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Audit records mismanagement in Delhi Govt’s beggar homes

NEW DELHI, Dec 1: An audit of the 12 beggar homes run by the Delhi Government has found total mismanagement of the resources and a complete go by to the norms relating to purchases.

The financial mismanagement in beggar homes was evident from the fact that despite having common norms, the average per inmate expenditure varied widely between various beggar homes, sources in the Social Welfare Department said quoting the audit report of the Accountant General (Audit), Delhi.

"The lowest per inmate expenditure per month was Rs 274.77 in home for male beggars, Sewa Sadan, Lampur, in 1999-2000 and the highest was Rs 4,164 in home for male beggars (diseased), Kingsway Camp, in 2000-2001," the sources said.

The audit recorded that the significant variation in per inmate monthly expenditure indicated lack of monitoring system and inefficient control over expenditure, they said.

On the expenditure head, the audit found that clothing and bedding worth Rs 17.40 lakh purchased for inmates were never issued to them, the sources said.

They said food grains were purchased at higher rates from the open market rather than at BPL rates as directed by the Government resulting in a loss of Rs 18.72 lakh during the period February 2001 to March 2002.

"While making purchases, no open/limited tenders were invited and materials worth Rs 82.82 lakh were purchased beyond the approved norms," the sources said.

The figures for 2001-02 on per inmate monthly expenditure of various beggar homes itself tell a story of their own. The highest per inmate expenditure per month of Rs 4,164 was recorded by home for male beggars (diseased, Kingsway Camp).

The apathy towards female beggars is evident from the fact that while per inmate monthly expenditure at home for able And disabled beggars (male), Lampur was Rs 1,798, the same for home for able, disabled and diseased female beggars (Mahila Bhikshugrih) was only Rs 746.

The same stands true for the home for able and disabled female beggares, Mahila Sadan, which spent a paltry Rs 820 per inmate per month, the sources said.

The Social Welfare Department, which is mandated to apprehend beggars under the Delhi prevention of begging rules, 1960, has only one anti-begging squad to cover the entire area of Delhi where at each traffic junction one comes across many beggars.

Lamenting that no norms were fixed for conducting raids, the audit report stated that during the year 1997-98 and 1998-99 only six and eight raids respectively were conducted, the department sources said.

"No raids were conducted by the department for about 19 months from May, 2000 to December, 2001 due to non-availability of CNG vehicle, they said.

The Delhi prevention of begging rules provided for appointment of a 12-member (seven officials and five non-officials) visiting committee for every beggar home and every certified institution.

The committee was required to visit the institutions once a month and satisfy itself that necessary measures for discipline, employment, training and medical care are being taken as also to attend to the complaints of the inmates.

"The department, however, appointed such a committee only in November 2000, which visited the beggar homes only once," the sources said quoting the audit report.

Reflecting on the poor security system at the beggar homes, the audit report stated that as a result of the lax security, more than 600 inmates have escaped from the custody of these homes during 1997-2002.

"There was nothing in the records to show that a police case was registered in regard to such escapes," the sources said adding in one case the police had asked for the details of the absconding inmates but no action was taken by the department.

"This irregular supply of milk to inmates resulted in an extra expenditure of Rs 57.50 lakh during the period 1997-98 to 2001-02," the sources said. (PTI)

Doctors caution against Aspirin, Nimesulide for children

NEW DELHI, Dec 1: Use of Nimesulide and Aspirin should be avoided for treatment of fever in children as their safety profile is questionable with many instances of harmful side effects, especially on the brain, liver and kidney being reported from various countries, doctors have said.

"Paracetamol is the oldest and most effective drug that has been recognised as the drug of choice even by the World Health Organisation," said Dr Meharban Singh, former Head of Department of Pediatric Medicine at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences.

"It has been approved by the US FDA and is sold over the counter in the US, Britain, Australia and many other Western countries while salicilate of Aspirin is definitely not a drug meant for children, especially for viral infections, as it has been found to cause Reye’s syndrome and in some cases the liver and brain are affected," he cautioned.

Dr Singh warned against the rampant use of Nimesulide by parents in their anxiety to get quick relief. The drug, which has not yet been approved by the FDA, is very strong and brings down temperature very quickly, sometimes causing hypothermia in children.

Some reports also indicated that the drug caused liver and kidney damage, seen in blood in urine, swelling of face and skin getting affected, he pointed out.

"There is a question mark on its efficacy and safety due to which it is not used in countries like the US and UK while the concern over its reported idiosyncratic response and some deaths not related to dosage has forced countries like Egypt, Israel and Poland to consider reviewing the sale of this drug," he pointed out adding that in India it was still being used frequently.

Dr Pankaj Vohra of Pushpawati Singhania Research Institute agreed with this view and said that Paracetamol’s safety profile and efficacy in treating fever was well-known while that of Nimesulide, which was a relatively new drug, had not been clarified.

He suggested its judicious use, only after consultation with doctors, if other drugs failed to bring down temperature in children.

Reacting to some reports of excess of Paracetamol causing side effects, Dr Singh stressed that excess dose of any medicine was bad for health.

"Every medicine has got side-effects. Nobody has created any drug which has no side-effect. Our choice should be for the one which has least. However, relying on home remedies for minor ailments is the best," he suggested.

According to Dr Singh, a proper algoritham had to be maintained with using Paracetamol as the first drug and, in case, it failed then other drugs like Nimesulide could be used.

"However, it is a matter of concern as doctors have started prescribing Nimesulide as an antipyretic even after vaccination. It seems we have gone overboard in using it," he observed. (UNI)

BJP, Cong in a straight fight for Gujarat

AHMEDABAD, Dec 1: In what is billed as a "make or mar" battle for it, the BJP will take on Congress in a virtual straight fight in the Dec 12 elections to the 182-member State Assembly, climaxing a highly polarised run-up to the polls in the wake of Godhra train carnage and the subsequent communal violence that claimed hundreds of lives.

The elections are crucial for BJP, which has had a string of defeats in various States in the recent past but hopes that Gujarat will be a different cup of tea. They are crucial to BJP also for the fact that a number of states where the party is in power or in the reckoning will be going to polls next year ahead of the Lok Sabha polls in 2004.

The party, which heads the Government at the Centre, treats Gujarat as a laboratory for its Hindutva policy, a point that is in evidence during the current campaign, writes a PTI correspondent, who travelled about 1,000 km in north and central Gujarat on the campaign trail.

The main parties - BJP and Congress - are going it alone contesting all the seats, while a clutch of parties including Nationalist Congress Party, Samajwadi Janata and JD(S) have formed a secular front to be in the fray.

The communal divide is apparent when one talks to voters of the majority community — be it from the middle class or those lower down the social and economic strata.

A visit to some of the constituencies in the urban Ahmedabad, which bore the brunt of communal violence, Mehsana, and Vadodara shows how the voters choice is going to be made.

Issues like performance of the Narendra Modi Government and of bread and butter are hard to come by.

With Chief Minister Modi as its mascot, the BJP is strident on issues like Hindutva with able assistance from equally-strident Sangh Parivar outfits like the VHP, despite occasional differences with the top leadership of the party.

But the Congress is not fazed by BJP’s stridency and hopes to engage the ruling party in a stiff battle with a former RSS Pracharak Shankarsinh Vaghela leading the charge.

Of course, party president Sonia Gandhia and a batter of leaders will criss-cross the State to counter top notch campaign of BJP that include stars like Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani.

BJP, with a vote share of 45 per cent in the last election, had secured a thumping victory with 117 seats. Though Vajpayee appealed to all poltical parties and oraganisations not to rake up Godhra and the subsequent violence, most of Gujarat will go to the polls with memories of the Sabarmati train massacre and the violence after.

Many candidates deny Hindutva is an issue now but the venom has already been spewed, the battlelines drawn sharp and clear - the fight is between the "saviour" of the majorities and their "enemies" - BJP and Congress - with no third party in the picture.

People seem to have made up their minds even before campaigning takes off in full swing in cities and villages across the State, which is likely toout this time around.

The BJP does not seem to be expecting any minority vote but in a state with Hindu majority, Modi is riding his Hidutva chariot aggressively chanting "Godhra".

The Congress does not agree that the communal divide has cut into all bread and butter issues.

"The people of Gujarat are opposed to BJP for the lack of governance, corruption and bringing the state to an economic breakdown," says Kamal Nath, Congress’ in-charge of Gujarat affairs.

The BJP admits there is polarisation. What it does not openly admit is that this will be its major poll plank.

"Our campaign is based on cultural nationalism to fight terrorism, safety and security of the common man, development and welfare schemes," says BJP State president Rajendrasinh Rana.

About the Hindutva factor, Rana says it is inbuilt in "cultural nationalism" and adds that time will tell how far the communal divide may be beneficial to any political party.

He claims BJP will gain further this time.

As polls near, the majority rhetoric appears to get louder at least in riot-hit central, north and parts of south Gujarat (which account for nearly 120 seats). On the other side, the minority lashes out at the Modi Government but resigns to the fait accompli - the majority will decide.

Several Muslims, whose community accounts for less than ten per cent of the population, say they voted for the BJP last time but favour the Congress now.

The saffron obsession fades a little as one moves along dusty roads to Saurashtra and earthquake-hit Bhuj, where water, power, education and roads also matter. The BJP won 50 of the 58 seats in 1998 but the people lament that promises of water and electricity remain unfulfilled.

Among the 1000 candidates in the fray for the crucial elections, being held just eight months after communal violence rocked the State, are the caretaker Chief Minister and several of his ministeri former Chief Ministers Amarsinh Chaudhary and Suresh Mehta and two former MPs soma Ganda and Shivlal Vakeria.

Kamal Nath says the BJP is trying to cover up its "non-governance by attempting a communal divide but they will not succeed".

"Earlier it was Ram theory, now it is Godhra. People have started realising that they are politicising it," he says claiming that the Congress will emerge victorious.

In a state where one-third of the population is urban and most of it middle-class, the traditional BJP vote bank, the Congress is also assuring depositors, who lost money in the Cooperative Banks scam, that it will get it back for them.

Within Ahmedabad itself, where there are 19 constituencies including Maninagar, chosen by Modi, people say earlier riots did not see such an aftermath. "We always lived in harmony. Relations are strained now," they say.

For the urban poor, hit worse by the communal strife, "all political parties are the same, BJP or Congress." Some say they will not vote.

The BJP leaders from Delhi have just descended upon Gujarat for the weekend electioneering, since Parliament is in session, but Modi is the party’s face here for this poll.

On the streets, life appears to have returned to normal eight months after the violence, the city on the face of it appears to have forgotten Godhra and the riots, but all is not so quiet on this Western front.

Underlying is hatred and apprehension. One has to wait to see to how loud Gujarat echoes the language of Modi and Togadia at the hustings. (PTI)

‘ISI active in fomenting trouble for India from B’desh’

NEW DELHI, Dec 1: Describing the Pakistan High Commission in Dhaka as the "nerve centre" of ISI activities, a Government publication has claimed that Pakistani intelligence officials have long been engaged in networking with and coordinating activities of Northeastern insurgent groups and Islamic extremist elements in Bangladesh.

Besides making "extensive inroads" into Bangladeshi organisations like Jamaat-e-Islami, Harkat-ul-Jehad-al-Islami and several other "anti-Awami League organisations", the book says ISI operatives, "in association with Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI), continue to provide assistance to various Indian insurgent groups present in Bangladesh".

External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha had last week told Lok Sabha about ISI activities in Bangladesh to foment anti-India passions and aid and abet Indian insurgentgroups based in that country.

The 188-page publication, entitled ‘Pakistan’s involvement in terrorism against India’, gives several instances of the alleged ISI activities and says the "strong links" between ISI and Indian insurgent outfits like ULFA, All Tripura Tiger Force, National Democratic Front of Bodoland and those belonging to Manipur and Nagaland, "for several years" have now been "firmly established".

Stating that after the US-led operations in Afghanistan, Al Qaeda elements had taken shelter in Bangladesh, Sinha had told Lok Sabha that large number of Madrassas had also sprung up along the Indo-Bangla border.

New training camps had been established by major insurgent groups in different parts of Bangladesh, the book said.

Maintaining that ISI officers were "tutoring" insurgent leaders and activists about military and psychological warfare, it said many of them were in possession of "travel documents (forged or otherwise) of Bangladeshi origin. Some of these have been prepared with the active assistance of ISI operatives in Bangladesh".

It said the so-called commander-in-chief of ULFA, Paresh Barua, who was still based in Bangladesh, had visited Pakistan in March 2000 "on a fake passport in the name of Kamaruzzaman Khan. A Pakistani High Commission official in Dhaka ostensibly arranged the visit".

Meanwhile, official sources said Barua and ULFA chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa, who have reportedly fallen apart in the recent past, wanted to hold a meeting to sort out differences.

Stating that Rajkhowa was holed up in the jungles of Bhutan, the sources said army and BSF units were conducting "intensive patrolling and combing exercise" all along the Indo-Bhutan border to plug the land routes to prevent ULFA chairman from crossing over into Bangladesh to meet Barua. (PTI)

Amicable solution to Ram Janambhoomi possible: VHP

TIRUCHIRAPALLI, Dec 1: The Viswa Hindu Parishad appealed to the people still opposing the Ram temple at Ayodhya to adopt a give and take policy and respect the sentiments and emotions of fellow Hindus.

Addressing a press conference here, VHP’s world vice-president, Mr S Vedhantham pointed out that the controversial site at Ayodhya was the birth place of Lord Rama and there could not be two opinions on that. Recalling the statement of the BJP’s minority cell chairman, who resigned from the party recently, calling the Muslims in Ayodhya magnanimous and claiming they had agreed to shift the remains of the Babri Masjid site to some other undisputed area and to build a new mosque. But, some people with foreign backing were still creating problems.

He also pointed out that politicians, especially the Congress party were spoiling the whole Ayodhya issue and hoped that the dispute could be solved amicably. Mr Vedhantgam hailed the efforts of Kanchi Kamakoti Peedam Sri Jeyendra Saraswathi Swamigal in solving the Babri Masjid dispute and hoped that such efforts would bear fruit very soon.

He further said the preparatory works for building Ram temple at the disputed site are going on, and Sadhus will decide the future course of action, in consultation with the VHP.

He also took strong exception over the DMK chief Mr Karunanidhi’s reported remarks critical of the Hindu religion and said Mr Karunanidhi was using the issue as a tool in his political rivalry with Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalitha.

He justified the Central and State Government’s ‘red alert’ and gearing up of the security measures in view of December 6, (the demolition day of the Babri Masjid) and said these were unavoidable. Mr Vedhantham, referring to the prospects of the BJP in Assembly elections in Gujarat, said it would win a thumping majority and form a Government.

He said the BJP was the only party in Gujarat still protecting the interest of Hindus, after the recent incidents there and people of Gujarat were very clear about this. The VHP also wanted the party representing the interests of the Hindus to win the Assembly elections.

Replying to a specific question, he said the poll would be peaceful. He recalled in the recent Assembly elections of Jammu and Kashmir, where despite the terrorists running a parallel administration, people were very bold enough to cast their votes.

Earlier, Mr Vedhantham inaugurated Tamil Nadu VHP’s youth wing conference office near Amma Mandapam in Srirangam here, for their proposed two day conference here on February 8 and 9 next. (UNI)

India, Russia to sign Delhi declaration

NEW DELHI, Dec 1: India and Russia will sign a landmark Delhi declaration during the three-day State visit of President Vladimir Putin from December three and give special focus to military-technical cooperation on which some agreements are expected to be finalised.

The declaration to be signed by President Putin and Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee would outline cooperation in combating terrorism besides covering a wide gamut of security and political fields, giving a new dimension to the close and friendly indo-russian ties, official sources said.

Another key document to be signed by the two leaders is expected to set out directions for a close partnership in economic, scientific and technological fields.

The two sides are also discussing accords for sale of admiral Gorshkov aircraft carrier, speeding of licenses for production of Su-30 MKI and supply of nuclear submarines.

Putin will have a meeting with the Prime Minister followed by a private dinner soon after his arrival on Tuesday evening from China.

After a ceremonial reception on Wednesday at Rashtrapati Bhavan, he will have a hectic schedule with a meeting with the Prime Minister followed by delegation-level talks covering the entire gamut of bilateral relations besides regional and international issues of mutual concern.

He will call on President A P J Abdul Kalam and Vice President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat and have meetings with Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani, External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha and Defence Minister George Fernandes.

As part of its defence cooperation, Russia has provided India with Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-29 Fulcrum air-superiority fighters, Sukhoi Su-30-K and Su-30-MKI Flanker multi-role warplanes.

Supply of Tunguska self-propelled anti-aircraft guns and SAM (Surface-to-Air Missile) complexes, one tanker, two MK877-ekm submarines, three MK 11365 frigates, Kamov KA Radar-picket helicopters and some other weapons and combat-hardware models were part of implementation of the bilateral military-technical cooperation programme until the year 2000.

Russian agency Vremya Novostei quoted sources at the committee for military-technical cooperation to say that the programme until 2010 aims at shipping weapons and combat hardware for all Indian armed services.

Moscow has also undertaken to transfer specific production licenses and to help master production of some weapons at Indian enterprises, Novostei said.

It also spoke of contracts that envisage the delivery of T-90-s main battle tanks, Essa thermo-visor tank sights and their batch production to a Russian license, modernisation of Ilyushin ii-38 aircraft as well as efforts to repair and upgrade MK 877-EKM submarines.

Novosti quoted these sources to say that New Delhi and Moscow had started discussing the joint development of a fifth-generation fighter just over a year ago.

The Indian side is examining more than 350 contracts including for the production of Amur-1650 submarines to a Russian license, delivery of Smerch (tornado) multiple-launch rocket systems (MLRS-S) and warship munitions.

Official sources said the two sides were also negotiating the creation of India’s own AWACS (airborne warning and control system)-type long-range radar onboard Russia’s A-50 aircraft.

The discussions of the Russian President with the Indian leadership will cover the entire gamut of bilateral relations and regional and international issues of mutual interest.

Several documents are expected to be signed during the visit, covering various sectors of the wide-ranging bilateral relations. "These documents will further strengthen the politico-legal basis of their bilateral cooperation," an External Affairs Ministry official said.

Putin is undertaking the visit at the invitation of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee as part of their decision to hold annual summit meetings to carry forward their bilateral political dialogue.

While the Russian President had visited India in October 2000, Vajpayee paid a state visit to the Russian Federation in November last year.

Relations between India and Russia were marked by "continuity, trust and mutual understanding", the sources said.

The two sides have held intensive interaction in important sectors like power, steel, oil, coal and information technology, science and technology, culture, space, atomic energy and defence. (PTI)