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DELHI, TUESDAY, JULY 8, 2014

Printed at Chennai, Coimbatore, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Madurai, Noida, Visakhapatnam, Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi, Vijayawada, Mangalore, Tiruchirapalli, Kolkata, Hubli, Mohali, Allahabad, Malappuram, Lucknow, Anantapur and Nellore

ALVA GETSGUJARAT, GOAPAGE 10

CHANDIGARH: A group of 28Iraq returnees on Mondayled a complaint with theChandigarh police against amanpower consultancyrm that also doubles as atravel agency for dupingand causing themsubstantial nancial losses.They have also threatenedto protest in front of thePunjab Assembly, whichmeets for its budget sessionon July 15, if their moneywas not returned.

Talking to The Hindu thegroup leader, SukhwinderSingh, who lives in Kharartown in S.A.S. Nagar districtof Punjab on the outskirtsof Chandigarh, said thegroup, which had membersfrom Punjab, Haryana,Himachal Pradesh,Rajasthan and Chandigarh,were contracted foremployment in Iraq by aChandigarh-based

company Shiv Enterprises.They were given tounderstand that they wouldget a monthly salaryranging between 500 and800 US dollars by a reputedBritish constructioncompany.

Sukhwinder, who wasunder debt of over Rs.5 lakhincurred during themarriage of his daughter in

February this year, had tomortgage his wifesjewellery to arrange for theRs.1.5 lakh charged as fee bythe manpower consultancycompany owned by aperson he identied asSunny. Other members ofthe group also paid thesame amount. WhileSukhwinder was employedas a mason to lay tiles,

others were engaged ascarpenters, plumbers,electricians, foremen andhelpers.

From April to May thisyear, the group landed atBaghdad in batches andrealised they wereemployed by a local Iraqicompany, which madethem work for 14 hoursinstead of the promised 10,provided no food orresidence and after 40 dayswork denied them salaries.Finally, they approachedthe Indian Embassy, whicharranged for their ticketsback home and theyreturned on July 4.

Subsequently, the groupapproached the companythat had arranged theiremployment, seeking arefund as the terms of theircontracts had not beenhonoured. However, Sunnyaunted some papers,which he had made themsign, to argue that he owed

nothing. The group thenlodged a complaint with thepolice. The policesummoned Sunny, who inturn sought time tillWednesday to sort out thematter and make necessaryrefunds wherever they weredue.

Meanwhile, reports fromvarious places indicate thatmore people who returnedfrom Iraq have begun toseek refund from agenciesthat arranged for theiremployment contracts.

An Amritsar-basedOverseas ManpowerRecruiters Council hasappealed to the State aswell as the Centralgovernments to providethem protection fromharassment.

The council membersalleged that some Iraqreturnees were makingfalse allegations just toextort money from therecruiting agents.

Iraq returnees lodge complaint against recruitment agentsSarabjit Pandher

Workers who recently returned home from Iraq,coming out of a police station after lodging acomplaint against a manpower consultancy firm inChandigarh. - PHOTO: AKHILESH KUMAR

BRIEFLYCBI does polygraphon victims fathersNEW DELHI: The CBI onMonday did lie-detectortests on the fathers of thetwo cousins from Badaunin Uttar Pradesh who wereallegedly raped and killed.Protesting the move, thevictims brother sat on anindenite fast at JantarMantar here.

Strong quake hits MexicoTUXTLA GUTIERREZ (MEXICO):A 6.9-magnitude earth-quake on the Pacic Coastjolted southern Mexicoand Central America onMonday, killing at leasttwo people and damagingdozens of houses.

YOUNG WORLD 8 Pages (Tabloid)

GRANVILLEAUSTIN DEAD PAGE 11

Regd. DL(ND)-11/6110/2006-07-08 RNI No. TNENG/2012/49940 ISSN 0971 - 751X Vol. 4 No. 161 CITY EDITION 26 Pages Rs. 8.00 www.thehindu.in

NEW DELHI: Some of the top Del-hi University colleges haveclosed their admissions alto-gether, while some have veryfew of their courses still openunder the third cut-off list re-leased on Monday night.

Shri Ram College of Com-merce, Hindu College and Ram-jas College have closedadmissions to all their courses.

The principals of all threecolleges told The Hindu theyare full and counting withdraw-als too, a fourth list is unlikely,although sometimes seats openup in the fth or sixth list, whenstudents leave the colleges forprofessional courses. Oursanctioned strength is 750 andwe have already admitted 820students. Unless there areheavy withdrawals at the timeof professional entrances, wewill not be bringing out anymore lists, said Hindu Collegeprincipal Pradyum, adding thatsometimes seat in Sciencesopen up when students leavefor Engineering or Medicine.

Hans Raj College was one of

the few colleges to have many ofits courses still open. B.A. (Pro-gramme) is available at 88 to94.50 per cent, lower even thanKhalsa College which is asking89 to 90 per cent. Commerce,English, Economics, History,Physics and Chemistry are alsoopen at Hans Raj, amongothers.

Kirori Mal, which closed ad-missions to most of its coursesin its second list, has opened itagain for B.Com, Commerceand History due towithdrawals.

Among the girls colleges, Mi-randa House has its B.A. (Pro-gramme), English, History andChemistry courses still open.

On the South Campus, LadyShri Ram College is still offer-ing B.A. (Programme), English,Commerce and Economics at97 per cent each as also PoliticalScience.

Kamala Nehru College hasstill got its doors open for B.A.(Programme) in the range of82.50 to 89 per cent, along withEconomics. Gargi College hasclosed all its admissions.

Vijetha S.N.

Students waiting for admission at Kirori MalCollege on Monday. PHOTO: MEETA AHLAWAT

Third cut-off list offers few seats

MUMBAI: Watchman SajjadMughal, held guilty on June 30of molesting and murdering25-year-old law professionalPallavi Purkayastha, was sen-tenced to life imprisonment onMonday by a sessions courthere.

Purkayastha and her anchad rented an apartment atBhakti Park in June 2012. Ac-cording to the police, Mughalwas aware that Purkayasthawas alone on the night of Au-gust 9, 2012. He disconnectedthe power supply to her 16thoor . When she called him tocomplain, he arrived with anelectrician and took away herat keys. He later sneaked intothe at when Purkayastha wassleeping and attempted to rapeher. When she resisted, he

killed her.Session court judge Vrushali

Joshi while pronouncing thesentence said the case did notfall under the rarest of rarecategory.

Immediately after the ver-dict was pronounced, the con-vict pleaded for leniency. Thecourt, however, said the mini-mum sentence (life till the re-mainder of his natural life) hadbeen awarded to him. Themaximum punishment isdeath. The court has awardedyou the minimum punishmentpermissible under the law.

The parents of the victimwere, however, disappointedby the verdict. My daughterwas stabbed 16 times by the ac-cused. If this does not qualify asrarest of rare then what does?,the victims father Atanu Pur-kayastha told this reporter.

Pallavi killer gets life Staff Reporter

Jeweller robbedNEW DELHI: A 50-year-oldjeweller was robbed bytwo bike-borne assailantsoutside his shop, barely afew metres away from thelocal police station atBhajanpura in North-EastDelhi. Details on Page 3

NEW HOME FOR BIRDSPAGE 2

NEW DELHI: The Modi govern-ment on Monday blamed theprevious United ProgressiveAlliance government for therise in prices with Union Fi-nance Minister Arun Jaitleyclosing a short duration dis-cussion on the subject in theRajya Sabha by asserting thatthe prices were under controland there was no need forpanic.

Mr. Jaitley pointed out thathis government had inheritedthe legacy of price rise andhad taken immediate steps tocontain prices as compared tothe UPA government whichhad stepped in to check onionprices only it touched Rs. 100per kilo. He was replying to adiscussion in which over 25members from all partiesparticipated.

Jaitley puts theblame on UPA Sandeep Dikshit & B. Muralidhar Reddy

NEW DELHI: The opening day ofParliaments budget sessiongot off to a stormy start onMonday with OppositionMPs storming the well ofboth Houses protestingagainst a range of issues, in-cluding increase in prices ofpetroleum products and es-sential commodities, rail farehike and the ordinance relat-ing to the Andhra PradeshRe-organisation Bill, the lastone raised by the TelanganaRashtra Samithi.

Matters were sorted outsmoothly in the Rajya Sabhawith Union Finance MinisterArun Jaitley immediatelyconceding a discussion onprice rise, but in the Lok Sab-ha, Parliamentary AffairsMinister M. Venkaiah Naidusaid the government was will-ing to debate the issue onlyunder Rule 193 that doesntentail a vote. The Oppositionhowever, demanded an ad-journment motion under

Rule 56. As a result, while theRajya Sabha had a discussion,the Lok Sabha was repeatedlyadjourned, nally winding upat 2.10 p.m.

In the Upper House, theOpposition, including theCongress, CPI(M), BSP andthe SP, staged a walkout ex-pressing dissatisfaction with

Mr. Jaitleys explanation.The Lok Sabha was ad-

journed soon after it con-vened at 11 a.m. due to theprotest. Post lunch, SpeakerSumitra Mahajan allowed adiscussion under Rule 193,which the Congress turneddown. The Speaker thencalled it a day. Page 10

Price rise stalls Lok Sabha on Day 1Adjournments mar session; govt. concedes discussion in RSSmita Gupta & Sandeep Dikshit

NEW DELHI: The Congress hasdrafted a four-page letterstating the reasons why itsleader in the Lok Sabha Mal-likarjuna Kharge should begiven the Leader of the Op-position status.

The party, in an effort tostrengthen its claim, is plan-ning to send the letter toSpeaker Sumitra Mahajaneven as it is circulating amemorandum articulatingits case for the post amongpre-poll allies in the UPA.

The Congresss DeputyLeader in the Rajya Sabha,Anand Sharma, said on Mon-day that the party and its al-lies would submit thedemand for Leader of theOpposition status to theSpeaker in writing for animmediate decision.

On the opening day of Par-liaments budget session, the

Congress stepped up thepressure on the governmentto give it the post, with itsparliamentary party chair-person Sonia Gandhi tellingjournalists: We are the sin-gle largest party and we have

a pre-poll alliance. Hence, weare entitled to get the post ofLeader of the Opposition inthe Lok Sabha.

But the principal Opposi-tion partys arguments fellon deaf ears, with at leastthree senior Cabinet Minis-ters stressing that the Con-gress did not have thenumbers to make the claim.

The letter to the Speaker,Congress sources said,stressed that there is onlyone Act The Salary and Al-lowances of Leaders of Op-position in Parliament Act,1977 that denes who theLeader of the Opposition canbe and that makes no men-tion of the strength requiredto qualify for the official sta-tus.

It also stresses that theUPA, the largest Oppositionpre-poll alliance, has 60 MPs,more than 10 per cent of thestrength of the House.

Another report on Page 10

LoP post ours, insists SoniaSmita Gupta & Anita Joshua

NEW DELHI: Indias diplomaticoutreach to bring home 46nurses as well as help thou-sands of other Indians in Iraqleave the violence-torn coun-try was steered by NationalSecurity Adviser Ajit Dovaland Intelligence Bureau Di-rector Asif Ibrahim, who ewto Baghdad and Riyadh re-spectively last month, TheHindu has conrmed.

Their missions, whichwere kept secret at the time,

were powered by phone callsfrom External Affairs Sush-ma Swaraj to her counter-parts in the region.

At the end of June, the sit-uation for both the 46 nursesin Tikrit as well as 39 men inMosul seemed bleak, with noreal intelligence on rebelgroups that were in charge ofthem and why they were be-ing forcibly held. The ISIShad taken control of severalcities, including Tikrit, Mo-sul and the Baiji renery.

At places, they were assist-

ed by Baathist groups stillloyal to the residual regime ofSaddam Hussein, and rebelmilitary commanders from

the Iraqi army, who held ar-eas in a loose tactical coali-tion as ISIS, which made iteven more difficult to openclear lines of communica-tion.

Faced with a grim situa-tion, Prime Minister Naren-dra Modi asked Mr. Doval toconvene a high-level meetingto discuss the latest intelli-gence on the ghting in Tikritand Mosul, as well as the pos-sibilities for a mass evacua-

tion of all Indians in Iraq, ifnecessary. A day after themeeting, on June 25, Mr. Do-val went on a top secret mis-sion to Iraq to understandthe position on the groundand make high-level contactsin the Iraqi government.

Since the conict zone inIraq is held mainly by Sunniinsurgents and militantgroups, Mr. Ibrahim was dis-patched to Riyadh on June25-26 to speak with seniorofficials about intelligence onthese groups. Page 10

Suhasini Haidar

NSA Doval went on secret mission to Iraq

Indians arrive from Iraqin New Delhi on Monday.PHOTO: SUSHIL KUMAR VERMA

EXCLUSIVE

cylinders before nalising thecriteria.

The Centre could seek theStates help to compile the da-tabase of consumers of fuelsubsidies for plugging leakag-es and improving targeting.

Two or three States havealready implemented pilotsand we would like to talk tothe States in the implementa-tion of our innovative model,said Mr. Pradhan.

In the current scal, subsi-dy on diesel, LPG and kero-sene is estimated at Rs.115,548 crore. Of this, LPG ac-counts for Rs. 50,324 croreand kerosene Rs. 29,488crore. The subsidy cost on die-sel is estimated is Rs. 35,736crore but if the monthly retailprice increases continue asplanned, it could come down.

In 2013-14, the governmenthad paid Rs. 70,772 crore incash subsidy while upstreamrms had borne as their shareRs. 67,021 crore of the subsidybill. In 2012-2013, the govern-ment had paid out Rs. 100,000crore and the upstream com-panies had taken a hit of Rs.60,000 crore.

NEW DELHI: The Modi govern-ment is working on eligibilitycriteria for subsidised LPGcylinders and it is likely thathouseholds with incomesabove a certain threshold willnot be provided the subsidy.The government is also ex-ploring if the kerosene sub-sidy can be delivered throughDirect Benet Transfer(DBT). DBTs for the subsidyon LPG cylinders that hadbeen suspended by the previ-ous government are likely tobe resumed.

The Modi governmentsstrategy for rationalising theballooning fuel subsidy is togo for better and transparenttargeting, Minister of Petro-leum and Natural Gas Dhar-mendra Pradhan told TheHindu.

We wont cut the subsidyto the poor; instead we willreduce the governmentssubsidy bill by plugging theleakages and through bettertargeting, Mr. Pradhan said.We will have a public debateon who should get subsidised

Centre to set income

cut-off for subsidised LPG

Puja Mehra

NEW DELHI: The SupremeCourt held on Monday thatfatwas issued by Muslim sha-riat courts (Dar-ul-Qazas) donot have legal sanctity andcannot be enforced if they in-fringed on the fundamentalrights of an individual.

A Bench of Justices C.K.Prasad and Pinaki ChandraGhose gave the ruling on apublic interest writ petitionled in 2005. Advocate Vish-wa Lochan Madan, in his pet-ition, said a woman fromKukda village in Muzaffarna-gar district of Uttar Pradeshwas raped by her father-in-law, following which the vil-lage panchayat passed a fatwaasking her to treat him as herhusband. The Dar-ul-Uloom

also declared that she had be-come ineligible to live withher husband. This was en-dorsed by the All-India Mus-lim Personal Law Board aswell.

Disposing of the petition,the Bench said the fatwa hadno legal sanction. It cannotbe enforced by any legal proc-ess, either by the Dar-ul-Qazaissuing it or the person con-cerned, or for that matteranybody.

The Bench said the fatwacould simply be ignored. Incase a person or a body triesto impose it, the act would beillegal. The Bench said fat-was on rights, status and obli-

gation of individual Muslims,in its opinion, would not bepermissible unless asked forby the person concerned or,in cases where the person isunable to do it, by a personinterested.

Fatwas touching upon therights of an individual at theinstance of rank strangersmay cause irreparable dam-age and, therefore, would beabsolutely uncalled for. Itshall be in violation of basichuman rights. It cannot beused to punish the innocent.No religion, including Islam,punishes the innocent, theBench said.

Religion cannot be al-lowed to be merciless to thevictim. Faith cannot be usedas a dehumanising force.

Reactions: Page 10

J. Venkatesan

Fatwas not legal, says SCIt cannot be used topunish the innocent

NEW DELHI:The Su-premeCourt onMondaycleared thedecks for theappoint-ment of Lt.Gen. Dalbir

Singh as the next Army Chiefby refusing to grant an urgenthearing to challenger Lt. Gen.Ravi Dastane. Lt. Gen. Singh isscheduled to take over fromGen. Bikram Singh on August1, 2014.

Lt. Gen. Dastane contendedthat Lt. Gen. Singhs nomina-tion was based on a whollyillegal promotion as ArmyCommander two years ago.

Lt. Gen. Dastane, who wasalso in the race for the ArmyCommanders post in 2012,said his career subsequentlystagnated while Lt. Gen.Singh rose in the ranks de-spite a disciplinary and vigi-lance ban.

The apex court had agreedto hear the case sometime inSeptember 2014. But Lt. GenDastane chose to move an ap-plication before the vacationcourt in June, seeking an ur-gent date.

What is the hurry? Thereis no urgency in the case. It isonly a matter of vindication ofyour service, nothing to dowith the Army Chiefs selec-tion, Justice T.S. Thakursaid. The Bench ordered thatthe application be posted forhearing in September, thusensuring a smooth takeoverfor Lt. Gen Singh on August 1.

SC clears decks

for Dalbir Singh

as Army Chief

Lt. Gen.Dalbir Singh

Krishnadas Rajagopal

CMYK

ND-ND

CITY2 THE HINDU TUESDAY, JULY 8, 2014

NOIDA/DELHI

Poor infrastructure in schoolsNot even one of the 429 municipal school buildings in SouthDelhi scores 100 per cent on basic infrastructure, a seniorcivic body official admitted on Monday. Page 4

Congress workers stage protestProtesting against the BJP Government over rail farehike and price rise, Congress workers on Monday tried togherao the Parliament. Page 5

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CINEMA

NEW DELHI: Even as theOkhla Bird Sanctuary is inthe news this year due tothe poor arrival of waterfowl and the NationalGreen Tribunalproceedings on restrictingthe constructions aroundit, the birds appeared tohave found a new habitata few kilometres of theYamuna at Shanti Van.

According to ecologistand conservationist T.K.Roy, a tiny lake at ShantiVan has attracted a largenumber of resident waterbird species and theseinclude several which arein the InternationalUnion for Conservation ofNature red-listedthreatened species. It is

surprising that thesebirds have made landfallin the summer monthswhereas it is usually inthe winters that birdsock to Delhi. It is rare forthese birds to comeduring the scorchingsummer season as aroundthis time the smallerwetlands get dried up.

Mr. Roy said a numberof water bird species havecome in and these includethe spot-billed duck,common moorhen, white-throated kingsher, cattleegret, little egret,intermediate egret, black-winged stilt, purpleheron, grey heron, Indianpond heron, striatedheron, black-headed ibis(endangered species),white-breasted waterhen,

and red-wattled lapwing.In all the euphoria

surrounding the arrival ofthe water birds, theconservationist isconcerned about thewell-being of the birds asa large number of straydogs attempt to huntthem there. Althoughthis is the breedingseason for the residentwater birds, there hasbeen no nesting of any ofthe species as stray dogshave been attempting tohunt them.

Mr. Roy said theauthorities concerned atthe Shanti Van need toprotect and conserve thistiny wetland and it wouldbe a great help if the entryof stray dogs are alsocurbed.

Winged visitors find anew home at Shanti Van

Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar

Some of the winged visitors at Shanti Van in New Delhi (from left)common moorhen, purple heron and (below) black-headed ibis

FOR A SPOT OF PEACE

NEW DELHI: Jamia Millia Isla-mia appointed Prof. MehtabAlam of Faculty of Engi-neering and Technology asits new proctor and securityadvisor this past week.

Professor Alam was previ-ously an Inspector Generalin the Border Security Force(BSF).

Speaking about thechanges to The Hindu, Prof.Mukesh Ranjan, media co-ordinator at Jamia Millia Is-lamia said: These are justroutine administrative mea-sures that the V-C has takento bring about a fresh orien-tation to processes and torejuvenate the system.

(With inputs fromAkshita Nagpal)

Jamia Millia Islamiagets a new proctor Delhi City Bureau

NEW DELHI: Gone are the dayswhen one of the most versa-tile food in a poor manskitchen used to be potatoesand onions.

The average Delhi womanis having a tough time manag-ing her house-hold budget asthe prices of vegetables arealways in a ux. Vegetablesthat add the much neededzing to Indian food such asginger and garlic are beingsold at Rs 200 and Rs 100 perkg respectively.

They are now among thepriciest in South Delhi.

Anita Singh, a resident ofVasant Kunj said the prices ofonion, tomato and potatohave gone up and every timeshe visits the market, theprices are higher than before.

Renu Rani, who resides inNorth West Delhi, and is ateacher, said: Potato and to-mato are staple tropical foodsin Delhi. If the prices keepincreasing at this pace, whatwould a common man do?These are not luxury goodsbut are basic necessities.

Pradeep Mishra, DeputySecretary of Agricultural Pro-duce Marketing Committee(APMC), Azadpur, explainedthe phenomenon saying theprice of onion has gone up inrecent past as earlier the cropwas coming from Rajasthanand had a low shelf life. How-ever, now the onions are be-ing brought from Nasik andare of very good quality.

He also said the prices ofother vegetables have alsogone up because of the qualityof produce that is now com-ing into the market issuperior.

Rajendra Sharma, formerpresident of the Committee,said all the local vegetableswhich are coming in fromnearby areas are not expen-sive and still come within Rs 4to Rs 10 per kg.

He also said that the prices

of onions are being shown tobe high whereas the fact isthat the onions are of differ-ent varieties and hence theprices vary according to thegrading.

The onions which are toosmall are cheaper. If you seetheir rate, it would be less. Ifyou would go by the rate ofthe large onions which aregenerally purchased by hotelsetc, they are expensive. Also,the onions which are cleanand glossy are sold at a higherrate. So there are many otherthings that determine theprice variation, he said.

Mr Sharma also said thatif the government is sayingthat prices are high due tohoarding, then did they ndany illegal practice going onduring the raid? The market-ing committees are respon-sible for keeping a check onall this.

PRICEY POTATOES NO MORE THE STAPLE DIETPrices of onion, garlic and ginger also push up the household budgetAkanksha Jain

NEW DELHI: To provide onions and potatoesat wholesale rate to people, the DelhiGovernment on Monday decided to sellvegetables through Fair Price Shops(FPS). The State Government alsodecided to sell onions on the no prot no loss basis through Mother Dairy(Safal) outlets in the city.

The Food and Supplies Departmenthas been ordered to step up the efforts forsale of onions and potatoes at thewholesale rates through Fair Price Shops.More than 288 FPS have already beenidentied for this purpose and more areto follow. The vegetables to be sold atwholesale prices will be made available bythe Delhi Agricultural Marketing Board,an official said.

Onions and potatoes would also be soldthrough 380 Safal outlets in Delhi for the

next three months. This will reduce the prices at the

outlets. An awareness campaign will alsobe launched to make people aware aboutthe rates in Delhi as well as the rates atwhich they are being sold at Safal outlets,at the FPS and through the mobile vans,an official said.

The decisions were taken at a high-level meeting to review measures tocontrol the prices of essentialcommodities in Delhi. The meeting waschaired by Dr. M.M. Kutty, PrincipalSecretary (Finance), and was attended byDivisional Commissioner-cum-PrincipalSecretary (Revenue), Commissioner(Industries), Commissioner(Development), PWD Secretary,Transport Commissioner andCommissioner (Food & Supplies) apartfrom senior officers from civic bodies andthe Delhi Jal Board.

Fair Price Shops to assuage the pinch

Vishal Kant

NEW DELHI: One may trail theother while scaling amountain, yet they alwaysstep onto the summittogether. For it shouldnever be the case later on inlife that we had fought overwho reached the summitrst, say twin sisters, Tashiand Nungshi Malik.

The 23-year-olds born to aHaryanvi father and Gorkhamother have just returned toIndia after scaling NorthAmericas tallest peak,Mount McKinley, takingtheir total score to six out ofthe worlds seven tallestpeaks. As part of theirMission2for7 which is forthe cause of the Indian girlchild and to promote genderequality, they are due toclimb Antarcticas tallestpeak in November.

We will together climbthe highest peaks on theseven continents to promotemountaineering as a sportand to save and empower thegirl child, states the

brochure that the twins handout at a press conferencehere on Monday. Theyounger one, Tashi, pointsout that children and evenher own cousins prefer toplay with gadgets ratherplaying out in the open.

Over the weekend, thetwins addressed a largegathering of male villagersnear their fathers village inSonepat in a State that isnotorious for its skewed sexratio. Men wearing thetraditional turbans came tolisten to my sister and Ispeak and we were surprisedto nd that they wereencouraging and referred tous often as the daughters ofthe village, says Tashi.

Nungshi, says they areoften asked why they climbmountains. People arealways asking us what is thepoint in climbing mountains;it is not like there is a pot ofgold sitting on the summit.Basically, it makes us moveout of our comfort zone andwe have discovered so muchmore about ourselves, she

says. Seriousmountaineering has alwaysbeen a male forte and asyoung girls we have deedthat stereotype. It is not justus but the people behind uswho have made this happen.

Both look over at theirfather, Virender Singh Malik,as the object of theirinspiration. Our father has

treatment for boys and Ieven started harbouringsimilar notions, he says.

Yet, much later the Armyofficer went through achange in mindset and evenmarried a woman his parentswere not happy with and alsodecided not to have morechildren after his twindaughters were born. Now,

he is his daughtersmanager elevated fromsecretary status, he jokes,looking after their everyneed before an expeditionand arranging for nances.Whether they slept onMount Everest or not, Icould not sleep a wink whenthey were away. I was veryaware that I was the one whoencouraged them to take thisup, he says.

With climbing expeditionstaking a toll on his pocket,Mr. Malik stays up nightswriting proposals tocorporates, charitable trustsand government officesasking for funding for hisdaughters. The good thing isthey have been able to scalesix peaks in the rst attemptitself. At least, they did notwaste my money, he laughs.But, the government has nopolicy on mountaineering atthe moment which is causinga lot of problems. In someStates, mountaineeringcomes under tourism and inothers it is under sports.There is no clarity.

always stood by our side andallowed us to achievewhatever we want. Mr.Malik has his own story totell. I was born after threesisters and I remember veryvividly a trip to Haridwarwhere my mother thankedthe almighty that a boy wasborn to her. As I grew older, Inoticed the preferential

After Everest in their kitty, these twins target Antarctica Sowmiya Ashok

Virender Singh Malik with his daughters, Tashi (left) and Nungshi Malik at apress conference in New Delhi on Monday. PHOTO: SHIV KUMAR PUSHPAKAR

NEW DELHI: Stating that theDelhi University had in-dulged in enough drama dur-ing the controversysurrounding the roll-back ofthe four-year undergraduateprogramme (FYUP) andpointing to the shocking in-action of the administrationin undertaking steps to res-tructure the second and thirdyear courses, the Delhi Uni-versity Teachers Association(DUTA) has demanded thatthe administration should ei-ther get to work or else beprepared to face renewed ag-itation from the teachersbody. It has also urged thePresident, who is also the Vis-itor of the university, to in-tervene.

The task should have beeninitiated on June 21, when theUGC order stating that FYUPwas at variance with the na-tional policy was received. In-stead all were witness to asordid drama: announcementof V-Cs resignation, not go-ing through with the resigna-tion, organising a formula of ablended FYUP signed by per-sons close to him as an appealby eminent persons, not dis-playing revised admissionschedules prominently on thewebsite, and reported state-ments by officials that therestructuring is the UGCsheadache, said DUTA presi-dent Nandita Narain on Mon-day, which was the last day ofadmissions under the secondcut-off list.

The DUTA also said thatthe assignment of teachingwork to teachers, timely ap-

pointment of teachers andpreparation of time-table sothat teaching can start oncommencement of the aca-demic session requires theprocess of restructuring to becarried out without any delay.

The batch of students whohave suffered the most due tohasty experimentation of theworst kind deserve urgent at-tention so that they can beprovided the best possiblecourses in the second andthird year programme andcan be brought on par withthe pre-FYUP Honours pro-gramme, added DUTA vice-president Harish Khanna.

After waiting for a week,hoping that Vice-ChancellorDinesh Singh will wake up tothe enormous responsibili-ties towards students, 12members of the AcademicCouncil have submitted arequisition for a meeting ofthe body. Prof. Dinesh Singhhas convened many meetingsof the Academic Council onemergent basis on regular,non-urgent matters. We de-mand that he convenes themeeting at once on this mosturgent matter. He has noright to hold on to the office ofthe Vice-Chancellor and playtruant, obstruct and jeopar-dise the careers of thousandsof young students, added Ms.Narain.

Restructure DU second,third year courses: DUTAVijetha S.N.

We demand that theV-C convene theAcademic Councilmeeting at once

buildings will now be eval-uated for their sustainabilityand green building standardsby both TERIs Green Ratingfor Integrated Habitat As-sessment (GRIHA) and theUSGBCs Leadership in En-ergy and Environmental De-sign (LEED).

Several studies have esti-mated that most of the build-ings projected to be standingin 2030 in India have yet to

be built. The demand for en-ergy, water and other inputsfor these buildings and thosethat already exist will be stag-gering. Designing and con-structing green buildingswould ensure that India, andthe world, do not get lockedinto a pattern of resource useintensity that would be un-sustainable, said Dr. R.K.Pachauri, Director-General,TERI.

NEW DELHI: The Energy andResources Institute (TERI)on Monday signed an agree-ment with the US GreenBuilding Council (USGBC)for strengthening the sus-tainability and green stan-dards for the existing as wellas the new buildings in Delhiand other parts of the coun-try. Based on the agreement,

Dual system to evaluate green buildings Anumeha Yadav

NEW DELHI: A seven-year-old girl wasallegedly gang-rapedby her three minorneighbours in WestDelhis PaschimVihar, the police saidon Monday.

The incident tookplace on July 3 whenthe three boys, whoalso reside in thesame locality, took thevictim to a nearbypark on the pretext ofgiving her a mangoand allegedly rapedher there.

The police havetaken all the accused aged between 10 and15 years intocustody and producedthem before theJuvenile JusticeBoard.

Theincidentcame to lighton Sundaywhen thevictimsprivate partsdevelopedsomeproblems.She narratedthe incident

on being asked by hermother. Later, themother informed thepolice, a senior policeofficer said.

Based on themothers complaint, acase has beenregistered at thePaschim Vihar policestation, and furtherinvestigation is on, theofficer said. PTI

Three minorsaccused of raping 7-year-old neighbour

The accused aged between 10 and 15 years have beenproduced beforethe JuvenileJustice Board

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Published by N. Ram at Kasturi Buildings, 859 & 860, Anna Salai, Chennai-600002 and Printed by S. Ramanujam at HT Media Limited, B-2, Sector 63, Noida, Distt. Gautam Budh Nagar, U.P., also at HT Media Ltd. Plot No. 8, Udyog Vihar, Greater Noida Distt. Gautam Budh Nagar, U.P. 201306, on behalf of KASTURI & SONS LTD., Chennai-600002. Editor-in-Chief: N. Ravi (Editor responsible for selection of news under the PRB Act), Editor: Malini Parthasarathy

DELHI TODAYJuly RISE 05 31 July RISE 05 31 July RISE 05 32

08SET 19 23

09SET 19 22

10SET 19 22

RISE 15 09 RISE 16 10 RISE 17 11TUE SET 01 32 WED SET 02 19 THU SET 03 12

Woman shot dead in West DelhiNEW DELHI: A 40-year-oldwoman was shot dead onMonday by an unidentifiedperson in West DelhisNajafgarh area, the policesaid.The incident took place inthe morning in BabaHaridas Nagar when thewoman identified asVidya was returning toher parents home afterattending a court hearing. Vidya, who was separatedfrom her husband, was shotat in the head by a person,who fled from the spot.She was rushed to a nearbyhospital where she wasdeclared brought dead. The police suspect theinvolvement of Vidyasbrother, who is on the run,as there was some propertydispute between them. PTI

NEW DELHI: It was a humid, un-comfortable day in the Capitalon Monday even though themercury remained below the40 degrees Celsius mark.

According to the MeT De-partment, the day temperatureat Safdarjung observatory wasrecorded at 38.8 degrees, two

notches above normal.But it was the humidity

which caused discomfort toDelhiites as it oscillated be-tween 40 and 85 per cent.

The city registered a mini-mum of 26.8 degrees, whichwas one notch below normal.

PTI

Humidity woes for Delhiites

NEW DELHI: A 50-year-old jew-eller was robbed by two bike-borne assailants outside hisshop, barely a few metresaway from the local policestation at Bhajanpura inNorth-East Delhi.

According to the police, theincident took place when thejeweller was closing the shut-ter of his shop for the day onSunday evening. The victimhas told the police that he wasrobbed of gold worth aroundRs.55 lakh.

The incident was reportedaround 8-15 p.m. from ThanaRoad in Bhajanpura. A policeofficer investigating the casesaid the jeweller, Manoj Jain,had placed a bag containing

gold and some cash right nextto him while he was lockingthe shutter.

According to the victim,two men stopped their mo-torcycle and tried to pick upthe unguarded bag. When hetried to pull the bag away, therobbers pushed him as a re-sult of which he fell down. Inthe meantime, the robberssped away from the spot,said the police officer. Mr.Jain has claimed that the bagcontained jewellery worth

Rs.55 lakh and Rs.25,000 incash.

The officer added that therobbers were armed but didnot use their pistols duringthe loot. It was only whensome locals tried to chasethem that they pointed theirpistols at them, added theofficer.

Mr. Jain, who is sufferingfrom a kidney ailment, had tobe helped by locals to reachthe police station which isjust a few metres away from

his shop. He also lives in thesame locality with his wifeand two daughters.

Relatives of the victim sus-pect that the robbers mighthave been planning the rob-bery for a while as they werewell aware of the shops clos-ing time. They also appearedto know that Jain workedalone at the shop.

A senior police officer post-ed in North-East Delhi saidthe accused were yet to beidentified. So far no eyewit-ness has come forward toidentify the accused. Localsand the victim could not notedown the number plate of thetwo-wheeler, said the offi-cer. A case has been regis-tered at the Bhajanpurapolice station.

Stolen bag had jewellery worth Rs.55 lakh, Rs.25,000 cash

Kritika Sharma

Jeweller robbed a few metres awayfrom police station in Bhajanpura

Two bike-borne men lifted the bag when theowner was shutting down his jewellery shop

Police suspect robbers had planned the act asthey seemed to know the shops closing time

The Delhi Governmenthad in 2011 proposed theintroduction of integratedsmart cards that can be usedfor both buses and metrotrains. But the proposal,which aimed to make travel

seamless, has been stuck infiles ever since.

The smart card-basedelectronic ticketing systemwas to cover the Delhi Metro,all private buses under thecluster scheme as also over

6,500 Delhi Transport Cor-poration buses. But the con-cept failed to materialise dueto lack of coordination be-tween different agencies.

With the installation ofthis system, the governmentwould have also got the exactdata on the usage of the ser-vices, helping in better util-isation of buses and routes.

The challenge is now be-fore the Narendra Modi Gov-ernment, which is also rulingDelhi through the Lieuten-ant-Governor at the mo-ment, to take the schemeforward.

U-turn for bettermanagement

Flyovers are not the onlysolution to traffic problemsin the National Capital Re-gion. In Noida, the compara-tively inexpensive and easierto build U-turns are makingthe flow of vehicles more

orderly.U-turns may force you to

drive 200 metres extra, butthey make the traffic move-ment safer as drivers areforced to stay on their side.Flyovers and under-passestake years to make, apartfrom the huge costs involved.

While U-turns may needmore space than signals orcuts, they are being used allover the NCR from Noida toSouth Delhi, outside AIIMS.But in the absence of en-forcement, they can alsoprove to be traffic hazards.For instance on Noidas Da-dri Road, vehicles often gothe wrong way to avoid trav-elling a few yards more.

The traffic police and localauthorities need to work outa way to implement road en-gineering plans that includeU-turns.

(By Kritika Sharma andDamini Nath)

Smart proposal stuck in files An integrated card for metro and bus users is yet to materialise

NEW DELHI: Hospitals acrossthe city have reported anincrease in vector-bornediseases such as dengue andmalaria and othermonsoon-related diseaseslike viral fever, common flu,eye and stomach infectionthis year.

There is a slow butsteady rise in the number ofwater and vector bornediseases this season. Withsummers intense heatgiving way to rains and highhumidity levels, the city hasregistered a slight jump inthe number of seasonaldiseases. Hygienicsurroundings, eating cleanand home-cooked food,staying away from crowdedplaces and protectingoneself from mosquitoescould go a long way inensuring a disease-freespell, said Delhi MedicalCouncil member Dr. AnilBansal.

Dengue, malaria andchikungunya have regularlybeen plaguing the city andfigures speak forthemselves. As per theCentral Government data,Delhi in 2009 reported 1,153cases of dengue and threedeaths, 2010 saw 6,259dengue cases and eightdeaths, in 2011 1,131 casesand eight deaths werereported while 2012 saw1,584 cases and four deaths(till November that year).Chikungunya cases too werereported from the city.Eighteen cases werereported in 2009, 120 in2010, 110 in 2011 and six in2012.

The annual surge in thesediseases, especially aroundthe monsoon, has promptedboth the Central and Delhihealth departments to spellout their preparedness totackle the outbreak ofdiseases.

Hospitals have beeninstructed to keep adequateavailability of dengue

testing kits for properdiagnosis. They have beentold to ensure that there isadequate staff, beds, blood/platelets ready to tackle thebi-annual cycle of dengueand malaria in the city.

Availability of beds andblood/platelet will be shownon the department websitefrom July 15 and hospitalshave been asked to nominatea nodal officer who will be intouch with the Centraldengue cell, noted DelhiHealth Secretary S.C.L. Das.

The Health Departmenthas also directed their labsto be in full preparednesswith reagents andchemicals.

Inspection teamsconstituted by the drugcontroller will be sent todifferent blood banks inorder to keep a check on themalpractices in supply chainmanagement of bloodcomponents., noted asenior health official.

Also roped in this year forthe cause are residentswelfare associations andDelhi Medical Associationmembers who will beworking alongside the civicbodies under a collectiveprogramme called DelhiAgainst Mosquito Fightthe Bite Campaign.

All municipal and healthauthorities need to work in

tandem to tackle the threateffectively and we (RWAs inDelhi) are prepared to takethis across the city, hand inhand with the authorities,noted Sanjay Kaul ofPeoples Action.

Dr. Satish Koul of InternalMedicine at Columbia AsiaHospital said: Every yearduring the summer/monsoon months, most ofour focus is on dengue,especially in urban areas.We educate people on thesymptoms and how toprevent the disease.Prevention is by eliminatingthe breeding of mosquitoes.However, we need to makepeople aware thatcomplications from malariacan be life threatening tooand they should not take itlightly.

While in most casesmalaria can be treated, somestrains of the disease maycause more seriousproblems such as damage tothe heart, lungs, kidneys orbrain. Malaria may alsorecur in people due toabsence of effective immuneresponse, incompletetreatment and unhinderedexposure to mosquito bites,he noted.

Hospitals gear up for monsoon threatsBindu Shajan Perappadan

CULTURE Triveni Kala Sangam: Exhibitionof Water Colours by BheemMalhotra, 25, Tansen Marg, 11 a.mto 7 p.m Alcoholics Anonymous: PrakashGroup: Vikaspuri, Delhi Governmentdispensary, KG1 Block; PrimaryPurpose Group: Church of theResurrection, near Mother DairyBooth, DDA Market, Rohini;Jeevandhara Group: Khyber Pass,Civil Lines, St. Thomas BaptistChurch; Programme of RecoveryGroup: Dwarka Health Centre,Sector-12; Prashanti Group: LordMahavir School, Sector-29, adjacentto Brahmaputra Shopping Complex;Svikar Group: Old Seemapuri, Delhi

Govt. dispensary, Gole Chakkar;A.A. Ujala Group: MasihgarhChurch, Sukhdev Vihar, nearEscorts Heart Institute; A.A.Ashadeep Group: C-1, SafdarjangDevelopment Area, SahodaySchool; Jagriti Group: St. ColumbasSchool, Bhai Vir Singh Marg, nearGole Dak Khana; A.A. Just ForToday Group: B-68, Luke Church,Defence Colony; A.A. My TimeStarts Now Group: Fortis HospitalDirectors Conference Room,Vasant Kunj; Vishwas Group: BastiVikas Kendra, Jawahar Camp, KirtiNagar, Sector-6; and A.A. ShaktiWomens Group: MasihgarhChurch,Sukhdev Vihar, near EscortsHeart Institute, 7 p.m.

IN THE CAPITAL TODAY

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NEW DELHI: Trouble for the AamAadmi Party is not over yet. Thecore set of volunteers of the par-ty, who were instrumental in en-suring its stunning debut in DelhiAssembly elections last year,have formed a parallel organisa-tion to regroup themselves afterthey failed to get a platform with-in the party to express their griev-ances.

Several active AAP volunteers,who have now joined the AAPVolunteers Action Manch(AVAM), which was formed re-cently by some disgruntled vol-unteers, said they were forced tocome up with an alternative afterthe party leadership ended updoing the same thing which itused to accuse other parties ofdoing absence of swaraj (selfrule) and absence of internal de-mocracy in the functioning of theparty.

The AAP, however, washed itshands off and sent press releasesstating it had nothing to do withthe AVAM.

There are thousands of volun-teers who invested their time, en-ergy and career in the party in itsinitial days. Now, when wanted tohave debate in the party aboutseveral important issues like de-cision-making process, the party

leadership treated us as if wewere juveniles, said another se-nior AAP volunteer, who is stillwith the party but supports theAVAM. One of the brainchild be-hind the AVAM is Karan Singh, aformer close confidant of ArvindKejriwal. He defended formingthe AVAM saying this was just aninitiative to initiate dialogueamong the party volunteers andchalk out a roadmap for themwho were feeling the void afterthe polls.

A large number of these volun-teers include those who joinedthe party when they were stu-dents of institutions like the IITsand the Tata Institute of SocialSciences. Some of them took sab-batical from studies and theirjobs to work for the party duringthe Delhi Assembly polls last De-cember.

When asked if they have leftthe AAP, they categorically re-sponded that the party does notbelong to a particular set of peo-ple and it was equally theirs as itwas of anybody else.

The AVAM has been launchedby some people who claim this tobe the official channel for solic-iting volunteer feedback andgrievances. AAP would like to cat-egorically state that it DOES NOTendorse this organisation, said arelease on the partys website.

Say there is absence of swaraj, internal democracy in the party

Mohammad Ali

Trouble brewing in AAP as core volunteersregroup to form alternative organisation

NEW DELHI: The Aam AadmiParty on Monday declaredthat it will raise the powerissue in the ongoing BudgetSession of Parliament. Theparty also claimed that itsParliamentary leaderDharamvira Gandhi hadmentioned the issue in theall-party meeting convened byParliamentary AffairsMinister Venkaiah Naidu.

While alleging that privatediscoms in the Capital weretrying to scuttle the CAGaudit, the AAP said: The AAPis of the clear view that theabsence of an electedgovernment in Delhi is beingused as an excuse to quietlypush anti-people decisionslike the imminent electricitytariff hike, for which nobodywill take the responsibility.

It is the duty of the BJP-led NDA Government at theCentre, which is currentlycontrolling the Delhi

administration, to direct theofficials concerned to firmlydeal with the discoms, whichhave now made it a habit totake the people for a ride, theparty said in a statement.

The party, which ruledDelhi for 49-days, said it willraise the issue in Parliamentas the Budget of Delhi will alsobe presented there. The CAG,Shashi Kant Sharma, in aletter to Lieutenant-GovernorNajeeb Jung, had criticisedthe ineffective role of thethree top Delhi governmentofficials in facilitating theaudit of three discoms.

AAP to raise powerissue in ParliamentMohammad Ali

The absence of anelected government inDelhi is being used as anexcuse to quietly pushanti-people decisions

NEW DELHI: Thousands ofnew faces greeted stu-dents who returned to theSouth Delhi municipalschools last week as an en-rolment drive by the localcivic body turned out to bea success.

A total of 12,050 newstudents were added toSouth Delhi MunicipalCorporation school rollsduring a 15-day enrolmentcampaign that focused onlow-income neighbour-hoods. The door-to-dooradmission campaign,Neev, was launched byEducation Committee

chairperson Ashish Soodon June 14 and went ontill June 30.

Mr. Sood said on Mon-day that 55 to 60 per cent

partment is to make surethe new students keepturning up for class. Forthe next 15 days, schoolinspectors will frequentlyvisit all schools with thedata of the new studentsto check if they are attend-ing class. Also, teachersand NGO volunteers willgo to the homes of thosestudents who are notcoming to school, saidMr. Sood.

Currently, there arethree lakh students in thecorporations 589 schoolsand around 35,000 chil-dren in South Delhi areout of the ambit of formaleducation.

ents to send their childrento school as many of themwere breadwinners fortheir families. Apart fromthat there are childrenwho look after theiryounger siblings as bothparents are out to work,explained Mr. Sood.

One of the aims of thedrive was to increase thenumber of girls going toschool and it was able toachieve this as more girlsthan boys signed up ineach of the corporationsfour zones. A total of 6,932girls took admission,while 5,118 boys signed up.

Now, the challenge be-fore the Education De-

of those enrolled had al-ready begun attendingclasses.

Our biggest challengewas to convince the par-

Over 12,000 students added to SDMC schools Damini Nath

NEW DELHI: Not even one of the 429municipal school buildings inSouth Delhi scores 100 per centon basic infrastructure, a seniorcivic body official admitted onMonday.

Ashish Sood, the chairperson ofthe South Delhi Municipal Corpo-rations Education Committee,said the Engineering Departmentofficials responsible for the delayin repair work will have to facethe music.

The truth is that not even oneof the 589 schools, which operatefrom 429 buildings, is a 100 percent ready on basic infrastructurelike toilets, water facilities, etc.,

said Mr. Sood. When schools reconvened after

summer vacations last week, therenovation work was supposed tobe finished. But, despite havingthree meetings with the engi-neers, Mr. Sood said some workwas still pending in each school.

Strict action is going to be tak-en against the engineers at fault,said Mr. Sood, adding that theSouth Zone of the SDMC was theworst in terms of completion ofprojects.

However, Education Depart-ment deputy director N.K. Ghaisaid the delay will not affect stu-dents. This is routine renovationthat we do every summer. It istrue that no school is fully done,

but these are minor projects likepainting of boundary walls, etc.,said Mr. Ghai.

He explained that out of the429 buildings, around 300 neededrepairs as the rest are new struc-tures.

New initiatives

The civic body will be looking tochange this in the coming monthswith a range of initiativesplanned. A social audit committeewill be constituted soon to inde-pendently look into basic facili-ties in the schools.

We have identified a seniorbureaucrat and two journalists tobe a part of this committee. Weare waiting for their final consent

and the terms of reference for thecommittee have been finalised,said Mr. Sood.

Apart from that, the corpora-tion will be inviting NGOs, publicsector undertakings and corpo-rate houses to take up infrastruc-ture and training projects inSDMC schools. The corporationhad two years ago proposed aadopt a school policy, which wasopposed by teachers and workersunions.

Earlier, the NGOs were show-ing us their areas of interest andexpertise and tailoring their plansfor us. But, now we will call theNGOs, PSUs and corporatehouses and tell them what weneed, said Mr. Sood.

No school in South Delhi has 100 % infrastructureDamini Nath

NEW DELHI: Two senior RashtriyaSwayamsevak Sangh leaders, RamMadhav and Shiv Prakash, have beendeputed to join the BJP. While Mr.

Madhav, national spokesperson of theSangh, is expected to join at a seniorposition, the BJP has also carved out arole for Mr. Prakash.

According to sources in the BJP,the decision, yet to be formally an-

nounced, was taken at a meeting ofthe Sangh.

It is not the first time that the RSShas deputed its functionaries to takeup positions in the BJP. These ap-pointments are in keeping with thetradition, said a source, playing downthe Sanghs growing influence in thepartys functioning.

Two senior RSS leaders to join BJPSpecial Correspondent

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NEW DELHI: With the RailwayMinistry focusing on generat-ing revenue through privateinvestment in real estate de-velopment at major stations,modernisation plans of someof these stations in the city,which have largely remainedon paper till now, could get afillip, officials said.

Ahead of the Common-wealth Games, the railwayshad planned to develop theNew Delhi railway station in-to a world class station at awhopping cost of overRs.10,000 crore. However,the grand plans could not kickoff due to paucity of funds.

Apart from providing mod-ern facilities at major stationslike Old Delhi, Nizamuddinand Sarai Rohilla, the IndianRailway Stations Develop-ment Corporation is workingon development of Anand Vi-har and Bijawasan into mod-ern stations. However, mostof these projects are movingat a snails pace.

Northern Railway officials,

however, are hopeful thatthese projects will gathersteam as the new governmenthas been laying thrust on de-velopment of real estate own-ed by the railways, especiallythose near the station prem-ises.

At a recently held meet-ing, the Prime Minister gave

clear instructions for devel-opment and commercial ex-ploitation of real estate. ThePrime Minister even sharedan example of the Vadodrabus stand, which has been de-veloped in the public-privatepartnership model. The busterminal building apart fromhaving space for its core oper-

ations, houses several com-mercial blocks, which havebeen leased out for officesand shopping, a senior rail-way official said.

The proposal to upgradethe New Delhi station to glob-al standards included separa-tion of arrival and departureareas, regulating entry andexit at the main gates, mod-ern high-capacity parking lot,food courts, lounge, etc. It al-so included separating theticketing area from the con-course, relocating the railwaymail service and improvingother areas such as parcel,washing lines base kitchenand food handling.

Apart from the financialconstraints, the project was

also opposed by several land-owning and enforcementagencies, saying that Con-naught Place was alreadycongested and massive com-mercial development nearthe shopping arcade will addto the chaos.

Officials said while availa-bility of funds is one of themajor impediments in mod-ernisation of stations, com-mercial exploitation of thespace available at the stationscould, in fact, help the rail-ways in generating revenuethat will take care of the oper-ational cost.

Not only New Delhi,which is close to ConnaughtPlace, even stations like TilakBridge and Shivaji Bridge,which are close to CP andITO, respectively, would beideal locations for commer-cial exploitation. However,everything depends on thegovernment, said an official.

Officials said real estate de-velopment will also preventempty railway land from be-ing encroached upon by theland mafia.

Modernisation of railway stations could get a fillip Projects to gather steam as govt. focuses on commercial exploitation of real estateVishal Kant

Real estatedevelopment will also prevent emptyrailway land frombeing encroachedupon by the land mafia

NEW DELHI: Terming the publicinterest litigation against Ja-nata Dal (United) leader NitishKumar motivated, the DelhiHigh Court on Monday dismis-sed a writ petition seeking adirection to the CBI to registera case against him for the al-leged irregularities during histenure as the Railway Minister.

Petitioner Mithlesh KumarSingh had sought details ofdocuments relating to pur-chase of jacks, appointment ofcandidates in the RailwayRecruitment Board, Patna, al-leged financial irregularities inextension of railway lines andan alleged scam in procure-ment of concrete sleepers inthe Railways during Nitish Ku-mars tenure between 2001and 2004.

For this, the petitionersought directions to the Rail-way Ministry, Railway Board,Prime Ministers Office, LokSabha Secretariat, CBI Direc-tor and Planning Commission.

A Division Bench compris-ing Chief Justice G. Rohini and

Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw ob-served the petitioner had earli-er filed a writ petition in 2011,which was dismissed, while ac-cepting the version that theCBI had not found any sub-stance in the matter and hadsubmitted that no action waswarranted in the case.

The petitioner then soughtinformation under the Right toInformation Act and movedthe court seeking review of itsorder. The review petition wasdismissed in 2012 with thefinding that a CBI inquiry hadbeen conducted and its reportwas placed before the StandingCommittee of Railways.

The petitioner again pur-sued his remedies under theRTI Act and filed the publicinterest petition while claim-ing that there was no record ofCBI investigation in the mat-ter. However, the Court saidthe records shown to it had dis-closed that a CBI inquiry wasindeed conducted and the pet-itioner was not entitled to sec-ond or third round of litigationon the same aspect.

The Bench wondered as towhy the petitioner was target-ing Mr. Kumar for the pastthree years by filing one pro-ceeding after another and whatwas the source of his informa-tion and knowledge. No plau-sible answer has beenforthcoming. We suspect thepetition to be motivated andnot in public interest, said theCourt.

The Bench said the HighCourts should not encouragerushing to the Court againstnon-registration of FIRs. Theremedy was to approach thepolice authorities or the Ma-gistrate or file a criminal com-plaint, the Court said.

PIL seeking CBI case againstNitish Kumar dismissedMohammed Iqbal

Nitish Kumar

have been employed by the se-curity agencies at various es-tablishments and offices andwell as how many of them havelicensed firearms. According toofficials, various agencies haveclosed down their business butthe information has not beenpassed onto the Home Depart-ment and some security agen-cies have passed on theirlicences without authorisationto other individuals to operatesecurity agencies. Further,many of the licences are due toexpire in 2015.

Mr. Singh said all private se-curity agencies have beenasked to upload informationabout deployment of securitystaff to various establishmentsat http://home.delhi.gov.inand registering under Infor-mation submission by SecurityAgencies.

NEW DELHI: The Delhi Govern-ment is creating a database ofprivate security agencies oper-ating in the Capital and hasmade it mandatory for all suchagencies to furnish informa-tion online by July 21. So far,the Home Department has is-sued 504 licences issued by theDepartment of Home and gov-erned by the Delhi Private Se-curity Agencies (Regulation)Rules, 2009, to private securityagencies on the recommenda-tion of the Delhi Police Licens-ing Branch after verifying theantecedents of proprietors,partners and directors of thecompany.

The initiative is aimed atequipping the departmentwith the knowledge of howmany supervisors and guards

Govt. tightens noose onprivate security agencies Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI: After a month-longstrike and repeated sit-inprotests by workers of hotrolling steel mills in Wazir-pur, the owners of 23 mills onMonday agreed to give theworkers eight-hour shiftsand pay them minimumwages.

Over 800 workers in the 23plants struck work on June 5protesting their workingconditions, denial of mini-mum wages and legal bene-fits. Owners of the hot rollingsteel mills said they had re-sumed production on June27 after an agreement wassigned in the presence of la-bour officials, but labour offi-cials and workers disputedthis. After receiving work-

ers complaint that they werenot allowed to enter theplant premises by the ownerson June 28, 29, we issuedshow cause notices to theplant owners for violatingthe Industrial Disputes Act,and gave them time to re-spond till Monday, said a la-bour official at the labourcourt at Nimdi Colony.

The workers claimed theyfound the plant gates lockedwhen they tried to enter theplants a day after the agree-ment was signed on June 27.They sent goons to the areaswhere our demonstrationwas passing through. Theplant owners wanted to pro-voke us into violence so thatour strike becomes invalid,said Jai Prakash, a worker.

While a few workers re-

turned to work on June 28,workers from 15 cold rollingsteel mills also joined thestrike.

On Monday, the owners ofthe 23 plants agreed to payRs.10,374 to skilled workersand Rs.8,918 to semi-skilledworkers as per the minimumwage norms for nine-hourwork shifts, which will in-clude a lunch break and twotea breaks.

There were no problemsor resistance. We had begunwork on June 27. We havebeen paying minimum wag-es. What we have agreed tonow will only reduce theworking hours and the plantswill not run 24 hours like be-fore, said Jai Kumar Bansal,president Garam Rolla Em-ployers Association.

Anumeha Yadav

Wazirpur steel workers to get8-hour shift, minimum wages

slogans against Prime Minis-ter Narendra Modi.

Speaking to reporters after

NEW DELHI: Protesting againstthe BJP Government over railfare hike and price rise, Con-gress workers on Mondaytried to gherao Parliament.However, the party workersmarching towards Parlia-ment from Jantar Mantarwere prevented from doing sodue to heavy security ar-rangements made in the areaahead of the first Budget Ses-sion of the Narendra ModiGovernment.

Congress leaders andworkers, led by the Delhi Pra-desh Congress Committeespresident Arvinder Singh,tried to break the barricadesnear the Parliament Streetpolice station and shouted

the protest, Mr. Singh said:Ever since the BJP come topower, prices of essential

commodities have gone up.Before the elections, the BJPhad promised 30 per centcheaper electricity. But nowthe power discoms are tryingto hike the tariff and peopleare feeling cheated.

Slamming the NarendraModi Government, DPCCchief spokesperson MukeshSharma alleged that the Cen-tral Government was doingnothing to control prices ofessential commodities. Ev-erything is getting expensiveduring this governments re-gime. The BJPs slogan acchedin aane wale hain (gooddays lie ahead) was just aneyewash. People have startedfeeling buray din (bad days)since the BJP has come topower, he said.

Congress workers protest against price rise Vishal Kant

Congress workers staging a protest at ParliamentStreet on Monday against price rise and rail farehike. PHOTO: V. SUDERSHAN

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VARIETY/SOUTHERN REGION

Those who can put the welfare of others beforeeverything else are few. But it is these few who sustainthe world, said Malayaman, in a discourse. If at all theworld still exists, it is because of good people, says theTamil work Puranaanooru.

The Puranaanooru lists the qualities of these goodpeople. Nectar is available only to celestials, andmortals do not have access to it. Nectar, if consumed,confers immortality on one. So if at all someonemanages to lay his hands on nectar, he will not bewilling to share it with others. But a good man is onewho will seek out deserving people and share it withthem. The Tamil work Paditrupathu says if a good mannds something sweet, he will share it with others.

Fear is a major factor that governs our actions, andif we fear that doing something will result in sorrowfor us, we will refrain from doing it, even if it is theright thing to do. But good people are not deterred byfear. The Tamil work Naladiyar says that whatever oneshould know, should be learnt; ones actions shouldbring happiness to everyone. Those who live their livesin this manner will never know sorrow.

Puranaanooru says the virtuous never have lowmorale. They are never dejected. They never doanything with a selsh motive. The Tamil workManimekalai also extols seless people. ThePuranaanooru says that it is the virtuous who keep theworld alive. This verse was not written by an ordinarypoet. The poet in this case was not one who needed agift from anyone for, he was the king of Madurai. Hemust have written it with a view to inculcating goodvalues in his subjects.

Sustaining theworld

FAITH

Across

8 Help deal with plague(1,3,2)

9 Irritation carried byskin growth cosmetics(3,5)

10 Moving proton is anelementary particle (8)

11 Tips for brunch? Ask rotior another flatbread(6)

12 Brand name to tick offsports equipment (9,6)

14 Bird in cage, onecaptured by a shooter(7)

16 Redeeming features ofSheraton in Goa (7)

19 What Rapunzel did isshed inhibitions(3,4,4,4)

22 Say capital Australianpoet (6)

24 Just batting or gettingboundaries? (8)

25 Common question for amusician (8)

26 Nothing new purchasedafter spending capital(6)

Down

1 Award Oscar toBlanchett after all (8)

2 Bondage is mostlyshowing discrimination(6)

3 A positive promotion to

attract and recruit (10)4 Sunset Boulevard star's

detailed finalperformance (7)

5 Upcoming poet isboring (4)

6 Caribbean jelly one putin a tin (8)

7 Starter is on tray wehear (6)

13 Extraordinary break-inat large financialinstitution (6,4)

15 Clubs hosting hollowwomen and men (8)

17 Dancing we held in acity (3,5)

18 Two hours wasted onrum writer (1,1,5)

20 Computer program isbuggy redo it (6)

21 Draft a plan for ward?(4,2)

23 Absolutely grand burp(4)

THE HINDU CROSSWORD 111311 2 3 4 5 6 7

8 9

10 11

12 13

14 15 16 17

18

19 20 21

22 23 24

25 26

B A C T R I A N P A E L L A

E L Y R N L L

D R O M E D A R Y G R A S P

L G B U L M A

A F G H A N I P R O S A I C

M I P C P I A

E X P A N S I O N I S M

S R U F D I

S T R E A M L I N I N G

V C E C A H P

I T C H I E R A N N A T T O

C A A A T S L

U N M E T L E I S U R E L Y

N E E O R E P

A L L U D E A N A Y S I SL

Buzzer

Solution to puzzle 11130

Central ReservePolice

The UnionGovernment isconsidering a proposal toexpand the CentralReserve Police to dealwith communal riots,sabotage and otherdisturbances that mightbreak out in any part ofthe country. The mainidea is to make specialpolice help available toStates in times of need.The proposal, it is learnt,has been mootedfollowing the riots inEastern India and acts ofsabotage in some parts ofthe country. Hitherto, thearmy was being sent tohelp the civilian police todeal with extraordinarysituations. TheGovernment is believedto be not in favour ofutilising the army forsuch purposes, especiallyduring Emergency. TheState Governments havebeen advised to keep awatch on those areaswhere law and order are

likely to break downbecause of the activitiesof communal elements,saboteurs and otheranti-social forces.

Tanker brings U.S.wheat

Point Montara, a U.S.tanker, carrying a littleover 16,000 tons of whitewheat from the U.S. forMaharashtra State,arrived in Madras on July5. Mr. R. Venkataraman,Minister for Industries,paid a visit to the harbourand witnessed theunloading operations.The ship, which shouldhave unloaded the wheatat Bombay where shearrived on June 19, couldnot do so owing tocongestion at the port.The specialrepresentative of theships owners, the PacicCoast TransportCompany Wilmington,California, Capt. H.G.P.Thomas, specially ew toIndia and got in touchwith the officials andarranged to get the shipdiverted to Madras. It isstated that PointMontara is the rst shipof its kind to touchMadras port.

(dated July 8, 1964)

FROM THE ARCHIVES

Watch out Bollywood, Kutcher goes desi

Ashton Kutcher and his pregnant fiance Mila Kunis were dressed intraditional Indian attire at a friends wedding at the Borgo Egnazia

Resort in Savelletri di Fasano, Italy. Kutcher also took to the dance floor and treated thecrowd to a Bollywood-style number. Kutcher sported

an aqua-blue embroidered kurta teamed upwith a white dhoti and topped of

with a red turban. Kunis wore amint ghagra choli with silveraccents, which hid her baby bump.

PTI

Extant: Halle BerrysTV outing

Halle Berry is certainly awelcome TV presence as thestar of Extant, a 13-episodethriller that premieres on U.S.channel CBS on Wednesday. Thepremise of the show is thatBerrys character was somehowimpregnated while on a soloyearlongouter-spacemission. If that is not enough,her son back onearth turns outto be a robot. AP

Homeland will thrilldespite Brodys death

Homeland may have lost itsanti-hero Nicholas Brody to anIranian gallows, but the hit U.S.TV show will continue to thrill,its creator says. HowardGordon said the surviving cast,led by CIA analyst CarrieMathison, had plenty ofdramatic mileage in the fourthseason due to premiere laterthis year. Reuters

CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu ChiefMinister Jayalalithaa hasasked the Centre to initiateimmediate steps to nd apermanent and pragmaticsolution to the shermen is-sue in Palk Bay.

In a letter to Prime Minis-ter Narendra Modi on Sun-day, Ms. Jayalalithaa said shewas condently looking for-ward to early and decisive ac-tion by the Centre under hisleadership to resolve thislong-standing issue.

The right of livelihood ofTamil Nadu shermen, whohistorically and traditionally

sh in Palk Bay, was contin-uously infringed upon by theSri Lankan Navy. And, theunlawful apprehension ofthe shermen continued un-abated.

On July 5, 20 shermenfrom Rameswaram and Man-dapam in four mechanisedboats were again apprehend-ed by the Lankan Navy andtaken to Thalaimannar, SriLanka, she pointed out.

The historical rights weresimply signed away as part ofthe ill-advised Indo-SriLankan agreements of 1974and 1976, which also unilat-erally ceded Katchatheevu toSri Lanka without having anyforesight or concern for the

plight of Tamil shermen,she said.

As already pointed out byher, the two agreementswere a subject matter of awrit petition pending in theSupreme Court. In this con-text, the Tamil Nadu govern-ment continues to reiteratethat the issue of the Interna-tional Maritime BoundaryLine [IMBL] and Katchath-eevu cant be treated as a set-tled issue.

Only the retrieval ofKatchatheevu would ensurethe restoration of safety andsecurity of Tamil shermenslivelihood in the traditionalwaters of Palk Bay, the ChiefMinister said, urging the

Centre to impress upon theSri Lankan government torein in its Navy and to refrainfrom apprehending innocentshermen who were inpeaceful pursuit of their live-lihood in their traditionalshing waters.

Thanking the Prime Min-ister for his effective inter-vention that led to thespeedy release of 184 sher-men from Sri Lankan custo-dy since the new governmenttook office at the Centre, theChief Minister sought Mr.Modis immediate interven-tion to secure the release of37 shermen and 45 shingboats currently in the SriLankan custody.

Jayalalithaa seeks quick steps byPM to resolve fishermen issue Special Correspondent

CHENNAI: While the social mediahas provided an opportunity tochallenge suppression of facts,what was lacking was powerfulsocial organisations to createan alternative public sphere toundermine corporate control ofinformation, said Professor Ai-jaz Ahmad.

Such an alternative publicsphere is there, in embryonicform, but the discrepancy be-tween corporate power and op-position media is still so greatas to be incalculable, he saiddelivering the inaugural lec-ture, Fact as Democratic Val-ue, to the 2015 batch of theAsian College of Journalism .

Evaluating the role of the so-cial media vis--vis the corpo-rate-owned media capable ofbringing the most expensiveand advanced hardware to thesites of news, the professor ofpolitical science said it had cre-ated a very complex and contra-dictory reality.

On the one hand, a merehandful of corporations controlperhaps as much as 90 per cent

of information ows that arepublicly and easily available and which constantly invadeour living spaces. On the otherhand, the cheapening of the dig-ital media and uploading facil-ities implies, at least inprinciple, that far more demo-cratic means of production andcirculation are now at hand.

Prof. Ahmad told the stu-dents that while he had no rea-son to watch televisionchannels, very few facts he usedin his writings came now frombig newspapers. I get most ofmy facts through alternativesources, mostly on the web orthrough direct communicationon email, Skype and others whoare also involved in the act ofgathering the real truths of ourtime, he said.

Likening the situation ofjournalists working for the cor-porate-owned media to ErnestoChe Guevaras famous wordsuttered in the early days of theCuban revolution, you are in-side the belly of the beast. Youcan kick harder, he said, Youcould kick harder or not. Thatwill be your choice.

Special Correspondent

Social media, both anopportunity and challenge

TIRUNELVELI: A Chennai police team picked upfor interrogation M. Natarajan, husband ofSasikala, condante of Chief Minister Jayala-lithaa, from a bungalow near Five Falls atCourtallam on Monday in connection with acase of alleged cheating.

The detention was kept a secret as the teamexecuted the operation even without inform-ing the Courtallam police or the SpecialBranch police here.

Natarajan detained

Special Correspondent

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EDITORIAL

Truly memorable tennis tournaments produce

more than quality matches; they also throw

up hints about the future of the game. Wim-

bledon 2014 did both. The extraordinary

mens nal between Novak Djokovic and Roger Feder-

er was indeed a classic, a contest in which power was

matched by renement. It was also a match where

effort demanded not just perspiration, but a range of

attributes from clever innovation to sheer audacity.

But history will also remember this years event as the

crucible in which an exciting new breed of players grew

to display their potential and true promise. These are

young men and women who are readying to occupy the

top echelons of the game as the power structure shifts,

as it must, to a new generation. Among them are Grigor

Dimitrov, Eugenie Bouchard, Milos Raonic and Nick

Kyrgios names that are likely to become more famil-

iar to tennis-lovers in the days to come. But the mens

nal rst, because the ethereal must be placed above

the worldly. Yes, it had its moments of psychodrama

the twists and turns that can transform a tennis match

into suspenseful theatre. But its real worth lay in the

near awless quality of play reected most of all in a

sparkling array of groundstrokes in which each player

constantly challenged the other to surpass himself.

Djokovic, who served better and came good at some

critical moments, who was the deserved winner but

only just. As for hearts, it was Federer, who was looking

for his 18th Grand Slam which would have made him

the oldest Wimbledon champion in the open era of

tennis who stole them before a packed and fawning

house on Centre Court.

With the Djokovic-Federer nal and the womens

trophy going to former Wimbledon champion Petra

Kvitov, tennis remained in familiar hands. But there

were intimations of change, most forcefully expressed

in the games of two bright young talents Dimitrov

and Bouchard. The former, who has an uncharacter-

istic resemblance to Federer in playing style, has the

all-round game to beat anyone on his day almost took

Djokovic out in his semi-nal, failing only to press

home the advantage at a couple of critical moments. As

for Bouchard, she may have been crushed by a rampag-

ing Kvitov in the womens nal, but her journey in the

tournament provided a glimpse into the changing face

of womens tennis. In an age where the Williams sisters

and Maria Sharapova seem to be slowly fading, the

place at the top is ready for challenges from a clutch of

players such as Bouchard, Simona Halep and Sabine

Lisicki. In short, as Wimbledon 2014 ended with one

fantastic match, it also opened up a host of intriguing

possibilities for the future of the game itself.

A very specialWimbledon

Few people today remember the let-ter written on August 7, 2013 by Mr.Narendra Modi, then Chief Minis-ter of Gujarat, to Prime Minister

Manmohan Singh. In this letter, available onthe Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) website,Mr. Modi criticised the National Food Secu-rity Act (more precisely, the Ordinance) forproviding too little. He felt pained to notethat the food security ordinance does notassure an individual of having two meals aday, and pointed out that [the] proposedentitlement of 5 kg per month per person is hardly 20 per cent of his [sic] daily calorierequirements. Similar sentiments were ex-pressed in Parliament on August 27, 2013,during the Lok Sabha debate on food securi-ty, when one BJP speaker after another crit-icised the Act for being measly andrestrictive half baked as Ms. SushmaSwaraj put it.

Facts and ction

One reason why these and related factstend to be forgotten is that they are at oddswith the mythology of social policy culti-vated by some sections of the media. Thismythology involves a number of fallacies.First, India is in danger of becoming a nannystate, with lavish and unsustainable levels ofsocial spending. Second, social spending islargely a waste unproductive handoutsthat dont even reach the poor due to corrup-tion and inefficiency. Third, this wastefulextravaganza is the work of a bunch of old-fashioned Nehruvian socialists and assortedjholawalas who led the country down thegarden path during the United ProgressiveAlliance (UPA) years. Fourth, the electoratehas rejected this entire approach peoplewant growth, not entitlements. Fifth, theBJP-led government is all set to reversethese follies and rollback the welfare state.

These ve claims have acquired an aura ofplausibility by sheer repetition, yet theyhave no factual basis. Let us examine themone by one.

The idea that social spending in India istoo high would be amusing if it were not soharmful. According to the latest World De-

velopment Indicators (WDI) data, publicspending on health and education is just 4.7per cent of GDP in India, compared with 7per cent in sub-Saharan Africa, 7.2 per centin East Asia, 8.5 per cent in Latin Americaand 13.3 per cent in OECD countries. Eventhe corresponding gure for least devel-oped countries, 6.4 per cent, is much higherthan Indias. The WDI database does notinclude social security spending, but the re-cent Asia Development Bank report on so-cial protection in Asia suggests that India isalso an outlier in that respect, with only 1.7per cent of GDP being spent on social sup-port compared with an average of 3.4 percent for Asias lower-middle income coun-tries, 5.4 per cent in China, 10.2 per cent in

Asias high-income countries and a cool 19.2per cent in Japan. If anything, India isamong the world champions of social under-spending. The view that social spending is awaste has no factual basis either. The criticalimportance of mass education for economicdevelopment and the quality of life is one ofthe most robust ndings of economic re-search. From Kerala to Bangladesh, simplepublic health interventions have broughtdown mortality and fertility rates. Indiasmidday meal programme has well-docu-mented effects on school attendance, childnutrition and even pupil achievements. So-cial security pensions, meagre as they are,bring some relief in the harsh lives of mil-lions of widowed, elderly or disabled per-

sons. The Public Distribution System hasbecome an invaluable source of economicsecurity for poor households, not just inshowcase States like Tamil Nadu but even inStates like Bihar and Jharkhand where itused to be non-functional. Of course, there issome waste in the social sector, just as thereis much waste in (say) universities. In bothcases, the lesson is not to dismantle the sys-tem but to improve it there is plenty ofevidence that this can be done.

UPAs handouts

The expansion of public services and so-cial support in India, such as it is, has little todo with any nostalgia of Nehruvian social-ism. It is a natural development in a country

with a modicum of democracy. A similarexpansion, on a much larger scale, happenedduring the 20th century in all industrialiseddemocracies (with the partial exception ofthe United States). It also happened in com-munist countries, for different reasons.Many developing countries, especially in La-tin America and East Asia, have gonethrough a similar transition in recent dec-ades. So have Indian States where the under-privileged have some sort of political voice,such as Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Many otherStates, including Gujarat, are now learningfrom these experiences at varying speed.

Did the UPA lose the recent election be-cause voters were fed up with handouts?This is an odd idea in many ways, starting

with the fact that there were few handouts tobe fed up with. The UPA did launch theNational Rural Employment Guarantee Act(NREGA is not exactly a handout), but thatwas in 2005, and if anything, it helped ratherthan hindered the UPA in the 2009 election.After that, there were no major social policyinitiatives on the part of the UPA, except forthe National Food Security Act which is yetto be implemented. By 2014, the UPA-II gov-ernment had little to claim credit for, andplenty to be blamed for scams, ineptitude,food ination, the direct benet transferasco and more. Meanwhile, the BJP had thethree things that really matter in an election(money, organisation and rhetoric) is it asurprise that three voters out of 10 decidedto give it a chance?

Coming to the fth claim, there is littleevidence that a rollback of social pro-grammes is part of the BJPs core agenda. Asmentioned earlier, many BJP leaders (in-cluding Mr. Modi as well as the new FinanceMinister, Mr. Arun Jaitley) have vociferous-ly demanded a more ambitious NationalFood Security Act. Some of this is posturingof course, but the BJPs willingness to sup-port food security initiatives is already welldemonstrated in Chhattisgarh. Nothing pre-vents it from doing the same at the nationallevel. Similar remarks apply to the NationalEmployment Guarantee Act: some BJP-ledState governments did a relatively good jobof implementing it, and the late GopinathMunde clearly expressed his support for theAct as soon as he was appointed Minister forRural Development.

Possible backlash

Having said this, there are also ominoussigns of a possible backlash against these andother social programmes. Some overenthu-siastic advisers of the new government havealready put forward explicit proposals towind up the Employment Guarantee Act andthe Food Security Act within 10 years, alongwith accelerated privatisation of health andeducation services. As if on cue, RajasthanChief Minister Vasundhara Raje recentlysent a letter to the Prime Minister question-ing the need for an Employment GuaranteeAct. The corporate sector also tends to behostile to social spending, if only because itmeans higher taxes, or higher interest rates,or fewer handouts (incentives as they arecalled) for business. Corporate lobbies, al-ready inuential under the UPA government(remember the person who said that theCongress was his dukaan?) are all the moregung-ho now that their man, Mr. Modi, is atthe helm. Even a casual reading of recenteditorials in the business media suggeststhat they have high expectations of devas-tating reforms in the social sector. That iswhat the mythology of social policy is reallyabout.

This is not to deny the need for construc-tive reform in health, education and socialsecurity. If one thing has been learnt in thelast 10 years, it is the possibility of improvingpublic services, whether by expanding theright to information, or introducing eggs inschool meals, or computerising the PublicDistribution System, or ensuring a reliablesupply of free drugs at primary health cen-tres. But these small steps always begin withan appreciation of the fundamental impor-tance of social support in poor peoples lives.

The forthcoming budget is an opportunityfor the new government to clarify its standon these issues. Without enlightened socialpolicies, growth mania is unlikely to delivermore under the new government than it didunder the previous one.

(Jean Drze is visiting professor at theDepartment of Economics, RanchiUniversity.)

On the mythology of social policyIndia is among the world champions of socialunderspending. Without enlightened socialpolicies, growth mania is unlikely to deliver moreu