Disabled leaders to go on indefinite hunger strike from tomorrow

New Delhi, Jun 8 (UNI) To protest against the non-inclusion of differently abled people in the Committee formed to draft the New Disability Act, 15 disabled leaders will go on an indefinite hunger strike here from tomorrow.

The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment (MSJE) had formed a Committee to draft a new legislation to replace the Disability Act of 1995 on April 30.

However, Javed Abidi of the Disability Rights Group alleged that the 27 odd member Committee has only three people with disabilities.

''They overlooked the basic tenet of United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) and the bedrock of the disability rights movement - 'Nothing about Us, Without Us','' he said.

Mr Abidi said he had met Union Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment Mukul Wasnik on May 26 in this regard but the Minister did not agree to reconsider or even to include more disabled people in the Committee.

Earlier, the disabled leaders from across the country and across disabilities had held a candlelight vigil on May 29 in front of the Minister's residence as a mark of protest.

Mr Abidi, who is also Honorary Director of National Centre for Employment for Disabled People, further said the Committee will be meeting for the first time on June 10.

''To strongly protest against this move and to reiterate our demand that the Committee should be inclusive, 15 disabled leaders from the southern states will sit on an indefinite hunger strike tomorrow outside Shastri Bhawan,'' he said.

NHRC chief Balakrishnan favours development to end naxalism

New Delhi, Jun 7 (UNI) New chairperson of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) K G Balakrishnan today underlined lack of development as the major reason behind naxalism.

Terming naxalism a ''very complex problem'' both for the common man and security forces, the former Chief Justice of India said people in naxal-infested areas have been living with inadequate infrastructure.

''There are no hospitals, no roads, along with many other things in these areas. Naxalism is a very complex problem for all including the common man, tribals as well as police and security agencies,'' Mr Balakrishnan told mediapersons here.

The NHRC chief also sympathised with the security forces that are martyred while fighting extremists.

Reportedly, he had recently agreed to the fact that all the naxal-affected and militancy-affected states of the north-east were the human rights hotspots and use of force alone could not bring in an all time solution to these problematic areas.

Mr Balakrishnan today formally took charge as the sixth chairperson of the NHRC.

Bhopal verdict: NHRC chief Balakrishnan agrees judgement delayed

New Delhi, Jun 7 (UNI) New chairperson of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) K G Balakrishnan today agreed that the verdict on the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy came too late.

Initially refusing to comment on whether the verdict was too little and too late, the former Chief Justice of India later accepted the delay in the judgement.

However, replying to a question why the guilty people have not been considered under section 302 of IPC, he said what mattered in the case was the intention of the person involved in ''killing''.

''There is a difference between culpable homicide and murder. It depends on the intention of the criminal but not on the number of people dead,'' Mr Balakrishnan, who became the sixth chief of the NHRC, told mediapersons here .

The section 304 (a) of the Indian Penal Code pertains to death caused by carelessness and acts of negligence and carries a maximum penalty of two years' imprisonment and fine while the section 302 is for punishment for murder wherein whoever commits murder shall be punished with death or imprisonment for life and shall also be liable to fine.

When asked about his opinion if the quantum of punishment was less, he denied to comment and said, ''The aggrieved parties can file an appeal with the NHRC and inadequacy of sentence is also a ground for appeal.''

In a landmark judgement of international ramifications, a local court today pronounced the Union Carbide India Ltd's then chairman Keshub Mahindra and seven others guilty in the world's one of the worst industrial disasters.

The NHRC chief also played safe while referring to compensation being given to the tragedy victims.

''There is a committee to look into the grievances of the victims. According to the latest report submitted by the committee in the Supreme Court, all possible efforts are being made by the committee. About 400 petitions are still pending with them which include non-genuine ones also,'' he said.

Describing the tragedy as the greatest man-made calamity for the country, he said the Supreme Court had taken active steps in dealing with the case.

He further said the tragedy raised many complications but had good follow-ups like the Environment Protection Act and many other legislation which came after the disaster.

DU admissions likely to go online next year: VC

New Delhi, Jun 1 (UNI) Providing a major relief to students, Delhi University is likely to go online with its application procedure from next year, DU Vice Chancellor Deepak Pental today said.

Addressing a gathering of students, their wards and mediapersons, Dr Pental said one of the IT majors, Wipro, has been working on a project to enable Student Life Cycle Automation.

''Once the project would be made, all the students' data from his or her admission till final results would be fed in the software,'' he explained.

A student's transcript would be prepared in the end of the session which could be sent to the students at their home without any wastage of time, he added.

The Vice Chancellor was speaking during 'Lok Abhiyan', a face-to-face discussion organised by senior BJP leader and former Union Cabinet Minister of State Vijay Goel.

During the discussion, Mr Goel raised multiple issues, especially related to admission. They included increase in number of seats, initiation of evening classes in more colleges of the university, debate on priority being given to students belonging to Delhi, increased number of hostels and online admission procedure.

Talking about the debate regarding priority to Delhi students, Dr Pental said DU was a central university wherein students from all around the nation were allowed to study.

''It is the university's strength that students from all over are coming to study here. We should support those who come from under developed areas of the country like north eastern states and Chhattisgarh if they aspire to study better to become good citizens,'' he said.

Referring to infrastructural development in the university, the VC said works were in progress to bring about the developmental changes. ''In the next five years, I am sure that the university will have altogether a new face,'' he said.

He added that the decision regarding introduction of semester system has been taken to reduce the wastage time of students. ''It is not meant to harm anybody, rather it will lead to better study options. As far as the teaching time is concerned, it will
remain 180 days like present,'' he said.

MTNL employees raise numerous 'mismanagement' issues

New Delhi, May 31 (UNI) Employees of Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) today raised multiple issues related to ''mismanagement'' in the organisation, including alleged outstanding dues worth hundreds crores.

The concerns were raised by hundreds of employees during a function organised to bid farewell to MTNL staff union's General Secretary, Ch Sarup Singh, here today.

''More than Rs 500 crore outstanding dues have to be realised from VIP customers. No task force have been deployed for realisation of these dues,'' a union's spokesperson alleged.

He added that Dolphin network is not being managed properly to give customer base to private operatives. ''Similarly, broadband service is also mismanaged. Modems are not procured obstructing new addtions of subscriber base,'' he said.

Referring to 3G spectrum, the official said it has not been running profitably and in addition, the 2G service has also not been augmented.

He further alleged that the land allotted to MTNL by Delhi Development Authority (DDA) remained unutilised. ''Penalty of Rs 1000 crore has been raised by the DDA,'' he claimed.

Training centres built in Delhi and Mumbai have also remained unutilised. ''These centres can be given on lease to other agencies and considerable revenues can be mobilised,'' he said.

Minister of State for labour Harish Rawat and Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC) members were also present on the occasion.

The employees were assured by Ch Singh, who was presented with a luxurious SUV by the union, that he would continue to work for them and said the issue of settlement of pension at par with BSNL will also be resolved shortly.

Maoists' main target is Delhi, not Dantewada: Raman Singh

New Delhi, May 20 (UNI) Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh today said the main target of Maoists was not Dantewada but Delhi and so joint efforts were needed to fight the menace.

''The aim of the Maoists and Naxals is not Dantewada. They want to take over the country's economy and democracy by targetting the Centre,'' he said.

Dr Singh was speaking during a panel discussion on ''Maoists and Naxalism: Challenges and Solutions'', organised by Forum for Integrated National Security (FINS) here.

Giving out facts, the Chhattisgarh Chief Minister said it was very much visible that the Maoists, who were not less than terrorists, had been focusing on mostly those places or states in the country which were rich in resources.

''States full of mines of iron-ore, bauxite, coal, oil, among other resources, have always remained their main target. This proves that they want to conquer the country's economy,'' he said.

Giving a clarion call to the nation, Dr Singh said since it was the problem of the whole country, every citizen would have to stand together and fight the menace.

''At this stage, we will have to keep aside politics and stop thinking whether the thought-process of two bureaucrats matches,'' he said.

In reply to a question, if the state was planning to bring about any change in its strategy to fight Maoism, he said, ''Strategies are ought to change with time.''

Dr Singh also referred to certain issues regarding Maoism and called them ''myths''.

''I will like to clarify three myths that people in Delhi have been talking about. Firstly, Chhattisgarh government is not using any trading operation to bring in Multi-National Companies in Bastar. We have only been carrying out value addition works,'' he said.

''Secondly, it is a misconception that Naxalism is an outcome of social, cultural and economic differences only. There is no Zamindar, no rich, no poor, no particular caste in Bastar. In fact, the male to female ratio in the state is second best in the
country,'' he added.

The third issue raised by the Chief Minister was of development. ''Everybody says that Naxals and Maoists have been doing this in demand for their development. It is not whole truth. To cite an example, to construct a 22-km-road in 20 days, altogether 12 policemen had to lose their lives because the localities did not
want development,'' he said.

However, Dr Singh asserted that 98 per cent of the state's people want peace and non-violence and the state government has been taking all possible steps to curb the menace.

He noted that one of the biggest problem in the state was of less force. ''In addition, the country's force is not at all prepared for Guerrilla warfare either mentally or physically,'' he said.

In this regard, Dr Singh said the need was that every Indian state should have an institute or a training centre wherein the country's force could be trained for guerrilla warfare.

Before the discussion, a two-minute-silence was also observed remembering those who lost their lives in the recent Maoist attack in Chhattisgarh wherein Maoist guerrillas triggered a powerful landmine under a bus killing 31 people, many of them
civilians.

Online campaign to ban honour killings launched

New Delhi, May 18 (UNI) Responding against honour killings, a women's institution working on social action has launched an online campaign requesting the President of India to ban verdicts by Khap panchayats that justify cruelty and murder.

Launched by the Centre for Social Research(CSR), the campaign urges the citizens to support the initiative against the panchayats who have been dictating ruthless verdicts and operating as parallel courts, becoming a social challenge.

''The so-called 'preservers of the Indian tradition' are surpassing the Panchayati Raj Institution and Indian Judicial System thereby violating the rights of individuals in a democracy,'' CSR director Ranjana Kumari said.

The tyranny unleashed by the Khap panchayats on the pretext of safeguarding tradition needed to be quelled under threat of severe punishment, she added.

People can join the campaign by clicking on the following link, http//www.ipetitions.com/petition/bankillingsinthenameofhonor/.

Dr Kumari noted that the petitions will be sent to President Pratibha Devisingh Patil almost every day.

The social activist added that by creating the false impression that all marriages of choice between young couples are incestuous, ''the Khaps are actually opposing the right to choose a marriage partner.''

Referring to the Khap Panchayats in Haryana who are now seeking legal sanction for verdicts, she said, ''Lawyers and public representatives are backing such self-imposed caste-based dictators, mainly emboldened by the political patronage they
receive.''

She alleged that such self-styled counsels were common in the interior areas of several states mainly Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Rajasthan.

Condemning the gruesome acts of killings in the name of 'honour', Dr Kumari asserted that every adult has a right to marry a partner of his or her choice and no self-styled council have the right to impose their choice on them.

''There is a strong need to ban such panchayats and councils,'' she added.