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BJP won't back Pranab or AnsariSpecial CorrespondentBreaking its silence on the presidential election, the BJP has announced that it will not supporteither of the two choices of the Congress Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Vice-President Hamid Ansari.

The Congress, which has initiated consultations with its allies, has indicated its preference foreither of them.

Sources in the party said that if need be, in exchange for support to its presidential candidate, itwould agree to a vice-presidential candidate from the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance(NDA).

The name that Congress sources offered on Monday was that of Shiromani Akali Dal chiefParkash Singh Badal. The presidential election in July will be followed by the vice-presidentialelection in August. The BJP would very much like to see Mr. Badal as Vice-President, butcertainly not as part of a deal with the Congress.

The main Opposition party disclosed the broad parameters which would guide its strategy, after a

meeting of the party brass in Parliament House.

As things stand, the BJP would neither propose a candidate of its choice nor strike a deal with theCongress, under which it would have to back its presidential candidate as a quid pro quo for thatparty's support to the vice-presidential nominee.

Leader of the Opposition Sushma Swaraj said the Samajwadi Party had put out feelersmentioning the name of the former President, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam. We will support him if Dr.Kalam is willing to contest.

Ms. Swaraj said the BJP would not back the candidature of Mr. Mukherjee as he was an activeCongress leader or that of Mr. Ansari as he did not have the stature.

Explaining the rationale behind the party's decision, she said: We are looking at the 2014elections

Don't speculate: Pranab

When journalists asked Mr Mukherjee whether he was emerging as the consensus candidate, hesaid: Oh my goodness...oh my goodness... Don't indulge in any speculation, he said smiling,when asked whether his name was discussed during Defence Minister A. K. Antony's meetingwith DMK chief M. Karunanidhi in Chennai on Sunday.

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Sign nuclear non-proliferation treaty, Japan tells IndiaSandeep Dikshit

Japan on Monday asked India to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) even as the twosides decided to reopen talks on a bilateral civil nuclear agreement.

During the sixth Foreign Minister-level strategic dialogue here, the two sides agreed toprepare a master plan for the industrial development of south India, especially areas aroundChennai and Bangalore, and accelerate talks on export of rare earths to Japan.

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Another decision was to extend their dialogue to a code of conduct in outer space, cyber securityand maritime issues, including security and freedom of navigation in the South China Sea. Thetalks also covered Japanese investment in high speed trains, the Delhi-Mumbai IndustrialCorridor and the Dedicated Freight Corridor. While agreeing to step up interaction betweenthe Coast Guards, India and Japan decided to hold their first-ever maritime exercises towards the

middle of the year.

New Delhi and Tokyo agreed to resume their dialogue on a civil nuclear agreement but the initialreaction from the principal interlocutors Foreign Ministers S.M. Krishna and Koichiro Gemba suggested that both sides were sticking to their earlier positions India insisting that its non-proliferation behaviour was impeccable enough to warrant the inking of the pact and Japanwanting India to comply with its promise of a ban on further nuclear testing made in the run-up toa clearance by the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG).

A joint statement, after the Fifth Energy dialogue held earlier in the day, indicated that despite thesentiments expressed by the Foreign Ministers, both sides were maintaining positions that weresome distance from being reconciled. The statement mentioned in detail prospects of cooperationand ongoing projects in all segments but civil nuclear agreement.

Japan is asking India to join the NPT the Foreign Ministers instructed the negotiators to holdtalks Japan views India as a partner with which it should pursue civil nuclear agreement, thereis no doubt [about] it, said Japanese sources after the official round of talks and a courtesy callby Mr. Gemba on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

We have instructed our negotiators on the way forward, Mr. Krishna said and added the twocountries understood the concerns of each other which were related to their historicexperiences. Officials explained this to mean that while India says its clean non-proliferationrecord was good enough to restart civil nuclear talks, Japan feels that since India is not asignatory to the NPT, it should demonstrate its commitment to a ban on testing in words.

On maritime dialogue, Mr. Gemba said, India is actually situated at an important place on

the sea lanes of the communication which links Japan with the Middle East. So, I cannotoverlook the geo-political significance of the location of India.

Japanese companies have a virtual monopoly on supplying reactor vessels, a critical componentof civil nuclear plants. Officials in the past said that without an India-Japan civil nuclearagreement, Japanese origin firms might not be able to supply components to French and

American companies which had won orders to instal nuclear plants in India.

On the trade front, India has extended the validity of an earlier agreement to supply two milliontonnes of iron ore per year. It will thus retain its foothold in the Japanese market despite supplydisruptions due to court rulings and higher taxes. There is also domestic unease over exportingprimary commodities that has led to India slipping from its position as the world's top iron exporterto the third place.

Ahead of the strategic dialogue, the External Affairs Ministry had said the two sides would reviewall aspects of the bilateral strategic and global partnership and discuss regional and internationalissues of mutual interest.

The talks were sandwiched between high-level consultations with the U.S. a summit-levelJapan-U.S. meeting took place last month and India and the U.S. will hold their Foreign Minister-level strategic dialogue next week.

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Unabated violence endangers Syrian ceasefireAtul AnejaThe fate of the ceasefire in Syria continues to hang in the balance with neither the governmentnor the opposition demonstrating the will to halt sporadic violence.

On Monday, the Syrian regime was quick to point a finger at the opposition saying it was in fullbreach of the ceasefire agreement laid out by Kofi Annan, the United Nations and Arab Leagueenvoy to Syria.

The state-run news agency, SANA, reported that in the city of Idlib, not far from the Turkishborder, twin suicide car bombings had heavily damaged buildings near the state intelligencecompound. The explosions killed 20 people, said the London-based Syrian Observatory ofHuman Rights, and SANA reported that 100 were wounded.

Graphic images of Monday's attack were beamed by the pro-government Al-Ekhbariya televisionstation. Video footage showed smashed cars, debris and pavements stained with blood. Thefacade of a multi-storey building had been blown out, while four other structures had suffered

heavy damage.

The government attributed the attack to armed terrorists a term routinely ascribed to thearmed opposition. However, no group has claimed responsibility for the attacks so far.

In yet another attack on a state bastion, rocket-propelled grenades on Sunday targeted theCentral Bank building in Damascus. While only four security personnel were injured, the attackwas of symbolic significance. An oil pipeline was also attacked on Sunday in the eastern city ofDier ez-Zor.

While no independent confirmation was possible because of restrictions imposed on journalists,the frequency of suicide bombings in Syria seem to be on the rise evoking memories of thesituation in neighbouring Iraq in the aftermath of the U.S.-led invasion. On Friday, a suicidebomber killed 11 people and injured dozens in Damascus.

The opposition blames the government of flouting the ceasefire. Al Jazeera is reporting thatgovernment forces have since Saturday launched military offensives in areas close to the Turkishand Lebanese borders. These assaults have followed attempts by a militant group to launchattacks from the coastal zone around Latakia, Syria's largest port city.

The Lebanese intelligence has also intercepted a ship bearing three containers full of Libyanheavy machine guns, shells, rockets, rocket launchers and other explosives. The Lebanese claimthat the cargo was intended for the opposition Free Syria Army. Analysts say if Lebanese claimsare confirmed, the Syrian opposition's commitment to Mr. Annan's plan would be seriouslyquestioned.

With the prospects of the ceasefire holding in the grey zone, Major General Robert Mood, thehead of the U.N. monitoring mission in Syria, arrived in Damascus on Monday. He is not astranger to Syria as he had, in 2009-11, served as the head of the U.N. Truce SupervisionOrganisation, which monitors ceasefires in West Asia. The Norwegian veteran is pursuing a planmeant to ensure that 300 U.N. monitors are deployed in Syria. The 15-member monitoring teamthat is currently in Syria is located in the trouble-torn cities of Homs, Hama, Idlib, and Derra aswell as the Damascus suburbs.

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Regulating cultures through food policingKalpana KannabiranThe controversy over the Beef Festival recently organised on the campus of Osmania Universityin Hyderabad and the threat of professors being investigated by the police for instigating theorganisers needs to be understood in the context of the larger politics of food and policing of food

practices.

Across the country, different communities in different regions have widely varying food habits. It isalso well known that food is closely linked to ideas of the sacred and the profane and mustvary along the scale of social diversity. The dense nesting of beliefs related to food extends fromwhat vegetables may be consumed, whether meat may be consumed or not, which kinds ofmeats are food and which not, which kinds of meat are deemed vegetarian, and whether animalproducts come within the definition of meat or not.Ideas about eating

Ideas about food also extend to who can eat together; within a family, who consumes which partsof an animal's body; what is the sequence in which people in a family eat, depending on gender,generation and social status; whether vice chancellors, judges and peons can partake of the

same feast at the same time or in earlier times or even today in more self declaredly casteridden locales whether the chuhri can even dare to ask for fresh cooked food from chowdhriji to recall Omprakash Valmiki's Joothan. And further in the caste context, who must not besighted by a Brahmin man while he is in the vulnerable state of ingesting food the shudra, amenstruating woman, pigs, dogs all to be equally banished from sight.

Because food is surrounded by thick religiosity, there are days and times of the year and cycles ina month or in a reproductive lifetime when certain foods are proscribed and others mandatory.There are also rigid rules around the slaughter of animals and the preparation of meat forconsumption meat consumers do not eat all meats and do not eat the same meat at any place.The acceptance of meat as food is determined by whether the slaughter of the animal has beenappropriate. And there are castes who were condemned to eat only carrion, not animals freshlyslaughtered for consumption. There are communities in Andhra that share the hunt with the tiger

they believe the tiger leaves enough of its prey for its human kin with a delicate balance inmutual food security in the deep forests. When religions proscribe the killing of animals,communities of believers who live in hostile and difficult mountainous terrain may drive a herd offa cliff and strip and dry the meat to meet a year's supply of meat. Even with people andcommunities that eat meat, there are places and times when meat may be eaten and thesevary widely as well. While a religious occasion for some may be marked by the abstinence frommeat, for others it is marked by the sacrifice of an animal, its ceremonial preparation and itsdistribution in a prescribed manner among kin.

Attitude

Ideas of purity, danger, potency, malevolence, uncleanness, tastes (not individual but social) andaesthetics thickly overlay our attitude to food. Faint hearted but brahmanical consumers of meatcan swoon or get terribly sick at the sight of a butcher at work, or the sight of unclean parts of

the animal body entrails, head, hooves and so on. The same could be the case with lovers offish when they see a beach overlaid with dry, pungent fish or the baskets of fish vendors on thetrain on their way to the market. Similarly too, it is not uncommon to find strong negative reactionsto snake gourd, bitter gourd, and several other vegetables, not to speak of cooking oils fromvegetarians. There are of course caste hierarchies in vegetables and oils too.

Its life giving and life sustaining quality also makes food the medium through which faith isexpressed, through sharing on particular auspicious, festive occasions. Whom food is shared withand how is determined by status and social location ranging from poor feeding to mutualexchanges of festive food. There is then the renunciation of certain foods as acts of faith

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(temporarily or permanently) or as an acknowledgement of loss and mourning. It is notuncommon to hear of people giving up their favourite food on the death of a loved one. And ofcourse giving up food is a way of renouncing life itself.Change in habits

There are also histories of food habits that show that they change over time: the beef eating

Vedic brahmin is a well known example.

Among the meats that are consumed in India are chicken, goat, fish and other aquatic creatures,frog, dog, pork, monkey, beef, buffalo, a variety of insects, field rats, deer, a range of birds, somereptiles and many, many more. Across this entire range of food, there are some we might loveand relish, and others we might recoil at the mention of. What we relish and what we findunthinkable depends on religion, caste, tribe, and social location, after which individual tasteplays a role. The diversity in food habits is part of the plurality of cultures and the right toconsume, accept and share food, privately and in festivity, is part of cultural expression.

To the extent that culture is a matter of politics, food becomes the mobilising point for politics. Theubiquitous blessed food that believers partake in at places of worship now gets distributed instreet-corners to believers and non-believers alike in every neighbourhood. This is part of an

aggressive proclamation of religiosity demanding acceptance as an act of faith from all oftenspreading tension that has the police in full force out on the streets for days.

We have sizeable communities in India who eat beef and pork and these are the two meats onthe Indian subcontinent that are used to stoke collective emotions in ways that present polarisedstereotypes. Yet we know that the realities of beef and pork consumption defy these stereotypes.There is, however, a distinction between the two: beef is traditionally consumed not just by non-Hindus but by subaltern castes as well, a reality that is denied by the dominant castes.

In this context, if there is a hegemonic cultural formation across or within a religious group thatproscribes or stigmatises the consumption of certain kinds of foods, a central part of resistanceand of cultural assertion is to share that food publicly. Acquiescing to one proscription will pavethe way for another, and the intolerance to diversity in food habits and through food to plural

cultures will spiral upwards.

The choice of whether or not to partake of the feast is one an individual makes. In the recent beeffestival organised on the campus of Osmania University, there were no reports of any coercion orforce-feeding of beef to unwilling people. The people who were there went because they wantedto be there and were people for whom beef was not taboo. The argument on the need to takeaction against spreading hatred can scarcely be sustained. Even more irrelevant is thesuggestion that professors were instigating students it was a gathering of consenting, freethinking adults.

The organising of a food festival is not a matter for courts to interfere with or order aninvestigation into. There are more pressing matters related to life and liberty that wait endlessly toget a hearing.

(The author is Professor and Director, Council for Social Development, Hyderabad. Email:kalpana.kannabiran@gmail.com)

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Perks for life

Former Speakers are seeking special perks. And the Central government seems to be in a

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generous mood. According to former Lok Sabha Speaker P.A. Sangma, as reported in the mediaon Monday, in-principle approval has been accorded to his proposal to extend the perquisites andprivileges now reserved for former Presidents, Vice-Presidents, and Prime Ministers to formerSpeakers of the Lok Sabha. The rationale for seeking this largesse, if at all there is one, is thatthe Speaker is the only constitutional authority Number Six in the Warrant of Precedence orthe protocol list who does not enjoy special perquisites after the conclusion of his or her term.Former Speakers, at present, are entitled only to pension and ordinary benefits that are alsoavailable to all former Members of Parliament. If anything, the argument should be for dropping orcurbing the special perks which come with retirement from all constitutional posts and not foradding more former office-holders to the list. The reason high office comes with privileges isbecause they make it easier for the incumbent to do the job. Logically, therefore, the privileges ofoffice should end with the term in office. This is the way it is in virtually every democracy. Ofcourse, the state has a continuing duty to provide security, where threats exist, and secretarialassistance. But few countries barring India provide homes and motor cars to retired Presidents orPrime Ministers, let alone Speakers, for the rest of their lives.

President Pratibha Patil moved quickly and correctly to quell a snowballing controversy byforegoing the Pune retirement home which was to be constructed for her on land owned by theDefence Ministry. Rashtrapati Bhavan refuted what it said were fallacious observations aboutthe home that had been made in the media. At the same time, ordinary people are inclined to seeany special benefits extended to former constitutional functionaries as excessive. Though MPsand Ministers compare themselves with bureaucrats while seeking retirement benefits,government servants retire after 30 or more years of service, and not five years like MPs. Ifformer Speakers are granted the privileges they reportedly are seeking, it would only be a matterof time before former Deputy Chairpersons of the Rajya Sabha or former Deputy Speakers of theLok Sabha demand similar perks and benefits. And why should the poor Speakers of all our State

Assemblies be left behind? The issue goes beyond the cost or scale of this exercise. At stake is afundamental republican principle: that people holding constitutional office for limited terms oughtnot to enjoy special privileges once they retire.

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1,18,474 too many

If only laws could eliminate all that they prohibit, India would have been free of the scourge ofmanual scavenging decades ago. The Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers andTheir Rehabilitation Bill, which is to be introduced in the monsoon session of Parliament ,is another attempt to prevent employment of people in the cleaning, handling or carrying ofhuman excreta. Despite the renewed stress on rehabilitation in the present bill, doubts persistabout the will and the ability of the Central and State governments to end this dehumanisingactivity. The Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition)

Act, 1993, was indeed meant to address the very same issue, but implementation was lax, andtens of thousands of people continue to be engaged in manual scavenging. Not a single personwas convicted under the 1993 law, although many States confirmed the prevalence of manualscavenging. According to figures released by the government last year, there were 1,18,474manual scavengers or their dependents identified under the Self-employment Scheme forRehabilitation of Manual Scavengers (SRMS) launched in 2007. Of course, one of the difficultiesin eliminating this activity is the poor sanitation level in rural India where dry latrines remain inuse. In the absence of networked sewerage facilities, even local bodies engage workers tomanually clean septic tanks. Manual scavenging, then, cannot be just wished away withoutimproving overall sanitation in the interior areas of India.

The proposal for the present bill came after the matter was brought before the Supreme Courtfollowing an order of the Madras High Court that the personal appearance of high dignitaries,including those in the Prime Minister's Office, might be required if the Centre failed to amend the

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law. Until then, the government was content to allow the ordinary course of rural development, atits slow pace, to draw out the communities involved into other forms of livelihood. Schemes suchas SRMS were helpful to many, but did not guarantee a full escape. Most of the manualscavengers belong to the Scheduled Castes or the Scheduled Tribes, and last year the UnionMinistry of Home Affairs told all States that engaging or employing a member of SCs and STs inmanual scavenging may fall within the ambit of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes(Prevention of Atrocities) Act. However, there is no record of anyone being convicted under this

Act for engaging a person in manual scavenging. If the 2012 bill is to not merely set anotherpassing deadline, comprehensive efforts from the Centre and the States that attack thisabominable practice at different levels will have to be made.

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BJP in damage control mode as protest over Richard case snowballsSudipto Mondal

Seeking to contain the controversy over the police handling of the Richard Loitam case, theKarnataka government and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday stepped in to pacify thenortheast agitators.

What started off less than a week ago as a Facebook campaign seeking to pressure the policeinto filing a murder case instead of one of unnatural death spilled out on the roads on Sundaywith hundreds of students staging demonstrations in Bangalore, New Delhi and Imphal.

Richard (19), a student of the Acharya's NRV School of Architecture on the outskirts of Bangalore,died in his sleep on April 17. The agitators claim that he was beaten to death by his seniors. Butthe police maintain that the youth died of injuries sustained in a road accident two days before hisdeath.

Awaiting forensic report

On Monday, Home Minister R. Ashok told journalists that the government would conduct animpartial probe into the death. The initial investigation reports depict that the death occurred dueto a brawl between friends while watching a cricket match. We are awaiting the forensic report totake decisive action against the accused. We have not jumped to any conclusion, keeping theaccused students' future in mind. At present, we are questioning the accused and I request thestudent fraternity to stay calm as the investigation will be stringent.

Sunil Deodhar, convener of the BJP's Northeast India Sampark Cell, who led a delegation ofManipuri diaspora to a closed-door meeting with the Minister, later told a press conference: Wewere told that an impartial probe will be conducted and if we are not satisfied with the findings ofthe police, the case will be handed over to the CID.

Commending the State government, Mr. Ashok and the police for the interest they had shown inthe case, Mr. Deodhar pinned the blame on the college management. He brushed asidesuggestions by some of the agitators that he was enlisted by the BJP to prevent this episode fromsnowballing into a major controversy.

No racial profiling

Sharing the platform with Mr. Deodhar, Potsangbam Omprakash, president of the Manipuri MeiteiAssociation, Bangalore, said, I want to clarify that Richard was not a victim of racial profiling.

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Superintendent of Police D. Prakash said: Based the statement of Richard's father, LoitamRajesh Kumar, we will investigate the possibility that it was culpable homicide. We have sent thetissue sample to the lab and will take action based on the forensic reports.

A murder case would be registered based on forensic evidence, the SP told a press conference.

Meanwhile, in its first official communication since Richard's death, the college management saidit had extended all possible support to his family. It was also cooperating in the probe into thedeath.

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We believe in strong democratic system: KayaniPTI

Pakistans powerful army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani has waded into a standoff between thegovernment and judiciary, saying the countrys development and welfare depend on stateinstitutions functioning within their constitutional limits.

The countrys Constitution has clearly defined the responsibilities and functions of nationalinstitutions and it is incumbent on them to perform their duties within constitutional limits, hesaid while delivering an address at an event marking the armys Youm-e-Shahada (Day ofMartyrs) on Monday.

In an apparent reference to Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilanis conviction of contempt by theSupreme Court for refusing to act on orders to revive graft cases against President Asif AliZardari, Kayani said the prime objective of the democratic system is to ensure the welfare,happiness and increased dignity of the people and the establishment of a balanced society whereevery person can get justice equally.

This is the only way which can further strengthen Pakistans national security, he said during thelate night ceremony to honour soldiers killed in the line of duty and while fighting extremists.

The military, he said, believes in a strong democratic system and its continuation.

At the same time, Kayani touched on the national security situation and said Pakistan is still in astate of war despite unprecedented sacrifices made by the people and security forces in thecampaign against terrorists and extremists.

The Pakistan Army, Frontier Corps, Pakistan Rangers and police had achieved successes inmany difficult areas while fighting against extremists and terrorists while the peoples sacrificesand steadfastness had boosted the morale of the armed forces.

I am hopeful that we will emerge from this stage victorious with the help and prayers of the

nation. We will be successful when we have a strong belief in the ideology of Pakistan. Any doubtabout this ideology would weaken the country, Kayani told a gathering that included top Pakistanimilitary officials and defence attaches from different countries.

The army chief also referred to the unilateral American raid in Abbottabad that killed Osama binLaden and a cross border NATO air strike that left 24 Pakistani soldiers dead in November lastyear and said: some foreign elements had launched a campaign of mistrust despite thesacrifices made by the Pakistani people and armed forces.

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This campaign pushed the entire nation into a psychological crisis and forced the nation toreview relations with others, he said.

We think that others will have to keep in mind our sovereignty, pride and honour, he added.

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Children's ordeal: good coverage in The HinduShare Comment (2) print T+

After almost a year in foster care in Norway under the aegis of its Child Welfare Service (CWS),four-year-old Abhigyan and two-year-old Aishwarya, children of Anurup and SagarikaBhattacharya, returned to their Indian home in Kolkata on April 24 in the company of theirpaternal uncle, Dr. Arunabhas Bhattacharya. Scores of relatives and thousands of well-wishers inIndia and abroad were jubilant over the children's homecoming. This was facilitated by the districtcourt in Stavanger, which endorsed an agreement between the child-care organisation and Dr.

Arunabhas and agreed that the children be handed over to their paternal uncle.

Why, in the first place, were the NRI children separated from their parents and brought under the

care of the CWS? The background is illustrative. The children, who were clearly not cared for wellby the Indian family, were taken away by the Norwegian authorities on the grounds of emotionaldisconnect in the family. They also suspected that Abhigyan had an attachment problem. Allthese led to the authorities asking the CWS to take the children under its foster care. The courtapproval followed.

Although the ordeal began early last year for the children and their parents, more than sevenmonths passed before the story was reported in India. The plight of Abhigyan and Aishwarya

jolted people all over the country. Driven by reporting in the Indian media that took on thecharacter of a campaign, public sentiment turned into an outcry and put pressure on the Indiangovernment. In due course, steps were taken to bring back the children to their natural home,India, at different levels diplomatic, legal, and political.

The picture presented by the media, particularly news television, was mostly one-sided. It gavethe impression that the Bhattacharya children were separated from their parents only becausethey were not well-dressed, slept along with their parents and not in separate beds, were fed byhand, and so on. They saw in the action what they called a cultural bias or culturaldiscrimination. The other side the real issue of universal child rights was totally ignored.

It was at this stage that The Hindu decided to look deeper into the facts in order to gain a full anddispassionate insight in keeping with its tradition in reporting on such social issues. It quicklybecame clear that there were serious gaps in the media reporting until then.

The Hindu asked its Europe Correspondent, Vaiju Naravane, to visit Stavanger to find out thetruth. After reviewing the files and interviewing the family as well as CWS officials, the picturethat emerges is a complex one that defies easy pigeonholing, noted the paper's editorial (Letgood sense prevail, The Hindu, March 20, 2012).

What followed was a series of articles, interviews, and reports from Vaiju Naravane, which gave acomplete account of what had happened in the past one year and more. Well-researched, in-depth reports and articles, numbering more than 15, one of which was a full-page article, all inabout 30 to 40 days gave the newspaper's readers a new perspective on the emotive issue. Fromthe Norwegian laws on child protection to the arranged marriage of the couple, Vaiju Naravanegave readers a vivid picture of the life of people, particularly immigrants, in Norway. Even as shepointed out the serious shortcomings of the parents, she was critical of the way the CWS

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approached the problem. Aarti Dhar in Delhi and Ananya Dutta in Kolkata ably supplementedVaiju's efforts.

In addition to the reports, expert articles on different aspects of the problem earned theappreciation of readers. For instance, lawyer Geeta Ramaseshan's edit page article Norway yes,but let's also look within (The Hindu, January 27, 2012), offered an insightful critique of the way

child protection laws and child welfare committees are used in India. The children may be homein the presumably temporary care of their paternal grandparents and uncle but with the father stillin Norway and the mother in India, a great deal waits to be done to assure their well-being andfuture. The Indian news media have a continuing responsibility in this regard to follow this storyaccurately and sensitively without being intrusive. The paparazzi, in particular, must keep out, orbe kept out, of the way of little Aishwarya and Abhigyan and their family as they strive to find anenduring solution to their ordeal.

readerseditor@thehindu.co.in

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BEML chief cites non-existing' provision to justify plot allotmentSudipto Mondal

V.R.S. Natarajan, Chairman and Managing Director of BEML, has contested the April 29 report inthese columns on the alleged irregular allotments of housing sites to the niece and a friend ofPrime Minister Manmohan Singh's Adviser T.K.A. Nair.

Speaking to reporters here on Monday, Mr. Natarajan said the by-laws of the BEML Employee'sCooperative Society had a provision to allot sites to non-employees, such as Mr. Nair's niece, A.Preethy Prabha and family friend Uma Devi Nambiar.

However, documents available with The Hindu show that in 2006, the BEML society made anunsuccessful attempt to amend its by-laws and facilitate allotments of plots to non-employees.The Registrar of Cooperative Societies thwarted this move, refusing to ratify the amendment.

Mr. Natarajan was quoted by PTI as saying: There is a provision under the KarnatakaCooperative Societies Act that five per cent of the sites can be given to people who have beennominated by farmers.

He claimed that the public sector defence undertaking's management had no control over thedecisions taken by the elected board of the cooperative society. He termed absolutely unfair andagainst the facts the allegation that the allotments were made to secure the Prime Minister'sOffice's silence on the Tatra truck scam. He also said the plots might have been returned at thebehest of Mr. Nair.

Documents show that on March 19, 2006, the BEML Employee's Cooperative Society passed aresolution to amend its by-laws.

The resolution read: The society can allot three per cent of the total sites in future layouts underits discretionary quota on [a] merit basis of each case in each layout to such persons who haverendered yeoman service to the development of the society and to the landlords, BEML companydirectors, executives, very senior executives, sports, fine arts, handicapped, trade union leadersof BEML, legal advisors and other people who are helping in one way or the other for thedevelopment of the society after enrolling them as associate members of our society.

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This resolution was sent to the Registrar of Cooperative Societies on April 5, 2006, for approval.

On May 5 that year, the Registrar ruled that the amendments could not be ratified as they wentagainst the provisions of the Karnataka Cooperative Societies Act, 1959, as well as the model by-laws laid down by the State government for house-building cooperative societies.

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Search operation on in Assam ferry mishapPTIShare Comment print T+

Rescuers on Monday scoured the waters of the Brahmaputra River amidst torrential rain to locatethe over 100 missing in Assams worst boat disaster that left 103 dead even as authorities fearedthat the toll may rise.

The death toll may rise as more than 100 are missing and the exact toll will be known after thesearch operation, Dhubri Deputy Commissioner Kumud Chandra Kalita said.

Rescuers and divers of the Army, BSF and NDRF with speedboats were searching the waters onTuesday morning amidst torrential rain which was continuing since Monday night to locate morebodies as the ferry was carrying over 300 passengers when it was caught in a storm andcapsized in Dhubri district on Monday, he said.

The National Disaster Relief Force, BSF and Army and personnel of the district administrationare continuing search operations amidst torrential rain which has continued till this morning, Mr.Kalita said.

The ferry was sailing from Dhubri ferry ghat to Medartary on south bank of the river when it wascaught in a storm.

The bodies have been kept at the Dhubri Civil Hospital.

President Pratibha Patil had expressed grief over the loss of lives, while Prime MinisterManmohan Singh had assured Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi of all help for relief and funds forfamilies of the victims.

The chief minister has already ordered an inquiry.

Another 12 persons were missing in another boat capsize in the same area on Monday.

However AP reported that 103 bodies have been fished out of a river after a packed ferry boatcapsized in Assam.

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M's meet on export of farm products postponedGargi Parsai

Informal' EGoM meet removes conditions on cotton exports

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A crucial meeting convened by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to discuss the policy on theexport of farm commodities including wheat and to review the food grains storage position waspostponed as there was apprehension that the Opposition may seek division of votes on thedemand for grants for Urban Development Ministry which was being discussed in the Lok Sabhaat the time.

However, even as the United Progressive Alliance Ministers were rushing to the Lok Sabha wordcame that there was to be no voting. But by then the Prime Minister's meeting was deferred.

The meeting has been postponed to Wednesday, Union Food Minister K.V. Thomas toldjournalists here.

Among other food and farm issues, the meeting was called to discuss the policy on sugar, cottonand milk exports after Agriculture Minister Sharad had earlier shot off a letter to the PrimeMinister, stating that the government's export policies were hurting farmers, who were beingasked to subsidise the industry.

Those invited to the meeting included Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Mr. Pawar, Commerceand Textiles Minister Anand Sharma, Minister of State for Food K.V. Thomas and Deputy

Chairman of Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia, besides senior officials.

In a way, the urgency for taking a decision on cotton exports was taken care of in an earlierinformal meeting of the Empowered Group of Ministers. The EGoM decided to lift restrictions oncotton exports as the production of cotton had improved. The meeting was held between Mr.Mukheerjee, Mr. Pawar and Mr. Sharma.

A decision has been taken to remove the suspension of cotton exports registration. Registrationof cotton exports will be allowed by the government, Mr. Sharma said after the meeting.

Last month, the government had lifted the ban on exports but decided not to issue freshregistration of certificates (RCs). It only allowed shipments for which RCs were alreadyissued before the ban was imposed on March.

Besides taking a view on the policy on sugar exports and allowing export of milk, the PrimeMinister's meeting was to have taken a decision on steps to deplete some of the burgeoningwheat stocks.

With food stocks touching 74.9 million tonnes on June 1, the Food Ministry has proposed raisingthe allocation for both the Below Poverty Line and the Above Poverty Line populations under theTargeted Public Distribution System (TPDS).

It has also suggested that some quantities be exported as there is demand from the Gulfcountries. Certain quantities can also be put under the Open Market Sale Scheme.

But the bone of contention between the Ministry of Food and Agriculture is over the export ofsugar. Suggesting a change to the earlier policy of giving release orders to mills on a pro-ratabasis depending upon last three years' production, Mr. Pawar said the policy should be changedto allow sugar exports on a first-come-first-serve basis under the Open General Licence.

Of the 35 lakh tonnes of sugar allowed for exports since 2010-11, about 27 lakh tonnes has beenexported so far. The decision for export of the last tranche of 10 lakh tonnes has, however, not yetbeen notified.

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Switzerland agrees to ease secret account disclosure normsSpecial Correspondent

In a step that is expected to make tracking down tax evaders easier and effectively combat the

black money menace, the government on Monday announced that Switzerland had agreed toprovide details of secret bank accounts of individuals sought by India even on the basis oflimited information, under a mutual agreement inked on April 20 this year.

According to a Finance Ministry statement here, Switzerland has agreed to provide liberalinterpretation on the identity requirements, that it is sufficient if the requesting state identifies theperson by other means than by indicating the name and address of the person concerned, andindicates to the extent known, the name and address of any person believed to be in possessionof the requested information.

This marks a significant easing of disclosure norms, as under the existing revised bilateral treatysigned under the Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA), the requesting State has tocompulsorily provide the name of the person under examination and the name of the foreign

holder of the information as part of the identity requirements without which the information will notbe shared by the other country. This was a restrictive provision and not in line with theinternational standards, the Ministry statement said.

The statement also noted that the liberal interpretation to provisions of Article 26 of the DTAA, asagreed upon in the mutual agreement, will apply from the date on which the amending protocolhas come into effect, that is April 1, 2011. It may be recalled that India had signed an amendingprotocol with Switzerland to revise the bilateral taxation treaty under DTAA on August 30, 2010and the revised treaty was approved by Swiss Parliament on June 17 last year. Subsequently, theproposal to seek liberal interpretation of the disclosure norms was approved by the Union Cabinetin March this year.

Pointing to the salient features of the mutual pact, the Ministry statement said the agreement was

beneficial to India because it gives liberal interpretation to the identity requirements for exchangeof information which India will be seeking from Switzerland and is in line with internationalstandards. The conditions, as clarified by Switzerland, will enable India to get information even ifwe have only limited details regarding the person having bank accounts in Switzerland, it said.

The new agreement was signed by Sanjay Kumar Mishra, Joint Secretary (Foreign Tax & TaxResearch division), Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), and Juerg Giraudi, Head of Division ofInternational Tax Affairs, Swiss Federal Department of Finance.

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Bangalore incident fuels anger in northeastIboyaima LaithangbamShare Comment print T+

Post mortem has made it clear it is homicide, says Richard's mother

The reported bludgeoning to death of a Manipuri boy in Bangalore has aggravated a simmeringdiscontent and the sense of discrimination among northeast students studying in other States.

The charge of police inaction in Richard Loitam's case has triggered protests in all big cities, and

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police and public leaders are worried that this incident may be exploited by some elements tointensify the campaign against migrant workers in this region.

Prompted by the growing clamour for justice, Manipur Home Minister G. Gaihangam has writtento his Karnataka counterpart, urging action. But there has been no response.

On Sunday, a sit-in and candlelight vigil were held in many cities, including Imphal.

Vidyapati Loitam, mother of the 19-year-old student of the Acharya's NRV School of Architecture,said the post mortem report had made clear that it was a case of homicide. We demand justice,she said, addressing those who had assembled to mourn her son. Students from all northeasternStates have joined the protests in many cities.

The police worry over reprisal campaigns being mounted in Nagaland, Manipur and Meghalaya toweed out foreigners and outsiders. While there is a demand in Manipur for reintroduction of theInner Line Permit System to screen such persons, Meghalaya has opened cells in all districts todetect them. Several organisations in Nagaland have expressed concern at the presence offoreigners and outsiders in some towns.

In Manipur, several migrant workers have been shot dead in the past 20 years. Some militantgroups have asked house owners not to let out rooms to these labourers. The police haveadvised them not to go out of the city limits.

Three Manipuris were molested and mugged in Delhi on the night of April 27. Modhu Chandra,spokesperson of the North East Support Centre and Helpline, in a statement, said a Tangkhultribal girl was returning home from her office at Gurgaon, when two persons molested her. Onhearing her screams, some tribal boys rushed to her rescue. But local residents beat them up,saying they had raised a false alarm. The police refused to register a case, alleges Mr. Chandra.

The same night a Tangkhul tribal boy, Joshua Muivah, was robbed of his cash and all valuablesand beaten up while returning home from office.

The Vasant Vihar police have registered a case. Another Manipuri boy was also mugged and hiscash and valuables were snatched. In this instance also, no arrest was made.

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Pigeons navigation skills linked to special GPS neuronsScientists have long known that the birds navigate using the earths magnetic field. Now, a newstudy has found subtle mechanics in the brain of pigeons that allow them to find their way.

A team at Baylor College of Medicine in the U.S. identified a group of 53 cells in a pigeons brainthat record detailed information on the Earths magnetic field, a kind of internal global positioningsystem (GPS).

However, the study, published in journal Science, leaves open the question of how these GPSneurons actually help the birds sense the magnetic field.

People had reported in the past, establishing that birds do not seem to respond to the polarity ofthe magnetic field, yet here we have neurons that are in fact doing that, study author Prof. DavidDickman said.

Thats one of the beautiful aspects of what we have identified, because it shows how single brain

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cells can record multiple properties or complex qualities in a simple way, he told BBC News.

For their study, Prof. Dickman and his colleague Le-Qing Wu set up an experiment in whichpigeons were held in a dark room and used a 3D coil system to cancel out the planets naturalgeomagnetic field and generate a tunable, artificial magnetic field inside the room.

While they adjusted the elevation angles and magnitude of their artificial magnetic field, theysimultaneously recorded the activity of the 53 neurons in the pigeons brain which had alreadybeen identified as candidates for such sensors.

So, they measured the electrical signals from each one as the field was changed and found thatevery neuron had its own characteristic response to the magnetic field, each giving a sort of 3-Dcompass reading along the familiar north-south directions as well as pointing directly upward ordownward.

In life, this could help the bird determine not only its heading just as a compass does, but wouldalso reveal its approximate position, the researchers said.

Each cell also showed a sensitivity to field strength, with the maximum sensitivity corresponding

to the strength of the Earths natural field, they added.

And like a compass, the neurons had opposite responses to different field polarity, the magneticnorth and south of a field, that surprised the researchers most of all.

Several hypotheses hold that birds magnetic navigation arises in cells that contain tiny chunks ofmetal in their noses or beaks, or possibly in an inner ear organ.

However, the most widely held among them was thrown into question when researchers foundthat purported compass cells in pigeon beaks were in fact a type of white blood cell.

Another theory suggests that a magnetic sense may come about in receptors in birds eyes.

When exposed to light, the theory says, molecules called cryptochromes undergo a fleetingchange in their atomic makeup whose length depends on their alignment with a field.

The new research throws this latter possibility also into question, as it would work equally wellwith a north- or south-pointing field.

Were leaning toward a third receptor in the inner ear, and were doing experiments to try todetermine whether it is in fact a receptor or not, said Prof. Dickman.

Its now believed that more than one mechanism may be at work in bird navigation in theireyes, beaks or ears - and Prof. Dickman said he is looking forward to getting to the bottom of it.

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India to ferry heaviest foreign satellite in AugustIANSIndia will ferry two foreign satellites French and Japanese on board its Polar SatelliteLaunch Vehicle (PSLVC21) rocket in August this year for a price, said a senior official.

The next rocket launch will be in August. We will be sending our PSLV rocket with Frenchsatellite SPOT 6 (800 kg) and a small Japanese satellite weighing around 15 kg. Though therocket is called PSLVC21 it will go before PSLVC20, P.S. Veeraraghavan, director,

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Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), told IANS.

The Thiruvananthapuram-based VSCC is part of India's space agency Indian Space ResearchOrganisation (ISRO).

ISRO's commercial arm Antrix Corporation Limited (Antrix) has entered into a commercial Launch

Services Agreement with Astrium SAS, a company under EADS, France for launching SPOT-6,an advanced remote sensing satellite.

What is interesting is that the 800 kg SPOT-6 built by Astrium SAS will be the heaviest thirdparty payload that ISRO will be carrying after the 350 kg Italian satellite Agile it carried in2007, officials said.

As the total luggage will be around 815 kg, ISRO will be using its Core Alone variant of PSLV(rocket without its six strap on motors).

The mission will take ISRO's total tally of ferrying foreign satellites to 29.

ISRO has been carrying foreign satellites since 1999 initially as an add-on luggage to its ownsatellite.

It was with Agile satellite that ISRO started flying a full commercial rocket.

According to Veeraraghavan, the space agency would launch SARAL satellite an Indo-Frenchinitiative using PSLV-C20 rocket after the August launch.

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Bt Brinjal poses a risk to health, environment: Greenpeace reportSpecial Correspondent

An independent enquiry has revealed that the cultivation of genetically engineered (GE, also

called genetically modified, or GM) Bt brinjal poses risks to the environment and possibly tohuman health. The occurrence of wild, weedy and also cultivated relatives presents a likelihoodthat the GE Bt gene will spread to these relatives but, so far, this has largely been overlooked inthe risk assessments for GE Bt brinjal, it says.

Genetically engineered Bt brinjal and the implications for plant biodiversity revisited, anindependent study commissioned by Greenpeace International, finds that brinjal relatives dooccur in the regions where cultivation of GE Bt brinjal is proposed, and that GE Bt brinjal maymate with these relatives to spread the GE Bt gene. Spread of the GE Bt gene would haveconsiderable ecological implications, as well as implications for future crop contamination andfarmers' rights.

Importantly, the spread of the GE Bt gene could result in the brinjal becoming an aggressive and

problematic weed, the Greenpeace report suggests, while impressing upon the governments theneed to employ the precautionary principle and not permit any authorisation of the outdoorcultivation of GE Bt brinjal, including field trials

The cultivation of GE Bt brinjal is proposed in some countries across Asia, including India, wherethere is currently a moratorium on commercialisation, and the Philippines, where field trials aregoing on. There are many concerns with GE brinjal, which has been engineered to be resistantto certain insect pests using Bt genes from the soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis. Theseconcerns include food safety and possible effects on organisms other than the pest insect (non-

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target organisms), such as beneficial insects and butterflies.

One of the least known aspects of the GE Bt brinjal is its ability to cross with wild relatives orcultivated varieties. This is because there are no recent reviews in the scientific literatureconcerning species related to brinjal, and where they grow across Asia. This information is vitalwhen addressing concerns regarding cultivation of GE Bt brinjal, because insect-resistance gives

a selective advantage to the plant, increasing its ability to survive and reproduce. If the GE Btbrinjal cross-pollinates wild, weedy or cultivated relatives, the result is a hybrid offspring, whichmay grow more aggressively and thus become a problem weed, the report says.

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Breaking the sanitation tabooAnurodh Lalit JainShare Comment (3) print T+

The Greek philosopher Socrates once said: It is not living that matters, but living rightly. As theclock is inching towards the 2015 deadline of Millennium Development Goals (MDG), thephilosophy has become more relevant than ever before as the MDG targets to improve socio-

economic condition of all the citizens. The MDG of Environmental Sustainability also advocatesproviding adequate sanitation facilities to all citizens thus giving them the right to a healthy life.

According to WHO: Sanitation generally refers to the provision of facilities and services for thesafe disposal of human urine and faeces. Inadequate sanitation is a major cause of diseaseworldwide and improving sanitation is known to have a significant beneficial impact on health ofhouseholds and communities. Despite the seriousness of this topic, our community is stillreluctant to openly talk about the subject of sanitation and the good practices around it.

The ill-effect of this taboo can be clearly seen from the continued unhealthy sanitation practicesas it is estimated that still 1.1 billion people defecate openly leading to diseases such asdiarrhoea, cholera, dysentery, typhoid, and hepatitis A. In India, around 1,000 children below theage of five die from diarrhoea, hepatitis-causing pathogens and other sanitation-related diseases,according to the report of United Nations Children's Fund. Additionally, sanitation in schools has

led to an increase in enrolment of children, especially girls, highlighting its manifold benefits.

Many countries are taking measures to control the practice of open defecation. For example,Southern Zambia under the leadership of Chief Macha was transformed in just two years anddeclared open-defecation free as access to sanitation in his community was doubled from 50per cent to 100 per cent.

Brazil developed a condominial approach or simplified sewerage to construct water andsewerage networks as a response to the challenges posed by expanding services into peri-urbanneighbourhoods. Condominial sewerage is a low-cost sewer system that emphasises oncommunity participation in planning and the maintenance of sewer system at the block level.Brazil quickly operationalised a 1,200-km network of condominial sewers, the largest example ofsimplified sewerage in the world.

Rwanda, a landlocked nation bordering Uganda with a population of 11 million, focussed itsefforts and enhanced the sanitation coverage to its citizen beyond the regional average of Sub-Sahara after community-led sanitation campaign. Rwanda attracted international tourists after thegovernment reformed water and sanitation programmes and took away the fear of waterbornedisease from the visitors.

The Indian government too is burning its candle from both ends, hoping for the return of ancientIndus Valley Civilisation days, when sanitation systems were far more advanced than

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contemporary urban sites. It started the Total Sanitation Campaign in 1999 with the goal ofimproving sanitation coverage to both rural and urban areas and eradicating the practice of opendefecation. The key focus areas of TSC are individual household toilets, school sanitation andhygiene education (SSHE), community sanitary complex & anganwadi toilets supported by ruralsanitary marts (RSMs) and production centres (PCs). However, things are not hunky-dory and thenumber clearly state that. As per latest WHO report, India still accounts for 626 million (59 percent) of the 1.1 billion people in the world, who practice open defecation. This is twice the numberof the next 18 countries combined. Additionally, India recorded nearly 22 per cent of the totaldeaths of children under five and a majority of those cases were due to diarrhoea or sanitation-related diseases.

Although the government has been able to ramp up toilet coverage, little effort has gone intochanging citizen behaviour. A glimpse at the TSC portal gives information about the toiletsconstructed till date but fails to capture the data on the continued practice of open defecationdespite the availability of toilets.

The government must understand that creating mere toilet structures will not lead to change;instead the focus should also be on behavioural change. A massive educational campaign toexplain the correlation between poor sanitation and its ill-effects on health should be launched.

Secondly, ignorance towards bathroom etiquette in public toilets by some could turn off othersand divert them to open defecation. School curriculum should touch upon this topic and at leasttrain the future drivers of this country. The government of India was able to wipe out polio bymassive campaigning and participation at the block, district, State and national levels. Similarawareness campaigns in participation with local community, NGOs and the State governmentscan be placed to get the message across. Thirdly, make sanitation business attractive for theprivate sector allowing them to generate income by providing sanitation services.

Loan finance for sanitation support has shown some promising results for the micro financecompanies; however, its effects at large scale is yet to be hypothesised. Finally, allow innovationto reach the mass. E-toilets used in Kerala by the name Delight have shown excellent resultsbecause of its unique features and automatic functioning. Similarly, Eco-san toilets are used forlow income housing in many countries.

Throughout his life, Gandhiji preached and practiced healthy sanitation practices and once said:The cause of many of our diseases is the condition of our lavatories and our bad habit ofdisposing of excreta anywhere and everywhere. Let us work towards getting our society freefrom open defecation and make our ancestors of the Indus Valley Civilisation proud of us.

(The writer is a social healthcare analyst. Email: anurodhj@gmail.com)

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A pandemic called plasticGita Dendukuri

In the last decade, the composition of garbage/solid waste in Indian cities and towns has beengradually dominated by disposable' thin polythene carrybags and varying sizes of satchets, cups,plates and containers made of flimsy plastic. Ironically, the word disposable is a misnomer,because most of these plastic items are not disposed of but just passed on along a typical chain.

Once they leave the place of manufacture, these low grade plastics (fit only for single use) travelfrom the storekeeper to the consumer to household garbage bins to tricycles/tempos to municipalsolid waste bins and finally to landfill sites. When they are not channelled to reach bins orgarbage collection points, they are seen flying just about everywhere on roads and footpaths,

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at public places where people gather, along the railway tracks, at inaccessible places includinglakes, nullas, open wells and drains and even on treetops.

Plastics travelling downstream reach villages on the outskirts of urban areas and cause untolddamage to farmers' fields and cattle. Enough has been said and written with vivid portrayalsthrough pictures and the electronic media. Each of us is well aware of the pollution and

destruction caused to air, water, land, animal and man by the never disposable characteristics oflow grade plastic materials which no one wants to retrieve. They are neither recyclable norbiodegradable.

Littering is now a behavioural licence in India. It is assumed that sanitation workers are paid andtherefore people are entitled to litter the place. But no amount of resources spent on facilities forpicking up litter is adequate for clearing the unsightly mess in front of eateries, shops andentertainment spots. For all the talk on segregating domestic waste at source, namely inhouseholds, the practice of filling cheap plastic containers with leftover food and wet wastes isonly on the increase and compounds the problems of sanitation workers at every level.

If anyone is blamed it is the municipality! Surprisingly, no one speaks about who generated thelitter in the first place. Growing consumerism over the last decade has compounded the problem

to make it reach tsunamic' proportions. Less than two years ago, three young children foragingfor bits of metal and recyclables in mountains of garbage at a landfill in Autonagar, Hyderabad,were actually buried alive under a landslide of garbage, predominantly plastic. A few months ago,three women went missing at a similar site at Jawaharnagar in the same city.

Let us not become so insensitive as to treat these instances as mere news items. Fromadministrators in government, to plastic manufacturers and consumers, everyone has a role toplay.

It is not that we as a nation were unaware of the problem 10 years ago. Several environmentallyconscious citizens trusted our policymakers and waited for them to take bold decisions andimplement them. In small groups, consumers decided to use their own reusable shopping bagsand to say no to plastics. The effort of such groups has, however, been a drop in the ocean!

An entire generation has grown up with a difficult-to-erase familiarity with only the single usepolybags and plastic sachets as packing material. While policymakers continue to discuss theoptimal levels of microns (40 microns) for prohibiting/permitting plastics, the responsibility ofresisting the plastic deluge will rest with the end-users or consumers.

Some steps which can be implemented easily, immediately and universally include the following:

Equip yourself with alternatives to plastic carrybags cloth, canvas, jute and thick paper bagscan be reused several times before we discard them. They are biodegradable.

When you step out of the house, make sure you have a few of these bags of different sizes forunexpected purchases on the way. Make this an important habit.

Do not accept items from any stores in thin polythene bags. Keep your own bag of appropriatesize and material ready to take in the items you buy perishable fruits, vegetables and flowers;pre-packed items including provisions, medicines, confectioneries; minor items from hardware,electrical stores, etc.

For monthly groceries, make sure you have two or more bags made of tough material jute,canvas, thick cotton or reusable synthetic bags for different items provisions, detergentsand cleaning agents, other items.

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Encourage your family and friends to carry their own bags (foldable, rollable, collapsible), and notbe tempted to accept polybags.

Wherever feasible, make your own bags; gift bags to others.

Spread awareness by your active participation in reviving/promoting bags, containers, gifts, toysand display items made from natural resources such as wood, cane, bamboo and jute.

Think beyond temporary bans.

Restore, develop and promote alternatives which do not destroy the environment.

Ultimately, it is we the citizens who will have to initiate and aggressively sustain yet anotherstrong People's Movement' to save ourselves and our planet, as well as protect futuregenerations against the prevailing plastic pandemic.

(The writer's email ID is dhari42_hyd@dataone.in)

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India has no room for its wandering buildersMoushumi BasuShare Comment (2) print T+CHIPPING AWAY AT THEIR RIGHTS: The construction industry is one of the biggest employersof labour in India. The picture shows the site of an IT park in Chennai.Photo: The Hindu CHIPPING AWAY AT THEIR RIGHTS: The construction industry is one of thebiggest employers of labour in India. The picture shows the site of an IT park in Chennai.

The exploitation of migrant construction workers has grown alongside the expansion of theindustry. It's time the government got serious about upholding the law.

A recent report in The Hindu on the violation of labour laws at a massive construction sitebelonging to the Army Welfare Housing Organisation in Bangalore raises yet again the repeatedneglect of regulations relating to the employment and welfare of workers by constructioncompanies in India.

For those who missed the story, the company concerned was found paying migrant workersRs.50 per week as wages, as against the promised Rs.157 per day. This openly flouted theprovisions of the Inter-State Migrant Workmen Act (1979), the Building and Other ConstructionWorkers' Act and the Minimum Wages Act (1948). This shocking story of exploitation in India's ITcapital became public only when a handful of workers from Chhattisgarh managed to escapefrom the work site and were put in touch with a labour union which in turn produced theemaciated and frightened workers before the media for their testimony.

Violations

The contract in this case had been awarded to a company, B.L. Kashyap and Sons Ltd., that hadonly a year ago (July 29, 2011) been found guilty of evasion of Provident Fund payments toworkers by the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) of India. A fine of Rs.593 crorewas levied on the company after confirmation of forgery by the Central Finger Print Bureau of theNational Crime Records Bureau. Interestingly, following the order, the Builders Association and 26other establishments filed a case in the Delhi High Court against the EPFO, challenging theirobligations regarding payment of Provident Fund to casual workers employed at construction

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sites. The case is currently on.Rights under the law

Construction workers in India are guaranteed certain forms of protection and rights under a broadcanvas of labour laws. These include the right to minimum wages, overtime payments, weeklyoffs, specific allowances in case of migrant workers, housing and other social security benefits.

As employers, construction companies are legally responsible for providing protection to workers.In reality, the compulsions on them to follow the rules are far and few. Under existing labour laws,the penalties imposed for the non-execution of responsibilities like maintenance of proper musterroll, non-payment of minimum wages, etc. are relatively miniscule ranging between Rs.500-Rs.2,000 and not much of a deterrent for erring companies. Given this, the attempts made bythe EPFO to rely on forensic sciences to determine the extent of criminal misdeed, are indeedcommendable.

Constituting an important segment of the overall services industry (seven per cent of total GDP),and recording an annual growth of over 10 per cent over the last five years, the constructionindustry is one of the biggest employers of labour in India. According to the PlanningCommission's XI-Plan document, employment in the construction sector in India has witnessed asteady increase from 14.6 million in 1995 to nearly 31.5 million in 2005. It is interesting to note

that while the share of skilled professionals in the business has gone down from 15.3 per cent in1995 to 10.5 per cent in 2005, the relative proportion of unskilled personnel has registered asignificant increase from 73 per cent in 1995 to 82.4 per cent in 2005. For an industry growingrapidly, with a high dependence on unskilled manpower, it is paradoxical that both thegovernment and the industry have not yet shown any inclination of devising a foolproof systemthat places sufficient checks on the way the construction industry regulates or conducts itself.This aspect of neglect is most visible in the way government agencies have handled issuesconcerning the welfare of workers, especially migrants in the construction industry.Migrant workers

Under the provisions of this Inter-State Migrant Workmen Act (1979), which was explicitly enactedto prevent migrant workers from being exploited, labour contractors are required to obtain alicence from the government concerned authorising them to recruit and employ migrant labourfrom one State to another. Legally, any establishment employing more than five inter-Statemigrant workmen is required to register under the provisions of the Act. However, while the vastmajority of those employed in construction activities constitute migrants, this Act is rarely invoked.The national level data provided in the 23rd Report of the Standing Committee on Labour(December 2011) shows the number of licensed contractors or registered establishments asexceptionally low. From data gathered from 22 States, only 285 licensed contractors and 240registered establishments were recorded as employing migrant labour. For a country of the sizeof India, this is definitely an under-reported statistic.

Migrant workers in general constitute a vulnerable social category. With little capacity to bargainfor their constitutional rights as workers, they are forced to work and live under conditions that arepractically subhuman. Makeshift tents housing migrant families are a common sight in almost allbig cities.

During the course of a Public Interest Litigation filed by the People's Union for Democratic Rights(PUDR) in January 2010, on the violation of workers' rights at the Commonwealth Gamesconstruction sites, a Delhi High Court-appointed Monitoring Committee submitted a report whichdocumented the almost abysmal conditions in which the workers were forced to work and live atvarious sites. Long working hours with no extra payments for overtime and non-payment ofminimum wages were widely reported. In the course of the hearings, approximately 140 deaths ofworkers at construction sites were reported. Yet, government agencies turned a blind eye. Eventhe Shunglu committee that was constituted to look into allegations of corruption, failed to includethe case of labour law violations despite repeated requests within its larger mandate of looking at

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the financial improprieties conducted in the course of the Commonwealth Games.The contractor

The construction industry even in its globalised avatar relies on archaic systems ofoperation, such as the use of contractors for the supply of labour. The Contractor Raj, if one maycall it, was a prevalent feature of the colonial mode of labour recruitment and production. The

Royal Commission on Labour in 1929 actually recommended the abolition of the institution of thecontractor. In 1970, India passed the Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act. However,this institution not only continues, but has actually deepened with the boom in the constructionindustry as contractors and sub-contractors are employed even in small projects. This multiplechain of operations creates its own problems of regulation. While there is little doubt thatglobalisation has contributed to increased business opportunities for the construction industry,things have not improved for the workers, who constitute the life and soul of the industry. TheBangalore episode has once again shown the extent of exploitation that still exists.

Getting construction companies to follow the law of the land regarding fulfilment of basic rightsrelated to employment, safety and welfare of workers still seems a distant dream. Thegovernment, despite repeated reminders, seems to be looking away.

(Moushumi Basu is an Associate Professor at the School of International Studies, JNU, andmember of PUDR.)

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Chomsky, 250 others demand justice for Soni SoriNarayan Lakshman

Noam Chomsky, renowned liberal philosopher and Institute Professor at the MassachusettsInstitute of Technology, has joined a list of close to 250 Indian and foreign intellectuals in an openletter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh protesting the brutal treatment meted out to Soni Sori,a woman from Chhattisgarh who is said to have been tortured by police.

In the letter signed by Professor Chomsky and others including Jean Dreze, Harsh Mander,Anand Patwardhan, Aruna Roy, and Arundhati Roy, the group called for immediate medicalattention for Ms. Sori (35), who was allegedly stripped, electrocuted and tortured physically andsexually.

Following a Supreme Court order that Ms. Sori have an independent medical examination at NRSMedical College, Kolkata, doctors reportedly found stones lodged in her vagina and rectum.

We fear for Sonis life and are outraged and ashamed at this inhuman treatment of a woman inIndia, said the authors of the letter about Ms. Sori, who is currently still under arrest inChhattisgarh.

Pointing out that she has received virtually no follow up medical treatment for the injuries shesustained in police custody and the infections that have developed as a consequence, Mr.Chomsky and others said in their letter that two individuals who had met Ms. Sori last week,reported that her face was visibly swollen and her hands and feet appeared abnormally thin,indicating severe weight loss.

They urged that with six months passing since the time Ms. Sori was said to have been torturedher attempts to communicate with civil society groups had also been stifled and in January, ateam from womens groups attempting to meet her in Raipur Jail, were prevented from doing soby the administration.

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In the letter addressed to Mr. Singh, and Home Minister P. Chidambaram, the group ofintellectuals expressed grave concern about Ms. Soris medical condition and demandedimmediate access for fact-finding groups to meet with her to assess the situation on the spot.

In a message to The Hindu from the Association for Indias Development, a non-profit

organisation pressing for Ms. Soris case to be heard, a member of AID noted that contrary to anynotion that an investigation had been initiated against the police officers involved, Superintendentof Police Ankit Garg, who named in Ms. Soris letters, was awarded a Gallantry Medal onRepublic Day this year.

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Money power' in polls yet to be tamed, says QuraishiJ. BalajiChief Election Commissioner S.Y. Quraishi on Monday admitted that the use of money power wasyet to be tamed in polls and stressed on the need for meeting new challenges which underminedemocracy, election and voting.

Inaugurating the third conference of heads of election management bodies of the SAARCCountries here, he said democracy, elections and voting were connected by a single thread andtogether they helped in the emergence of a responsive moral society that avoids coercion andforce and builds a strong link with human development. They also allow people recurrently tochoose their own leaders and determine their own destiny.

On the menace of paid news, which he described as a clandestine deal between some mediapersons and a few politicians, he said it was disturbing the level playing field and making amockery of the ceiling on expenditure. The use of money power is a demon far from being tamedin elections. Civil society activism is on the rise all around and we are yet to assess what are theconsequences for us.

It is said that the death of a democracy is not likely to be an assassination from ambush but aslow extinction from apathy, indifference and undernourishment, he said, urging cooperation instrengthening the roots of democracy.

Election Commissioners V.S. Sampath and H.S. Brahma participated in the conference.

In the evening, the foundation stone for the Rs.48-crore new building to come up at Dwarka inDelhi for the India International Institute of Democracy and Election Management was laid by Mr.Quraishi.

The three-day conference brings together the Chief Election Commissioners and the seniorelection officials of the region on a common platform to share their best practices in electionadministration and management.

Empowerment of the Election Management Bodies; inclusive elections, voters' education,controlling money power in the polls and usage of technology for the cost-effective elections aresome of the subjects being discussed in the meet.

Among others, Fazel Ahmad Manawi, Chairman, Independent Election Commission ofAfghanistan; Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmad, Chief Election Commissioner of Bangladesh; DashoKunzang Wangdi, Chief Election Commissioner of Bhutan; Neel Kantha Upreti, Chief ElectionCommissioner of Nepal; Ibrahim Waheed, Commissioner, Maldives; Justice Muhammad Roshan

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Essani, Member, Election Commission of Pakistan and Mahinda Deshapriya, Commissioner ofElections of Sri Lanka, are participating.

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