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| << October11, 2005 - [India Thinkers Net]Yogi & Arif posts |
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[1] From: "River Basin Friends\(NE\)" <riverbasinfriends@yahoo.co.in> Date: Tue Oct 11, 2005 Subject: In Assam Coke plants coming up despite ban riverbasinfr... Dear friends , Is there any Govt exists to keep the track on issues like exploitation and creation of hazards by Multinational Groups. on our motherland.Let us all join hand with the effors of " Coke Udyog Protirodh Samiti"Assam.We all know Kerala exprience and movements arround India. regards ravi Coke plants coming up despite ban GUWAHATI, Oct 9 ?? Despite the State Government??s ban on setting up of new coke units in view of the grave hazards posed by the coke industry to public health, two coke units are under construction at Azara Hatkhowapara village under Ramsarani revenue circle on the outskirts of the city. It may be mentioned that the State Government vide its order MI.113/2002/52 dated Dispur, the 16th of May, had stopped issuance of both temporary and permanent registration for setting up of coke industries. The ban is applicable even to those coke industries that have already obtained the licences but are yet to start operations. The local people of a number of villages have vehemently opposed the construction and questioned how such illegal constructions could continue under the very nose of the administration, especially when the authorities have been informed of the gravity of the situation umpteen times. Addressing a press conference today, the Coke Udyog Protirodh Samiti, a common platform of the concerned people, said that over two lakh people of nearly 20 villages under Ramsarani circle would be exposed to the dreadful hazards of the polluting coke industries. The Samiti also produced a letter from the Guwahati Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) dated September 22, 2005, asking for documentary evidence in support of the points mentioned by the proprietors, M/s Rangrup Enterprise, regarding ???construction of boundary walls ands coke industry???. The GMDA letter further stated that it would demolish the constructions unless the documents were furnished within three days, which shows that construction is illegal. Samiti president Hafiz Ahmed and general secretary Saheb Ali said that in spite of moving the district administration, the Pollution Control Board, Assam, the local MLA and the Minister for Environment and Forests, they had got only assurances. ???It is not understood why the authorities have not initiated any action against the coke industries even after having banned such units,??? they said. The Samiti also made it clear that unless the Government made a quick intervention in the matter, the people would be compelled to take recourse to violent modes of protest. ???During the protest demonstration on September 18, the manager of the two units had, on behalf of the owners, given a written statement that construction work would be stopped till permission is granted,??? the Samiti said. The hazards of coke industries often manifest in the form of deadly diseases like cancer, TB, etc. It also leads to crippling disabilities among the people, including unborn babies. ???The brunt of the two coke industries will have to be borne by the villagers of Azara Hatkhowapara, Azara, Kahikuchi, Garal, Charkadoi, Borbori, Bhattapara, Agasia, Dharapur, Mojoli, Khanamukh, etc. Besides, an ecological hotspot like the Deepor Beel, and the LGB International Airport will also be severely hit,??? the Samiti pointed out. http://www.assamtribune.com/ River Basin Friends AKAJAN District-Dhemaji.787059. Assam. India E mail.assamravi@... ---------------------------------------- [2] From: "Arif N. Khan" <ank2000pk@yahoo.com Date: Tue Oct 11, 2005 Subject: Worst Earthquake In The History Of Pakistan And TV Coverage of Rescue Work Worst Earthquake In The History Of Pakistan And TV Coverage of Rescue Work by Shah Nawaz Khan While over 30, 000 are feared to be dead, over 150, 000 injured and nearly half a million lost homes and shelter, the live TV coverage of rescue operations and devastation continues round the clocks with appeals of donations toward relief work. . Asma Shirazi of Geo TV did a good interview the 20-year-old survivor from the rubbles of multi-storied Margala towers destroyed in Saturday's earthquake in Islamabad. It is a moving story of people rescued after remaining trapped for 23 hours. But some questions were not asked. Where were the parents and sister of the boy when the building collapsed and how only Omer from that family got trapped and why could not he escape with other members of his family? Who were the rescuers? What role the team of British experts played in this rescue operation? The live coverage by our TV channels specially Geo, ARY etc. has generally been commendable, but some regional reporters got too judgmental and boastful that it was due to their reporting and criticism that prompted the Government agencies to take action. The initial assessment of the Regional reporters of the extent of damage in Kashmir specially Balakot and Muzzaffarabad failed to show how vast and wide spread the damages were. Collapse of Government buildings, schools, hospital was briefly shown but what was not properly projected was that even most of the policemen and Government officials in Kashmir became victims of the disaster and many of them lost their houses or family members and the local government machinery was severely crippled. The devastation to road and means of transportation created bottlenecks and many areas were accessible only by helicopters and army moved in swiftly to move the trapped people to safety and to repair damage to roads and bridges. Rescue work in such situations is too risky and requires expertise, equipment and training Although Pakistan including Karachi are said to be located in a belt where the risk of earthquakes is much greater than most other parts of South Asia, the negligence of the bureaucrats in giving proper attention to the problem is disappointing. According to a story in the News, UNDP did a review of Pakistan's Disaster Management Policies and Systems In January 2005 and observed that disaster management bodies in Pakistan lack knowledge about hazard identification, risk assessment and management. The officials of the concerned organizations are not given adequate training. Disaster and relief departments remain, under sourced, untrained, and are not given required importance. There is no linkage between the work of disaster management, development planning, and environmental management institutions. The Pakistan army provides search and rescue services and emergency relief in affected areas but the civilian agencies are often found incapable of coordinating with them. The experts recommend the key elements of the rescue checklist be as follows: 1. Mobilize available public and private rescue personnel and equipment. 2. Organize Rescue Teams. 3. Assign teams to areas according to established priorities. 4. Detail communications and reporting procedures. 5. Assign Mutual Aid resources arriving from other jurisdictions. 6. Recruit Volunteers and train able bodied personnel in other services to remain as reservists for rescue operations. . 7. Monitor rescue resources team's activities. 8. Coordinate with Medical/Health and Coroner Coordinators on care of injured and collection of fatalities. The guidance plan for earthquake preparedness and response must include the following departments as is done in US and many other countries. * Fire and rescue operations. * Law enforcement and traffic control operations. * Medical operations. * Public health operations. * Coroner operations. * Care and Shelter operations. * Construction and engineering operations. * Resources and support operations. An essential area of our emergency operations should be the specialized training for emergency responders in the city and provincial governments and their coordination with the army and the Federal Government and periodic drills. Countries like US, Turkey, Japan, UK etc. would be more than willing to help organize our capability to deal with such catastrophes. Arif Khan ---------------------------------- [3] From: yogi sikand <ysikand@yahoo.com> Date: Tue Oct 11, 2005 Subject: Review: Madrasas and Muslim Girls' Education in India Ishtiaque Danish, "Re-Starting Dropout Muslim Girls in Education", unpublished manuscript (report on project sponsored by UNICEF, Lucknow, 2004, pp.94). Reviewed by Yoginder Sikand Madrasas play an important role in providing literacy and basic education to millions of Muslim children in India. Yet, Ishtiaq Danish of the Hamdard University, New Delhi, argues in this report, there is much scope for improvement in this regard. This report is based on a survey conducted in three districts of Uttar Pradesh that have a fairly high Muslim population, characterized by high rates of illiteracy and widespread poverty: Siddharthnagar, Barabanki and Moradabad. A total of 48 madrasas and 6 government schools were surveyed and 216 madrasa teachers, 15 government primary school teachers, and several students in schools and madrasas and their parents were interviewed for this study. In the Moradabad district it was found that 42.35% of parents of students in madrasas and government schools were illiterate, 12.94% had acquired secondary education and only 1.76% were madrasa graduates. Their average annual income was Rs. 24,535. Of the 170 parents, only 4 were government employees. 10.58% were unemployed, 15.85% were daily wage earners, 42.35% were engaged in small income generation activities and 27.64% were artisans. In other words, the vast majority of students studying in madrasas and government come from economically deprived backgrounds. Of the 1049 children of these parents, only 721were studying in madrasas or schools. Of these 721, 55% were boys and 45% girls. 66.71% were studying in maktabs and madrasas and 33.28% in government schools. Of the madrasa/maktab students, 55% were boys and 45% girls. The survey found that most parents (78.23%) were not averse to having their daughters study in co-educational schools till the fifth grade. The overwhelming majority of the parents (94.1%) are in favour of regular revision of the madrasa syllabus, 97.64% want madrasas to also provide some technical or professional education, 95.30% favour inclusion of ???modern?? subjects in the syllabus, 95.8% favour state assistance to madrasas, and 91.76% believed that financial incentives would help prevent high drop-out rates among girl students. 59.74% of the madrasa teachers believe that the teaching of ???modern?? subjects in the madrasas is inadequate and 35% complain that the curriculum is not revised regularly. The overwhelming majority of the teachers are in favour of the inclusion of ???modern?? subjects, and 79% advocate the setting up of an All-India Madrasa Board. 88% support a common syllabus for all madrasas in order to improve their performance, and all teachers are in favour of teachers?? training in and use of modern teaching methods. The bulk of the income of the madrasas was found to be spent on staff salaries, and only a few madrasas spent money on infrastructural development and students?? welfare. Only 16.67% claimed to provide scholarships to some students, although they declined to reveal the amount given to the researcher. It appears, the report says, that there is no fixed amount of scholarship, and that these are perhaps given to cover the tuition fee or mess charges of some students. The madrasas were found to have a high drop-out rate, but it proved to be difficult to get records about this. Madrasas that receive full or partial state-funding do maintain such records but the others do not. It is estimated that only 16.92% of the boys and 18.51% of the girls enrolled in the madrasa completed their education till the fifth grade. In Barabanki district the survey covered 16 madrasas, both state-aided as well as private. The profile of the parents of the children appears similar to that of the case of Moradabad. Of the 1168 children, 802 are studying in madrasas or government schools. Of these 77.30% study in madrasas and 22.70% in government schools. 53% of the madrasa students are boys and 22.7% girls. All the madrasa teachers desire regular revision of curriculum, the introduction of professional education in madrasas and the use of new teaching methods. 87% want the inclusion of ???modern?? subjects in the syllabus and 86% are not opposed to co-education till the fifth grade. 41% of the madrasas claimed to provide scholarships to students, but they did not divulge how many students received such assistance. It is estimated, however, that the amount given to selected students is a meagre Rs.300 per year. The madrasas are characterized by a high drop-out rate. Only 20.68% boys and 20% girls enrolled in the madrasas carry on with their education till the fifth grade. The high rate of enrolment in the primary classes suggests that parents are enthusiastic about educating their children, but the high drop-out rate shows that poverty and lack of good schooling facilities compel them to withdraw their children from madrasas/schools by the fifth grade. In other words, the report suggests, financial assistance by the state as well as Muslim community organizations can help reduce the drop-out rate. The family background of students studying in madrasas surveyed in Siddharthnagar district is similar to that in the case of the two other districts. The suggestions they and the madrasa teachers made for improving and modernizing the madrasas are also roughly the same. Only one of the 15 madrasas surveyed provides free books to its students but it did not have details as to the number of students who actually benefit from this. No madrasa was found to provide student scholarships, and none received any state assistance. The report suggests that, despite their obvious limitations, madrasas are playing a key role in promoting education among Muslims, especially those from poor families, and in areas where state educational provision is either non-existent or in a very bad shape. Several madrasas teach basic Hindi, English and mathematics, in addition to religious studies, and, hence, are obviously not averse to modern subjects. While most teachers desired better teachers?? training facilities, it was found that the managers of the madrasas were not very keen about this. Most teachers were found to be in favour of ???modernization?? of the madrasas without diluting their religious character. Many of them also wished to acquire a degree from a university, possibly through the open university system, and also supported the idea of madrasa students acquiring such degrees. The report argues that the dedication of the teachers, their commitment to the welfare of the community and their openness to modernization have, however, ???not been capitalized upon??. It was also found that while the majority of the madrasa teachers claimed that their curriculum has been revised, little has actually been done in this regard. The survey discovered that although most parents are eager to provide a basic education to their girl children, religious as well as secular, they are unable to educate them further for various reasons: poverty, opposition to co-education and reluctance to send their girls outside the locality for education. In other words, economic conditions, rather than religion per se, are mainly responsible for the low educational status of Muslim girls. Many of them argued that if girls?? schools, staffed by women teachers, were set up in their localities and if they were provided with scholarships or other such incentives the high drop-out rates of female students would greatly reduce. The study concludes with a list of suggestions, including recognition of madrasa certificates by the state to enable their students to join regular schools; making the Sarva Shiksha Scheme more pro-active in its involvement with madrasas; including provision of mid-day meals, scholarships, uniforms, para-teachers and schemes for physically challenged students; arranging for vocational training schemes in madrasas; facilitating local literate Muslim women to join anganwadis or infant-care centres and encouraging them to teach at least part-time in girls?? madrasas; encouraging madrasas to appoint more lady teachers; improving infrastructural facilities in madrasas, especially to meet specific needs of girl students, particularly separate toilets; encouraging local community, including religious, leaders to promote girls?? education; and upgrading madrasa teachers?? skills and encouraging them as well as students in higher-level classes to enrol in courses offered by the National Open School and various open universities. ----------------------------- [4] From: rkurian1@vsnl.com Date: Tue Oct 11, 2005 Subject: Tribulation of South Asian Women... A Comment. Daily Times - Site Edition Tuesday, October 11, 2005 COMMENT: Tribulation of South Asian women ??Ishtiaq Ahmed http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_11-10-2005_pg3_2 If the ulema were to use the Muslim vote-bank to demand greater economic rights for their community I am sure Indian political parties will be forced to do something about it, but they are agitated over Sania Mirza??s clothes. The latter is obviously a priority, unlike the curse of poverty ------------- |
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October12, 2005 - [India Thinkers Net]PMI report on flooding in Kohlapur-Sangli >> |
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