4 TIMES CITY WEDNESDAY,APRIL25,2012 RTE giant leap blurs ...
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THE TIMES OF INDIA, NEW DELHI WEDNESDAY, APRIL 25, 2012 4 TIMES CITY Indrani Basu TNN New Delhi: There will be more traffic diversions in place today on a temporary basis at ITO. As an experi- ment, traffic coming from Minto Road towards ITO will have to take a compulsory left turn before Vishnu Di- gamber Marg to Kotla Road. No traffic on this stretch will be allowed to go straight to- wards ITO, and commuters will have to take a circuitous route via Kotla Road, take a U-turn on Bahadurshah Za- far Marg and take a left to Vi- kas Marg. Traffic police be- lieve that this will reduce the signal time on the main ITO intersection. “This will be done on an experimental basis on Wednesday and if success- ful, we will continue the same. If the earlier plan proves better, we will revert back. “A major ITO diversion plan is already in place, these are just measures to fine tune the situation. It was found that there is a clash between vehicles from ITO and those from Minto Road both turn- ing from Deen Dayal Upad- hyay Marg to Vishnu Digam- ber Marg,” said Satyendra Garg, joint commissioner of police (traffic). This means that those coming from New Delhi Rail- way Station and Connaught Place towards ITO will have to take a left from DDU Marg towards Kotla Marg before Vishnu Digamber Marg. The narrow three-lane road will be made one-way for vehicles to travel to Kotla Marg, take a right towards Bahadurshah Zafar Marg, and take a U- turn to reach the ITO red light. Already, there is a long line of vehicles waiting ev- eryday at the ITO red light on Bahadurshah Zafar Marg while travelling from Delhi Gate. The additional load of traffic diverted from DDU Marg to Bahadurshah Zafar Marg will only increase the waiting time at the signal, fear commuters. “I travel from my office at Bahadurshah Zafar Marg to my Mayur Vihar residence and it takes a lot of time crossing the ITO junction. Despite the fact that there is a signalized left slip-road at the intersection, it takes me considerable time to cross the junction. I have to wait with the straight-moving traffic because the left turn is too narrow and there are always a large number of buses blocking the left turn. Sometimes it takes three sig- nal cycles to cross the left turn,” said Kaushal, a com- muter. Traffic police said they had planned the diversions keeping in mind the large number of commuters from Tilak Marg to ITO. Cops to experiment with more traffic curbs at ITO MORE TRAFFIC DIVERSIONS Today commuters from Minto Road will have to take a compulsory left turn before VD Marg N e w D e l h i Deen Dayal Upadhaya Marg Shakti Marg Kotla Marg Tilak Bridge Vishnu Digamber Marg Bahadurshah Zafar Marg Traffic coming from Delhi Gate Delhi police Headquarters Gandhi Peace Foundation Bal Bhawan National commission for women Towards Supreme Court DMRC construction area Part of the road blocked due to construction Compulsory left turn for traffic coming from Minto Bridge RTE giant leap blurs class lines Neha Pushkarna | TNN L ittle Manshi’s journey from the twisted filthy lanes of Bapa Nagar in Karol Bagh to a polished English-medi- um school across the road is a giant leap for her fam- ily . All of fi ve years, she has assured her parents a better future. Manshi goes to Springdales School at Pusa Road, a pri vilege her father’s mea- gre income could not provide. But thanks to Right to Education enforced on April 1, 2010, Manshi could secure a seat in nursery last year under the com- pulsory quota for the economically weaker section. Her parents’ income is still Rs 4,800 per month, but RTE has induced in them the power to dream. “There were thousands of applica- tions for a seat under this quota. But when Manshi’s name was announced in the lucky draw, I could not believe my luck. Mujhe aisa laga jaise ab mera future ban gaya (I felt as if my futu r e we r e made),” said her mother Renu Singholia. She was almost grinning ear to ear while saying this, her own discontented child- hood notwithstanding. “I wanted to continue stud- ying after school. But my parents could not afford. But I wanted my daugh- ter to go to a good school and had it not been for RTE, we couldn’t have ever afforded a private school education for her . My Manshi is smarter and more disciplined than all other kids in the neighbourhood,” admit- ted Renu, who stitches clothes for neighbours to earn her pocket money , while her husband, Vijay , does field job for a pri- vate company . It’s been two years of RTE, which mandates that all pri vate schools should reserve 25% seats for EWS at the entry level. But a lot of debate persists on the efficacy and logic of roping in pri vate schools. While some say the rule has taken a way autonomy of pri vate unaided schools to some extent, others, though willing to implement RTE, complain it will translate into a financial burden for them. Around eight pri vate school asso- ciations had even petitioned against the quota but it was struck down by the Su- preme Court two weeks ago, much to the delight of ambitious-but-poor parents. “We could have got our children ad- mitted to government schools. But then they would be no better than us, consider- ing the quality of education there. I do not have enough money but my daughter studies in Bloom Public School, my elder son is in Ryan International and the youngest son got through in V asant V al- ley this year ,” said a beaming Rajesh Khanna, who works as a dri ver with a filmmaker . Sitting in a dingy cramped one- room house in Rangpuri Pahari near V asant Kunj, his daughter Anjali was quick to add, “I want to become a doctor as I want to be of help to others.” She spoke in an accent picked up at school and admired with a we at home. While her youngest brother is also a beneficiary of RTE, she herself is an example of what this new fundamental right proposes to achieve. Now in Class IV, Anjali got admission under the free- ship quota in 2006 following the Delhi government directive. According to the rule, every private school would have to reserve at least 15% seats for EWS in all classes if it had been allot- ted land by DDA at a concessional rate. “It was in their land deeds with DDA that they would have to reserve seats for the poor in lieu of the concession they get. Though the schools were al- lotted lands as far back as 1960s, no school implemented the quota till 2004,” said Ashok Aggarwal, advocate and education activist. He recalled filing a petition in the high court in 2002 follow- ing which an order was passed on J an u ary 24, 2004, making it compulsory to teach poor chil- dren for free. “We gave a list of 265 socie- ties which had bee n a llotted land for build- ing schools. In 2007, the hi gh cour t allowed them to reserve up to 15% seats if they gave an u n de r t a ki ng that they would indeed follow the rule. Since then, nearly one lakh poor students have benefited from the scheme,” said Ag- garwal, who also insists that while unaided minority schools have been spared by the Supreme Court from implementing RTE, they should at least continue reserving the EWS seats as per the land deed. The matter is likely to come up for hearing in the high court on April 27. If schools and state governments start treating RTE as a responsibility and not a rule, education might just win over poverty . That’s what beginning to happen with Maulana Abdul Momin of Nayi Basti in Bara Hindu Rao. With a monthly salary of Rs 5,000 and eight children, life was an unending struggle. Till their second-last child, 14-year-old Nida Khanam, started going to Modern School at Barakhamba Road under a special scholarship by the Modern School Old Boys’ Association. “There were apprehensions in the community but I was desperate to pro- vide good education to my daughter . She wants to become a doctor now and I will do whatever it takes to fulfill her dream. I had to walk down to the school three years ago to get an application form as I had no money for the fare. I am sure things will change,” Momin said. Firoz Bakht Ahmed, a teacher at Mod- ern School, added, “There is a lot of talk about RTE but most of the private schools are taking it as enforcement. We have been teaching poor children for many years and they settle really well. Even others learn to be sensitive and that’s the beginning of a better society .” It’s not money but education that is changing lives of the poor in the city. Three full meals a day may still be a challenge, but their children study in the best schools thanks to a compulsory quota for the economically weaker section. They are living the promise that Right to Education holds… EWS quota has triggered much debate on the efficacy and logic of roping in pri- vate schools, many of whom complain that this will create financial bur- den for them NEELU DEVI AND ASHOK KUMAR Sunlight Colony, Ashram Monthly Income Rs 4,800 No. of children Two Jyoti Kumari (15) DPS Mathura Road Vijay Kumar (13) The Indian School I feel no less than a king. I never wanted my children to wander aimlessly. Good schooling will take them far | ASHOK KUMAR RENU AND VIJAY SINGHOLIA Bapa Nagar, Karol Bagh Monthly Income Rs 4,800 Manshi (5) | Springdales School, Pusa Road I wanted to continue studying after school but my parents could not afford it. When my daughter got admission in Springdales, I wanted to jump in joy | RENU SINGHOLIA MANJU AND RAJESH KHANNA Rangpuri Pahari near Vasant Kunj Monthly Income Rs 7,500 Anjali (9) | Bloom Public School Harsh (6) | Ryan Intl School Lakshay (3) | Vasant Valley School Photos: Yogesh Kumar and Rajesh Mehta AYESHA AJMALI AND MD ARIF AJMALI Bara Hindu Rao Monthly Income Rs 7,500 Ifra Ajmali (13) | Modern School, Barakhamba Road Others | Neighbourhood schools RABIA BEGUM AND ABDUL MOMIN KHAN Bara Hindu Rao Monthly Income Rs 5,000 Nida Khanam (14) | Modern School, Barakhamba Road Others | Neighbourhood school No. of children One No. of children Three No. of children Eight No. of children Five Three years ago, I had no clue where Connaught Place was. Today, I regularly go there for parent-teacher meetings. It’s all because of my daughter. She wants to become a doctor and I will do whatever it takes | ABDUL MOMIN KHAN I had never imagined my children could go to such big schools. I failed in Class X but when my daughter talks in English, I feel so proud RAJESH KHANNA Whenever people in the community come to know where my daughter studies, their jaws drop ARIF AJMALI Indrani Basu TNN New Delhi: As part of a Cen- tral Road Research Institute (CRRI) study on BRT, the opin- ion of 10,000 road users will be collected and analyzed. CRRI has decided to visit nearby es- tablishments such as the Sa- ket court complex, markets, schools, colleges and offices. “We have around 20 more days for the study and are con- fident that we will be able to get views of 10,000 people. We have designed the forms to make it user-friendly and are targeting those who use the BRT corridor. The forms have been divided in such a man- ner that there is proportion- ate number of forms for each kind of road user,” said an of- ficial. The form for each user is designed according to his needs. Car users are being asked how long they have to wait at the various intersec- tions and their travel time be- tween one point of the corri- dor and another. Questions for car users include those on their average speed, delay and experience on the stretch be- fore and after the BRT corri- dor. Meanwhile, pedestrians and bus users are being asked on the placement of buses, pe- destrian crossing facilities, perceived danger on the road and travel time for buses. Auto and taxi users are being asked about their time loss after the introduction of BRT and the difficulty of finding autos on the route. Residents, school and of- fice-goers of the area are be- ing asked what their prob- lems with the current BRT system are and their suggesti- ons for the future of the corri- six to four or three, as it is for other routine intersections, said officials. Though major cosmetic changes on the cor- ridor are not possible, the agencies will be trying their best to place signages so that the stretch can function as a regular corridor. “Ideally, a soft launch is planned on Sunday to assess the situation and address ini- tial problems. From Monday, the traffic movement will be surveyed,” said an official. Starting Monday, all traf- fic turning right will be al- lowed to travel on the lane next to the central verge, which is as of now reserved for buses. dor. Meanwhile, CRRI is al- ready planning the final phase of their field survey, which will be the study of the BRT corridor between Mool- chand and Ambedkar Nagar as a regular road stretch. For this, road markings have been planned. The agencies con- cerned will be aiming to place these markings by Sunday. There will be temporary dividers placed along the cor- ridor to streamline traffic, said officials. The bus lane on BRT will be used for right- turning vehicles and signages will be placed accordingly. Signal cycles on all the inter- sections will be reduced from BRT survey: 10,000 commuters on board Car users are being asked how long they have to wait at the various intersections, among other things The Delhi traffic police need to step very carefully here. The evidence of the first couple of days of functioning of the new diversions in the ITO area has been, by all accounts, quite positive. That being the case, it is best to stick to the dictum “why fix it if it ain’t broke”. Given the complexities of managing traffic, particularly at an intersection as busy as ITO, it might well take a few more days for things to settle down. But as long as there is no major chaos, there is really no reason why the police should experiment any further. They are best advised to wait and watch. Times View naapto [ . 1 BUY I GET IFI
Transcript of 4 TIMES CITY WEDNESDAY,APRIL25,2012 RTE giant leap blurs ...
THE TIMES OF INDIA, NEW DELHIWEDNESDAY, APRIL 25, 20124 TIMES CITY
Indrani Basu TNN
New Delhi: There will bemore traffic diversions inplace today on a temporarybasis at ITO. As an experi-ment, traffic coming fromMinto Road towards ITO willhave to take a compulsoryleft turn before Vishnu Di-gamber Marg to Kotla Road.No traffic on this stretch willbe allowed to go straight to-wards ITO, and commuterswill have to take a circuitousroute via Kotla Road, take aU-turn on Bahadurshah Za-far Marg and take a left to Vi-kas Marg. Traffic police be-lieve that this will reduce thesignal time on the main ITOintersection.
“This will be done on anexperimental basis onWednesday and if success-ful, we will continue thesame. If the earlier planproves better, we will revertback.
“A major ITO diversionplan is already in place, theseare just measures to fine tunethe situation. It was foundthat there is a clash betweenvehicles from ITO and thosefrom Minto Road both turn-ing from Deen Dayal Upad-hyay Marg to Vishnu Digam-ber Marg,” said SatyendraGarg, joint commissioner ofpolice (traffic).
This means that thosecoming from New Delhi Rail-way Station and ConnaughtPlace towards ITO will haveto take a left from DDU Margtowards Kotla Marg beforeVishnu Digamber Marg. Thenarrow three-lane road willbe made one-way for vehiclesto travel to Kotla Marg, take aright towards BahadurshahZafar Marg, and take a U-turn to reach the ITO redlight.
Already, there is a long
line of vehicles waiting ev-eryday at the ITO red light onBahadurshah Zafar Margwhile travelling from DelhiGate. The additional load of
traffic diverted from DDUMarg to Bahadurshah ZafarMarg will only increase thewaiting time at the signal,fear commuters.
“I travel from my office atBahadurshah Zafar Marg tomy Mayur Vihar residenceand it takes a lot of timecrossing the ITO junction.Despite the fact that there is asignalized left slip-road atthe intersection, it takes meconsiderable time to crossthe junction. I have to waitwith the straight-movingtraffic because the left turnis too narrow and there arealways a large number ofbuses blocking the left turn.Sometimes it takes three sig-nal cycles to cross the leftturn,” said Kaushal, a com-muter.
Traffic police said theyhad planned the diversionskeeping in mind the largenumber of commuters fromTilak Marg to ITO.
Cops to experiment withmore traffic curbs at ITO
MORE TRAFFIC DIVERSIONSToday commuters from Minto Road will have to take a compulsory left turn before VD Marg
N e w
D e l h i
Deen Dayal Upadhaya Marg
Sh
akt
i Ma
rg
Kotla Marg
Tilak Bridge
Vis
hn
u D
iga
mb
er M
arg
Bahadurshah Zafar Marg
Traffic coming from Delhi Gate
Delhi police Headquarters
Gandhi Peace Foundation
Bal Bhawan
National commission for women
Towards Supreme Court
DMRC construction
area
Part of the road blocked due to construction
Compulsory left turn for traffic coming from MintoBridge
RTE giant leap blurs class lines Neha Pushkarna | TNN
Little Manshi’s journey from
the twisted filthy lanes of Bapa Nagar in Karol Bagh to a polished English-medi-um school across the road
is a giant leap for her fam-ily. All of five years, she has
assured her parents a better future. Manshi goes to Springdales School at Pusa Road, a privilege her father’s mea-gre income could not provide. But thanks to Right to Education enforced on April 1, 2010, Manshi could secure a seat in nursery last year under the com-pulsory quota for the economically
weaker section. Her parents’ income is still Rs 4,800 per month, but RTE has induced in them the power to dream.
“There were thousands of applica-tions for a seat under this quota. But
when Manshi’s name was announced in the lucky draw, I could not believe my luck. Mujhe aisa laga jaise ab mera future ban gaya (I felt as if my future were made),” said her mother
Renu Singholia. She was almost grinning ear to ear while saying this, her
own discontented child-hood notwithstanding. “I
wanted to continue stud-ying after school. But my parents could not afford. But I wanted my daugh-ter to go to a good school and had it not been for RTE, we couldn’t have
ever afforded a private
school education for her. My Manshi is smarter
and more disciplined than all other kids in the
neighbourhood,” admit-ted Renu, who stitches
clothes for neighbours to earn her pocket money, while her husband, Vijay, does field job for a pri-vate company.
It’s been two years of RTE, which mandates that all private schools should reserve 25% seats for EWS at the entry level. But a lot of debate persists on the efficacy and logic of roping in private schools. While some say the rule has taken away autonomy of private unaided schools to some extent, others, though willing to implement RTE, complain it will translate into a financial burden for them. Around eight private school asso-ciations had even petitioned against the quota but it was struck down by the Su-preme Court two weeks ago, much to the delight of ambitious-but-poor parents.
“We could have got our children ad-mitted to government schools. But then they would be no better than us, consider-ing the quality of education there. I do not have enough money but my daughter studies in Bloom Public School, my elder son is in Ryan International and the youngest son got through in Vasant Val-ley this year,” said a beaming Rajesh Khanna, who works as a driver with a filmmaker. Sitting in a dingy cramped one-room house in Rangpuri Pahari near Vasant Kunj, his daughter Anjali was quick to add, “I want to become a doctor
as I want to be of help to others.” She spoke in an accent picked up at school and admired with awe at home.
While her youngest brother is also a beneficiary of RTE, she herself is an
example of what this new fundamental right proposes to achieve. Now in Class
IV, Anjali got admission under the free-ship quota in 2006 following the Delhi government directive. According to the rule, every private school would have to reserve at least 15% seats for EWS in all classes if it had been allot-ted land by DDA at a concessional rate.
“It was in their land deeds with DDA
that they would have to reserve seats for the poor in lieu of the concession they get. Though the schools were al-lotted lands as far back as 1960s, no school implemented the quota till 2004,” said Ashok Aggarwal, advocate and education activist. He recalled filing a
petition in the high court in 2002 follow-ing which an order was passed on J a n u a r y 2 4 , 2004, making it compulsory to teach poor chil-dren for free.
“We gave a list of 265 socie-ties which had been allotted
land for build-ing schools. In 2007, the high court allowed them to reserve
up to 15% seats if they gave an
u n d e r t a k i n g
that they would
indeed follow the rule. Since then, nearly one lakh poor students have benefited from the scheme,” said Ag-garwal, who also insists that while
unaided minority schools have been
spared by the Supreme Court from
implementing RTE, they should at least continue reserving the EWS seats
as per the land deed. The matter is
likely to come up for hearing in the
high court on April 27.If schools and state governments
start treating RTE as a responsibility and not a rule, education might just win over poverty. That’s what beginning to happen with Maulana Abdul Momin of Nayi Basti in Bara Hindu Rao. With a monthly salary of Rs 5,000 and eight children, life was an unending struggle. Till their second-last child, 14-year-old Nida Khanam, started going to Modern School at Barakhamba Road under a special scholarship by the Modern School Old Boys’ Association.
“There were apprehensions in the community but I was desperate to pro-vide good education to my daughter. She wants to become a doctor now and I will do whatever it takes to fulfill her dream. I had to walk down to the school three years ago to get an application form as I had no money for the fare. I am sure things will change,” Momin said.
Firoz Bakht Ahmed, a teacher at Mod-ern School, added, “There is a lot of talk about RTE but most of the private schools are taking it as enforcement. We have been teaching poor children for many years and they settle really well. Even others learn to be sensitive and that’s the beginning of a better society.”
It’s not money but education that is changing lives of the poor in the city. Three full meals a day may still be a challenge, but their children study in the best schools thanks to a compulsory quota for the economically weaker section. They are living the promise that Right to Education holds…
EWS quota has triggered much debate on the efficacy and logic of roping in pri-vate schools, many of whom complain that this will create financial bur-den for them
NEELU DEVI AND ASHOK KUMARSunlight Colony, Ashram
Monthly Income
Rs 4,800No. of children
TwoJyoti Kumari (15)DPS Mathura Road
Vijay Kumar (13)The Indian School
I feel no less than a king. I never
wanted my children to wander aimlessly. Good schooling will take them far | ASHOK KUMAR
RENU ANDVIJAY SINGHOLIABapa Nagar, Karol Bagh
Monthly Income
Rs 4,800Manshi (5) | Springdales School, Pusa Road
I wanted to continue studying after school but
my parents could not afford it. When my daughter got admission in Springdales, I wanted to jump in joy | RENU SINGHOLIA
MANJU ANDRAJESH KHANNARangpuri Pahari near Vasant Kunj
Monthly Income
Rs 7,500Anjali (9) | Bloom Public School
Harsh (6) | Ryan Intl School
Lakshay (3) | Vasant Valley School
Photos: Yogesh Kumar and Rajesh Mehta
AYESHA AJMALI ANDMD ARIF AJMALIBara Hindu Rao
Monthly Income
Rs 7,500Ifra Ajmali (13) | ModernSchool, Barakhamba Road
Others | Neighbourhood schools
RABIA BEGUM ANDABDUL MOMIN KHANBara Hindu Rao
Monthly Income
Rs 5,000Nida Khanam (14) | Modern School, Barakhamba Road
Others | Neighbourhood school
No. of children
One
No. of children
Three
No. of children
Eight
No. of children
Five
Three years ago, I had no clue where Connaught Place was. Today,
I regularly go there for parent-teacher meetings. It’s all because of my daughter. She wants to become a doctor and I will do whatever it takes | ABDUL MOMIN KHAN
I had never imagined
my children could go to such big schools. I failed in Class X but when my daughter talks in English, I feel so proudRAJESH KHANNA
Whenever people in
the community come to know where my daughterstudies, their jaws dropARIF AJMALI
Indrani Basu TNN
New Delhi: As part of a Cen-tral Road Research Institute(CRRI) study on BRT, the opin-ion of 10,000 road users will becollected and analyzed. CRRIhas decided to visit nearby es-tablishments such as the Sa-ket court complex, markets,schools, colleges and offices.
“We have around 20 moredays for the study and are con-fident that we will be able toget views of 10,000 people. Wehave designed the forms tomake it user-friendly and aretargeting those who use theBRT corridor. The forms havebeen divided in such a man-ner that there is proportion-
ate number of forms for eachkind of road user,” said an of-ficial.
The form for each user isdesigned according to hisneeds. Car users are beingasked how long they have towait at the various intersec-tions and their travel time be-tween one point of the corri-dor and another. Questionsfor car users include those ontheir average speed, delay andexperience on the stretch be-fore and after the BRT corri-dor.
Meanwhile, pedestriansand bus users are being askedon the placement of buses, pe-destrian crossing facilities,perceived danger on the road
and travel time for buses. Autoand taxi users are being askedabout their time loss after theintroduction of BRT and thedifficulty of finding autos onthe route.
Residents, school and of-fice-goers of the area are be-ing asked what their prob-lems with the current BRTsystem are and their suggesti-ons for the future of the corri-
six to four or three, as it is forother routine intersections,said officials. Though majorcosmetic changes on the cor-ridor are not possible, theagencies will be trying theirbest to place signages so thatthe stretch can function as aregular corridor.
“Ideally, a soft launch isplanned on Sunday to assessthe situation and address ini-tial problems. From Monday,the traffic movement will besurveyed,” said an official.
Starting Monday, all traf-fic turning right will be al-lowed to travel on the lanenext to the central verge,which is as of now reservedfor buses.
dor.Meanwhile, CRRI is al-
ready planning the finalphase of their field survey,which will be the study of theBRT corridor between Mool-chand and Ambedkar Nagaras a regular road stretch. Forthis, road markings have beenplanned. The agencies con-cerned will be aiming to placethese markings by Sunday.
There will be temporarydividers placed along the cor-ridor to streamline traffic,said officials. The bus lane onBRT will be used for right-turning vehicles and signageswill be placed accordingly.Signal cycles on all the inter-sections will be reduced from
BRT survey: 10,000 commuters on boardCar users are beingasked how longthey have to wait atthe variousintersections,among other things
The Delhi traffic police need tostep very carefully here. Theevidence of the first couple ofdays of functioning of the newdiversions in the ITO area hasbeen, by all accounts, quitepositive. That being the case, itis best to stick to the dictum“why fix it if it ain’t broke”.Given the complexities ofmanaging traffic, particularlyat an intersection as busy asITO, it might well take a fewmore days for things to settledown. But as long as there is nomajor chaos, there is really noreason why the police shouldexperiment any further. Theyare best advised to wait andwatch.
Times View
naapto[.1
BUY I GET IF I
