Supreme Court pulls up Govt over reservations

     New Delhi: A confrontation seems to be brewing between the judiciary and executive with the Supreme Court today coming down heavily on the Centre for criticising the recent seven-judge Bench order that declared that there should be no reservations or state quota for backward (underpriveleged) classes in private unaided professional colleges. The Court said that the seven bench judgement was only a reiteration of the orders passed earlier by a eleven and a five- judge Bench of the apex court. The apex court said the government's attitude suggested a display of confrontation.It said the Centre should respect the Court and exercise self-restraint. "Why are we told time and again by the Government that it is not taking a confrontationist attitude. Who is taking a confrontationist attitude? If this is the attitude of the Government to go after a judgement without understanding it, then wind up the courts and do whatever you want," said Chief Justice RC Lahoti to Attorney General Milon Banerjee during a hearing of a petition seeking Schedule Caste status to Dalit Christians. "You must advise the Government to exercise self-restraint," the Bench said. The three judge Bench headed by Chief Justice Lahoti said that both the eleven-judge and five-judge Bench judgements followed by the seven-judge Bench judgement had asked the Centre to come out with a legislation which was yet to see the light of the day. When Attorney General Banerjee and Additional Solicitor General Gopal Subramaniam said that they respected the courts, the Bench said: "should you not tell your clients to give the respect the courts deserve." "If this is the attitude of the Government towards the court then we will go on doing our duty and let them do theirs. You are talking about confrontation," the Bench said, adding that the Centre had failed to understand the seven-judge Bench judgement.

      In its August 12 judgement, the Supreme Court had stated that the state had no authority for reserving quota for state seats in unaided professional educational institutions. It also ruled that state cannot enforce reservation policy. The apex court judgement was on the ground that this constituted a serious encroachment on the right and autonomy of private professional educational institutions. The court had also ruled that unaided institutions could have their own admission system based on merit. The government on the other hand has said would put forth its views before the all-party meeting, and the draft legislation on the admissions and fee structure of private unaided colleges would be the reference point for the meet. A meeting of state ministers in charge of professional education also has been called in Delhi on August 27.

More rebel Gujarati legislators heading for Delhi (Go To Top)

     Ahmedabad: Despite an endorsement from BJP president L K Advani, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi's troubles are far from over. Rebel MLA Dhirubhai Gajera today said that another batch of disgruntled state assembly legislators will be heading for Delhi soon to meet senior BJP leaders. "Our MLAs are in Delhi. Our senior leaders are also in Delhi. I am going along with three four MLAs. Everybody will get together and decide. We will meet Murali Manohar Joshi and senior leaders like Vajpayee, Sushma Swaraj, Jaitley in Delhi. Kashiram Rana and Keshubhai Patel will decide on who will meet L K Advani," said Gajera. The first batch of rebel MLAs, sore over the autocratic ways of Modi, had left for Delhi after a meeting of Keshubhai loyalists in Ahmedabad. The MLAs plan to meet central party leaders like Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Pramod Mahajan. Another batch of Keshubhai loyalists, including Mayaben Kodnani, Bimal Shah, Bhavin Sheth, Pradipsinh Jadeja, Gordhan Zadaphiya, and Jyotsanaben Somani are also expected to leave for the Indian capital soon. A day after BJP President L K Advani praised Narendra modi during his Gujarat visit, Minister of State for Sports Bavku Unghad, a Keshubhai Patel loyalist, submitted his resignation citing mental torture by Modi during a cabinet meeting. Last week, disgruntled elements of the BJP spent a considerable amount of time in Delhi meeting the party's top leadership to express their unhappiness with Modi's autocratic ways. Among them were Keshubhai Patel, Suresh Patel and others. Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had then advised dissident party leaders led by Patel to meet BJP President L K Advani to internally defuse the rising dissidence against Modi.

     Some party sources said that the rebels were not ready to meet Advani, whom they see as "Modi's Godfather". Patel brought along 40 MLAs with him to put pressure on the party's central leadership to effect a change in the state government in Gujarat. The visit of the dissidents to Delhi assumes significance in the wake of their earlier meeting at Gandhinagar which saw 60 state legislators and several members of Parliament gathering at Patel's residence to inquire about his wife's health, besides giving him a rundown on the state of affairs in Gujarat. Advani also visited the Patel residence over the weekend to inquire after the latter's wife's health. Patel and his followers maintain that the political situation in Gujarat is far from satisfactory. They are also unhappy about the attempts made by the Modi camp to dissuade legislators from reaching Patel's residence on his return from the United States on August 14 .

Rural Employment Guarantee Bill passed by voice vote (Go To Top)

     New Delhi: The Lok Sabha passed by voice vote the modified National Rural Employment Guarantee Bill, 2004 on Tuesday, assuring 100 days of guaranteed wage employment in rural areas. The government has assured that it would provide equivalent amount as unemployment allowance if it failed to give the promised job. ''The Government will soon take up another bill to remove urban poverty by ensuring employment in urban areas,'' Rural Development Minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh said, while winding up the discussion on the Bill. The original provision in the Bill seeking to restrict the benefit to only those under the Below Poverty Line (BPL) was removed through one of the 16 amendments that the government had incorporated on the basis of the recommendations of the National Advisory Committee (NAC), headed by Sonia Gandhi, a Parliamentary Standing Committee, headed by Kalyan Singh (BJP) and a Group of Ministers (GoM).

     The bill, described by Singh as a ''historic legislation'', was adopted unanimously after 12-hour-long discussion spread over two days. The bill envisages a minimum wage of Rs 60 per day. The bill was originally introduced in Parliament in December 2004, but it could not be passed due to reservations on some of the provisions mainly by the Left, which is supporting the ruling coalition led by the Congress, especially with regard to the proposal to restrict it to the BPL families alone. Singh said all families in rural areas would be given 100 days of guaranteed wage employment within the next five years. ''If we fail to do so, we will provide equivalent amount as unemployment dole.'' On the members' criticism that only Rs 600 would be available to each rural family under the scheme and that the amount was grossly inadequate, Singh said all members of the family could do other jobs available to them. ''Therefore, the wages from the Rural Employment scheme could be an additional income.'' Singh criticised some members for complaining against investment of such a huge amount on an unproductive scheme, while promising that nobody would be living below the poverty line by 2020. The legislation seeks to increase the number of districts to be covered under the scheme from 150 to 200, including 50 naxalite- infested districts, and gives a greater role to the Panchayati Raj institutions in enrolling workers for the scheme and in its implementation. ''Within the next five years, all the 600 districts will be covered under the scheme.'' A National Employment Guarantee Fund will be set up to ensure smooth flow of funding to the infrastructure projects. One of the amendments seek to remove the restriction that only one member from each family can be enrolled for the scheme. A total of 20-25 million people were expected to seek employment under the scheme, entailing an outgo of Rs 20,000-25,000 crore (5.72 billion dollars) a year. Singh asked all the political parties to involve their workers in the implementation of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme.

Karan Singh appointed ICCR chief (Go To Top)

     New Delhi: Eminent educationist and former Cabinet Minister, Dr. Karan Singh was today appointed as the President of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) for three years. His appointment comes into effect from August 19, 2005, an ICCR release said. Dr.Singh has worked in various capacities, including stints as Minister of Tourism and Civil Aviation, Health and Family Welfare and Education and Culture. He has also been India's Ambassador to the United States. At present, Dr. Singh is the Chacellor of the Jawaharlal Nehru University, the President of Auroville Foundation and the Deputy Leader of the Congress party in the Rajya Sabha. He is also a member of the Advisory Board of the International Peace Foundation. A former ruler of the erstwhile State of Jammu and Kashmir, Dr Singh has been an eminent writer with many publications to his credit.

Access to alleged RAW spy sought (Go To Top)

     New Delhi/Islamabad: India has asked Pakistan to provide it with consular access to alleged RAW spy Sarabjit Singh whose death sentence was upheld by the Pakistan Supreme Court recently. The demand for consular access was made even as Indian External Affairs Minister K.Natwar Singh said on Monday that the Government was looking into reports of a death sentence awarded to Sarabjit Singh for his alleged involvement in bomb blasts in Pakistan, and him being a victim of "mistaken identity". "We are seized of the matter. We will look into it," External Affairs Minister K Natwar Singh told reporters when asked about threats made by the Amritsar-based family of Sarabjit Singh to hang themselves if he was hanged. Indian High Commission officials in Islamabad also confirmed that they had requested for consular access to 100 other Indian prisoners said to be lodged in different jails across Pakistan. They said that they were yet to hear from the Pakistan Government on the matter. On Monday, members of the Indian Parliament voiced concern over the death sentence awarded to Sarabjit Singh and asked the Government to urgently take up the matter with Islamabad. Raising the issue in both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, they said it was a case of wrong identity as Manjit Singh, the man sentenced to death, was actually Sarabjit Singh from Amritsar. The issue was taken up in Lok Sabha by Avinash Rai Khanna (BJP) and Ratan Singh Ajnala (SAD) who were supported by several members prompting Speaker Somnath Chatterjee to state that seeing the sentiments expressed in the House, the government should take appropriate action. In the Rajya Sabha, the issue was raised by BJP member S S Ahluwalia who found instant support from members cutting across party lines. He claimed that as many as 550 Indians were languishing in Pakistani jails and demanded that efforts should be made by the Government to seek their release. Rajya Sabha Chairman Bhairon Singh Shekhawat said that the Centre should inform the House about the state of Indians in Pakistani jails. Singh, a resident of the Punjabi border village of Bhikiwind, went missing in August 1990. According to his family, he strayed inadvertently into Pakistani territory and was taken into custody after being mistaken as an agent of the RAW. He was accused of masterminding bomb blasts in Lahore.

LS, RS adjourned over Buta Singh issue (Go To Top)

     New Delhi: Both the Houses of Parliament were adjourned after witnessing heated exchanges between the Opposition and the Treasury benches over the issue of Bihar Governor Buta Singh. In both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, the Opposition members tried to disrupt the Question Hour demanding that Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav's recent statement that "Buta Singh was his appointee" should be discussed on priority. Amidst uproarious scenes over BJP's demand for recall of the Bihar Governor and sacking of Lalu Prasad Yadav, Rajya Sabha was adjourned for 30 minutes till 12:00 noon, while Lok Sabha was adjourned till 1400 hrs. In the Lower House, BJP deputy leader VK Malhotra raised the matter while being supported by his party colleagues and members of the JD (U) and Shiv Sena. Malhotra sought the removal of the Bihar Governor alleging that he had "interfered" in the functioning of the Railway Ministry by asking Lalu to transfer two senior employees. As Malhotra alleged that Lalu Prasad Yadav had claimed that Buta Singh was his appointee, there was a furore with RJD members charging the BJP leader with "misleading" the House. And, soon, heated exchanges followed between both sides. Speaker Somnath Chatterjee, while attempting to restore order, appealed to the Opposition members to give a substantive motion if it wanted to discuss the matter on priority. When the Opposition members didn't relent, he adjourned the House till 2 p.m. In the Upper House, BJP member S.S. Ahluwalia and Ravi Shankar Prasad raised the issue of Lalu Prasad Yadav's claim that the Bihar Governor was his "nominee". Chairman Bhairon Singh Shekhawat repeatedly pleaded that since the Opposition members had not given in writing the demand for suspension of the Question Hour, he could not allow them to raise the issue. But, a determined BJP-led Opposition NDA kept raising slogans for nearly thirty minutes, forcing the Chair to adjourn the Upper House till 12:00 noon.

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