Jun 16 2014 : The Times of India (Delhi)

Finmin seeks UGC reply on financial `mismanagement'

Akshaya Mukul

New Delhi: TNN





The matter was taken up at a meeting of the commission on Friday.
Several members alleged lack of transparency on financial issues

The finance ministry has sought status of action taken by the University Grants Commission on the director general of audit (central expenditure) report that pointed out financial mismanagement and lack of transparent financial administrative system.On Friday, the matter was taken up in the meeting of the full commission. Several members alleged lack of transparency on financial issues. A few members alleged that news of grave financial importance was received from outside and never came to them in a routine manner. They also highlighted the controversy related to the chairperson’s retirement age and
fixation of pension. UGC said while it had responded to 14 paras of the audit report, more than 130 were still pending.“Even representatives of finance and HRD ministries said there was a need for greater financial discipline in UGC,” a member said, adding that finance ministry has decided to be more proactive on financial matters of UGC even if HRD ministry is not.
The full commission also dis
cussed a case of financial impropriety that has not been resolved for more than two years. The case pertains to one Baldeo PG College in Baragaon, Uttar Pradesh that received a cheque of Rs 40 lakh for construction of women’s hostel.The college had never sought that fund, so returned the cheque. In UGC, inquiries were made and till date both the voucher and the sanction letter for the amount has not been discovered.
Finally, an FIR was filed by UGC and some of its officials are in jail.
Police has not yet filed the chargesheet. In the meet, UGC said it has set up an enquiry committee within the organization to probe the matter.
set up an enquiry committee within the organization to probe the matter.





Jun 16 2014 : The Times of India (Delhi)

‘Nearly 60% rural houses don’t have toilets’

Mahendra Kumar Singh

New Delhi: TNN





The rape and murder of two teenaged girls in Uttar Pradesh has put the focus back on lack of access to private toilets in villages, forcing women and girls to go out to defecate in the open which makes them vulnerable to sexual violence.Lack of toilets is also a problem in slums in cities and towns, but the dangers are greater in rural areas because women and girls must go out into the fields to relieve themselves.
It is no secret that India has the world’s largest population that defecates in the open, but the incident exposed the poor sanitation fa
cilities in rural India which makes women vulnerable to such extreme violence. The Narendra Modi administration has a tough task ahead as according to National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) data, 59.4% of rural India defecates in the open. Jharkhand and Odisha are the worst performers with 90.5% and 81.3% of their population without toilets respectively.The 2011 Census painted a much bleaker state of basic amenities in rural India than the NSSO survey as according to it, 69.3% of rural households and 18.6% households in cities and towns do not have toilets.
The ruling BJP has promised in its manifesto to help people build toilets in homes, at schools and in public places to end open defecation. During his election campaign, Modi had said if elected, he’d build
“toilets first, temples later”.The Modi’s dispensation has to come out with some “out-of-the-box” solution as India has been struggling to achieve universal sanitation coverage.
The government had launched the Central Rural Sanitation Programme, a supply-driven scheme with subsidy, in 1986. But the scheme was re-launched in 1999 as demand-driven Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC). In 2012, it was reworked as Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan (NBA) with focus on community-led, demanddriven approach.
The schemes, however, failed to ensure access to private toilets for majority of Indians living in villages.

Jun 13 2014 : Mirror (Pune)

TRAPPED IN THE DEEP

Vijay.Chavan @timesgroup.com TWEET @ThePuneMirror





NCSC sounds an alarm on the use of manual scavengers, which is a clear violation of 2013 Act; asks PCMC to pull up erring health officers

Eight months have gone by since the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013 came into being, but civic bodies are unable to shed their primitive inhuman practise of manually cleaning night soil clogging drains and septic tanks. This continued callous atti tude has finally pushed the National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) to issue a notice to Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) seeking action against its health inspectors and a report on its latest deployment of manual scavengers, that provoked a formal complaint from Safai Karmachari Takrar Nivaran Samiti.This notice came after several complaints, including a censuring exactly a year ago, when a man was sent swimming through sewage to remove the blocks that had caused flooding of a road at Nehrunagar.
At the time PCMC had responded with an apology letter with an assurance that such acts would not be repeated. While the warning then had no legal binding, the new law enacted in September last has now put PCMC on the wrong side of law, when it sent another set of men into a brimming and clogged manhole at Dapodi earlier this week, without any protective gear. “As per Section 7 of the Act, we want punitive measures to be taken against the concerned health inspectors and the department head, on the lines of disciplinary actions as stipulated in the corporation’s rule book,” Anuradha Ghodkhane, assistant director of NCSC, stated in the notice. She also pointed out that the continued incidence of using manual labour to clean sewage lines and septic tanks is very disturbing.
“It is a case of gross negligence to not even provide the gear stipulated in the Act against manual scavenging. Punitive action is imperative given that PCMC is a habitual violator of the law,” noted Sagar Charan, advocate and member of Safai Karmachari Takrar Nivaran Samiti. He is the one who
registered the complaint with NCSC about the Dapodi incident on Tuesday. He pointed out that not only is the practice inhuman, it raises serious health concerns.Desperate to downplay their indiscretion, Assistant Commissioner heading PCMC’s health department, Dnyaneshwar Dhere, claimed, “It is true that manual labour has been used to remove ‘mud’ from manholes on some occasions, but they were deployed by contractors.” Interestingly, in the hope of shedding all onus, he rushed to add, “Manual scavenging work of the civic body is entirely contracted out. We will initiate action against such contractors if found guilty.
The Dapodi case will be probed.” Unfortunately, PCMC is not alone in these transgressions.
“Even Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) employees are asked to do such work manually,
to cut costs involved in deploying machinery,” said a member of Mehatar-Walmiki —a labour union attached to PMC’s health department. He added, “Besides its direct involvement in a few of the assignments, the civic body, given its depleting work-force, largely outsources the work and contractors are ruthless when it comes to cutting corners.” “We use manual scavenging only in shallow spaces. Many a time, the square-shaped manholes render machines unviable. PMC has 10 SPT (specialised plumbing technology) machines to drain out such blockages. Except for slum areas, we essentially use machines as made mandatory by law,” said Suresh Jagtap, assistant commissioner Solid Waste department of PMC.Sadly, the scavengers whose interests are sought to be protected by the Act, are the last people to
assert themselves, inured by their job profile and more petrified of losing their employment. “We have no option but to enter these manholes to clean the sewage lines that get blocked by plastics and other solid waste. The contractors believe better work is done when human hands are involved. If they turned to machines, we would have no jobs, so how can we protest?” explained Ram Walmiki (name changed), who works with the health and sanitation department of PCMC.“We are constantly petrified when machines will snatch away our jobs. Our people who work on contracts are willing to work at marginal rates to remain cost effective options for the contractors. We drink to escape the filth of our jobs and many of us have turned alcoholics,” said another employee of PMC, who did not wish to be identified.

Jun 13 2014 : Mirror (Pune)

Making drinking water safe

MUDAR PATHERYA





How Eureka Forbes brought about a change with their Community Fulfilment Initiatives, formed to provide responsible drinking water solutions for rural Indians ALAPSED SPORTS WRITER WHO'S FOUND FAITH IN INDIA'S CORPORATE PHILANTHROPY Liked/hated his column! write to Mudar Patherya at mirrorfeedback@timesgroup.com punemirror.feedback@gmail.com

Honestly, when was the last time you ventured into the back of beyond with out mineral water? The usual fears we face: drinking water will be infested with bacteria or organic chemical traces inherited from pesticides and effluents.You and I are not alone. There are 96 million Indians (more than the size of a number of countries) without access to safe water. Over 186,000 children die annually from diarrhoea caused by unsafe water and poor sanitation, about 70 million Indians in 20 states and 600 districts are at risk from excess fluoride and around 10 million Indians are at risk from excess arsenic in our ground water. The numbers are so large that we have stopped worrying. The one company that resolved to be the difference was Eureka Forbes.
Partly because the subject of clean water was its business. Partly because it cared.
Over the years, Eureka Forbes started a division called `Community Fulfillment Initiatives' with the objective to provide `responsible drinking water solutions' and encouraging `water entrepreneurship' for rural Indians. The core idea was an old one -provide clean drinking water to those who don't get it. The twist was the entrepreneurial bit; the company created a local entrepreneurial interest so that the providers were from the same community of beneficiaries.
This is how: Eureka Forbes encouraged rural communities to buy a 500 LPH/RO/Automated with an automated dispensing unit plant for Rs 6 lakh with the objective of starting a commercial service vending purified drinking water to villagers with a payback of around four years. This is how the system worked: Eureka Forbes' water scientists and field experts tested water conditions before setting up a water purification plant (Eureka Forbes has developed seven technologies around 17 different Indian water conditions).
The plant provides water 24x7 without depending on the whims of the operator.
What Eureka Forbes provided was a unique automated dispensing unit that worked around a pre-paid card. Against a periodic top-up, neigh bourhood residents could go to the machine and access clean drinking water. Soon the word spread that at this unique `water shop', it was as easy to access water as withdrawing money from an ATM machine -no water spluttering to a stop, no water changing colour, no water tasting different. All they need to do is use a unique Water Card, its use tracked remotely by Eureka Forbes.
Whereas most companies in Eureka Forbes' place would have made one-time local investments to provide free drinking water and leave it to others to take the game ahead, the company did the reverse. It created a scalable model that was fair to its commercial interests, the community's consumption interest and the government's social interest.
Whereas most agencies would have said `How can we put a price on something as fundamental as water?', Eureka Forbes created a dispensing shop, pricing water at 10-50 paise per litre, justified around the idea that rural families with an average monthly income of Rs 4,000 spend Rs 200 on medicines anyway to treat diseases caused by impure drinking water. Suddenly, preventive treatment acquired a new ally.
Whereas most agencies would have said `We have given you reasonably safe water and that should be good enough,' Eureka Forbes benchmarked its delivery in line with the demanding WHO standards; it plugged loops related to money and water leakages by plant operators and water mafias operating in India's rural areas.
Whereas most companies would have provided infrastructure and left, Eureka Forbes focused on creating cross-sector partnership between gram panchayats, state governments, NGOs and local communities to promote a collaborative entrepreneurship model, providing villagers with the opportunity to run the plants, sell water and generate a business while working closely with city-based water distributors and the government (State and Central).
The result is that Eureka Forbes now has water shops across Maharashtra, Gujarat, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. Some of the results are amazing. In Manikyapuram (Andhra Pradesh), the community water plants have helped moderate the long-standing incidence of anaemia, weak teeth, sore joints and birth defects in children who for years had been exposed to water with high total dissolved solids including fluoride. In the slum communities of Agra, this model has empowered a women's slum group to start a water-based business enterprise. In Unnao (Uttar Pradesh) the water shops have helped counter life-endangering fluorosis (derived from groundwater fluoride) that led to bone deformities in children, labourers, pregnant women and lactating mothers.
Why this is model is fascinating is because it has addressed a basic human need, linked that need to income generation, created entrepreneurs, addressed customers from within the community and generated hidden savings (lower health care costs). This then could be a model waiting to attract financiers for onward replication across the country.

Jun 13 2014 : The Economic Times (Delhi)

Border Pact With Bangladesh Soon

BHAVNA VIJ-AURORA

NEW DELHI





GROWING COOPERATION Swaraj's visit likely to open up avenues for a broader engagement with Bangladesh

The stage is set for India and Bangladesh to ratify a long-pending Land Boundary Agreement (LBA) during the visit of foreign minister Sushma Swaraj to Bangladesh on June 25. Swaraj's visit is also expected to open up avenues for a broader engagement between the two countries.Top officials in the government told ET that the government was in favour of not only an early resolution of LBA but also of the Teesta Water Sharing Agreement. In return, the government planned to persuade Bangladesh to grant India a land passage to Northeast through its territory.
“For formalising the LBA, India will ask Bangladesh to open the Tetulia corridor for better connectivity between northeast and rest of India. It will facilitate movement of goods and people to the northeast,“ a senior government official said on condition of anonymity .
Tetulia is a 4 km corridor in Bangladesh which can reduce the road travel to and from northeast by over 85 km. While India had opened the Tinbigha corridor, the Bangladesh to Bangladesh passage, Dhaka has failed to allow passage through Tetulia.
Before coming to power, BJP was vehemently opposed to Parliament ratifying LBA, although UPA introduced a Constitution amendment bill on LBA in the Rajya Sabha just before the winter session came to an end in December last. The bill aims to redraw the international boundary between India and Bangladesh by exchanging land enclaves and areas of adverse possession along with the population on either side, thus making the highly incongruous and porous Indo-Bangla border more manageable.
India stands to lose about 400 acres to Bangladesh in the process. “The general feeling was that LBA was heavily in favour of Bangladesh. It is in the best interest of both countries to resolve these issues and move on,“ the officer explained.

Jun 13 2014 : The Times of India (Delhi)

DREAM BIG AND CHASE YOUR GOALS

Rahul Siddhu





A career guidance session on Exploring Opportunities in Higher Education, recently organised at YMCA, brought many vital aspects to the fore

The Times of India organised a career guidance session on Exploring Opportunities in Higher Education on June 7 at Henz Auditorium, YMCA. The aim of the forum was to bring forth discussions on important steps in choosing the right career and address larger issues pertaining to holistic models within the education arena.The chief guest on the occasion was social activist Neera Shastri. Mentioning the options when you miss your admission in your chosen subject, she said, “Remember, education is more than numbers and marks. It is about virtues and believing in oneself. At the same time discipline, dedication, hard work and patience are needed to excel in life.
There are many avenues and branches where you can perform and make the most of your potential, thanks to tech revolution and globalization. The need of the hour is to do goal mapping, learn time management and do multi-tasking. Understand the dignity of labour. Say no to distraction and follow your goals with dedication and passion.
Making the right decisions about learning or work really matters. But one should not be disheartened with failures. “Life is about taking failure as a stepping stone of success. There is no paucity of options for those who believe in themselves and are flexible. Show courage and do not compromise on your values,“ explained Tejpal Singh, Senior BJP Leader Delhi.
In his keynote address Mark Clive, Associate General Secretary, New Delhi YMCA, said, “This is the most crucial time of your life. So take your decisions after pondering over all pros and cons. Nonetheless, dream big and chase your dreams. Choose your career path carefully and go for it.
While picking up a career do ensure that it is in accordance with your interest, value, skills and personality.
Do not have a 'Me Too' attitude.“ All the decisions must be made after self-introspection. “You need to have a vision to choose your path.
While picking up a career do ensure that your long-term goals gel with it. While deciding a career, do ask yourself. Where I am come from? Where am I now?
Where would I be after 10 years? Take time to decide what is suitable for you.
Have a clear goal orientation,“ remarked Alok Bansal, Director, IMS Learning Resources Pvt. Ltd.
Yashodhra Arora, a Senior Counselling Psychologist with Careers Smart, during her session not only answered all the queries of students as well as parents, but also said that psychometric test, followed by counselling and then a stint of internship go a long way in finding out what exactly you are fit for. No matter what career you choose, you need to pursue it passionately in order to excel in the field. Dr.
Durgesh Tripathi, Assistant Professor, University School of Mass Communication, GGSIP University, said, “Pick up a course of your liking even if it is not available in your dream college and at the same time, there is no substitute for hard work and dedication. You need to have a sense of direction.“
Speaking on alternate career options, RJ Naved, said “There is no substitute for hard work, but always work smartly. Try all options.“ Once you have decided your career path, strive for skill enhancement and self-improvement, said Subash Master, Vice President, YMCA. “Dream a goal and live it. You need to have an understanding about your self and be aware of your real i n t e re s t .
Have a disciplined life and be resolute. Remember that life is full of ups and downs and in rough times your family is your shield, so value this relationship,“ he added.

Jun 13 2014 : The Times of India (Delhi)

Honour for Juliet who saved CRPF platoon

Rakhi Chakrabarty

New Delhi: TNN





True to the maxim -every dog has its day -Thursday belonged to Juliet, a Belgian Malinois dog with the CRPF, deployed in antiMaoist operations in Odisha.
On Thursday , CRPF chief Dilip Trivedi decided to award Juliet and her handler with Director General (DG) Commendation Disc for sniffing out two landmines, each weighing 20 kg, thereby sav ing lives of an entire CRPF platoon at Daitari in Odisha's Keonjhar district.On Wednesday , Juliet and her handler Constable Zale Singh went out with CRPF troops as part of area domination duty at Sal Ghati in the Maoist heartland in Keonjhar.
“After patrolling for about 8 km, Juliet stopped at a mound of earth and gravel by the side of the road,“ said CRPF IG (operations) Zulfiquar Hasan.
She sniffed and sat down beside the mound, refusing to budge. After a while, she scratched the ground with her paw revealing electric wires. “Our troops immediately cordoned off the area.
The bomb detection and disposal squad then unearthed a 20kg IED planted by the Maoists about two feet below the ground,“ said Hasan.
About 50 m away from the spot, Juliet sniffed out another 20 kg IED fitted with detonators and torch cells, ready for activation.
“Juliet saved many lives by her timely detection of the IEDs,“ said Hasan.
Currently , the CRPF, nodal force in anti-Maoist operations, has 108 Belgian Malinois dogs inducted over last two years in the Maoist zone.
The Belgian Malinois shot to fame as the dog “that took down Osama bin Laden“. According to reports, a Belgian Malinois accompanied the US Navy Seals team that raided the house in Pakistan where al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden lived.