Anti-Badal leaders set for second cross-border procession

NEW DELHI, June 5: Supporters and opponents of Shiromani Akali Dal chief Parkash Singh Badal are set to take out separate processions through Punjab in an apparent show of religious strength ahead of state Assembly elections.

SAD leaders, joined by Delhi's independent Akali Dal (Panthak) president Manjit Singh, have announced plans to take out a procession from the national capital to Tarn Tarn in Punjab on June 14, a day after Badal's opponents are scheduled to cross Wagah to mark the 400th martyrdom day of the fifth Guru Arjan Dev at Dera Sahib there.

Groups led by Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) president Harvinder Singh Sarna, a fierce critic of the SAD chief, and the Badal-controlled SGPC will enter Pakistan together for the main event at Dera Sahib, where the Guru was savagely executed 400 years ago under Mughal orders.

But the twin-processions threw open the cracks in the SGPC as one of its three members in Delhi endorsed the DSGMC's procession as a "real" religious programme.

"What the SAD and Manjit Singh are doing is to mobilise devotees to attend the religious programme in Tarn Tarn. But the DSGMC's event is purely sacred as it will be led by the Guru Granth Sahib," SGPC member Harinder Pal Singh, who lost election bids to the DSGMC thrice, said.

Sarna said Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh would receive the DSGMC procession, starting from Delhi on June 11, on its arrival in the state.

It would be the anti-Badal DSGMC's second cross-border event in less than a year in what is seen as another challenge to the SAD's hold on Sikh religious affairs after its Delhi-to-Nankana procession in November last year. (PTI)

Badal convenes meeting of six districts on June 11

MOGA, June 5: Shiromani AKali Dal President Parkash Singh Badal has convened meetings of six districts on June 11 at Vazidpur in Ferozepur district and at Bathinda in connection with functions pertaining to martyrdom of fifth Sikh Guru Arjan Dev.

Stating this here today, Dr Daljit Singh Cheema, secretary cum spokesman of the SAD said that meeting of all Akali Dal MPs, MLAs, former MPs and former MLAs, SGPC members, presidents and governing council members of Moga, Ferozerpur and Faridkot will be held at Gurdwara Vazidpur on June 11 and another such meeting will be held at Bathinda, Muktsar and Mansa districts at Gurdwara Haji Rattan at Bathinda later in the day.

Meanwhile, Badal after successful eye ailment operation in USA returned back and arrived at New Delhi last night.

In the evening, Badal will be reaching at Amritsar along with his wife Surrinder Kaur and his MP son Sukhbir SIngh Badal, according to Cheema. (PTI)

TV makers oppose proposal to introduce licence fee

NEW DELHI, June 5: TV manufacturers today came out strongly against any Government proposal to introduce a licence fee on purchase of the product to fund public broadcaster Prasar Bharti, saying it would hit sales as well as proposed investments in the sector.

"This will be damaging to the television industry and will put it under severe pressure," Consumer Electronics and TV Manufacturers Association (CETMA) said.

CETMA said any "additional burden" would result in a major slowdown of the television industry, already reeling under heavy taxes, and would encourage sales in grey market.

In order to make cash-strapped public broadcaster Prasar Bharti financially-viable, the Government is currently considering a variety of proposals. CETMA said one of these includes levy of a licence fee of 10-15 per cent ad-valorem on purchase price.

The body also asked the Government to address the issue of high taxes in the local market as televisions are included in the early harvest scheme of the Free-Trade Agreement (FTA) with Thailand, which meant no duty on imports from September this year.

"Against India where total taxes on TVs is about 35 per cent, the total level of taxes inside Thailand is about seven per cent and unlike India, there is no import duty on all inputs for TV sets. This makes manufacturing in India an expensive proposition and is hurting domestic makers," Gulu Mirchandani, chairman of Mirc Electronics (makers of Onida), said.

"If imports are cheaper than manufacturing locally, it will literally kill the industry and force small manufacturers to shut shop," he said. This view was seconded by Samsung Electronics Deputy Managing Director Ravinder Zutshi. (PTI)

Court rejects Fardeen's plea in cocaine case

MUMBAI, June 5: A special court today rejected the plea of actor Fardeen Khan to amend the chargesheet filed against him in a cocaine seizure case.

The actor moved the court saying that he was negotiating purchase of one gram of cocaine from a drug peddler when the Narcotics Control Bureau arrested him in May 2001.

Possession of one gram of cocaine attracts six months' jail term while possession of two grams or more of the narcotic specifies ten years RI under provisions of Narcotics and Psychotrophic Substances (NDPS) Act.

Police claimed that they had arrested the actor when he was purchasing cocaine from a peddler, Nasir Abdul Karim Khan. A total of nine grams of the narcotic was seized from them, according to chargesheet.

Fardeen's lawyer Aiyaz Khan pleaded that amending the chargesheet would help the actor's case because punishment varies according to the quantum of drug found on accused. (PTI)

Former AIADMK minister and 44 others "secured"

CHENNAI, June 5: AIADMK MLA and former minister K Pandurangan and 44 others were today "secured" after they entered the Government hospital premises at Vellore demanding that an erased portrait of former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, be redrawn in the same place, police said here.

Police said a portrait of Jayalalithaa had been painted on a wall in the hospital complex a few months ago, but it was found erased.

Angered over this, AIADMK workers led by Pandurangan converged at the place and demanded that it be redrawn. When pleas failed to make the workers leave, they were "secured", police said.

Already a police complaint has been lodged with the Fort St George police station here on May 31, charging Pandurangan with wrongful restraint and preventing a policeman from discharging his duty. (PTI)

BJP not distanced itself from Rahul
Mahajan's incident: Munde

MUMBAI, June 5: BJP leader Gopinath Munde today said he does not feel BJP has distanced itself from Rahul Mahajan, who has been hospitalised in Delhi under controversial circumstances.

BJP president, vice president and other senior leaders had visited Apollo hospital to enquire about Rahul's condition, he told reporters. "Several BJP leaders have spoken to me seeking information about Rahul's condition," he added.

Munde, who is Rahul's uncle, denied reports that Rahul had consumed drugs. "The quantity of cocaine shown in the medical tests was within permissible limits which can be found in any human being", he said. (PTI)

NCERT starts teachers' training on new textbooks

NEW DELHI, June 5: New role for teachers, techniques to create new classroom environment and ways to make lessons more interactive are areas on which about 300 teachers from across the country will be imparted training by the National Council of Educational Research and Training.

In steps to orient the teachers to new approaches to teaching, envisaged in the National Curriculam Framework (NCF) 2005 on the basis of which new syllabi and textbooks have been designed for class-I, III, VI, IX and XI from this year, NCERT today launched the training programme at six centres throughout the country.

The training programme, conducted at the NCERT office here and its teacher training institutes at Bhubaneswar, Ajmer, Bhopal, Mysore and Shillong, would continue till September nine, the coordinator of the programme Prof D K Bhattacharjee told PTI.

"The major thrust of the programme to acclimatise teachers with the new approach which aims at making clases more interactive and fruitful. They will be imparted training to make best use of the new textbooks," he said.

The teachers will undergo three-day training on each subject. In the first phase, the master trainers are participating in the programme who would act as resource persons in future.

Besides the new approach, the teachers would be trained in supplementing knowledge from textbooks. Teachers will also be trained in using Information and Communication Technology and multimedia to help students.

The teachers from CBSE affiliated schools, Kendriya Vidyalayas and Navodaya Vidyalayas are participating in the first phase of training programme.

NCERT would launch a second phase from the first week of July through tele-conferenceing, he said.

The programme would be available at 32 selected centres, including 10 centres in north-eastern states through EDUSAT network. The council has a target to train 28,000 teachers in the second phase, he said.

Later NCERT would involve the states, which are implementing its textbooks, to train the Government teachers.

"The programme is a package that would be helpful in making the classrooms more interesting and educating. We would also orient teachers in using laboratories to promote the concept of learning by doing," said Prof Hukum Singh of Mathematics department at NCERT.

The authors and members of textbook development boards would be the resource persons in the training programme. (PTI)

300 more speed post centres to
accept passport applications

BANGALORE, June 5: The Ministry of External Affairs is working with the Department of Posts to increase the number of speed post centres where passport applications are accepted, by nearly 300 in three months.

Currently there are 218 such centres in the country where passport applications are accepted, including 30 in Karnataka,

"We are working with the Department of Posts to increase the number of such centres to 500 by August 2006," Union Minister of State for External Affairs E Ahamed said.

He was speaking at the launch of a new service "Acceptance of applications for a Passport" at BangaloreOne centre, a Government of Karnataka initiative, which offers residents of Bangalore various Government-to-Citizen and Business-to-Citzen services.

Ahamed said about 21 per cent of the total number of applications are submitted at speed post centres and these have emerged as a popular means to submit passport applications in the state.

Noting that the total number of passports issued by the Regional Passport Office here in 2005 was approximately two lakh, he said there has been an increase in demand for passports due to the city's rapid growth as an IT destination.

The new services, which the Minister described as a trend-setter in many ways, are initially available at five BangaloreOne centres, where applications for passports can be submitted without any service charge over and above the prescribed passport fees. (PTI)

Plan panel ensures national consensus
for 11th Plan targets

NEW DELHI, June 5: Departing from convention, the Planning Commission has sent the draft Approach Paper of the 11th Five Year Plan to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh first for approval.

The norm so far has been that the Paper is approved by the Internal Planning Commission (IPC), which is then discussed at the meeting of the full Planning Commission chaired by the Prime Minister. It is then sent for Cabinet approval prior to being placed before the National Development Council, which has to clear it for implementation.

The Prime Minister's response is expected this week, a Commission official told PTI.

Furthermore, to ensure national consensus and proper implementation of programmes to be envisaged during the next Plan period, the Commission plans to send the Paper to all state Chief Ministers and Central Ministries and Departments for their feedback and suggestions.

"This is being done to see that there is national consensus on the issues and steps to be taken to achieve all round growth and development," a Commission official said.

Regional consultations would also be held by the Commission on the Paper and other issues of relevance to the different regions so that they are included in the final Plan document.

Once these are complete the IPC would meet again to finalise the Paper. Deputy Chairman of the Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia expects the meeting of the NDC to be held by mid August to clear the Approach Paper.

The Approach Paper is already delayed by over five months. Prime Minister Singh had said in the NDC meeting held in June, 2005, that the Paper would be cleared in December last year.

The Paper envisages accelerating the growth rate from 8 to 10 per cent and for the first time since Independence, seeks to bring down the poverty ratio to less than 10 per cent.

It also talks of laying a strong foundation for 10 per cent growth in the 12th Plan and double per capita income by 2016-17.

Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia had earlier said the delay was mainly because it had to take into consideration if the economy was ready for a higher growth rate and issues related to increasing investment and savings requirements to develop infrastructure and social sector as both the Centre and the states are faced with a major resource crunch and if the political structure was ready for the second round of economic reforms.

The around 50 page document moots electricity connection to all villages and BPL households by 2009 and round-the-clock power by the end of the Plan period.

Every village to be connected by telephone by November, 2007, 60 lakh houses for rural poor by 2009 and another 60 lakh by 2012 and expanding secondary school with hostels and vocational education facilities to increase enrolment to 60 per cent of the relevant age group. (PTI)

DoP, Tamil Nadu to develop concept of 'postal warehouse'

CHENNAI,June 5: The Department of Posts (DoP), Tamil Nadu Circle, proposes to construct the first 'postal warehouse' in the state to supplement its logistic services, Chief Post Master General, Vatsala Raghu, said today.

The DoP was presently developing the concept to construct the warehouse at Ekkaduthangal, particularly to cater to the logistic requirements of the burgeoning IT industry along the Old Mahabalipuram Road.

"We propose to start construction in the 19 grounds of land acquired for this purpose, within two months and complete the project next year," she told reporters.

The DoP was introducing two more logistic services in Chennai-Pondicherry-Cuddalore and Chennai-Coimbatore-Tiruppur routes in July next in addition to the already existing Chennai-Bangalore route, which was already bringing excellent returns.

Announcing the launch of the DoP's 'Add on facility' to PO Savings Bank customers called "Delivery of cash at doorstep" in all 92 Head POs and some important sub-offices, Raghu said the customer friendly scheme was aimed at helping the old and the pre-occupied, who could not visit PO's to withdraw money.

"In an attempt to improve the speed of operations, all POs have been instructed to operate for seven hours from 1000 hrs to 1700 hrs, while a few with heavy operations had been instructed to open as early as 9.00 hrs," she said.

Raghu also said starting June 1, the DoP had introduced 'Speed Post Gold' service, on trial basis between six metros including Chennai.Tamil Nadu held the third position in premium products revenue at the national level, she said. (PTI)

Community radio: Giving people of Uttaranchal a voice

NEW DELHI, June 5: This radio does not blare out rock, jazz or local music. It is a community radio for the people of Uttaranchal, a private

initiative which addresses their basic development needs and problems. It speaks about them, to them and for them in their language and in their own voice.

This community radio went on air last month on WorldSpace Radio. Equal Access, a US-based NGO which does work in Afghanistan and Nepal, leased access time on satellite channel called Asia Development Channel on WorldSpace, to make this happen.

There are five community radio teams in Uttaranchal which make programmes on women's empowerment, gender, health, youth issues, traditional folk art, alternate livelihood opportunities and new agricultural practices.

The programmes are sent via internet to the servers located in Melbourne and then uplinked to the satellite from there. In the Kumaon group the programmes are in Kumaoni and Garhwali and in the Chamba group in Hindi and Garhwali.

They are aired every Sunday and Thursday and community groups assemble to listen to the programmes. There are 20 digital radios in twenty villages in and around the Chamba valley and one media centre.

"The programmes are always locally relevant to the local communities and have been produced locally and independently by the community radio teams. It helps people to know more, learn, communicate and exchange information." says Veenu Arora of Equal Access.

A community media centre was established last November in Heval with UNESCO's help. A low cost studio space with egg trays acting as soundproof device on the walls has been set up. It has a microphone and one computer. Programmes are recorded in this studio.

UNESCO has supported the initiative by buying satellite radios, about 20 in number for the area. The aim is to cultivate more listener groups wherein the community listens to programmes collectively. Often Panchayat members are used to popularise listening of these programmes, says Seema Nair of UNESCO.

In the past, the teams have produced 25 programmes that have all been broadcast on the channel.The teams producing the content are local community members. All programmes include voices of the communities living in that region and area, surrounding villages. People drop into the local Community media Centre to lend their voice and are approached in the fields or at home for interviews, vox pop or their opinions.

"People have an aspiration to listen to their own voice, they have a desire to exhibit their culture. The feeling that the programme is made by their own people and in their own language establishes an immediate connection," says Nair.

The Hevalwani Community radio group consists of young boys and girls involved in organic farming, agriculture. It has a videographer as a manager.

The main responsibility of most hill women is to procure wood, work in the field through the day, the children have lesser time to study and are generally involved in grazing the cattle.

Men folk are generally into agriculture. Some are horticulturists and some have mushroom farms. Access to television or radio is limited because of the height on which the villages are located.

The subjects on which programmes have been made include history of the region, the oral tradition, peoples' lives and glorious civilization, outbreak of flu, exam issues, reproductive health issues, programmes on dowry during the marriage season, a drama on how a woman's education and life is more important than money exchanged during marriage.

Themes relating to local environment such as employment, out migration are also being worked on. The submerging of the Tehri dam was a local issue which was also discussed.

Hevalwani in Chamba also has a community media centre. People who had never seen a computer before are now editing on a computer here, says Arora.

Equal Access has been involved in imparting training to the communities in Uttranchal since 2003. Training was provided to farmers, school teachers and postman in basic audio recording technologies, translating issues into radio programmes.

The NGO tried to reach across the message that audio can be used to mobilize communities. The second phase involved teaching them how to produce a programme, how to record sound and in the third phase the emphasis was on how to mobilize the listening class.

The main aim behind providing training to the people in these villages was to demystify technology to villagers, don't make them feel technology is something they cannot have access to, there is a general fear that the equipment may go bad, says Arora.

She cites the case of Devi Lal in Mandakini, a dalit, who had all along held the view that someone sits inside the radio. Today he gets to hear his own voice. The panchayat gets to hear his voice, the voice of a dalit. This again is an empowering experience.

UNESCO is working at how research can facilitate programmes and make programmes more responsive to the realities of communication.

So far 17 people have been trained over the last 2 years at the centre, out of which 7 are women and 10 boys all in the age group of 18-30 years.

"We are hoping that in the next phase communities can make plans for their sustainability and move towards managing their own finances and structures. In the future we are hoping that community would have the resources to run and air the programmes," Arora and Nair say.

"We are also hoping that these models convince the Government to provide licences to community radio," they add. (PTI)

125 anti-Sikh riot families yet to get rehabilitation grant

CHANDIGARH, June 5: Over 100 affected families of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots here today took out a rally and petitioned Punjab Governor and UT Administrator General (retd) S F Rodrigues to protest the alleged apathetic attitude of the concerned authorities in releasing the Rs 2 lakh rehabilitation grant for each affected family announced by the Centre.

"After initially migrating to Punjab, nearly 125 riot affected families have been now living in Chandigarh for years. The UT Administration has got our verification done, but it expresses its inability to disburse the grant saying it is not competent to do so as it has received no directions in this regard from the Centre.

The cocerned authorities in Punjab too have expressed their inability saying UT will handle the claims, 1984 Danga Peerit Society, Chandigarh's general secretary Ravinder Singh told reporters here after submitting a memorandum to the Governor in this regard.

When contacted, Director (Delhi), Ministry of Home Affairs (Relief and Rehabilitation), I B Karan told PTI over phone that since the affected families had initially migrated to Punjab and got their Red Cards made from the state, the state's authorities would be in a better position to handle their case.

"We will soon be instructing the Punjab Government to release the grant to the affected families settled in Chandigarh. Though Punjab Government had written to us that UT should be advised to settle their claims, but we feel that since Punjab Government is having all the records, they would be in a better position to handle this," he said.

The Society's President Surinderpal Singh and Vice President Harjit Singh said that a rehabilitation grant of Rs 2 lakh each for the affected family in Punjab has already been distributed in April last, but they lamented that the relief which comes 21 years after the riots is being again delayed by the "callous attitude of the authorities".

Gurvinder Singh and Ishwinder Singh, who settled in Chandigarh after the riots, said they have been forced to approach the Governor thinking that he would do something to ensure they get the relief at the earliest. (PTI)