Ajit Singh to take up
farmers’ interest waiver
issue with PM

NEW DELHI, Sept 13: Strongly favouring writing off of interests on loans taken by distressed farmers in 13 drought-hit States, Union Agriculture .....more

Lowest life expectancy
for Madhya Pradesh
women

BHOPAL, Sept 13: Men of Madhya Pradesh are more likely to spend their old age in loneliness without their spouses, if ....more

3 DSPs booked
for corruption

CHANDIGARH, Sept 13: Punjab Police and Vigilance Bureau (VB) booked three DSP’s and two Inspectors of Police under its drive against corruption. ....more

SC asks for grounds
for creation of new
Rly zones

NEW DELHI, Sept 13: The Supreme Court today directed the Centre to produce before it by October four the material which prompted the union ....more

HC issues suo motu contempt notices against Manisha, Nair

MUMBAI, Sept 13: Mumbai High Court today issued suo motu notices to film actress Manisha Koirala and producer Shashilal Nair asking them to .....more

Maharashtra Govt
chalks out new child
development policy

MUMBAI, Sept 13: Maharashtra Government will constitute a child rights commission, the first in the country, to. .....more

Uttaranchal’s beauty impels Jatin Das to set up studio in Doon

NARENDRANAGAR, TEHRI (UTTARANCHAL), Sep 13: The enchanting beauty of the Himalayas has lured seventeen artistes of national fame to ......more

SC seeks details from Centre about Cauvery water release

NEW DELHI, Sept 13: The Supreme Court today sought details from the Centre.....more

Colossal financial loss to Rlys .....
 

Ajit Singh to take up farmers’ interest waiver issue with PM

NEW DELHI, Sept 13: Strongly favouring writing off of interests on loans taken by distressed farmers in 13 drought-hit States, Union Agriculture Minister Ajit Singh today said he would take up the matter with the Prime Minister and Finance Minister.

"I have held preliminary discussions with the Finance Minister on interest waiver. I will also urge the Prime Minister to grant this concession to farmers in addition to rescheduling of loan repayment already announced", he told reporters after inaugurating a meeting on drought management.

Singh said the total amount of loan interest due from farmers in different States can be ascertained by the end of this month when all the central teams sent to the affected regions submit their reports.

The Centre would be in a position to work out a complete relief package for the affected States only after examining the reports of the Central teams, he said, adding that by the end of this month a clear picture on the magnitude of assistance required can emerge.

Stating that area coverage under kharif crops has declined by about 20 per cent due to the "driest July" of the century, he said even in many areas where sowing took place, crops faced damage due to deficient rains.

Besides giving input subsidy, Centre would look into the demand of 14 lakh tonne foodgrains by eight States for food for work programme. States have demanded a special component from the Sampoorna Gramin Rozgar Yojana to tackle the drought.

Expressing concern over certain demands by States falling "outside the yardsticks" laid Dowwas the first to run on the track on experimental basis to gauge the load of the tracks.

A speed limit of 15 km/hour was fixed for the movement of trains, the sources added.

They said work was also on the up line but it would take at least a week’s time to make the track operational.

Maintaining that this year’s drought is one of the worst in recent times, Singh said among worst hit crops are cereals like bajra and the current spell of widespread rains may cause further damage to some such crops.

Even in irrigated areas of states like Punjab and Haryana, the cost of inputs has gone up considerably due to extensive use of diesel and power, prompting the affected people to seek enhanced minimum support price, he said.

He said the rainfall taking place in different regions since early August would augur well for the next rabi crops by improving soil moisture though it may not be of considerable help to current kharif.

Current rains would improve availability of drinking water and fodder but can cause harm to bajra in some areas.

However, fears of acute shortage of oilseeds and edible oil are allayed following delayed rains, he said, adding that prospects for soyabean and groundnut have improved in states like Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat.

Drought would have an adverse impact on the overall economy as agriculture contributes about 24 per cent to the GDP, he said adding that it would hit industry too because of subdued rural markets as villagers are the major victims.

However, he said consumers would not be hit hard due to sufficient foodstocks and foreign exchange reserves and any shortage in edible oil can be tackled through imports.

The minister said the affected states are now utilising the advance amount released from the calamity relief fund (CRF) and the task force headed by Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani would finalise a comprehensive relief package after analysing detailed inputs from central teams. (PTI)

Lowest life expectancy for Madhya Pradesh women

BHOPAL, Sept 13: Men of Madhya Pradesh are more likely to spend their old age in loneliness without their spouses, if the statistical figures are any indication.

According to the annual report of Department of Women and Child Development 2001-2002, the disparities in life expectancy at birth among females was as low as that 55.2 in Madhya Pradesh compared to a high 75.9 in Kerala.

The national level life expectancy at birth among females has been steadily improving over the years from 23.3 in 1901 to 61.8 in 1997 and has even surpassed that of the men since the 1980s.

While there has been slight improvement in statistics as compared to the previous tabulations, Madhya Pradesh continues to have the lowest female life expectancy at birth since 1992. The comparative figure for the 1992-96 period pegged at 54.7, which was also the lowest among the states.

The rural-urban difference is also the highest in Madhya Pradesh (8.6) and the lowest in Kerala (1.0).

"The disparity in numbers can be directly attributable to poverty and poor status of the fairer sex in the state in terms of education and health" says an official spokesperson.

"The overall health and life span of a woman is directly related to the attention given to them during childhood", the spokesperson said adding, "bereft of proper nutritional intake, the girl child grows into a woman with a host of health problems" .

Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR), the number of maternal deaths per 100000 live births, of the state, is also high at 498. The national figure is 407. Lack of antenatal check ups and poor medical facilities in the rural areas are largely responsible for the high MMR.

Mothers of Madhya Pradesh have antenatal benefits only in 10.4 per cent births, the report says. Another issue to be urgently addressed was the delivery care indicators of the state. Only 20.1 percent of births were delivered in a medical institution while only 29.7 per cent of deliveries were assisted by a health professional, the report adds.

An important factor which could contribute to low female life expectancy at birth is the high level prevalence of child marriage in the State.

The mean age at marriage for women of the state is 16.62, the lowest among all the states. Nearly 79 per cent of the girls are wedded before the age of 18, the report adds.

"Lack of adequate resources prevents women of the State, especially those belonging to poorer households, from availing of the health services for themselves," the spokesperson said.

Undernourished, ill-fed and overworked, most women from such households are extremely vulnerable to ailments and diseases, which do not get properly diagnosed and treated.

Poor sanitation, unhygienic surroundings, difficulty in procuring safe drinking water are some other factors that affect the general health of the women of the State.

According to the report, 54.3 per cent of women of the State were plagued by anaemia."Social attitudes and perceptions giving lower precedence to girls’ education also play in a pivotal role in making the women more vulnerable to diseases than their male counterparts," the report says.

Female literacy of Madhya Pradesh had increased from 29.35 per cent to 50.28 per cent in 2001, but it was still lower than the national figure of 54.16, it adds. (UNI)

3 DSPs booked for corruption

CHANDIGARH, Sept 13: Punjab Police and Vigilance Bureau (VB) booked three DSP’s and two Inspectors of Police under its drive against corruption.

Besides this 83 more police personnels including SIs, ASI’s and Constables have been booked in 58 different of cases.

In this drive Ludhiana tops the list with 9 cases against cops while Jalandhar with 7 cases comes next.

Disclosing this here today, a Vigilance Bureau spokesman said that Sajjan Singh DSP had been booked for accepting Rs 3,50,000 from a person for saving him from a case in Goraya Jalandhar district.

In another case Harbans Lal DSP along with other policemen accepted Rs 3.20 lakh from a petrol pump owner threatening that he was selling adulterated petrol, he said.

Bhupinder Singh, DSP, inconvenience with the three ASIs accepted Rs five lakh to handover confiscated passport from police record to an accused who was on bail in a criminal case, he said.

The spokesman said that in Jalandhar Inspector Harpreet Singh was caught while accepting a heavy amount as bribe from a person and his wife, who were arrested alongwith hawala amount.

Didar Singh Inspector and Hari Singh ASI had been brought to book for demanding and accepting bribe of Rs 25,000 from a person of Patiala, the spokesman said.

During this drive from April 2002 to August 2002, nine SIs, 28 ASIs 22 HCs and 24 Constables had been booked under various sections of IPC and Prevention of Corruption Act, the spokesman said.

In April, 16 cases were registered against cops while in May, 10 cases in June, 14 cases and in July and August 13 cases were registered.

In Batala city 10 policemen, from the ranks of SI to Constable were found guilty of demanding and accepting monetary benefits as the record of passport branch was tempered with ulteior motives and extorting money from the applicants in passport inquiries and verification reports raising unnecessary objections. (PTI)

SC asks for grounds for creation of new Rly zones

NEW DELHI, Sept 13: The Supreme Court today directed the Centre to produce before it by October four the material which prompted the union cabinet to decide on creating seven new Railway zones.

A bench consisting of Mr Justice G B Pattanaik and Ms Justice Ruma Pal issued the direction during the preliminary hearing of two Special Leave Petitions (SLPs), directed against judgements of the high courts of Delhi and Calcutta.

Noting that the executive Government could take such decisions for improving administrative efficiency in exercise of powers under section 3 of the Indian Railways Act, the court said it, however, wanted to satisfy itself whether there was sufficient material before the Cabinet to take the decision.

"The scope for judicial review of a matter relating to the policy decision of the Government was very limited," the bench observed.

The petition before Calcutta High Court, filed by Mr Biswajit Deb, questioned the creation of the East Central Railway out of the existing Eastern and North Eastern Railway zones.

However, the SLP before Delhi High Court, filed by the Federation of Railway Officers Association and others, had disputed the creation of all the seven new Railway zones.

The SLPs were directed against the dismissal by the high courts of petitions challenging the June 14 notification of the Centre creating the new zones.

The court said both high courts had dismissed the petitions in limine without giving any reasons. When the counsel for the petitioner before Calcutta High Court wanted that a copy of the affidavit to be filed by the Centre be supplied to him, Mr Justice Pattanaik said: "it was never meant for you."

"We are not impressed by your petition that has no merits. We wanted the material to ascertain ourselves whether the Cabinet had sufficient material to take that decision," the judges observed.

Earlier, senior counsel Shanti Bhushan appearing for the petitioner before Delhi High Court said the decision was politically motivated and not aimed at improving the administrative efficiency of the Railways.

He said the administration of the Railways had gone to the docks and the derailment of the Rajdhani Express in Bihar, resulting in large number of casualties, was the latest burning example of it.

The court, however, did not seem impressed by the submission.

Attorney General Soli J Sorabjee denied the allegations made by Mr Shanti Bhushan and said that it was a well considered decision of the Government, aimed at improving the Railways administration.

The court then said that it would, however, like to puruse the material before coming to any conclusion. (UNI)

HC issues suo motu contempt notices against Manisha, Nair

MUMBAI, Sept 13: Mumbai High Court today issued suo motu notices to film actress Manisha Koirala and producer Shashilal Nair asking them to show cause why contempt action should not be taken against them for taking their dispute to an extra-constitutional authority, pending litigation over some objectionable scenes in film ‘Ek Chhoti Si Love Story’.

The notices were issued by Justices R M Lodha and Dilip Bhosale, who made them returnable on October 5.

The judges took strong objection to the conduct of Nair and Manisha for approaching a third party when their legal dispute was pending in the court.

They have objected to Nair arranging a special screening of the film for Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray and disapproved of Manisha’s conduct in seeking Thackeray’s help to resolve her dispute with the producer over objectionable scenes.

The judges took a strong view of media reports which indicated that Nair had asked Thackeray to see the movie and do justice.

The judges noted ‘we are distressed and disturbed by the conduct of Manisha and Nair taking a subjudice matter to a third person. A party armed with a judicial order has to have such an order enforced through legal process and cannot be allowed to take the judicial order to streets for enforcement’.

‘The arms of the court are too long to bring a defiant to justice but a litigant in a pending matter can not be expected to take help of a third party for enforcement of a judicial order or to pressurise the opposite party’, they observed. ‘Such conduct on the part of Manisha and Nair was intolerable and unacceptable as it amounts to interference in course of justice and tends to lower the authority of the court’, the judges remarked.

Advocate General Goolam Vahanvati, supporting the show cause notices against Manisha and Nair, said both of them had committed contempt by approaching Thackeray.

He was appearing as amicus curie (friend of the court) in the matter as the judges had asked him to make submissions.

Janak Dwarkadas, counsel for Nair, said even the third person in this case (Bal Thackeray) was guilty of contempt and should be pulled up for contempt.

Despite pendency of her appeal in the high court, Manisha had approached Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray to mediate and sort out the controversial issue with producer Shashilal Nair. Later, the producer also met Thackeray and urged him to see the film and decide the issue.

In an interim order on September 5, the same bench had stayed the all India release of the film until it finally disposed of an appeal filed by actress against its earlier verdict dismissing her plea to delete objectionable shots in the movie. The judges had also decided to finally hear the matter on October 5.

On August 30, Justice F I Rebello had rejected Koirala’s plea to delete ‘objectionable’ scenes in which her duplicate had been used. The judge, after viewing the film, held that the impugned scenes were integral part of the film. He was of the opinion the scenes were neither vulgar nor projected Koirala in bad light. They were also not defamatory, he felt.

Being aggrieved, the actress filed an appeal. (PTI)

Maharashtra Govt chalks out new child development policy

MUMBAI, Sept 13: Maharashtra Government will constitute a child rights commission, the first in the country, to safeguard the rights of children and help in their overall development.

This is among a number of steps the Democratic Front (DF) Government would take under its ‘Child Development Policy-2002’, Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh announced after a meeting of the State Cabinet yesterday.

The Cabinet approved the draft of the new policy, which aims at the overall development of children, the Chief Minister told reporters.

Under the policy, expectant mothers would be registered and a yellow card would be issued to them to avail of health and nutrition benefits. After the birth of the child, the yellow card would be replaced by a ‘birthday card’.

The existing Anganwadi centres would function as resource-cum-service centres with special emphasis on the children of up to two years of age.

Adoption would be promoted as a concept of ‘family for a child’ rather than ‘child for a family’, he said.

Mr Deshmukh said de-addiction programmes would be conducted for the school children and street children as well as the inmates of rehabilitation centres and orphanages.

A planned intervention programme would also be chalked out in collaboration with voluntary and social organisations to prevent and reduce the incidents of child sexual exploitation and immoral trafficking, he said. Mr Deshmukh said the Union Government would be approached to make suitable amendments in immoral traffic (prevention) Act-1956 to provide incentives to those who report cases of sexual exploitation and trafficking of children and minors and make provisions for more stringent punishment for the culprits.

He said the Chief Executive Officers (CEOs)of the Zilla Parishads would act as the nodal agency and the services would focus more on the Adivasi areas in the State.

"A child crisis intervention centre" would be supported at various institutions for children in association with the NGOs, public-spirited citizens, lawyers, health, professionals and social workers.

The child marriage prevention officers would be appointed to implement the child marriage restraint act vigorously in the State.

Mr Deshmukh said the new policy would also provide loan facilities to the parents of the child labourers through the concerned, under employment programmes to motivate them to withdraw the children from work. Recommendations to include the child labour into the National Child Labour Programme (NCLP) would also be made to the Centre.

An intervention package comprising of testing, treatment and care would be placed in all hospitals to ensure reduction of HIV transmission from mother to child, he said.

The budgetary provision of rs 550 crore would be increased to Rs 750 crore for the welfare of the children specially in the Adivasi dominated districts, corporate and private sector would be encouraged to sponsor the destitute children for higher studies and training of in different disciplines, he added. (UNI)

Uttaranchal’s beauty impels Jatin Das to set up studio in Doon

NARENDRANAGAR, TEHRI (UTTARANCHAL), Sep 13: The enchanting beauty of the Himalayas has lured seventeen artistes of national fame to come here and capture the beautiful landscapes in their works and "take it back with them in their hearts. "

"I am taking these clouds and these mountains back to Delhi with me in my heart’, said renowned painter Jatin Das while talking evening to mediapersons last evening at a six-day camp at"Ananda in the Himalayas", the famous hotel located in the hundred acre palace and estate of the Maharaja of Tehri.

Throughout most of their stay here, heavy rain lashed this region, creating wonderful scenes impelling the painters to pick up their brushes ."When a cloud roams about in my room, I wonder at the surprises nature always has in store for us ", said Das, fascinated by the various hues of natural beauty in which this area abounds.

Wearing a black cap with a white feather tucked into it, das was quite like the pied piper, with the other artistes and mediapersons following him as he walked around the open terrace of ananda in the rain, talking about his experiences and narrating anecdotes from his career."Very soon, I am going to set up my studio in the Doon Valley and work there", said the 63 -year old artiste.

Asked about his views about the beauty of Uttaranchal, Das quipped "artistes do not recognise political boundaries for me, these are the mighty Himalayas, that is all". Our consumeristic society is making us forget how beautiful and amazing nature can be , said Das ."We have a treasurehouse of arts, crafts and natural beauty in India but it is scattered we need to gather it and institutionalise it for posterity".

Tracing the history of painters’ camps in India, he said the first ever camp was held in Kashmir in the early sixties by Ghulam Rasool Santosh, a famous painter."The last such camp I attended in Kashmir was in 1989.

Kashmir Academy has the best collection of Indian paintings. It is the greatest wealth of contemporary Indian art and should be preserved at all costs, he said.

The painters were at the Ananda camp organised by the Union Tourism Ministry and Uttaranchal Tourism to mark the international year of the mountains and ecotourism.

Mr Sanjeev Bhargava of "Saher’, an organisation of Tehri, is coordinating the camp which concludes today.

Gopi Gajwani, Gera Baswani, Subrata Kundu, Shekhar Joshi, Shamshad Hussain and Apoorva Sesai were among the painters who had put up their canvasses near the balcony of "Ananda" and let the muse visit them at her own leisure amid the gathering dark clouds and the incessant rainfall.

Oil paintings, water colours, abstract figures and image painting-all were done during the camp and will be exhibited in New Delhi on Septmebr 27 next, the world tourism day. Later, they will be exhibited in Doon.

"Gangotri in moonlight" by C M Mishra from Dehradun, "abode of gods" by Shekhar Joshi of Almora and "portrait in landscape" are among the paintings created during the camp.

Narendranagar is about fourteen kilometres away from Rishikesh and a one and a half hour drive from Dehradun. It was earlier the capital of the Garhwal royals and also the district headquarter. (UNI)

SC seeks details from Centre about Cauvery water release

NEW DELHI, Sept 13: The Supreme Court today sought details from the Centre about the quantum of water released by Karnataka to mettur reservoir following a Tamil Nadu Government petition alleging that Karnataka had not fully complied with the directions of the court and the Cauvery River Authority (CRA).

Before considering the petition of Tamil Nadu Government on merits, "we would like to asertain whether the court’s September 3 and CRA’s September 8 orders have been complied with.

"Whether the water which was to reach mettur reservoir has reached there," a three-three judge bench comprising Chief Justice B N Kirpal, Justice K G Balakrishnan and Justice Arijit Pasayat in its brief order said.

The bench directed Additional Solicitor General Mukul Rohatagi, appearing for the Centre, to furnish the details by September 23, the next date of hearing of Tamil Nadu’s petition seeking release of 1.25 TMCFT water everyday by Karnatka as was directed by the court on September 3.

Giving details about the water inflow to Mettur reservoir till yesterday, senior advocate K K Venugopal, appearing for the Tamil Nadu Government, said only about 2.9 TMCFT water had reached there while it should have been 9.45 TMCFT as per the court’s September 3 and CRA’s September 8 orders.

He said Tamil Nadu should have received 6.25 TMCFT of water as per the court order operative between September 4-8 and another 3.20 tmcft between September 9-12 as per the direction of CRA, which superseded the court’s interim order.

Tamil Nadu in its petition has sought to restore the court’s direction of releasing 1.25 TMCFT water everyday to till October to save samba crops. (PTI)

Colossal financial loss to Rlys

PATNA, Sept 13: Railways will have to part with a huge amount of nearly Rs 250 million as compensation to the kins of victims, injured persons and for repairing the damaged bridge and tracks following the Howrah- Delhi Rajdhani Express accident at Rafiganj on late Monday night.

A preliminary estimate said that more than Rs 100 millions would have to be paid as compensation to next of the kins of those killed and injured while around Rs 85 millions would be required for replacement of coaches damaged in the accident.

The already worn out and distressed bridge over the river Dhawa needed major repairing and regeneration of tracks was long overdue in the stretches approaching the bridge.

For restoration of normal services, repairing of the bridge as well as regeneration of tracks would have to be undertaken on an urgent basis calling for an expenditure of more than Rs 50 millions, the estimate said. Railways have revised the rate of compensation to kins of victims and injured persons in Railway accidents, irrespective of the nature of mishaps, with effect from November one last year and the new rate will be applicable in cases of Rafiganj accident victims.

Railway claims tribunal provides for compensation of Rs 4 lakh to each of the passenger killed, besides an ex-gratia payment of Rs one lakh. Persons with grievous injuries leading to loss of limbs are entitled to a compensation of up to Rs 4 lakh depending upon the gravity of such injuries.

The minimum payment to be made to an injured person in a railway accident is fixed at Rs 32,000 while local railway authorities are empowered to spend Rs 40 for transportation of each injured person to the nearest hospital.

Railway authorities are supposed to make on the spot ex-gratia payments of Rs 15,000 to kins of persons killed, Rs 5,000 to persons with serious injuries and Rs 5,000 to passengers with minor injuries.

At Rafiganj 209 persons were officially admitted as injured who shall have to be paid as per provisions of railway claims tribunal. (UNI)

| home | state | national | business| editorial | advertisement | sports |
| international | weather | mailbag | suggestions | search | subscribe | send mail |