YEH MERA INDIA

Flash strike by CR motormen on Visarjan day

Mumbai: Central Railway motormen and guards struck work for half-an-hour, affecting services for an hour. They wanted an additional 10 minutes during their break between two trains.

During the protest, two engine failures occurred, further disrupting the services. An engine of a train stalled at Kalwa and the other at Tilak Nagar. Official suspect foul play, as the engine failures occurred exactly during the protest.

Both, motormen and guards refused to ply trains from CST from 5.05 pm to 5.35 pm due to which 36 trains were cancelled on the main line and 51 on the harbor line. Although this was the peak hour but due to a holiday on account of Ananth Chaturdashi there were comparatively fewer commuters.

The motormen and guards want to increase their ‘signing on’ time, that is, the time between changing of two trains as well at the beginning of their work hours. The demand of the 754 motormen of CR is to increase this time from 20 minutes to 30 minutes as the motormen are under severe stress according to the unions.

Joint secretary of the National Railway Mazdoor Union S K Bose said, “When the motorman as well as motorguard change their trains from one to another and have to drive in the opposite direction that they were driving for the past one to one-and-a-half-hour it is very stressful.

According to the Bose the CR had already increased the signing on time period to 30 minutes but changed it back to 20 without any dialogue between unions.

Bose said “When they cut the minutes back to 20 we went to talk to them but they were just not interested in any dialogue, hence we had to take this step.”

A CR official on the condition of anonymity said that this is just a ruse by the unions to increase their working hours, which will inevitably increase the overtime hours adding more zero’s to their salaries.

U.S. patent for a Keralite Engineer

But Indian patent still awaited since 2008

Thiruvananthapuram: M.C. David, a 57-year-old amateur magician from Kerala, has secured a US patent for an invention that generates electricity "anywhere, anytime". The invention relates to generation of electricity from gravitational energy.

An iron pipe, filled with water, is placed vertically and hollow balls made of concrete or wood are driven into the pipe from below. As each ball rises due to buoyancy and is forced out of the pipe, it falls on to a moving platform which is connected to a wheel. The wheel is connected to a generator and electricity is generated, David said.

David sums up his invention as one that can generate "energy anywhere anytime" in every household. The principle of buoyancy is used to raise the solid objects to the desired height prior to letting them fall on to the platform.

In the copy of the patent granted by the Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office, it states the requirements of law have been compiled with and it has been determined that a patent on the invention shall be granted under the law.

After close to two decades working in Qatar and Bahrain as a quantity surveyor/ estimator with leading companies, David returned for good to his home in Kayamkulam, about 100 km from the state capital, three months back.

Since then, he has been trying out experiments on his novel project. "After my wife died a decade back, I did not think of anything else...and only this project was in my mind. In 2008, I applied for Indian patent but am yet to hear from them. I got the US patent last month," David said.

He tried this successfully on a model and is now trying it out on a much bigger scale. "The new prototype has been prepared using the services of a blacksmith and would be ready shortly," he said.

State funded NGOs under RTI: SC

New Delhi: NGOs and private organizations, substantially financed by government or its authorities, come under the ambit of Right to Information Act making them liable to reveal information under the transparency law, the Supreme Court said.

A bench of justices K S Radhakrisnan said that even though government may not have any statutory control over such organizations but they fall within the definition of public authority if they are substantially financed by it.

“Government may not have any statutory control over the NGOs, as such, still it can be established that a particular NGO has been substantially financed directly or indirectly by the funds provided by the appropriate government, in such an event, that organization will fall within the scope of Section 2(h) (d) (ii) of the RTI Act (definition of public authority). 

“Consequently, even private organizations which are, though not owned or controlled but substantially financed by the appropriate government will also fall within the definition of public authority,” the bench said. 

Although the term NGO has not been defined in the RTI Act but these organizations carry on various social and welfare activities which are otherwise governmental in nature, it said. 

“The term Non-government Organizations (NGO), as such, is not defined under the Act. But over a period of time, the expression has got its own meaning and, it has to be seen in that context, when used in the Act. “Government used to finance substantially, several non-government organizations, which carry on various social and welfare activities, since those organizations sometimes carry on functions which are otherwise governmental,” it said. The bench, however, said that whether an NGO has been substantially financed or not by the appropriate government, is a question of fact, to be examined by the authorities concerned under the RTI Act.

The apex court said that substantially financed means that “the degree of financing must be actual, existing, positive and real to a substantial extent, not moderate, ordinary, tolerable etc.”  

State almost forgot Gandhi jayanti &

Tilak and Shastri are distant memories 

The State government, which frequently invokes the name of Mahatma Gandhi, almost forgot his birth anniversary this year, but not that of Indira Gandhi and Rajiv.

The state government roused from its slumber after 9 months and only then ordered the administration to celebrate the birth anniversary of the father of the nation.

The extent of apathy towards national icons is apparent from the fact that the state government also forgot Lokmanya Tilak and Lal Bahadur Shastri.

Orders were issued to commemorate Shastri’s birth anniversary, which also falls on October 2, on the penultimate day (October1)!

The general administration department, which is controlled by the State Chief Minister, made a mockery of Tilak, too, and orders for observing his birth anniversary were issued two months after the event!

Every year, the general administration department issues a Government Resolution (GR) to mark birth anniversaries of great personalities at national and state level. This year, the GR was issued on January 10 and was signed by BR Gavit, Deputy Secretary of GAD. It listed 19 such events, which included 18 birth anniversaries and the Constitution Day, which falls on November 26. The list included former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s birth anniversary on November 19, which is also celebrated as the National Integration (Ekatmata Din) Day and Rajiv Gandhi’s birth anniversary in August, which is marked as Sadbhavana Diwas. But the government forgot the father of Indian unrest, Lokmanya Tilak, who used to head the Congress in the 1920s. On September 5, a GR correcting the blunder committed in January was issued by Under Secretary of GAD, R D Panchal. But care was taken not to upload this GR on the state government website to cover up the blunder. But even as the state government corrected its blunder on September 5, it committed yet another faux pas — It put the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi on course, but forgot all about Lal Bahadu Shastri, even though his birthday also falls also on Gandhi Jayanti. The department woke up only on October 1 and then issued a fresh GR.