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| Customs dept take serious note of Cannabis cultivation on Govt land KULLU, Oct 2: The customs department here has taken a serious note of the encroachment on the Government forest land......more Poor
children at greater NEW DELHI, Oct 2: When a child develops a soar throat frequently, it should not be taken lightly, because it might be the....more Need for
harmony between MUMBAI, Oct 2: Advocating the need for harmony between Reserve Bank of India and the Centre, former RBI Governor.......more Joshi
willing to NEW DELHI, Oct 2: Leaving behind his bitter-sweet experiences in the wake of his resignation and its withdrawal later.....more |
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Brutal asssault raises safety concerns about Keralite women THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, Oct 2: The brutal assault on a Malayalee nurse in the national capital recently has brought.....more KVIC aims
to boost MUMBAI, Oct 2: The Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC), which boasts of a domestic annual sales turnover......more SASTUR, MAHARASHTRA, Oct 2: Sastur is not just a quake-affected village. It is a hamlet of gloon, where the the killer.....more Insat 3E
to be operational HASSAN, KARNATAKA, Oct 2: India’s latest communication satellite Insat 3E, offering 36 transponders, will be ready.....more |
Customs
dept take serious note of Cannabis KULLU, Oct 2: The customs department here has taken a serious note of the encroachment on the Government forest land by certain undesirable people for the sole purpose for the cultivation of Cannabis. Customs Department Superintendent K N Bhardwaj, when contacted, today said his department had received intelligence inputs that villagers and drug traffickers had encroached upon the forest land, particularly in the Manikaran valley, for cultivating Cannabis. He said checking this menace from spreading, the Himachal Pradesh Forest Department would have to take immediate steps and the local villagers, revenue and other officials concerned should be involved in checking the cultivation of Cannabis. However, the District Conservator of Forests, Mr Vineet Kumar, when contacted, denied that Cannabis cultivation was being carried out on the Government forest land. He said this was confined to private agricultural land only. According to Mr Bhardwaj, the locals encroach upon forest land and hand these over to Nepalese labourers on ‘patta’ type arrangement for development of the land and cultivation of Cannabis. These Nepalese had also built shelters in many places in the forest areas of the Manikaran valley and were indulging in sowing and harvesting Cannabis, he claimed. The only office of the customs department in Himachal is located here and it functions under the customs commissionarate of Amritsar. The office was opened here last year following reports of illegal poppy cultivation and Cannabis. Giving details of the Cannabis destruction operation launched on September 24 in the Manikaran valley, Mr Bhardwaj said 711 bighas had been destroyed and the operation had been completed in this particular area today. He said Kasol in the Parbati valley, where the Cannabis destruction operation was also launched, had become a hub of nefarious activities of drug traders and a number of foreigners involved in the drug trade had made this village their base. The customs official said during a survey it was found that some far-flung areas around Kasol are sources of charas trading and consumption. He said in the Cannabis destruction operation the local police and the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB)were also involved. He said in an operations last year Cannabis in about 650 bighas was destroyed by the customs department in this district and Mandi district. Another village known for Cannabis cultivation is Malana in the Manikaran valley and the Cannabis here known as ‘Malana Cream’ are of high quality and much sought after by foreigners who throng this town and Manali. In fact, when the destruction of the crop commenced the residents of Malana resisted on grounds that the Cannabis crop was the only source of income for them as it was used for making ropes and snow shoes (Pullah)from the fibre of the Cannabis stem. According to customs officials, much of the Cannabis cultivation is on forest land two to three Km away from the villages and on difficult terrain. Earlier, the customs department, with the help of other agencies, had destroyed 4757 bighas of opium poppy cultivation in the Chuhar valley of Mandi district. The customs department is conducting an inquiry into the failure by revenue officials and other authorities to check the poppy cultivation at a mass level in Chuhar valley. It was observed by customs officials that innocent villagers are exploited by drug traffickers and middlemen who ask them to sow poppy or cultivate Cannabis. (UNI) |
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Poor children at greater risk of rheumatic heart diseases NEW DELHI, Oct 2: When a child develops a soar throat frequently, it should not be taken lightly, because it might be the beginning of a disease that ends with permanent damage to heart valves, warns a cardiologist. The infection begins from throat and travell through joints finally reaches the heart, and we get what in medical terminology is called the rheumatic fever that finally results in rheumatic heart diseases. Since replacing the valve is a very costly affair, the disease mostly affects children and young people in the lower socio-economic strata, India, other developing and poor countries should concentrate on prevention of the disease, Dr K K Agarwal, a leading cardiologist of the city, said talking to UNI here. The chances of catching the infection, caused by streptococcus bacteria, are very high between the age of four and 21. After 21, the risks starts decreasing and by the age of 35 it is almost nil. Rheumatic fever can affect many connective tissues, especially in the heart, joints, skin, or brain. In the heart, it can lead to scarring of the heart valves, which forces the heart to work harder to pump blood. Eventually, it causes congestive heart failure, a condition in which the heart fails to pump out all of the blood that enters it, which leads to an accumulation of blood in the vessels leading to the heart, and fluid in the body tissues, Dr Agarwal said. When the soar throat is accompanied by a running nose, the infection is viral but when there is no nasal discharge and there is pain and swelling in tonsils and difficulty in eating, it is a sure sigh of attack by the spreptococcus bacteria, he said. Since the infection is spread by human interaction, school going children and those living in one room homes are at high risk of catching it, said Dr Aggarwal.This was the reason, the incidence of the disease was higher in the children belonging to lower socio-economic starta, he added. Dr Aggarwal said girls were more likely to get the diseases as in the social conditions prevailing in the country they pass more time in closed and congested environs. The incidence of the disease was six to 10 per thousands in India while in the western countries it was almost nil. Dr Aggarwal said studies had found that the incidence of the disease was higher in Muslims girls as they remained indoors for a greater period as compared to girls in other communities due to cultural reasons. He said the disease was 100 per cent preventable with anti-biotics. It was also treatable but since the treatment involves high costs like India, it is better to nip the ailment in the bud. Dr Aggarawal stressed the need of school health programmes laying special emphasis on prevention of the diseases and early detection of the infection and its treatment. The symptoms of rheumatic fever usually start about one to five weeks after the child has been infected with streptococcus bacteria. The most common of them are: joint inflammation -including swelling, tenderness, and redness over multiple joints. The joints affected are usually the larger ones in the knees or ankles. The inflammation moves from one joint to another over several days. Hard, round bumps under the skin a change in the child’s neuromuscular movements, which can be usually noted by a change in the child’s handwriting and may also include jerky movements and appearance of rashes, fatigue, weight loss and stomach pains are among other symptoms of the rheumatic fever. Since these symptoms may resemble many other conditions or medical problems, these are usually neglected in the societies with low level of education and awareness, Dr Aggarwal said. (UNI) |
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Need for harmony between RBI, Centre: Jalan MUMBAI, Oct 2: Advocating the need for harmony between Reserve Bank of India and the Centre, former RBI Governor Bimal Jalan today said he favoured an autonomy provided it was set by convention rather than by statute. "In some countries, the role of the Apex Bank and the Government are independent. I am for so-called autonomy but also believe that it will work if established by convention rather than statute, especially in emerging countries," Jalan said at a CII organised felicitation function here. If harmony is lacking, the ability to face problems would dimish inmeasurably, he said adding, RBI is responsible to the Parliament through the Government. "Both of us had differences but all of these were resolved by consensus because of excellent conditions and harmonisation between the two," the newly nominated Rajya Sabha member said. The best way to progress is to work together, he said. Earlier felicitating Jalan, Union Finance Minister Jaswant Singh said "Jalan’s counsel was always available during his tenure as RBI Governor and it was reassuring to have his presence to lean upon". "His was a voice of wisdom and I always received support from Jalan," he said adding, "on most occasions, his counsel was sound and available to keep the economy on an even keel". "Even when I was the External Affairs Minister, but for the soundness of the Indian economy, I would have had faced insurmountable difficulties," Singh said. Jalan suggested the need to develop policies based on the country’s own realities rather than follow the industrialized nations. Jalan said he is not in favour of a super regulatory and for targeting inflation. "We cannot become prisoners of fact and have to think on our own with policies based on the needs of the country," he said in the meeting, which was attended by leading bankers and industrialists. India’s economy has become sound and even the redemption of resurgent India bonds involving US dollar 5.1 billion had a neglible impact on the markets. "There is hardly any problem or pressure compared to the situation of the past when we were dominated by crisis like that of balance of payment," he said. Today the Indian economy has a potential to grow faster provided issues relating to corporate governance and public delivery system are tackled effectively, he said. "There is a dead weight of our past in our minds, which has to go, too much tolerance for sloth in corporate governance front and need for improvement in public delivery systems are issues which have to change for achieving higher growth," the former RBI Governor said. The economic situation today with low inflation, surplus of funds, good foreign exchange reserves and no constraints on balance of payments has never been better than compared to the recent past, he said. The country has become resilient to external shocks and is able to tide over safely even when faced with rising oil prices and global slowdown last year, Jalan added. (PTI) |
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SASTUR, MAHARASHTRA, Oct 2: Sastur is not just a quake-affected village. It is a hamlet of gloon, where the the killer quake tore asunder hearts with gashes deeper than those lining the fallen funereal walls. It was a rainy night, when the quake flattened Sastur on September 30, ten years ago, the human loss being a whopping 1431. It rained for a week after, forcing people to dump their dead in a mass grave, unable to find wood for giving them a decent cremation. Flashes of memories, still give villagers sleepless nights and the dread of sleeping inside their newly built concrete houses persists like the pervading gloom. The tremors were felt in the village only once before the quake, in 1992, and many times since. "We experience aftershocks of a moderate intensity after every two months, and it really scares us," voiced the villagers collectively. Unhappy with their rehabilitation work, the people spoke to a visiting group of journalists, demanding a "decent rehab" by the State Government. "We have been inadequately compensated," said Govind Shinde, a villager. Joint families decided to separate after the quake as the Government gave only one house to a family of nine, he said. "Nobody knew where they were going to be put up. We were just given the houses as per our quota and the work was finished," said the village sarpanch Vijay Kshirsagar. Zilla parishad member Rahul Patil, who chose not to return to the newly built house and decided to stay in his Dilapidated old house, also had many laments. The houses were not given a decent facility of bathrooms, while some of them did not get the additional toilet, attached to the structure, he said. "There are those who are still to get a new home and are staying in makeshift tents," he said, informing that the Gram Panchayat has already made a proposal before the administration for the rehabilitation of 750 affected families. "nothing is happening though," he lamented. Many still prefer to stay in the tin sheds on the allotted lands while others are yet to be allotted a decent plot of land. Sadly though houses have been built, the villagers have built an extension of tin roofs and prefer to stay there. "They have already developed cracks due to the aftershocks, we only use this part of the house as a storeroom," said Mansoor Sheikh, a member of the Gram Panchayat. Then there are those structures, which remain empty and have proved to be a waste of resources, like the school for handicapped children. It stands locked for internal tiffs between the authorities and the school trustees as a result, the children have rented houses for learning and boarding facilities. Many houses are also empty since the families refuse to shift to their allotted homes due to inconveniences. Then there is a huge shopping complex, where the entire trading community has been allotted shops but of the 204 only six or seven are being used. Nobody wants to walk that far from their part of the village to come to the shopping complex, this is not the city, the villagers complained. Most of them have just downed their shutters in the complex and built sheds just outside their houses to run their business. The complex built at a cost of Rs 1.5 crore has proved unviable. Likewise the structures for women’s rehab, handicap centre and community work programmes, which all lie empty for want of volunteers and officers. There was a mobile van, which worked as a temporary hospital during the quake but that too is lying unattended with deflated tyres. . Though there is a state-of the-art hospital by Pride India, a NGO, in the village, the hospital refuses to admit emergency patients and there are no doctors in the evening after 1800 Hrs. Patients are asked to go to umarga or nanded townships, which are atleast two hours journey away. "My brother-in-law was bitten by a snake but the hospital refused to admit him. We had to take him to the doctor of the Primary Health Centre," said Ashfaq Sultan resident of the village. He lamented that there were no ambulances to transfer patients. Presently facing a water-crisis, the village gets its daily supply from tankers. The men-folk have either migrated to bigger towns and cities seeking employment or just hang around the village idling. "There is no work in the farms due to poor rainfall and hence three fourths of the men, who work as contract labourers have left for greener pastures," another villager said. The Employment Guarantee Scheme (EGS) by the Government has also grinded to a halt with the contractors using machines to finish off the work early, the villagers charged. "The authorities are never available. We are directed from one office to another and it has dampened our spirit,"another villager bemoaned. (UNI) |
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Insat 3E to be operational by October end: Madhavan Nair HASSAN, KARNATAKA, Oct 2: India’s latest communication satellite Insat 3E, offering 36 transponders, will be ready for commercial use by the first week of November, Indian Space Research Organisation chairman G Madhavan Nair said today. Talking to newspersons here, he said despite some anxious moments immediately after launch, Insat 3E which was currently in near Geostationary orbit, was on course to achieve operational status by the end of October and ready for service in the first week of November. "There were certain moments of anxiety just after launch in the early hours of September 28 from French Guyana when there was some loss of signal because of a link failure. However, the signals were picked up by the MCF 30 minutes after the launch." After third and final orbit raising manoevures yesterday, the satellite had been placed in near Geostationary orbit and was slowly drifting to its parking slot of 55 degress east longitude. At present, the satellite was positioned at 38 degress and during the next ten days it would drift at the rate of 2.3 degress before it was finally positioned at its space home, he added. "The satellite is in good health and the orbital parameters have been confirmed to be normal," Mr Nair said. The first firing of the Liquid Apogee Motor (LAM) on board Insat-3E was undertaken for 80 minutes on the morning of September 29, one day after the launch, taking the satellite from 650 Km perigee (closest point to the earth) to 14,500 Km perigee. Subsequent firing of the LAM on September 30 for 30 minutes and on October 1 for three minutes and six seconds had now brought it to the near-Geo-synchronous orbit of 36,000 Km above earth, he said. Insat-3E carried 1,592 Kg of propellant at the time of its injection into orbit by the Ariane 5 launch vehicle. After orbit raising operations, it has 510 Kg of propellant lift, sufficient to park the satellite in its orbital slot and control its orientation during the design life of about 12 years. The solar arrays and antennae were deployed by the MCF after the completion of the firing of the third apogee motor yesterday. The test and evaluation of the transponders and other appendages on the satellite would be carried once Insat-3E reached the 55 degrees east longitude position, he said. Mr Nair said that 14 of the C-band transponders on the satellite would be leased to the department of telecom, seven to Doordarshan and three kept as spare. The extended C-band transponder would be used by VSAT operators and for telemedicine and tele-education. "Insat-3E takes the number of transponders with US from 100 to 136. We expect to see demand for about 250 transponders in the next three years and are capable of meeting it," Mr Nair said. The spacecraft has been built at a cost of Rs 250 crore and insured for Rs 50 crore. ISRO paid about Rs 310 crore to the European space agency for the launch. (UNI) Uttaranchal faces petrol, diesel crisis DEHRADUN, Oct 2: Uttaranchal petroleum traders today said they will join the indefinite strike by petroleum transporters from tomorrow to protest the lowering of transporation charges by oil companies, even as the transporters’ stir entered the fifth day causing shortage of petrol and diesel in the state. "All the 300 petrol pumps and 90 kerosene agencies would be closed from tomorrow in the state," Uttaranchal Petroleum Traders Association president shri Nandan said. Uttaranchal traders have decided to join the transporters, who are on an indefinite strike in protest against the oil companies’ decision to lower transportation charges. "More than 700 tankers supplying petroleum products in the state have stopped plying, a move that hit the supply of petrol and diesel in Uttaranchal," he said. "We are not getting any petroleum product supply. In such a situation, we have no alternative but to close all the petrol pumps and kerosene agencies from tomorrow," Nandan said. Till now the petroleum transporters were being paid Rs 1.22 per thousand litres per Km by the four oil companies -Indian Oil Corporation, Bharat Petroleum, Hindustan Petroleum and IBP, but now these oil companies have decided to revise the rates to 80 paise per thousand litres per kilometer at par with the existing rates in Haryana, Sandip Maheshwari, president of Uttaranchal Petroleum Transporters Association said. He said the petroleum companies have also served notice to the petroleum product transporters to recover the difference of 42 paise paid to them during the last one year. "We are paying road taxes in three states of Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Uttaranchal. Hence the new rates are totally unacceptable to us," he said. Claiming that all efforts to convince the oil companies on their demand have not yielded any results, he said the association would continue its strike till the demands are met. He said the association has also sought intervention of the State Government and Union Petroleum Ministry in resolving the stand-off. Petrol pump owners said the strike could trigger a major petrol scarcity in Uttaranchal. (PTI) Congress, BJP mulls fielding new
faces RAIPUR, Oct 2: The ruling Congress and the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party are likely to field more new faces in the coming assembly elections in Chhattisgarh after preliminary assesments done by them. Both the parties, the main contenders for power in this Bipolar state, have already conducted few rounds of pre-poll surveys to assess their party prospects, strength and weakness of their sitting legislators and also to identify candidates with ‘winning prospects’. These surveys, which were conducted by professional agencies, covered various aspects and presented detailed reports to the parties, suggesting steps to be taken in each assembly constituency to improve their party prospects. Chief Minister Ajit Jogi, who had got three surveys done by different agencies during the last few months, reportedly gave to his party legislators sealed envelopes containing details that emerged in the survey in their respective constituencies. Similarly, BJP general secretary Pramod Mahajan attended a meeting of party leaders and discussed the report of a survey, conducted by a Jabalpur based organisation, that threw light on various matters, including candidates, poll issues and party’s prospects. Indications are that both the parties would try to overcome the anti-incumbency factor at the constituency level by bringing in more new faces with winning prospects. Though some Congress leaders had put forward a suggestion that the names of party candidates should be announced well in advance, it is likely that the party would stick to its practice of finalising its list at the last moment. Queried on this suggestion, Chief Minister Ajit Jogi quipped in this matter, there is a tussle between effort and tradition in the party. We are keen to declare the names of candidates in advance but the tradition has been to announce the list of candidates at the last moment . State Congress spokesman Shilesh Nitin Trivedi told UNI here that the District Congress Committees (DCC) have been asked to send in their list and suggestions to Chhattisgarh Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) by September 28. The State Election Committee, meeting on October 8, would recommend the names of candidates and forward it to the high command, which would finalise the list. He pointed out that district Congress committees have so far received applications from more than 600 aspirants, from 90 assembly constituencies in the state. Their number is likely to increase. There is an enthusiasm among the aspirants to seek Congress tickets, he claimed adding that a clear picture about the possible candidates could emerge by the third week of october. Mr Trivedi said Mr Jogi had already announced his intention of seeking re-election from the Marwahi constituency in Bilaspur district from where he had entered the assembly through a by-election in 2001. Meanwhile, state BJP president Dr Raman Singh told UNI that the list of party candidates would be finalised on the basis of TJE report submitted by district units and party observers. He said it has been decided to prepare a panel, having names of three prospective candidates, for each of the 90 constituencies. Replying to a question as to when the list of candidates would be finalised, BJP general secretary Pramod Mahajan told a press conference here that it would be done as early as possible, before the last date for filing of nominations . The BJP, which had not projected any candidate for the post of the Chief Minister, had asked state party president Dr Raman Singh, a member of Parliament, and Union Ministers Ramesh Bais and Dilip Singh judeo to jointly lead the campaign. These leaders are yet to make it clear whether they would contest the assembly polls or not. Similarly, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), which were trying to emerge as a third force, were yet to start the process of selecting candidates. State NCP president V C Shukla, who had left the Congress in April this year, is expected to have the final say in the selection of party candidates while the list of BSP candidates would be prepared by party president Ms Mayawati. The Communist Party of India (CPI), Communist Party of India (Marxist), Chhattisgarh Mukti Morcha (CMM) and Loktantrik Samajwadi Party (LSP) have formed a joint front to contest about 40 seats. CPI state secretary Chittaranjan Bakshi said each party in the front has finalised the list of their candidates, who would be fielded on the basis of understanding reached between front partners. Meanwhile, it doesn’t appear that the process for the selection of candidates would be a smooth affair in both the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party till now on an average, at least seven aspirants have submitted applications for each of the 90 constituencies, seeking Congress tickets to contest the first assembly elections in Chhattisgarh. At a meeting of Bilaspur district Congress committee, State Women’s Commission Chairperson Ms Hemvant Porte staked her claim to contest the Marwahi seat, which is now being represented by Chief Minister Ajit Jogi. A senior bureaucrat’s wife has reportedly staked her claim to contest from kota constituency in Bilaspur district, being represented by senior Congress leader and assembly speaker Rajendra Prasad Shukla. Besides, the Congress is treading cautiously in view of the possibility of some of ticket aspirants switching their loyalties to NCP if they failed to get party ticket. Similarly, the BJP is yet to take a decision on whether to repeat all its sitting members and the party has indicated that its options were open. The main contest is likely to be between the Congress and the BJP in most of the constituencies, even as parties like the NCP and the BSP are trying to force a triangular or multi-corner contest for some of the seats. In the 1998 assembly elections when Chhattisgarh was part of Madhya Pradesh, the Congress had won 48 seats while the BJP candidates 36 in this region. The BSP had won three seats, Gondwana Gantantra party got one while independents won two seats. In the 90 assembly constituencies in Chhattisgarh region, Congress had then polled 39.61 per cent votes, the BJP had secured 39.02 per cent votes and the BSP a mere 5.60 per cent. (UNI) Romance of steam locomotives relived JAIPUR, Oct 2: Hissing steam, two "black bealities" raced one more time on a 54-Km route through bajra fields, recreating the magic and romance of an era gone by. Hundreds of people gathered at various stations yesterday to greet the two steam locos Chhote Mian and Bade Mian’ painted and decked up with flowers for the race, organised as part of the first anniversary celebrations of North Western Railway. The two locomotives both of 1960s vintage, began their run on parallel metre guage and broad guage tracks from Kachroda outer gate near Phulera at 1550 Hrs yesterday. While the engines huffed and puffed, the coaches reverberated to the sounds of folk songs rendered by railway officials and members of their families: "Chala Chala Re Dalaivar Haule, Haule Enjan Ki Siti Pe Maro Man Dole". Children with colourful caps blew on their whistles while guests clapped to the song’s rythm. The coaches had been refurbished, each displaying a different cultural theme. Compartments and toilets had been removed and sofas were placed on carpeted floor. Bunches of flowers hung from the ceiling. The entertainers wore traditional Rajasthani dress. "We thought of this unique experiment about a month ago," North Western Railway General Manager R M Agarwal said. "The engines were brought from Gorakhpur and Rewari while the coaches are more than 35-year-old and were out of use". At Phulera station, children clambered onto the engine, eager to pull at the whistle blower. Retired train driver Kishan Lal was among the onlookers. "I can never forget these engines. It is a different experience altogether," he said. The talk swung to who will win the race. Jaswant Singh, the 59-year-old driver of ‘Bade Mian’, pointed out that his engine was more powerful and Ramkishan, the driver of the other engine, was junior to him in the profession. "but it does not matter who wins". Initially, the two trains ran neck and neck. But soon, ‘Chhote Mian’ ran out of steam and the two trains were brought to a halt. The metre guage train stopped again as it ran out of water. There were a few other halts enroute as the railways began using one of the tracks for other trains. Soon the inevitable delays set in. At 1900 Hrs, Zonal Chief Mechanical Engineer Nikhilesh Jain made an announcement: "Bade Mian has developed stomach ache. He can’t run and has stopped at bhobas. A diesel engine is being sent to bring the coaches to Jaipur". Railway officials explained that the broad guage engine had developed a technical snag and had to quit the race some 30 Km from the finishing line. "Bade Mian might come to Jaipur tomorrow," Mr Jain said. The hundreds of people assembled at Jaipur railway station were a bit disappointed to see only one of the competing trains chug in, a full three hours late. A few trains were delayed because of the special run, but nobody seemed to mind. A band played on at Jaipur station. Two caparisoned elephants stood saluting the winner. Officials pointed out that the steam locos had proved their worth. They could be used for ferrying wedding parties. The film industry too could be a patron. "We are willing to use these trains on the tourism circuit, but it has to be viable," Mr Agarwal said. (UNI) IMO for increasing women’s
participation MUMBAI, Oct 2: The maritime sector worldwide is facing a shortfall of about 50,000 officers and the international maritime organisation has suggested that increasing women’s particiaption can provide part of the solution to the problem of crewing the world merchant fleet. Acording to an International Maritime Organisation (IMO) study, the technological revolution within the maritime sector is calling for a highly trained workforce, leaving the sector with an estimated shortfall of some 50,000 officers in the year 2000. Female seafarers, who are an under-utilised resource, could provide the answer, the study points out. To this end, the Indian Government set up a committee headed by Director General, shipping G S Sahni to look into ways to promote women’s participation in maritime activities, which will soon submit its report, senior Deputy Director General of Shipping, Naresh Salecha told UNI. "Already, Marine Engineering Research Institutes (MERI) in Mumbai and Kolkata and other private institutes are offering 50 per cent concession to women candidates. A couple of girls had recently joined the marine courses," Mr Salecha said. According to the IMO, women’s status in society and their participation in economic activities is strongly influenced by religious and traditional practices and customary patterns of division of labour. Lower enrolment of girls in technical courses stems from these socio-cultural practices and has a direct effect on their subsequent role in a country’s commercial and economic structure. Even among women on board ships, a majority tend to be found in catering and administrative services and the proportion of women crew on passenger ships and ferries is relatively high. Radio communications is another area employing women but recently this post has been scrapped. Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) Director Capt T D Hazari said the number of women students joining the maritime courses was increasing every year. "Fair participation is seen at the middle and lower management levels throughout the maritime industry. However, at sea the numbers are few. It commenced with nurses and radio officers on passenger ships. But more recently, we also have a few deck and engineer officers," said Capt Hazari. Capt Hazari was quite upbeat about women in the shipping industry. "It would take a while for the young lady officers to reach the position of chief engineer or master and still later as surveyors, technical superintendents, pilots, maritime teachers... But we can see them on the horizon," he said. So far, there are only one or two radio officers in the SCI. Institiutes are training girls for cadets, that too for shipping companies. Indian shipping companies are not choosing women seafarers, he said. "For increasing women’s participation, the Government has to take initiative to give training and ensure jobs on board. We face problems while advertising for seafarer jobs in newspaper. When girls start enquiring, we have no answer because Indian companies are reluctant to take them. Afterwards, we specified that the jobs are meant for male seafarers only", he added. Though there is a fair amount of women’s participation in the maritime industry ashore in India, it is limited to the level of cooks, stewards, electrical officers, engineers, he said. The IMO’s resolution on promotion of participation of women in the maritime industry has stressed on giving special consideration to securing equal access for men and women in all sectors of the maritime industry. "In India, girls rarely opt this field. Interestingly, there is no job for male seafarers. Many seafarers are roaming with all essential qualifications for atleast two years. In this circumstance, the girls’ entry into this field is risky," National Union for Seafarers of India (NUSI) sources told UNI. According to Chief Surveyor Ajoy Chatterjee, the entry of women as deck and engineer officers marked a significant step in India’s committment to fullfill and complete implementation of STCW 95 (Standards of Training and Watchkeeping) and in particular the invitation by IMO to Governments to highlight the role of women in the seafaring profession. In European union fleets, women constitue about four to five percent of total workforce of seafarers but in southeast Asia, the proportion of women is less than 0.5 per cent. In the Philippines — a major supplier of seafarers to the world’s merchant fleets — only 225 women out of 230,000 seafarers appear on the national seaman’s register for 1983-1990. All these women are hired as waitresses or utility personnel for luxury line operators. (UNI) |
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