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J&K BJP for early elections, dismissal of Farooq Govt NEW DELHI, May 27: Advocating reduction of the term of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly from six years to five, .....more Breach Candy Hospital readies to receive PM MUMBAI, May 27: Breach Candy Hospital in South Mumbai is all geared up to receive Prime Minister Atal Behari .more Katha
provides NEW DELHI, May 27: For Urmila, life would not have been the same had it not been for an NGO — Katha— which ..more CBI
examines case NEW DELHI, May 27: The Central Bureau of Investigation today said it was examining the.....more |
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Discouraging signals
from Islamabad From B L Kak NEW DELHI, May 27: India has turned down Pakistan’s demand for a plebiscite in Kashmir. New Delhi, in fact, has....more Govt
proposes law NEW DELHI, May 27: To stop exploitation of Indian workers abroad, the Law Ministry is drafting a legislation proposing to set up a central authority to keep a close watch on the private recruitment agencies providing overseas jobs and a welfare fund for these workers....more New breed of moneylender surfaces in Mumbai MUMBAI, May 27: When a friendly neighbourhood municipal sweeper was nabbed at his home here with over Rs 80 lakh in hard cash, the lid was .....more Rajasthani women PATAN VILLAGE (AJMER) May 27: Braving scorching heat with little hope of rains, women in Rajasthan have been forced into hours of relief work as .....more |
J&K BJP for early elections, dismissal of Farooq Govt NEW DELHI, May 27: Advocating reduction of the term of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly from six years to five, state unit of BJP today demanded early Assembly elections and imposition of President’s rule prior to that "to ensure fair polls." "This is the right time for imposition of President’s rule in the state and holding of Assembly elections in the interest of the state as well as the nation," state BJP vice president Abdul Rashid Kabuli told PTI here. The term of the current Assembly is due to end in October next year. Alleging that the NC had got power in the 1996 Assembly elections through "mass rigging", Kabuli said "it is apprehended that the party (NC) would again resort to such tactics during the next polls." When pointed out that NC was an alliance partner in the central BJP-led NDA Government, he said "situation in Jammu and Kashmir is different". "In the state, the NC Government is trying to curb us. We are aggrieved and have injured feelings in the state," Kabuli said, adding "the alliance is applicable in the state." The state BJP leader accused the State Government of playing "a negative role" during the just-withdrawn six-month ceasefire. "The withdrawal of the ceasefire in a way implicates the NC Government. Its contribution during the ceasefire was zero, even negative and at times it sabotaged the move," Kabuli charged. He said during the ceasefire period, "there were many complaints against the state administration, partics special task force." He said the Central Government had given several chances for restoration of peace in the state but "sadly, there was no positive response." Welcoming the calling off of the ceasefire, he said "its benefit did not reach the people. In fact, people’s sufferings increased during the ceasefire period." He also hailed the invitation for talks extended by Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee to Pakistani military ruler Gen Pervez Musharraf. "The gestures by Vajpayee indicates he is committed to restoration of peace in the militancy-torn state," he added. (PTI) |
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Breach Candy Hospital readies to receive PM MUMBAI, May 27: Breach Candy Hospital in South Mumbai is all geared up to receive Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee who is coming again for a right knee total replacement surgery to be performed by the New York-based orthopaedic surgeon Dr Chittaranjan Ranawat and his team, assisted by city-based specialists on June seven. All thirteen rooms on seventh floor and two on the sixth floor of the hospital are getting a fresh coat of paint and cleaned and fumigated thoroughly, according to the communication official of the hospital C Engineer. Over a dozen personnel of the PM’s Special Protection Group (SPG) have surveyed the surrounding buildings under guidance of a senior police official along with Director (Administration) Dr A H Bhatkande on the arrangements, Engineer said. Ranawat would arrive in the city on June five and Vajpayee on June six. The operation would be held on June seven as per the present schedule. Ranawat, who visits Breach Candy every year to perform total knee replacement operation for patients admitted there "will bring his team of doctors along with a set of special medical equipment specially for the Prime Minister" as last time in October for his left knee operation. He would be assisted by noted orthopaedic surgeons Nandu Laud, Harish Bhinde and anaesthetist S R Gupte, Laud told PTI here. The physical and mental discomfort caused due to the painful osteoarthritis could be overcome with this "total knee replacement", Laud said. Vajpayee had his left knee total replacement surgery in October last and Ranawat had said that the decision for the right knee operation would be taken only if PM was willing to undergo. Normally, osteoarthritis is age-related and occurs after the age of 55 whereas rheumatoid arthritis occurs in younger age groups between 30 and 40 years. During the Prime Minister’s stay at Breach Candy, two launches carrying SPG personnel would be maintaining vigil from the rear side, facing the sea-shore, police sources said. The Prime Minister’s team would be bringing its own special transmitters, receivers and would have its own dedicated lines in the hospital and at Raj Bhawan. A special Shamiana would be erected in the hospital compound to accommodate the press enclosure, hospital sources said. (PTI) |
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Katha provides succour to people in distress NEW DELHI, May 27: For Urmila, life would not have been the same had it not been for an NGO — Katha— which completely metamorphosed her into a complete independent woman. Married at the tender age of twelve and hamstrung with no education or vocational skills, she was constantly harassed by her husband for not bearing a child. Unceasingly threatened to be abandoned by her in-laws for ten years and on the threshold of penury, she decided to take the reins of her life into her own hands. She enrolled at Katha’s vocational training programme to eke out a living to get herself out of the reduced circumstances. Today, seven years after enrolling at the vocational programme for catering, she runs her household and also looks after her brother-in-laws’ seven daughters who all are studying. Established in 1989 on World Literacy Day, Katha— which featured in a recent study by the UN and the Government of India on education of adolescent girls— has field projects in some of the largest slum clusters at Govindpuri in South Delhi. The joint study was conducted by Janshala progamme , the first joint initiative of five un agencies —UNICEF, UNESCO, UNFPA and ILO. Katha strives to bridge the rift between literacy, women’s education and empowerment on the one hand, and the language, literature, culture and translation of existing literature on the other. "Initially, we faced a problem. Children and women who came to our centres were loosing their income so we had to evolve a programme which would take care of that problem," said Katha Resource Development and Networking Deputy Director Nisha. ‘Kalpavriksham’ programme (the centre for sustainable learning), named after the wishfulfilling tree in Indian mythology, was launched to impart basic education. One of its programmes, the Katha School of Entreprenenurship (KSE), initiated in 1990, aims at making learning fun. The Balika Mandal programme was specifically evolved for adolescent girls. "Holistic development is what we are striving for. We want to be the bridge between education and families in which there is a yawning Gulf. Our schools are responsible for students even when they go home," explains Ms Nisha. Through the various activities of Kalpavriksham, the needs of two very different sections of girls are addressed. Girls, who do not go to schools, are given access to education. Girls are helped to cope with mainstream education and those who have never been to schools, or are drop-outs, enroll at Katha’s non-formal classes, and thereafter in the open school system. Students, who are already enrolled, are given coaching to improve their performance. Vocational training and enterpreneurship skills are taught in bakery, stitching and tailoring, or computer education to empower the girls economically Started in 1992, the Balika Mandal programme addresses the concern for safety of children in a crowded urban slum. The programme began with teaching self-defence and Yoga to 150 adolescent girls. It is also a forum where adolescent girls get together, have discussions and watch films to get a better understanding and awareness of marriage, safe motherhood, role of women and other issues. "This is an inducement project for other programmes, if there are 40 students, at least 30 would enroll for our other programmes and today we have 600 girls in our various programmes," explains Ms Nisha. Girls attending this programme contribute to the family earnings, either directly by working as part-time or full-time domestic helps in the nearby households and factories, or indirectly by taking care of siblings while parents are working. Katha’s activities are age-specific. The NFE is for the 7-14 age group the senior open school programme for those over 12 years while girls between 12-16 age groups who are still outside the formal school system are part of the Balika Mandal. Not willing to reconcile to their fate, some girls coming to Katha have shown resilience in persuading people in their neighbourhood to send their children to school or Katha centres. They have also shown confidence in taking up social issues such as early marriage, says Ms Nisha. "Feeling of togetherness and friendship has made them bolder and confident, and now they talk about issues like gender." Vocational training and enterpreneurship skills are taught in bakery, stitching and tailoring, or computer education to empower the girls economically Started in 1992, the Balika Mandal programme addresses the concern for safety of children in a crowded urban slum. The programme began with teaching self-defence and yoga to 150 adolescent girls. It is also a forum where adolescent girls get together, have discussions and watch films to get a better understanding and awareness of marriage, safe motherhood, role of women and other issues. "This is an inducement project for other programmes, if there are 40 students, at least 30 would enroll for our other programmes and today we have 600 girls in our various programmes," explains Ms Nisha. Girls attending this programme contribute to the family earnings, either directly by working as part-time or full-time domestic helps in the nearby households and factories, or indirectly by taking care of siblings while parents are working. Katha’s activities are age-specific. The NFE is for the 7-14 age group the senior open school programme for those over 12 years while girls between 12-16 age groups who are still outside the formal school system are part of the Balika Mandal. Not willing to reconcile to their fate, some girls coming to Katha have shown resilience in persuading people in their neighbourhood to send their children to school or Katha centres. They have also shown confidence in taking up social issues such as early marriage, says Ms Nisha. "Feeling of togetherness and friendship has made them bolder and confident, and now they talk about issues like gender." Katha has carved out multiple paths to "education towards empowerment". Its learners-centred approach that gives affection and respect to participants, and a community-based programme that takes into account the environment of the learner are a few of the methods used to achieve the aim of "education towards empowerment". (UNI) |
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New breed of moneylender surfaces in Mumbai MUMBAI, May 27: When a friendly neighbourhood municipal sweeper was nabbed at his home here with over Rs 80 lakh in hard cash, the lid was opened on a new breed of moneylender in the commercial capital. Move over Pathans from Afghanistan, traditionally associated with this shylockian trade as civic scavengers like Nagurao Malku Ghadge are now in the business. Asked to account for the ‘Moolah’ found in his bedroom cupboard, Nagurao told police that he had collected the amount by running a licenced money lending business and operating chit funds. Moneylenders, who are predominantly pathans and to a lesser extent brokers from Marwar, Rajasthan, are a dwindling tribe in Mumbai but the business, which has mutual trust as its bottomline, seems to be booming led by the new breed of operators. Some of them are suspected to be frontmen for the underworld. With the cash crunch persisting despite the Reserve Bank of India moving in to cut the fixed deposit rates, moneylenders are in demand. However, brushing aside such analysis, financial experts feel that moneylending continues to thrive as its deeply rooted in the psyche of the Mumbaikar. The old breed of Pathan and Marwari moneylenders, besides later entrants to the trade from Sind, are not unlike the usurious ‘Sahookars’ in the villages. But they have been gradually nudged out from the trade partly due to mushrooming of Sahakari (cooperative) banks, bisis or private cooperative credit societies and chit funds of various hues. Pathans, who dominated the money lending trade here during the 1970s and into the early 1980s, suffered a major setback in the wake of the mill workers strike in 1982. Mill workers were the Pathan’s principal clients and when they took to the roads and later languished without jobs following prolonged shut down of textile units, the moneylending business suffered a big blow. Scratching his beard, Shahnawaz Peshawari, an aging Pathan recalled, "I would stand with my brothers in the trade in front the mills on pay day to recover our interest on the loans". Vasudev Karmarkar, a retired mill hand, noted "Pathans gave us handy loans, were satisfied to recover interest and never pressed for payments of principal amounts as they wanted to obtain maximum interest". Moneylending as a business has been prevalent in Mumbai for decades. Mumbai Police disclosed that a Pathan wing exists in the department where officials keep track of the moneylenders. Among these Pathans are people who moved to Pakistan and later came to India. A whole new generation of Pathans are born and brought up in India. Pathans lend money to persons after verifying their occupation and residential addresses besides taking their signatures on blank paper as a surety. They charge higher interest rates in the range of 10 to 15 per cent per month and give credit for unspecified periods to earn maximum interest, enquiries by a UNI team showed. Sometimes they use threats and strong arm tactics to make their recoveries—a quality that has prompted some private banks to use their services to recover outstanding amounts from chronic defaulters. A city-based advocate Vinay Rathi, who is also a corporate legal advisor, noted that interest charged is much higher than that stipulated in the Mumbai Money Lending Act. Most of the money lenders do not transact business in accordance with the act. They are also not not licensed to do business. He also pointed out that even licensed moneylenders did not maintain proper accounts as it was very difficult to comply with the complicated provisions in the act. In Mumbai, Pathans frequent localities like Colaba, Fountain, Nagpada, Sewri, Kurla and Ghatkopar besides Mumbra in Thane district. These money lenders do not have any shop or office for the transaction of business. They stay in large-sized rooms in groups of 10 to 15 persons. They haunt joints like Irani hotels where they strike deals with their customers. Under Islam, it is forbidden to either take or receive interest but, the Pathans have justified their moneylending activities by framing their own rules for business. However, they strictly follow Islam in all other activities, including abstention from alcohol consumption, a Pathan moneylender said. But, a Muslim scholar Maulana Mohammed Salim Khan Noori said the money lending business of Pathan community among Muslims was indeed contrary to the basic principles of Islam. "Under any circumstances of money transaction, the interest charged or interest paid is forbidden in Islam", he stressed. (UNI) |
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Rajasthani women toil in parched fields PATAN VILLAGE (AJMER) May 27: Braving scorching heat with little hope of rains, women in Rajasthan have been forced into hours of relief work as men have migrated to neighbouring states in search of a green pasture. With most of the men from drought-affected areas migrating to nearby states in search of employment, the women work ungrudgingly in various Government-initiated projects for famine relief to feed their families. "Drought is not a new phenomenon for Rajasthan and we can’t depend on agriculture any longer, which requires rains. So working for the Government-initiated projects helps us in running the household," says 40-year-old Nandubai. In Ajmer district, which is at a distance of 130 km from the capital Jaipur, NABARD has started self help groups for women through which they can easily apply for loans. "There are a total of 2,200 self help groups in the district and the members mostly use the loans for buying fodder for the cattle, which is as scarce as water," says Abdul Shakoof, Nodal Officer. The state, which is facing drought for the third successive year with 31 of its 32 districts severely affected, has initiated many projects like revival of traditional water sources, construction of tanks and water storage facilities. Under the food for work programme, Rs 60 and five kg of wheat per day have been fixed for the labourers working in drought-affected areas. However, the cost of wheat is deducted from the total earnings of the workers. The State Government has so far provided employment to 14 lakh people, out of which 80 per cent are women, Relief Secretary Ram Lubhaya said. He said Rs 3,437 crore has so far been spent in the state on drought relief since 1952. The Relief Secretary said the Government is bringing fodder from the nearby states to feed the cattle as the crops have been damaged due to drought. A visit to some of the districts of Rajasthan shows that women are actively involved in drought relief works assisted by the Government as they outnumber men at most of the construction sites. Ajmer District Magistrate Usha Sharma says the administration is trying to generate more employment so that all sections of the society could benefit from the drought relief schemes. Under Rajiv Gandhi drinking water mission, the district started working on the revival of 1,100 wells, out of which 900 wells have been restored, she says. "Our aim is to provide maximum employment opportunities to people living Below Poverty Line (BPL), SCs, STs and other backward classes," Sharma adds. Asked about the number of women working in the district, she says "one can see more women in construction sites than men." The State Government has so far provided employment to 14 lakh people, out of which 80 per cent are women, Relief Secretary Ram Lubhaya said. He said Rs 3,437 crore has so far been spent in the state on drought relief since 1952. The Relief Secretary said the Government is bringing fodder from the nearby states to feed the cattle as the crops have been damaged due to drought. A visit to some of the districts of Rajasthan shows that women are actively involved in drought relief works assisted by the Government as they outnumber men at most of the construction sites. Ajmer District Magistrate Usha Sharma says the administration is trying to generate more employment so that all sections of the society could benefit from the drought relief schemes. Under Rajiv Gandhi drinking water mission, the district started working on the revival of 1,100 wells, out of which 900 wells have been restored, she says. "Our aim is to provide maximum employment opportunities to people living Below Poverty Line (BPL), SCs, STs and other backward classes," Sharma adds. Asked about the number of women working in the district, she says "one can see more women in construction sites than men." Non-availability of drinking water in villages is one of the major problems faced by women as they trudge miles to fetch water. "Women of our village travel miles to fetch drinking water as all the wells in our village have dried up and hand pumps are in a very bad shape" says Kanko Devi of sitli village. In Chittougharh, District Magistrate Ram Rakh says the administration is trying hard to provide drinking water to each household. The State Government has sanctioned Rs 546 lakh for the district and so far Rs 146 lakh has been spent for reviving the traditional water sources, he said, adding the work is near completion in most of the construction sites. "Besides, the administration is trying to fulfil the drinking water needs of people by sending water tanks by road and railways to affected areas," Ram Rakh says. Currently 165 tankers are providing water in 72 villages of the district, he adds. However, in the district which has 2415 villages with a population of 19 lakh, the plight of cattle calls for an immediate attention of Government. Unlike some other districts of the state, Chittourgarh doesn’t have even a single cattle camp for 18 lakh cattle of the district. While the cattle camps in districts like Ajmer provide healthcare facilities and shelter to stray cattle, in Chittourgarh the villagers buy fodder for the domestic animals for Rs 157 per quintal. On non-availability of cattle camps, the District Magistrate says that there has not been any demand for such camps. However, the district has six Gaushalas (cow-sheds), he adds. When asked why people were migrating from the state, state Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot said "people are not migrating because of drought. Migration is common among villagers, who in summers go to nearby places for employment and come back after some time." On role of NGOs in the relief work, Gehlot said the ngos were also making all efforts to provide drinking water to the people and arrange funds for various projects. (PTI) |
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