Confusion over number of quake orphans Saturday, October 27, 2001
BY BHARAT DESAI, TIMES NEWS NETWORK
AHMEDABAD: Eight months after the earthquake devastated Kutch, there is still confusion about the exact number of children orphaned in the January 26 catastrophe. While the state government has put out a figure of 249 children who lost either one or both their parents, this figure is being disputed by the NGOs who say that a proper survey in all the affected areas could reveal a much bigger figure. They say in a disaster where almost 13,000 people died, the number of orphans was bound to be higher.
The government, in fact, is also contesting the figures being put out by various NGOs about the quake orphans under their care and says: ‘‘Most of these children are actually not victims of the quake.’’
Kutch district civil defence officer R.P. Christy says: ‘‘Various teams have gone around the district and we have finally arrived at a figure of 249 orphans.’’ Most of these, he says, were staying with close relatives who refuse to send them to orphanages opened by the NGOs with government assistance.
However, director of SOS Childrens Village Jagdeep Singh, who set up an institution for the children in Bhachau, Rapar and Adipur after the quake, said there were 92 children under their care. ‘‘Except for three-four abandoned infants, the rest of them lost one or both their parents,’’ he said.
Singh said the confusion about the figures of orphans in the state was created because an in-depth survey had not yet been conducted. He said there were instances of orphans being taken away to institutions in Bangalore and Pune who have since returned after a high court directive that they be rehabilitated in Kutch. ‘‘We are still getting requests from single parents to take care of their children as they are unable to do so,’’ Singh said.
Christy says of the 249 orphans, most of them now under care of their relatives, the government had received 197 applications from their foster parents for maintenance grant of Rs 500 per month. As many as 133 of these applications had been rejected because the rules do not allow maintenance grant for children aged above 12. The grant had been sanctioned in 53 cases and the rest were still under investigation.
News Source : The Times of India [India's best Newspaper]
CVC orders probe into Surat land scam Saturday, October 27, 2001
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
SURAT: The Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) has ordered an enquiry into the alleged Rs 15-crore embezzlement case by members of the Surat Parsi Panchayat Trust and other irregularities. The CVC order was based on a complaint lodged by a member of the trust and some concerned members of the 4,500-odd Parsi community in the city.
The CVC had directed the Gujarat government on August 24 to initiate investigations into the alleged fraud that resulted in the sale of about 150 acres of land near Doongarwadi in Saharadarwaja area of the city. Subsequently, the charity commissioner was instructed to look into the matter and conduct an enquiry into one of the major land scams in the city, involving fraudulent means to dispose off the land by a handful of trust members for personal gains. The assistant charity commissioner has so far issued five notices to the trustees to show cause as to why appropriate action should not be initiated against them, said Noshir Dordi, an activist among the local Parsis.
Trustee Dhanjishaw Dumasia in his complaint to Central Vigilance Commissioner N Vittal had stated that land worth over Rs 15 crore in Doongarwadi was sold to textile mills without taking any proper resolution to this effect by a majority of trustees and other members of the Parsi community. Even the approval, which is mandatory, was not sought by them, he said.
Once spread over 150 acres, Doongarwadi which was gifted to the local Parsis by Mughal emperors in the early 19th century for constructing a tower of silence and a fire temple, has now been reduced to just 70 acres. As a result, commercial activities, stud farming, poultry farming and two textile mills have sprung up in the area which was supposed to be left untouched to keep sanctity of the tower of silence, one of the oldest and biggest in the world.
Apart from this, Dumasia pointed out that in the last two decades various plots of land and property belonging to the trust were sold without prior approval from the members and the revenue earned from the transactions was never deposited with the trust's fund and property wing, of which he was once a member.
Other frauds include siphoning off of money in the name of imparting computer education to Parsi students and other projects related to movable and immovable trust property, Dumasia alleged.
Sources said members of the trust were summoned to clarify their stand before the charity commissioner early this week. However, several activists forwarded apprehensions that the trustees might try to mislead the concerned investigating authorities, Dordi added.
News Source : The Times of India [India's best Newspaper]
CVC orders probe into Surat land scam Saturday, October 27, 2001
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
SURAT: The Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) has ordered an enquiry into the alleged Rs 15-crore embezzlement case by members of the Surat Parsi Panchayat Trust and other irregularities. The CVC order was based on a complaint lodged by a member of the trust and some concerned members of the 4,500-odd Parsi community in the city.
The CVC had directed the Gujarat government on August 24 to initiate investigations into the alleged fraud that resulted in the sale of about 150 acres of land near Doongarwadi in Saharadarwaja area of the city. Subsequently, the charity commissioner was instructed to look into the matter and conduct an enquiry into one of the major land scams in the city, involving fraudulent means to dispose off the land by a handful of trust members for personal gains. The assistant charity commissioner has so far issued five notices to the trustees to show cause as to why appropriate action should not be initiated against them, said Noshir Dordi, an activist among the local Parsis.
Trustee Dhanjishaw Dumasia in his complaint to Central Vigilance Commissioner N Vittal had stated that land worth over Rs 15 crore in Doongarwadi was sold to textile mills without taking any proper resolution to this effect by a majority of trustees and other members of the Parsi community. Even the approval, which is mandatory, was not sought by them, he said.
Once spread over 150 acres, Doongarwadi which was gifted to the local Parsis by Mughal emperors in the early 19th century for constructing a tower of silence and a fire temple, has now been reduced to just 70 acres. As a result, commercial activities, stud farming, poultry farming and two textile mills have sprung up in the area which was supposed to be left untouched to keep sanctity of the tower of silence, one of the oldest and biggest in the world.
Apart from this, Dumasia pointed out that in the last two decades various plots of land and property belonging to the trust were sold without prior approval from the members and the revenue earned from the transactions was never deposited with the trust's fund and property wing, of which he was once a member.
Other frauds include siphoning off of money in the name of imparting computer education to Parsi students and other projects related to movable and immovable trust property, Dumasia alleged.
Sources said members of the trust were summoned to clarify their stand before the charity commissioner early this week. However, several activists forwarded apprehensions that the trustees might try to mislead the concerned investigating authorities, Dordi added.
News Source : The Times of India [India's best Newspaper]
Kisan Sangh goes against govt's support for cotton seed Saturday, October 27, 2001
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
GANDHINAGAR/AHMEDABAD: The Bharatiya Kisan Sangh (BKS), the powerful farmers wing of the Sangh Parivar, has advised a word of caution to the state government on the Bt.gene cotton seed controversy following the Centre's directive to burn the crop in Gujarat even as the BJP's political leadership here is convinced that the genetically engineered seed was good for the farmers.
The BKS is in no mood to digest the state government's argument that the genetically-engineered seed is harmless, or that India's pesticides lobby is behind the whole campaign against the new seed to safeguard its interests. The BKS leadership considers the seed an attempt by foreign multinational companies to impose on Indian farming techniques "that would make us subservient to the West."
Talking with TNN here on Friday, the BKS's three top leaders -- all-India secretary Jivanbhai Patel, state treasurer Bababhai Patel, and north Gujarat secretary Mangalbhai Patel -- said the seed was an attack on 'swadeshi' and was part of the World Trade Organisation's strategy to make the country's farmers dependent on foreign seeds. "We have yet to know the results of the genetically-engineered cotton seed sown by farmers, but the fact of the matter is that there is a clear attempt to impose on us what are called terminator seeds," Mangalbhai explained.
Insisted Jivanbhai, "We are not against foreign technology or seeds. But if the west is seeking to impose on us what are actually impotent seeds, making the farmers approach MNCs only to buy them before every season, then we are certainly against it. Its environmental impact needs to be examined thoroughly. If the Centre wants the crop to be burnt, then one has to see the reasons behind this."
He said if the crop is burnt, the farmers must be paid full compensation by the company that provided them with the seeds. A BKS delegation will be meeting Chief Minister Modi on Sunday to give a memorandum on WTO which would also mention the cotton-seed controversy.
Suggesting one need not forget the Andhra Pradesh experience, Mangalbhai said, "Failure to get the proper price for a new variety cotton crop made several cotton farmers to commit suicide in that state. One hopes, that situation does not arise here."
State agriculture minister Purshottam Rupala and Union textile minister Kashiram Rana, the BJP strongman from Surat, have already reacted sharply against the Centre's directive to burn the cotton crop sown from the genetically-engineered seed, the farmers' production costs are down as they did not have to use pesticides.
Former state agriculture minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasma has favoured cultivation of genetically-engineered cotton as its quality and yield were far better than traditional cotton produced in Saurashtra and central and south Gujarat districts.
While talking to TNN, Chudasma was of the opinion that "There was nothing wrong in going ahead with cultivation of genetic cotton which has been accepted by several European countries and even in countries like China."
The state government, he said, should encourage the growing of such cotton on an experimental basis and later on the agriculture department and federation of cotton growers should study the results and work out a plan for cultivation of genetic cotton.
A leading farmer and chairman of Gujarat State Co-operative Bank, Jayrambhai Patel, has also endorsed the new technique saying the government should come forward in supplying certified seeds of genetic cotton and avoid destruction of genetic cotton grown in thousands of acres in the state.
Patel said the government should direct the Gujarat Agricultural University to undertake a pilot project with the help of experts from various agricultural research institutes and later on evolve a policy on the cultivation of cotton. Cotton growers should also be educated on the advantages and disadvantages of the new variety of cotton.
News Source : The Times of India [India's best Newspaper]
Kisan Sangh goes against govt's support for cotton seed Saturday, October 27, 2001
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
GANDHINAGAR/AHMEDABAD: The Bharatiya Kisan Sangh (BKS), the powerful farmers wing of the Sangh Parivar, has advised a word of caution to the state government on the Bt.gene cotton seed controversy following the Centre's directive to burn the crop in Gujarat even as the BJP's political leadership here is convinced that the genetically engineered seed was good for the farmers.
The BKS is in no mood to digest the state government's argument that the genetically-engineered seed is harmless, or that India's pesticides lobby is behind the whole campaign against the new seed to safeguard its interests. The BKS leadership considers the seed an attempt by foreign multinational companies to impose on Indian farming techniques "that would make us subservient to the West."
Talking with TNN here on Friday, the BKS's three top leaders -- all-India secretary Jivanbhai Patel, state treasurer Bababhai Patel, and north Gujarat secretary Mangalbhai Patel -- said the seed was an attack on 'swadeshi' and was part of the World Trade Organisation's strategy to make the country's farmers dependent on foreign seeds. "We have yet to know the results of the genetically-engineered cotton seed sown by farmers, but the fact of the matter is that there is a clear attempt to impose on us what are called terminator seeds," Mangalbhai explained.
Insisted Jivanbhai, "We are not against foreign technology or seeds. But if the west is seeking to impose on us what are actually impotent seeds, making the farmers approach MNCs only to buy them before every season, then we are certainly against it. Its environmental impact needs to be examined thoroughly. If the Centre wants the crop to be burnt, then one has to see the reasons behind this."
He said if the crop is burnt, the farmers must be paid full compensation by the company that provided them with the seeds. A BKS delegation will be meeting Chief Minister Modi on Sunday to give a memorandum on WTO which would also mention the cotton-seed controversy.
Suggesting one need not forget the Andhra Pradesh experience, Mangalbhai said, "Failure to get the proper price for a new variety cotton crop made several cotton farmers to commit suicide in that state. One hopes, that situation does not arise here."
State agriculture minister Purshottam Rupala and Union textile minister Kashiram Rana, the BJP strongman from Surat, have already reacted sharply against the Centre's directive to burn the cotton crop sown from the genetically-engineered seed, the farmers' production costs are down as they did not have to use pesticides.
Former state agriculture minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasma has favoured cultivation of genetically-engineered cotton as its quality and yield were far better than traditional cotton produced in Saurashtra and central and south Gujarat districts.
While talking to TNN, Chudasma was of the opinion that "There was nothing wrong in going ahead with cultivation of genetic cotton which has been accepted by several European countries and even in countries like China."
The state government, he said, should encourage the growing of such cotton on an experimental basis and later on the agriculture department and federation of cotton growers should study the results and work out a plan for cultivation of genetic cotton.
A leading farmer and chairman of Gujarat State Co-operative Bank, Jayrambhai Patel, has also endorsed the new technique saying the government should come forward in supplying certified seeds of genetic cotton and avoid destruction of genetic cotton grown in thousands of acres in the state.
Patel said the government should direct the Gujarat Agricultural University to undertake a pilot project with the help of experts from various agricultural research institutes and later on evolve a policy on the cultivation of cotton. Cotton growers should also be educated on the advantages and disadvantages of the new variety of cotton.
News Source : The Times of India [India's best Newspaper]
