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September20, 2004 - [India Thinkers Net] Updates on Manipur ,PWG >> |
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#1Rediff News/PTI, September 20, 2004, Monday 'Sindh' will stay in anthem: SC The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a petition seeking deletion of the word 'Sindh' from the national anthem on the ground that it no longer forms part of India. (BOTTOM: Kerala to probe national anthem error") The SC, though, told petitioner Sanjeev Bhatnagar, an Asian Games athlete, to draw the Centre's attention to the issue. http://in.rediff.com/news/2004/sep/20sindh.htm ------------------------------------------------------------ Rediff News, September 20, 2004, Monday Kerala to probe national anthem error George Iype in Kochi The Kerala government has ordered a probe into why the education department omitted for two years the word 'Gujarat' from the national anthem printed in Class IX math books. Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and Bharatiya Janata Party chief M Venkaiah Naidu have accused the Kerala government of deliberating omitting Gujarat. They also blame the education department, headed by a minister belonging to the Indian Union Muslim League. The BJP's Kerala unit is holding protest marches across the state on Monday. But Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy says it was 'an inadvertent error'. Hundreds of textbooks are printed by the the State Council for Education, Research and Training prints hundreds of books every year, he reminded. "But the error occurred only in the ninth standard mathematics textbook. It is incorrect that say that the mistake happened with a deliberate intention to hurt the sentiments of any section of the society," Chandy said. The chief minister has now written an apology letter to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, clarifying that Kerala never wants to omit 'Gujarat' from its textbook. Chandy also packed a corrected version of the particular textbook to Modi along with his apology letter. The copies of the letter and the textbook have been sent to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh too. Kerala's Education Minister E T Mohammed Basheer said that he has ordered a probe into the error. "I would like to tell the Gujarat government that we have not done anything intentional. It was a printing error. And we have just rectified it," Basheer told rediff.com on Monday The minister said that a 'correction erratum' is being sent to alls schools where copies of textbooks with the mistake had been distributed. Basher said an explanation has been sought from the official responsible for clearing the proof of the textbooks in question. "The omission was neither intentional nor deliberate. I request political parties not to see communal overtones into this simple error," the minister added. But BJP state president P S Sreedharan Pillai said that it is unfortunate that the state government has taken the issue "lightly." "We fear it was a calculated manipulation. We suspect that the Education Ministry headed by the Muslim League knew the error for long, but never cared to correct it," Pillai told rediff.com on Monday. Pillai said the BJP leaders are scanning the entire school textbooks of the Kerala government to see what all 'errors have been printed in them'. "All these years, the Congress leaders have been accusing the BJP of changing school textbooks. But it is the Marxists and the Congress government that are changing the basics of textbooks. This is a clear proof," Pillai said. ------------------------------------------------- #2 HIGH COST OF INDIAN SECURITY Asian Tribune, September 19, 2004, Sunday High Cost of Indian Security From M Rama Rao - Reporting for Asian Tribune from New Delhi New Delhi, 19 September, (Asiantribune.com): Security has turned into an obsession with the Indian politicians who have tasted power; they want to savour it even when they are out of power. The flashing lights, shrieking sirens and awesome-obtrusive security personnel at war with the general public reflect ???increasingly insecure??™ climate in the country. Is the situation as bad as has been made out by the ???privilege seeking??™ ruling elite? There are around 8,000 security personnel dedicated to protect 300 ???high risk??™ category VIPs or VVIPs in the national capital. An estimated Rs.100 crore per annum goes into making politicians safe in the city itself. This is when only one policeman is scarcely available to over 200 people in the city with myriad tasks of controlling traffic to attend to calls of murder, dacoity, rape and just plain thefts. The pressure on the policemen (and the exchequer) is much higher when the ???risk category??™ politicians make movements outside Delhi. The security men are on the edge not only in case of President, Prime Minister and Federal Ministers but also when opposition leaders under security threat fly out. Look at the security overdrive the recent ???Chintan Baitak??™ of the BJP held in the picturesque tourist paradise, Goa early August witnessed. Apprehending a possible ???Fidayeen??™ (suicide group) attack, security personnel went into a tizzy. One Km stretch around Goa??™s International Centre, the venue of the BJP meet at Dona Paula was sealed from all the sides. A significant section of the beautiful sea coast was kept out of bounds for the commoners. To cap it all, the Coast Guard and the Navy were alerted to keep vigil on the Goa waters and a company of CRPF rushed to Panaji from Pune to assist the Goa police. Centre alerted the police of all states along the west coast ??“ Maharashtra, Karnataka and Kerala as also other southern states. Security was beefed up not only for our vulnerable leaders but also at key installations. And at the Venue itself, around 40-policemen (apart from elite SPG personnel- for the security of the former prime minister Vajpayee, and Black cat commandos to protect the former number two L K Advani and four other BJP leaders) were on round the clock duty keeping a constant watch on visitors even though the BJP leaders were having a closed door meeting. It is difficult to find fault with the security establishment for the extra mile they like to cover. After what had happened to Indira Gandhi and to her son Rajiv Gandhi, the police like to take no chances. And do all they can and to anticipate all possible threat angles. Of late, however, ???paranoid??™ is the expression that has come to fit the mind- set of Indian security and it has done enough to marginalize the common Indian who, more often than not, is on the receiving end with traffic derailment, arbitrary arrests, thrashing of those who innocently stray on the VVIP routes and general disruption of public life. Funnily, though Security in India is so ???high profile??™, people with fake identity have had an easy access to Parliament with elaborate security rings caught unawares. Only last year, a television network led a look alike Shatrughan Sinha, the actor- MP in the BJP ranks, not only to his office in the Shipping Ministry (at that time he was Minister for Shipping) but also inside Parliament with security men mistaking him as the ???original??™ BJP leader. The ???duplicate Sinha??™ also gave interviews and received ???salutes??™ and ???Namaskars??™!! Slight digression to narrate a personal experience. A month after Indira Gandhi was assassinated, I found myself in Delhi as a reporter. And one of my first assignments was to report on a fire in the office of Atomic Energy Commission??™s Chairman at the South Block on Raisina Hill. I was yet to obtain my accreditation and security clearance. I had no identity card. Yet, I had no difficulty to walk through the police cordon, enter the South Block, see the damage caused by short circuit, and talk to the Fire Officer and police officer on duty. When I returned to my office to file my despatch, my seniors really felt relieved because it was only after I left the office it dawned on them that the ???safari loving moochewala??™ was a new comer to the city which was under a security blanket in those days. The point is security whether in India or anywhere else is as effective as the man in uniform and not the gadgets given to the police. Also in countries like India, the police still believe in the pre-independence period mind-set that police should be feared and the subjects should be suspected. Suspicion and security go together. Trust is something alien to the security drill. This is in direct contrast to a developed country like USA where security forces on the slightest suspicion don??™t hesitate to frisk even the nosy politician or high profile visitor. A case in the point is the now (in) famous ???stripping??™ of former Indian Defence Minister George Fernandes ??“ not once but twice. In the West, security is a holistic idea not confined to ???heavy guns??™ and loud red lights but also in respecting public rights and privacy. This, however, is not the case with the Indian system (and to a large extent in Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh) where those in power are a class apart and must be treated many notches above the average man in the street. And the entry of the voter is completely blocked to Parliament where people??™s representatives??™ debate on what is good for him and the country, unless, of course, he/she has a Pass provided by an elected representative. Walking through Parliament complex or driving through the area was a normal thing even in early seventies. City buses on their way to and from the Central Secretariat (just behind Parliament) used to pass through the Parliament gates. I was one of those who enjoyed ride on the top deck of a double decker bus that used to drive through the complex. Now, it is a thing of the past. In the wake of the dastardly terrorist attack on the Parliament building, the entire complex has become an ???impregnable??™ fortress. There are more than a couple of security rings besides an electric fence on the outer periphery. While a forced entry of a possible `suicide vehicle' into the space around Parliament would be rather difficult with heavy blockades placed and electronic devices doing the `sophisticated throwing off tricks??™, the security within sanctum-sanctorum of Indian democracy is under the process of being made `fool proof.' A month from now, the half a km road stretch between Parliament and Parliament annexe would be turned into traffic free zone. This is a part of the new effort to make Parliament ???safe??™ from all directions- outside and from within. What would be its effect on traffic in the area is too early to visualise. Police on their part, of course, are claiming that they have ensured the alternate arrangements would cause least inconvenience to the public! The plastic identity cards issued to those entering high security Parliament zone (MPs and Journalists including) would now be replaced by Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) chips. These carry no photographs, just embedded frequency numbers. Highly sensitive ???RFID readers??™ would recognize these frequency numbers as they approach the premises and ???send a signal??™ to the door to open. The new I-card enables the Security to keep tracking the movement of the person concerned inside the building as well... Does this mean an undue ???surveillance??™ of the MPs and journalists? Opinions differ. Also does this mean a Big Brother syndrome? Too early to say until the system is put to rigorous use. Any how, as a security expert avers, the dividing line between privacy and security is very thin and it may often get easily obliterated in the prevailing security milieu. There is no gain saying, going by our past experience, the hi-tech security drill would not be able to pay positive results unless security is not linked to ???the snob value??™ of those being protected. If the age-old ???feudal culture??™ refuses to disappear and keeps popping up it will undo the best of security deployment. Not only in India, any where. - Asian Tribune - http://www.asiantribune.com/show_news.php?id=11285 ---------------------------------------- |
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September20, 2004 - [India Thinkers Net] Updates on Manipur ,PWG >> |
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