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Hot issues of Today

Feb 26, 2007

More colleges, modest fees

- Public sector participation in education
Interview

Ashok Kumar Basu, principal secretary, department of science and technology and IT. A Telegraph picture
The departmental promotion committee (DPC) has recently recommended that Ashok Kumar Basu, principal secretary of the department of science and technology and information technology, be granted the salary of a chief secretary, thus catapulting him in the race for the top slot.

The war for the chief secretary's job has further intensified with at least two

former Jharkhand chief secretaries vying for the post.

A 1969 graduate from Presidency College, Calcutta, Basu passed out from IIT Kanpur in 1974 and joined IAS in 1976. Initially, with the Bihar cadre, after November 2000 Basu was awarded the Jharkhand cadre.

Basu has underlined for himself the task of stopping the annual migration of thousands of students from Jharkhand to other parts of India from neighbouring Orissa to Maharashtra and the southern states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. Speaking to Rudra Biswas, Basu unveiled his plans for the future stressing that all his plans are intended to benefit the needy of the state.

How do you propose to stop the annual migration of students from Jharkhand and the resultant outflow of crores?

We are trying to set up a technical university in Jharkhand, which would supervise and control all technical institutes. All efforts are being made to finalise the draft bill for the creation of the university, so that it can be put up before the state Assembly latest by the monsoon session this year.

At present, the number of seats in the five technical institutions in the state is 2,500. By the end of the 11th plan period in 1911, the state would boast of 20,000 seats.

What concrete steps are being initiated to increase the number of technical institutes of quality in Jharkhand?

We are trying to get the public sector interested in setting up quality technical institutes in the state. Bokaro Steel has already agreed to set up an engineering and a medical college in Bokaro. Talks are on with top private institutes to set up shop in Jharkhand.

Though quality education comes at a price, how do you propose to control the fee structure?

According to a recent Supreme Court judgment, the quantum of fees to be charged is to be decided by a committee to be set up under the chairmanship of a retired judge of the high court. In Jharkhand, too, we have instituted such a committee in line with the apex court directives. This committee would decide the fee structure for 2008-2011 after examining all aspects before arriving at a decision.

Do you also propose to increase the number of polytechnics in the state, particularly for those who cannot afford degree level studies?

We propose to increase the number of polytechnics from 13 to 34 so that each district has one in its area. We have already approved 8 polytechnics. Eleven polytechnics are to be created in the more backward districts of the state.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1070226/asp/jamshedpur/story_7441681.asp

Colonial yokes are not bad for all

Feb 1st 2007 KOLKATA
From The Economist print edition

The world's last rickshaw-pullers are battling against extinction

SOME very poor men, perhaps 18,000 of them, went on strike in Kolkata on January 24th to protest against a ban on their livelihood, ostensibly imposed for their own good. Much good may it do them. The Communist government of West Bengal has long wanted to outlaw rickshaws, of the original man-pulled variety, that now exist only in Kolkata. Last December it did so, on the grounds that man-powered transport was inhuman. But what else are the thousands of rickshaw-wallahs, in one of the world's poorest cities, to do?

Beg, is the best guess of a group of rickshaw-pullers on Debendra Ghosh Road, a typically crowded alley in central Kolkata. Like most of their fellows across the city, they are migrants from Bihar, India's poorest and third-most populous state. Earning around 150 rupees ($3.50) a day, with an average fare of 20 cents, they are not flush. But with an annual income of a little over $1,000, after paying rent on their rickshaws, they make roughly double West Bengal's average. "I may not like it, you may not like it, but I have children to feed," said Mahendra Paswan, a rickshaw-wallah for 26 years, with bare feet, a blue-check lungi, and six offspring in school.

West Bengal's government sees the rickshaw trade as an outworn symbol of the colonial yoke. "A disgraceful practice that flourished when the British lorded over the people," is how Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, the chief minister, has described it.

The rickshaws are used by Kolkatans of all classes, especially in streets too narrow for taxis. But the chief minister, despite his Marxist mantra, has been furiously opening the state to business over the past six years. His vision, which includes making West Bengal one of India's top three producers of information technology by 2010, is apparently incompatible with the herd of "human horses" on Kolkata's streets.

The rickshaw-pullers are going down battling. When the government started destroying unlicensed rickshaws a few years ago, they formed themselves into a union to fight the ban. "We are all faced with ruin," lamented Mr Paswan, who fears that cycle-rickshaws, which the government says it wants instead, are even more arduous to operate. In the meantime, Mr Paswan can offer a pleasant trot across Kolkata, an excellent way to view the city's fine colonial buildings.

http://www.economist.com/world/asia/displaystory.cfm?story_id=E1_RGQDRSN&login=Y

Booked: Berths to Bihar for Holi

People throng the railway reservation counter in Ranchi. Picture by Hardeep Singh
Ranchi, Feb. 25: With the festival of colours round the corner, the rush on Bihar-bound trains and buses from the city has started increasing.

While most seats in private buses leaving for Bihar have been booked, the rush for seats on Patna-bound trains are gradually catching up. The rush is expected to remain till Holi, which would be celebrated on March 3 and 4.

Of the three Patna-bound trains, reservation is available for seats on Ranchi-Patna Superfast Express and Hatia-Patna Pataliputra Express, though in limited numbers. No berths are available in Hatia-Patna Express.

Seats on buses to Bihar are also getting booked fast. About 60-odd private buses leave Jharkhand for various places in Bihar every day.

"Between February 28 and March 2, 90 per cent of the seats have been booked in all these buses," said Ranchi Bus Owners' Association president Krishna Mohan Singh. "In the next couple of days, we expect the remaining 10 per cent also to be filled up."

Unlike trains, commuting by buses is cheaper and faster, especially as the road transport goes to more places.

Buses charge about Rs 30 less than what a sleeper berth on an express train costs. The vehicles reach Patna in eight hours, about three hours less than what an express train takes. Further, unlike trains, direct buses are available to several places.

But railway sources said seats on the two Patna-bound trains would be filled up by the end of the month. "This has always been the trend. Reservations pick up before the festival. The seats would be filled by February 28," said a source in the railway.

Extra coach

A sleeper coach will be added to the Hatia-Delhi Jharkhand Swarn Jayanti Express on February 25 and 28 and also on March 2, 4, 7 and 9. This extra coach, sources said, would be able to take care of the rush.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1070226/asp/jamshedpur/story_7441686.asp

Sex workers: Call us entertainment workers

Kolkata, February 25: After acquiring the status of "workers", sex workers are now journeying towards achieving the title of "entertainment workers". At the All-India Conference of Entertainment Workers 2007 that kicked off today, this struggle by the sex workers for gaining a specific identification for themselves was seen as a pivotal issue.

There are 70 red-light areas in West Bengal with 14 in Kolkata alone, and the conference provided sex workers, both male and female, with a common platform. Sex workers will also get the opportunity to interact with entertainment workers from other spheres of life.

Entertainers like dancers, singers and stage actors from seven states will be participating in the week-long event. Various cultural programmes will be held by entertainers from West Bengal, Bihar, Orissa, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra. The conference, being held at Rabindra Kanan, is organised by Binodini Sramik Union and is supported by the Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee, Amra Padatik, Sathi Sangathan and Komal Gandhar. Rathindranath Dutta, sheriff, Kolkata, inaugurated the conference on Sunday.

The seven-day event will involve interactive discussions and debates along with cultural programmes. Topics of discussions and debate include the "Right to pleasure as a fundamental right", "Human desire and sexual pleasure", "Addressing vulnerability towards HIV through empowerment and ownership building", "Role of entertainment in social & economic development", "Sex workers are a part of the entertainment sector", "Sex worker's challenge to patriarchy", "Sex education should be included in the school curriculum", "Contradiction between sexual rights and sexual reproduction", "Addressing trafficking through engagement of entertainment workers", "Protecting women or protecting rights of women?", "Same sexual relationships - issues, agenda and challenges", "Repression of sexual pleasure - across different communities and cultures", "Entertainment workers in trade union movement", "Redefining women's movement through the lens of sex workers movement" and "Role of media in promoting rights to pleasure". Eminent personalities will actively participate in these sessions.

Teams from different parts of the country will be participating in cultural programmes, which include kawwali, Sambalpuri dance, Odisi dance drama, Panduani song and dance, Baul performance, Bhadu song and dance, Nachini dance, Chow dance, Bhojpuri dance, puppet shows and street plays. A fashion show, in which sex workers and other entertainment workers will take part, will be staged on the last day.

http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=224126

Orissa gifting bicycles to college-going tribal girls

New Delhi, Feb. 26 (PTI): In an initiative to ensure more enrollment of tribal girls in colleges, the Orissa government has started gifting bicycles to them so that they could reach the institutions located at a distance from their hamlets.

As tribal villages are located in hilly and forest areas and with practically no transport facilities available, the girls are finding it difficult to reach colleges which are normally 15 to 20 km away from their homes resulting in low representation of the group in higher education.

"As the students were facing difficulty to reach the colleges, the enrollment of tribal girls was low. Hence the Government has started this scheme," Orissa Chief Secretary Ajit Kumar Tripathy said here on Sunday.

The State Government also wants to ensure that the under-privileged sections get the facilities of higher education, he said.

The government started the scheme this academic year. All tribal girls, who had passed the high school certificate examination under Board of Secondary Education last year, have been provided with a bicycle each, he said.

Outlining other plans for tribal boys and girls, he said the government also plans to built more hostels for students.

At present, the hostels in tribal schools can accommodate 66,000 and with new ones, Government plans to give space to more than one lakh students, he said.

The initiatives assumes significance in view of the high drop-out rates among the tribal students in the State.

http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/004200702260322.htm

European Commission to boost Chhattisgarh's health sector

Raipur, Feb 25 - The European Commission is to assist Chhattisgarh in revamping its primary health sector with an aid of Rs.1.5 billion - over the next three years.

'The European Commission has agreed to provide the Chhattisgarh government Rs.1.5 billion for toning up the primary health sector in Raipur, Mahasamund, Rajnandgaon, Janjgir-Champa, Bilaspur and Kawardha districts,' state Health Minister Krishnamurthy Bandhi said Sunday.

The amount will be received phase-wise over the next three years and will be used for constructing primary health centres and providing basic health facilities.

The Chhattisgarh government has been spending millions of rupees in the current fiscal 2006-07 for creating infrastructure at health centres in all the 16 districts.

The state is to set up 200 new health centres in the current fiscal ending March 31, mainly in remote and impoverished areas dominated by illiterate tribal population. This will take the total number of primary health centres to 717.

http://www.rxpgnews.com/indianhealthcare/European-Commission-to-boost-
Chhattisgarhs-health-sector_17027.shtml

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