YEH MERA INDIA

Free coaching for tribal students

Mumbai: The results of UPSC, MPSC exams, conducted by the Public Service Commission so far have highlighted one fact time and again students from tribal region often lag behind their peers. In order to improve this situation, the government has taken an initiative to provide free coaching to 500 students every year.

“We have taken this decision because we want to bring tribal students into mainstream; career in public service commission could turn around their life, hence could transform this community into a well educated one,” said Rajendra Gavit, State Minister of Tribal Development.

The coaching programme will be implemented from June onwards. The government will provide accommodation and food to selected candidates, that too, free of cast. The government is expected to invest Rs 5 crore in this scheme.

The saviour called RTI

Mumbai: In an interesting matrimonial dispute, a husband had to go through the procedures under the Right to Information (RTI) Act to get the information that his wife has got married with someone else and thus expose her before the High Court. Finally, the High Court vacated the stay on the family court order and granted divorce to the couple.

Vinod and Seema had tied the knot in 2005. Later on, problems cropped up which led to their separation.

The Family Court had granted divorce to the couple. Seema approached the High Court seeking a stay on the divorce granted by the Family Court. The High Court, however, stayed the Family court order.

Aggrieved Vinod filed an appeal before the court stating that since there is a stay granted against the decree of the Family Court, he is unable to remarry, and also, he has come to know that Seema has either married or has been staying with somebody and out of the said relationship she has delivered a child.

The learned counsel, appearing for Vinod, submitted the information, got through RTI Act application from a primary school where Seema is employed as a teacher, that she had obtained maternity leave for certain period from her employment. It was also pointed out that she had delivered a baby girl.

Advocate, appearing for Seema, submitted that he got an instruction from her father that his daughter has run away. He also tried to get instruction from Seema but has not received any.

While dealing with the case, a division bench headed by Justice P B Majumdar observed, “In view of the prima facie evidence, which forms part of this civil application, it is clear that the respondent had taken maternity leave from her employment.

Considering the said aspect, in our view, the stay granted by this court regarding staying the family decree of divorce deserves to be vacated, in view of the subsequent development.”

73 cr worth projects cleared in one go

Bhayandar: The civic administration has approved developmental work proposals worth more than Rs 73 crore which includes projects under the first phase of the Ekatmik Nullah Project.

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) legislator, Gilbert Mendonca, has listed around 100 proposals after an extensive survey carried out in the twin-city along with Municipal Commissioner, Vikram Kumar. There are altogether 75 work projects approved by the MBMC. Apart from approving works related to upgrading facilities at the Bhayandar-based, Netaji Subash Chandra Bose Municipal stadium and installation of traffic signals at strategic locations on the Western Express Highway, majority of the listed proposals are regarding construction of roads, gutters and cross drainage systems.

“This is a part of our mission to strengthen the infrastructural base in Mira Bhayandar and I have been in constant touch with the local populace, after which the list of developmental was presented for approval before the administration in the first week of April, I am happy that the civic chief sensed the importance of the work and gave his sanction.” Mendonca said.

While tenders of most of the work proposals have been floated, tender process was on in other civic related works, officials said.

 

Educated convicts: UP tops

Chennai: It is well known that Uttar Pradesh is among the few educationally backward States that sends several persons with a criminal background to the Parliament and Legislative Assembly.

What comes as a surprise though is that the country’s largest State also has the highest number of graduates and postgraduates who are in jail for criminal offences.

A perusal of the data presented in the latest Prison Statistics India (PSI 2010) Report, released by the National Crime Records Bureau, shows that as many as 1,248 convicts lodged in UP’s jails were graduates - the highest number across India. Not just that, UP’s jails also house the highest number of postgraduate convicts – 321.

During 2010, Punjab had the second highest number of graduates (602) in jail as convicts, followed by Madhya Pradesh with 383 graduate-convicts.

Even among under trials, UP boasted of the highest number of prisoners who were graduates or postgraduates.

Incidentally, a demographic analysis published in the PSI 2010 Report revealed that 30.2 percent of the convicts who were in jail during 2010 were illiterates. In terms of numbers, this figure translates to 37,994 illiterate convicts out of the 1,25,789 convicts lodged in various jails in the country. “As many as 56,264 convicts were educated below class X,” the report said. The Matriculates and illiterate convicts together accounted for 74.9 per cent of the total convicts that year.

Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, UP and West Bengal jointly contributed to 51 per cent of the total illiterate convicts.

Also, 72.9 per cent were Hindus and 18 per cent Muslims. Nearly 56.8 per cent of Muslim convicts were lodged in Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, UP and West Bengal.

A caste wise analysis of convicts in the country other than those lodged in Delhi prisons, revealed that 41,784 belonged to Other Category (OC). 36,170 were OBCs, 27,355 Scheduled Caste and 17,729 belonged to the Scheduled Tribes.

Storage constraints: centre to export wheat

New Delhi: The government is examining possibilities of wheat exports from government godowns to create storage space for new crop estimated at a record 90.23 million tonnes this year. The government godowns are overflowing with grains and the Centre could face a serious storage problem as it is targeted to purchase nearly 32 million tonnes of wheat this year. “We are looking at export of wheat from our stocks. There are some countries like Uganda, some Gulf nations, Afghanistan and Pakistan, who need wheat,” Thomas told reporters here on the sidelines of workshop on public distribution system (PDS).

Mumbai: The Bombay High Court directed the State government to file a reply in response to a petition challenging the validity of the amendment to the RTI Act made by it and which restricts the contents of the application to 150 words and one subject.

On January 16, 2012, the State government published a notification and inserted Rule 3A in the RTI act, which imposes restriction on the number of words and subject of the application. The petitioner, Shivaji Kshirasagar, has filed a PIL and prayed to the court to set aside the amendment saying it provides weapons to the public information officers to reject the application.

According to the petition, the impugned notification is against the objectives of the RTI Act, principle of natural justice and also violates the fundamental rights. It is inconsistent with the parent act, unconstitutional and against the law. The petitioner argued that this amendment is made only to deprive the citizens of information. It is against the freedom of expression as it restricts the contents of the application to 150 words and one subject only. However, the court has not agreed with the argument and said that the amendment has been made for the convenience and object of the Act is to provide information only. The court said that if you want more information you could file two applications. Following a suggestion sought by the court the state government asked time for the reply. The matter was further posted on July 13 for hearing.

Amendments to RTI challenged in HC