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DELHI, MONDAY, JULY 20, 2015

Printed at Chennai, Coimbatore, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Madurai, Noida, Visakhapatnam, Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi, Vijayawada, Mangaluru, Tiruchirapalli, Kolkata, Hubballi, Mohali, Allahabad and Malappuram

Regd. DL(ND)-11/6110/2006-07-08 RNI No. TNENG/2012/49940 ISSN 0971 - 751X Vol. 5 No. 171 CITY EDITION 28 Pages Rs. 8.00 www.thehindu.in

STORMY PARLIAMENT SESSION AHEAD Party tries to convince its allies that the charges against CMs are baseless

NEW DELHI: Gearing up for anexpected Opposition offen-sive during the coming mon-soon session of Parliament,top BJP leadership on Sundaysummoned Rajasthan ChiefMinister Vasundhara Rajeand her Madhya Pradeshcounterpart Shivraj SinghChouhan to hear their ac-count in the Lalit Modi andVyapam controversies.

Both the leaders are beingtargeted by the Oppositionbut the BJP is firmly backingthe two Chief Ministers andhas planned a strong counteroffensive against the Con-gress, which is leading the on-

slaught. The party is trying toget its act together not only tofrustrate the Opposition butto also assure its allies thatthe charges against the ChiefMinisters are baseless.

Late on Sunday evening,Prime Minister NarendraModi met with cabinet col-leagues to discuss the strate-gy. Party President Amit Shahwas also present.

There is urgency to the ex-ercise as the governmentstwo crucial bills the LandAcquisition Bill and theGoods and Services TaxAmendment Bill are held

up. The issues will be dis-cussed at the partys Parlia-mentary Board meeting onMonday. Mr Modi has alsoconvened a meeting of theNational Democratic Alli-ance.

Parliamentary AffairsMinister M. Venkaiah Naiduhas called a meeting of lead-ers of political parties to dis-cuss the agenda for thesession. On a day of fast mov-ing events, BJP presidentAmit Shah went into a hud-dle with a core group ofUnion Ministers includingSushma Swaraj, Arun Jait-ley, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Pi-yush Goyal and NirmalaSitharaman. General secre-taries Ram Lal, Kailash Vi-jayvargiya also participatedin the meeting, which dis-cussed a strategy for a coun-teroffensive in Parliamentand the approach in media.

Vasundhara,Chouhan statetheir case, getparty backing

Gargi Parsai

Ministers Sushma Swaraj and Ravi Shankar Prasad leave after meetingBJP president Amit Shah in New Delhi on Sunday. PHOTO: PTI

BJP plans strategy to counter Opposition

NOT A SHRED OF EVIDENCE: BJP;SACK MINISTERS, SAYS CONG. | PAGE 12

MUMBAI: The Indian PremierLeague Governing Councilhas delegated its chairman,Rajeev Shukla, to form aworking group of five mem-bers to chart a road map forSeason 9 of the Twenty20tournament in 2016.

The council, which methere on Sunday, stated that itrespected the adjudication ofthe Supreme Court-appoint-ed Justice R.M. Lodha Com-mittee. The BCCI respectsthe verdict of the Lodha com-mission and will abide by itsdecisions in toto. The mem-bers recognised that there isan urgent need to under-stand the impact of this deci-sions, BCCI secretaryAnurag Thakur said in a pressrelease.

The committee had rec-ommended suspension ofChennai Super Kings and Ra-jasthan Royals from the tour-nament for breach of IPLOperational Rules. Theworking group will consultall stakeholders of IPL andthe BCCIs Cricket AdvisoryCommittee (Sachin Tendul-kar, Sourav Ganguly and

V.V.S. Laxman) and report tothe GC in six weeks time,Mr. Shukla said.

Apart from Mr. Shukla andMr. Thakur, JyotiradityaScindia, Ajay Shirke andBCCI legal counsel UshaNath Banerjee are likely to bepart of the working group.

BCCI will abide byverdict of Lodhapanel, says Thakur

G. Viswanath

Working group to lay theground for IPL Season 9

BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur and IPL GoverningCouncil chairman Rajeev Shukla at the GoverningCouncil meeting in Mumbai on Sunday. PHOTO: PTI

ROAD MAP IN SIX WEEKS | PAGE 18

KOLKATA: Days after Trina-mool Congress MP and WestBengal Chief Minister Mama-ta Banerjees nephew Abhish-ek Banerjee said that hispartys government mur-dered Maoist leader Kishen-ji, a Kolkata-based civil rightsorganisation has decided totake the State government tocourt.

Members of the Associ-ation for Protection of Demo-cratic Rights have said thatthey are coordinating withKishenjis family in Telanga-

na to file a Public Interest Li-tigation petition. Mallojula

Koteswara Rao alias Kishenji,a Polit Bureau member of theCPI(Maoist), was killed in analleged encounter with secu-rity forces in Paschim Medi-nipore district in November

2011, soon after Trinamoolcame to power. Civil rights

activists had consistentlymaintained that Mr. Rao wasabducted and tortured todeath in cold blood by theState administration.

Soumya Das &Suvojit Bagchi

Rights group to sue Mamatagovt. over Kishenji killing

VARAVARA RAO TO CONTACTFAMILY MEMBERS | PAGE 12

MUMBAI: In a week fromnow, close to 15 lakh pil-grims will converge onPandharpur for ekadashi.But for conservancy work-ers in the town, days ofdread have already begun.

The Solapur district ad-ministration is setting up18,000 toilets for the pil-grims. Since the number is7,000 short of target, theworkers fear the dreadfulprospect of manual scav-enging returning duringthe annual spiritual affair.

The pilgrims, calledwarkaris, come in proc-essions to offer prayers onthe banks of the Chandrab-haga river. Work on settingup the toilets temporary,permanent, mobile, prefab-ricated and trenches or pits has done little to reas-sure the sanitary workers.

As many as 2,100 toiletsbeing set up are pit toilets,adding to the fear of theworkers as it goes againstthe Employment of Manual

Scavengers and Construc-tion of Dry Latrines (Pro-hibition) Act, 1993. Though

the open-air pit toilets arebeing constructed with thecourts permission, theBombay High Court had, inan earlier order, directedagainst their use, observingtheir role in indirectmanual scavenging.

Sanitary workers dread

Pandharpur festivalRahi Gaikwad

'INDIRECT' MANUAL SCAVENGING| PAGE 12

Temporary toiletsbuilt in 2014 wereresponsible for indirectmanual scavenging. PHOTO: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

NEW DELHI: Tourist arrivals inIndia registered a double-di-git growth in 2014 over theprevious year, show UnionTourism Ministry data.

While the number of do-mestic tourists grew 12 percent against 9.59 per cent in2013, the number of foreignvisitors rose by 13.12 per centagainst 9.24 per cent the pre-vious year.

Tamil Nadu remained thefavourite destination, receiv-ing the highest number of32.76 crore domestic visitorsand 46.6 lakh foreign visitors.

Double digitgrowth in

tourist arrivalsYuthika Bhargava

2.25 CRORE FOREIGN TOURISTSVISITED INDIA IN 2014 | PAGE 12

NEW DELHI: Just five per centof the 1,790 death sentenceshanded down by trial courtsin the last 15 years have beenconfirmed by the SupremeCourt. The numbers pointto wanton sentencing by thelower courts resulting indecades wasted on deathrow, say experts.

The Centre on the DeathPenalty at the National LawUniversity, Delhi, whichcompiled the data, wrote toall High Courts for details ofdeath sentences handeddown by trial courts in theirjurisdictions over the last 15

years. All death sentences,except in terrorism cases,must go to the High Courtsfor confirmation.

Trial courts too liberal

with death sentencesRukmini S.

HIGH COURTS REVERSE MOSTDEATH SENTENCES | PAGE 12

EXCLUSIVE

NEW DELHI: The Mohalla Clinicor AAP ka Clinic, as the DelhiGovernment likes to call it,has turned out to be quite a hitamong the people of Peeragar-hi Relief Camp. While nearly1,000 patients thronged the

two-room unit this past week,it surprises them as to howsuch a tiny clinic has provi-sions for nearly 50 diagnostictests, the results of which arepromised within an hour ortwo.

The answer is a smart de-vice called Swasthya Slatewhich can conduct 33 differ-ent tests through mobilephones and tablets. Most ofthe tests are done with thistablet. The device can mea-sure heart rate, ECG, bloodpressure, blood type, or bodytemperature. It can conducttests for malaria, dengue, hep-atitis B, HIV-1 and HIV-2, ty-phoid, etc. It uses disposablestrips to perform a variety ofother diagnostics on urine andblood samples, said a govern-ment official.

Chief Minister Arvind Kej-riwal who came to inaugurate

the clinic at the Relief Camptoo seemed quite amused ashe got his blood pressure

checked. He announced thateach of the 70 constituencieswill have at least 15 such Mo-halla Clinics within a year.

Built at a cost of Rs 20 lakh,the air-conditioned clinic isopen from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.,which the government plansto extend. The clinic has adoctor, a nurse, a pharmacistand a technician. A gynaecol-ogist and a paediatrician willvisit the clinic once everyweek. Ambulance services willbe arranged to take patients

referred from these clinics tohospitals, said SatyendraJain, the Health Minister.

On maintaining medical re-cords of patients, he said: TheSlate has the feature of storingelectronic medical records.Doctors will be able to extractrecords even if internet is notavailable. With the secondroom being a pharmacy, theclinic will provide freemedicines.

Sweta Goswami

A view of the AAP ka Clinic at Peeragarhi after itsinauguration by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal onSunday. PHOTO: PTI

The AAP ka Clinic is here

NEW DELHI: Three Pastors wereassaulted, allegedly at the beh-est of RSS workers, over of-fering prayers at a West Delhineighbourhood on Saturdayevening. Christian bodies have

claimed that the incident wasexecuted in line with deliber-ate vendetta against theircommunity.

However, the RSS said theallegations were absolutelyincorrect and part of contin-uing effort to malign it by falsepropaganda upon absolutelycooked up charges.

A police officer said twocases had been registered. TheUnited Christian Forum hasdecided to take up the matterwith the Chief Minister'sOffice.

At the centre of the incidentis a Kerala-based pastor whohas been visiting Shivram Parkin Nihal Vihar for the last eightmonths. His latest visit, withtwo other Delhi-based pastorsof the Shalom Mission, accord-ing to police, was to pray forthe well-being of an unwellchild of a local resident but

was misinterpreted as partof a sustained conversiondrive.

Pastors attacked

in West DelhiJatin Anand

BUILDING COLLAPSE

Toll reaches six

New Delhi: A 12-year-old girlsbody was the last to be dug outof the debris, almost 18 hoursafter a five-storey buildingcollapsed in West Delhis Khyalaon Saturday night.

CITY | PAGE 3

INSIDE

PAK LODGES PROTEST

Ceasefire violationsISLAMABAD: Pakistans ForeignMinistry has lodged a protestwith the Indian governmentover a series of unprovokedceasefire violations inKashmir.

NEWS | PAGE 12

MEERUT:After UnionMinister Smriti Irani andher deputy Rama ShankarKatheria, anotherprominent BJP leader is in

fake degree row.One of the Hindutva

poster boys in UttarPradesh, Sangeet Som, whois also an accused inMuzaffarnagar riot case, isalleged to have submitted

fake educational documentsin his election commissionaffidavits. He is an MLAfrom Sardhana in WesternU.P.

BJP MLA in fake degree rowMohammad Ali

DETAILS | PAGE 9

EDUCATIONPLUS

4 Pages

METROPLUS

4 Pages


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Paintings:Hope & Despair An exhibition ofpaintings by Narendra Kumar at Open Palm CourtGallery, India Habitat Centre (IHC), 11 am - 7 pm

Paintings: "Metamorphic Nature" an exhibi-tion of paintings by Lalit Mohan Bhatt at TriveniGallery, Triveni Kala Sangam, 205, Tansen Marg,Mandi House, 11 am - 7 pm

Paintings:"The Creativists" - a group exhibi-tion of paintings, sculptures and a culmination ofthe works by veteran and contemporary artists at

Visual Arts Gallery, India Habitat Centre (IHC), 11am - 7 pm

Paintings: Colors Corridor presents"Through The Years" an exhibition of painting,drawing at Convention Centre Foyer, India Hab-itat Centre (IHC), 10 am - 8 pm

Winter: An exhibition of prints by Britishartist Julian Opie at The Gallery, British Council,17, Kasturba Gandhi Marg, 8 am 8 pm

"The History of Japan-India Exchange":Photo Panel Exhibition at The Japan Foundation,5A Ring Road, Lajpat Nagar IV, 11 am - 7 pm

"Spirit Of Delhi": Photography exhibit byTushar Kanti Mandal at Delhi O Delhi Foyer,India Habitat Centre (IHC), 10 am - 8 pm

The Nepal Exhibition: Photographs by Kan-ishka Prasad in aid of earthquake victims at Re-ception Foyer, India Habitat Centre (IHC), 10:30

am - 7 pmPhoto exhibition: Korean Cultural Centrepresents photography exhibition on Dream LandIndia by Korean and Indian artists at Korean Cul-tural Centre, A - 25, Lajpat Nagar IV, 10 am - 6 pm(Monday to Friday)

Music: Delhi Music Society presents ConcertPresented by The Fidelio Trio Darragh Morgan(violin); Adi Tal (cello); and Mary Dullea (piano)

With Patricia Rozario, soprano at C. D. DeshmukhAuditorium, Main Building, India InternationalCentre (IIC), 6:30 pm

Talks: The Indo-U.S. Civil Nuclear Agree-ment- Ten Years after by Indias Former ForeignSecretary, Mr. Shyam Saran, Moderator: C UdayBhaskar, Director, SPS at Gulmohar Hall at IndiaHabitat Centre (IHC) - 7 pm

Culture: Lord Jagannath temple Rath Yatracelebration: Odissi dance by Padmashree Smt.Ranjana Gauhar and her disciples at Shri Jagan-nath Mandir, Thyagraj Nagar, 7 pm

(Mail your listings for this column [email protected])

DELHI TODAY

Disclaimer:Readers are requested to verify &make appropriate enquiries to satisfythemselves about the veracity of an adver-tisement before responding to any published inthis newspaper. Kasturi & Sons Limited, thePublisher & Owner of this newspaper, does notvouch for the authenticity of any advertisementor advertiser or for any of the advertisers pro-ducts and/or services. In no event can theOwner, Publisher, Printer, Editor, Director/s,Employees of this newspaper/company be heldresponsible/liable in any manner whatsoever forany claims and/or damages for advertisementsin this newspaper.

12-year-old girls body was thelast to be dug out of the debris,almost 18 hours after a five-storey

building collapsed in West DelhisKhyala on Saturday night. Withthat, the death count on Sundayrose to six, including three wom-en, two girls and a 60-year-oldman. Nine persons were officiallydeclared as injured.

The affected families were liv-ing on rent. Around 10 familieslived in the building and at leasttwo were away to celebrate Eidwhen the disaster struck. Localssaid the site was a busy road. Butpeople on the road heard thesound of the building crackingand managed to escape in time,said neighbour Rajat Singh.

The collapse severely damagedat least four other buildings in itsimmediate vicinity, making thesituation difficult for rescueworkers. Officials said the bodiesof three victims were recoveredfrom another damaged houseacross the road.

A woman was hanging from

the ceiling. When we realised shehad died, we ignored her for al-most two hours as it was difficultto reach her, said Manaharlal, anofficial with Civil Defence, one ofthe several agencies engaged inthe rescue work. The process ofclearing the debris continued till

late Sunday evening as narrow

lanes hampered progress.Building residents wanted tosalvage whatever little they could.One of them requested the au-thorities to recover a pressurecooker for him, in which he hadapparently kept Rs.1.5 lakh. TheNDRF personnel dug out threepressure cookers till late after-noon, but none with money in it.

Meanwhile, residents allegedthat digging up of the street nextto the building for laying sewerlines caused water to accumulateunder the building, which eventu-ally led to the collapse.

A JCB machine was used

around three months ago to dig upthe lane, causing the land underone corner of the building to loos-en. That had caused the buildingto tremble once. After that, resi-dents confronted the authoritiesand forced them to withdraw theJCB, said Deepak Amar Singh,son of Brijlal, the owner of thebuilding, who was also one of theinjured in Saturdays collapse.

Mr. Singh alleged that he ap-proached the authorities withcomplaints to call off the work,but his pleas went unheeded aswork continued without the JCB

machine. Meanwhile, water kept

seeping into the basement.The residents had vacated theirhomes for a day before returningagain. The neighbours said theyhad warned them against occupy-ing the building, but in vain. Someof the neighbours, however, relo-cated. Authorities will also probewhether the building owner add-ed three floors illegally to the ini-tial two-storey building.

The District Magistrate has an-nounced an ex-gratia amount ofRs.2 lakh for the kin of adultskilled in the accident and Rs.1 lakhfor those of minors.

WATER ACCUMULATION IN BASEMENT CAUSED FOUNDATION TO WEAKEN

6 dead in building collapseShiv Sunny

A

Rescue operations in progress at the site of the building collapse at Vishnu Garden inWest Delhi on Sunday. PHOTO: SHIV KUMAR PUSHPAKAR

A WOMAN WAS HANGING FROM THECEILING. WHEN WE REALISED SHE WASDEAD, WE IGNORED HER FOR ALMOSTTWO HOURS AS IT WAS DIFFICULT TOREACH HER

REDUCED TO RUBBLE

NEW DELHI: Every few seconds after they were buried under the debris, Prem Babuwould stop screaming for help to check whether his wife Beena was alive. Herbarely-audible groans let him know she was. The moment he was rescued, hecrawled towards Beena. Since he could barely feel a pulse, he begged the rescuersto attend to her instead. It took time to pull her out as an entire wall had fallen onher. They told me she was dead when they pulled her out, Prem toldThe Hindu.

Four of his seven children were injured, while his nine-year-old daughters bodywas dug out on Sunday. The street vendor had shifted to the fifth floor only twomonths back. His two eldest children were in the market, the rest in their room,

while the couple was walking up when hefelt the tremors, followed by a loud sound.

My first thought was that it was anearthquake. Beena and I rushed to thelandowners room on second floor andturned on the TV to see the news.

The moment they stepped out of theroom, the building fell. Nothing was visible. A portion of the wall had collapsed onmy chest. I tried to drag myself towards Beena, but couldnt move. The only thingthat gives me comfort is that my hand was on her hand during her last moments.

Lack of preparedness came to the fore during Saturdays rescue operation.Since power supply was cut off for nearly three hours, locals pitched in withcellphone torches and authorities arranged for aska lights. Civil Defence personnelclaimed to have arranged for a generator, but getting fuel for the generator tookabout an hour as the nearby petrol pump staff refused to give fuel in a container.

My hand was on her hand duringher last moments, says survivorShiv Sunny

LACK OF PREPAREDNESSCAME TO THE FOREDURING SATURDAYSRESCUE OPERATION

sistant Engineer A.K. Mittal and Ju-nior Engineer Arvind Kumar havebeen suspended pending enquiry.

The DJB denied the allegations.The work was completed eightmonths ago and it was at a depth of sixfeet. A larger line was laid to take careof the overflow in the colony. There isno possibility that it had anything todo with the collapse, said DJB spo-kesperson Sanjam Chima.

The SDMC has in the past monthidentified 12 dangerous buildings.Since April, it has issued around 1,400notices over unauthorised construc-tions. The North Delhi body hasbooked 2,377 buildings for illegalconstruction and issued 1,310 demo-lition orders from January 1, 2014, toMarch 31. A total of 144 buildings inNorth Delhi were deemed dangerousin 2014-2015. In East Delhi, whichsaw the tragic 2010 Lalita Park build-ing collapse, the body received 2,988complaints regarding unauthorisedconstructions in 2014-2015. It book-ed 1,418 properties and demolished818 of them.

NEW DELHI: South Delhi MunicipalCorporation officials on Sunday al-leged that the previous nights build-ing collapse was the result of a DelhiJal Board sewer-laying project gonewrong as the buildings basementhad filled with water.

SDMC Mayor Subhash Arya saidthe buildings foundation had beenweakened by water collecting thereafter the DJB laid pipelines in thevicinity about two months back. Hehas ordered a probe by the DeputyCommissioner (West zone), and sus-pended three Building Departmentofficials. Prima facie it appears thecause of the collapse was the accu-mulation of water in the basement ofthe building. However, we will con-duct a thorough enquiry on the roleof our engineers not taking actionagainst the unauthorised construc-tion in the building, he said.

SDMC Commissioner Puneet Ku-mar Goel said the three officials Executive Engineer A.K. Meena, As-

SDMC blames DJBStaff Reporter


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Delhi CM ArvindKejriwals style of

confrontation withthe Centre, insiderssay, has found manytakers in the nationalOpposition with his Bi-har counterpart, NitishKumar, among the

AAP supremos mostprominent fans.A senior party func-

tionary said, it was evi-dent on severaloccasions when Mr.Kumar formally calledon Mr. Kejriwal. It alsobecame clear at ameeting of the NITI

Aayog chaired byPrime Minister Modiearlier this week.

Later, during a teasession, where 14 ChiefMinisters were presentin addition to the duo,Mr. Kumar is believedto have declared his ad-miration for Mr. Kej-riwal taking on theCentre almost on a dai-ly basis. He reportedlyeven said that hewished to replicatehis style. Both Mr.

Kejriwal and Mr. Ku-mar have not onlypresided over meet-ings at the Delhi Secre-tariat in the recentpast, but are under-stood to have had in-formal sessions on thesidelines too.

The AAPs latest tel-evision advert,

which seeks to conveythe Delhi govern-ments perseverance inthe face of alleged ha-rassment at the handsof the Centre, has a dif-ferent interpretationat the Delhi Policeheadquarters.This emerged whenJoint CP Mukesh Mee-na, who has beenplaced at the helm ofthe Anti-CorruptionBanch much to thechagrin of the Delhigovernment, walkedinto a meeting at thepolice headquarterswhere some senior of-ficers and members ofthe press were in at-

tendance almost at thesame time as the ad ap-peared on a televison.Even as an uncomfort-able silence envelopedthe room, an officer jo-

vially asked Mr. Meenato interpret the ad theway he chose to.For the Delhi Police,Mr. Kejriwal was theone harassing the Cen-tre and not the otherway around.This ad should actual-ly have a picture of you(Mr. Meena) and Mr.Kejriwal and say Kej-riwal pareshaan karterahe, par Meena saabkaam karte rahe, theofficer said. Jatin Anand

Kejriwal has a new fanBihar CM Nitish Kumar is believed to have admired Kejriwalfor taking on the Centre almost on a daily basis


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STATED E L H I

Jul 20,Mon Jul 21,Tue Jul 22,Wed

RISE 05 37 SET 19 19 RISE 05 37 SET 19 19 RISE 05 38 SET 19 18

RISE 09 18 SET 21 55 RISE 10 08 SET 22 29 RISE 10 59 SET 23 03

Published by N. Ram at Kasturi Buildings, 859 & 860, Anna Salai, Chennai-600002 and Printed by S. Ramanujam 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: Malini Parthasarathy (Responsible for selection of news under the PRB Act).

Delhi Police constable has lodged acomplaint against Chief Minister Ar-vind Kejriwal for referring to police-men as thullas, which is considereda derogatory term, even as the Cap-itals top cop said he would meet Mr.Kejriwal on Monday.

Constable Harvinder has demand-ed that a case under Section 504 of theIndian Penal Code (intentional insultwith intent to breach provoke ofpeace) be registered at Lajpat Nagarpolice station in South-East Delhi. Inhis complaint, Harvinder has statedthat he was watching television athome on Friday when he heard theChief Minister using the word. Har-vinder said the term left him dis-turbed and he could not sleep allnight.

Two more similar complaintsagainst Mr. Kejriwal have been re-

ceived from policemen at Dabri andGovindpuri police stations. Thoughno first information reports were reg-istered in any of those cases till late onSunday, a complaint has been lodgedat Lajpat Nagar police station.

Harvinder claimed he tried to con-tact the Chief Ministers helpline thenext day to register a complaint, butto no avail. He even tried to reach Mr.Kejriwal through other phone num-bers, but was unable to speak to him.This prompted him to register a po-lice complaint, he claimed.

Meanwhile, Delhi Police Commis-

sioner Bhim Sen Bassi on Sundaysaid he would call on Mr. Kejriwal onMonday. I received a letter from theChief Ministers Office asking if ameeting was possible. I will definite-ly meet him at 4 p.m. on Monday and

exchange views, Mr. Bassi told jour-nalists. Maybe the Kejriwal-ledDelhi government will be able to tellus something useful. In return, I cantell them something that helps in-crease their knowledge about polic-ing. After all, I have spent 38 y ears ofmy life in policing. As a police officer,it is my duty that I should removeany misconceptions about policing. Iwill have an opportunity during themeeting to clear misconceptions, ifany, the police chief added.

Earlier, Mr. Bassi said he wouldalso discuss the murder of a youngwoman in the Capital and explain tothe government that the police weredoing their best to deal with the case,and there was no inaction on theirpart.

KEJRIWAL ACCUSED OF CALLING POLICEMEN THULLAS

CM upsets copsStaff Reporter

ATwo more similar complaintshave been lodged againstArvind Kejriwal.

AS A POLICE OFFICER, IT IS MY DUTYTHAT I SHOULD REMOVE ANYMISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT POLICING

FRESH TROUBLE

WEATHER WATCH (City-wise reading yesterday)

For metros highlighted, readings show max temperature

Delhi|33.7C

Kolkata|31.8C

Mumbai|32 C

Hyderabad| 33C

Chennai|37.4 CBengaluru| 26.5C

Image & Data: India Meteorological Department

Forecast for Monday: Heavy to very heavy rainfall would occur at a few placesover Gujarat region and at isolated places over east Rajasthan, west MadhyaPradesh and Konkan & Goa. Heavy rainfall would occur at isolated places overeast Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Gangetic West Bengal, Assam, Meghalaya,Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, coastal Karnataka, Saurashtra, Kutch,south Interior Karnataka, Kerala and Andaman & Nicobar Islands.

Max Min Max Min Max Min

A ga rt al a 2 6. 5 2 4. 5 Hu bb al li 2 8 2 1 Ne w D el hi 33 .7 2 6Ahmedabad 3 7.8 28.8 Hyderabad 3 3 23.8 Patna 3 4.6 26.9

A ll ah ab ad 3 4. 3 2 7. 6 I mp ha l 2 5. 9 2 1. 8 P or t B la ir 3 1. 4 2 6. 7

Aizawl 23.6 _ Jaipur 33.8 24 Pune 28.7 22.3

B eng al ur u 2 6. 5 2 0. 6 Ko hi ma 2 5 1 5. 5 Pu du ch er ry 3 7. 5 28 .8

Bhopal 24.7 22. 9 Kol kat a 32.1 26.4 Raipur 30.9 25 .4

Bhubaneswar 31.2 24. 9 Kochi 30 23.8 Ranchi 30 23. 8

C handigarh 3 0.6 26.8 K oz hikode 28.2 22.6 Shi llong 25.8 17.3

Chennai 37. 4 26 Kurnool 36.8 26.3 Shi ml a 22.5 16.6

C oimbatore 29.4 22.4 Lucknow 3 4.5 26.9 Srinagar 28. 3 19 .6

D ehradun 3 3.1 22.9 Madurai 3 9.2 27 Vi jayawada 3 4.4 25.2

G angtok 24.1 16 .7 Mangaluru 27.2 24 V isakhapatnam 3 2.6 28.4

Goa 31 26 Mumbai 32 26.2 Thiruvananthapuram 31.4 24.6

Guwahat i 36 24. 4 Mysuru 26 20.8 Tir uchi 36.8 27.2

NEW DELHI: The Delhi Electric-ity Regulatory Commission(DERC) is going to hold apublic hearing for this yearspower tariff revision in thefirst week of August.

Sources said that the pow-er regulator had completedanalysing and verifying thepetitions submitted by thedistribution companies, andthat dates for the publichearing would be announcedsoon.

This means, the tariffs inthe Capital are likely to berevised by the end of August.Owing to the delay, the dis-coms have now urged thecommission to expedite theprocess. The DERC said itwas yet to take a decision onhiking tariffs again, whichmay escalate its confronta-tion with the AAPgovernment.

The power utilities havesought a hike in tariffs of upto 20 per cent as they haveclaimed a revenue gap ofaround Rs.28,000 crore.

The Reliance Energy-backed BSES discoms havepetitioned the DERC for upto 19 per cent hike, while theTata Power Delhi Distribu-tion Ltd (TPDDL) has de-manded an increase of 20 percent.

Making a case for hikingtariffs, the discoms have ar-gued that their combinedrevenue gap due to the ab-sence of a cost-reflective tar-iff has increased

exponentially and the finan-cial position would worsenfurther if there was no in-crease in rates.

The total under recoveriesof the BSES Rajdhani PowerLtd and the BSES YamunaPower Ltd have risen toRs.20,000 crore while for theTPDDL, it has been estimat-ed at Rs.8,000 crore, accord-ing to the discoms.

On June 12, the DERC hadhiked tariffs by up to six percent to compensate the dis-coms for rise in power pur-chase cost.

The AAP government hadstrongly criticised the DERCfor the hike.

Power experts said theDelhi discoms have to incur60 per cent more cost on buy-ing power compared to otherState governments becauseof the long-term power

purchase.

Public hearingon hike inpower tariffsnext monthSweta Goswami

NEW DELHI:A man was stabbedto death by motorcycle-bornemen following an argumentin East Delhis Jyoti Nagar onSaturday night. A resident ofJamia Nagar, 22-year-old Sal-

man Khan was in Jyoti Nagaron Saturday to celebrate Eidwith some relatives.

Salman left for Shani Bazarwith his friends in the eve-ning. They stopped at a road-side shop for soft drinks whenthree men on a motorcycle hithim in the leg.

The assailants were park-ing their motorcycle whenthe front tyre hit Salman, whowas on his motorcycle, said a

police officer.Deputy Commissioner of

Police (North-East) VeenuBansal said Salman allegedlyabused the assailants.

That led to a quarrel be-tween them, during whichSalman was stabbed twice bythe accused, said the policeofficer.

Though the incident tookplace in a crowded market,

the assailants managed toflee. Salman was rushed toGuru Tegh Bahadur Hospital,where he succumbed to hisinjuries.

The police was informedand a case has been regis-tered. CCTV footage from the

market and local intelligencewas brought in to gather in-formation about the suspects,the police said.

Two suspects were arrest-ed on Sunday, the DeputyCommissioner of Police add-ed.

Salman is survived by hisparents and five siblings. Hisfather runs a canteen on theJamia Millia Islamia collegecampus.

Staff Reporter

Man stabbed to death in East Delhi22-year-old Salman wasstabbed by men on amotorcycle following anargument in a marketat Jyoti Nagar

FURORE OVER LAW & ORDER

NEW DELHI: Delhi BJP president Satish Up-adhyay, on Sunday, met the family of 19-

year-old Meenakshi who was murdered inAnand Parbat two d ays back. Mr. Upadhyayassured the family of all support in gettingjustice for the victim. The Delhi Policeshould deal with such matters sensitively.Primary information and facts should not beignored, the State BJP chief said.

He also requested the Delhi Police Com-missioner to carry out a thorough probe.

Later, he visited Vishnu Garden and metthe residents of the building that collapsedon Saturday. The SDMC has already or-dered a probe into the mishap. From theinformation local residents gave, it appearsthat the leaking and faulty sewer line of thearea had damaged the foundation of thebuilding, he said.

Delhi BJP chief meetskin of murder victim

Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI: The Delhi Congress, on Sunday, at-tacked both the Central and the Delhi govern-

ments over the deteriorating law and ordersituation in the city, including the worrisomemurder of a teenager in Anand Parbat.

During the Congress time, there had beenan unfortunate rape case, about which we areashamed even now. The Congress was finishedin Delhi because BJP and todays Chief Ministermade it into a huge issue, Congress leader Ghu-lam Nabi Azad said at a press briefing here.

But after the Central government came somany incidents have happened. The case thathappened two days ago, where a girl was stabbedmultiple times, is very worrisome, he added.

Earlier, CM Arvind Kejriwal had asked PrimeMinister Narendra Modi to either fix the securi-ty situation in the Capital or hand over the reinsof the Delhi Police to the AAP government.

Congress attacks Centraland State governmentsStaff Reporter


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engaluru is a motorists night-mare and the National Crime Re-

cords Bureau (NCRB) dataconfirms the same. The city hasseen the highest number ofdeaths due to dangerous andreckless driving in the country.

Nearly 90 per cent of accidentsreported in the city in 2014 werecaused due to dangerous andreckless driving. Of the 5,004 ac-cidents in 2014, 4,482 were

caused due to reckless driving.These 4,482 incidents caused thedeath of 626 people, and 2,707suffered injuries.

This is the highest in any megacity. Bengaluru is closely followedby Kolkata with 4,016 accidentscaused by reckless driving.

This only reflects the commu-ter culture in the city. Bengalurumotorists still have a long way togo before their driving skills re-flect a global city they live in, saidM.N. Srihari, a traffic expert.

Police version

Though Additional Commis-sioner of Police (Traffic) M.A. Sa-leem agrees on the need toimprove the commuter culture in

the city, he had a different take onthe issue. We book cases of reck-less driving even for driving onthe wrong lane or speaking on a

mobile while driving. In other ci-ties they dont book cases of reck-less driving for these offences,he said.

List of violations

Bengaluru City Traffic Policescases of dangerous and recklessdriving include lane indiscipline,jumping traffic signals, overtak-ing from the left, driving in thewrong directions on a one-waystreet, not maintaining a safe dis-tance between vehicles. However,it does not include overspeedingand drunken driving.

BENGALURU ROADS A NIGHTMARE FOR MOTORISTS

Rash driving to blameK V Aditya Bharadwaj

B

THIS ONLY REFLECTS THE

COMMUTER CULTURE IN THE

MEGA CITY

DUBIOUS RECORD

Arduous progress

Pilgrims on their way to the Amarnath cave near Baltal onFriday. The yatra to the 3,880 metre-high cave shrine on theHimalayas started on July 2. So far, over 2.40 lakh pilgrims havehad darshan of the naturally formed ice Shivlingam. PHOTO: PTI

TIRUPATI: The Rs. 300 specialentry darshan tickets bookedby a Chennai-based couple ona private website were foundto be fake during their pil-grimage to Tirumala, here onSunday.

According to sources, Ma-noj Jain and his wife report-edly purchased the tickets on

www.templeyatri.com. How-ever, they proved to be fakeduring the regular inspectionat the temple, as the bar codescanners could not recognisethe tickets.

Putting the blame on thewebsite, the couple gave awritten complaint to Tiruma-la Tirupati Devasthanams(TTD) Executive Officer D.Sambasiva Rao, who orderedthe TTD vigilance wing toprobe the matter.

Tirumala Darshan

tickets bought

online fake

Staff Reporter

BENGALURU: In perhaps thefirst instance of a Bengalu-ru-based pub going public,Pecos Hotels And Pubs Pri-vate Limited which runs a

chain of four pubs in the city will seek to raise nearlyRs. 2.30 crore through anIPO (Initial Public Offer-ing) at the Bombay StockExchange.

The company will be rais-ing the funds by offeringnearly 4.59 lakh shares

starting July 23, for a priceof Rs. 50 (of which face val-ue is Rs. 10).

Established in 1989 atRest house Road, the chainhas since seen wateringholes being set up in three

other places: Brigade Road,Church Street and Indira-nagar. Apart from upgrad-ing existing pubs, thefounder Collin Timms saidthe proceeds of the issuewill be used to setting up anew pub at Koramangala.

Weve been around for a

long time, and we believemodernisation and expan-sion is on the cards. Some ofour places are more thantwo decades old, Mr.Timms told The Hindu. Hebelieved the brand could be

leveraged for an expansionoutside Bengaluru in thenear future.

As of January 31, 2015,the pub was worth a littlemore than Rs. 1 crore, withsales expected to touchnearly Rs. 3 crore by the endof the financial year.

Staff Reporter

Bengaluru-based pub going public

AGARTALA:Many areas on theoutskirts of Agartala are ma-

rooned following incessantrains on Sunday. A man waswashed away in a floodedstream at Kamalpur of Dhalaidistrict.

Heavy downpour for thepast three days filled majorrivers and canals, and waterin the river Howrah in Agar-tala is flowing above the dan-ger mark. The flood watersubmerged a number of local-ities and displaced severalhundred people.

A senior official of the WestTripura district administra-tion said 500 people wereprovided shelter in schoolbuildings. Rescue teams withboats and equipment have

been pressed into operation.The situation at Sri Lanka

Basti, a major slum area, isgrim and almost all the resi-dents there have been evac-uated. Areas such as HrishiColony, Katasheula, Joypurand Kashipur arewaterlogged.

Sub-divisional magistrateManik Lal Das is supervisingrescue and relief work. Disas-ter management teams wereunder alert.

Continuous rain affectednormal life and business ac-tivities across Tripura.

A youth was washed awayin a stream at Satrai in Ka-malpur on Sunday. Rescuersare trying to locate AmlanSharma, 30, who with friendswent for an excursion.

Rain hits life in AgartalaSyed Sajjad Ali

A car being pushed through a flooded street afterheavy rain in Agartala on Sunday. PHOTO: PTI

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM A newcyprinid fish, Puntius Doli-chopterus has been discov-ered in KeralasKayamkulam city, a mediareport said.

The new fish species hasbeen discovered, named anddescribed by Mathews Pla-moottil, head of the depart-ment of zoology, Baby JohnMemorial Government Col-lege, near Kollam city, ac-cording to the latest issue ofInternational Journal ofPure and Applied Zoology.

The new freshwater fishwas collected from a smallwater stream flowing in theheart of Alappuzha districtsKayamkulam city.

It is characterised by thelonger pectoral fin, shorterdorsal fin, unusually elon-gated dorsal spine, longer

head, lesser number of lat-

eral line scales and pre-dor-sal scales. It can be furtherdifferentiated from its rela-tive species in having 3-4longitudinal lines presentbelow lateral line, he said.

Name coined fromGreek words

The name of the new fishdolichopterus has beencoined from two Greekwords dolikhos meaningelongated and pteronmeaning wing or fin, as re-fers to elongated pectoral

fin.

Describing the new fish,Plamoottil said the body issilvery, dorsal fin is light or-ange red, pectoral and analfin greenish yellow, ventralfin yellow, caudal fin duskyand an inconspicuous duskyspot present on 21 and 22scales.

The spine of dorsal fin inthis fish is rigid, strong andlong. They have a pair ofsmall barbels. They are be-tween 7.3 and 8.7 cm inlength.

Ornamental fish

The fish, found in smalland shallow water channels,is edible and can be utilisedas ornamental fish. The fishis included in the fish familyCyprinidae.

Its congeners (relativespecies) are Puntius nigro-

notus, Puntius viridis, Punti-

us nelsoni and Puntiusparrah found in Kerala, Pun-tius dorsalis found in Chen-nai and Puntius chola andPuntius sophore residing inthe water bodies of the Gan-ga river.

Zoo bank registernumber

All these fish were com-pared and examined forproving the identity of thisnew fish. This new barb hasreceived Zoo bank registernumber from InternationalCommission of ZoologicalNomenclature, the officialbody approving the newnames of animals. Six speci-mens of this new fish havebeen deposited in the Gov-ernment Museum (Zoologi-cal Survey of India) at PortBlair, Andaman and Nicobar

Islands, he added. IANS

New fish species discovered in KeralaIt was collected froma small water streamflowing in the heart of

Alappuzha districtsKayamkulam city

MANGALURU: Remember Shah-rukh Khan dancing with Ma-laika Arora to the tunes ofChaiya Chaiya on top of themoving Nilgiri MountainTrain from Dil Se film? If sucha scene was to be shot afterAugust 1, 2015, the producerswould have to pay more thandouble what they paid then.

Indian cinema has an age-old love for trains and theMinistry of Railways seems tohave decided to make moremoney out it.

Starting August 1, the charg-es for special trains for shoot-ing films will cost a minimumof more than Rs. 4.5 lakh perday as opposed to around Rs.2.30 lakh now.

The per km haulage chargefor filming in special trainsconsisting not more than four

coaches, excluding the SLR,would be equal to the seat/berth provided in each classfor the distance the specialtrain covers. The minimumfare per km would be Rs. 1,044per km for trains on broadgauge and Rs. 1,628 on meterand narrow gauges as againstthe present Rs. 597 and Rs.866 respectively.

There would be separatecharges for dining/ kitchen/pantry car coaches, detentioncharges for the train as well asthe locomotive, security de-posit (Rs. 2.5 lakh), servicecharge at 30 per cent, emptyhaulage charge and special hil-ly area surcharge of 20 percent for trains on narrowgauge.

Besides these charges, li-

cence fee too has to be paid toshoot on Railways premises,including stations and trains.

Shahrukh Khan and Malaika Aroras Chaiya Chaiyasong in Dil Se was shot on the moving Nilgiri

Mountain Train. FILE PHOTO: M. SATHYAMOORTHY

Cost of film shooton trains to double

Anil Kumar Sastry

MUMBAI: The Mumbai policeof Sunday registered an FIRagainst Nationalist Con-gress Party MLA RameshKadam and others for cor-ruption and misappropri-ation of funds in connectionwith alleged financial irreg-ularities in the Lokshahir

Annabhau Sathe Develop-ment Corporation(LASDC).

Mr. Kadam was the chair-man of the corporation be-tween 2010 and 2014, whenthe alleged irregularities tothe tune of Rs. 526 croretook place. The case wasregistered by Deputy Super-intendent of Police SanjeevGhadge. It was handed overto the State Criminal Inves-tigation Department, whichis investigating theallegations.

The MLA has been book-ed under various sections ofIPC and 7 and under 13 (1)

(c) of the Prevention of Cor-ruption Act.

Fraudulent disbursal

of loansThe alleged scam involves

fraudulent disbursal ofloans taken from districtcooperative and nationalbanks in the name of servingthe needy and backwardsections. The corporationalso faces allegations of ap-pointing employees withoutfollowing procedures.

With the BJP-ruled gov-ernment facing heat in theongoing Assembly sessionover allegations against

Women and Child Develop-ment Minister PankajaMunde for irregularities inpurchases worth Rs. 206crore, it seeks to use the al-legations against Mr. Ka-dam to counter the

Oppositions attack.

Police file graftcase againstNCP MLASpecial Correspondent

AHMEDABAD: The Centre will release Rs.400 crore towards crop insurance forfarmers of Gujarat this week, a StateMinister said on Sunday.

The Centre is going to release Rs.400 crore towards crop insurance forfarmers of Gujarat on July 25 that willbenefit around 2.5 lakh farmers of theState, Gujarat Minister of State forAgriculture, Mohan Kundariya said.

PTI

Centre to releaseRs. 400 cr. crop insurance

NEW DELHI: Sun TVs Red FMon Sunday said it wouldmove court against the gov-ernments decision denyingit permission to participatein phase III of FM auctions.

On July 15, five companiesof Kalanithi Maran-promot-

ed Sun TV were not allowedto participate in Phase IIIFM auctions as the Informa-tion and Broadcasting Min-istry rejected theirapplications.

Red FM, a part of Sun TVgroup, is one of main biddersfor the phase III of FM auc-tions, which would grantpermission to run 135 radiochannels in 69 cities.

We will move courtagainst this decision. Wehave full faith in the judicialsystem of our country andwe are confident that we willget relief from the court,said RED FM COO NishaNarayanan.

She said, We are sur-prised that a channel thatmainly plays Hindi musicand is an entertainment cen-tric station has been deniedsecurity clearance.

The private FM station

claimed that if the companydid not participate in theauction, the intensity of bid-ding would be reduced and itwould be less competitive.

We believe that this willharm the industry in thelong run as a major playerwill be absent. For the indus-try to grow and the market toexpand you will need the ex-isting players to expand intomore centres as well as moreplayers to come into the FMbusiness, she added.

An Application ReviewCommittee had rejected theapplications of the compa-nies belonging to the Sun TVgroup, which had failed toget a security clearance fromthe Union Home Ministry.

PTI

Red FM to move courtagainst govt. decision

It is one of the mainbidders for the ph aseIII of FM auctions,

which would grantpermission to run 135radio channels in69 cities

NEW DELHI: The Directorate-General of Civil Aviation isplanning one-time surprise

surveillance of airlines to seewhether they follow flightsafety norms, a senior officialsaid.

The move comes after anAir India flight from Bengalu-ru to Hyderabad had a badlanding on June 28, and theregulator found that the air-line could not retrieve theflight data.

The DGCA wants to tightenscrutiny and make sure air-lines fully comply with flightsafety standards.

The DGCA guidelines man-date 100 per cent monitoringof all flight data under FlightOperations Quality Assur-ance (FOQA), a processwhich allows flight data to beextracted to boost safety. Incase of an incident, an analy-sis of flight data allows safetymanagers to look at the caus-es and helps them improve

operational procedures.

DGCA surprisechecks toensure flightsafety normsSanjay Vijayakumar

CHENNAI: The Chennai city po-lice have arrested five people,including a woman, on chargesof cheating several people,promising them jobs in Chen-nai Metro Rail Limited. Theyreportedly collected over Rs. 2crore from unsuspecting peoplelooking for government jobs.

Investigating policemen,who busted the job racket, saidthey were acting on a complaintfrom G.Rajarathman, generalmanager, human resources,

CMRL.According to the complai-

nant, they started getting sever-al enquiries if they hadappointed any agency or indi-

viduals to hire technical and ad-ministrative staff for theChennai headquarters and oth-er operational units.

The probe led policemen to54-year-old S.Paulraj of Saida-pet, leader of the job racket. Thegroup is reported to have man-aged to establish a networkamong young unemployedgraduates, desperate to get jobs,an assistant commissioner said.

A. Mahendran (51) and hiswife Rajathi (36) of Coimba-tore, Mahendrans brother A.Nagaraj (56) and Arjunkumar(36) from Vathalagundu, Din-dugal, who were picked up froma hotel on Arcot Road on Sat-urday evening, had helpedPaulraj.

The youth are reported tohave paid sums between Rs.15lakh and Rs. 30 lakh.

Gang thatpromised jobsin Metro heldStaff Reporter


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NATION

hariots of Lord Jagannath and Devi Sub-hadra, that halted midway on the first

day of Nabakalebara Rath Yatra, reachedMausi Maa temple the destination oftheir annual sojourn on Sunday.

Although chariots of sibling deitieshad rolled on the Grand Road venue ofRath Yatra here, only Taladhwaja thechariot of Lord Balabadra could reachMausi Maa temple before sun set in onSaturday. The administration had an-nounced that pulling of Nandighoshaand Debadolana, chariots of Lord Jagan-nath and Devi Subhadra, would resumeon Sunday.

Anticipating that they would have an-other opportunity of pulling the chariotswith the sacred long and thick rope fixedto chariots, thousands of devotees hadagain congregated along the Grand Roadfrom the morning.

After Daitapatis, servitors of Shree Ja-gannath Temple, performed daily ritu-als, chariots were pulled towards MausiMaa temple.

Following deaths in stray incidents onSaturday, the administration took nochance. Vehicular movement inside and

outside Puri was controlled and securitywas beefed up at sensitive places. Manydevotees again turned up on the secondconsecutive day as paying obeisance todeities while they are on chariots is con-sidered as very auspicious.

No devotee will be allowed to climbchariots to get darshan of deities. Wewill be barricading all three chariots. Ad-equate police will be deployed at t he siteto ensure that there will be no disturb-ance during darshan, said SoumendraPriyadarshi, Office on Special Duty, forthe Rath Yatra.

Deities will stay in Mausi Maa Tem-ple, which is as per scripture consideredas their aunts abode, for nine days. Theywill then return to the main temple.

Puri District administration will re-main on highalert for next nine days as itis expected that devotees in large num-ber will continue to visit this coastaltown.

DEVOTEES LOOKING FORWARD TO PULLING THE CHARIOTS AGAIN

Chariots reach Mausi Maa TempleSatyasundar Barik

C

THIS IS THE DESTINATION OF THEIR ANNUALNINE-DAY SOJOURN

NABAKALEBARA RATH YATRA

PURI: Good news for Odia-knowing devotees of Lord Jagan-nath across the globe. Public service broadcaster All IndiaRadio will soon upload timeless Odia devotional songs ofLord Jagannath on YouTube.

AIR Director-General F. Sheheryar, who was here for re-lease of the CD containing the first tranche, the songs wouldsoon be available on YouTube for internet users.

Coinciding with Nabakalebara Rath Yatra, the fir st trancheof bhajans (devotional song) CD was released by Dibya SinghDev, who is widely considered Puri King, here.

The CD contains 13 devotional songs sung by late Nimaich-aran Harichandan, Balakrushna Das, Shyam Sundar Kar,Bhikarichanran Bal, Raghunath Panigrahi, Akhyay Mohanty,Mohammad Sikandar Alam, Markandeya Mohapatra, Kash-inath Pujapanda, Radhakrushna Bhanja, Shyamamani Devi,Snehalata Praharaj and Kalyani Bhattacharjee.

These devotional songs of 1960s and 1970s collected fromthe archives of AIR, Cuttack, were released on occasion ofNabakalebara Rath Yatra. Mr. Sheheryar said more suchbhajans collected from the AIR archives would be released innear future.

Now Odia devotionalsongs on YouTubeStaff ReporterBERHAMPUR:A miniature

rath of the Lord Jagannath- made of unusualmaterials like cane, soapand chalk - is currently ondisplay here.

The 12-inch high and8-inch wide chariot wasmade of cane, gambhari (aherb), wood and chalk. Thechariot has one-inch highJagannath.

I was trying to replicatethe Nandighosha rath ofPuri, said 29-year-oldartist Satya NarayanMoharana.

The famous chariot ofLord Jagannath in Puri iscalled the NandighoshaRath.

The tiny Rath has 16

wheels, nine parshadevata and a sarathi Thewheels are made of canewhile the parsa devataand sarathi are carved outof chalk and soaprespectively, he said.

This is perhaps thesmallest chariot ofJagannath in the country,claimed Moharana, abusinessman.

Since the materialsused are cheap, I spent anominal amount to makeit, he added.

While nine chalk pieceswere used to make parsadevata, the sarathi wasmade of only one soap, hesaid. He took a week to

complete the chariot.- PTI

Miniature Rath of soap,chalks on display

NEW DELHI: The Union govern-ment has not yet notified theamendments to the ForeignExchange Management Act(FEMA) that were incorpo-rated into the legislation af-

ter President PranabMukherjees assent in May.

The delay may have impli-cations for the pending casesof foreign exchange viola-tions, including those alleg-edly involving the former IPLchief, Lalit Modi.

Sources in the FinanceMinistry said the authoritieswere waiting for a financiallimit to be fixed in the provi-sions to bring them into forcethrough a gazettenotification.

Cases against Modi

Until last year, the En-forcement Directorate waspursuing about 4,500 casesunder the FEMA. Sixteencases are pending against Mr.Modi and other former of-fice-bearers of BCCI-IPL.The probe in 15 of them wascompleted, and these cases

are now at the adjudicationstage.In March, the government

proposed amendments to theFEMA and the Prevention ofMoney Laundering Act(PMLA). The Special Investi-gation Team on black moneyhad also come up with similarsuggestions. After beingpassed by Parliament, the Fi-nance Act received the Presi-dents assent on May 14.However, as provided in thelaw itself, the amendments tothe FEMA do not come intoforce automatically.

The Act states that the pro-visions shall come into forceon such [a] date as the Cen-tral government may, by no-tification, appoint, anddifferent dates may be ap-pointed for differentprovisions

Amendments

The amendments havebeen made to Sections 2, 6,13, 18, 46, and 47 and intro-duction of Section 37A of theFEMA. An important intro-duction is that of Section37A, which empowers an au-thorised officer to seize as-sets equivalent in value to theforeign exchange, foreign se-curity or immovable proper-ty held abroad in violation ofthe law.

The comprehensive provi-sion states that within amonth, the seizure order hasto be submitted to the com-petent authority, an officernot below the rank of JointSecretary. The authority willeither confirm or set asidethe order within the next sixmonths after hearing both

sides. If confirmed, the mat-ter will go to the AppellateTribunal. The amended Sec-tion 13 empowers the investi-gation agency to levy apenalty of up to three timesthe sum involved in contra-vention of the law and con-fiscate property equivalent tothe assets created abroad.

The adjudicating authoritymay recommend prosecutionagainst the accused in fitcases.

Prosecution

Under the same provision,the Enforcement Directormay also, after recording rea-sons, order prosecution byfiling a criminal complaintagainst the guilty person. Incase of violation, the guiltycan be, in addition to the pen-alty, punished with impris-onment of up to five yearsand a fine.

Civil, criminal action

The guilty person wouldbe liable to face both civil andcriminal action under theprovision, which makes it ve-ry stringent. It can help en-forcement agencies makeseizures in many cases whereearlier the assets in questionwere found to be locatedabroad, a government offi-cial said.

A similar provision in thePMLA that empowers the in-vestigation agency to attachproperty equivalent in valueto the assets held abroad hasalready come into effect.

Centre yet to notifycrucial FEMAamendmentsDevesh K. Pandey

The delay may

have implications

for foreign

exchange violation

cases, including

those involving

Lalit Modi

PATHAPALLY (MAHABUBNAGARDISTRICT): Trouble for the 45Madiga families in the smallvillage of Pathapally, about170 kms from Hyderabad, be-gan on May Day this year,when Raghuram, a conductorwith the Telangana RoadTransport Corporation, gotmarried in the Madiga-Wa-da (SC locality) and wantedto enter the village temple.

The wedding party was ini-tially stopped but on assur-ance from the sitting MLA, G.Chinna Reddy, they managedto enter and have darshan.But on May 4 the temple waslocked like it had been foryears. When the villagerslodged a complaint with thedistrict administration, theMandal Revenue Officer and

Sub-Inspector of Police vis-ited the village and sorted outthe issue.

However, even as the offi-cers were leaving the village,the temple was locked again,allegedly by members of thedominant Boya community.Since then the tiny scheduledcaste community has facedunprecedented persecution.

Around the second week ofMay, the families were drivenout of land that was allottedto them by the government.Members of the Boya com-munity then proceeded to bu-ry their dead in this land toensure that the displacedfamilies cannot return.

They have been denied wa-ter from the 40,000-litre ca-pacity overhead servicereservoir (OHSR) and areconstantly abused, taunted,

threatened and even physi-cally assaulted.

Though the Madiga mem-

bers have documents to provetheir ownership of the land,the district administration,

under the Revenue DivisionalOfficer and Deputy Superin-tendent of Police, termedthem encroachers and pulleddown their huts and a shop.

The Kula Nirmoolana Po-rata Samithi (Struggle Com-mittee for CasteAnnihilation) has taken upthe issue and organised pro-tests since June 23 at Maha-bubnagar and Pebbair. OnSunday, the hunger strike atPebbair was visited by socialactivist Anand Teltumbde,grandson of B.R. Ambedkar.

After interacting with theousted families in the village,Mr. Teltumbde said it was un-fortunate that such a situa-tion should arise within 11months of the birth of Telan-gana, a State that wasachieved after decades ofstruggle.

Dominant community turned their land into a burial ground in Mahabubnagar district

Suresh Krishnamoorthy

Members of Scheduled Caste families in Pathapallyon Sunday show Anand Teltumbde, grandson of Dr.B.R. Ambedkar, documents for the land from whichthey were forced out. PHOTO: NAGARA GOPAL

Dalit families forced off land in Telangana

NEW DELHI: Jet Airways onSunday launched slew of of-fers, including a 60 per centcut in business class fare,

joining the bandwagon ofother airlines wooing cus-tomers with attractive of-fers to drive traffic in thelean season.

The airline has offered adiscount of up to 60 percent on base fares in busi-ness class on more than 180flights within India doingless than 1,000 km, accord-ing to the Jet Airwayswebsite.

Tickets must be pur-chased on or before 31 Julywhile entire journey mustbe completed between 20July and 15 October, the air-line's website said.

Airlines which have seena healthy growth in trafficin the April-June period,which is a busy travel sea-son, are getting into the leanseason which would go ontill mid-October.

Premier (business class)guests on domestic routeswill be able to enjoy faresstarting from an all-inclu-sive Rs. 6,999 for distancesless than 750 km and Rs.8,999 for distances between750 km and 1000 km, appli-

cable on all destinations onthe airlines domestic net-work, the airline said in astatement on Sunday.

The all-inclusive fares areoffered on most of its metroroutes, including Mumbai-Delhi and Delhi-Bengaluru.

In addition, Jet Airwaysis offering a 20 per cent dis-count on business classfares for destinations over1,000 km across the domes-tic network, the statementsaid.

Raj Sivakumar, Chief

Commercial officer, Jet Air-ways, said passengers cannow plan for their holidayand leisure travel in air-lines business class withadditional legroom at 40pitch, personalised serviceand multi-course mealoptions.

Last week, Spicejet an-nounced a Re. 1 airfare sale,as a part of promoting itsnew mobile app. It said thatmore than 1 lakh seats areone offer at Re.1 (excludingtaxes and fees).

Jet Airways cuts business class fareSanjay Vijayakumar

The airline has offered a discount of up to 60 per centon base fares in business class on more than 180 flightswithin India. FILE PHOTO: REUTERS

ed a certificate from KK JainInter College which said thatthe BJP MLA had failed hishigh school examination afterwhich he took a transfer cer-tificate in July 1994. Claimingthat there was no proof of fur-ther study by the legislator af-ter taking his transfercertificate, the complainantdemanded action against Mr.Som who was in the news lastfor being awarded Z-plus se-

curity by the Centre. He hasforwarded the complaint toGovernor Ram Naik.

MEERUT:After Union MinisterSmriti Irani and her deputyRama Shankar Katheria, an-other prominent BJP leaderis in fake degree row.

One of the Hindutva posterboys in Uttar Pradesh, San-geet Som, who is also an ac-cused in Muzaffarnagar riotcase, is alleged to have sub-mitted fake educational docu-ments in his electioncommission affidavits.

According a complaint filedwith the District Magistrateof Meerut, the BJP lawmakerfrom Sardhana submittedfake documents in his affida-vits to the ElectionCommission.

The complainant, Deven-dra Mukhiya, alleged that Mr.Som declared himself a grad-uate in his election affidavitfiled while contesting 2009Lok Sabha polls from Muzaf-farnagar. Later in 2012 UttarPradesh Assembly polls, fur-ther alleged Mr. Mukhiya, Mr.Som declared himself Inter-mediate pass in his EC

affidavit.In order to substantiate hisclaim, Mr. Mukhiya present-

Another BJP leaderin fake degree rowMohammad Ali

Sangeet Som declaredhimself a graduate inhis LS poll affidavit, butin 2012 Assembly polls,he stated himself asIntermediate pass

MUMBAI: Two persons werekilled and two others serious-ly injured when the cars theywere travelling in were hit bya landslide on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway at noon onSunday, the expressway con-trol room said.

The incident took placenear the Adoshi tunnel atKhopoli in Raigad district.The two injured women wererushed to the Lokmanya Hos-pital in Pune.

Rs. 4 lakh ex gratia

The State government an-nounced a compensation ofRs. 4 lakh each to the familiesof the deceased DilipbhaiPatel and Shashikant Dha-mankar and promised tocover the cost of medicaltreatment for the injured.State Public Works (PublicUndertakings) Minister Ek-nath Shinde reached the site.

Two killed inlandslide onMumbai-PuneExpresswayRahi Gaikwad


10/20

CMYK

ND-ND

MONDAY, JULY 20, 2015

10| THE HINDU MONDAY, JULY 20, 2015NOIDA/DELHI

EDITORIAL

To a layperson, the question raised by a jud ge of

the Supreme Court last week on the exact

constitutional identity of the countrys Chief

Justice may appear to be only an academic

doubt. However, seen in the backdrop of the current

debate over what is the ideal process for appointing

members of the higher judiciary, the question may have

a bearing on the role of the Chief Justice in the process.

The question from Justice Kurian Joseph, in the course

of the hearing in the case relating to the validity of the

National Judicial Appointments Commission, arose

from the fact that Article 124 of the Constitution refers

to the Chief Justice of India, while the Form of Oaths

and Affirmations in the Third Schedule uses the term

Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of India. Is there a

distinction? The provisions concerning Supreme Court

judges fall under the head Union judiciary in the Con-

stitution, implying that the CJ is indeed the head of the

Supreme Court. In judicial matters, the CJ is the first

among judges enjoying equal status, but in a constitu-

tional sense, especially when playing the role of a con-

sultee in judicial appointments, he is thepaterfamilias

of the entire judiciary. This dual identity presents no

conundrum when one remembers that the judiciary,

unlike the executive or the legislature, is not federal in

nature. While the State and Central governments, or

the State legislatures and Parliament, which are sover-

eign in their respective domains, have an element of

co-equality, the judiciary has a single hierarchy in

which the Supreme Court is at the apex. This is d emon-

strated by the fact that under Article 141, the law de-

clared by the Supreme Court is binding on all the courts.

However, the question acquires an entirely different

dimension when seen in the context of the current

debate on whether the country needs a new mechanism

for judicial appointments the NJAC or it should

retain the collegium system introduced by the second

judges case in 1993. The collegium, originally a three-

member body conceived by the court, and later expand-

ed to include five members by the third judges case of

1998, was an institution in which the CJs consultative

role was encapsulated. If the NJAC, in which the Chief

Justice and two senior-most judges represent the judi-

ciary, while two eminent persons and the Union LawMinister represent the executive, is going to replace the

collegium, does the CJ lose his constitutional identity

as a necessary consultee, and his role diminished to

that of an ordinary member in a multi-member com-

mission? In other words, the question seems to be the

one that the NJAC debate began with: should the judi-

ciary retain its primacy in appointments, or should it

share an equal responsibility with the executive?

The question

of primacy

StampedesIs the administration there to lookafter only our VIPs or the commonman as well? In India, news of astampede is not something new, butin this day and age when it results ina high toll, it is cause for alarm(Editorial, July 17, and Traffic jamsclog pushkaram routes and Twokilled in Puri stampede, both July

19). If the lives of VIPs can besafeguarded, then there must beample methods available tosafeguard the life of the commonman as well. When can we lookforward to non-biased crowdmanagement?

Anandu Suresh Govind,Thiruvalla

The issue is also about rational andirrational beliefs. State leadersshould introspect and decidewhether they should encouragereligious beliefs through the mediaand on a scale that indirectly causessuffering. One wonders what theteam from Singapore, which wasalso visiting Rajahmundry, thoughtabout the massive gatheringrushing into a semi-polluted river.

K.M.K. Murthy,Tenali, Andhra Pradesh

Temple towns and pilgrimagecentres across India are thronged

by lakhs of pilgrims every year. Butwhen these places do not possessthe infrastructure to support such

heavy footfalls, why are theypromoted with so much fanfare?Pilgrimages are becomingspectacles rather than the quiet,reflective journeys they are meantto be. Politics and commerce havetransformed them into shows ofmuscular religiosity. This, perhaps,is a reflection of our times, butshould the authorities not pauseand think if it is such a great idea to

promote pilgrimages, consideringthe pressure the crowds exert onfragile systems? True, it may beunrealistic to expect disciplinedbehaviour at such large gatheringsbut the responsibility for ensuringthe safety of the pilgrims, therefore,rests with officials in charge of theevent.

Padmini Raghavendra,Secunderabad

Rising suicidesThe tragedy of rising suicides,especially in Karnataka is adisturbing development (StateView, July 19). Though the farmerfeeds the nation, the distress heexperiences never seems to beaddressed in word and in spirit. Thefarming sector is sandwichedbetween the haves and have-notsand is at a crossroads; the nextgeneration is not keen to explore aliving in this field, the weather isoften fickle and power supply is

erratic. Mere announcements ofloan waivers and subsidies will notsuffice. It requires deeper and more

compassionate thought to addressagrarian distress. Smart cities andambitious plans can wait. Let therenot be a day when there are nofarmers to plough the land.

Balasubramaniam Pavani,Secunderabad

Research & institutesIn his characteristically frank andforthright manner, N.R. Narayana

Murthy has rightly bemoaned thepoor quality of research work beingcarried out even in educationalinstitutions of repute in our country(Has IISc. contributed to society?:Narayana Murthy, July 16). If eliteinstitutes of higher learning like theIISc and the IITs do not measure upto standards of excellence, one canwell imagine the poor state ofacademic culture prevalent inuniversities in the country. Eversince the dawn of Independence,there has hardly been any researchproject that can even be remotelycompared with those done by globalinstitutes. In all these years, it isvery rare that any of oureducational institutions have beenable to attract students from theWest. The fault for the present stateof affairs lies in the stereotypedsystem of education, poor teachingstandards, the lack of emphasis onencouraging initiative and thegeneral atmosphere of

nonchalance.G.S. Rajagopal,

Bengaluru

The Hindus new lookAs a reader of The Hindu for thepast 20 years, I am very happy anddelighted to see the refreshed lookand changes in keeping with timeand fashion. I started to read TheHindu with the help of my father,since 1995 (from Class V onwards),starting with Young World, bywriting letters to the Mail Bag

column. Later, I began readingshort news items and then moved tothe Editorials and Op-Ed articles.My father taught me to read,understand and make note of anew word per day with the help of adictionary. I still follow his words ofadvice: first of all, handling anewspaper itself is an art andreading comes next. I use theOxford Dictionarys mobileapplication to get the meanings ofnew words. The change in thedailys style, viz., content, format,new columns and font size, are anupgradation for the better. The onlychange that is a bit disturbing is theadvent of Full pageAdvertisements. My Englishprofessor used to say: Tell me whatEnglish daily you read, and I will tellyou how your command over theEnglish language is. Of course, Ithank the daily. I now walk withpride every day, from the parkinglot of my office to my work station

with a folded copy of the daily.Bharath J.,

Thanjavur

I agree with the views expressed byother readers (July 17), also becauseI have been an avid reader since myschool days in 1950. That said, Ihave been watching each milestoneThe Hindu has reached from time totime whether I am in India orelsewhere in the globe. I wish thepaper continues with adetermination that change is onlypermanent as the Greek

philosopher Heracletus said.P.M. Gopalan,

Chennai

The changes are quite appealing.Instead of carrying out change forchangess sake, the steps aremeaningful modifications. As areader of the newspaper for morethan 50 years and ensuring that Iget a copy irrespective of my placeof work in India I am in atransferable job I can say that theliterary value it provides isimmeasurable. The Hindu hasalways played a vital role indeveloping the reading habit amongthe populace. The coverage of mostsubjects, and the importance givento readers views through theLetters to Editor column are veryqualitative and which most othernewspapers cannot match. The fullpage advertisements, especially onthe first few pages, notwithstandingtheir economic aspect, are a bit of

an irritant at times.Vazuthur Raghavan,

Bengaluru

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Letters emailed to [email protected] carry the full postal address and the full name or the name with initials.

Abig let-down amid an otherwise progressive

narrative in the Department of Telecommuni-

cations recent report on net neutrality is its

recommendation to bring voice over internet

protocol-based (VoIP) domestic calling services, in-

cluding applications such as WhatsApp, under licens-ing. The suggestion is that such services be regulated

through exercise of licensing powers available under

section 4 of the Indian Telegraph Act to ensure a level

playing field. This does not straightaway mean such

calls will be chargeable. The more obvious implication

is that such applications cant operate without the gov-

ernments permission, which might be granted only on

the fulfilment of certain conditions or the payment of a

fee, or both. The DoTs report is by no means final and

binding. Still, the stated logic behind such a suggestion

is open to question. The report says telecom companies

may become reluctant to invest in expansion of broad-

band infrastructure in an environment where apps

that provide similar calling services eat into their reve-

nues. Dont telecom companies benefit from the apps

that ride on whatever services they provide? Doesnt

more app usage mean more data consumed, which in

turn mean more revenues for telecom companies?

The recommendation could be flawed on multiple

grounds. One, there is a good chance that if the suggesti-

on is implemented the consumer might be worse off for

it. But before that, there is a big question mark overwhether differentiating a domestic VoIP call from an

international one is possible at all. Bar this recom-

mendation, the report does seem to largely reflect a

nuanced understanding of the complexities of todays

internet world. This is true even of its references to

zero-rating schemes, under which the user is offered

data or access to some sites free of cost. True, critics

have taken the report to task for not recommending a

ban on them. But there are novel zero-rating schemes

where the user is given free data and not a pre-selected

bouquet of sites, as Facebooks internet.org does (the

report doesnt seem to be in favour of this). Its heart-

ening that the report repeatedly pitches for net neutral-

ity, the principle of data equality that is important to

ensure the internet remains a level-playing field. At the

same time, it shows pragmatism in saying that enforc-

ing net neutrality principle is a new idea and may throw

up many questions and problems as we go along, and

that this may require a process of oversight. The report

is laced with quotes, including this one from Archibald

Putt: Technology is dominated by two types of people:

those who understand what they do not manage, andthose who manage what they do not understand. It is to

be hoped India doesnt live up to this.

An unsoundrecommendation

CARTOONSCAPE

Penning the conclusion of my doctoral thesisin education, I couldnt help notice the irony.Here I was in Oxford closing my research ongender and schooling in girls madrasaswhile, back home, the Maharashtra govern-ment had arbitrarily decided to classify ma-

drasas that do not teach modern subjects asnon-schools. News reports of July 3-4, 2015,say that the Principal Secretary of the Mi-nority Affairs Department sent a letter to thePrincipal Secretary, School Education, say-ing that students in madrasas which do notteach mathematics, social science, scienceand English should be considered as non-school going.

It is easy to club this as another move inthe Bharatiya Janata Party-led govern-ments history at the Centre and States todelegitimise and devalue idioms associatedwith Muslim identity especially given thatmadrasas have been a long-time favourite.This unprecedented bracketing of madrasas a word that literally means places ofstudy as non-schools highlights largerproblems in the present policy discourse onmadrasa modernisation.

Madrasa modernisation

The present governments focus on ma-drasa modernisation as a principal means fordevelopment of the Muslim community isclear from the pronouncement in the

Presidential address to the new Parliamentin June 2014 to the Rs.100 crore allocationfor this in the Union Budget 2014. However,the Narendra Modi government is not thefirst to champion madrasa modernisation.The Indian states policy interventions inMuslim education, irrespective of the partyin power, have long focussed on madrasareform. First mooted as a policy measure inthe 1980s, it was operationalised a decadelater with the Area Intensive Madrasa Mod-ernization Programme.

A running thread in the contemporarypolicy discourse on madrasas is the view thatthey are more than minority educational in-stitutions. They are regarded as outmodedoutliers imparting religion-centric educa-tion, which offers little or no employmentoutside the religious sector, and hence face acrisis of relevance in modernising Indiaalong with posing the danger of radicalisingMuslim youth. Hence, the emphasis on whatin policy parlance is termed as madrasa re-form or modernisation and mainstreamingof madrasa students.

A highly polarising subject, madrasa mod-ernisation has its fair share of critics andsupporters. Critics argue that given the Jus-tice Rajinder Sachar Committee estimatesthat only 4 per cent of students go to madra-

sas, policy focus should be on strengtheningregular schooling options in Muslim-dom-

inated areas. Their argument is that the pol-icy emphasis on madrasas furthermarginalises Muslims. On the one hand, pol-icy discourse refers to educational back-wardness as one of the main causes foralienation of Muslims and acknowledges in-clusive education as a panacea. On the otherhand, the interventions confine the questionof Muslim education to madrasa modern-isation which leads to a further isolation ofMuslims and restricts their educationalchoices to exclusive Muslim-managed net-works and services such as madrasas.

The critique from other quarters such asthe ulemaand prominent religious scholarspresents state-led modernisation as a garbto deprive madrasas of their independenceand autonomy. Similar concerns were alsovoiced by a section of Muslim parliamentar-ians in 2009 and cited as a reason for notsupporting the Central Madrasa Board Bill(2009) in Parliament that sought to create anational level coordination mechanism as a

part of madrasa reform efforts. The support-ers of madrasa modernisation, includingsome religious leaders, point out advantagessuch as access to education in modern sub-jects, improvement in teachers salaries and,presumably, quality of teaching, and theopening of opportunities for higher educa-tion, employment which would enhance therelevance of madrasas.

However, a common critique of state-ledmodernisation efforts levied by both sides,i.e. advocates and detractors, is the lack ofattention in policy to the processes thatwould translate madrasa modernisation intopractice. In June 2014, following the an-nouncement of the Rs.100 crore budgetaryallocation for madrasa modernisation, theDeoband school rector publicly stated thatthere was little clarity on what the govern-ment wants to do as a part of the modern-isation programme. Academic scholars whosupport madrasa modernisation have ex-pressed similar concerns arguing that one of

the biggest lacunae in present policy is a lackof due cognisance to the processes that

would operationalise modernisation. For in-stance, how will the inclusion of secular syl-labi in the so-called modernised madrasas beachieved in terms of actual time allocated tothe teaching of different subjects; ensuringtraining and competence of teachers teach-ing school subjects in madrasas; integrationof the differences between religious knowl-edge and the modern knowledge of subjectsinto an unified whole in madrasas and so on?

Complex linkages

My research with madrasa students acrossNorth India indicates how the very premiseof the madrasa modernisation policy is di-vorced from ground reality. The linkages be-tween madrasas and the education ofMuslim communities are far more complexthan the simplistic view expounded in policyframings which prejudges madrasa educa-tion in binaries of traditional versus modernand religious versus secular. The assump-tion that merely introducing modern curric-

ula will instantaneously modernisemadrasas betrays little understanding of themicro processes at work.

The current policy discourse presupposesthe educational demand of Muslim parentsin terms of madrasas versus schools, ignor-ing intersecting factors that shape theirchoices such as socio-economic marginal-isation, a lack of alternative schools, a desirefor a culturally appropriate mahaul [milieu]and a combination of dini [religious] andduniyavi talim [worldly education]. Theemergence of madrasas across denomina-tions embracing motifs of modernisationwithout state aid highlights this changingdemand emanating from within the commu-nity.

A wide spectrum of madrasas across Indiahave adopted so-called secular, modern edu-cation by enacting measures such as an in-clusion of subjects taught in schools inmadrasa curriculum; seeking recognition oftheir degrees from mainstream universities,

incorporation of skill-training courses andso on. However, policy documents tend toconflate the madrasas scepticism and/or re-jection of the state-led modernisation pro-gramme with an ideology positing madrasasand their leadership as opposed to modern-isation. Academic work on the engagementbetween the Indian state and madrasas hasrevealed how the adoption of state-led mod-ernisation is not a question of ideology alonebut a complex interplay of several factorssuch as financial incentives, trust, how en-

gagement with the state impacts the positionof madrasas and access to community re-sources, maslak-based denomination andrelated questions of organisational affilia-tion. A shift in attention from the top-downstate-led modernisation programme to thebottom-up processes shaping the increasingvoluntary move of madrasas towards so-called modernisation would be better. Itwould allow the policy to become more at-tuned with the complex processes shapingthe demand for education emanating fromthe community and the response ofmadrasas.

A movement

Second, far from typifying one end of thepolarising spectrum of traditional versusmodern and religious versus secular educa-tion, my research shows the constant move-ment between madrasas and mainstreameducational institutions. The girls I re-searched had studied in secular schools be-fore joining madrasas. Several of them whilein the madrasa were simultaneously appear-ing for open school examinations through

the distance mode. Many of them on comple-tion of their madrasa education opted forhigher education in Central universities,which recognised madrasa degrees. Madra-sas foster peer networks and linkages, whichaid students aspiring for more mainstreameducation in complex and unanticipatedways. The Muslim communitys impulse formodern education is discernible and madra-sas are responding to this demand emanat-ing from within the community. In such ascenario, the recent move of the Maharash-tra State government to arm-twist madrasasinto modernisation can be a policy shortsight at best, and outright stereotyping atworst.

Insensitivity of secular spaces

If policy is genuinely committed to itsstated aim of mainstreaming madrasa stu-dents, it needs to pay closer attention to howtransitions from madrasa to so-called main-stream spaces are experienced by Muslimstudents. The experiences of students who Iinterviewed revealed the insensitivity of sec-ular educational spaces to the religious-cul-tural endowments that students possess dueto their madrasa education and family andcommunity backgrounds.

The excessive emphasis in policy on ma-drasa reform tends to bracket madrasa edu-cation (and hence their graduates) right atthe bottom of an artificially created hierar-chy of knowledge forms. Policy haste tomainstream madrasa students by applyingnot well thought out universals from aboveoften proves counterproductive. It impairsthe learning process of students and ends upalienating them, as the places where they aresupposedly mainstreamed (such as universi-ties) have little sensitivity or regard for theknowledge they possess. This is particularlypertinent in a scenario where there is dismalparticipation of Muslims in higher education(the Kundu Committee Report, 2014). Rath-er than the conventional perception of ma-drasas as barriers, there is increasingacknowledgement of their role in facilitatinghigher education (National University ofEducational Planning and Administration2012).

In a larger landscape of increasing com-munalisation, where Muslims continue to

face social discrimination and exclusion ineducation, housing, employment and devel-opmental schemes, what would the productof modernised madrasa stand to gain? Ormaybe the entire point of these constantattempts to meddle with madrasas is to de-tract from these larger questions.

(Hem Borker is a Clarendon Scholar andD.Phil Candidate at the Department ofEducation, University of Oxford.)

The states flawed focus on madrasasIn a scenario where the Muslim communitysimpulse for modern education is discernible andmadrasas are responding to it, Maharashtrasmove to arm-twist madrasas into modernisation isboth short-sighted and outright stereotyping

The excessive emphasis in policy on madrasa reform

tends to bracket madrasa education, and hence madrasagraduates, right at the bottom of an artificially created

hierarchy of knowledge forms.

Hem Borker


11/20

CMYK

ND-ND


PERSPECTIVE

>>The second deck headline of the article, Cyclone in a teacup (July 19,2015, State View), said: Telangana demands the imposition of Section 8,while Andhra Pradesh fiercely opposes it. It should have been: AndhraPradesh demands the imposition of Section 8, while Telangana fiercelyopposesit.

>>The fourth paragraph of the report, Britain overtly linked Westland dealto aid, U.K. documents show (July 17, 2015), said: Writing to Indira Gandhiin March, Thatcher makes a clear link between the two issues. It should havebeen Mr. [Rajiv] Gandhi. It was an editing error.

>>The byline in the Perspective page article, "Ufa and civil-military rela-tions in Pakistan" (July 15, 2015), should have been Mariana Baabar. Thesentence, Mr. Nawaz Sharif left for Ufa , after several rounds of talks withthe military and ISI leadership, unlike in the past, where Gen. Raheel Sharifwas present. should be recast dropping the words - unlike in the past - toread as follows: Mr. Nawaz Sharif left for Ufa , after several rounds of talkswith the military and ISI l eadership, where Gen. Raheel Sharif was present.

>>The third paragraph of Obamacare subsidies get Supreme Courts nod(June 26, 2015) read: The challenge facing the Court in the case of King v.Burwell was to determine whether it was legal for 6.4 million people in the 34Statesusing the federal marketplace to receive health insurance." Actually, 37Statesare using the federal marketplace to receive health insurance.

CORRECTIONS AND CLARIFICATIONS

It is the policy of The Hindu t

Documents

Delhi, Monday, July 20, 2015