Excelsior... Nation

Conference to formulate rural health policy

NEW DELHI, Oct 25: A three-day national conference on rural health on the theme ‘equity, equality and empowerment’ would be held at Loni, Maharashtra from December five to formulate the much- awaited ‘comprehensive rural health policy-by the people for the people’.

The conference, to be organised by the Pravara Medical Trust, would be inaugurated by Health Minister Shatrughan Sinha as many as 400 national and international experts in rural health would deliberate on launching a national initiative on ‘healthy villages’ and ‘national network on rural health and gender issues’.

The healthy villages initiative would integrate the individual and population health approaches towards improving the health and well-being of the people in rural and remote areas of the country.

It would also deliberate on the key issue of equity, equality and empowerment in health sector and bridging the rural vs urban, male vs female and rich vs poor divide and find its due place in the recently-announced national health policy, said Dr Ashok Patil, president of the International Association of Agricultural Medicine and Rural Health.

He said the conference was being organised by IAAMRH, an international NGO, in collaboration with the Health and Family Welfare Ministry, World Health Organisation, Global Forum for Health Research, Geneva, United Nations Population Fund, United Nations Development Programme and Medical Council of India.

Dr Patil said even after the signing of the alma ata declaration about 25 years ago, a comprehensive health policy for rural areas where about 72 per cent of the population live was yet to be worked out.

The national health policy, 2002 was also silent on majority of issues pertaining to rural health, and equity and equality of health service which was the foundation for ‘health for all’, he said.

"As a result, the gap between the health of people living in rural and urban areas, between male and female, rich and poor, have and havenot is vast and is still widening. Nearly 70 per cent of all deaths and 92 per cent of deaths from communicable diseases occurred among the poorest 20 per cent of the people of our country. Severe malnutrition and starvation deaths are alarmingly increasing while rats are merrily consuming the excessive stock in Food Corporation of India warehouses," he said.

He said 70 per cent of the country’s poor were women who were victims of the most damaging and mutually reinforcing inequalities of poverty and gender. The incidence of disease was 200 per cnet higher in rural areas than in urban areas. Rural areas had no facility for safe disposal of human excreta, potable drinking water and even basic health facilities.

Dr Patil said lopsided and isolated policies, lack of political will and centralised planning, mismatched priorities and technologies, inequitable distribution of resources for the needy and over dependence of health sector on "professionals, systems and vertical programmes," was responsible for such a scenario. The prevailing condition of the major segment of the Indian society, especially the rural poor, women, children and aged, was precarious which need the urgent attention of all the right-minded people. Poverty, unemployment, lack of education, poor housing, inadequate and unsafe drinking water supply, insanitary disposal of waste, inadequate and low quality food and social and cultural practices were responsible for the deplorable state of affairs, Dr Patil said and added that a coordinated intersectoral approach was required to achieve health for all.

Former Union Minister Y K Alagh said the loni agenda on rural health endorsed by all the participants of the conference would propose a wide-range of national, state and regional specific activities and systems. Principles and guidelines would be developed to assist the Government, nongovernment funding agencies and educational institutions, health professional organisations, health services organisation and community on implementing the proposed activities.

The conference would also provide the required impetus for a series of model demonstration projects on rural health and development around the country which should contribute to developing appropriate methodologies to improve peoples health in rural areas.

It would have symposia, plenary sessions, panel discussions, continuing medical education, thematic sessions, oral and poster presentations and round table conferences on various topics such as health, population and demographic situation, gender bias and gender justice, and health for vulnerable sections.

The international labour organisation, indian council of medical research, all india institute of medical sciences, usaid, european commission, department of women and child development and national commission for women are extending academic support to the conference. (UNI)

Ketan Parekh created various layers to hide nexus: JPC

NEW DELHI, Oct 25: Ketan Parekh, prime accused in the last year’s stock scam, operated through a large number of entities which facilitated hiding of nexus between corporate sources of fund flow and ultimate use in stock market, the Joint Parliamentary Committee on stock scam has observed.

"He (Parekh) used a networking of various FII sub-accounts, ocbs, institutions and mutual funds for large transactions thereby creating an impression of market interest in certain select scrips", the JPC inquiring into the stock scam and temporary freeze on UTI’s flagship scheme US-64 said in its draft report which is about to be finalised.

"To begin with, he normally identified companies with relatively low floating stocks, acquired substantial holdings in these companies either directly or through associates including FII sub-account, OCBs etc", the report said.

"Various layers were created (by Parekh) so that it becomes difficult to link the source of fund with the actual user of fund", the report said adding it was observed that funds were received by certain entities from banks as loan and overdrafts that were diverted to other entities for acquiring shares and meeting other obligations".

It also appeared that the transactions for purchase and sale of shares were done in the name of large number of entities so that concentration of positions/transactions in a particular scrip would not be detected. The report stated. The report said Ketan Parekh also used the presence of number of exchanges and different settlement cycles to systematically shift positions from one exchange to the other.

It said the entities associated with Parekh have received huge amounts from banks, various corporate groups etc.

"Some of the corporate groups which had given funds to Ketan Parekh entities during January 2000-April 2001 are Adani, HFCL, DSQ, Cadila, Essel, Kopran and Nirma and the amount outstanding from Ketan Parekh to these entities is over Rs 1,273 crore", the report said.

The JPC said the amount outstanding to global trust bank from Parekh entities as on March 23, 2001 was Rs 266.87 crore.

"Parekh had also received funds from centurion bank, ICICI bank and bank of Punjab against which a total amount of Rs 65.47 crore was outstanding", the report observed.

On Parekh’s complicity with the Madhepura Mercantile Cooperative Bank (MMCB), the report said the latter issued pay orders in favour of Ketan Parekh entities from time to time even when there were no sufficient credits or securities to cover these loans/overdrafts.

"Ketan Parekh entities would then discount these pay orders with Bank of India (BoO) and the stock exchange branch of BoI would present these pay clearing house in normal course of their business."

The report said on 8.2.2000 and 9.3.2001, MMCB issued pay orders totalling Rs 137 crore favouring Ketan Parekh entities, which were immediately discounted with BoI and the proceeds received were utilised by Ketan Parekh entities.

"But on this occasion when BoI presented these pay orders to the clearing house for realisation, MMCB showed its inability to pay, since sufficient funds were not available with the bank", the report said. (PTI)

Dissidents ready to support SP to dislodge Govt

LUCKNOW, Oct 25: Dissidents stepped up their activities in the State today, following police raids at the house of an independent MLA Dhananjay Singh here early morning.

The rebel BJP and independent MLAs were so much annoyed with the "Government sponsored raids" to curb dissidence that they have announced to launch a "do or die" battle against the Mayawati-led BJP-BSP ruling coalition.

The leaders also declared that if Samajwadi Party come forward to form the Government in the State, they were ready to support it.

Mr Dhananjay Singh told UNI here that raids at his Lucknow and Jaunpur houses early this morning were politicaly motivated and were an undemocratic way to curb the dissident activities in the State.

Mr Singh, also the spokesman of the dissident independent MLAs, said they will not compromise with the Government after the raids and were ready to fight for their cause from the jail.

Dissident BJP MLA Kovid Kumar has also criticised the Government tactic of pressurising the rebels through police action. He claimed that the BJP rebels were with the independents.

Meanwhile, the dissident independent and some BJP MLAs have accepted the offer of the BJP to meet former Chief Minister Rajnath Singh here this afternoon. Mr Singh said that when the Chief Minister found that the rebels could not be controlled she resorted to such an undemocratic step to save the Government. "The police which arrested my nephew and harrassed the family members at Lucknow and Jaunpur made the raids without any search warrants", he charged.

Further claiming that the dissidents will not compromise and if required they were ready to support the SP Government in the State, he said "we are in a position to topple the present Government as the required number of MLAs are with us".

Asked if they would talk with central BJP leaders including Mr Rajnath Singh, he said "we are ready to talk to anyone but as the Government is run by BSP- on the BSP agenda, the BJP has very less to say on the subject".

The rebel BJP MLA Kovid Kumar told newspersons here that the raid at the houses of the independent MLA proves that the Government has lost confidence in democracy.

He claimed that all the dissident BJP MLAs were closely in touch with the independent collegues and have refused to budge from their demands of the BJP support to the Government from outside and immediate resignation of the party ministers from the cabinet.

Further claiming that the number of the dissident BJP MLAs were increasing day by day, Mr Kumar, a four time BJP legislator, blamed the State leadership including Mr Lalji Tandon for the present political crisis. Mr Kumar said the dissident BJP legislators will meet here on October 27 to decide their next step.

However, the independents are meeting here tonight to chalk out their future strategy.

Meanwhile the independent MLAs had an informal meeting at the residence of Mr Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiya this morning to discuss the political fallout on the police raids at the residences of Mr Dhananjay Singh.

Mr Singh told newspersons that the matter was very serious as it was an effort to curb the anti-Government movement through undemocratic means.

"We will discuss the entire matter during the meeting later today", he said. About ten MLAs including a rebel BJP MLA were present at the informal meeting, the MLAs had a telephonic talk with BJP leader Rajnath Singh on mobile when the meeting decided that they will meet the BJP central leader in the afternoon. (UNI)

Forgery scam unearthed in HC

PATNA, Oct 25: A major scam, probably the first of its kind in the annals of indian judiciary, involving forging of court documents by advocates and officials has been unearthed in the Patna High Court.

Chief Justice R S Dhavan has ordered filing of a complaint with the Patna Chief Judicial Magistrate against the offenders.

A major racket of re-filing of petitions allegedly by tampering with the documents was unearthed during a probe by Registrar General S Mukherjee, who was instructed by a division bench of the court to investigate the discrepancies while hearing a writ petition on August eight.

Chief Justice R S Dhavan and Justice R N Prasad on October 22 directed the Registrar General to file a criminal complaint in 70 cases of forgery of court documents in re-filing suits and bail applications committed over the last three years which he had detected during the course of investigation.

Sources in the Registrar General’s office said that the identification of such forged cases was still on and expressed apprehension the list might be even longer.

It all began when a division bench comprising Chief Justice Ravi S Dhawan and Justice R N Prasad while hearing a case relating to tax evasion on August eight was faced with strong objection by the Government counsel to the matter being taken up for hearing for a second time when it had already been dismissed by a division bench comprising Justice Nagendra Rai and Justice R S Garg in the past.

On this, the judges ordered the Registrar General to probe the issue and inquire if such irregularities had occurred in the past.

During the probe, the Registrar General found that the case was mis-presented before a division bench (comprising two judges) as an appeal against an order passed by a single judge bench of the same high court by allegedly deleting the name of Justice Garg from the order.

Sixtynine more false and forged cases, mostly relating to bail petitions had been detected, Mukherjee told PTI.

After their August eight order to the Registrar General of the high court and submission of his inquiry report, the Chief Justice and Justice R N Prasad on October 22 directed him to file criminal complaints against the lawyers and court officials involved in the racket with the Chief Judicial Magistrate here within three weeks.

Meanwhile, the Patna High Court Lawyers’ Associations have criticised these corrupt practices. Convenor of the coordination committee of three associations of Patna High Court lawyers, Yogesh Chandra Verma told PTI that "this act ofe."

He, however, charged the high court administration with having taken too long to check this practice, which, he said, had been going on for a long time. "We had intimated the court about such acts taking place... Strangely the court administration has taken such a long time to sit up and take notice," he said. (PTI)

Govt planning to reintroduce registration/licensing of crafts

KOCHI, Oct 25: Kerala Fisheries Minister Prof K V Thomas today said the State Government was planning to re-introduce registration/licensing of fishing crafts, which had been discontinued in 1986 and a comprehensive ‘census of fishing crafts’ operating in the territorial waters of the State was being conducted.

Talking to reporters here, Thomas said the Department of Fisheries was currently verifying the authenticity of the list of fishermen maintained by the fishermen’s welfare fund board which would be completed by the end of this year.

Preliminary feedback indicated that there were 15 to 20 per cent non-fishermen in the present list he said, adding, once the exercise was completed, every genuine traditional fishermen would be issued a paffixed identity card, which would entitle him/her to be beneficiaries under the various welfare schemes taken up through the department.

He said preparations were going on for the ‘ornamental fisheries exhibition’ (aqua show 2003) and a national seminar to be held here from December 29 to January five. Efforts were being made to ensure participation of exhibitors from other States and also from abroad, he said.

Lakshadweep had confirmed participation in the exhibition while confirmations from Chennai, Kolkata and Mumbai were expected, he said. The exhibition was being organised through the fisheries resources management society (firma) and intech trade fairs, Mumbai, the minister said.

Thomas said the department was also planning to set an ‘aqua park’ (ornamental fish farm plus aquarium) at an estimated cost of Rs 25 crore in Ernakulam in collaboration with the Marine Products Exports Development Authority (MPEDA) and Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT).

The study work on the project had been completed he said, adding, the Government had approached cusat for transferring around 25 acres of land at kalamassery for the project.

The state fisheries’ management society (FIRMA) was collaborating with the National Institute of Cold Water Fisheries, Nainital (ICAR) for taking up ‘cold water fisheries’ in the State under the Western Ghats Development programme.

Scientists from the ICAR who had visited recently the State for identifying potential locations for setting up hatcheries for ‘Mahaseer’ and ‘trout’ had indicated that there was immense potential for cold water fisheries in the state, the minister said.

The agency for development of aquaculture was taking up ‘mussel farming’ with the technical help of central marine fisheries research institute. The project would be started at Kozhikode and Rs five lakh had already been sanctioned, he said.

A programme for taking up rotational farming of paddy and fish in the paddy fields of Kottayam and Alappuzha districts would be taken up shortly. ‘The idea is to take up fish farming in such a manner that paddy cultivation was also enhanced, he said. (PTI)

Sikkim ready for winter tourism

GANGTOK, Oct 25: From the honeymoon couples to the sabbatical elders, it’s celebration time for all here as Sikkim dresses in a bridal white with two feet of snow.

To the tourists’ utter delight, the Himalayan State experienced the year’s first snowfall at Shiv Mandir (13,200 ft), seven km from Yumthang (11,800ft), the fabled tourist destination in lachung sub-division of the north district.

The Thangu and the Chopta valleys as well as Gurudongmar also experienced heavy snowfall from the third week of October.

At Shiv Mandir, it seemed that a magic wand had transformed the barren terrain into a fairyland. Tourists, young and old, seemed to be beside themselves with excitement.

Regardless of their age, senior citizens too joined the youngsters to make snowballs and throw them at each other.

Winter tourism has brought in rich returns to the State. The normal crowds from West Bengal, as always, thronged the streets of Gangtok and passes for Nathula were being sold at heavy premium.

However, what has delighted the travel agents is the large number of European and American tourists, as well as those from other parts of the country, who had so far remained absent from the guest list. These included a large volume from Chennai, Assam, Gujarat, Mumbai, Pune and Bangalore.

Asked what they liked most about Sikkim, many said, "it’s the people who make a place beautiful and in that respect we have found our dreamland here."

With the winter on, the ‘bazaar’(market place) is already crowded with the holidaymakers. According to several travel agents in the capital, the tourists’ inflow was on a rise every day.

"This is likely to increase next season by leaps and bounds if the new plans come forth. The tourism department, along with the Sikkim Tourism and Development Corporation (STDC), has plans to organise honeymoon packages and has already requested various travel operators to take into consideration this aspect to promote tourism," one leading agent said.

"The largest number of bookings I have received this season are from tourists from America and European countries. They prefer to go for trekking to Dzongri, Singelila range, Khechoedpalri, Tashiding and Phodong," he added.

Hoteliers confirmed that there was close to 100 per cent occupancy already and they were expecting better results later this season.

The owner of a leading travel agency informed that the only disappointment the tourists faced was that of not being able to reach the Nathula pass.

"Due to a low carrying capacity, the area is accessible only four days a week and only 25 vehicles are allowed to visit each day, with at the most eight passengers per vehicle," he said.

A tourist from Kolkata said, "the range of activities Sikkim offers to its guests is impressive. The climate here during this season is ideal. I would stay here longer if I had my way."

"The most enjoyable moment in Gangtok was the helicopter ride during the last season. This time too we have decided to take a ride," a tourist from Pune stressed. The chopper service has become a major source of entertainment for the honeymooners too.

An overwhelmed tourist from Kolkata said, "this is my sixth trip to Sikkim and I have enjoyed all of them extremely. I prefer Sikkim to any other hill station."

The gatekeeper at the Himalayan zoological park, however, said more tourists had visited the zoo last year. The maximum number of tourists visiting the zoo per day is around 600. The zoo staff, however, said they are expecting more tourists in the coming months.

Nevertheless, when it comes to the capital the tourists are seen making themselves feel-at-home, either indulging their appetite in the sikkimese way, going shopping, seeking adventure or finding solace in places of worship.

An aged tourist from darjeeling, though disappointed at not being able to visit Gurudongmar lake, still believed "it is god’s land. I have been in darjeeling all my life, but sikkim is incomparable." (UNI)