Why is the Indian Govt afraid to open files on Netaji ?

       It is an intriguing fact that the governmeny of India has never been forthcoming in relation to the last days of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose.       

      Sixty years after independance the public is still being denied accesss to all documents.

      So what if the names of foreign countries are mentioned in those files? In case any foreign government has been involved in any act against the interest of a Indian hero is the public not entitled to know?

      Or is it that the government of India did not take adequate actions to bring the hero home?

      Who is the government trying to protect?

Extracts

CIC asks PMO to make public list of 29 files on Netaji

New Delhi: Rejecting the PMO’s refusal to provide a list of classified files relating to Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, the Central Information Commission (CIC) has asked it to make public a list of 29 such files.The Commission’s decision came after the PMO produced before it 33 classified files on the revolutionary leader.It, however, exempted four related files as they had reference to foreign states.

Acting on an RTI application of ‘Mission Netaji’ – a Delhi-based research trust – challenging the PMO’s refusal to make public its classified files on Netaji, the CIC had, in its order of January 25, asked the latter to produce in a sealed cover a list of classified files for its perusal.

The Prime Minister’s Office while declining to produce the list of the classified files had earlier said that divulging their contents could affect India’s sovereignty and relations with foreign nations.

Perusing through the files as produced by the PMO, Chief Information Commissioner Wajahat Habibullah said four of the 33 classified files had a reference to foreign nations. Therefore, the remaining 29 files should be given.

In its order passed yesterday, the CIC also noted that out of the 29 files, seven were classified “top secret,” three “confidential” while the rest were marked “secret.” Apart from the 33 files, the PMO also informed the Commission about two recently de-classified files.

Right notes after 100 yrs

       The lively and non-tiring antique pipe-organ at the Christ Church in Shimla seems to exude real history. When this organ is played, the notes reach out and surround the congregation. The pipe-organ — the biggest in the subcontinent — has been encouraging and supporting singing at the prayers even after 100 years of its existence.

       “The organ is played on special occasions now. The organs that tend to ‘speak’ most eloquently to listeners. The sound that this pipe makes is similar in harmonic content to the human voice,” says a caretaker of the church. After the erection, the church held its dedication and opening recital on September 28, 1899.

      The beautiful “king of instruments” was built by Morgan and Smith of Brighton (England) at a cost of Rs 23,000. It was extensively repaired in 1932.

     The two most expensive stops were presented by Air Mackworth Young and Sir James Walker, while the cost of decorating the pipes was defrayed by the Countess of Elgin to commemorate the marriage of her daughter Lady Elizabeth Bruce to H. Babington Smith on September 22, 1898. 

By Mail Today Bureauin New Delhi

Jamia to open school for Muslim girls in April

     (Extracts)

      IN A bid to increase participation of girl students in Urdu medium schools, Jamia Millia Islamia University is planning to open a school for Muslim girls. The school, proposed to be on its campus, will have classes from IX to XII.

       “The proposal to open this school was passed in the academic council meeting of the university. The details are at the initial stage and have to be finalised,” said a source at the university.

      The school is being planned to make girls a part of mainstream education.

       The ministry of human resource and development had directed Urdu medium institutions to take steps to include girls in the higher education stream as the dropout rate was very high among them. “We decided to go ahead with this school as per the directives of the ministry,” added the source.

      The school is expected to be operational by April, which marks the beginning of the new academic session. Also being planned is a school for nursing and a revival of the aircraft maintenance engineering course.
garima.pant@mailtoday.in

Trial woes: Man acquitted after year in jail  TIMES NEWS NETWORK  Mumbai:

      A sessions court on Tuesday finally acquitted 26-year-old Sujan Mishra of all charges brought against him by the police. However, for him, the order came a year too late. Mishra, who was picked up by the police on January 23, 2007, had to spend more than a year behind bars, because he knew no one in the city who could help him file for bail and stay out of jail while his trial was pending in court. 

        According to the chargesheet, Mishra, a migrant worker, was arrested at CST on January 23, 2007 after people shouted out that a theft had taken place. Police constables said they saw Mishra and another man, Abdul Shaikh 25), running and chased them. Shaikh allegedly attacked constable Sachin Sansurkar with a chopper and injured him on his fingers.

        Shaikh managed to escape, but Mishra was arrested by the police. He was booked under Section 333 of the IPC for “voluntarily causing grievous hurt to deter a public servant from his duty’’. Since there were two accused in the case, Mishra was booked for common intention to commit crime under Section 34 of the IPC as well. 

          Subsequently, Mishra was sent to Arthur Road jail. According to him, he was too poor to afford a lawyer and was represented by an advocate from the state government’s Legal Aid Service.

          Mishra also said that he had no relatives in the city who could help him to file for bail, while his matter was pending in court. He therefore remained in prison, until his case was sent up for trial.
   Mishra’s case was tried in a sessions case and the prosecution examined five witnesses, including Sansurkar, who was the complainant. However, the judge said there wasn’t enough evidence to show that Mishra had committed any crime and acquitted him of all charges on Tuesday. Shaikh, meanwhile, remains absconding till date.

This is report sent by Mr. Rahul Saxena of Lok Vigyan Kendra (LVK), Himacha Pradesh. Srijan Foundation is supporting a project in which LVK runs in the Chamba District, for reviving medicinal plants and thus creating self-sustenance through forest produce.

There is a Presentation attached.

————————————-

Dear Friends,

After a long delay, we are sending you the report of the forest management effort that many of you had supported (the list of donors is given at the end of this report). We thank you all for all the support that was extended to this initiative; without it things would just not have been possible. The team at Lok Vigyan Kendra wants to express heart felt appreciation of the spirit of philanthropy that the appeal was able to mobilize – even from people who did not know us previously.

First, the reason for the delay in posting this report – we wanted you to see images of the village that took up the forest management initiative and the area that got restocked with the medicinal herbs (see the attached power point presentation). We did not have a camera at the time the plantation activity was undertaken and hence no images of the herbs being planted. The images that I am sending to you have been recently taken when a team member had gone there to have the people loosen the ground around the herbs for better growth of the roots (the harvestable part).

We had planned to take up the plantation activity in two villages this season – Kut Batoa and Mahua. The area to be planted in Mahua was a much drier one (it is a patch of grassland) than the one in Kut Batoa (an oak forest with plenty of undergrowth). Kut Batoa incidentally also had a drier patch ready for plantation which was to be planted with the same herb(Heracleum specie) as the patch in Mahua. Since, the rains arrived late in this region, almost all the able bodied men from Mahua had crossed over the high Pir Panjal mountains to Lahul region for the collection of commercial herbs, similar to those that this initiative is trying to rehabilitate in their own forests. We could not take up any plantation activity in the Mahua village this summer – that shall have to be done during the coming winters. Luckily, there were a few people still remaining in Kut Biota who gathered the herbs (Valerian specie) from far away areas and planted them in the Oak forest, adjacent to the plot that had been planted last year with the same herb. In all 100 Kgs of Valerian plants were utilized by the villagers for the plantations. This roughly translates to around 9000 to 10,000 plants in total. Since the full grown roots do not occupy a large area, not much digging is involved in the planting exercise and around a hectare of area was planted with the herbs.

Two months later, the herbs have shown an excellent survival ratio with a more than 90 % plants surviving, a factor that had inspired the villagers of Kut – Batoa (and some other adjoining villages) to undertake similar efforts this year. We are planning to expand the initiative to these villages to create a visible impact and hopefully influence government functioning. We hope to get your continued support this year too.

If you are interested to know more about our other activities, please write back.

With warm regards

Rahul Saxena,
Lok Vigyan Kendra,
Chanakyapuri Colony,
Ghuggar Nala Road,
Palampur, District Kangra,
Himachal Pradesh.
Tel : 098160-25246

The details of the expenses made from the donated money is as follows:

Total donations received Rs. 53,100

Expenses

Cost of planting by the local villagers Rs. 8,540

Travel and honorarium for Rs. 5,205

meetings and supervision

Cost of planting material to villagers Rs. 900

Total expenses Rs. 14,645

Funds carried over for plantations in Rs. 38,455

winter in Kut Batoa and Mahua

The list of donors is as follows:

Project Presentation – Charda, Chamba, Himachal Pradesh (PPT)

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