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Apr 16, 2007

Nearly 75,000 primary schools in India have no classroom

New Delhi, April 16 India may claim that it is slowly becoming a knowledge hub, yet a survey by a university revealed Monday that nearly 75,000 schools at the elementary level have no classrooms.

The report, 'Elementary Education In India: Where Do We Stand?' by National University of Educational Planning and Administration (NEUPA) said at least 10.15 percent of such schools are running without classrooms.

'Forget about buildings, 74,893 primary schools (Class I-V) have no classrooms. It's a great worrying point,' said Arun Mehta, who was part of the countrywide survey.

The percentage of schools without classrooms in urban areas is 13.9 as against 9.6 in rural areas, the report said.

'A whopping 40.41 percent primary schools in Jharkhand have no classrooms,' Mehta told IANS, adding that 37.62 percent of primary schools in Jharkhand have only two classrooms.

Ved Prakash, vice chancellor of the university, said: 'All these pupils study in tents and a large chunk of them under the sky. Both the private and the government sector should work together to solve this huge issue.'

The survey covered over 1.1 million primary and upper primary schools across 604 districts of India of which nearly 67 percent are independent primary schools.

The report revealed that as many as 107,276 schools, both primary and upper primary, had only one classroom.

Of the over 1.1 million schools surveyed, 11 percent of the classrooms need major repairs and 21 percent need minor repairs, the report said.

Mehta pointed out that in Nagaland, 73 percent of classrooms need repairs.

'Of the existing classrooms in Nagaland, 73 percent, Meghalaya 77 percent, Assam 66 percent, Mizoram 64 percent, Arunachal Pradesh 64 percent, West Bengal 57 percent and Orissa 55 percent need repairing,' Mehta said.

The report also found that 50 percent of classrooms in Bihar, 52 percent in Jammu and Kashmir, 48 percent in Jharkhand and 64 percent in Lakshadweep needed to be repaired.

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/52421.html

Sesa Goa told to develop mines or leave Jharkhand

Kolkata: Sesa Goa has received a showcause notice from the Jharkhand government asking it why its prospective licence for iron ore mines in the state should not be cancelled.

The district mining officer of Chaibasa has said the company seemed more interested in keeping the 7 square km of mining area in its fold rather than developing it.

The company has been asked to reply to the showcause notice in a month's time.

Sesa's valuation received the first blow when the Centre imposed an export levy of Rs300 a tonne on iron ore on 28 February. The company exports one-tenth of its 9.6-million-tonne output to Japan and 58 per cent to China and Taiwan.

Sesa Goa received the prospective licence for the mines in Jharkhand's West Singhbhum district in early 2005.

Industry sources said the letter gains significance because the valuation of the country's second-largest iron ore exporter would be determined by its reported 150 million tonne of iron ore reserves in Orissa, Karnataka and Goa and the prospective mining licence in Jharkhand (government-owned MMTC is the country's largest iron ore exporter).

Lakhmi Mittal controlled Arcelor Mittal, Anil Agarwal-controlled Vedanta Resources, and the Aditya Birla Group's closely-held Essel Mining & Industries have submitted bids for Mitsui's 51 per cent stake in Sesa Goa.

http://www.domain-b.com/companies/companies_s/sesa_goa/20070416_mines.html

903 abductions in Bihar and counting

PATNA: Bihar has once again earned the dubious distinction of being the most lawless state in the country with over 903 people reported kidnapped in the first three months of 2007.

MP Gupta, a senior lawyer of Patna High Court, quoted a court report as saying that 90 cases of abductions took place in Bihar from January 1 to March 31. In January, there were 333 kidnappings, 361 in February and 209 in March, indicating that little has changed since the new government came to power in the state in 2005.

"The figures are authentic and based on reports submitted by district judges to the high court," said Gupta, who is also general secretary of the Council for Protection of Public Rights and Welfare, which files crime-related PILs. Gupta added that the Patna High Court had asked district judges to submit monthly reports on the abductions because it doubted the authenticity of the figures provided by the Bihar government.

According to officials, over 2,000 people were kidnapped in 2006, with lawyers, doctors, contractors, businessmen and schoolchildren being the prime targets. In fact, hundreds of professionals migrated to bigger cities or have sent their children to boarding schools outside the state.

In the wake of a series of abductions of schoolchildren in the state, more and more people are questioning Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's claim of providing better governance.

When Nitish Kumar assumed power in November 2005, he had promised to turn Bihar into a crime-free state in three months. In fact, when Rabri Devi was the chief minister of the state , the opposition had made the poor law and order situation in the state a major issue. Clearly, Bihar has not changed much since then.

Gupta said 14,276 abduction cases were pending in various courts across the state. He claimed that nearly 5,000 criminals involved in abduction cases had not been arrested.

Earlier this year, the Patna HC had directed the government to trace 144 children and 581 women reported missing since 2001. The court took a serious note of the reports that 44 of the abducted children had been killed. The court had expressed concern over the police failure in finding the missing children and asked the government to submit a report within six weeks.

http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=1091270

GRASSROOTS CONNECTIVITY

The West Bengal government is believed to have roped in telephony service provider Reliance Communications for its e-governance project, an attempt to bridge the digital divide between rural and urban areas in the state.

The state government, which was planning to connect 3,600 gram panchayats and all municipalities through the Internet, had earlier roped in IT major Wipro and SREI Infrastructure Finance Ltd for the project. SREI was to set up around 5,000 common service centres (CSCs) in rural Bengal.

The Anil Ambani group company would help the state in setting up communication infrastructure, including providing of bandwidth and Internet connectivity, said sources close to the development.

The company would also look at setting up payment gateways that would help citizens to remit taxes and like electricity and water among others over online or through specially developed kiosks.

When contacted, a Reliance Communications spokesperson declined to comment on the issue and added that company was open to every opportunity available in the country.

The West Bengal government had undertaken an e-governance policy with an intention to connect its 3,600 gram panchayats and all municipalities on an IT network.

The network was being set up as a two-way communication mode between the governing bodies and citizens, with the government also keen on taking in citizens' opinions to run the state.

The state was also planning to set up e-governance counters where the high-population density was not backed up by proper information infrastructure, and a number of information kiosks, under its government-to-citizen (G2C) interface.

The project was being planned in phases and it was also planning for automation of land records and retail transactions, while the stress was also on e-education and adult literacy among others

http://www.business-standard.com/common/storypage.php?autono=281460&leftnm=3
&subLeft=0&chkFlg =

Doctors still reluctant to take up rural postings

BHUBANESWAR: Rural health services particularly in tribal dominated districts continue to be plagued by shortage of doctors and other paramedical staff.

The additional financial incentives announced by the Government for doctors working in tribal dominated backward districts has failed to motivate doctors to take up rural posting.

According to latest estimate, 382 doctor posts are lying vacant in 14 districts including the 11 districts (eight KBK districts plus Boudh, Kandhamal and Gajapati) where doctors are given special allowance. The other three districts are Gajapati, Mayurbhanj and Sundergarh.

While 173 assistant surgeon posts are lying vacant, there is a shortage of 101 class-II specialists, 82 class-I specialists and 26 senior class-I specialists is these districts.

Shortage of doctors have hit the health services most in backwards districts of Kandhamal, Kalahandi, Koraput and naxal infested Malkangiri. As against a sanctioned strength of 92 assistant surgeons in Kandhamal district, 22 posts are lying vacant. The remaining three districts have a shortage of 20 assistant surgeons each.

The sanctioned strength for Malkangiri district is 55 while 35 doctors are in place. Delivery of health services in the district has crumbled and people are dying of common diseases like diarrhoea which recently claimed several lives, sources said.

While the tribal dominated southern Orissa districts are malaria endemic zone, 233 post of women malaria preventive health worker are lying vacant. The issue was raised at the recent meeting of the Tribes Advisory Council chaired by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.

Last year the State Government introduced an incentive scheme to encourage doctors to take up posting in the KBK districts and three non-KBK districts of Boudh, Kandhamal and Gajapati.

A special allowance of Rs 2000 per month was given to each of the assistant surgeon and class-II specialist posted in district headquarters hospitals and Rs 5000 per month to the two categories of doctors posted in periphery.

Additional incentive of Rs 2000 per month was given to contractual doctors working in these districts and tribal blocks of Mayurbhanj, Keonjhar and Sundargarh districts.

However, there is hardly any changes in the situation even after introduction of the incentive scheme.

Recently, the Government announced a special package for the doctors including enhancement of basic salary. The special incentive for doctors working in KBK districts was from Rs 5000 to Rs 8000 per month and those working in district headquarters will get a special allowance of Rs 4000 per month as against Rs 2000 given earlier.

The incentive schemes will be extended to doctors working in Gajapati, Kandhamal and Boudh districts.

http://www.newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?ID=IEQ20070416113151&Page=Q&Title=
ORISSA&Topic=0

Mr Justice, We Want Social Justice

THE Supreme Court in its interim order on the question of reservations for the OBCs has observed that "it would be desirable to keep in hold the operation of the Act so far as it relates to Section 6 thereof for the OBCs category only". The peculiar wording of the judgement pronounced by the court here is noteworthy. This has led to the chairman of the Oversight Committee on Reservations, Veerappa Moily, to comment "Where did they (court) say they were staying the operation of the Act? They have not mentioned it… It is up to the government of India (to decide). If they (the government) feel that they can hold back the operation of Section 6 (of the Act) they can do so. Otherwise they can go ahead". If the entire issue is so simple then did the entire media, political parties and legal experts miss this point?

Let us look at the immediate sentence that follows the above quoted one from the judgement. "We make it clear that we are not staying the operation of the statute, particularly, Section 6 so far as the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes candidates are concerned." This clearly meant that the court is in fact staying the operation of the statute for the OBCs. This sentence is much more direct than the earlier use of the word 'desirable'. Leaving aside the legal intricacies in the usage of a word or a phrase, a reading of the entire judgement makes clear the intention of the court.

It is not for the first time that the Supreme Court has stayed the implementation of reservations for the downtrodden sections of our society. The very first amendment to our Constitution was necessitated by the reluctance of the Supreme Court to allow reservations for the SC, STs in education. Explaining the reasons behind the moving of the amendment Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, stated "In order that any special provision that the State may make for the educational, economic or social advancement of any backward class of citizens may not be challenged on the ground of being discriminatory, it is proposed that Article 15(3) should be suitably amplified". This amendment also led to the insertion of Ninth Schedule in the Constitution to safeguard land reform acts. Unfortunately even after more than 55 years of the first amendment to the Constitution there are many 'challenges' for any special provision that is enacted for the advancement of the backward sections in our country.

MAKE DO WITH AVAILABLE DATA

One of the important reasons for staying the implementation of the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission) Act now is the absence of concrete data about the exact population of the OBCs. The court did not agree to go by the Census of the 1931 that the Mandal Commission has used to recommend reservations for the OBCs. Incidentally, the same court, but a bigger 9-member Bench, had allowed for reservations for the OBCs in employment – which was based on the same 1931 census used by the Mandal Commission – in its famous judgement in the Indra Sawhney case in 1993. Moreover, the 27 per cent reservation for the OBCs in employment was not decided according to the proportion of their population but taking into consideration the upper limit of 50 per cent that the court has set for the total reservations that can be provided to the disadvantaged sections in our society.

The collection of caste-wise census was stopped in our country after 1931. While the Second World War affected the overall collection of census in 1941, the first government of independent India barred the collection of caste-wise census, except for the SC/STs. The reason was that this might impede the transformation of the country into a casteless country. This decision can be better understood when one locates it in the background of the discussions that had taken place in the Constituent Assembly on the Report of the Advisory Committee on the Minorities tabled by Sardar Vallabhai Patel. This policy is continued till date and was one of the reasons for the rejection of the repeated requests of Mandal for conducting a caste-census.

Even though there is no collection of data about the population of each caste in the country there are other sources that give us an idea of the number of OBCs in the country. According to the recent sample survey carried out by the NSSO, the number of OBCs in our country comes to roughly 41 per cent of the population. Both the opponents and proponents of reservation use this figure to suit their respective arguments. Many of the Backward Classes Commissions/Corporations in the states have collected data about the number of Backward Classes in their respective states and their total population. To take an example, the calculation made by the Commission in the state of Andhra Pradesh is around 52 per cent of the total population of that state. Likewise many other states too have similar data. The government could have used all this data in its arguments to present its case and the court too should (have) consider(ed) it. Moreover, it should not be forgotten that there exists reservations for OBCs in the state level institutions based on OBC lists in the respective states and the data thus collected. When these numbers can ensure reservations at the state level, the question is why cannot they be used to ensure reservations at the all India level?

DENYING RELIEF TO THE NEEDY

It is an undeniable fact that majority of these OBCs are poor artisans involved in various kinds of activities that are adversely affected by the neo-liberal policies. If anybody has a problem with the process of identification of the OBCs they should strive to correct the fault but should not try to put a halt to the entire mechanism of providing State support for them. The presence of few well-to-do sections among these sections should not make us conclude that the entire section of the OBCs is well off. 'In the rural areas, the proportion of households in the highest Monthly Per Capita Consumer Expenditure (MPCE) class ( i.e. those who spent Rs 1155 or more per month) was higher among 'others' category of households (12 per cent) than among the OBCs (5 per cent), SCs (3 per cent), STs (2 per cent). The proportion of urban households in the highest MPCE class ( i.e. those who spent Rs 2540 or more per month) was higher among 'others' (13 per cent) category of households than among the OBCs, STs (3 per cent each), SCs (1 per cent)' –– NSSO 60th Round.

It is in this background some of the observations made by the court come out to be disappointing when it states that 'there is competition to assert backwardness'. It is a fact that some vested sections in the society are trying to take advantage of the special provisions for the backward classes and are vying for the 'label'. This is because of the myth that reservations can guarantee them a seat in an educational institution or provide them with a job opportunity. A study based upon NSS 55th Round shows that the unemployment rate among urban dalits is over 2 per cent higher than among other workers. There is no guarantee that reservations are a passport to employment opportunities. Moreover the above quoted income inequalities between various social groups make it that much more difficult for them to pursue education of their dreams. Reservations for these really backward sections provide succour to them even though they might be of temporary nature. The stay desired by the court denies this relief to those very sections who are in real need of them.

The court quotes approvingly the arguments of the petitioner and states that the 'policy of reservations cannot be and should not be intended to be permanent'. In an ideal society where there exists equality – social, political and economic – and when our goal of 'economic democracy' is achieved nobody might need reservations. To put it simply, when the State (all its arms including the judiciary) can guarantee education for all and jobs for all, then reservations may not be needed at all.

Unfortunately, India today is far from that ideal condition. Moreover it should also be remembered that the list of the OBCs is reviewed periodically through a public hearing from which additions and deletions are done. By statute there is no permanency of reservations for any backward class. Even for SC/STs it is periodically reviewed and only then an extension is granted.

It is in the Constituent Assembly debates during the finalisation of our Constitution that it was decided that parliament would undertake periodic review of reservations. Participating in the debate, Nagappa has stated, "If, after ten years, our position happens to be the same as it is today, then, it is open to the parliament either to renew it or abolish it. This does not prevent you from coming forward within the next five or ten years or even two years with an Act of parliament saying 'Harijans have been granted their demands, they are now on a par with others and they need not have this reservation of seats'." If today we claim that we have come to such a situation in our country – in spite of the overwhelming evidence pointing to the contrary – that means one is living in an illusory world, totally cut off from the realities. The existence of sharp dividing lines on caste, religion and regional grounds in our society certainly mandate a pro-active State support for the disadvantaged sections. Reservations have proved to be one such important means.

It is unfortunate that the arguments of the petitioner stating that reservations are dividing the society found a mention in the judgement. This has given scope for a section of the overzealous media to propagate that this was the opinion of the court. Divisions on the basis of caste pre-date reservations, they co-exist with them and unless some concrete and drastic social changes are initiated, might continue for years to come. Reservations cannot be blamed for this. The feudal social order is the culprit. To blame reservations shows an upper caste, elitist bias and is intended to shift the blame from their shoulders to the already disadvantaged sections of the society. This is nothing but a plan to further perpetuate their deprivation in the name of non-existent equality. It is also unfortunate for the court to state, "by increasing the number of seats for the purpose of reservation unequals are treated as equals." This in a way gives credence to the already debunked idea that reservations are against merit. Here it should be remembered that the court itself allowed the private managements to 'reserve' a certain per cent of their seats as NRI quota, put up for sale to the rich who are not necessarily meritorious.

FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS AND SOCIAL GOOD

Most of the social welfare measures that the State is forced to undertake due to popular pressure ends up challenged in the court of law by a handful of people. They claim these social welfare measures to be a curtailment on their fundamental rights. Unfortunately most of the times the courts too are mechanically interpreting the fundamental rights to overrule these welfare measures. This is becoming the order of the day more so in the era of neo-liberal reforms. Dr Ambedkar replying to the debates on the draft Constitution in the Constituent Assembly said "Because fundamental rights are the gift of the State it does not follow that the State cannot qualify them." The qualifications to the fundamental rights are to be wholeheartedly welcomed if they are intended for the good of the majority and the advancement of the disadvantaged sections in our society. The qualification to the fundamental rights 15 and 16 providing for reservations is one such measure that should be commended and not condemned. These qualifications are also in line with the other equally important provisions in our Constitution – though legally not binding on the State – the Directive Principles. Article 46 and clauses 1 and 2 of Article 38 are two such directions that one needs to remember here. As Ambedkar had pointed out in his concluding remarks to the Constituent Assembly "Without equality, liberty would produce the supremacy of the few over the many, which is against the basic tenets of our Constitution."

It is increasingly appearing as if the courts are giving credence to individual rights over the social good, which the directive principles seek to achieve. The Courts should try to answer the question that Ambedkar has asked "After all, what are we having this liberty for? We are having this liberty in order to reform our social system, which is so full of inequities, so full of inequalities, discriminations and other things, which conflict with our fundamental rights".

If the courts go on denying the basic urges of the common people and negate their hard-won rights it would adversely affect the functioning of our democracy. They should never forget the warning of Ambedkar "How long shall we continue to deny equality in our social and economic life? If we continue to deny it for long, we will do so only by putting our political democracy in peril. We must remove this contradiction at the earliest possible moment or else those who suffer from inequality will blow up the structure of political democracy…" It is high time for us as a society to really work for uplifting the downtrodden sections in our society.

http://pd.cpim.org/2007/0415/04152007_arun%20kumar.htm

Northeast India's tea estates are held to ransom

GOLAGHAT, India, April 16 (Reuters) - Tea plantation workers linked to separatist groups in India's northeast have banded together in an extortion racket, kidnapping at least 13 senior estate managers in the last two months, officials said.

The All Adivasi National Liberation Army (AANLA) has been formed in the last six months by powerful separatist groups in Assam state as a new front while India's renewed anti-insurgency efforts have begun to cripple their activities elsewhere.

The AANLA has more than 100 undercover militants working on estates, mostly in the Golaghat region in southeastern Assam. The group has brought around 40 tea estates into its racket.

"Our managers remain terrified and even their families are suffering from fear," said one tea estate owner in Golaghat, asking not to be identified for his safety.

All 13 kidnapped managers and tea estate executives were safely returned after ransoms were paid.

The extorted money is passed on to larger rebel groups in the northeast, including a faction of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN) and the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA), security officials said.

These rebel groups are fighting for independent homelands for indigenous people in the region.

"We can hardly move freely in our own tea gardens nowadays," the estate owner said. "If the situation continues like this we will have no option other than to close down our business."

The new racket has emerged at a time when the tea industry has been hit by rising wage and employee welfare bills. Large tea companies are opting out of the plantation business in favour of the more lucrative marketing of tea.

It is the smaller tea companies and owners which are bearing the brunt of the latest extortion drive. The state produces about half of India's tea output.

The AANLA claims it is fighting to safeguard the tribal culture of the plantation workers whose ancestors were brought from northern India by British colonialists to labour there.

"It is not a well-organised group and they don't have well-thought out aims and objectives. It is made of a bunch of guys who are on to making easy money," said a senior intelligence officer, who asked not to be identified.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/DEL204660.htm

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