Hindus demand land for burial

Source – http://dawn.com/2013/01/28/hindus-demand-land-for-burial/

RAWALPINDI, Jan 27: Low caste Hindus, who bury their dead, unlike the upper caste Hindus who cremate them, have requested the City District Government Rawalpindi (CDGR) to provide land for the burial of their dead.

While municipal officials claim that they have already provided two burial sites, the Hindu community said the sites are full to capacity and there are issues with security.

On the other hand, upper caste Hindus said the low caste Hindus were welcome to cremate their dead at the Shamshan Ghat (area designated for cremation) but would not allow them to bury there as space was limited. The Shamshan Ghat is located on Tipu Road in front of Rawalpindi Medical College (RMC).

Security and capacity
The two sites provided to low caste Hindus for burial has its own problems. The most contentious is the site near Benazir Bhutto International Airport area.

According to the Hindu community they avoid burying their dead in the locality because of security concerns, as a Pakistan Air Force base is located next to the airport.

“The area is also surrounded by security departments and the Hindus avoid going there, fearing security checks,” said a Hindu community member.

However, it is a self-imposed restriction as the administration has never stopped them from utilising the space.

Cremation grounds
The cremation ground, Shamshan Ghat, has its own problems.

“We have a Shamshan Ghat on Tipu Road but there is no place to bury the dead there. One of our community members had to bury his daughter in a Muslim graveyard but later had to exhume the body after a year,” said Pandit Chana Lal.

In another context, although related, there is also an issue with privacy at the Shamshan Ghat.

“When we go to Tipu Road Mandir (Temple) and Shamshan Ghat to cremate our dead, all the people residing in the adjacent buildings come out on the rooftops and see our religious rituals, making us feel very uncomfortable,” said Pandit Lal.

He said the Hindus were left with no option but to request the administration to allocate more land for burial and cremation.

“The low caste Hindus are poor and they will not be able to purchase land for their graveyards,” said Mr Lal.

Highlighting the anomalies in low caste Hindus, Pakistan Hindu-Sikh Social Welfare Council (PHSSWC) President Jag Mohan Kumar Arora, said: “Scheduled Hindus (Balmekee) in Rawalpindi bury the corpses and do not cremate them. However, the same caste Hindus in Kohat and even in India burn their dead.”

Mr Arora said in Hindu religion, the corpse of a sanyasi (Saint) and children below a particular age are buried and not cremated.

He said low caste Hindus wanted to use the Shamshan Ghat on Tipu Road for burial but they were not allowed as it was meant for cremation.

“We told them (low caste Hindus) that if they wanted to burn their corpses, then we would allow them, otherwise the place could not be used for burials,” he said.

Local administration
Potohar Town Municipal Administration (PTMA) Town Officer Regulation, Mohammad Kamran, told Dawn that he had conducted a survey after receiving an application from the Hindu community but found that they already had two graveyards, one on Rawal Road and the other in Lal Kurti.

He said he had invited elders of the community to his office, on Monday (today) and would check the record and present the position of the Hindu graveyards.

He said the PTMA would submit its report to the district coordination officer.

On the other hand, DCO Saqib Zafar said the Hindu community delegation met him and he had sought details from PTMA.

He said after deliberations, he would submit a report to the Punjab government for the final decision. He said in all probability space would be allotted in the outer areas of the city.

Is Colonel Purohit guilty?

 

– RSN Singh

RSN Singh is a former military intelligence officer who later served in the Research and Analysis Wing, or R&AW

Date : 18 Jul , 2012

 

Lt Col Srikant Purohit Going by the selective and flip-flop leaks by the Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS) of Maharashtra, and the manner in which the media is lapping it up, it appears that there is a concerted and rather a desperate bid to make an ‘Osama bin Laden’ out of Lt Col Purohit and prove that the Sadhavi Pragya and her accomplices are the new ‘Hindu Jehadis’.  The credulity of the general public is being stretched on various scores.

 

Firstly, the speed at which fresh revelations is being disseminated by the ATS on a daily basis, in complete disregard to professional propriety and in gross prejudice to the ongoing investigation.

 

Secondly, the unprecedented number of ‘Narco Tests’, the accused are being subjected to.

 

Thirdly, there is a total blank-out with regard to the version of the accused.

 

Fourthly, with every passing day, the network is being enlarged, as if to suggest that the entire country is being consumed by ‘Hindu Terrorism’, and has pan-Indian rather regional and global dimension.

 

The approach of ‘two wrongs make a right’ or ‘one wrong is equal to another wrong’ does not address the root causes of a problem.

 

Fifthly, if intercepts of some of the accused was available much prior to the blasts as suggested, then why no pre-emptive measures were taken.

 

Sixthly, no army representative has been included in the interrogation team.

 

Seventhly, the most intriguing aspect is the timing and the developing political tenor of the investigations i.e. during the eve of elections.

 

 

No two security problems especially those having religious and social overtones have the same character, motivation and orientation. Any attempt to draw parallels between terrorism of all kinds though politically beneficial can be counter-productive, and detracts the security agencies.

 

Each form of terrorism, whether home-grown or externally inspired—like Maoist, religious, social, secessionist, and political terrorism—has to be dealt on different planes. Even though, one terrorism feeds on another, the tendency to link various terrorisms, as is happening in the wake of ‘Malegaon case’, must at all costs be avoided.

 

This is not to say that the entire investigation process is a miscarriage of truth and justice. It was only expected that the chain of terrorist strikes across the nation over the years, wherein innocent people and the country’s integrity and economic interests have been targeted, would at some point of time provoke retaliatory measures in unknown ways. Although words like ‘retaliation’ or ‘reaction’ have become blasphemous in the present Indian context, it however cannot be wished away.

 

 

It is an exercise of responsible and perspicuous governance to ensure that the retaliatory susceptibilities are contained, rather given a positive direction. The approach of ‘two wrongs make a right’ or ‘one wrong is equal to another wrong’ does not address the root causes of a problem. It only contributes to creation of new undesirable elements and organizations, and further polarizes the society.

In my interactions with various segments of the society, the polarization inaftermath of ‘Malegaon blasts’ , appears to have grown more acute.

 

The  investigation following the ‘Malegaon blasts’, is extremely complex in nature due to the alleged involvement of an Army officer belonging to the Military Intelligence. The media therefore needs to be extremely cautious and circumspect about the manner in which it reports the briefs by the ATS. I have deep apprehension that the complete truth, as and when it unfolds in the future, could have several unsavoury and damaging twists.

The Colonel is a legitimate intelligence operative. Interaction with the police authorities, other intelligence agencies, desirable and undesirable elements was very much a part of his duty, without which no intelligence can be gathered and no counter-intelligence operation can be effected. No intelligence agency issues written orders in pursuance of intelligence operations. The entire system is based on trust and faith. It is yet to be established how much of disconnect is there between the legitimate and illegitimate activities of the officer during the course of his duty.

 

The level and extent of intelligence interaction and cooperation with other intelligence agencies that this officer had, is also not known. That is why, it was very important to have a representative of the Military Intelligence, when the interrogation of the officer began. To that extent, a state police organization is not only under-equipped but also out of sync with central intelligence agencies in dealing with an official of Military Intelligence.

There can be no greater travesty in the suggestion by certain quarters that the alleged involvement of Lt Col Purohit is symptomatic of a deeper malaise taking roots in the Indian Army. An officer of the Military Intelligence is not in direct command of troops.  He has only a small complement of personnel working under him.

  A Military Intelligence officer is hardly competent in providing training on Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs). Importantly, the nation must trust in the legal procedures of the Army, which is far more stringent. The Army will brook no ideology, which impacts on the established secular character and credentials of the organization.

  As and when Lt Col Purohit is handed back to Army custody, it is inevitable that he will be meted out the appropriate punishment, if found guilty, notwithstanding any misplaced sense of patriotism that he may attempt to invoke. I would therefore request the media to be patient and for the time being spare the Army.

Think before you talk – Hindu Editorial

The chintan shivir was a party session, and Sushilkumar Shinde seemed to have been in some confusion over his roles as senior Congress leader and as Union Home Minister when he attacked the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh for “inciting Hindu terrorism” through “training camps.” While he had every right to criticise the BJP and the RSS for their policies and programmes at a party forum, Mr. Shinde should have realised his responsibility as Union Home Minister and not triggered a fusillade of allegations that were short on substance and long on rhetoric. There is a larger irony in Mr. Shinde’s over-the-top rhetoric. For the longest time, the intelligence agencies and police across India refused to take the threat posed by Hindutva extremists seriously and framed innocent Muslim youth for the blasts in Hyderabad and Malegaon. When evidence first emerged of a Hindutva terror network, the authorities took forever to connect the dots. Instead of punishing those in the police who tortured innocent men in Hyderabad and elsewhere, and quietly but doggedly going after the real perpetrators, the minister has reduced the problem to one of politics. Not only did Mr. Shinde fail to provide evidence for his allegations, he has no explanation for his government not having acted on these serious charges. If he really has proof that the opposition party is inciting terrorism, why has he not prosecuted its leaders? There is no doubt that some BJP leaders interceded on behalf of those accused of the terrorist bombing in Malegaon. But surely the worst they are guilty of in that case is bad judgment, not abetment or incitement.

Mr. Shinde’s use of the phrase ‘Hindu terrorism’ to describe terror acts committed by fanatics in the name of their religion is as objectionable, and inaccurate, as the use of the term ‘Muslim terrorism,’ but the BJP should not be in denial about the fact that such acts do indeed take place. Independent India’s first terrorist crime was the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi by Nathuram Godse, a man driven by the ideology of Hindutva. As for the present, the police have said the bomb blasts aboard the Pakistan-bound Samjhauta Express, and at mosques in Hyderabad and Malegaon, were carried out by extremists with “links” to the RSS and other Hindutva-oriented factions. It is possible, even likely, that those arrested are just the tip of a bigger iceberg. Nevertheless, Mr. Shinde had no business blithely connecting these incidents to the BJP without proof. India has enough trouble facing up to the terrorist threat without it being made a political tool by the Congress to fling reckless charges. Empty rhetoric can only aid, not hurt, terrorism.

http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/editorial/

‘Yes, we spent money on paid news ads’

 

P. Sainath

Confessions by politicians to EC belie claims of innocence by top newspapers

The political class is more honest than the media when it comes to ‘paid news’ during elections, judging by the fact that several poll candidates have owned up to this corrupt practice. At least, after the Election Commission and the Press Council of India shot off notices to them and held inquiries into the matter. They have acknowledged guilt by belatedly adding their “news” buying expenses to their election statement of accounts. Some candidates have accepted in writing that they bought what are now called, somewhat oxymoronically, “Paid News Advertisements.” But not a single one of the newspapers they say they gave their money to has accepted any wrongdoing. These are not just any papers. In readership terms, they include three top-ranked dailies.

 

In some cases, the battles are still on, involving both the politicians and newspapers concerned. On January 15, the EC found that Madhya Pradesh Cabinet Minister Narottam Mishra “failed to lodge his accounts of his election expenses in the manner prescribed by law.” He faces possible disqualification. The EC’s notice to Dr. Mishra concerns 42 news items on him during the November 2008 state elections. These, it pointed out, “read more like election advertisement(s) in favour of you alone rather than (as) news reports.” The EC names four newspapers in its notice: Dainik Bhaskar, Nai Duniya, Aacharan and Dainik Datia Prakash. Dainik Bhaskar is the second most-read daily in the country.

 

Less than a month earlier, the Press Council of India held quite a few dailies guilty of doing much the same thing during the 2010 Bihar assembly polls. These include Dainik Jagran, the newspaper with the highest readership in the country. The others are Dainik Hindustan, Hindustan Times, Dainik Aaj and Purvanchal Ki Raahi. Also, Rashtriya Sahara, Udyog Vyapar Times and Prabhat Khabhar.

 

In many cases, the route to exposure followed the pattern set in the classic case of the former Congress Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Ashok Chavan. His 2009 poll campaign for the State legislature drew scores of full pages of “news.” Not a single one of those pages ever mentioned the name of Madhav Kinhalkar, his rival for the Bhokar seat. In a 2009-10 investigation into paid news, The Hindu found a hagiographical article on Mr. Chavan appear word for word in three major rival publications. In two of them, on the same day, in all of them under different by-lines (The Hindu, Nov. 30, 2009).

 

The 2010 Bihar polls saw a similar pattern. This time, though, one paper came up with a truly novel defence. Same story in different papers? That’s not paid news, argues Udyog Vyapar Times. It submits that other newspapers “hack their computer site and publish the same news.” So what might look like paid news, contends Udyog Vyapar Times, is merely the outcome of desperate rivals hacking into the internal network of this Aligarh-based daily to steal their national exclusives.

 

How did the candidates issued ‘Paid News’ notices for the Bihar polls by the EC react? All but one seem to have accepted their guilt. According to the EC, they did so by simply adding “the expenditure included by them on account of these ‘news’ in their accounts of election expenses.” In fact, the District Election Officer of Muzaffarpur in Bihar stated flatly that the dailies had carried “news for payment.” He even had letters from the candidates owning up to buying “news.”

 

The Press Council of India, acting on the matter referred to it by the EC, issued show cause notices to Dainik Jagran, Dainik Hindustan, Hindustan Times et al, between July and September 2011. On December 21, 2012, the PCI, on the basis of its own inquiry committee’s report, got tough. Of the high-profile line-up, only Prabhat Khabhar escaped “the highest penalty” of the Press Council — censure — under Section 14 (1) of the Press Council Act of 1978. This was the only case where the paper and the candidate both firmly denied the charge. (In all the other cases, the candidates accepted they had purchased “news”.) And Prabhat Khabar’s own record — it has strongly campaigned against paid news — added weight to its defence. The paper offered to apologise if the EC produced proof of any such aberration. It was “cautioned for the future.”

All the other dailies denied the charges, too. But, as the PCI’s inquiry committee puts it, “in all these cases, the candidate in question admitted before the Election Commission of India that he paid for the impugned material.” These dailies were found “guilty of having carried news reports that were in fact self-promotion material provided by the candidate in the fray,” and so faced the highest penalty of censure.

So quite a few politicians seem willing to confess to their paid news sins. They face penalties, too. Just 16 months ago, the EC disqualified Umlesh Yadav, then sitting MLA from Bisauli in Uttar Pradesh, for a period of three years for failing to provide a “true and correct account” of her election expenses. She had skipped any mention of her spending on advertisements dressed up as news during her 2007 poll campaign. She was the first legislator ever to bite the dust on grounds of excessive expenditure (and paid news). Dr. Mishra, Health Minister in the BJP government of Madhya Pradesh, now faces charges of the kind that got her disqualified.

 

Ashok Chavan case

 

Oddly enough, the Ashok Chavan case, which triggered off a spate of such cases, is itself bogged down in both the EC and the Supreme Court. The case of former Jharkhand Chief Minister Madhu Koda is likewise held up in the courts. Judicial delays could have a serious and possibly adverse impact in the fight against Paid News in the 2014 general election.

But what action do habitual offenders in the media face? The Paid News Committee constituted by the Election Commission has concluded that those 42 “news items” involving Dr. Mishra “appear to be advertisements in the garb of news” and fall “within the definition of ‘Paid News’.” The Press Council defines Paid News as “any news or analysis appearing in any media (print or electronic) for a price in cash or kind as consideration.” A Press Council team appointed by PCI Chairperson Justice Katju found last month that Paid News had been rampant in Gujarat during the State polls there in December 2012.

So what happens where media outlets concerned are found guilty? Where the “highest penalty” is censure and that draws not even an apology? Of course, Paid News is not only about elections, though that’s where it does greatest damage to the greatest number. It is an everyday activity in much of the media. The cloying coverage that powerful corporations get routinely reeks of it. You can see it in some completely corporate “sporting” events or “partnerships.” Governments, too, buy “news” sometimes. You can see it at work in Davos, too. Who funds journalists and channels from India at that World Economic Forum event each year is worth looking at. But that’s another story. Watch this space.

sainath.p@thehindu.co.in

 

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/yes-we-spent-money-on-paid-news-ads/article4354575.ece?homepage=true&css=print

RSS strongly condemned Tushar Gandhi’s remarks on RSS; said ‘He spreading falsehood’

January 30th, 2013, 1:36 pm

NewDelhi/Bangalore January 30, 2013: Tushar Gandhi  is another name to the list of RSS baiters in this January. On Martyrs Day, when entire nation salutes Mahatma Gandhiji today, Tushar Gandhi, Mahatma’s grandson has tweeted claiming ‘RSS was celebrating Mahatma Gandhi’s Assassination’.

Mahatma Ganghiji, global icon of Truth and Non-Violence.

RSS strongly condemned the remarks made by Tushar Gandhi. RSS Akhil Bharatiya Prachar Pramukh Dr Manmohan Vaidya said “Tushar Gandhi’s remarks are unacceptable. We condemn it. Its a falsehood propaganda. Vandaneeya Mahatma Gandhi wrote book as ‘Satya Ka Prayog‘, but Tushar is spreading lies, he is propagating ‘Asatya Ka Prayog‘. RSS always respected Mahatma Gandhiji, his life and concepts. Tushar’s remarks on RSS, are nothing but an attempt to spread falsehood.”

On first week of February 1948, the then RSS Sarasanghachalak Madhav Sadashiv Golwakar wrote a letter expressing his condolence message, to the then Prime Minister Pandit Nehru, Home Minister Sardar Patel and Devdas Gandhi, son of Mahatma Gandhi. Golwakar expressed his deep condolences personally and on behalf of the organisation, said “Nation has lost a great organiser. His loss created a vacuum in the society. RSS mourns on this sad demise”. The detailed text is available in Sri Guruji Samagra. (Volume -10, in Chapter the During first ban on RSS)

Earlier this morning, Tushar Gandhi tweeted as “Nationwide the RSS was celebrating Bapu’s murder by distributing ‘Mithai’ even before AIR made announcement.”

Congress MLA inaugurates RSS organised Event

January 25th, 2013, 2:48 pm

Bangalore : Congress MLA of Bangalore, Dinesh Gundurao, Inaugurated Swamy Vivekananda 150th Birth celebrations at Ckikkapet, Bangalore recently on January 12. RSS Pranth Karyavah N Tippeswamy, Swamiji of Beli Mutt, Local BJP MP PC Mohan, local BJP corporator Shivakumar and several other leaders were present. The programme was organisesd by an RSS initiative platform to commemorate Swamy Vivekananda’s 150th Birth Anniversary.

Congress MLA of Bangalore, Dinesh Gundurao, Inaugurated Swamy Vivekananda 150th Birth celebrations at Ckikkapet, Bangalore recently.

Maoists kill tribal kabaddi player in Chhattisgarh

Chhatishgarha

** The police were outraged after Maoists killed a tribal kabaddi player during a village-level match to mark the Republic Day celebrations.

** The match was organised between teams from two villages in Umarpal, Rajnandgaon district, on Sunday. The Maoists suddenly came and opened fire at Parmeshwar (30), a resident of Kanker district. Another player, Birbal, was injured. Parmeshwar’s brother Amrit is an auxiliary constable in Kanker.

** “This is against all human values. Killing a sportsman for no reason is spreading terror. What was his fault? They talk about anti-Capitalism, but kill only tribals. Have they ever touched any Capitalist?,” said DGP Ramniwas.

** “This is a Kasab-like incident. Local boys were playing in their village. Maoists came and opened fire with AK-47. It was a game between local teams, administration or the police had absolutely nothing to do with it. This is among the worst kind of terrorist acts Maoists have ever committed,” Rajnandgaon SP Sanjeev Shukla said.

** General secretary of Chhattisgarh Kabaddi Association Rambisal Sahu condemned the incident.

स्रोतःhttp://www.indianexpress.com/news/maoists-kill-tribal-kabaddi-player-in-chhattisgarh/1066433/Maoists kill tribal kabaddi player in Chhattisgarh

** The police were outraged after Maoists killed a tribal kabaddi player during a village-level match to mark the Republic Day celebrations.

** The match was organised between teams from two villages in Umarpal, Rajnandgaon district, on Sunday. The Maoists suddenly came and opened fire at Parmeshwar (30), a resident of Kanker district. Another player, Birbal, was injured. Parmeshwar’s brother Amrit is an auxiliary constable in Kanker.

** “This is against all human values. Killing a sportsman for no reason is spreading terror. What was his fault? They talk about anti-Capitalism, but kill only tribals. Have they ever touched any Capitalist?,” said DGP Ramniwas.

** “This is a Kasab-like incident. Local boys were playing in their village. Maoists came and opened fire with AK-47. It was a game between local teams, administration or the police had absolutely nothing to do with it. This is among the worst kind of terrorist acts Maoists have ever committed,” Rajnandgaon SP Sanjeev Shukla said.

** General secretary of Chhattisgarh Kabaddi Association Rambisal Sahu condemned the incident.

स्रोतःhttp://www.indianexpress.com/news/maoists-kill-tribal-kabaddi-player-in-chhattisgarh/1066433/

SCALE OF THE GRANTS AT LEAST RS. 9500 MILLIONS PER YEAR

Embargoed for: 25 January 2013

Dear Sir/Madam,

Asian Centre for Human Rights (ACHR) has the pleasure to share its report
“India’s Funds to NGOs Squandered”, the first ever study on conducted on
funding to NGOs by the Government of India. It is available at:

http://www.achrweb.org/reports/india/India’s_Fund_to_NGOs_2013.pdf

This report was released at a panel discussion in New Delhi on 18 January
2013. The panel discussion was addressed by Mr Satyabrata Pal, Honourable
Member, National Human Rights Commission of India; H.E. Ms. Lise Grande,
UN Resident Coordinator & UNDP Resident Representative to India; Mr
Laurent Le Danois, Attaché – Development Cooperation, Delegation of
European Union to India; Mr Amitabh Behar, Executive Director, National
Foundation of India; and Mr Suhas Chakma, Director of Asian Centre for
Human Rights.

Please find below the brief of the study:

I. SCALE OF THE GRANTS: AT LEAST RS. 9500 MILLIONS PER YEAR

ACHR has been conducting the study for the last three years. As per the
replies received under the Right to Information Act, India’s Central
Government Ministries and the State Governments provided at least Rs.
6654,35,87,684 as grants to NGOs/VOs during FYs 2002-2003 to 2008-2009 or
an average of Rs. 950,62,26,812 every year. This includes Rs.
4756,71,26,395 given by the Central Government and Rs. 1,897,64,61,289 by
the State Governments.

The figure of Rs. 6654.36 crores of funds given to NGOs is only indicative
and not accurate. First, a number of States and Union Territories such as
Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Orissa, Jammu and Kashmir, Arunachal
Pradesh, Mizoram, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu and Lakswadeep
failed to provide information about the grants given to NGOs. Second, many
departments of the State Governments and Union Territories (UTs) which
replied did not provide full information. Third, the Central government
Ministries provided much less figures under the RTI applications in
comparison to information placed before the Parliament (both Lok Sabha and
Rajya Sabha). Fourth, little information was made available with respect
to many flagship programmes including the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural
Employment Guarantee Act. Fifth, many of the government owned Public
Sector Undertakings did not provide information about the funds given to
the NGOs as part of the Corporate Social Responsibility and therefore, not
included in this study.

II. FOR MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT AND FOREST, MONEY GROWS ON TREES

The selection procedure for the grantees lacks transparency. All the
Ministries claim that applications are selected on the basis of merit. But
how that merit is determined is unclear. In reality, merit matters little.
There is a mandatory requirement of recommendations from the State
Governments which facilitates corruption. In overwhelming majority of the
cases only those voluntary organizations which are close to the government
officials or those who have control over the officials/NGOs i.e. political
leaders are selected.

Field studies by ACHR suggest that selection of grantees is often
determined not on ability or technical expertise but rather on the
applicant’s ability to pay a bribe. The NGOs interviewed by the ACHR
alleged that to have their application approved required bribes amounting
to 15% to 30% of the grant. If a conservative estimate of 15% is used as a
“bribe to process the applications”, during the Fiscal Years 2002-2003 to
2008-2009 at least Rs. 1000 crores have been spent on bribes paid to
different layers of officials for approval of the projects.

These estimated Rs 1,000 crore bribes must be seen in the context of the
Comptroller and Auditor General’s (CAG) Report No.17 of 2010-2011
pertaining to audit of transactions and performance in the Ministry of
Environment and Forest in which the CAG concluded that 7,916 Utilisation
certificates (UCs) from the grantees for grants worth Rs 596.79 crores
from 1981-2009 were not obtained under the scheme of Grants-in-Aid to
Voluntary Agencies. The CAG concluded that the possibility of
misutilisation/fraud is not ruled out as majority of VAs/State Forest
Departments /Forest Development Associations neither came back to the
National Afforestation and Eco-Development Board (NAEB) for the next
installment after release of first installment nor did they furnish
UCs/progress reports.

III. NO ACCOUNTABILITY BEYOND BLACKLISTING

There is little accountability beyond blacklisting.

The CAPART under the Ministry of Rural Development sanctioned 24,760
projects during 1 September 1986 to 28 February 2007 involving a total
sanctioned grant of Rs 252,02,44,12.56. Out of these, 511 NGOs were placed
under the blacklist category due to irregularities committed. However, out
of 511 blacklisted agencies/NGOs only 10 cases were referred to the
Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for investigation while the First
Information Reports (FIRs) were lodged against only 101 NGOs. By 3 August
2009, the number of NGOs blacklisted by the CAPART increased to 830 and
FIRs were lodged against 129 blacklisted NGOs. By 3 May 2012, another 81
NGOs were placed under Black List category and 195 NGOs were placed under
Further Assistance Stopped (FAS) category by the CAPART.

The problem with blacklisting is reflected from the fact that CAPART even
released Rs. 46,83,142 to five blacklisted NGOs namely Nirmala Weaker
Section (Andhra Pradesh), Sarvodaya Ashram (Bihar), Magadh Social
Development Society (Bihar), Pazhakulam Social Service Society (Kerala)
and Vijay Warangal Trust (Maharashtra) in 2009.

Though 7,916 Utilisation Certificates from the grantees for grants worth
Rs 596.79 crores have not been received by the MoEF, the National
Afforestation and Eco-Development Board under the MoEF had filed only
seven FIRs and only one voluntary organization from Orissa had returned
the money in November 2009.

The Ministry of Women and Child Development alone blacklisted 389 NGOs and
further assistance to these organizations from the Rashtriya Mahila Kosh
(RMK) scheme has been stopped. Three organizations viz. the Central Social
Welfare Board (CSWB), an autonomous organization, and Indian Council of
Child Welfare (ICCW) and Bharatiya Adim Jati Sewak Sangh (BAJSS) acting as
‘mother’ outfits for the Rajiv Gandhi National Creche Scheme were
allocated a sum of Rs 110 crores annually since 2006. There were reports
of irregularities and pursuant to an application under the Right to
Information Act, 2005 filed by the ACHR the Ministry of Women and Child
Development confirmed that the Ministry had ordered an investigation and
requested the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) to check
the authenticity of the Chartered Accountants engaged by these three
organizations. In an RTI reply dated 7 July 2010 the Ministry informed
ACHR that the M/s Pawan Kumar Garg & Co., engaged by the Bharatiya Adim
Jati Sevak Sangh is not a registered firm of Chartered Accountants as per
ICAI records. In a communication dated 7 May 2010 under the RTI Act, 2005
the CSWB informed the ACHR that no investigation has been going on against
the CSWB indicating that no inquiry was launched against the officials
responsible.

The only case that came to light during the study in which limited action
was taken was with respect to six officers of CAPART identified as
Surendra Singh (Director), S. D. Singh (Assistant Director), Y. Bhakta
(Research Officer), A. R. R. Pillai (Research Officer), M. P. Singh
(Research Officer) and S. K. Das (Research Officer) and they were awarded
reduction of pay and increment.

IV. FUNDS INCREASING: NEED FOR A NATIONAL GRANTS-IN-AID COMMISSION
The grants to the NGOs given by the Government of India have been
increasing and as per the RTI responses, the amount increased from Rs 561
crores in 2002-2003 to Rs 835 crores in 2008-2009.

As India involves the NGOs/ VOs in the implementation of its programmes
more than ever, India must realize that funding to voluntary sector is not
something that can any longer be done as part time job of the government
officials, many of whom are the ultimate and illegal beneficiaries of the
funds granted to the voluntary sector.

In order to address the malaise, Asian Centre for Human Rights recommended
to the Government of India to establish a “National Grants-in-Aid
Commission” through which all grants to the voluntary sector by all the
Ministries shall be routed and the “National Grants-in-Aid Commission” be
responsible for all aspects, inter alia, calls for proposals, selection of
proposals, monitoring of implementation, review of reports, recovery of
funds etc. In the interim period, ACHR has requested the Government of
India to direct (i) all the Ministries to do away with current process of
recommendations by the District Magistrates and the State Governments,
invite applications through open call for proposals, consider the
applications on merits by independent evaluators, and conduct necessary
verification only after short-listing of the applicants; and (ii) direct
all the Central Ministries, the State Governments and Union Territories to
make all information pertaining to the grants to voluntary sector
including recommendations of the State governments publicly available as
part of the voluntary disclosure under the Right to Information Act, 2005.

We thought you would find the report of interest.

With kind regards,

Yours sincerely

Suhas Chakma
Director

HINDU TERRORISM

– Francois Gautier Is there such a thing as ‘Hindu terrorism’, as Home Minister Shinde is heavily hinting at? Well, I am one of that rare breed of foreign correspondents — a lover of Hindus! A born Frenchman, Catholic-educated and non-Hindu, I do hope I’ll be given some credit for my opinions, which are not the product of my parents’ ideas, my education or my atavism, but garnered from 25 years of reporting in South Asia (for Le Journal de Geneve and Le Figaro). In the early 1980s, when I started freelancing in south India, doing photo features on Kalaripayattu, the Ayyappa festival, or the Ayyanars, I slowly realised that the genius of this country lies in its Hindu ethos, in the true spirituality behind Hinduism. The average Hindu you meet in a million villages possesses this simple, innate spirituality and accepts your diversity, whether you are Christian or Muslim, Jain or Arab, French or Chinese. It is this Hinduness that makes the Indian Christian different from, say, a French Christian, or the Indian Muslim unlike a Saudi Muslim. I also learnt that Hindus not only believed that the divine could manifest itself at different times, under different names, using different scriptures (not to mention the wonderful avatar concept, the perfect answer to 21st century religious strife) but that they had also given refuge to persecuted minorities from across the world—Syrian Christians, Parsis, Jews, Armenians, and today, Tibetans. In 3,500 years of existence, Hindus have never militarily invaded another country, never tried to impose their religion on others by force or induced conversions. You cannot find anybody less fundamentalist than a Hindu in the world and it saddens me when I see the Indian and western press equating terrorist groups like SIMI, which blow up innocent civilians, with ordinary, angry Hindus who burn churches without killing anybody. We know also that most of these communal incidents often involve persons from the same groups—often Dalits and tribals—some of who have converted to Christianity and others not. However reprehensible the destruction of Babri Masjid, no Muslim was killed in the process; compare this to the ‘vengeance’ bombings of 1993 in Bombay, which wiped out hundreds of innocents, mostly Hindus. Yet the Babri Masjid destruction is often described by journalists as the more horrible act of the two. We also remember how Sharad Pawar, when he was chief minister of Maharashtra in 1993, lied about a bomb that was supposed to have gone off in a Muslim locality of Bombay.I have never been politically correct, but have always written what I have discovered while reporting. Let me then be straightforward about this so-called Hindu terror. Hindus, since the first Arab invasions, have been at the receiving end of terrorism, whether it was by Timur, who killed 1,00,000 Hindus in a single day in 1399, or by the Portuguese Inquisition which crucified Brahmins in Goa. Today, Hindus are still being targeted: there were one million Hindus in the Kashmir valley in 1900; only a few hundred remain, the rest having fled in terror. Blasts after blasts have killed hundreds of innocent Hindus all over India in the last four years. Hindus, the overwhelming majority community of this country, are being made fun of, are despised, are deprived of the most basic facilities for one of their most sacred pilgrimages in Amarnath while their government heavily sponsors the Haj.. They see their brothers and sisters converted to Christianity through inducements and financial traps, see a harmless 84-year-old swami and a sadhvi brutally murdered. Their gods are blasphemed. So sometimes, enough is enough. At some point, after years or even centuries of submitting like sheep to slaughter, Hindus—whom the Mahatma once gently called cowards—erupt in uncontrolled fury. And it hurts badly. It happened in Gujarat. It happened in Jammu, then in Kandhamal, Mangalore, Malegaon, or Ajmer. It may happen again elsewhere. What should be understood is that this is a spontaneous revolution on the ground, by ordinary Hindus, without any planning from the political leadership.Therefore, the BJP, instead of fighting over each other as to whom should be the next party president, or who will be their PM candidate for the 2014 elections, should do well to put its house together. For it’s evident that the Congress has decided on this absurd strategy of the absurd, the untrue, the unjust, the treacherous, only to target Mr Narendra Modi, their enemy number One. It should also fight the Untrue with Truth: there are about a billion Hindus, one in every six persons on this planet. They form one of the most successful, law-abiding and integrated communities in the world today. Can you call them terrorists? Let the BJP compile a statistics of how many Hindus were killed by Muslims since 1947 and how many Muslims by Hindus. These statistics will speak by themselves Source – http://francoisgautier.wordpress.com/2013/01/22/hindu-terrorism/

India tested B-05 missile from under water

India successfully test fired a submarine-launched ballistic missile of its most ambitious programme from the coast of Visakhapatanam . DRDO Director General V K Saraswat told The missile destroyed the target with a single digit accuracy.

Missile test fired from underwater