud repository of all things secret.
Spectacular as these breakthroughs are, it is the smaller stories involving a score of poor RTI applicants that truly point to the transfer of power taking place on the ground. Central Information Commissioner Shailesh Gandhi's favourite story is of a man in rags who was treated with respect at the ration office only because he had filed an RTI application. “The same officer who used to treat him like dirt offered him a chair and tea,” says Mr. Gandhi. “The man understood the power of information, and told me what he had achieved was far more than a ration card. From being always overpowered, he actually felt powerful.”
The implications of this transformation are surely not lost on the top echelons of government. Though not fully by any means, feudal, secretive India has adapted to an open information culture sooner than anyone could have anticipated. Who could have thought that government departments would treat information seekers with deference? If this is the case with the number of RTI users still being minuscule, one can guess the scale of the havoc a fully operative RTI Act would cause.
Says RTI pioneer Aruna Roy: “What we are witnessing is a potentially massive transfer of power. This is democracy at the grassroots, and that is why it is hard to believe that the government will let go of the amendments. RTI has opened a million cans of worms. It has put the fear of God into the bureaucracy.”
And so we have a strange situation. One half of the government is ever so slowly relaxing its hold on information, while the other half is far from giving up. The conflict becomes visible every now and then. Last month, the Home Ministry released the details of the 2010 Padma awards aspirants but advised the RTI applicant who sought them not to make them public.
At a South Asia RTI workshop convened in Delhi recently, delegates from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka seemed in awe of the Indian achievement in RTI. Pakistan framed a freedom of information ordinance in 2002. However, official data from that country shows that all its federal departments and ministries put together get less than five information applications a month. Between 2003 and 2007, only 51 complaints reached the office of the Federal Ombudsman (equivalent to the Indian CIC). Of these, only eight were filed by ordinary citizens. The Indian CIC in the single year of 2009 received 21,500 appeals and complaints, of which it disposed of 19,500.
India's RTI activists and Information Officers are an unusually inspired lot. Chief Information Commissioner Wajahat Habibullah has passed landmark rulings that have changed the rules of governance. Information Commissioner Gandhi has been working with a rare dedication, spending his own money to employ staff, and disposing of 5,800 cases annually. Aruna Roy and countless other activists breathe and sleep RTI.
For all their sake, and more importantly, for the sake of the common citizens, the miracle called the Indian RTI Act must be saved
by Vidya Subrahmaniam
The RTI juggernaut has begun to roll over Indian babudom. Let us not turn the clock back.
Over the past week, there have been reports that the Prime Minister's Office, responding to Sonia Gandhi's muscular intervention, is backing off on the dreaded amendments to the Right to Information Act, 2005.
On the other hand, it is worth remembering that the amendments scare has never been too far away. It resurfaced as recently as April 30, 2010 — this time in the benign form of a friendly letter to an RTI applicant. The letter, from the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), was in response to his application seeking details of the amendments under consideration, and it confirmed that far-reaching changes were in fact under way.
And yet, whatever the outcome of this see-sawing confrontation between the government and the growing band of RTI stakeholders — activists, Information Commissioners, ordinary citizens — one thing is clear. Almost against its will, official India is changing.
The DoPT's letter is an example in itself. In the past, the department, the nodal government agency for matters relating to RTI, would get into a lather if anyone so much as asked a question. RTI activists and the Central Information Commission (CIC) fought a marathon battle to get the DoPT to acknowledge that the Act allowed access to file-notings. The department stubbornly maintained the opposite on its website, providing just the excuse the other Ministries needed to stonewall demands for file-notings.
The DoPT's April 30 letter is accommodating to the point of disbelief. In reply to “point number 8,” it says: “copy of file noting is enclosed.” Was this the same government organ that possessively clutched file-notings to its bosom? Not just the DoPT. There is reason to believe that RTI glasnost is wrecking babudom's practised ways everywhere in government. If today we know for a fact that Ms Gandhi and the Prime Minister hold opposing views on amending the RTI Act, it is thanks, ironically, to RTI. The Manmohan Singh-Sonia Gandhi correspondence was accessed by Subhash Chandra Agrawal, an RTI zealot with an unmatched penchant for bombarding government offices with complicated queries — the kind that would have normally got the government bristling.
Yet today he has in his possession documents of unimaginable importance. To name only a few: The entire 2004 and 2010 Padma awards records, including a 2004 “secret” letter from A.P.J. Abdul Kalam to Atal Bihari Vajpayee on norms for deciding the awards; information on the wealth and assets of judges as well as expenditure on the travels of judges and their spouses; files relating to appointment of judges; the Naveen Chawla-N.Gopalaswami correspondence; details of RTI amendments under consideration; and most recently, a CIC ruling extending the RTI Act to correspondence between the Prime Minister and the President.
Indian Express has scooped significant stories using the RTI Act, and recently published the entire lot of letters exchanged between Ms Gandhi and Dr. Manmohan Singh over the term of the first United Progressive Alliance government. The letters confirm what many have suspected for long: that two different visions inform the offices of the Prime Minister and the Congress president.
The CIC has far surpassed expectations, pushing the envelope to uphold transparency and accountability in the public sphere, and shaking up the judicial fraternity with its daring interpretation of the RTI Act. The CIC's January 2009 ruling that the Act covers the assets of Supreme Court judges is beyond anything one could have imagined in pre-RTI India.
To understand the import of this decision one has only to look at the incredible phenomenon of the Supreme Court appealing to itself against the Delhi High Court order upholding the CIC's ruling in the judges' assets case. Significantly, the effect of all this has been to open rather than shut doors. One judge after another has come out voluntarily to declare his assets.
A little over a month ago, this writer filed two RTI applications with the Ministry of Rural Development. Twenty days later, I got a call from the Ministry. Over the following week, officials incessantly fussed over me, worrying that I was not finding the time to go over and inspect the files. Once in the hallowed corridors of Krishi Bhawan, officials eagerly obliged with mounds of files, pointing out file-notings and such, and printing out photocopies late into the evening.
In the case of the second application, the Ministry overshot the RTI deadline of one month by five days. But no harm done. A Deputy Secretary was on the phone profusely apologising for the “unwarranted” delay. The ease with which officials parted with file-notings was a knock-out surprise. Indeed, the experience was almost surreal. Did I owe the kindness to my being a journalist or was something else happening here? The former possibility is fairly ruled out because the fourth estate is not a particular favourite of the bureaucracy.
In truth, not just me, RTI applicants everywhere are possibly finding it just a bit easier to approach the giant behemoth called the government. The term “top secret” which was the bureaucracy's single biggest weapon, no longer looks that forbidding. A correspondent from The Hindu approached a member of the Padma awards committee seeking details of the controversial Padma Bhushan award to NRI hotelier Sant Singh Chatwal. The member threw a fit: “How dare you even call me? Don't you know our decisions are secret?” Yet thanks to RTI, within days we had full information, not just on the award to Mr. Chatwal but on the 1,163 names considered by the committee. The awards committee member, like so many from the “secrecy” era, had not understood that what was secret in his time was open information today. The Hindu correspondent actually held in her hand President Kalam's “secret” note to Prime Minister Vajpayee. And the letter was handed out by the Home Ministry, once the proud repository of all things secret.
Spectacular as these breakthroughs are, it is the smaller stories involving a score of poor RTI applicants that truly point to the transfer of power taking place on the ground. Central Information Commissioner Shailesh Gandhi's favourite story is of a man in rags who was treated with respect at the ration office only because he had filed an RTI application. “The same officer who used to treat him like dirt offered him a chair and tea,” says Mr. Gandhi. “The man understood the power of information, and told me what he had achieved was far more than a ration card. From being always overpowered, he actually felt powerful.”
The implications of this transformation are surely not lost on the top echelons of government. Though not fully by any means, feudal, secretive India has adapted to an open information culture sooner than anyone could have anticipated. Who could have thought that government departments would treat information seekers with deference? If this is the case with the number of RTI users still being minuscule, one can guess the scale of the havoc a fully operative RTI Act would cause.
Says RTI pioneer Aruna Roy: “What we are witnessing is a potentially massive transfer of power. This is democracy at the grassroots, and that is why it is hard to believe that the government will let go of the amendments. RTI has opened a million cans of worms. It has put the fear of God into the bureaucracy.”
And so we have a strange situation. One half of the government is ever so slowly relaxing its hold on information, while the other half is far from giving up. The conflict becomes visible every now and then. Last month, the Home Ministry released the details of the 2010 Padma awards aspirants but advised the RTI applicant who sought them not to make them public.
At a South Asia RTI workshop convened in Delhi recently, delegates from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka seemed in awe of the Indian achievement in RTI. Pakistan framed a freedom of information ordinance in 2002. However, official data from that country shows that all its federal departments and ministries put together get less than five information applications a month. Between 2003 and 2007, only 51 complaints reached the office of the Federal Ombudsman (equivalent to the Indian CIC). Of these, only eight were filed by ordinary citizens. The Indian CIC in the single year of 2009 received 21,500 appeals and complaints, of which it disposed of 19,500.
India's RTI activists and Information Officers are an unusually inspired lot. Chief Information Commissioner Wajahat Habibullah has passed landmark rulings that have changed the rules of governance. Information Commissioner Gandhi has been working with a rare dedication, spending his own money to employ staff, and disposing of 5,800 cases annually. Aruna Roy and countless other activists breathe and sleep RTI.
For all their sake, and more importantly, for the sake of the common citizens, the miracle called the Indian RTI Act must be saved
Gangtok: (PTI)12 may 2010
The High Court of Sikkim has taken suo moto cognisance of the bad road conditions in the state and issued notices to the concerned central and state agencies, including the ministries of home, defence, finance and surface transport.
Noting that the issue also concerns the security of the state and the country, with Sikkim being a border state, the court, led by Chief Justice B K Ghosh, yesterday said that proper and dependable roads are imperative in case of any emergent cross-border situation.
Poor road conditions are aggravated by hill cutting exercises resorted to by the Border Roads Organisation and other road agencies. Moreover, heavy pre-monsoon showers have also affected the roads
The High Court of Sikkim has taken suo moto cognisance of the bad road conditions in the state and issued notices to the concerned central and state agencies, including the ministries of home, defence, finance and surface transport.
Noting that the issue also concerns the security of the state and the country, with Sikkim being a border state, the court, led by Chief Justice B K Ghosh, yesterday said that proper and dependable roads are imperative in case of any emergent cross-border situation.
Poor road conditions are aggravated by hill cutting exercises resorted to by the Border Roads Organisation and other road agencies. Moreover, heavy pre-monsoon showers have also affected the roads
SC to hear all petitions on new lottery rules
New Delhi, May 12 (PTI) The Supreme Court has agreed to hear the validity of the amendments made by the Centre in the Lotteries Regulation Act and directed the Sikkim and Bombay high courts to transfer the petitions to itself.
Allowing the plea of the Centre, a bench headed by justices Altamas Kabir and HL Gokhale also said the stay granted by it earlier on the Sikkim High Court order on the matter will continue.
The Centre had introduced some amendments in the Lotteries Regulation Act by bringing in the Lotteries (Regulation) Rules, 2010 with a view to balance inter-state competition in lottery trade.
Some provision of the new rules were challenged by some lottery agents before the Bombay and Sikkim high courts. The challenged rules 3 and 4 of new regulation pertain to directions on appointment of distributors or selling agents and prize money
New Delhi, May 12 (PTI) The Supreme Court has agreed to hear the validity of the amendments made by the Centre in the Lotteries Regulation Act and directed the Sikkim and Bombay high courts to transfer the petitions to itself.
Allowing the plea of the Centre, a bench headed by justices Altamas Kabir and HL Gokhale also said the stay granted by it earlier on the Sikkim High Court order on the matter will continue.
The Centre had introduced some amendments in the Lotteries Regulation Act by bringing in the Lotteries (Regulation) Rules, 2010 with a view to balance inter-state competition in lottery trade.
Some provision of the new rules were challenged by some lottery agents before the Bombay and Sikkim high courts. The challenged rules 3 and 4 of new regulation pertain to directions on appointment of distributors or selling agents and prize money
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Association congratulates those who cleared UPSC
All Sikkim Educated Self-employed and Unemployed Association (ASESE& UA) has congratulated
Mr. Karma Rinchen Bonpo
and
Mr. Mingyur Yonzon
who have cleared the UPSC exams. Mr. Navin Kiran, General Secretary, Ms. Mayalmit Lepcha, Vice President and Mr. Sonam Pintso, Publicity secretary of ASESE&UA in a press conference in the capital on May 11 gave them best wishes for the future. “It conveys a message to our youths that we have the potential for competitiveness in this era of globalization”, they said
All Sikkim Educated Self-employed and Unemployed Association (ASESE& UA) has congratulated
Mr. Karma Rinchen Bonpo
and
Mr. Mingyur Yonzon
who have cleared the UPSC exams. Mr. Navin Kiran, General Secretary, Ms. Mayalmit Lepcha, Vice President and Mr. Sonam Pintso, Publicity secretary of ASESE&UA in a press conference in the capital on May 11 gave them best wishes for the future. “It conveys a message to our youths that we have the potential for competitiveness in this era of globalization”, they said
Total Share of India’s Urban Population Estimated to grow to 41% of the total Population by 2030 says Secretary Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation
The Secretary, Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation Smt. Kiran Dhingra has said that while a mere 28% in 2001, the total share of India’s urban population is estimated to grow to 41% of the total population by 2030. Addressing the Plenary Session on “Building a better world– Experience and Challenges” at CIB World Congress 2010 in Manchester, United Kingdom she said, some estimates place this at 55% in the year 2050. From 2003 to 2007, India witnessed an unprecedented economic growth spurt at 9%. Due to the economic slowdown of 2008, however, this rate has decreased to between 6% and 7%; for a developing country, however, this is still an impressive rate of growth to maintain. The Secretary said, of these figures, cities contribute to 60% of the country’s GDP. The percentage of population below poverty line in the country has gone down from 55% in 1973-74 to 27.5% in 2004-05. For urban areas the percentage of poor has reduced from 49% in 1993-74 to 25.7% in 2004-05.
She said, in the year 2004-05, the estimated number of urban poor was 81 million and the number of slum dwellers was 62 million. In 2001, there were 779,000 people living without homes. According to the Census of India, 2001, only 64% of urban India lives in homes that are in a ‘good condition’ while close to 1.93 million live in dilapidated houses followed by 17.31 million living in houses that are in a ‘livable condition’. The Census of India further reports that in 2001, 26% of the urban population did not have a latrine facility within their homes. The 61st Round of the National Sample Survey reveals that 44 males and 91 females out of every 1000 males and females respectively, were registered as unemployed in the year 2004-2005. Further only about 60% of the non-agricultural workforce, and as little as 40% of the female workforce worked in what can be considered a “designated workplace” in the conventional sense of the term. 18.5 million urban households (35%) had to fetch drinking water from a location away from their residential premises.
Smt. Kiran Dhingra said, the issues facing the government of India vis-Ã -vis urban poverty can therefore be summed up as unemployment, poor living conditions, lack of back services and lack of property rights, resulting in insecurity of tenure. She said, the challenge was how to attack these issues without excluding the urban poor as citizens with a right to their city. The aim of the government of India, simply put was to devise programmes for the growth and development of cities where ALL people, especially the urban poor, live lives in dignity and with inclusive access to basic services. A sustained development of infrastructure to meet the growing needs of the increasing urban population without excluding the urban poor and slum dwellers due to their lack of ‘voice’ is our goal.
She said, towards this end, India has adopted a policy framework for augmenting housing and addressing the issues of slum development and poverty alleviation in cities through the Five Year Plans. Referring to the national strategies to address urban issues, she said, the Government of India has taken major initiatives to address urban problems, especially the issues of affordable housing and basic services to urban poor, including slum dwellers. She said, the first is the enactment of the Constitution 74th Amendment Act 1992. This accorded a Constitutional status to the Municipalities as the third tier of government. She said, the Amendment envisages a legal-institutional framework for democratic decentralization. It reserves one-third of the seats in municipal councils for women, and the reservation of seats for weaker sections of society. It also provides a list of 18 functions as belonging to the legitimate domain of the municipalities. The Act envisages urban poverty alleviation and slum up-gradation as legitimate functions of urban local bodies.
The Secretary said, a second major initiative that the Government of India has championed is the launch of the Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission. JNNURM is the single largest initiative ever launched nationally to address the problems of infrastructure and basic services to the poor in cities and towns in a holistic manner. JNNURM is demand-driven and reform-led scheme covering 65 identified cities of national importance. The scheme focuses on the implementation of a 7-Point Charter, namely the provision of land tenure, affordable housing, water, sanitation, education, health and social security. As on March 2010, the Government has approved a total project cost of approximately USD 25 Billion for JNNURM.
Other initiatives of the Government of India include: adopting ‘Inclusive Growth’ as the development paradigm for the country’s 11th Five Year Plan covering the period 2007-2012, implementation of Skill Development Mission and the Swarna Jayanti Shahari Rozgar Yojana (SJSRY) to address the issues of skill development, employability and employment of the poor, National Policy on Street Vendors, Scheme of Integrated Low Cost Sanitation, Gender Budgeting and National Urban Housing & Habitat Policy 2007.
Smt. Kiran Dhingra said, the most recent initiative that the Government of India is working on is a mission to make India slum-free, called Rajiv Awas Yojana (RAY). This adopts a whole-city approach to include the urban poor within the formal system of planning in cities by providing property rights to slum dwellers. She said, RAY will tackle shortages of urban land and housing that keep shelter out of the reach of the urban poor forcing them to resort to extra-legal solutions in a bid to retain their sources of livelihood and employment. States and cities will be encouraged to develop slum-free state and slum-free city plans that are informed by GIS-enabled MIS mapping of the cities including slum areas to better enable experts and planners to approach city development in a more inclusive manner. These plans will be sustained by enabling legislation in each state that will accord property rights to the urban poor. She said, the preparation for this now complete, RAY is now operational from the current fiscal year starting in April 2010.
Smt. Dhingra referred to the recently released “State of the World’s Cities Report 2010/11” which claimed that India has been successful in improving the lives of 59.7 million slum dwellers since the year 2000. Slum prevalence, according to the same report, has fallen from 41.5 % in 2000 to 28.1% in 2010, a relative decrease of 32%. She said, while statistics like these boost the morale of a government trying to alleviate urban poverty, we must caution ourselves against resting on our accolades. We still have the remaining 28.1% slum dwellers to think of. She said, we still have to ensure that those 32% who have managed to pull themselves out of poverty do not, for a variety of reasons, fall below the poverty line.
AD/DB
The Secretary, Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation Smt. Kiran Dhingra has said that while a mere 28% in 2001, the total share of India’s urban population is estimated to grow to 41% of the total population by 2030. Addressing the Plenary Session on “Building a better world– Experience and Challenges” at CIB World Congress 2010 in Manchester, United Kingdom she said, some estimates place this at 55% in the year 2050. From 2003 to 2007, India witnessed an unprecedented economic growth spurt at 9%. Due to the economic slowdown of 2008, however, this rate has decreased to between 6% and 7%; for a developing country, however, this is still an impressive rate of growth to maintain. The Secretary said, of these figures, cities contribute to 60% of the country’s GDP. The percentage of population below poverty line in the country has gone down from 55% in 1973-74 to 27.5% in 2004-05. For urban areas the percentage of poor has reduced from 49% in 1993-74 to 25.7% in 2004-05.
She said, in the year 2004-05, the estimated number of urban poor was 81 million and the number of slum dwellers was 62 million. In 2001, there were 779,000 people living without homes. According to the Census of India, 2001, only 64% of urban India lives in homes that are in a ‘good condition’ while close to 1.93 million live in dilapidated houses followed by 17.31 million living in houses that are in a ‘livable condition’. The Census of India further reports that in 2001, 26% of the urban population did not have a latrine facility within their homes. The 61st Round of the National Sample Survey reveals that 44 males and 91 females out of every 1000 males and females respectively, were registered as unemployed in the year 2004-2005. Further only about 60% of the non-agricultural workforce, and as little as 40% of the female workforce worked in what can be considered a “designated workplace” in the conventional sense of the term. 18.5 million urban households (35%) had to fetch drinking water from a location away from their residential premises.
Smt. Kiran Dhingra said, the issues facing the government of India vis-Ã -vis urban poverty can therefore be summed up as unemployment, poor living conditions, lack of back services and lack of property rights, resulting in insecurity of tenure. She said, the challenge was how to attack these issues without excluding the urban poor as citizens with a right to their city. The aim of the government of India, simply put was to devise programmes for the growth and development of cities where ALL people, especially the urban poor, live lives in dignity and with inclusive access to basic services. A sustained development of infrastructure to meet the growing needs of the increasing urban population without excluding the urban poor and slum dwellers due to their lack of ‘voice’ is our goal.
She said, towards this end, India has adopted a policy framework for augmenting housing and addressing the issues of slum development and poverty alleviation in cities through the Five Year Plans. Referring to the national strategies to address urban issues, she said, the Government of India has taken major initiatives to address urban problems, especially the issues of affordable housing and basic services to urban poor, including slum dwellers. She said, the first is the enactment of the Constitution 74th Amendment Act 1992. This accorded a Constitutional status to the Municipalities as the third tier of government. She said, the Amendment envisages a legal-institutional framework for democratic decentralization. It reserves one-third of the seats in municipal councils for women, and the reservation of seats for weaker sections of society. It also provides a list of 18 functions as belonging to the legitimate domain of the municipalities. The Act envisages urban poverty alleviation and slum up-gradation as legitimate functions of urban local bodies.
The Secretary said, a second major initiative that the Government of India has championed is the launch of the Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission. JNNURM is the single largest initiative ever launched nationally to address the problems of infrastructure and basic services to the poor in cities and towns in a holistic manner. JNNURM is demand-driven and reform-led scheme covering 65 identified cities of national importance. The scheme focuses on the implementation of a 7-Point Charter, namely the provision of land tenure, affordable housing, water, sanitation, education, health and social security. As on March 2010, the Government has approved a total project cost of approximately USD 25 Billion for JNNURM.
Other initiatives of the Government of India include: adopting ‘Inclusive Growth’ as the development paradigm for the country’s 11th Five Year Plan covering the period 2007-2012, implementation of Skill Development Mission and the Swarna Jayanti Shahari Rozgar Yojana (SJSRY) to address the issues of skill development, employability and employment of the poor, National Policy on Street Vendors, Scheme of Integrated Low Cost Sanitation, Gender Budgeting and National Urban Housing & Habitat Policy 2007.
Smt. Kiran Dhingra said, the most recent initiative that the Government of India is working on is a mission to make India slum-free, called Rajiv Awas Yojana (RAY). This adopts a whole-city approach to include the urban poor within the formal system of planning in cities by providing property rights to slum dwellers. She said, RAY will tackle shortages of urban land and housing that keep shelter out of the reach of the urban poor forcing them to resort to extra-legal solutions in a bid to retain their sources of livelihood and employment. States and cities will be encouraged to develop slum-free state and slum-free city plans that are informed by GIS-enabled MIS mapping of the cities including slum areas to better enable experts and planners to approach city development in a more inclusive manner. These plans will be sustained by enabling legislation in each state that will accord property rights to the urban poor. She said, the preparation for this now complete, RAY is now operational from the current fiscal year starting in April 2010.
Smt. Dhingra referred to the recently released “State of the World’s Cities Report 2010/11” which claimed that India has been successful in improving the lives of 59.7 million slum dwellers since the year 2000. Slum prevalence, according to the same report, has fallen from 41.5 % in 2000 to 28.1% in 2010, a relative decrease of 32%. She said, while statistics like these boost the morale of a government trying to alleviate urban poverty, we must caution ourselves against resting on our accolades. We still have the remaining 28.1% slum dwellers to think of. She said, we still have to ensure that those 32% who have managed to pull themselves out of poverty do not, for a variety of reasons, fall below the poverty line.
AD/DB
FM’s address at CII National Conference and Annual Session
Following is the text of Finance Minister, Shri Pranab Mukherjee’s speech, delivered at the CII National Conference And Annual Session, here today:
“It gives me great pleasure to address this inaugural session of the CII Annual Session and National Conference on ‘Implementing Inclusive Growth and Development’. At the very outset, I would like to complement CII in its efforts to work closely with the Government on diverse policy issues; enhancing efficiency, competitiveness and expanding business opportunities for industry as a whole through a range of specialised services and global linkages. Over the years CII has provided a platform for public debate on diverse key issues and has thus played a key role in generating public opinion, building consensus and crystallising policy inputs.
I am delighted that you are organizing a National Conference and the main theme of your deliberations is “Implementing Inclusive Growth and Development”. You may recall that in my budget speech this year I mentioned that for UPA Government inclusive development is an act of faith. I have always viewed inclusive and equitable growth as the key to the long term peace and prosperity of our country. Empowering the poor and the socially disadvantaged and ensuring that they benefit more than proportionately from economic growth is a core agenda of the Government.
In the post liberalization phase the Government has realized that despite achieving consistently high level of economic growth the benefits do not percolate to the bottom layer of the masses. Irrespective of the recent debate on the number of persons below the poverty line it is a fact that a significant chunk of our population has yet to benefit from our growth story. The Eleventh Plan, therefore, aims at achieving growth process which will meet the objectives of inclusiveness and sustainability and the Plan document clearly state that inclusive growth yields broad based benefits and ensures equal opportunities for all. We also know the fact that approach to poverty reduction is a necessary but not sufficient condition to eradicate poverty and deprivation. It is a complex process and need multi-pronged efforts.
The Government, in the recent past, has made all efforts to put in place necessary legal and policy framework, stepped up budgetary resources especially for the social sector, agriculture and infrastructure development and has also been alive to the issues of governance and implementation. Overall objective is to remove economic, regional and social disparities and let the benefits of growth and development trickle down equitably to every citizen irrespective of caste, creed and region.
As you all know that we have put in place statutory framework for the right to information, right to education and right to work. Efforts are on to pilot the Food Security Bill that would guarantee availability of food grains to the poorest section at affordable price as a matter of right. For the protection of workers in the unorganized sector, the Unorganized Sector Workers Social Security Act, 2008 would be soon operational with the setting up of National Social Security Fund with an initial allocation of Rs. 1,000 crore. The Government has also decided to contribute Rs. 1000 per year to each account opened during the current financial year by unorganized sector worker under the New Pension Scheme.
Keeping in view the objective of inclusive development, budgetary allocation this year on social sector has been increased to Rs. 1,37,674 crore which is about 37 per cent of the total Plan outlay for the current financial year. This will be supplemented with another 25 per cent of the plan allocation earmarked for rural infrastructure. Allocation for Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Programme (NREGA), which guarantees minimum 100 days employment to rural unemployed, has been increased to Rs. 45,000 crore. We have also stepped up budgetary allocation under Indira Awas Yojana and Rajiv Awas Yojna for rural and urban weaker sections housing schemes respectively. To generate more employment opportunities for urban unemployed, budgetary allocation under Swaran Jayanti Shahri Rozgar Yozna has also been stepped up.
The Government’s strategy also focuses on two key sectors namely agriculture sector and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) sector. The objective is to reduce poverty by increasing productivity in agriculture and creating employment opportunities outside farm sector by expanding labour intensive industries in MSME sector. To achieve agricultural sector growth rate of 4 percent of GDP, apart from ongoing schemes, I have announced details of four-pronged strategy in my budget speech covering agriculture production, reduction in wastage of production, credit support and thrust to food processing sector. To ensure inclusive growth in agriculture sector, thrust is needed in building participatory approach for natural resources management such as participatory irrigation and watershed management, joint forest and waste land management. Participatory management can ensure equity, sustainability and food security at village and panchayat/taluka level.
Micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) sector, being labour intensive sector, is the key to address the problems of rural and urban poverty. MSME sector faces a number of problems - absence of adequate and timely banking finance, non-availability of state of the art technology, low production capacity, ineffecient marketing, non availability of highly skilled labour at affordable cost etc. Despite its commendable contribution to GDP, exports and employment, MSME Sector does not have access to alternative avenues of raising the required capital unlike the large companies. You are aware that Government in the recent past have stepped the funding to strengthen this sector and several schemes to upgrade skills and technology are under implementation. But I feel much more is needed to be done. I am sure that the issues relating to increasing the access of MSME units to capital market and Financial Institutions and how best can the Corporate Sector assist the MSME units in upgrading technology and marketing would form part of the deliberations in the conference today.
I can see that the private sector has the potential and resources to play a catalytic role in inclusive development and growth. The private sector has made great strides through microfinance, providing rural development capital while freeing many rural people from the grip of moneylenders. Private sector has an important role to play in filling the rural education gap especially in the area of vocational training to address the growing shortage of skilled workers. Vocational training is an area where companies can get more immediate returns on their investment, either by conducting their own training or by financing vocational programmes. The corporate sector, therefore, needs to come forward and contribute as for as possible in strengthening and expanding the vocational and skill development institutions especially in the rural and poverty ridden urban areas.
Over all governance and implementation is also one of the key determinants in ensuring inclusive growth. When we compare the performances at State level the issue of governance comes to the fore. Some States have implemented the development programmes and schemes efficiently and are therefore way above the other States in terms of poverty reduction, social protection, literacy rate, health indicators and over all human development index. By contrast, some States do not seem to have effective governance and implementation machinery and have not performed well. The Centre Government, in partnership with the States, is making all efforts to stop leakages and pilferages and improve the delivery systems. We are keen to use alternative modes and adopt information technology for efficient delivery system. Debate is going on how to improve Public Distribution System and stop wastages and leakages by introducing smart cards and use data base to be generated by the Unique Identification Authority of India. I am sure in due course the Government would adopt system that not only strengthens the PDS but also reduces expenditure. The Government also is keen to strengthen assessment and evaluation of all the programmes and schemes. With the setting up of an Independent Evaluation Office, which has been announced in my budget speech, I expect there would be an objective evaluation of the impact of our major schemes and the government would be in a position to allocate its scarce resources efficiently and effectively.
I am also concerned about the prevailing high inflation in the economy. Inflation erodes real income. It hurts the marginalised and the poor segment of our society the most. WPI based food articles inflation has declined from 18.63 % on 1st January this year to about 16% on April 24th. The average inflation based on the Consumer Price Index (Industrial Workers) for the months of February and March 2010 has been about 14.6%. But inflation seems to be on the decline now. CPI based inflation is higher mainly because food items have significant weight in the index basket and I expect the inflation based on CPI (IW) to decline rapidly as the prices of food items is now declining. A good monsoon, as predicted by the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) in its first monsoon forecast, is vital for the economy and it would bring down the prices of essential commodities. I am hopeful that the way the Government meticulously planned economic recovery in the past one year likewise we would beat the high inflation in the coming few months.
Coming to the overall macro performance, going by the industrial sector growth, especially in the past six months, I expect GDP numbers for the financial year 2009-10 should now be around 7.2 %. This achievement is particularly significant, considering that India had an unfavourable monsoon, which dampened the growth of the farm sector. I expect strong growth in the current financial year that stands to benefit from further improvements in business confidence. IMF, in its latest World Economic Outlook, has projected India’s GDP growth to be 8.8 per cent in 2010, and 8.4 per cent in 2011 and I expect even better performance.
I can see that today’s function is being attended by leading entrepreneurs and experts and hope you would have a threadbare discussion on the topic you have chosen for this Conference. As always I am sure your deliberations and debate would sum up in a very useful policy inputs and insights. I look forward for your valuable inputs.
I thank CII for giving me this opportunity. I wish all the best in your endeavors.”
BY-161/10
Following is the text of Finance Minister, Shri Pranab Mukherjee’s speech, delivered at the CII National Conference And Annual Session, here today:
“It gives me great pleasure to address this inaugural session of the CII Annual Session and National Conference on ‘Implementing Inclusive Growth and Development’. At the very outset, I would like to complement CII in its efforts to work closely with the Government on diverse policy issues; enhancing efficiency, competitiveness and expanding business opportunities for industry as a whole through a range of specialised services and global linkages. Over the years CII has provided a platform for public debate on diverse key issues and has thus played a key role in generating public opinion, building consensus and crystallising policy inputs.
I am delighted that you are organizing a National Conference and the main theme of your deliberations is “Implementing Inclusive Growth and Development”. You may recall that in my budget speech this year I mentioned that for UPA Government inclusive development is an act of faith. I have always viewed inclusive and equitable growth as the key to the long term peace and prosperity of our country. Empowering the poor and the socially disadvantaged and ensuring that they benefit more than proportionately from economic growth is a core agenda of the Government.
In the post liberalization phase the Government has realized that despite achieving consistently high level of economic growth the benefits do not percolate to the bottom layer of the masses. Irrespective of the recent debate on the number of persons below the poverty line it is a fact that a significant chunk of our population has yet to benefit from our growth story. The Eleventh Plan, therefore, aims at achieving growth process which will meet the objectives of inclusiveness and sustainability and the Plan document clearly state that inclusive growth yields broad based benefits and ensures equal opportunities for all. We also know the fact that approach to poverty reduction is a necessary but not sufficient condition to eradicate poverty and deprivation. It is a complex process and need multi-pronged efforts.
The Government, in the recent past, has made all efforts to put in place necessary legal and policy framework, stepped up budgetary resources especially for the social sector, agriculture and infrastructure development and has also been alive to the issues of governance and implementation. Overall objective is to remove economic, regional and social disparities and let the benefits of growth and development trickle down equitably to every citizen irrespective of caste, creed and region.
As you all know that we have put in place statutory framework for the right to information, right to education and right to work. Efforts are on to pilot the Food Security Bill that would guarantee availability of food grains to the poorest section at affordable price as a matter of right. For the protection of workers in the unorganized sector, the Unorganized Sector Workers Social Security Act, 2008 would be soon operational with the setting up of National Social Security Fund with an initial allocation of Rs. 1,000 crore. The Government has also decided to contribute Rs. 1000 per year to each account opened during the current financial year by unorganized sector worker under the New Pension Scheme.
Keeping in view the objective of inclusive development, budgetary allocation this year on social sector has been increased to Rs. 1,37,674 crore which is about 37 per cent of the total Plan outlay for the current financial year. This will be supplemented with another 25 per cent of the plan allocation earmarked for rural infrastructure. Allocation for Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Programme (NREGA), which guarantees minimum 100 days employment to rural unemployed, has been increased to Rs. 45,000 crore. We have also stepped up budgetary allocation under Indira Awas Yojana and Rajiv Awas Yojna for rural and urban weaker sections housing schemes respectively. To generate more employment opportunities for urban unemployed, budgetary allocation under Swaran Jayanti Shahri Rozgar Yozna has also been stepped up.
The Government’s strategy also focuses on two key sectors namely agriculture sector and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) sector. The objective is to reduce poverty by increasing productivity in agriculture and creating employment opportunities outside farm sector by expanding labour intensive industries in MSME sector. To achieve agricultural sector growth rate of 4 percent of GDP, apart from ongoing schemes, I have announced details of four-pronged strategy in my budget speech covering agriculture production, reduction in wastage of production, credit support and thrust to food processing sector. To ensure inclusive growth in agriculture sector, thrust is needed in building participatory approach for natural resources management such as participatory irrigation and watershed management, joint forest and waste land management. Participatory management can ensure equity, sustainability and food security at village and panchayat/taluka level.
Micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) sector, being labour intensive sector, is the key to address the problems of rural and urban poverty. MSME sector faces a number of problems - absence of adequate and timely banking finance, non-availability of state of the art technology, low production capacity, ineffecient marketing, non availability of highly skilled labour at affordable cost etc. Despite its commendable contribution to GDP, exports and employment, MSME Sector does not have access to alternative avenues of raising the required capital unlike the large companies. You are aware that Government in the recent past have stepped the funding to strengthen this sector and several schemes to upgrade skills and technology are under implementation. But I feel much more is needed to be done. I am sure that the issues relating to increasing the access of MSME units to capital market and Financial Institutions and how best can the Corporate Sector assist the MSME units in upgrading technology and marketing would form part of the deliberations in the conference today.
I can see that the private sector has the potential and resources to play a catalytic role in inclusive development and growth. The private sector has made great strides through microfinance, providing rural development capital while freeing many rural people from the grip of moneylenders. Private sector has an important role to play in filling the rural education gap especially in the area of vocational training to address the growing shortage of skilled workers. Vocational training is an area where companies can get more immediate returns on their investment, either by conducting their own training or by financing vocational programmes. The corporate sector, therefore, needs to come forward and contribute as for as possible in strengthening and expanding the vocational and skill development institutions especially in the rural and poverty ridden urban areas.
Over all governance and implementation is also one of the key determinants in ensuring inclusive growth. When we compare the performances at State level the issue of governance comes to the fore. Some States have implemented the development programmes and schemes efficiently and are therefore way above the other States in terms of poverty reduction, social protection, literacy rate, health indicators and over all human development index. By contrast, some States do not seem to have effective governance and implementation machinery and have not performed well. The Centre Government, in partnership with the States, is making all efforts to stop leakages and pilferages and improve the delivery systems. We are keen to use alternative modes and adopt information technology for efficient delivery system. Debate is going on how to improve Public Distribution System and stop wastages and leakages by introducing smart cards and use data base to be generated by the Unique Identification Authority of India. I am sure in due course the Government would adopt system that not only strengthens the PDS but also reduces expenditure. The Government also is keen to strengthen assessment and evaluation of all the programmes and schemes. With the setting up of an Independent Evaluation Office, which has been announced in my budget speech, I expect there would be an objective evaluation of the impact of our major schemes and the government would be in a position to allocate its scarce resources efficiently and effectively.
I am also concerned about the prevailing high inflation in the economy. Inflation erodes real income. It hurts the marginalised and the poor segment of our society the most. WPI based food articles inflation has declined from 18.63 % on 1st January this year to about 16% on April 24th. The average inflation based on the Consumer Price Index (Industrial Workers) for the months of February and March 2010 has been about 14.6%. But inflation seems to be on the decline now. CPI based inflation is higher mainly because food items have significant weight in the index basket and I expect the inflation based on CPI (IW) to decline rapidly as the prices of food items is now declining. A good monsoon, as predicted by the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) in its first monsoon forecast, is vital for the economy and it would bring down the prices of essential commodities. I am hopeful that the way the Government meticulously planned economic recovery in the past one year likewise we would beat the high inflation in the coming few months.
Coming to the overall macro performance, going by the industrial sector growth, especially in the past six months, I expect GDP numbers for the financial year 2009-10 should now be around 7.2 %. This achievement is particularly significant, considering that India had an unfavourable monsoon, which dampened the growth of the farm sector. I expect strong growth in the current financial year that stands to benefit from further improvements in business confidence. IMF, in its latest World Economic Outlook, has projected India’s GDP growth to be 8.8 per cent in 2010, and 8.4 per cent in 2011 and I expect even better performance.
I can see that today’s function is being attended by leading entrepreneurs and experts and hope you would have a threadbare discussion on the topic you have chosen for this Conference. As always I am sure your deliberations and debate would sum up in a very useful policy inputs and insights. I look forward for your valuable inputs.
I thank CII for giving me this opportunity. I wish all the best in your endeavors.”
BY-161/10
NEW DELHI: GJM talks inconclusive; Centre, Bengal reject demand for including more areas
FROM TIMES OF INDIA
NEW DELHI: Tripartite talks among the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM), West Bengal government and the Centre appear to have hit a roadblock. The administrative-level consultations among the three parties on Tuesday resulted in a stalemate over the territorial jurisdiction of the recently-proposed interim set-up for Darjeeling.
GJM’s insistence on the inclusion of the Gorkha-dominated parts of the Terai and Dooars in the proposed set-up saw the discussion end inconclusively as both the Centre and the state are learnt to have outrightly rejected the demand due to security concerns.
Sources in the home ministry said that both the Centre and the state government were for limiting the proposed set-up — Darjeeling Regional Authority — to the hill sub-divisions of Darjeeling, Kurseong and Kalimpong.
An official said: “The unique geographical location of the region — a thin strip of land called Chicken’s Neck which separates China and Bangladesh and also connects India’s mainland with the North-East — is the main reason why the government does not want to look beyond the three sub-divisions.”
The Centre and state’s view was, however, not acceptable to GJM. Its leader Roshan Giri, who led the five-member delegation for the discussions here on Tuesday, told TOI that the Morcha was in no mood to discuss the issues concerning the interim set-up unless the government accepted its demand over the territorial issue.
He said: “The government insisted on discussion over devolution of power instead of considering our demand of additional territory. We cannot discuss devolution of power without clubbing all the Gorkha-inhabited areas into the proposed set-up.”
Tuesday’s discussion, attended by senior officials of the Union home ministry and the West Bengal government, was meant to prepare the groundwork for the next round of political-level talks later this month.
Asked whether the Morcha’s current stand would derail the political-level talks which might be held in the month-end, Giri said: “Let us first discuss it with GJM chief Bimal Gurung and other leaders. We may go ahead with the political-level talks, but we want the government to clear the air over the territorial issue.”
Gurung, who has been demanding a separate state of Gorkhaland since 2007, had floated a new proposal for an interim set-up in the hills till December 31, 2011.
Though the proposal was accepted by the government, further discussion faced hurdles with GJM insisting on the inclusion of additional Gorkha-inhabited areas in the interim set-up.
FROM TIMES OF INDIA
NEW DELHI: Tripartite talks among the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM), West Bengal government and the Centre appear to have hit a roadblock. The administrative-level consultations among the three parties on Tuesday resulted in a stalemate over the territorial jurisdiction of the recently-proposed interim set-up for Darjeeling.
GJM’s insistence on the inclusion of the Gorkha-dominated parts of the Terai and Dooars in the proposed set-up saw the discussion end inconclusively as both the Centre and the state are learnt to have outrightly rejected the demand due to security concerns.
Sources in the home ministry said that both the Centre and the state government were for limiting the proposed set-up — Darjeeling Regional Authority — to the hill sub-divisions of Darjeeling, Kurseong and Kalimpong.
An official said: “The unique geographical location of the region — a thin strip of land called Chicken’s Neck which separates China and Bangladesh and also connects India’s mainland with the North-East — is the main reason why the government does not want to look beyond the three sub-divisions.”
The Centre and state’s view was, however, not acceptable to GJM. Its leader Roshan Giri, who led the five-member delegation for the discussions here on Tuesday, told TOI that the Morcha was in no mood to discuss the issues concerning the interim set-up unless the government accepted its demand over the territorial issue.
He said: “The government insisted on discussion over devolution of power instead of considering our demand of additional territory. We cannot discuss devolution of power without clubbing all the Gorkha-inhabited areas into the proposed set-up.”
Tuesday’s discussion, attended by senior officials of the Union home ministry and the West Bengal government, was meant to prepare the groundwork for the next round of political-level talks later this month.
Asked whether the Morcha’s current stand would derail the political-level talks which might be held in the month-end, Giri said: “Let us first discuss it with GJM chief Bimal Gurung and other leaders. We may go ahead with the political-level talks, but we want the government to clear the air over the territorial issue.”
Gurung, who has been demanding a separate state of Gorkhaland since 2007, had floated a new proposal for an interim set-up in the hills till December 31, 2011.
Though the proposal was accepted by the government, further discussion faced hurdles with GJM insisting on the inclusion of additional Gorkha-inhabited areas in the interim set-up.
Justice Kapadia sworn in as Chief Justice of India
Justice S H Kapadia, the senior most judge of the Supreme Court, was on Wednesday sworn in as the 38th Chief Justice of India by President Pratibha Patil.
The swearing-in of 62-year-old Justice Kapadia at Rashtrapati Bhawan was attended among others by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, his cabinet colleagues, outgoing Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan and other dignitaries.
Justice Kapadia, who wants all judges to keep themselves abreast with commercial laws, would remain at the helm of Indian Judiciary till September 29, 2012.
He was associated with a historical judgement in which a five-judge Constitutional Bench had held that the law put in the Ninth Schedule was open for judicial review.
Justice Kapadia’s deep knowledge on wide ranging issues, particularly tax laws, has earned him accolades from the bench and the bar in equal measure.
The judge, who is known for maintaining strict judicial discipline, assumes the office at a crucial time when Indian judiciary is hit by a corruption controversy and perceived failure of in-house mechanism on appointment and elevation of judges.
For the judge, who during his tenure in the apex court since December 18, 2003 has been associated with 771 judgements, his 28-month term as the CJI would be a challenging one against the backdrop of the need to reducing the mounting pendency of the cases not only in the top court but in high courts and trial courts.
However, the real test for Justice Kapadia would be to take a stand on whether or not the office of CJI comes under the ambit of the Right to Information Act as Justice Balakrishnan had consistently maintained that it has to be kept out of the purview of RTI.
The issue assumes importance as the Delhi High Court had dismissed the stand of Justice Balakrishnan after which the Supreme Court Registry appealed to the apex court.
In a letter to former Supreme Court Judge V R Krishna Iyer on May 3, Justice Kapadia had said the only asset he possesses is integrity and hoped to fulfil the Constitutional obligations to achieve the goal of “inclusive growth.”
“I come from a poor family. I started my career as a class IV employee and the only asset I possess is integrity”, he had said.
Justice Kapadia had said, “Even as a judge of the Supreme Court, I have used my knowledge of accounts and economics for the welfare of the downtrodden including tribals and workmen...
”... I hope to fulfil my obligation to the Constitution in the matter of achieving the goal of inclusive growth”, he had said in his letter, replying to a congratulatory message from Justice Iyer following his new appointment as CJI.
Justice S H Kapadia, the senior most judge of the Supreme Court, was on Wednesday sworn in as the 38th Chief Justice of India by President Pratibha Patil.
The swearing-in of 62-year-old Justice Kapadia at Rashtrapati Bhawan was attended among others by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, his cabinet colleagues, outgoing Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan and other dignitaries.
Justice Kapadia, who wants all judges to keep themselves abreast with commercial laws, would remain at the helm of Indian Judiciary till September 29, 2012.
He was associated with a historical judgement in which a five-judge Constitutional Bench had held that the law put in the Ninth Schedule was open for judicial review.
Justice Kapadia’s deep knowledge on wide ranging issues, particularly tax laws, has earned him accolades from the bench and the bar in equal measure.
The judge, who is known for maintaining strict judicial discipline, assumes the office at a crucial time when Indian judiciary is hit by a corruption controversy and perceived failure of in-house mechanism on appointment and elevation of judges.
For the judge, who during his tenure in the apex court since December 18, 2003 has been associated with 771 judgements, his 28-month term as the CJI would be a challenging one against the backdrop of the need to reducing the mounting pendency of the cases not only in the top court but in high courts and trial courts.
However, the real test for Justice Kapadia would be to take a stand on whether or not the office of CJI comes under the ambit of the Right to Information Act as Justice Balakrishnan had consistently maintained that it has to be kept out of the purview of RTI.
The issue assumes importance as the Delhi High Court had dismissed the stand of Justice Balakrishnan after which the Supreme Court Registry appealed to the apex court.
In a letter to former Supreme Court Judge V R Krishna Iyer on May 3, Justice Kapadia had said the only asset he possesses is integrity and hoped to fulfil the Constitutional obligations to achieve the goal of “inclusive growth.”
“I come from a poor family. I started my career as a class IV employee and the only asset I possess is integrity”, he had said.
Justice Kapadia had said, “Even as a judge of the Supreme Court, I have used my knowledge of accounts and economics for the welfare of the downtrodden including tribals and workmen...
”... I hope to fulfil my obligation to the Constitution in the matter of achieving the goal of inclusive growth”, he had said in his letter, replying to a congratulatory message from Justice Iyer following his new appointment as CJI.
NEW DELHI: New Delhi limits Karmapa Lama’s travel
FROM ASIA SENTINEL
BY SARANSH SEHGAL
The Indian government has moved to limit the freedom of movement of one of Tibetan Buddhism’s most influential monks, the 24-year-old Karmapa Lama, refusing to allow him to tour nine European countries from May to July for a series of teachings, lectures and initiations for his devotees.
The travel ban has caused apprehension both in the exile community and among the Karmapa Lama’s followers in the west. The restrictions come at a time when many in the exile community increasingly see the youthful monk, whose name is Ogyen Trinley Dorje, as the political successor to lead the Tibetan Buddhist movement after the Dalai Lama.
“The process has begun to find out why this visit was not possible and what positive conditions are needed to make the visit possible in near future,” said Ringu Tulku, the coordinator of the cancelled visit, in an email to Asia Sentinel.
It is not necessary to look farther than Beijing. Dorje, who was named the Karmapa Lama at the age of 7, is a particular bête noir to the Chinese, who gave him recognition as Tibet’s first living Buddha and had hoped to groom him as an influential and patriotic Tibetan leader, giving him gifts including a color television and a car. He ranks as the spiritual leader of the Black Hat sect, one of four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism, behind only the Dalai Lama and Panchen Lama in the Tibetan spiritual hierarchy.
However, to Chinese fury, in December 1999 the Karmapa, then 14, pretended to go into seclusion but instead slipped out a window of the Tsurpu Monastery with a handful of attendants. He began a daring 1,450-kilometer winter trip across some of the most forbidding terrain on the planet by foot, horseback, train and helicopter to Dharamsala, making world headlines and embarrassing Beijing. He was given refugee status by India in 2001.
Partly for that reason, the Indian government, virtually since the Karmapa Lama arrived in Dharamsala, has been careful to not annoy the Chinese by allowing him unfettered movement, according to a source in New Delhi, although it did allow him to visit the US in 2007. The cancellation of the European trip came just before the Indian Minister for External Affairs, SM Krishna, made an official visit to Beijing.
The restriction of Tibetans in exile has always been at the top of agenda for Beijing, which has complicated relations with India. Giving the Dalai Lama a half century of free movement has allowed New Delhi to use the Tibetan leader as a card to play in border issues with China. But India also recognizes that restricting the freedom of the Dalai Lama, Tibetan Buddhism’s supreme leader, would create an international firestorm and may well wish he hadn’t been allowed free movement in the first place. Thus restricting the young Karmapa’s travel could be viewed as a way of stopping trouble before it begins. Permission to travel either to other parts of India or overseas is granted only at the discretion of the Indian government.
“In 2008, he sought permission to visit some forward areas of Himachal Pradesh and Leh Ladakh, but New Delhi refused,” the Delhi source said. “Obviously, New Delhi didn’t want to annoy the Chinese, who were hypersensitive about the Beijing Olympics and would definitely have viewed Indian permission to the Karmapa to visit areas close to the Chinese border just before the Olympics as an unfriendly act.”
The Karmapa Lama himself in a statement to his Europe devotees said “My proposed visit has had to be cancelled for reasons beyond my control. I was very much looking forward to meeting with my European students, visiting your dharma centers, giving teachings, and having the opportunity to gain first-hand experience and insight into the great variety of European life and culture.”
“I was wholeheartedly preparing for this visit so you will understand that I too was sad and disappointed when I learned that I would not be able to come this time. However, I hope that this is merely a temporary setback and that I will definitely be able to visit Europe in the near future,” the monk said.
The youthful religious leader is hugely popular among young Tibetans, partly for his escape but also because of his undeniable charisma. He passes much of his time in the protected top floor of Gyuto Monastery near Dharamsala, a complex guarded by Indian policemen and intelligence officers who keep a constant watch on his activities. He is not even allowed to roam around the outside the complex without prior permission.
The Karmapa gives daily public audiences and blessings in the complex, with a limited number of private audiences twice a week. The media is mostly kept away. He is occasionally allowed to visit the Dalai Lama and for short trips to visit for religious functions, monasteries and schools in and around Dharamsala.
India is also believed reluctant to allow him to travel because his status is under challenge as the real successor to the 16th Karmapa, Rangjung Rigpe Dorje, who died as a refugee of cancer in Chicago in 1981. Trinley Thaye Dorjee is also vying for the throne of the Rumtek monastery in Sikkim, the official seat of the Kagyu lineage. Both have been kept away until the matter is settled. The case is in an Indian court for a ruling on who has the right to the assets of the Black Hat Lama. His rival co-claimant lives in Kalimpong, India and often tours European countries. Although the Dalai Lama has endorsed Ogyen Trinley Dorje as the true Karmapa Lama, it is believed that the pretender has strong connections to the Indian ministry and it would have been easy for him to cancel his rival’s trip.
Although the Karmapa Lama has spoken many times about his desire to enroll into a university for formal education, particularly to learn modern science, with his movement restricted, his desire remains unfulfilled.
The Tibetan government-in-exile spokesman Samphel Thupten said he respects the Indian government’s decision. “We have always wanted the Karmapa Lama to visit places abroad to reach more students, his disciples. However, as the Tibetan government in exile sees it, it would be improper to speak against our host India; it is bound under the Indian authorities’ decision and will follow that”.
However, since the Europe tour cancellation has come into light, the exile community and Buddha practitioners in the West across has demanded urgent action, signing petitions and letters to the Indian government. Tibetan exiles and thousands of western followers from more than 30 countries have signed the petitions.
Charlee Parkison, a student of Karmapa Lama in the United States and her group are heading the global petition, called “The Roaring Lions,” says thousands have signed their plea to allow the Karmapa Lama freedom of movement. “We want the Karmapa to come in West to teach us, his messages of compassion,” Parkison said.
Lobsang Wangyal, an exiled Tibetan photojournalist, says India still has to prove what it stands for in terms of political freedom.
“It would be in the best interest of India to allow the trip,” he said.”Tibetans are not happy to see the current decision but hope the trip will be allowed eventually. It’s just a matter of time; the restriction shouldn’t have been put at the very first place as India loses face on the global level.”
FROM ASIA SENTINEL
BY SARANSH SEHGAL
The Indian government has moved to limit the freedom of movement of one of Tibetan Buddhism’s most influential monks, the 24-year-old Karmapa Lama, refusing to allow him to tour nine European countries from May to July for a series of teachings, lectures and initiations for his devotees.
The travel ban has caused apprehension both in the exile community and among the Karmapa Lama’s followers in the west. The restrictions come at a time when many in the exile community increasingly see the youthful monk, whose name is Ogyen Trinley Dorje, as the political successor to lead the Tibetan Buddhist movement after the Dalai Lama.
“The process has begun to find out why this visit was not possible and what positive conditions are needed to make the visit possible in near future,” said Ringu Tulku, the coordinator of the cancelled visit, in an email to Asia Sentinel.
It is not necessary to look farther than Beijing. Dorje, who was named the Karmapa Lama at the age of 7, is a particular bête noir to the Chinese, who gave him recognition as Tibet’s first living Buddha and had hoped to groom him as an influential and patriotic Tibetan leader, giving him gifts including a color television and a car. He ranks as the spiritual leader of the Black Hat sect, one of four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism, behind only the Dalai Lama and Panchen Lama in the Tibetan spiritual hierarchy.
However, to Chinese fury, in December 1999 the Karmapa, then 14, pretended to go into seclusion but instead slipped out a window of the Tsurpu Monastery with a handful of attendants. He began a daring 1,450-kilometer winter trip across some of the most forbidding terrain on the planet by foot, horseback, train and helicopter to Dharamsala, making world headlines and embarrassing Beijing. He was given refugee status by India in 2001.
Partly for that reason, the Indian government, virtually since the Karmapa Lama arrived in Dharamsala, has been careful to not annoy the Chinese by allowing him unfettered movement, according to a source in New Delhi, although it did allow him to visit the US in 2007. The cancellation of the European trip came just before the Indian Minister for External Affairs, SM Krishna, made an official visit to Beijing.
The restriction of Tibetans in exile has always been at the top of agenda for Beijing, which has complicated relations with India. Giving the Dalai Lama a half century of free movement has allowed New Delhi to use the Tibetan leader as a card to play in border issues with China. But India also recognizes that restricting the freedom of the Dalai Lama, Tibetan Buddhism’s supreme leader, would create an international firestorm and may well wish he hadn’t been allowed free movement in the first place. Thus restricting the young Karmapa’s travel could be viewed as a way of stopping trouble before it begins. Permission to travel either to other parts of India or overseas is granted only at the discretion of the Indian government.
“In 2008, he sought permission to visit some forward areas of Himachal Pradesh and Leh Ladakh, but New Delhi refused,” the Delhi source said. “Obviously, New Delhi didn’t want to annoy the Chinese, who were hypersensitive about the Beijing Olympics and would definitely have viewed Indian permission to the Karmapa to visit areas close to the Chinese border just before the Olympics as an unfriendly act.”
The Karmapa Lama himself in a statement to his Europe devotees said “My proposed visit has had to be cancelled for reasons beyond my control. I was very much looking forward to meeting with my European students, visiting your dharma centers, giving teachings, and having the opportunity to gain first-hand experience and insight into the great variety of European life and culture.”
“I was wholeheartedly preparing for this visit so you will understand that I too was sad and disappointed when I learned that I would not be able to come this time. However, I hope that this is merely a temporary setback and that I will definitely be able to visit Europe in the near future,” the monk said.
The youthful religious leader is hugely popular among young Tibetans, partly for his escape but also because of his undeniable charisma. He passes much of his time in the protected top floor of Gyuto Monastery near Dharamsala, a complex guarded by Indian policemen and intelligence officers who keep a constant watch on his activities. He is not even allowed to roam around the outside the complex without prior permission.
The Karmapa gives daily public audiences and blessings in the complex, with a limited number of private audiences twice a week. The media is mostly kept away. He is occasionally allowed to visit the Dalai Lama and for short trips to visit for religious functions, monasteries and schools in and around Dharamsala.
India is also believed reluctant to allow him to travel because his status is under challenge as the real successor to the 16th Karmapa, Rangjung Rigpe Dorje, who died as a refugee of cancer in Chicago in 1981. Trinley Thaye Dorjee is also vying for the throne of the Rumtek monastery in Sikkim, the official seat of the Kagyu lineage. Both have been kept away until the matter is settled. The case is in an Indian court for a ruling on who has the right to the assets of the Black Hat Lama. His rival co-claimant lives in Kalimpong, India and often tours European countries. Although the Dalai Lama has endorsed Ogyen Trinley Dorje as the true Karmapa Lama, it is believed that the pretender has strong connections to the Indian ministry and it would have been easy for him to cancel his rival’s trip.
Although the Karmapa Lama has spoken many times about his desire to enroll into a university for formal education, particularly to learn modern science, with his movement restricted, his desire remains unfulfilled.
The Tibetan government-in-exile spokesman Samphel Thupten said he respects the Indian government’s decision. “We have always wanted the Karmapa Lama to visit places abroad to reach more students, his disciples. However, as the Tibetan government in exile sees it, it would be improper to speak against our host India; it is bound under the Indian authorities’ decision and will follow that”.
However, since the Europe tour cancellation has come into light, the exile community and Buddha practitioners in the West across has demanded urgent action, signing petitions and letters to the Indian government. Tibetan exiles and thousands of western followers from more than 30 countries have signed the petitions.
Charlee Parkison, a student of Karmapa Lama in the United States and her group are heading the global petition, called “The Roaring Lions,” says thousands have signed their plea to allow the Karmapa Lama freedom of movement. “We want the Karmapa to come in West to teach us, his messages of compassion,” Parkison said.
Lobsang Wangyal, an exiled Tibetan photojournalist, says India still has to prove what it stands for in terms of political freedom.
“It would be in the best interest of India to allow the trip,” he said.”Tibetans are not happy to see the current decision but hope the trip will be allowed eventually. It’s just a matter of time; the restriction shouldn’t have been put at the very first place as India loses face on the global level.”
SIKKIM: Fly and glide over frozen Chhangu
FROM THE TELEGRAPH
BY BIJOY GURUNG
Sikkim tourism minister Bhim Dhungel (first from left) after laying the foundation of the ropeway project in Chhangu lake on May 7. Picture by Prabin Khaling
Gangtok, May 10: In a year from now, Chhangu lake will have gondolas flying over its frozen waters.
The gondolas will be stringed to a mono-cable detachable ropeway system, making Chhangu at 12,600ft in East Sikkim a more appealing tourist destination.
According to officials of the Chhangu lake ropeway project which is estimated to be around Rs 6.5 crore, 12 gondolas with six passengers per cabin are designed to glide from the base terminal near the lake across 900m to the right side hilltop at 14,400 feet. The hilltop, overlooking the 1.08km-long lake, provides a panoramic view of the surrounding hills and glimpses of the Tibetan plateau on a clear day.
The lake has an average footfall of around 3,000 tourists a day.
Journey by foot from the lake up to the hillock is 2km but once the ropeway is made operational, a tourist can reach the top in the cable car in five minutes, project director D. Mukherjee said.
The second terminal will be placed atop the hill, and according to the designers, 400 people can be transported from the base terminal to the hilltop in an hour in the initial years. The transport capacity can be enhanced to 800 passengers an hour later.
Accepting the challenge of working in a high-altitude area, Mukherjee said: “The raw material and the special jacketing for tensioning system for the ropeway will be specially designed for sub-zero weather condition.”
While laying the foundation stone of the project at the lake on May 7, Sikkim tourism minister Bhim Dhungel said once commissioned, the ropeway would be a new attraction for the tourists.
“Chhangu lake has always been one of the most important tourist destinations along with Nathu-la and Baba Mandir in East district. The ropeway that will provide an aerial view of the lake will be an added attraction to the tourists,” said Dhungel. He assured the project officials all support from the state government for timely completion of the ropeway.
The ropeway project is being constructed by the Calcutta-headquartered Conveyor and Ropeway on a BOOT (build, operate, own and transfer) basis and is scheduled to be completed by June 2011.
The company will operate the ropeway for 20 years from the date of commissioning of the project and will pay a royalty to the Sikkim government. It has already done 40 such projects in the country, besides currently operating eight passenger ropeway systems.
Travel Agents Association of Sikkim president Paljor Lachungpa has welcomed the project. “The ropeway system will be another attraction to the hundreds of tourists visiting the holy trinity — Chhangu lake, Baba Mandir and Nathu-la,” he said.
FROM THE TELEGRAPH
BY BIJOY GURUNG
Sikkim tourism minister Bhim Dhungel (first from left) after laying the foundation of the ropeway project in Chhangu lake on May 7. Picture by Prabin Khaling
Gangtok, May 10: In a year from now, Chhangu lake will have gondolas flying over its frozen waters.
The gondolas will be stringed to a mono-cable detachable ropeway system, making Chhangu at 12,600ft in East Sikkim a more appealing tourist destination.
According to officials of the Chhangu lake ropeway project which is estimated to be around Rs 6.5 crore, 12 gondolas with six passengers per cabin are designed to glide from the base terminal near the lake across 900m to the right side hilltop at 14,400 feet. The hilltop, overlooking the 1.08km-long lake, provides a panoramic view of the surrounding hills and glimpses of the Tibetan plateau on a clear day.
The lake has an average footfall of around 3,000 tourists a day.
Journey by foot from the lake up to the hillock is 2km but once the ropeway is made operational, a tourist can reach the top in the cable car in five minutes, project director D. Mukherjee said.
The second terminal will be placed atop the hill, and according to the designers, 400 people can be transported from the base terminal to the hilltop in an hour in the initial years. The transport capacity can be enhanced to 800 passengers an hour later.
Accepting the challenge of working in a high-altitude area, Mukherjee said: “The raw material and the special jacketing for tensioning system for the ropeway will be specially designed for sub-zero weather condition.”
While laying the foundation stone of the project at the lake on May 7, Sikkim tourism minister Bhim Dhungel said once commissioned, the ropeway would be a new attraction for the tourists.
“Chhangu lake has always been one of the most important tourist destinations along with Nathu-la and Baba Mandir in East district. The ropeway that will provide an aerial view of the lake will be an added attraction to the tourists,” said Dhungel. He assured the project officials all support from the state government for timely completion of the ropeway.
The ropeway project is being constructed by the Calcutta-headquartered Conveyor and Ropeway on a BOOT (build, operate, own and transfer) basis and is scheduled to be completed by June 2011.
The company will operate the ropeway for 20 years from the date of commissioning of the project and will pay a royalty to the Sikkim government. It has already done 40 such projects in the country, besides currently operating eight passenger ropeway systems.
Travel Agents Association of Sikkim president Paljor Lachungpa has welcomed the project. “The ropeway system will be another attraction to the hundreds of tourists visiting the holy trinity — Chhangu lake, Baba Mandir and Nathu-la,” he said.
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