India for equitable world economic order: Rudy

PATNA, Nov 15: Large economic powers led by the US and European Union (EU) should stop their ‘bullying tactics’ to facilitate emergence of an equitable world economic order, Civil Aviation Minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy said here today.

"India strongly favours total openness and transparency in world trade and the US and EU should stop their bullying tactics to enable the emergence of a more equitable world economic order," Rudy, a former Union Minister of State for Commerce, said at a seminar on `relavance of WTO in Indian Trade and Commerce’ here.

After the Doha round, India’s persistent opposition to WTO regulations loaded heavily against developing nations earned it great respect among the poor countries, he said, adding, the prophets of doom who predicted India would be isolated in the WTO were proved wrong.

India had now emerged as a key player in the World Trade Organisation (WTO) by its championing the cause of developing economies, Rudy added.

The minister said the global powers while wanting the poor nations to slash subsidies on agriculture continued to greatly subsidise their own products rendering the produce of growing economies incompetitive in the world market.

"The economically powerful countries spent a whopping amount of money every day in subsidies on agriculture and want us to do away with subsidies to our agriculture. How can India whose economy is agriculture-centric in a significant measure afford this?", he said.

Referring to the open sky policy for civil aviation, Rudy said, they imposed "severe restrictions on us".

He also said the US did not want the developing nations to reap the benefits of advancement in medicine by producing drugs under a licence to fight diseases like Dengue, SARS and AIDS.

Stating that India was making impressive strides in trade, Rudy said "our exports have gone up to 53-54 billion US dollars annually and are poised to improve even further".

Stating that India ought to further strengthen the competitive capability of its industry, services, manufacturing and agriculture sector by providing suitable infrastructural support and incentives, he deplored that a resource-rich state like Bihar was found lacking on all vital parameters of development. (PTI)

Lapang asks Gogoi to take steps to check refugee inflow

SHILLONG, Nov 15: With 3000 people from neighbouring Assam’s Karbi Anglong district having fled to the Jaintia hills in Meghalaya since November 4 following harassment and threats by two militant groups, Chief Minister D D Lapang has asked his counterpart Tarun Gogoi to take immediate steps to restore normalcy, official sources said here today.

Lapang telephoned Gogoi yesterday to apprise him of the situation in the area on the Meghalaya-Assam border, the sources said.

According to Lapang, Gogoi would visit the areas in Karbi Anglong’s block I and II area in Hamren subdivision from where the Khasis have been fleeing, they said.

The threats and harrassment by the United Peoples Democratic Solidarity and Karbi national volunteers militants based in Karbi Anglong district were over a boundary dispute which has existed for long.

The Meghalaya Chief Minister has also directed the Director General of Police L Sailo to coordinate with his Assam counterpart to bring the situation under control in the area.

When contacted, Jaintia hills district Deputy Commissioner L Kharkongor said that so far over 3000 people from Karbi Anglong had taken shelter in relief camps on this side of the state border.

"Since they fear for their lives, they want to be here for some more time until the situation improves," Kharkongkor said.

The District Administration and NGOs were providing relief to the displaced persons, she said.

Kharkongor, who has written to her Karbi Anglong counterpart for taking immediate steps to stop the harrassment by militants, said she was yet to receive a reply.

Meanwhile, as a retaliatory move, the formidable Khasi Students Union (KSU) on Thursday issued ‘quit notices’ to Karbi residents in the the four districts of Meghalaya.

"If our people cannot stay in Karbi Anglong because of violence against them, why should we allow persons from that side to live in our state?" KSU president Samuel Jyrwa asked. (PTI)

Island resort near Chilka threatens rare species: WSO

BHUBANESWAR, Nov 15: An island resort operating inside the Chilka lake at breakfast island is likely to threaten the habitat of endangered species, including a rare lizard, re-discovered after nearly 86 years in the lake.

According to Wildlife Society of Orissa(WSO) Secretary Biswajit Mohanty, the re-discovery of Barkudia skink or limbless lizard (Barkudia insularisis) from the Badakuda island in Chilka in September had elated wildlife enthusiasts throughout the world.

But this rare lizard, re-discovered after 86 years by the Chilka Development Authority(VDA), might soon disappear and become extinct in view of new threat from a resort functioning close to its habitat.

The resort, Mr Mohanty said, has been set up by clearing valuable natural vegetation including a rare endemic mangrove species seen in these twin islands.

He said nearly ten tents and a restaurant have been put up on permanent cemented platforms for the comfort of tourists. Sweet water is being illegally pumped out from wells inside the island where two noisy generators have been put up to provide electricity to the resort.

The activities of this resort are bound to pose a serious threat to the irrawady dolphin and bird population seen near Rambha and destroy the habitat of critically endangered species or rare wildlife species.

Due to the ecological importance of Chilka lake as a bird habitat and spawning ground of fish, the entire water area and islands inside the lake have been designated as coastal regulation zone-1 area as per the coastal regulation zone rules 1991.

This has been also notified under the Environment (protection) Act 1986.

Mr Mohanty claimed that "non-traditional" activity in the lake including tourist resorts or hotels are prohibited to protect its fragile ecosystem. Only traditional activities like fishing and farming were allowed in and around the lake area, he added.

The wso secretary said a number of complaints lodged by the society with the District Collector of Ganjam district as well as the State Pollution Control Board about the illegal operation did not elicit any response.

However, the Central Pollution Control Board taking note of WSO complaint had recently directed the State Pollution Control Board to give a report on the operation of the tourist resort at Sanakuda island.

The WSO had demanded inclusion of this lizard as a protected species under the act. But neither the state nor the Central Government have taken any steps in this regard.

Mr Mohanty demanded that the Government stop clearing the vegetation and ban visitors in the twin islands of Badakuda and Sanakuda to protect this rare lizard and its habitat.

Mr Mohnty said as per the surveys carried out by Chilka Development Authority, (CDA), a total of 776 species of Plankton, Flora and algae species were recorded from this lake. 225 species of fish had been identified from the lake while 37 species of amphibians and reptiles and 118 species of mammals were reported in the lake.

He claimed that nearly two million birds visited the lake last winter making it one of the most important migratory waterfowl habitats in Asia. Rare species like spotbilled ducks, spoonbills, avocets, blue winged teal, osprey, tufted ducks, red crested pochard, lesser flamingo are seen here every winter.

As per the estimates of the CDA, a total of 95 endangered irrawady dolphins are now living in the lake and their population was the largest to be seen in any waterbody in the world.

Due to its rich bio-diversity, Chilika was designated as a "Ramsar site" of a wetland of international importance. The national wetlands, mangroves and coral reefs committee of ministry of environment and forests had also identified the lagoon as a priority site for conservation and management.

The State Government, Mr Mohanty said, should immediately close down the resort before more damage was caused to the rare Barkudia limbless lizard and its habitat. (UNI)

Enforce provisions to end sexual harassment at work:US expert

NEW DELHI, Nov 15: India should develop an enforcement arm to implement the provisions regarding stopping of sexual harassment of women at work place and provide them equal opportunity, according to Ms Cindy Mattson, president and chief executive officer of EEC consultants INC., of the United States.

Ms Mattson, who has come here to promote Indo-US cooperation on prevention of sexual harassment at work place, cited the example of lack of enforcement of the Supreme Court verdict on the Vishakha case as a major hurdle in tackling this problem.

"I feel the issue is in its infancy in India. It is like what we were in 1970s and hope that India does not take decades like US to reach the level achieved by the US on the issue," she said after visiting Kolkata and Patna, interacting with women groups and corporates heads on the subject.

Sharing her country’s experience on tackling the issue, she said in the US, complaints of sexual harassment and gender discrimination in terms of opportunities were received from both men and women. A majority of complaints were denial of equal opportunity due to gender discrimination.

However, companies there have now realised that preventing sexual harassment was good business as otherwise they may have to give away substantial amount as compensation to the victim.

They have also stopped openly citing gender/race/class or strata of a person as the reason for denying opportunities.

Explaining the mechanism of grievance redressal, she said generally, the complainant approaches the Human Resources Department of the company for any sexual harassment problem. They investigate the issue and either transfer the accused, offer counselling and in extreme case of harassment dismiss the culprit.

However, if the complainant felt that the company has ignored her/his complaint, they could approach the equal employment opportunity panel of the federal Government which, depending on the severity of the situation, categorises them into A, B or C types.

She said free legal assistance is provided by the EEC officers to the complainants of the first category, in cases where it was not clear whether the complaint was very serious both the parties are called and counselled that such issues were taken seriously and in future it should not be repeated.

But in cases where the genuineness of the complaint is unclear, the complainant is given the option of filing a suit in a Court, she added.

However, the Supreme Court decision in the US in 1997 has also placed responsibility on the employees suffering from such harassment to bring it to light, Ms Mattson pointed out.

"Moreover, during my interaction with the people I felt that people in the US felt safe enough to come out and discuss any such complaint while it was not so in India where women were still hesitant and do not feel safe to discuss these issues."

Ms Mattson, who had wide ranging discussion with lawyers, policemen, women and companies executive during her visit, called for developing checks and balances by the Government to prevent such harassment at the workplace.

She felt that in most of the companies, the committee to investigate sexual harassment cases was not in place as was mandatory under the Supreme Court ruling.

She said that US companies have now realised that providing regular training and gender sensitisation was necessary and most of them conduct annual training for their personnel. The same could be followed here in India to change the mindset.

Her suggestion to people suffering from such harassment is to document such incidents. Keep a diary, maintain the dates and the persons present at that time as it helps during the investigation.

"However, since most of the time such sexual harassment takes place when people are not around like doing overtime to finish some work it was very difficult to prove them," she admitted.

According to Ms Mattson, though majority of harassment and hostile work environment was caused at the same level, high profile cases involving CEO and other such bosses with subordinate staff also get punishment now as shareholders do not want such officials to be on board.

"Moreover, onces such cases come to light these executives realise that they may lose their job if not desist from such unethical or illegal practices. So, it acts as a major deterrent for them," she added. (UNI)

No new taxes in UP budget, financial scenario grim

LUCKNOW, Nov 14: Admitting a grim financial scenario of Uttar Pradesh, Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav today presented a tax-free deficit budget in the state legislative assembly.

Presenting his first deficit Rs 6,077.57 crore budget in his third term as the Chief Minister of UP, Mr Yadav said the financial condition of the state was ‘critical’ and the state was on the verge of debt trap.

He also announced to introduce a new up financial accountability and budget management bill 2003 — to check the misuse of Government funds and to put a cap on state borrowings along with fixing the responsibilities against officials misusing the Government funds.

According to the budget statistic, the grim picture of the State Finance could be ascertained as 88 per cent of the total Government revenue was used for paying salaries, pension of Government employees and interest for loans. The loan debt of the state had also crossed Rs one lakh crore mark which was alarming.

Talking to mediapersons after presenting the budget, Mr Yadav clarified that his Government was committed to revive the financial structure of the state which was in a debt trap.

He claimed that leasing of 24 sugar mills of the Government to the private sector was a part of a process to revive the financial status of the State as the Government was facing a yearly loss of Rs 300 crore by running the mills.

However, admitting that the financial mess needed a long time planning and effort, the CM sought time of at least four months to produce any fruitful results in the financial sector.

Placing peace, uplift and development of the weaker section and the overall economic development of the state at the top-most of his priorities, Mr Yadav said he had not proposed any new taxes for the people.

In his 48-page speech, the CM said his newly-formed Government would turn up into an ‘Adarsh Raj’ or model state.

Announcing a variety of developmental schemes in the 2003-04 budget, he said to boost the image of the state, he was introducing an accelerated economic development scheme of Rs 100 crore. The fund would be used mainly for roads, power and irrigation projects. He said the recently-constituted development council under the chairmanship of SP general secretary Amar Singh would also help the state perceive developmental projects at a faster pace.

Similarly, he also announced Kanya Vidya Dhan scheme for girls of families living below poverty line. Under the scheme, 1,500 girls, each from all the 70 districts of the state, would be selected for schooling and those who pass class XII would be provided with Rs 20,000 in one go for further studies.

The Government would incur a total expenditure of Rs 200 crore in the scheme.

The Chief Minister also increased monthly pension of farmers above 60 years of age from Rs 125 to Rs 150. This would help 12.62 lakh farmers, who come under the ambit of the scheme.

To mark the birth centenary of former Prime Minister Chaudhury Charan Singh, the Sinchai Vikas Yojna (Irrigation Development Scheme) was also announced.

In Noida, the Government proposes to open a Rs 1.11 crore vocational-cum-professional training centre for SC/ST youth to impart them job oriented training.

He said the State’s borrowing had increased from 40 per cent to 48 per cent. According to his speech, while the receipts this fiscal were Rs 65,145.67 crore — 16.5 per cent more than last fiscal, the expenditures were pegged at Rs 71,223.24 crore — 26 per cent more than previous fiscal.

Meanwhile, leader of the house in the legislative council Bhagwati Singh tabled the budget.

The budget proposals were for the last three months of the current financial year as already the State Government had taken vote-on-accounts for the first nine months of the financial year. (UNI)

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