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No "hidden or sinister" NEW DELHI, Oct 22: The national debate for reforms in key sectors including education and.....more RSS cadres from 35 nations NEW DELHI, Oct 22: As part of its efforts to widen its global Hindu network, the RSS has invited....more Delhi judiciary can NEW DELHI, Oct 22: The Delhi judiciary, now burdened with nearly four lakh cases, can take care of ....more HC: Improve judicial NEW DELHI, Oct 22: The Delhi High Court has directed the Union Law Ministry and Delhi......more Uttaranchal bandh DEHRA DUN, Oct 22: Several parties and organisations which.....more |
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A New "screening NEW DELHI, Oct 22: A new "screening centre" is to be added to the overcrowded All India Institute ....more Arundhati Roy questions NEW DELHI, Oct 22: Noted writer and anti-Narmada project activist Arundhati Roy has questioned ....more
Urbanisation, slum NEW DELHI, Oct 22: Union Urban Development and Poverty Alleviation Minister Jagmohan presented to the Economic Editors Conference 2000 an ambitious plan titled ‘breaking new grounds’....more |
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"hidden or sinister" agenda in key NEW DELHI, Oct 22: The national debate for reforms in key sectors including education and judiciary launched by the government recently seeks to achieve its goals within the constitutional parameters and there is nothing "hidden or sinister" in its agenda, says Minister for Culture Ananth Kumar. Concept papers on "debate for reforms" in administrative, electoral, judicial, developmental and educational sectors were circulated recently to coincide with Jayaprakash Narayan’s birth anninversary initiating the debate to mark the celebrations of the 50 years of Indian Republic. The concept papers frequently employ terms like "indigenous spirit, national ethos, Bharatiya and Samskaras" while talking about reforming the system. The paper on education also calls for proper definition of special educational rights to minorities to prevent their educational institutions from becoming "insulated entities" leading to a duality in the system. "Inter-relationship between autonomy and Government monitoring of such minority-managed educational institutions should be clearly defined. The duality between private and the state-owned educational institutions must also be debated within the broad perspective of national culture and national spirit," it says. Kumar in an interview to PTI, strongly denied any hidden agenda or any attempt to impose any particular education system. "There cannot be any hidden agenda to start a process of reforms for one billion people. It cannot be hidden at all," Kumar said adding "we go by the constitutional mandate". "It is only initiation of a debate. It is open and transparent. I do not think a vibrant Indian can be bound (by rigidities)", he said. Kumar said whatever the Government wanted to achieve through the debate would be within the constitutional parameters and framework. On minority institutions, he said across the board everything should be under public scrutiny and if there were anomalies coming up in the review, they should be addressed. Referring to the emphasis on imparting of Samskaras in primary education, the minister said there was need to inculcate citizenship quality in the education system like patriotism about regional, linguistic, caste and communal considerations, dignity of labour, self discipline, social concern and fearlessness. "I do not think there will be any controversy on this. I do not think these are inculcated at present," he said. The minister said by indigenous spirit what they meant was the abundant expertise available in the country. "We all know we cannot follow the capitalist or socialist model. We require an indigenous model. We cannot adopt any foreign model as it is because of the size of the country and the variety (of factors) facing it", he said. (PTI) |
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RSS cadres from 35 nations to meet in Mumbai this year NEW DELHI, Oct 22: As part of its efforts to widen its global Hindu network, the RSS has invited over 550 of its activists from 35 countries to Mumbai later this year to discuss major issues confronting the community worldwide. Sangh Parivar supporters and sympathisers from USA, UK, Netherlands, Kenya, South Africa, Guyana, Mauritius and other countries are expected to attend the ‘Vishwa Sangh Shivir’ (World RSS camp) at Mumbai in December, RSS sources said. According to Vinayak Shankar Tatwavadi, in-charge of the RSS Foreign Affairs Department, the Mumbai meeting is a sequel to similar conventions held earlier in Bangalore in 1990 and Vadodara in 1995. Asked about the agenda of the conference, he said the representatives would discuss various issues facing the community in their respective countries. The developments in the pacific island of Fiji leading to the ouster of democratically elected premier of Indian origin Mahindra Chaudhury is likely to be debated at the meet, the sources said. The Sangh Parivar outfit has branches across the world, though they are not known by the acronym ‘RSS’. In several countries, RSS cadres have grouped themselves under the banner ‘Hindu Swayamsewak Sangh’. Asked whether RSS was trying to create a "Hindu lobby" in the USA on the lines of the powerful Jewish lobby, Tatwavadi said, "lobby would be a negative word. Our idea is to change the misconception of the people there about Hindus and India." "Majority of the Hindus in western Punjab have either been killed or forced to embrace Islam. Only a few Hindus are left in other provinces, where too they do menial jobs and are treated as second class citizens," the senior RSS leader said. In Bangladesh too, where Hindus form a sizeable minority, the Sangh has no activity "though they (Hindus) are now uniting on common issues." Interestingly, Sangh considers the partition of the country as "unnatural" and still swears by the concept of `Akhand Bharat’ or undivided India. "We are not saying it. Even so-called secular leaders are talking about an Indo-Pakistan confederation now," Tatwavadi said in an apparent reference to the Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav’s pet idea. "The SAARC idea was not that of the Sangh. Our common interests are such that the countries of South Asia will have to come together, even if not under the name India," he said. (PTI) |
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Delhi judiciary can take care of pendency NEW DELHI, Oct 22: The Delhi judiciary, now burdened with nearly four lakh cases, can take care of the heavy pendency within two years if it is allowed to operate on full strength, an affidavit filed by the Central Government before the Supreme Court has said. The average disposal of cases from 1995 to 1998 shows "the district courts in Delhi are able to handle the current institution of cases with the existing strength, despite almost a third of sanctioned strength of 385 judges and magistrates remaining vacant", the affidavit filed in response to a Supreme Court directive said. The court had directed Government to submit a detailed report about the problems being faced by the Delhi subordinate judiciary in clearing the backlog of cases while hearing a petition filed by the Delhi Bar Association (DBA) challenging division of the district court into nine units. "If the Delhi Judicial Services operate on the full strength, they will be able to take care of the backlog of pendency in about two years", the affidavit said on the basis of average disposal of 1963 cases per judge/magistrate. The affidavit said that according to the Delhi High Court, the ideal strength of the Delhi Higher Judicial Services (DHJS) should be 252 (85 more posts over the existing strength of 167) and the Delhi Judicial Services (DJS) should be 566 (348 more posts over the existing strength of 167). The affidavit said the ideal strength has been worked out on the basis of pendency of cases as on January one, this year and on the criterion of 900 cases for a post in DHJS and 500 cases for a post in DJS. It said the total number of cases has been computed on the presumption that the pecuniary jurisdiction of the district courts would be raised from Rs five lakh to Rs 20 lakh and that of subordinate courts from Rs one lakh to Rs three lakh as recommended by the High Court. The affidavit, however, said it would be very difficult to provide court rooms and other infrastructural facilities to 818 judicial officers as recommended by the Delhi High Court in the foreseeable future and efforts should be made to fill up the existing vacancies of judicial officers immediately. (PTI) |
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HC: Improve judicial infrastructure in Delhi NEW DELHI, Oct 22: The Delhi High Court has directed the Union Law Ministry and Delhi Government to take immediate steps for improving the infrastructure including the appointment of more judicial officers in capital’s lower judiciary already burdened with lakhs of pending cases. Expressing concern over mounting pendency of cases, Justice Dalveer Bhandari, in a judgement yesterday said over 53,000 cases relating to bouncing of cheques alone were pending before Tis Hazari, Patiala House and Karkardooma Courts in the National Capital Terrirory. "A large number of complaints are pending for a long time because of totally inadequate number of judicial officers and the existing ones are already over-burdened. The available infrastructure is also wholly inadequate," the court said. It said the manner in which the complaints relating to the bouncing of cheques filed under negotiable instrument act were being adjudicated by the trial courts, it would take at least eight to ten years for the disposal of the pending cases. Such a long delay in deciding the cases would defeat the entire purpose of incorporating the provisions of dealing with the problem of cheque bouncing in the act, the court observed and said "the complainants have to indefinitely wait for years and years before their complaints are adjudicated." The judgement came on a petition by United Ink and Varnish Ltd, which stated that trial court had given the company 11 months’ time for recording of evidence in its complaints for bouncing of cheques by another company. The High Court said in another case filed by one Madan Agarwal against a local company, Auric Agencies Ltd, the trial court had given 19 months for further proceedings. Expressing concern over the manner the trial courts were handling the cases under Negotiable Instrument Act, the High Court directed them to examine the complaint within three months and instead of recording statement of witnesses asked them to file affidavits. Any complaint under the Act should be disposed of within six months after examining the complainant and in case of the delay, reason for the same must be communicated to the district judge, it said. While directing the subordinate courts to adopt pragmatic approach in dealing with the cases of this nature, Justice Bhandari said they have "failed" to accomplish the object incorporated in the act. "It is bounded duty of courts to fulfil the object sought to be achieved by incorporating the provisions. The trial courts have not appreciated the purpose for incorporating these provisions in proper perspective," he said. In most of the cases of this nature, civil suits for recovery are filed during the pendency to save limitation and the courts must take this into consideration since the main object of the parties was to recover the due amount not to secure conviction of the defaulting party, he added. (PTI) |
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Uttaranchal bandh called on Nov 8 DEHRA DUN, Oct 22: Several parties and organisations which struggled for the creation of a separate hill state have given a bandh call for November eight to demand that gairsain be declared the permanent capital of Uttaranchal. Under the aegis of the Uttarakhand Sanyukta Sangharsh Samiti (USSS), the bandh has been called to highlight that local people’s wishes had not been taken into account when decisions about the new state were taken. At a press conference in Kotdwar last evening, Mr Dhirendra Pratap, National Coordinator of USSS, said the bandh had been called on November eight, a day before the probable date of the creation of Uttaranchal. If the Government did not invite opposition parties and agitating organisations for a joint meeting within a week, the usss would call a meeting in Dehra Dun on November one, Mr Dhirendra Pratap said. Mr Pratap has appealed to the leaders of the Mahila Manch to postpone their proposed bandh of October 30 and join the USSS on November eight. He said the USSS had demanded 50 per cent reservation for women in the Vidhan Sabha of the new state. The Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (UKD), which played a key role in the struggle for the separate hill state, will begin an agitation on October 23 at all the district headquarters of the region to oppose the decision of making dehra dun the interim capital of Uttaranchal. Such a decision was detrimental to the development process urgently required in the remote hill areas of Garhwal and Kumaon, it says. The UKD activists will submit a memorandum to the President in support of the claim that gairsain should become the interim as well as permanent capital of Uttaranchal, according to Mr Shivanand Chamoli, Dehra Dun district president of the UKD. (UNI) |
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