Srijan Foundation

Where there’s a will, there’s a way  Ketan Tanna I TNN  

   You don’t need to be rich, famous or on your death bed, surrounded by ten family members who were invited by post.

       To register your will, all you need is Rs 100. That’s how much it takes to pass on your legacy and avoid any potential disputes over it. In case this is not done, the recent squabbles in a prominent industrialist family and the disputed properties of film stars like Suraiya or Parveen Babi are there for all to see.

       This warning comes from Shankar Pai of the Make A Will Foundation who has taken it upon himself to devote the remaining years of his life to propagating the desirability of making a will.
          As soon as 53-year-old Pai, who stays in Bandra, took voluntary retirement from Dena Bank, he found a lot of time on his hands. It was around this time that the news of a fallout in a leading industrialist’s family made headlines.

       This inspired Pai to form an organisation called the Make A Will Foundation in 2001. In this process, he was helped by V S Karve, a chartered accountant who used his accountancy skills to guide people. Pai has held over 50 meetings in different places, including Dignity Foundation, Bankers’ Training College and Help Library.

      When he is not delivering lectures at various institutes, Pai visits public gardens whenever he can and gives advice about the need to make a will to anyone who cares to listen. 
 

          At these lectures, Pai clarifies that making a will is not a complex process. All it requires is a plain paper and not a stamp paper, details of the willed property and the signature of the person making the will.

         Two witnesses are required, though. While it is not necessary that a will has to be registered, one should try and register it in case it is likely to be challenged in court after the demise of the person making the will.

         In case the two witnesses are a doctor and lawyer, then the will is likely to face less legal hurdles. The doctor is needed because he or she can certify that the person making the will is in good health and the lawyer can iron out any legal queries.

         However, they are not necessary. Also, contrary to popular belief, a will is not irrevocable. The will can be revised as many times as the person wants to. However, each time the will is revised, a new sign and declaration stating that the will is the final one needs to be added. There is no proforma for making a will and each will is unique.
   Initially, when they listen to him, people are startled, admits Pai. But then, they warm up and are all ears when Pai talks about the consequences of not making a will. Interestingly, he says that those who then get in touch with him belong to the middle class and even the lower class.

        Recently, a hutment dweller contacted him and made a will even though the only property he had was the hut he was living in. Another interesting case was that of a Gujarati businessman who consulted Pai and made his will.

         The businessman left Rs 1 lakh to an impoverished yet brilliant Konkani singer in his building.
   (Pai can be contacted on 9819215578)
    ketan.tanna@timesgroup.com

Orthodox Parsis heckle liberal’s talk  

TIMES NEWS NETWORK  Mumbai:

      The controversy over acceptance of Parsis from mixed marriages into the Zoroastrian fold blew up on Saturday as orthodox sections of the community disrupted and heckled a talk by Kersey Antia, a priest from the US who preaches freedom of choice for all those who want to accept the faith. 

        Orthodox Zoroastrians called up the management of the Y B Chavan Centre last week demanding that they withdraw permission for the talk. However, when their demands were not met, they registered a complaint against Antia at the Cuffe Parade police station stating that his speech would be inflammatory.

        The controversy involving the refusal to accept children from mixed marriages with Parsi mothers and non-Parsi fathers into Zoroastrianism has been raging in the community for the last two decades with voices raised for and against the move.
         In fact, an hour before Antia made his speech, senior Parsi priests held a press conference at Colaba to repudiate the acceptance issue. Vada Dasturji Kaikhushroo M Jamasp Asa, Vada Dasturji Dr Peshotan H Mirza, Ervad Ramiyar P Karanjia, Ervad Rooyintan Peer and Ervad Parvez Bajan spoke out for the preservation of religion and race.

Orthodox Parsis plan to counter Kersey Antia’s preaching

        After the talk, hecklers shouted and railed at Antia, who was told by some in the audience that he was not a man of God and had no knowledge of the religion. After a talk in which Antia quoted stanzas from the Avesta (the holy book), which—according to him—spoke of freedom and tolerance, he was asked by some members in the audience whether the Prophet had made any mention of conversion or had spoken of allowing non-Parsis into the fold.

         “After reciting the Ramayan, you’re asking me who Ram is,’’ joked Antia, who had claimed that the early stages of the Persian empire had witnessed conversion of people to Zoroastrianism. Antia had earlier raked up a controversy when, in 1983, he performed a Navjot ceremony initiating a non-Parsi, Joseph Peterson, into the faith.
          Antia said orthodox Parsis waved the red flag at him in Mumbai but he was allowed to speak freely in Iran.

       “It’s unfortunate that a religion of truth and righteousness should today be beset with fundamentalist tendencies that fracture the community,’’ said Meher Rafat of the Association of Intermarried Zoroastrians (AIMZ) that organized Antia’s lecture with the Association for Revival of Zoroastrianism.
   

       The orthodox, on the other hand, are holding a public meeting on February 15 to counter, what community member Pervin Mistry described as “misleading and false quotations,’’ by Antia.

      Officials suppress file notings from RTI applicants

        Babus derive their power from the ability to deny even  lawful rights to a citizen. It can be a ration card, a passport, a certificate, an I card, an noc, aan approval; a million things that are necessary for survival. They also derive power from the fact that they are never held accountable.

The RTI act was supposed to help a citizen unravel some of the mysteries in the labyrinthian corridors.

       Unfortunately the babus have ganged up together at all levels to ensure that  information is denied to a citizen as a matter of course. Some organs of the government have even managed to successfly stay out of the ambit of RTI.

       The fact that the judiciary which delivers homilies to one and all has kept itself out of the purview of the RTI act has not helped the matters. In the meantime a fight is on between the citizens and the beauracracy. 

        An extract from mail today  IT HAS been more than two years since the Right to information (RTI) Act came into effect. But the bureaucracy, it seems, is still trying to resist parting with information — the crucial instance being ‘file-noting’.
       The Central Information Commission (CIC) has repeatedly said ‘file-noting’ — correspondence in files — are ‘information’ and not exempt from disclosure. But the department of personnel and training (DoPT) has been opposing this.
       In the latest instance, the department has not complied CIC’s directions to make public the file notings in the case of S.S. Bhambra, an assistant in the President’s secretariat, who sought details regarding his promotion.

      But Instead of complying with CIC’s directions, the President’s secretariat approached DoPT for advice, drawing a contempt notice from CIC DoPT, which coordinates the RTI Act, has actually stated in its website that ‘file notings’ are excluded under the definition of ‘information’ under the Act.

       In the past, the railways ministry refused to part with information, citing this. The Delhi Development Authority and the Telecommunication Consultants India have also refused to reveal file notings to RTI applicants on the same grounds.
        Chief information commissioner Wajahat Habibullah said: “The difficulty is that the department has not removed the erroneous information about file notings from its website, although we have recommended it on several occasions.

      Several public authorities have refused information on this ground.”
Since 2006, CIC has repeatedly said file notings are to be disclosed under RTI. It has constantly urged DoPT, (at least once every month since January 2006), to “remove the misleading information from its website” and inform other ministries and departments.

       There was a full bench hearing to clear doubts on the issue. It was clarified that a ‘file’ was a ‘record’ and contained both the part containing correspondence and the part containing opinions and advice, i.e. notings.

      Under the Act, all such records have to be disclosed to bring transparency. Only classified information, like official secrets, are exempt from being disclosed, according to Section 8 of the Act.

       CIC directed the misleading information to be “immediately” removed as it affected even the office of the President.
kavita.chowdhury@mailtoday.in

        Indians are allowing bullies and cranks to hijack our way of life.Systems in place to preserve democracy and freedom are being misused to blackmail the powerless, the weak and the innocent.

        Criminals are given police protection , protected by security guards and NSG.

       Vulnerable citizens are harassed with false cases registered against them. 

        Sania Mirza, India’s biggest tennis star, says she won’t play tournaments in her motherland. Issues other than the sport have forced her to take the decision.
        She has been attacked for playing tennis in skirts and even posing for commercials.
Speaking to MAIL TODAY from her home town, Hyderabad, she said: “Playing for India is more important to me than playing in India. I have never shirked my responsibility to represent my country, even if it has meant going against my doctor’s advice.”
       Sania’s shocker came on a day when reigning Wimbledon champion Venus Williams confirmed participation in the $ 6,000,000 Bangalore Open tennis tournament starting March 9.
       Now, if the tennis ace sticks to her decision of opting out of tournaments in India, the Bangalore fixture would lose much of its sheen. Thousands of fans will be deprived of eeing her in action.
       Sania’s decision left greats of Indian tennis speechless. Vijay Amritraj said: “I am dumbfounded. Sania does not want to play in India. This is all new to me. She is such a fine player. She is the best not just at home but in the whole of Asia. In my times, to play in India was such a big thing. The crowds were always behind us.

       The 21-year-old has thus far soldiered bravely for the country. Only last week, her dedication to the national cause was on display in Bangkok.

       “I am still recovering from the hamstring injury. But I insist I want to represent India. I am very eager to play for my country in the Beijing Olympics,” said the World No 29 whose career earnings exceed one million dollars.
       “Pulling out of the Bangalore Open is not an extreme reaction,” she explained.  

       “Controversy keeps following me and this has been going on for far too long. It is not easy to deal with such stuff. I have gone through great lows in the past few weeks. It has been difficult to remain focused.”

        Sania’s niggling worries are understandable. Recently, when she was representing the country in the Hopman Cup at Perth, a photographer had clicked her with her feet on a table next to an Indian flag.
       The photograph was actually a smart piece of photography from an unusual angle. “I have never shown disrespect to the flag and that incident caused a lot of problems,” a pained Sania said.

       People got so upset seeing that picture splashed in the papers that a man in Bhopal went to court seeking action against her.
       That explains why there was no Indian tricolour near the Indian bench at the Bangkok event last week. “I was dragged into a controversy for no fault of mine,” she pleaded.
      

       Only weeks before that in December, Sania had to apologise to the Hyderabad police commissioner for shooting a commercial in the courtyard of the city’s Mecca Masjid.
Ever since Sania hit the big league, every action of hers has been questioned, especially by clerics.

       First, it was her comment on pre-marital sex in 2005 that landed her in trouble. A year later, when she was playing at the Sunfeast Open in Kolkata, she turned out in shorts because the clergy had hauled her up for playing in short skirts.
       Sania’s father, Imran Mirza, sounded concerned.

       If Sania sticks to her decision, the biggest losers would be the country’s sports lovers

THERE WERE over 50 passengers in the Meerut-Delhi DTC bus in which the robbery took place.

     Only two people chose to take on the armed robbers. While bus conductor Preetam Singh was shot at and killed on the spot, constable Ramesh Chand Verma is being treated at hospital.

      According to the eyewitnesses, Verma not only raised his voice but also held one of the robbers by his waist. Finding his partner in crime in distress, the other robber shot at Verma. The bullet entered his body just below the waist, made its way through the left kidney and stopped just below the heart. Posted at Civil Lines police station in Meerut, Verma was coming back to his Nand Gram residence in Ghaziabad after doing double shift.

      “He is one of the honest policemen in service. Verma has the habit of doing his level best to help out people in distress. That is why he took on the robbers to help the jeweller,” said Krishna Kumar Tyagi, his colleague.

According to doctors at Yashoda Hospital, Verma has already been operated upon and has been kept under 48hour observation.      “We have removed his left kidney and spleen. He has been kept under observation,” said a doctor attending on him. atulmathur@hindustantimes.com

      FOR RAGURAJ Singh, a police sub-inspector who collated the initial information that led to the busting of the Rs 100-crore global kidney racket, last Saturday was a very special day That day, friends and wellwishers thronged the Mudha Pandey police station to congratulate him: he had been made “in-charge” of the police station, his first posting in that capacity Singh was an active member of the team that busted the racket and won praise for the Moradabad Police by uncovering people linked to the racket whose roots were traced overseas.

     The young officer applied his wits to develop the case information along with other team members. “We worked hard to expose the entire gang,” said Singh. Singh gave credit to senior officials, senior superintendent of police (SSP) Prem Prakash and team leader Manjil Saini, who he said backed them all along in exposing the racket.

    “We worked under their guidance and were successful in busting the racket,” said Singh. Delighted over the success of the team, SSP Prem Prakash rewarded Singh on Saturday by making him sta- tion officer of Mudha Pandey police station. Singh, who entered the police service in 2000, was chowki (outpost) in-charge in Budh Bazar when he was elevated as station officer.

     Father of two children, he feels his hard work had brought honour to his family “My elder son, too, wants to join the police,” he said proudly Singh’s father, presently posted in J.E Nagar as second officer in the fire service, and his two brothers are also in the police.

     For Singh, khaki occupies an important place in his life, which he says “gives him the strength to protect the poor”. srajumrt@gmail.com