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Feb 23, 2007

RELEASE OF FUNDS TO AGRARIAN ASSISTANCE ASSOCIATION DUMKA

The Ministry of Rural Development has released advance payment of Rs. 7.20 lakh to the Secretary-cum-Chief Functionary, Agrarian Assistance Association, Dumka in Jharkhand for the sub-programme "Social Mobilisation around Natural Resource Management".

The project titled `Social Mobilisation around Natural Resource Management for Poverty Alleviation' is in progress in 11 districts of States of Orissa, Rajasthan and Jharkhand. The five year project (2003-07) of the Government of India with UNDP funds, is to support 5000 women's groups to promote decentralized management of natural resources, on which the poor including women depend for livelihood, through provisioning of resources and training to women's groups.

The project aims at strengthening partnerships between women's groups, civil society, PRIs and local government to facilitate greater cross learning, knowledge and information sharing, access to resources and technical capacities and wider dissemination of tested social mobilization approaches. It is also to facilitate dialogue between women's groups, NGOs and policy makers for influencing relevant policies and programmes.

http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=25043

Sidewalk saloons in Jharkhand give way to beauty parlours

Caught in a time warp, the famous 'Italian saloons' on the roadside of Jharkhand and Bihar towns are fighting a losing battle against the mushrooming beauty parlours.

No one quite knows why there is a whiff of Italy in the nomenclature but in these eastern states a roadside barber with his mobile shop for hairdressing and shaving is what the people would call an Italian saloon. But the tradition of roadside haircut is now going into oblivion.

Mahesh Nai, a barber, talks about the business in the good old days. 'On Sundays people would wait in queues for their turn to get a haircut in our saloons. Now we hardly get any customers as people are weary of getting their hair cut in public view,' said Mahesh.

'There was a time when barbers could be seen at work from one corner of a pavement to the other. Now you would hardly spot them,' he said.

Till some years back, one could see a row of more than two dozen barbers on a 200 metres stretch between Albert Ekka Chawk and Shahid Chawk in Ranchi. On a Sunday more than 100 people would get a haircut at these makeshift saloons.

'The cultural metamorphosis has changed everything. Now people look down on those who sit in for a roadside haircut. They prefer a beauty parlour instead,' said Saroj Kumar, one of the few remaining sidewalk barbers.

Regular clients of Italian saloons have an explanation. 'The saloon 'nais' still cut hair and shave beards in a traditional way. The new age beauty-conscious comfort-seeking people want a massage, a facial or a hair dye along with other beauty treatments. You can't get these at Italian saloons,' said Nitish Mishra, who still enjoys a barber but prefers to call him home rather than visit the sidewalk.

Youngsters just don't like the idea of an Italian saloon. 'It is difficult to sit in the open for a haircut and a shave with all that pollution. Also, the sidewalk barbers still use the old kind of razors. We always ensure that our barber has changed the blade. A roadside barber cannot do it,' said Bunty Ojha, a college student.

As roadside barbers charge much less than a parlour - Rs 7 to Rs 10 for a haircut and Rs 3 for a shave as against Rs 30 and Rs 15 respectively by the parlours - their clients mainly come from the poorer sections of society.

'We cater to the needs of the poorest of people. Now even the poor seem to prefer parlours,' said Kundan Kumar, also a sidewalk saloon barber.

According to an estimate there were more than 1,000 Italian saloons in Ranchi

some years back. Their number has gone down to less than 100 now. Meanwhile, the number of beauty parlours continues to grow rapidly.

http://www.indiaprwire.com/businessnews/20070223/18541.htm

A telling documentary

"This year's crop has put us in a 'hand-to-mouth' situation. That is why we have to go looking for work here and there. I am going far away," says Don Singh, an adivasi of Jharkhand, not as culturally, ethnically or even linguistically as homogenous as any single state is generally understood to be. On January 15, 2000, 18 Southern districts of the State of Bihar were reconstituted defining Jharkhand as a separate State. Yet, six years on, 40 lakh adivasis have been forced to shift base for sheer survival. MIDBANNER
"I am going away," says Mangal Singh. "There is nothing to eat. That is why we are going away. If we could get to eat, we would not have gone," says his wife. "Sometimes, we just have a glass of water and then go to sleep with the children," she adds.

These voices express the changed status of adivasis in Jharkhand since the formation of the State. Ab Aur Waqt Nahin, or Waqt, a 108-minute documentary produced under the banner of Shape and directed by Abhijoy Karlekar, explores the history of these adivasis as it takes the viewer across the length and breadth of this state to point out the complete unaccountability of the Establishment to the constitutional rights of the adivasis. "The irony is that the Indian Constitution, under Schedule V and VI, requires the Indian State to protect the environment, economy and culture of India's indigenous adivasi communities. I went to school at Hazaribagh along with Ahmed Hussain. So, there is this sentimental nostalgia for the place we grew up in. When we visited the State in 2000, after a gap of 25 years, we were taken aback by the dramatic changes in the area. We met Rashmi Katyayan, principal lawyer of the adivasis and a legal expert in his own right. We were introduced to Commodore Anthony Barla, a Senior Naval Officer who belongs to the Munda tribe, one of the adivasi tribes of Jharkhand. These were our resource persons. They helped us place the film against its authentic, historic-political backdrop," explained Karlekar.

The film opens with a voice-over describing the history of the adivasis and their economic self-sufficiency within an eco-friendly ambience. Visually, it starts at Hoont, a small village in the fertile Country of Khunti almost at the end of the harvest. This is the only season when the adivasis get to relive their happy past traced back to 2500 years when the Mundas, one of the four large adivasis tribes, arrived to settle here. The Ho tribe soon followed them, to be joined by the Santhals and the Oraons. They created their own God, shaped out of Nature, basic to the livelihood of the adivasis and called him Sing Bonga. They created a self-sufficient agrarian economy that is still alive at their weekly market place, albeit, in a largely truncated form.

Waqt can be split into two halves - the first one essaying the history, growth and strength of the adivasis followed by their slow and steady victimsation; the second half tracing the movement among the adivasis themselves to reclaim their rights and to fight against their displacement and political marginalisation. As the film journeys across the land through Hoont, Chokahatu, Bargutu, Salgatola and other villages, it points out through brilliant cinematography (Ranajit Ray), original music written by Dr Ram Dayal Munda, editing by Utpal Basu and sound mixing by Anup Mukhopadhyay, the counter movement that seeks to fight for the rights of the adivasis through interviews with some leaders of the movement including the late Mahendra Singh, traversing through their Sahrul Puja against the chanting of the priest, etc. In Kundrijhoor in West Singhbum for instance, the Graam Sabha formed a Forest Protection Committee to fight against the timber mafia, which was plundering their forests in league with the employees of the Forest Department. In October 2001, members of the Committee fought off the mafia and took over 1500 acres of forestland. Within the next four years, the people of Kundrijhoor re-grew their lost forests and the Forest Department had to accept adivasi control. They set an example for other adivasi villages to follow and today, 31 active groups in seven districts control over 100,000 acres of reclaimed forests. All attempts by the Government to contain this movement have failed. Yet, according to records of the Survey of India, only 20 per cent of Jharkhand's original forest area remains forested today. Systematic and illegal felling has grossly depleted the other 80 per cent of tree cover.

The painstaking research comes across at every point. Yet, the straight-cut tone of the voice-over keeps away from taking political sides for or against the issue. The bias comes out in the visuals and the commentary. Waqt leaves its audience to judge for itself whether what has happened has been right, and perhaps, to find its own answers. "We do not wish to crusade against development in any way. We are trying to say that there are alternative means and methods by which this can be achieved. It cannot and should not place the lives of the original people of Jharkhand at stake," Karlekar sums up.

"Documentary defines not subject or style, but approach. Documentary approach to cinema differs from that of story-film not in its disregard for craftsmanship, but in the purpose to which that craftsmanship is put." This is Paul Rotha's definition of the documentary. Does this definition fit into Waqt? Does it explore the multiple shades of 'development' at the cost of the basic human rights of the adivasis of Jharkhand following its having acquired the status of a State? Yes, thanks to the Shape team and crew, it does. But as the film points out, the fight has just begun. Those who have gone away must come home.

http://www.screenindia.com/fullstory.php?content_id=14987

Bihar boon for trade gain

Patna, Feb. 22: A windfall awaits transporters in Jharkhand when the state's transport secretary, Ashok Kumar Singh, signs next month an agreement with his Bihar counterpart, S.K. Majumdar.

Although their scheduled meeting at Patna this week fell through, both the states appeared hopeful of inking the agreement before the current financial year is out.

"We are ready for a liberal permit regime to enhance our trade and put in place a permanent permit system under which permits would be valid for five years," said Bihar transport minister Ajit Kumar.

Under a temporary arrangement, commercial vehicles registered in Jharkhand but plying in both states had to pay "additional taxes"to the tune of Rs 42,500 for four months at a time.

But vehicles registered in Bihar had an advantage because the Jharkhand government collected only Rs 8,000 as "additional taxes" from them for the same period.

The Bihar transport minister, Ajit Kumar, hinted that Bihar has offered to charge only Rs 6,500 for a quarter and issue permanent permits to commercial vehicles registered in Jharkhand or outside the state. It is hoped that Jharkhand will also charge the same amount.

In other words, Jharkhand will continue to collect more or less the same amount from vehicles registered in Bihar. But Bihar will substantially reduce the taxes imposed on vehicles registered outside.

Officials in both states appear upbeat about the breakthrough.

The permanent permit regime and rationalisation of taxes would give a fillip to road transport between the two states, they hope. And Bihar transport minister Ajit Kumar confirmed that as many as 200 new routes have been identified in both the states to extend the bus-connectivity.

Kumar, however, defended Bihar collecting over five times more than Jharkhand by way of additional taxes. Bihar, he said, had put together a "robust tax system" on the basis of Bihar Motor Vehicle Taxation Act, 1994. But Jharkhand, he said, had not followed up with the rules and other notifications to facilitate collection of taxes.

Under the current arrangements, enforced in 2002, a maximum of 100 buses from each state are allowed to ply between Ranchi and Patna.

Buses, which are less than five-year-old, are allowed to travel unlimited distance. But buses between five and ten years are allowed to cover a maximum distance of 600 kms per day while even older buses are not allowed to go beyond 250 kms.

Kumar said the new agreement will not allow buses older than 12 years to ply on inter-state routes as a precaution for environmental protection. But there are no plans to introduce Euro-II norms as is being done in Bengal, he said.

Bus and truck transport between the two states, he hoped, will grow by five times in the near future.

The agreement, which will be signed between transport secretaries, is not subject to Cabinet approval.

The transport departments will implement the agreement by following the normal procedure of publishing notices in newspapers and inviting public objections.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1070223/asp/jamshedpur/story_7430007.asp

SC issues notice on Golden Quadrilateral alignment change

New Delhi, Feb 23: The Supreme Court Friday issued notices to the Centre and West Bengal government on a petition challenging the change of the originally conceived route alignment pertaining to the east-west corridor of the Golden Quadrilateral project launched by the NDA government in 2002.

A special bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balarkrishnan also asked the Central Environment Committee to examine the implication of the reported change and submit a report to it.

The petition, filed by the Dooar East-West Corridor Movement committee through counsel M L Lahoty, alleged that the alignment had been changed by vested interests due to political compulsions and would seriously affect the country's defence preparedness.

Lahoty submitted that the corridor which runs through a stretch of 366 km between West Bengal and Assam was designed on the advice of the Defence Ministry experts as the expansion covered strategically-significant borders areas involving Sikkim, Darjeeling, Bhutan and the Nathuala pass linking China.

As per the original plan the route was to start from Islampur, Bagdora, Silguri, Dooraj areas in West Bengal to Alipur Dwar in Assam.

The Defence ministry, according to the petition, wanted such an alignment as it could be strategically useful in case of any border skirmishes.

However, it was alleged that UPA government had changed the alignment by diverting the route towards Jalpaiguri, Mayagudi, Cooch-Behar and Thufangi areas of West Bengal due to political reasons.

http://www.zeenews.com/znnew/articles.asp?aid=356220&sid=REG

Huge quantity of explosives seized in Orissa

BERHAMPUR (Orissa): A huge cache of explosives was seized by police in Pukudibandh area on Friday.

The explosives, weighing about 50 kg, were being transported in a three-wheeler when they were seized and the vehicle's driver and owner arrested. The three-wheeler was coming from Purushottampur, about 60 km from Berhampur, police said.

The driver and owner were identified as Hema Mandal and Chhina Mandal.

The explosives, gelatine and urea, which are known to be used by Naxalites for making landmines, were worth about Rs 20 lakh, Superintendent of Police Dayal Gangwaar said.

Though the main accused is absconding, the interrogation of the Mandals will reveal his whereabouts, Gangwaar said.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/NEWS/India/Huge_quantity_of_exp
losives_seized_in_Orissa/articleshow/1668804.cms

BSE Orissa to set up exam centers within jail premises

Cuttack -- The jail inmates looking forward to forthcoming matriculation examinations now need not have to worry about the examination centre.

For their convenience, the Board of Secondary Education (BSE), Orissa, has decided to open two examination centres at two separate jails in the State.

Says Manmohan Swain, BSE controller of Examination, "At least seven inmates at Choudwar circle jail and three others at Koraput district jail appear this year's matriculation examinations that are scheduled to begin on March 7.

Their respective jail premises have been declared as examination centres at which a senior teacher of the nearby high school will be appointed as the centre superintendent and the jail welfare officer will function as deputy centre superintendent."

Source -- Indiaedunews.net

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