Committee to scrutinise books for school/college syllabus

BHUBANESWAR, Feb 1: Perturbed over frequent publication of derogatory remarks about freedom fighters and political parties in text books, Orissa government has decided to set up a monitoring committee to scrutinise and approve books before these are prescribed for school/college syllabus.

"We have decided to constitute a monitoring committee which will closely scrutinise all college text books before granting approval for their introduction in the syllabus," state higher education minister Samir Dey said here.

The government move came close on the heels of a book meant for second year college students which allegedly compared BJP and Sangh Parivar outfits with terrorist organisations, state BJP vice-president Nayan Mohanty said.

The derogatory remarks have been made both in Oriya and English versions of the book, published from Cuttack, he said and demanded its immediate withdrawal from the market.

Seeking immediate arrest of the authors of the two books and action against them, Mohanty said it was in the syllabus since 2003 but "Unfortunately escaped our notice so far."

The row has cropped up barely a month after Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose was described as a ‘fake nationalist’ leader in a book meant for school students.

Another school book had put the ‘terrorist’ tag on Bhagat Singh earlier, he said.

As Sangh Parivar activists were up in arms against the derogatory remarks against BJP and other organisations, the Government was also examining the matter to ascertain what action it could take in accordance with legal provisions, official sources said.

The higher education department was also understood to have sought legal opinion on the issue, they said.

The government wants a proper safeguard mechanism in place to prevent recurrence of such episodes. (PTI)

Rural mobile courts will have mediation power: Bhardwaj

NEW DELHI, Feb 1: The Government plans to empower the over 6,000 proposed Gram Nayayalayas (panchayat-level rural mobile courts) to hold conciliation and mediation proceedings, apart from deciding civil and criminal cases.

The objective, according to Union Law and Justice minister H R Bhardwaj, is to reduce litigation and provide affordable and quality justice at the doorstep of the rural masses.

"We as a society have not cared for reducing litigation," said the minister, stressing upon the need for speedy delivery of justice along with measures to curb the pending (2.75 crore) cases.

Inaugurating a conference of state law ministers, law secretaries and registrar generals of High Courts here, Bhardwaj said the rural mobile courts proposed under the Gram Nyayalayas Bill 2007 would help decentralise the judicial system which, at present, is concentrated at the tehsil and district level.

"What is the need for a poor man in a village to go to the district centre for getting justice? Why can’t the justice be delivered at his doorstep?" asked Bhardwaj, reminding the dreams of the country’s founding fathers.

"It will be the greatest tragedy of our democracy if even after 60 years of our Independence we fail to deliver justice to the poor at their doorstep," the minister said, justifying the move to create a new tier of justice in villages.

Urging the law ministers and law secretaries to join hands for making the Gram Nayayalaya project a success, he said the State Governments will have full freedom in recruiting the presiding officers of these mobile courts and the guidelines for the appointment would be framed by the High Court of the state.

Addressing the conference, Union law secretary T K Viswanathan said the rural mobile court’s power to hold summary trial would go a long way in speedy delivery of justice.

He said the government was open to suggestions on refining the Gram Nayayalaya Bill and would to any length to ensure delivery of affordable and speedy justice to the rural poor.

Reacting to a concern expressed by delegates at the conference, he said steps would be taken to prevent litigants from hopping from one forum to another to avoid justice.

The conference on the Gram Nyayalayas is part of government’s move to involve law ministers, law secretaries and registrar generals of High Courts in discussions over matters related to fixing a time-frame for the setting up the rural courts.

The rural mobile courts, proposed under the Gram Nyayalayas Bill 2007, would act as subordinate courts at the Intermediated Panchayat level and would be in addition to the existing civil courts.

As per the Bill, the Central Government will bear all the non-recurring expenditure for setting up the rural courts. It will also bear half of the recurring expenditure for three years after setting up of the mobile courts in states.

The Gram Nyayalayas Bill was introduced in the Rajya Sabha on May 15, 2007 and was, thereafter, referred to a Parliamentary standing committee of the Law and Justice ministry. The Government has now decided to pursue the Gram Nyayalayas Bill in Parliament for its enactment.

The Gram Nyayalayas shall have jurisdiction over cases involving land and water disputes and family disputes. (PTI)

Nanda fails to turn up before CBI; says he is down with fever

NEW DELHI, Feb 1: Citing "ill health", Arms dealer Suresh Nanda, who is alleged to have received kickbacks in connection with Barak Anti-Missile System and Armoured Recovery Vehicles deals, today failed to turn up before the CBI for further questioning.

Nanda, whose passport was suspended temporarily by the Government for four weeks from yesterday, was to have been quizzed again in continuation of the probe on funds received by him from overseas.

The businessman, son of former Naval Chief Admiral S M Nanda, however, conveyed to the CBI that he will not be able to attend as he was down with fever, sources in the investigating agency said.

Nanda has denied any wrong doing and claimed that the money in question had been received through proper banking channels. He has also refuted claims of the CBI that he had a British passport or had obtained the nationality of that country.

The CBI officials said they would get in touch with Nanda and call for a next date as they wanted to conclude the probe at the earliest.

Former Defence Minister George Fernandes and the then Naval Chief Admiral Susheel Kumar is an accused in the Rs 1,150 crore Barak missile deal in the agency’s FIR, in which Nanda is alleged to have paid money to the then Samata Party treasurer R K Jain.

The CBI was also awaiting replies to its Letters Rogatory sent to the UK, Mauritius, the UAE and Germany.

Nanda is also an accused in a case on purchase of Armoured Recovery Vehicles being probed by the agency.

According to an FIR filed in a designated court naming Jain, Nanda and other unnamed officials as accused, the CBI alleged that Nanda had approached Jain to stop the contract going in favour of PSP Bohemia of Czech Republic whose bid for 87 ARVs was the lowest at Rs 247.75 crore.

During the opening of price bids on March six, 1998, the consortium of Slovakia-based Unimpex and BHEL lodged a protest with the Price Negotiation Committee (PNC) of the Defence Ministry alleging that PSP Bohemia was not the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM).

The PSP Bohemia accordingly submitted a certificate issued by the Trade Ministry of Czech Republic stating that it had the status of OEM.

It was decided by the Defence Ministry to send a team to Czech Republic to check its manufacturing capability, which was, however, turned down by Fernandes after the meeting took place between Nanda and Jain.

"Fernandes, accordingly, vide note dated November five, 1998 rejected the proposal to send the technical delegation. Thus, the offer of PSP Bohemia, which was the lowest, was dishonestly ignored. Nanda then paid Rs one crore to Jain for getting his work done," the CBI FIR alleged. (PTI)

‘Providing infants with nutritious food is long-term eco investment’

MUMBAI, Feb 1: Scientists for the first time have come out with direct evidence that providing infants and very young children with healthy, nutritious food is a long-term economic investment for developing countries both in terms of human resources and a healthy society.

The authors of the study said in a teleconferencing from Washington DC, last night, that the study in Guatemala is the first to show direct evidence of the effects of early childhood nutrition programs on adult economic productivity and incomes. Snows

The results of the study ‘The Impact of Nutrition during Early Childhood on Income, Hours Worked, and Wages of Guatemalan Adults’ carried out by John Hoddinott, John A. Maluccio, Jere R. Behrman, Rafael Flores, and Reynaldo Martorell are to published in tomorrow’s issue of medical journal ‘Lancet’.

"Although substantial, but indirect, evidence from previous research suggests that providing infants and very young children with healthy, nutritious food is a long-term economic investment for developing countries, this is the first direct evidence based on a result-oriented study," according to the study.

The researches were conducted on four rural communities from Guatemala villages and they were given vegetable protein mixture with micronutrients, the scientists said, adding the African countries can use the study in their health policies.

The research was conducted in Guatemala by Emory University, the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), the Institute of Nutrition of Central America and Panama (INCAP), the University of Pennsylvania, and Middlebury College.

Investments in early childhood nutrition can be long-term drivers of growth and a wise economic investment and the findings from the study show that improving nutrition in early childhood leads to significant increases in wage rates for men.

The authors said that the past research has demonstrated that the first two years of life are the "window of opportunity" when nutrition interventions have the greatest benefits for a child’s health, growth, and development.

This study confirms that improving nutrition in early childhood also leads to healthier and more productive adults, bringing economic returns to both individuals and societies.

From 1969-1977, four rural communities in Guatemala participated in a food supplementation study, in which children received one of the two supplements fortified equally with micro nutrients. The first supplement was high in protein and energy; the second contained no protein and was low in energy, said the lead author Hoddinott.

The program enrolled all children and infants who were under seven years of age when the program was launched in 1969. Babies born during the study period were also included.

Children and infants continued to participate in the program until they were seven years old or until the study ended in 1977, whichever came first. Thus, the participating children were exposed to the supplement.

In 2002-2004, researchers returned to Guatemala to collect follow-up data and interview adults who had participated in the nutrition program as children.

Nearly 2,400 individuals were involved in the original study. At the time of follow-up, they were 25-42 years old. About 78 per cent of the individuals were alive and living in Guatemala; 11 percent had died; 7 per cent had left the country; and 4 per cent were untraceable, a IFPRI release said.

During the follow-up study, researchers collected economic data, including information about income-generating activities, from approximately 1,425 Guatemalans, or 60 per cent of the adults who were enrolled in the original program.

Researchers then calculated annual earned income, hours worked, and hourly wage rates for each adult. Respondents who were not engaged in economic activities or participating in the labour market were excluded from the analysis.

Boys who received the high-energy, high-protein supplement in the first two years of life earned on average 46 per cent higher wages as adults. Boys who received supplement in their first three years earned 37 percent higher wages on average.

However, those who first received the supplement after age three did not get any economic benefits as adults and consumption of supplement in childhood did not have an effect on women’s income, probably because of gender differences in labour force participation and work activities.

In Guatemala, participation in the formal labour market is significantly lower for women than for men. However, first analysis suggests that schooling increased for women who had consumed supplement, and that reading comprehension increased significantly for both men and women. (PTI)