Anand Marriage Act to recognise Anand Karaj being considered

NEW DELHI, Mar 10: A proposal to promulgate the Anand Marriage Act for recognising in law the Anand Karaj marriage among Sikhs is under consideration by the Government, the Rajya Sabha was informed today.

In a reply during Question Hour, Union Minister for Law and Justice H R Bhardwaj said, "The proposal to approve the Anand Karaj marriage in Gurudwaras through the promulgation of the Anand Marriage Act is under consideration of the Government."

Earlier, S S Ahluwalia of the BJP pointed out that the Indian Government had still to pass any Act on the matter while in direct contrast, the Pakistani Government had already talked of implementing the Act.

In reply to another question, Minister of State for Human Resource Development A Purandeswari said, the Governmet was committed to carry forward the process of educational reforms in the eleventh plan period.

"Educational reforms is a continuing process and the eleventh five year plan seeks to carry them forward through expansion, inclusion and rapid improvement in quality through institutional and policy reforms and by enhancing public spending," the Minister said.

She said increasing number of PHDs from Indian universities, strengthening linkages between the universities and the scientific research institutions, inclusion of greater research component in post graduate programmes, strengthening research infrastructure, creation of research positions and enhancing fellowships are integral to reforms envisaged in the eleventh five year plan.

In reply to another question, Minister for women and child development Renuka Chowdhry said the Government proposes to merge two existing schemes—Kishori Shakti Yojana and the Nutrition programme for adolescent girls and formulate a comprehensive scheme for the group.

In reply to a question about the high child mortality rate in India, she said, quoting a UNICEF report ‘Progress for Children’, that under five mortality rate in 2006 was 76 per thousand live births in the country.

"Child mortality is not reponsible for the low weight among children. Early marriages of girls, teenage pregnancies, poor health of pregnant women and malnutrition results in low birth weight of new borns," the Minister said.

(UNI)

Political scene in UP hots up ahead of LS polls, Varun may contest

LUCKNOW, Mar 10: Even though the Lok Sabha elections are yet to be announced, names of the leaders of various parties and probable candidates have already started doing the rounds including that of Mr Varun Gandhi, yet another Gandhi family scion, who is set to enter active politics by contesting the polls.

Several probable candidates, particularly of the ruling Bahujan Samaj Party and others have already launched their campaign in their respective Lok Sabha seats, but the new delimitation of the constiuencies has made the political masters to shift their base in search for a new home.

Menaka Gandhi, sister-in-law of Congress President Sonia Gandhi is set to move out from her Pilibhit seat to the adjoining Aonla seat so that her son Varun Gandhi could contest from there.

" Posters of Ms Gandhi had already being circulated in the Aonla constituency as Varun Gandhi is all set to contest from Pilibhit from where his mother had gone to the lower House of Parliament four times", said a senior BJP leader.

Menaka Gandhi joined the Opposition Janata Dal and became a union minister in the V P Singh government, which followed Rajiv Gandhi’s electoral defeat in 1989. During the 1998 and 1999 elections, she won as an independent supported by the BJP.

She supported the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance Government at the Centre and became a Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment. During the 2004 General Elections, she formally joined the BJP along with her son, Varun Gandhi. Menaka Gandhi won her seat again, but Varun did not meet the age requirement to contest, and spent his time campaigning.

In October 2006, Varun Gandhi was tipped to contest the by elections to the Lok Sabha parliamentary constituency of Vidisha but could not succeed in getting nomination from the BJP national executive.

Union Minister of State for Steel Akhilesh Das, a Congress Rajya Sabha member, is also tipped to contest the Lok Sabha polls from the prestigious Lucknow seat, which is represented by former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

Mr Das has already started campaigning in the constituency and his vehicles are seen daily in the city canvassing about the works done by the Congress leader. Interestingly, the RS membership of Mr Das expires in November this year and as Mr Vajpayee had announced his retirement from politics, Mr Das looks like a viable candidate from any party in the constituency.

In Meerut Lok Sabha seat, former BSP in-charge Maluk Nagar, younger brother of state minister Lakhi Ram Nagar, had already spent more than Rs one crore for publicity in the constituency as the party candidate in the LS polls.

BJP leader and former UP chief minister Kalyan Singh has started his campaign in Etah constituency after his seat Bulandshahr has been reserved for SC in the new delimitation.

Now the Etah seat would be more comfortable for the BJP national vice-president as the delimitation has turn the seat as Lodh dominated constituency.

Another senior BJP leader and ex-party president Murli Manohar Joshi was also in search of a safe seat as after delimitation, the Allahabad LS constituency has more rural area. Dr Joshi might opt for Rewa seat in Madhya Pradesh or Varanasi seat, sources in BJP say.

Similarly, now several leaders of the Samajwadi Party were in search of safe seat after the new delimitation.

Former chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav might contest the polls in view of the United National Progress Alliance (UNPA) strong presence in the Lok Sabha after the elections. Mr Yadav could contest from Badaun seat, a strong belt of the Yadav’s and will certainly give a tough fight for another mafia turned politician—D P Yadav—who had recently merged his Rashtriya Parivartan Dal (RPD) with the BSP.

SP’s youth icon Akhilesh Yadav, is also likely to shift to Farrukhabad from the existing Kannauj, Congress sitting MP Jitin Prasada has been forced to shift to Dhaurahra seat, after his Shahajahanpur constituency had been made reserved for the SC.

Another mafia turned politician and expelled SP MP Atiq Ahmed, is expected to re-contest from Phulpur seat in Allahabad while former Congress leader Ashok Vajpayee would try his luck as BSP nominee from Allahabad seat.

Several other high shot politicians and criminals including Babloo Srivastava have started searching option to contest the LS polls. Wife of dreaded don Brajesh Singh, who was recently arrested in Orissa by Delhi police, could be candidate from the Chandauli seat.

In the 2004 Lok Sabha polls held for 80 seats, the SP bagged 35 followed by BSP 19,BJP 10, Congress-9 and others 7. (UNI)

Army to focus on modernisation efforts

NEW DELHI, Mar 10: The Army is focusing on areas like improved night-fighting capability, better command and control and precision-guidance systems for modernisation of the force, the results of which will be visible in the next two years, a top officer today said.

"Improving missile capability and all-weather battlefield surveillance are other thrust areas we are looking at. In the next two years, we may see the fructification of our efforts in modernisation," Deputy Chief of Army Staff (Planning and Systems) Lt Gen Z U Shah said at an army-industry interaction organised by the FICCI here.

Stressing on the importance of increased self-reliance in defence production, he assured the private sector of ensuring a "level-playing field". Shah said with the revision of the defence procurement policy 2006, the status of "grey areas" like the offset policy may also be cleared.

Replying to concerns raised by the industry, he said the Army will ensure "total transparency" on defence goods requirement and look into the issue of sharing information with the industry at the early stages of products.

The Army is planning to acquire artillery guns, air defence missiles and T-90 tanks, request for proposals (RFP) for which should be issued this year, he told reporters later.

"We are also looking for light helicopters, may be in the range of 200. We may need to import some and HAL also may step in at a later stage. The RFP may come in two months," Shah said.

Speaking on the occasion, FICCI Secretary General Amit Mitra said the private industry, including the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) can play an important role in the defence sector, including in areas like "digitilisation", tactical communication and air defence surveillance.

FICCI Defence Committee chairman and BEML CMD V R S Natrajan mooted the idea of setting up a centre of excellence in defence technology with public-private partnership as also special economic zones in defence sector.

The co-chairman of the FICCI Defence Committee and Tata Power CEO Rahul Chaudhry said partnership among public and private sectors, DRDO and armed forces can be helpful in the field of indigenous defence production.

The day-long army-industry interactive meet has on its agenda topics like tactical communication system, modernisation of infantry and air defence. (PTI)

‘High percentage of school girls face physical abuse’

LUCKNOW, Feb 10: A disturbingly high percentage of school girls face physical and emotional abuse in some form or the other from their teachers and male counterparts in India, a recent report of Amnesty International India (AII) has revealed.

Highlighting shocking methods of abuse, the international report on "Safe Schools: Every Girl’s Right", released in Lucknow University last week, said girls "continuously face the risk of being sexually assaulted, harassed or intimidated in or on way to school".

Many school girls face psychological violence, bullying and humiliation while some are caned or beaten in school in the name of discipline, the report said.

Besides, they are threatened with "sexual assault" by other students, offered higher marks by teachers in exchange for sexual favours, and even raped in the staff room, it said.

Referring to the survey "Study on Child Abuse: India 2007, the AAI report said that the states of Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar and Delhi almost consistently reported higher rates of abuse in all forms as compared to other states.

In all, 50 per cent of the girls reported to have been emotionally abused of in one form or the other.

The trend emerged to be worse in the capital, where as many as 87 per cent of the young female students reported facing one or more forms of emotional abuse during their childhood, it said.

The violence in and around educational institutions remains pervasive and the dangerous trend exists in schools all over the world, it said.

Very often, aggressive and inappropriate sexual advances by boys in schools are dismissed as just ‘boys being boys’, the report highlighted.

Such behaviour often goes unreported and unpunished, sending out the message that violence against women and girls was acceptable and that male aggression was the norm.

Corporal punishment, use of whips, beatings with electric cables, forcing children to kneel under sun, food deprivation, sexual abuse, insults and psychological abuse of girls was common by teachers and administrative staff, the report said.

Particular groups, such as ethnic minorities, lesbians or girls with disabilities, are at higher risk than their peers.

Observing that the Governments were "failing" girls at the most basic level (schools), Amnesty calling upon state and school officials to take concrete action to end violence against girls particularly inside schools premises.

As every Government claimed to abhor violence against women and girls, it could start backing up their words with concrete actions by taking appropriate measures in schools, the report said.

The AII also demanded providing support services for girls, enforcing codes of conduct for all school staff and students and ensuring early response and intervention by school authorities through confidential and independent monitoring mechanism.

It also called for a national plan of action to make schools safe. (PTI)

SC to hear petition filed by Gere on Friday

DELHI, Mar 10: The Supreme Court will hear on Friday a petition filed by Hollywood star Richard Gere who is facing trial for kissing and hugging Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty publicly during a function in Delhi.

The date of hearing was fixed by a bench comprising Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan and Justices Altamas Kabir and J M Panchal when the matter was mentioned for urgent hearing.

Gere is seeking permission from the Supreme Court to enter India this month and again to leave the country.

Non-balaible warrant has been issued against Gere by a Jaipur court.

Shilpa Shetty and Gere are seeking transfer of all the cases filed against them to Mumbai.

Gere is also seeking the stay of arrest warrant.

The actor is involved in an anti-AIDS campaign and wants to come to India this month to attend a function on AIDS and go back to England and then again wants to come back to India in May this year. (UNI)

GNLF supremo resigns as DGHC caretaker administrator

SILIGURI, Mar 10: Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF)

supremo Subash Ghisingh today resigned as Darjeeling Gorkha Hill

Council (DGHC) caretaker administrator, official sources said.

They said Mr Ghisingh tendered his resignation to the Darjeeling District Magistrate at the Electricity Guest House here at 1105 hrs.

Mr Ghisingh, after resigning reiterated his demand for a seperate state of Gorkhaland and an open dialogue with the Centre on the issue of the Sixth Schedule status to the hills, they said.

His resignation came following the month-long Gorkha Janamukti Morcha(GJM) led agitation against the GNLF chief after he inked a deal with the Centre to provide Sixth Schedule status to the hills instead of statehood, they added.

Although Mr Ghisingh seemed to toe the line of the GJM with his demand for a separate state, GJM spokeperson Benoy Tamang said that he will not be allowed entry into Darjeeling till he gave up his post as caretaker administrator.

(UNI)

Govt mulling change in organ transplant law

NEW DELHI, Mar 10: India is exploring various options for setting up an organ donation system and has zeroed in on the model of "presumed consent" under which everyone would be considered a donor unless they stipulate otherwise.

The move is expected to help thousands of people suffering from organ failure once implemented.

The need to address the acute shortage of donated organs was highlighted in January when a multi-crore scam illegal kidney transplant racket was busted near the capital.

A Health Ministry team, led by Director General of Health Services (DGHS) R K Srivastava, recently visited various countries and studied the different systems in operation there.

"While most of the countries have adopted the presumed concept, in India and the United States we have the expression of consent concept," Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss said.

In the first concept, it is presumed that any person who is brain dead has agreed to donate his or her organs, while in the second one the family of the person has to agree to let his/her organs be donated.

Ramadoss said there was another model like the one in Iran where the Government controlled organ transplantation, but that model has drawn much criticism from experts.

Expressing hope that the government would be able to introduce some kind of a model very soon, Ramadoss said a beginning can be made from corneal donation.

"At least we can make a start with this concept from cornea," the Health Minister said.

The Government is contemplating amending the Organ Transplantation Act to avoid illegal transplantation of organs in the country.

A total of 10 Organ Retrieval and Banking Organisations (ORBO) will be set up in a span of a couple of months, he said.

There would be separate centres which would coordinate and brief counsellors and it would be mandatory for Intensive Care Units (ICU) which have brainstem dead patients to announce it.

Trauma centres set up along the highway would facilitate harvest of cadaver organs.

As per the draft of the amendments being framed by the Ministry, a separate National Accredited Board for Laboratories (NABL) would be set up by the Quality Council of India for undertaking assessment and accreditation of testing and calibration of laboratories in accordance with the international standard. (PTI)