Govt to pursue policy of zero tolerance towards corruption

NEW DELHI, Jan 27: Concerned over a spate of complaints in the issuance of passports, External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha today warned that Government will pursue a policy of zero tolerance towards corruption and wilful neglect in the handling of public documents.

"Over the years, there have been a number of instances of loss of passports from passport offices. On occasions, passport files have become untraceable. Such cases have serious security implications," he said while inaugurating a two-day passport officers’ conference here.

"Responsibility should be fixed for such incidents and disciplinary action as well as criminal prosecution initiated on an immediate basis," he emphasised.

The minister launched the central database having lion passport holders. This will not only enable passport offices but also consular wings of Indian missions abroad verify passport particulars on a real time basis. It will also facilitate prompt issue of duplicate passports and additional booklets.

The conference will discuss various aspects of the functioning of passport offices and set targets for better performance. The number of passports issued has increased by 18.75 per cent from 22.4 lakhs in 2000 to 26.6 lakhs in 2002.

Asking officials manning passport offices to function with a sense of sincerity and dedication, he said "if there is one central message i would like to give you today, it is that - the passport is a right of every citizen of India". Well aware of the hardships faced by new passport seekers, Sinha bluntly told the officials "granting a passport is neither a privilege you confer on anyone nor a matter of discretion. It is a document that must be provided to every citizen who seeks it unless for some reason or the other they are disqualified from getting one".

The minister emphasised that to grant passports in a smooth and speedy manner with the least amount of hassles to the applicant should be the norm. "Delay and denial should only be an exception".

Underlying the need for passport offices to be computerised and modernized using the latest technology, he said in tandem there was also need to improve the functioning of consular services through similar steps.

Centre proposes to vigorously pursue with State Government on the issue of setting up district passport cells so thast all districts in the country could be covered in the shortest possible time frame, he said.

Sinha said his ministry planned to provide office equipment such as computers, scanners, printers, e-mail connections etc. To such cells as an incentive for speeding up the creation of these cells.

Expressing serious concern over the high pendencies in passport offices, he said there were a large number of cases where passport applications had remained pending as a result of incomplete documentation or because of non-receipt of police verification reports.

Sinha said applicants were often ignorant of deficiencies in their applications and these remained pending for months and sometimes even for years.

Similarly, reminders to police authorities to expedite verifications were often not sent, he said stressing systems and work procedures to clear such pendencies should be worked out immediately with specific target dates set for a complete clearance of all pendencies.

The minister also underpinned the importance of establishing efficient mechanisms for redressal of public grievances.

"Complaints continue to be received about rude behaviour and indifferent attitude on the part of officers and staff," he said.

He asked passport officers to make themselves accessible to the public throughout the working day and regularly inspect the counters where interaction with the public took place.

"Nothing works as well as personal supervision by the boss. Make sure that you keep apart at least half an hour each day to watch your staff interact with the public. Your mere presence will do wonders," he said.

He said "we should be able to work towards the day when like in western countries, most of the public dealings with the Government can be accomplished through the phone and internet obviating the need for personal visits to Government offices.

Sinha assured that his ministry would do everything possible to improve their working conditions and promotional aspects at different levels. (PTI)

The dream that is Punjab

NEW DELHI, Jan 27: What will Punjab be like in the year 2020? An insight into this has been provided in a report prepared at the behest of the Planning Commission, focussing on the present, past and future of the State.

"It will be an integrated peaceful society, well-set on the path once again leading the nation towards new levels of quality of life of its people. A State which interacts creatively and productively with its neighbours and works with the rest of the people of the country as a whole to build a new India which can face the world with economic strength, political stability, self-confidence and pride. Punjab of the dreams of its people is an integral part of their dreams of India," says the ‘Punjab Development Report’.

"Laughing children glowing with health, happy mothers, fields rippling with golden corn, wires, surging with energy strung across towers of steel stabbing into the blue sky, the music of wheels of industry, the rhythm of human labour creating plenty, a festival of the triumph of human endeavour."

The people of Punjab, the land of Sikh Gurus, have proved their courage and resilience by restructuring democracy and strengthening democratic institutions from out of the chaos and anarchy of a decade of political violence and instability. This has once again proved the enduring strength of the spiritual and cultural heritage of Punjab, which is not only the pride but also the people of India.

The problems of unemployment and underemployment in the State, often referred as the granary of India, are a cause of concern, the report says adding that they might have serious implications for the future, if not properly taken care of.

The serious challenge of liberalisation, with higher use of capital-intensive technology, will have been met with the growth of employment commensurate with the growth of the economy itself creating higher employment opportunities in the long run.

The report has been prepared by the Chandigarh-based Centre for Research in Rural and Industrial Development (CRRID) under the direction of the commission. The report says development of strong inter-relationships and interdependence of Punjab with the neighbouring States of Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir will ensure sustainability and conservation of natural resources of all States, that is land, water and bio-diversity.

Scientific afforestation, forest management and efficient use of water resources of the neighbouring hill states will benefit not only these states but also Punjab and other States in terms of additional hydro-power, reduced floods, drought and soil erosion, recharge of depleting underground water table and stabilisation of the climate.

Strong inter-state linkages will ensure effective conservation of natural resources and mutual and long-term benefit for the people of the region. As a consequence, the nation as a whole will prosper.

There will be diversified agriculture in the land of five rivers with value addition, cent per cent literacy, universal access to health services, higher skills for employment for all, the widest dissemination of knowledge through information technology, closer rural-urban standards in social, economic, human and physical infrastructure, a rural society sensitive to gender equality, cent percent coverage and access to safe drinking water, easy access to micro-finances for underprivileged sections of society, transfer of funds, functions and functionaries to Panchayati Raj institutions, empowerment of PRIs in good governance and the environment will be protected.

In the sphere of development of industries, Punjab will focus on value-added agro-food processing, light engineering, hosiery and knowledge-based industries such as bio-technology, pharmaceuticals and electronics, attain a position of leadership and excellence in producing quality products and emerge as a major exporter by 2020. The SDR says the SSI sector will be helped to bridge the technological and management gaps with the advanced world. It will acquire the culture of continuing innovation, upgradation and modernisation and achieve a competitive edge in the global market and thus accelerate growth and promote employment and exports.

An industrial infrastructure of international standards will be created by setting up of industrial clusters, parks and zones with the state of the art technology. Government will only be an effective facilitator and enabler in all these activities.

Punjab’s future is urban, the report says. By 2020, Punjab will have about 45 per cent urban population or even more. Well-managed urbanisation will facilitate and sustain economic growth, improve service delivery and develop environmental infrastructure to improve quality of life.

Poverty will be substantially reduced to make cities productive. Urban local bodies will create poverty alleviation funds to provide employment, security and opportunity.

Vision 2020 for punjab demands the achievement of a knowledge-based society through extensive use of information technology. It will be fully-developed and bring structural changes in the fabric of the society. A super-highway infrastructure upto the village level will be in place by 2020 for integrated and holistic development for masses at large.

Information Technology industry in Punjab will have a significant share of total IT industry of India, through world class IT city centres. (UNI)

‘Rising population neutralising unemployment eradication prog’

LUCKNOW, Jan 27: Vice-President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat today underlined the need for family planning in view of the rapid increase in India’s population, which, he said has ‘neutralised’ the unemployment eradication programmes.

Making his convocation address at the Lucknow University here, Shekhawat said population control was not only the responsibility of the Government alone and common man’s participation was a must for the purpose.

India’s population, only 36 crores at the time of independence, had gone up to 102 crores, he said adding 36 crore people were living below the poverty line in the country.

It was the responsibility of the academic institutions to warn people about the dangers of rising population, he added.

Shekhawat, while admitting that he was not free to air his views on so many subjects, said the country must rise to the challenges posed by globalisation to march ahead.

He said that there were several drawbacks in the poverty eradication programmes and stressed the need to ensure that the funds meant for such purposes were spent properly.

Though India had one of the largest educational systems in the world, the access ratio is just seven per cent meaning thereby that 93 per cent Indian students are not privileged enough to enter the corridors of higher eduction, the Vice President said.

Shekhawat urged the student community to be objective, dynamic, open minded and cosmopolitan in their outlook and accept the best that came from all quarters but not to lose the ground on which they stood.

He said globalisation implied flow of information relating not only to science, technology and economy across the borders but also almost everything that affected human life today.

Shekhawat said we had no right to destroy nature, which was increasingly becoming a victim of ‘human greed’.

Indiscriminate destruction of natural resources, in the garb of so-called development in utter disregard to ecological implications, has landed us in a precarious situation, he said.

Earlier, Shekhawat conferred degrees and awarded medals to seven students of lucknow university for excellence in academic field.

Uttar Pradesh Governor Vishnu Kant Shastri also addressed the gathering on this occasion. Chief Minister Mayawati and some of her cabinet colleagues, among others, attended the function. (PTI)

PM for regular review of rural development programmes

NEW DELHI, Jan 27: Prime Minister Atal Bihari vajpayee today emphasised the urgent need for a comprehensive and regular review of the implementation of all the rural development programmes run by the Central as well as State Governments to learn appropriate lessons from the successes as well as failures .

"As far as failures are concerned, it is obvious that the reasons lie in the shortage of funds and more in the flaws of implementation and as far as success is concerned, it is equally obvious that people’s participation and the involvement of non-government organisations have always proved helpful in effective implementation," the Prime Minister observed.

He was inaugurating a national conference of state ministers of rural development, panchayat raj and publlic works here.

Mr Vajpayee said there were thousands of voluntary organisations in the country that were willing to work closely with the Government and thus make their contribution to rural development and called for increased participation by such NGOs.

Stressing the importance of regular monitoring of the rural development programmes, the Prime Minister said it was critical for the evaluation and timely implementation of all schemes. However, the current practice of monitoring by those engaged in implementing the programmes was wrong as it did not give a true picture of what was happening on the ground, he said.

He wanted the conference to discuss the matter and think of remedial measures like appointing a third party for the review of the programmes.

Inaugurating another initiative of the ministry of rural development, "Yojana Haryali", Mr Vajpayee congratulated rural development minister Shanta Kumar for bringing the new scheme just one month after the launch of "Swajaldhara" scheme.

The country was facing a severe water problem not because it did not have adequate sources of water or because it received less rainfall . "Lord Indra has been very kind to us. The problem lies in our inability to conserve all the rain water," he said.

Mr Vajpayee called for launching a movement to conserve every drop of water and to develop this practice as "junoon"(obsession). Speaking on the occasion, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman K C Pant called upon the State Governments to ensure that the policies and programmes relating to rural development were targeted and implemented effectively to improve the lot of the poor, who constituted 27 per cent of the rural population.

He said timing of this conference was apt as the national development council had approved the 10th plan last month. Development and poverty alleviation were integral parts of the planning. The watershed programme was also crucial to the 10th plan.

Rural Development Minister Shanta Kumar said the implementation of the rural development programmes posed a big challenge and the Government had taken up this challenge. Adequate funds have been made available for the rural development schemes and now it was for the State Governments to see to it that the funds were properly utilised and the schemes implemented.

The conference would deliberate on where exactly were the bottlenecks in the implementation of the programmes and steps to remove them. (UNI)

PM addresses NCC rally

NEW DELHI, Jan 27: Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee today exhorted the cadets of the National Cadet Corps (NCC) to stick to their motto of ‘unity and discipline’ to grow up into responsible citizens.

The youths of today can help India develop better relations with other countries, Mr Vajpayee said while addressing the Prime Minister’s NCC rally at the Garrison Parade Ground, Delhi Cantonment.

In his message to nearly 1.3 million cadets, Mr Vajpayee asked them to work with dedication and responsibility. "Here the teachers have to play an important role...," he said after taking salute from 3,500 cadets of the four wings of NCC—the army, navy, air force and girls.

Praising the girl cadets, the Prime Minister said they were no less than others as they took part in every activity of the NCC.

He expressed hope that the NCC will reach new heights in the days to come and said the NCC camp being held on the occasion of Republic Day will be a great learning process.

Among those present at the rally were Defence Minister George Fernandes, Minister of State for Defence Chaman Lal Gupta, Minister of State for Defence Haren Pathak, three service chiefs General N C Vij, Admiral Madhavendra Singh and Air Chief Marshal S Krishnaswamy.

As many as 2,500 cadets from the Delhi directorate and about 1,000 from those participating in the Republic Day camp, including foreign cadets from nine countries, took the salute.

Earlier, Mr Vajpayee distributed trophies to the cadets and NCC directorates.

The Prime Minister’s banner went to Tamil Nadu, Pondicherry and Andaman and Nicobar islands which also won the champion directorate trophy and the army wing competition trophy.

The navy wing competition trophy was bagged by the Andhra Pradesh directorate and the Air Force wing competition trophy by the Maharashtra directorate.

Karnataka and Goa won the best girls’ directorate trophy.

The Prime Minister was also witness to a show by the quick reaction team in helicopter destroying a militant hideout.

Mr Vajpayee was given salute by parasailers and also by cadets in three zen micro-lite aircraft representing the army, navy and air force.

Replicas of multi-purpose ship INS Ranvir and INS Gomti and other tableaux presenting the water-borne activities, the environment activities and social activities of the NCC such as aids awareness, pulse polio and blood donation camps were also displayed.

As many as 1,200 girl and boy cadets from 31 schools of Delhi presented their programme including P T display.

The cadets also sang the national anthem in 16 different languages.(UNI)

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