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LIST OF NEWSPAPERS COVERED BUSINESS LINE ECONOMIC TIMES FINANCIAL EXPRESS HINDU HINDUSTAN TIMES INDIAN EXPRESS PIONEER STATESMAN TELEGRAPH TIMES OF INDIA TRIBUNE 1
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LIST OF NEWSPAPERS COVERED

BUSINESS LINE

ECONOMIC TIMES

FINANCIAL EXPRESS

HINDU

HINDUSTAN TIMES

INDIAN EXPRESS

PIONEER

STATESMAN

TELEGRAPH

TIMES OF INDIA

TRIBUNE

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CONTENTS

CIVIL SERVICE 3-14

DEFENCE, NATIONAL 15-16

DISABILITIES 17

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT 18-19

EDUCATION 20-37

EMPLOYMENT 38-39

HEALTH SERVICES 40-42

JUDICIARY 43

LIBRARIES 44-45

POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT 46-56

PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION 57-58

PUBLIC SECTOR 59-60

TRANSPORT 61-62

WOMEN 63

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CIVIL SERVICE

ECONOMIC TIMES, MAR 23, 2017Shortage of over 1,400 IAS, 900 IPS officers in country: Government

"In promotion quota prompt action has been taken for holding selection committee meeting for appointment by promotion/selection of state service officers in all-India services."

NEW DELHI: There is shortage of over 1,400 IAS and 900 IPS officers in the country, Union Minister Jitendra Singh said today.

There are 4,926 officers of Indian Administrative Service (IAS) as against their total authorised strength of 6,396, leaving a vacancy of 1,470, he told Lok Sabha in a written reply.

The highest number of 128 vacancies are in Bihar, followed by 117 in Uttar Pradesh and 101 in West Bengal, said Singh, Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions.

Similarly, a total of 908 posts of Indian Police Service (IPS) officers are also lying vacant. As many as 3,894 IPS officers are working as against the total sanctioned strength of 4,802.

The highest number of 114 vacancies exist in Uttar Pradesh, followed by 88 in West Bengal, 79 in Odisha and 72 in Karnataka. In Bihar, 43 posts meant for IPS officers are lying vacant as against the sanctioned strength of 231.

There is shortage of officers of Indian Forest Service (IFS) also. A total of 2,597 IFS officers are in the country as against their total authorised strength of 3,157--gap of 560.

The highest number of vacancies of IFS are in Maharashtra (46) followed by Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Odisha (45 each).

"The government has increased annual intake of IAS officers to 180 during last four years. The annual intake of IFS officers has been increased to 110 and of IPS officers to 150 from 2015 and 2009 examination respectively.

"Further, in promotion quota prompt action has been taken for holding selection committee meeting for appointment by promotion/selection of state service officers in all-India services," the Minister said.

A Parliamentary standing committee has recently expressed "serious concern" over persistent shortage of IAS officers and strongly recommended that all efforts be made to fill these vacancies.

"The Committee notes that almost all the key and strategic positions under the Union as well as

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the states are being manned by the IAS and persistent shortage in the IAS officers ultimately affects governance in the country.

"The Committee expresses its serious concern over persistent shortage of IAS officers and strongly recommends that all efforts be made to fill these vacancies," the panel had said in its report submitted in Parliament.

ECONOMIC TIMES, MAR 23, 2017Yogi Adityanath to UP babus: Don't chew pan, pan masala when on duty

Yogi Adityanath effect: No pan masala, gutka in govt offices

Livid at the sight of betel juice stained walls of the building that houses his office, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath today banned the use of pan and tobacco products in schools, colleges, hospitals and other government buldings.

On his first visit to the secretariat annexe building here, the chief minister gave a piece of his mind to officials there asking them to stop chewing pan and pan masala when on duty.

He was visibly put off when he saw betel-juice stained walls of the building which is known as Lal Bahadur Shastri Bhawan and houses the chief minister's office and his secretariat, offices of the state chief secretary, principal secretary (home) and other senior IAS officers.

A few hours later, the chief minister directed officials to enforce a ban on the use of pan and tobacco in schools, colleges, government hospitals and hospitals. He also prohibited the use of plastic in government offices.

"The chief minister visited all the floors of the annexe building and met officials posted there. After detecting betel stains on walls, he asked employees not to consume pan or pan masala during duty hours and ensure cleanliness," Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya, who accompanied Yogi, said.

Adityanath also asked the the staff to make the atmosphere in the building healthy and clean by avoiding the use of plastic, Maurya told reporters.

A stickler for cleanliness, the saffron-robed 44-year-old chief minister had administered a sanitation pledge to officials a day after he took over as the UP CM and asked them to ensure that the pledge is effectively implemented on the lines of Swachh Bharat Mission of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The officers were made to repeat after him a "swachhata" pledge - "I will not litter, nor allow anybody to do it. I will devote 100 hours every year, to make the pledge of cleanliness come true

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and I will propagate the message of Swachch Bharat Mission in every nook and corner of the country."

Adityanath, who is the head priest of Gorakhnath Temple in Gorakhpur, is known to take a round of the Mutt and temple premises, inspecting the cleanliness of the place after practising Yoga between 4 to 5 AM every day.

INDIAN EXPRESS, MAR 21, 2017Adityanath tells IAS officers to declare assets in 15 daysOfficers take oath to volunteer 100 hrs a year to cleanlinessWritten by Lalmani Verma 

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Monday told the state’s chief secretary, principal secretaries

and secretaries to declare their income and assets and made them take an oath of cleanliness. On

Sunday, Adityanath had told Cabinet ministers to declare their sources of income, movable and

immovable assets.

The IAS officers on Monday were asked to submit their assets and income details in 15 days in a

format to be provided by the Chief Minister’s Office.

The cleanliness oath administered by Adityanath was titled “Swachchta Shapath”. The officers

were made to take a vow that they would devote 100 hours each year to “swachchta

(cleanliness)”.

Adityanath said Mahatma Gandhi’s dream for the country was not merely regarding political

freedom but also about a clean and developed nation. He said Gandhi got the nation freed and

now it was responsibility of every one to do service to Bharat Mata by removing “gandagi

(dirt)”.

“Main na gandagi karoonga, na kisi aur ko karne doonga. Sabse pehle main swayam se, mere

parivar se, mere mohalle se, mere gaon se evam mere karyastahl se shuruat karunga (I will not

dirty my surroundings nor will I let anyone else do it. I will start this with myself, my family, my

neighbourhood, my village and my workplace),” read the oath. It further stated that officers will

have to publicise the Swachch Bharat Mission. Each officer has taken pledge to administer the

oath to at least 100 more people.

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The new Chief Minister handed the bureaucrats the Lok Kalyan Sankalp Patra, which is the

BJP’s manifesto for the Assembly elections. Adityanath told the officials to draft proposals for

implementation of the promises made in the manifesto.

Principal secretaries and secretaries along with the chief secretary were asked about details of

public related schemes being run by their respective departments and the status of the schemes.

About the asset and income declaration, a senior officer who attended the meeting said: “The

CM’s office will provide a proforma to all officers on which they will have to submit their

details of income and assets owned by them.”

IPS officers were not called to today’s meeting and they too, along with state police officers, are

expected to be given directives about declaring the assets soon.

Acting on the CM’s orders, Director General of Police Javeed Ahmad stressed on maintaining

law and order in the state. During a meeting held through video conferencing with civil

administration and police officials, the DGP and Principal Secretary (Home) Debashish Panda

asked to “ensure strict action to maintain law and order”.

PIONEER, MAR 18, 2017Bihar: BJP protests over showcause notices to IAS officers

BJP on Friday protested in the Bihar Legislature against the State Government for serving showcause notices to several IAS officers who

had formed a human chain against arrest of their colleague Sudhir Kumar in the Bihar

Staff Selection Commission examination paper leak case.

BJP legislators and its NDA allies in the Assembly and Council trooped to the Well at both Houses and shouted slogans against the Government for show-causing IAS officers like Sudhir Kumar and victimising young 2013 batch IAS Jitendra Gupta

“The situation in Bihar at present is akin to that prevailed in the country during Emergency period under Congress rule,” Leader of Opposition in the Council Sushil Kumar Modi told the reporters. “The notice

was meant to insult IAS officers and browbeat them to fall in line particularly after they decided not to entertain unwritten orders from Ministers,” he said.

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“The IAS officers also have right to protest,” the senior BJP leader said. He suggested Chief Minister Nitish Kumar not to adopt confrontationist approach towards IAS officers.

As per reports, the State Government has sought explanations from all field officers, particularly DMs, posted outside Patna for coming here on February 27 to form a human chain in front of Raj Bhawan as part of a protest programme of the State chapter of IAS Association.

According to the media reports, around 28 DMs had participated in the human chain to protest the arrest of BSSC chairman Sudhir Kumar in connection with paper leak in recruitment test of clerical grade staff.

TELEGRAPH, MAR 20, 2017State cops in Delhi on hunt for IAS officer

Ramashankar

Patna, March 19: Sleuths of the special investigation team (SIT) probing the question paper leak scam left for Delhi today in search of senior IAS officer C.K. Anil, who is wanted for interrogation.

SIT sources said the team had been tipped off that Anil, a 1991-batch IAS officer who the cops want to quiz for the leak of question papers of a clerical grade Bihar Staff Selection Commission (BSSC) exam, was "hiding" in Delhi.

"He has remained incommunicado since his name figured on the list of the people who could be quizzed by the SIT headed by Patna senior superintendent of police (SSP) Manu Maharaaj," a senior police officer said.

×The SIT decided to head for Delhi after repeated attempts to contact Anil proved futile, the officer added.

Police suspect Anil "facilitated" the escape of his senior, BSSC chairman Sudhir Kumar, whose arrest has triggered a face-off between the bureaucracy and the government.

The SIT, it is learnt, would obtain a proclamation notice - a precursor to property attachment if the person remains absconding - from the special vigilance court if Anil fails to depose within two weeks. The cops have already procured an arrest warrant against him.

Last week, the SIT had issued notice to Anil asking him to depose before SSP Maharaaj. The notice period lapsed on Thursday, said an investigating officer.

The officer said at least three notices had been issued to Anil, asking him to explain before the SIT his conduct during the exams for the recruitment of 18,500 non-gazetted employees. A total of 3.5 lakh candidates had taken the exams that were cancelled after the scam came to

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light.

Maharaaj had earlier said that the SIT had gone to Anil's office twice and sent notices - by email as well as post - to his two residences in Patna.

Members of the SIT had also visited Anil's office both at the BSSC and the state planning board. Anil is an officer on special duty with the BSSC and an adviser to the state planning board. "The SIT has stepped up operations to trace the elusive officer," said a senior police officer.

Anil could not be reached for comment; his mobile phone was switched off.

Police also suspect two more senior IAS officers of being involved in the scam. Notices have also been sent to the duo, asking them to respond to the charges against them.

The SIT has so far arrested 33 persons, including Sudhir and BSSC secretary Parmeshwar Ram.

ECONOMIC TIMES, MAR 18, 2017BJP govt to UP babus: Come to office on time from Monday or face actionBy Aman Sharma,

UP Chief Secretary Rahul Bhatnagar has read out the riot act to his officials.

NEW DELHI: Come to office on time from Monday and start working towards the new BJP government’s priorities which have to be executed in a definite time-frame, or face strict action – UP Chief Secretary Rahul Bhatnagar has read out the riot act to his officials.

The new BJP CM is set to be sworn in on Sunday in Lucknow and the new government will start working from Monday. In an order sent on Friday to all Secretaries, Principal Secretaries and additional chief secretaries as well as department heads in UP, Bhatnagar has said the new government is set to take over. “The policies and the manifesto promises of the new government are to be executed in a time-bound manner. I expect that you (senior officials) will direct all your subordinates that from March 20, all government officials will be present in offices on time without fail and ensure to discharge their responsibilities. Any violation of these orders will be viewed with utmost seriousness,” the Chief Secretary has said in his orders.

The order has been specially marked to UP’s Secretary, Agriculture whose work is cut out. Among the top priorities listed out by BJP in its manifesto is to waive off all farmer loans in the first Cabinet meeting of the new state government, clearing of all sugarcane dues within two weeks as well as close down all the slaughterhouses in UP. Other manifesto promises of BJP also come with specific time-lines.

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ET reported on Friday that UP bureaucrats are already on Modi Mission even before the new UP Chief Minister takes office as they were pouring over the BJP’s 30-page manifesto, the UP Chief Secretary had held meetings with department chiefs to prepare updated progress reports of existing schemes and central teams like of the Power Ministry have landed in Lucknow. Bureaucrats are unsure about the future of the existing ongoing schemes of the outgoing Akhilesh Yadav government, like the promise of granting nearly 1.5 Cr free smartphones, the Samajwadi pension scheme, the Ram Manohar Lohia Awas Yojana and the Kanya Vidhya Dhan Yojana.

ECONOMIC TIMES, MAR 18, 2017Parliament Secretariat wants home secretary Mehrishi to explain absence at PAC panel meetBy CL Manoj

Economic Time had reported on March 8 how the PAC subcommittee headed by Bhartruhari Mahtab was agitated about the home secretary not turning up for the meeting.

NEW DELHI: The parliament secretariat has in a letter to cabinet secretary Pradeep Kumar Sinha requested him to ask home secretary Rajiv Mehrishi to give a written explanation by March 22 on why he failed to appear before a sub-committee of the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament despite being present in Delhi. The letter recalled the home secretary’s conduct violated directives of the Speaker relating to evidence before parliamentary panels.

A government representative said that the letter formally conveyed the PAC sub-committee’s feelings about the home secretary’s conduct and on behalf of the committee sought a reply from the home secretary.

Detailing how the home secretary had failed to attend the PAC subcommittee, the letter said, “I am, therefore, desired to by sub-committee to request you to kindly obtain in writing from the home secretary in this regard the following: For not attending the meeting of 7, March for tendering oral evidence, contrary to the direction of PAC secretariat; and for having apparently misled the sub-committee stating that he would be on an important official tour on 7, March, contrary to the fact that he was in Delhi and preoccupied with home minister, as vouchsafed by special secretray (IS) Rina Mitra, in her evidence in the meeting on 7, March,” the letter from Sinha to the Cabinet Secretary said.

It urged the cabinet secretary to “arrange to forward the written explanation of the aforesaid points, latest by 22 March 2017 to be placed by the sub-committee for consideration.”

ET had reported on March 8 how the PAC subcommittee headed by Bhartruhari Mahtab was agitated about the home secretary not turning up for the meeting and how PAC chairman KV

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Thomas last week wrote to the Lok Sabha Speaker, the cabinet secretary and head of house privileges committee about the incident.

BUSINESS LINE, MAR 16, 2017Central govt employees call for strike todayProtesting ‘low’ wage hike inpay panel

Central government employees in departments such as postal, income tax, Survey of India, Census, Central Groundwater Board, atomic power among others, will strike work on Thursday to protest the ‘betrayal’ by the Centre with regard to the ‘low’ wage hike recommended by the 7th Pay Commission and other long-pending demands.

The confederation said it had submitted its demand charter on June 30, last year, which was referred to a Group of Ministers that had given an assurance that necessary amendments will be made within four months, but nothing had moved so far.

The country-wide strike call, given by the Confederation of Central Government Employees, will include Gramin Dak Sevaks, casual, contract and part-time workers, according to a statement by M Krishnan, Secretary General of the confederation.

The confederation, which had given a strike call on February 16, had postponed it to March 16 following the announcement of Assembly polls in five States.

Accusing the Modi government of ‘letting down’ 33 lakh central government employees and 34 lakh pensioners, the striking workers are demanding that the National Pension Scheme be withdrawn immediately, the basic pay of Central government employees be revised to Rs. 25,000, revision of minimum wage, fitment formula and house rent allowance, regularisation of casual, contract, contingent and daily rated workers, among others.

The country-wide strike call, given by the Confederation of Central Government Employees, will include Gramin Dak Sevaks, casual, contract and part-time workers

TRIBUNE, MAR 17, 2017MAJOR BUREAUCRATIC SHAKE-UP

Minutes after Capt Amarinder Singh took oath as the Chief Minister, Punjab witnessed a major administrative shake-up on Thursday.

With the new Government in place, senior IAS officer Karan Avtar Singh has been appointed the Chief Secretary, besides reshuffle of 11 other top officers. Along with this, Karan Avtar was also given the charge of Principal Secretary of the Departments of Personnel, General Administration and Vigilance, and Investment Promotion. 

Capt Amarinder has also appointed Supreme Court lawyer and senior advocate Atul Nanda as Punjab Advocate General in place of Ashok Aggarwal, who had already resigned. 

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Karan Avtar took over the charge immediately after the oath taking ceremony, replacing Sarvesh Kaushal, who has not been appointed as the Special Chief Secretary-sum-Director General of Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Public Administration. 

1982-batch’s IAS officer Kaushal’s replacement was among the first things on the Congress Government’s mind. 

Himmat Singh, who is the senior-most IAS officer of Punjab cadre, and a long-time faithful of Capt Amarinder, has been given the charge of Special Chief Secretary Horticulture Department, in addition to the charge of Special Principal Secretary (Forests and Wildlife). 

Karanbir Singh Sidhu has been posted as Special Chief Secretary (Revenue and Rehabilitation) in addition to the charge of Special Chief Secretary, Irrigation. 

Nirmaljeet Singh Kalsi has been posted as Additional Chief Secretary (Home Affairs and Justice) along with the charge of Additional Chief Secretary (Agriculture), Additional Chief Secretary (Removal of Grievances), Principal Resident Commissioner (Investment Promotion and Industrial Liaison) Punjab Bhawan, New Delhi and Additional Chief Secretary (Governance Reforms). 

While Anurag Aggarwal has been appointed Financial Commissioner of Taxation, Vivek Pratap Singh has been given the charge of Excise and Taxation Commissioner. 

Satish Chandra, though relieved of the Taxation charge, will continue to serve as the Additional Chief Secretary, Finance, as the Budget exercise is going on and the government might not change him at this juncture.

SK Sandhu, who was the Principal Secretary to former Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, will now go to the Social Security Department as Additional Chief Secretary. To replace him, a young IAS officer Tejvir Singh will be the new Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister. 

Currently on central deputation, Tejveer has also been given the charge of Secretary Information and Public Relations, and Civil Aviation. 

Raji P Srivastava has been shifted to MGSIPA, while Expenditure Secretary Krishan Kumar has been given the additional charge of Personnel Secretary. 

ATUL NANDA IS AG

Atul Nanda, a Supreme Court lawyer and senior advocate, was appointed as Punjab Advocate-General on Thursday replacing senior advocate Ashok Aggarwal, who had already put in his papers almost six years after he was appointed by the previous SAD-BJP Government. Punjab’s new top law officer Nanda is a prominent lawyer, and has even appeared for the Supreme Court in its cases. 

FINANCIAL EXPRESS, MAR 16, 2017NITI Aayog set to hire private sector talent, offers salaries in excess of Rs 2 lakh per/mth, higher than pay of Cabinet Secretary

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The think-tank has proposed to hire advisers on deputation basis with monthly pay up to Rs 2.11 lakh and other allowances

By: Prasanta Sahu Niti Aayog has proposed to hire advisers for 5 years and extendable up to 7 years. (PTI)

After ceding more than half of the manpower inherited from its erstwhile avatar, the Planning Commission, Niti Aayog may now attract private talent by proposing to pay Rs 2.88-3.64 lakh/month to advisers in assorted fields, higher than even the pay of the Cabinet Secretary.

In the draft recruitment rules published recently for the post of adviser/senior adviser (equivalent to joint secretary/additional secretary post in the government), the think-tank has proposed to hire advisers on deputation basis in Level 14 in pay matrix (monthly pay up to Rs 2.11 lakh and other benefits like house, transport, medical, CPF, EL and other allowances) or initial consolidated remuneration of Rs 2.88 lakh/month to direct recruits on contract basis. Similarly, it has proposed to hire senior advisers (additional secretary equivalent) in the Level 15 of pay matrix (monthly pay up to Rs 2.18 lakh and other benefits) or initial remuneration of Rs 3.64 lakh/month to contractual candidates.

After implementation of the 7th Central Pay Commission recommendations, the Cabinet Secretary draws the highest pay among all career civil servants with a monthly pay of Rs 2.5 lakh plus other benefits, after serving the government more than 30 years.

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Niti Aayog has proposed to hire advisers for 5 years and extendable up to 7 years. The selection of advisers will be made by a departmental selection committee headed by the member in-charge of concerned subject in the Niti Aayog in consulation with vice-chairman of the think-tank.

For senior advisers, the eligibility criteria is proposed to be minimum 15 years’ experience (which shall include upto 3 years for Ph.D. provided no work experience is counted during those 3 years) in formulation, appraisal, execution/ implementation, research, monitoring and evaluation of policy, programme or projects. For advisers, it is proposed to be minimum 13 years’ experience (which shall include upto 3 years for Ph.D.).

The government think tank has also issued similar draft recruitment rules for hiring of deputy advisers with either in the level 12 of pay matrix or consolidated pay of Rs 1.57 lakh/month. Similarly, it has also proposed to give options to pay enhanced salary to senior research officers (Rs 1.35 lakh initial consolidated pay) and research officers (R1.12 lakh) in the think-tank. The Narendra Modi government which stresses on minimum government and maximum governance, could well tap private talents in other departments also going forward. Niti Aayog, which succeeded the Planning Commission, pruned the erstwhile body’s manpower by more than half from about 850.

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HINDUSTAN TIMES, MAR 16, 2017UPSC IAS Exam: No proposal to give more weightage to GS, says Govt

There is no proposal currently under consideration of the government to give more weightage to general studies in UPSC civil service examination, the Lok Sabha was informed on Wednesday.

Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions Jitendra Singh also said the report of BS Baswan committee is under consideration of the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) and its recommendation on the report are yet to be received.

The committee under the chairmanship of Baswan was set up on August 12, 2015 to comprehensively examine various issues, raised from time to time regarding the Civil Services Examination (CSE) with respect to the eligibility, syllabus,scheme and pattern of the examination, he said.

Responding to a question whether the government is considering to give more weightage to general studies in the UPSC’s CSE for both preliminary and mains, Singh said, “No such proposal at present is under the consideration of the government.”

HINDUSTAN TIMES, MAR 16, 2017Cabinet approves 2% hike in DA for central govt staffers, pensioners from Jan 1The Centre on Wednesday announced a 2% hike in DA for central government employees and pensioners . (PTI File )

The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday approved a 2% increase in dearness allowance (DA) from January 1, 2017.

The announcement, which is in line with recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission, will further boost earnings of 49 lakh central government employees and 55.5 lakh pensioners.

Dearness allowance is provided to government and public sector undertaking employees and pensioners to neutralise the impact of inflation.

The move will also boost consumption demand. Analysts said that the hikes will put more money in the hands of the people prompting them to spend more, while boosting the broader economy.

“The increase is a welcome step and hopefully it will add to more purchasing power for consumers,” Soumya Kanti Ghosh, chief economic adviser, State Bank of India group told HT.

Sources said that the decision had to be kept on hold due to the assembly elections in five states.

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The pay commission report was submitted in late 2015 and subsequently finance minister Arun Jaitley, while presenting the Union Budget for 2016-17 budgeted for higher salaries for central government employees.

The pay commission recommended an average 23.55% increase in emoluments of central government employees, including salaries, perks and pensions.

ECONOMIC TIMES, MAR 16, 2017Vacancies in IAS at 'alarming level': Parliamentary panel

"The Committee expresses its serious concern over persistent shortage of IAS officers and strongly recommends that all efforts be made to fill these vacancies," it said.Tax planning:How to complete all tax work before March 31NEW DELHI: Vacancies in the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) have reached an "alarming level", a parliamentary panel today noted adding that it will "require decades" to fill the existing shortage.

In its report, the Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, and Law and Justice noted that almost all the key and strategic positions under the Union as well as the states are being manned by the IAS and persistent shortage of IAS officers ultimately affects governance in the country.

The panel cited vacancies as on January 1, 2016 which stand at 1,470 as against sanctioned strength of 6,396 in the Indian Administrative Service which is considered as the backbone of governance in the country.

"The Committee expresses its serious concern over persistent shortage of IAS officers and strongly recommends that all efforts be made to fill these vacancies," it said.

It said lack of training capacity should not become a reason for non-filling of vacancies of IAS officers and if there is shortage of capacity in this regard, efforts should be made to enhance the capacity to train more IAS officers.

The panel also underlined that Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, where IAS officers are trained, has the capacity to train more than 180 officers.

The Committee said it fails to understand as to why lack of training capacity has been cited as one of the reasons for not filling the vacancies of IAS officers.

"On a perusal of Annual Report 2016-17 of the Ministry, the Committee observes that shortage of IAS officers in this country has been a perennial problem since 1951. But now the vacancy position has increased to an alarming level. With the present rate of recruitment it will require decades to fill the existing vacancies," it said.

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DEFENCE, NATIONAL

STATESMAN, MAR 21, 2017Will soldiers get pay commission benefits?Harsha Kakar

It has been almost a year since the pay commission was implemented for all central government employees. The initial report of the commission had itself hurt military pride. Apart from lowering its status, it had also reduced its allowances, ensuring those occupying plush offices in secure zones in Guwahati from the IAS and allied services would draw better allowances than soldiers deployed in the highest battlefield of the world, the Siachen Glacier. The pay commission had created a rift between various central services, especially the military and the bureaucracy. The military’s demand has always remained one, status quo with other services. The military feels  it was the bureaucracy that was responsible for lowering its status to that of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF), well below the IAS, IPS and other allied services. Such was the anguish across the military that service chiefs were compelled to jointly reject orders for issuing directions for the pay commission’s implementation. Such an action has been unprecedented in the history of Independent India.

The hue and cry rose to such levels in media and social media circles that the Prime Minister had to intervene and refer the pay commission of the military to a separate anomalies panel under the Department of Personnel and Training (DOPT). The DOPT functions under the PMO. The PM's directions were issued despite orders by the Defence Minister to service chiefs to accept the report as released, while the anomalies could be handled subsequently. Had the service chiefs accepted the directions of the defence minister, not a single anomaly would have been rectified. Anomalies of the fifth and sixth pay commission continue to remain unresolved; expecting the anomalies of the seventh to be cleared would be farfetched. Had the pay commission not been released till a viable and satisfactory solution was arrived at, involving all affected parties, the present scenario of one service still awaiting its release would never have arisen. 

It has been over six months since it was referred to the anomalies commission and there are still no inputs of when it is likely to be announced. If it takes a department under the PMO over six months to implement his directions, then there are serious doubts on what can be expected. While every other central service has enjoyed the benefits, the military quietly remains hopeful. The announcement of elections in five states and the kicking in of the code of conduct made any release of the final report unlikely till the announcement of results. However, everything should have been concluded, the findings discussed with service chiefs and the report ready for release. No inputs on the same seem to flow till date. Similar is the case with another anomalies commission, concerning allowances, under the secretary of finance. Why should there be a delay now? The elections concluded almost a fortnight ago, results were announced, new governments have assumed power, hence the code of conduct no longer exists. 

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The Justice Reddy commission report on the OROP was submitted to the finance ministry in October last year. It was for the government to study and announce its final recommendations. To continue to keep the issue alive, the agitation by the veterans continues at Jantar Mantar. Again, there is absolute silence on the part of the government. This raises the question of whether it is serious on implementing it, or was it just a ploy to garner votes in elections.Both anomalies commissions have no representative of the military, the main affected party. It has members of other central services who are tasked to provide justice to the military which in reality may never happen. Is the government hoping that by delaying its release, it could push the military leadership to accept a midway mark, by which it could continue to maintain the protocol gap created by the original release? If that is the intention, then it may be a wrong action, as it would lower the standing of the chiefs in the eyes of the rank and file of the military and enhance the divide between the military and the bureaucracy as also within the military. The government is aware that there is unlikely to be any official bickering as military rules and regulations prohibit it. 

Casualties in J and K continue to rise, while the summer has yet to commence. Army deployment would increase as anti-militant operations take centre stage. Morale in the army needs to be at an all-time high, especially as local support to anti-national elements is on the rise and encounters are only going to increase. One of the most important ingredients of high morale is pay and allowances and appropriate status and respect. 

The military suffers a shortage of over nine thousand officers. Degraded status and an ignoring attitude would never help in making the service attractive for the masses. A change at the top, with the defence minister having moved to Goa, would stall the process of Non-Functional Upgradation (NFU), as also pushing for an early release of the pay commission. A temporary defence minister or a new appointee would require requisite time to understand the problems and grievances of the service, before attempting to address them. 

The Prime Minister's words of praise in his speeches or spending time with troops on Diwali, are insufficient. It is time for him to act and openly prove the genuineness of his words, release the pay commission, clearing major anomalies. It is equally surprising that the opposition can question the Prime Minister’s silence on hate crimes in the US, but refuse to question the government on delay in releasing the military’s pay commission. 

(The writer is a retired Major General of the Indian Army.)

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DISABILITIES

PIONEER, MAR 21, 2017PEOPLE WITH 60% DISABILITY TO GET PENSION UNDER NEW HARYANA DIVYANG POLICY

With a view to widen the scope of the scheme for pension to persons with disabilities in the state, Haryana Government has decided that persons with 60 per cent disability would also be eligible to avail this pension under the Haryana Divyang Pension Rules, 2016.

The  Handicapped Persons Pension Second Amendment Rules, 2004 have been amended and would be called the Haryana Divyang Pension Rules, 2016. A notification to this effect has been issued, said a spokesman of the Social Justice and Empowerment Department.

Under these amended rules, a person who is 18 years or above would be eligible for grant of pension if he is a domicile of Haryana and has been residing in the State for three years at the time of submission of application. The person should have Disability Certificate of 60 per cent or more for disabilities including blindness, low vision, leprosy cured, hearing impairment, locomotor disability, mental retardation and mental illness. Apart from this, the applicant should not be supported by his or her close relatives such as parents, son or son’s sons, and his or her own annual income from all sources should not be more than minimum wages of unskilled labour as notified by the Labour Department and circulated by the Department on year-to-year basis, he added.

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ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT

STATESMAN, MAR 18, 2017Panel calls for streamlining of NITI Aayog

After a scrutiny of NITI Aayog’s 2017-18 budgetary demands, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance today said the Aayog should be “suitably” streamlined to handle its wide range of functions, like guiding Central and state governments as a think tank, resolving inter-state disputes, conducting studies and setting up tinkering labs.

In its report presented to Parliament, the Committee headed by Mr Veerappa Moily, said its “general impression” was that “although various initiatives seem to have been launched by the NITI with much fanfare, the concrete outcomes expected from them seem to be missing”.

The committee admonished the Ministry of Planning (NITI Aayog) for delayed submission of its budgetary details.

The committee said it wants the NITI “to focus more on results, outcomes and the concretisation of well-conceived ideas and innovations”. It said “as the allocative role of the erstwhile Planning Commission is not to be played any longer, the Committee would suggest that the NITI should now function as an effective think-tank guiding the Central and State Governments in policy-making and also implementation of governmental programmes and schemes”.

Reviewing the functioning of NITI Aayog which replaced the Planning Commission two years ago, the Standing Committee said the Aayog’s two schemes, Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) and Self-Employment and Talent Utilisation (SETU), were assigned Rs 150 crore and Rs 1000 crore, respectively, in the 2015-16 Budget but the provisions were later reduced to just Rs 2 crore in the absence of guidelines, rendering the well-devised schemes infructuous.

The Committee said in its previous report, it had expressed displeasure on the “lackadaisical approach and inability of NITI” to share any information on its Mid-Term Appraisal (MTA) of the 12th Five Year Plan, which comes to a close this month-end. “They (the committee) are dismayed to know that till last year, NITI had only prepared a draft appraisal document,” the report said. After its 12th Plan MTA, the NITI should institutionalise the MTAs in its working forfuture, the committee said.

Expressing doubts about whether the NITI Aayog had the wherewithal to deal with its extensive responsibilities, the Committee said the Aayog had not given information on the allocations it proposed for its various initiatives. The committee’s report said it wanted to know about the data mining and analysis being done by it in its various studies and appraisals.

“The Committee would urge upon them (NITI) to refocus on the programmes and schemes meant particularly for the social sector, as the Ministry of Finance, by its very nature, can only

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play a limited role in this regard due to their orientation towards fiscal consolidation,” the report said. The Committee said it expects the “present role and mandate of NITI to be accordingly simplified with greater clarity and vision about its assigned role and functions”. It desired that the NITI focus on resolving inter-state disputes and conflicts between communities, like water disputes

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EDUCATION

HINDUSTAN TIMES, MAR 22, 2017UGC lists 23 Indian universities as fake, but states puzzled over their ‘existence’

The Indian higher education regulator has listed 23 universities as fake — not approved to grant

degrees or diplomas. But most state governments wondered why these names were on the list

since the institutes either don’t exist or have closed down.

The University Grants Commission (UGC) releases a list of fake universities across India before

the start of the academic session every year. It serves as an advisory for students because degrees

or diplomas issued by these institutes are not suitable for higher education or jobs.

Universities can be set up through a law by the Centre or the state government, and only then can

the institute award degrees.

Several institutes come up without meeting the requirements and offer degrees. That amounts to

cheating, the UGC said, asking the state governments to initiate action.

But the fake list has triggered a controversy. Bihar’s higher education council (SHEC) vice

chairman Kameshwar Jha accused the UGC of tarnishing the state’s image by putting on the list

Maithili University or Vishwavidyalaya, Darbhanga.

He said no such university existed in the state for over two decades, and including the name of a

non-existent institution on the list is equivalent of maligning the state.

“When the institution was declared illegal over two decades ago, I don’t see any point in

mentioning it on the fake list year after year. It only earns Bihar a bad name,” he said.

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Bihar is already struggling to clear its image after incidents of mass cheating, especially after it

got engulfed last year in a massive exam fraud that was exposed when its class 12 toppers failed

to answer rudimentary questions during a media interaction.

Officials in Uttar Pradesh, another state notorious for high instances of education frauds, have

said six universities on the fake list don’t exist but were offering degrees. They admitted that no

in-depth investigation was done on the UGC alert.

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The lone bogus university in Maharashtra — Raja Arabic University in Nagpur — is a

residential madarsa or Islamic seminary.

“We run a residential madarsa with 240 students,” said Maulana Mehmood Rizvi Khan, who

heads the institute. He had apologised to the UGC for naming the seminary as a university.

Similarly, St John University in Kerala has been functioning for the past 15 years in

Kishannattamk, a place that does not exist.

“We have no idea about this. And nobody has registered any compliant,” said an education

ministry official. The UGC had sent reminders about this university.

Of the two sham institutes on alternative medicine in West Bengal, one is running with a

different name and the other is functioning.

The Indian Institute of Alternative Medicine has apparently morphed into the Indian Board for

Alternative Medicine after its name was mentioned on the UGC’s 2009 list. The state

government has made no effort for its closure.

“We received a notice from the UGC last year, but before we could reply our name was on the

list,” said Jayanto Bhattarcharji, founder of the Institute of Alternate Medicine and Research,

which is on the list.

The institute was affiliated to the Kolkata-based Alternative Medical Council, he said.

The Union human resource development ministry plans to send reminders to all states to submit

a report on actions taken against fake universities and technical institutions.

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Mahendra Nath Pandey, junior HRD minister, said: “We have been sending letters to the states

as fake institutes are jeopardizing the careers of innocent students.”

Uttar Pradesh, which has the highest number of unapproved universities, will be asked to

expedite action.

HINDUSTAN TIMES, MAR 22, 2017CBSE mandates 2-semester system from Class 6 to prepare students for board exams

Neelam Pandey 

Schools affiliated to the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) will now have to follow

a uniform assessment scheme that stipulates a two-semester system – complete with half-yearly

and annual examinations – from Class 6 onwards.

“To make students more confident about facing the Class 10 board examinations when they join

the upper-primary stage in Class 6, we have decided to implement a uniform system of

assessment, examination pattern and report cards...” said CBSE chairman RK Chaturvedi.

Under the new system, two periodic tests of 10 marks will also be conducted every semester.

CBSE officials say it will help improve the quality of education, prepare students for the Class

10 board examinations, and facilitate easy migration of students from one school to another.

Officials said over 18,000 CBSE-affiliated schools follow various systems of assessment from

classes 6 to 9, and issue different kinds of report cards to their students. “Due to disparities in the

system, students from classes 6 to 9 face several problems whenever they migrate to another

school. It has become imperative to have a uniform system that makes things easier for students

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and other stakeholders. It will help solve migratory issues between CBSE schools as well as

other educational institutions,” a senior official said.

Sources said as CBSE schools are required to follow the NCERT syllabus in the upper primary

stage, the authorities deemed it necessary to ensure uniformity in the assessment structure,

examination system, and issuance of report cards.

Students – for instance – will be required to study mathematics, science and the social sciences,

besides three languages and another subject. Schools will conduct two periodic tests of 10 marks,

and the half-yearly written examination will account for 80. Students will also get marks for

notebook submission.

For the annual exam, students will be assessed on 10% syllabus of the first term and the entire

syllabus of the second. Similarly, the annual exam for Class 7 will include 20% syllabus from the

first term.

For classes 6 to 8, students will get grades from A1 (91-100) to E (32 and below). Though co-

scholastic activities will also be taken into account, grades will be given out only for factors such

as regularity, participation, output, teamwork, and health and physical education (including yoga

and martial arts).

Report cards issued by all affiliated schools will have to bear the CBSE as well as the school

logos.

ECONOMIC TIMES, MAR 22, 2017From April 1, Aadhar based attendance must for employees of Haryana govt aided collegesPrincipals have been directed to ensure timely installation of machines and all officers and officials of the colleges should mark attendance through AEBAS only.

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CHANDIGARH: From April 1, 'Aadhar' enabled biometric attendance will become mandatory for teachers and other employees in all the government aided colleges of Haryana.

Principals of government aided colleges have been directed to purchase at least 10 Aadhar Enabled Biometric Attendance System (AEBAS) machines with wi-fi model through HARTRON within a week, a spokesman of the state government's higher education department said here.

He added that college authorities can contact District Information Officer, National Informatics Centre (NIC) for procedural inputs required to create database of all teaching and non-teaching employees within seven days.

Principals have been directed to ensure timely installation of machines and all officers and officials of the colleges should mark attendance through AEBAS only.

They have also been asked to provide the name, designation, email-id and mobile number of a nodal technical officer, designated for this purpose by the college.

The compliance report would have to be sent to the office of Higher Education Department positively by March 25, 2017, spokesperson said.

STATESMAN, MAR 21, 2017Towards freedomAK Ghosh

The University Grants Commission has decided to grant autonomy to more colleges even without on-the-spot inspection by an expert committee. This is a major development in the academic sphere under the BJP dispensation. However, the concept still seems to be a mirage as the criteria for granting autonomy have been left rather vague.

The establishment of autonomous colleges, as envisaged under the New Policy of Education of 1986, was expected to be a trend-setter. But the “centres of excellence” proved to be a non-starter. The idea was welcome as the plan envisaged that autonomy would be granted on the basis of good performance. It was intended to decentralise authority from university administrators to university departments and from universities to colleges. The faculty would be responsible and accountable for all the academic programmes, including restructuring of courses, the quality of teaching and assessment of students’ performance. The idea was to allow these colleges to become centres of excellence without being affected by the over-bureaucratisation of the decision-making processes.

When the UGC announced that St Xavier’s College in Kolkata would become the first

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undergraduate college in Bengal to acquire the status of an autonomous institution, it was supposed to be in fulfilment of the state government’s pledge to have at least one autonomous college. But the issue of autonomy for Presidency College turned out to be a dilemma. Autonomy still remains an ill-defined term and this has given rise to misplaced fears among academics.

Although the scheme has been a grand success in many advanced countries, it is yet to make substantial headway in India. Certain pronouncements from Delhi nearly four decades ago sounded like a recognition that an autonomous college was an idea whose time had come. Official circulars were issed throughout the country. Theoretically, the concept, as enunciated in 1978, became a significant step towards improving the quality of higher education in India.

However, it was in 1948 that the first proposal for autonomous colleges was mooted by the erstwhile University Education Commission. In 1964, the committee on colleges, with Professor Mahajani in the chair, advised the UGC “to select a few colleges and give them an autonomous status with freedom to experiment with new ideas”. A committee on standards of university education reiterated the need in 1965, and the National Policy on Education for 1986 stated: “Autonomous colleges will be helped to develop in large numbers until the affiliation system is replaced by a free and more creative association of universities and colleges”. The first such college came into existence in Tamil Nadu in 1978 and the number started growing, but rather sluggishly.

In 1981, an Indian delegation studied the functioning of autonomous colleges in the USA and recommended to the UGC that “the process of establishing autonomous colleges should be accelerated”. So the idea was strongly recommended in the National Policy, 1986, and confirmed again in the Programme of Action 1986 and 1992, and all these documents were approved by Parliament. While the Seventh Plan envisaged autonomy to 500 among 7000 colleges, only 100-odd colleges were made autonomous.

If Presidency College had decided in the past not to seek autonomy, it is also a matter of concern that none of the leading colleges in Delhi ever expressed its willingness to enjoy autonomous status due to opposition from the teachers’ associations as also the unwillingness of the university to amend its acts to make autonomy possible.

In fact, the initial enthusiasm for the novel scheme has waned considerably. What is worse, there is lack of awarness in the institutions themselves that they are in need of liberation. True, teachers sitting in the staff rooms denounce their university for the deficiencies of the curriculum and the unreliability of the education procedures. But if the syllabus is defective, would they draw up a better one? If the teaching routine that the university prescribes is not agreeable, would they suggest a more effective way of teaching and learning? If the present style of

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examination and evaluation needs change and improvement, what would they want to do? To answer these questions and put the answers into practise is the true meaning of autonomy. What autonomy would facilitate is a deliberate and conscious use of the freedom to frame and develop the syllabus.

Freedom from self-governance ought to be manifest in two levels: i) the institutional level where the college is free to determine its policy and programme; ii) the individual level where the teacher is given the freedom to learn and to teach. Learners should also have the freedom to choose those courses which they think would help them grow (Carneigie Commission Summary Report, 1974). Autonomy envisages a two-pronged liberation ~ first, liberating the universities from the burden of conducting examinations for numerous students which deters them from fulfilling their responsibilities of giving academic and administrative leadership in the higher educational field. Second, autonomy is also intended to liberate the colleges from excessive control of the universities and allow them the freedom to chart out their plan of action, including courses, curriculum and examination management ... subject to the overall supervision and control of the universities.

However, the setting up of autonomous colleges has been very slow largely on account of the indifference of the universities. This is reinforced by the strong resistance from teachers’ unions. The teaching fraternity is also concerned over the increase in workload, paucity of funds and the operational problems in implementing the scheme. Furthermore, as autonomous colleges are non-conventional institutions, the degrees offered by them might be suspect. Grades or marks may be manipulated in the absence of an external monitoring agency. Moreover, they might foster eliticism.

Autonomous colleges have been remarkably successful in effecting innovations in higher education by introducing new courses relevant to the needs of students and society. Besides, they are able to continuously restructure their approach and methods to cope with the changing global educational scenario.

Tamil Nadu has the highest number of autonomous colleges in the country. At another remove, autonomy has been a failure in Ravenshaw College, Cuttack. According to UGC officials, the process was not fully implemented. Besides, funds were also held back by the state government. Autonomy, thus, calls for a supportive role of the universities and the state governments. The success of the scheme depends largely on the level of cooperation between the teachers and the managements. It is time for direct intervention by the UGC in order to ensure that autonomy for colleges is not merely a policy document but an example worthy of emulation throughout the country.

(The writer is former Associate Professor, Dept. of English, Gurudas College, Kolkata)

 

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HINDU, MAR 20, 2017DUTA calls for rally against autonomy for colleges Worried about colleges becoming ‘teaching shops’

The Delhi University Teachers’ Association (DUTA) has called for a joint rally of students, teachers, karamcharis , parents and citizens from Mandi House to Jantar Mantar on March 29 over DU colleges being granted autonomy.

The DUTA said the proposal to grant autonomous status would “incentivise commercialisation in the form of self-financing”.

According to the association, “financial autonomy” meant autonomy to raise fee to meet expenses. This, they said, would steeply increase the cost of education at these colleges. All aspects — from hostel facilities to examinations — will be seen as a way of generating money, the DUTA said.

“Autonomous colleges will mean that college managements will be free from regulatory mechanisms and checks and balances imposed by the university. Brand names will be used to convert colleges into teaching shops,” said the association.

Also, the DUTA alleged that the PMO was approaching the chairpersons of trusts of various colleges to seek autonomy. The Vice-Chancellor, meanwhile, had set up a committee to consider proposals sent by the colleges without bringing the matter up before the statutory bodies, they said.

Teachers said that with colleges being granted autonomy and fewer checks and balances in place, malpractices in admissions, appointments, examinations, and allotment of hostel seats would rise.

The DUTA is also concerned about the reduction in the number of seats for under-graduate courses at DU and said that the move may lead to the conversion of many public-funded colleges into self-financing units. This, the association said, would compromise the quality of courses in pure and basic humanities, social sciences and pure science, which are essential for any original thinking and research.

According to the DUTA, it is important for citizens to speak out against the proposed change as the move would hit all sections of society, especially women, economically deprived students and students from backward and vulnerable sections.

TELEGRAPH, MAR 17, 2017Funds fear on Dalit research- UGC order signals end of support

Pheroze L. Vincent and Basant Mohanty

New Delhi, March 16: The government has decided to stop funding research centres on social

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discrimination at several universities, prompting accusations of shielding the "Brahminical social order".

"It's ironic that these centres, which research Dalits, B.R. Ambedkar's philosophy, social exclusion and inclusive policies like reservation, are being closed down when the University Grants Commission (the higher education regulator) is funding courses on Vedic studies," said N. Sukumar, Ambedkar scholar and teacher of political science in Delhi University.

These "centres for study of social exclusion and inclusive policy" had been envisaged under the 11th five-year plan (2007-12) and subsequently started at 35 central and state government universities. The decision to fund them is usually renewed from plan period to plan period.

Now, prodded by the government, the regulator has written to some of these universities that it would stop funding these centres once the 12<+>th<+> plan ends on March 31 this year.

×"I am directed to inform you that UGC will not provide financial support to the centre after the end of XIIth Plan as per the order received from MHRD (ministry of human resource development)," says the order, issued by University Grants Commission undersecretary Sushma Rathore.

The Telegraph has seen a copy of the order, dated March 6, that Jawaharlal Nehru University received on Monday.

Ministry and commission officials said the letter had gone to many of these universities that have these centres and have not upgraded them to departments, which are permanent establishments that receive uninterrupted non-plan funds from the regulator.

Apart from JNU, it could not be independently confirmed from the other universities that have these centres that they had received the letter.

"Further, the UGC will not be liable to the scheme of Social Exclusion and Inclusive Policy after the completion of XIIth Plan in any matter of functioning of the Centre; No communication whatsoever will be entertained or solicited by the UGC," the letter says.

Commission chairman Ved Prakash was evasive when this newspaper contacted him.

"The letter says only funding under the plan will stop, not non-plan (funding)," Prakash said and hung up. The centres researching social exclusion hardly receive non-plan funds.

A text message to human resource development ministry spokesperson Ghanshyam Goel brought no response.

Rathore's letter has hung a cloud over the future of the MPhil and PhD scholars enrolled in

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these centres and the professors who teach them.

Pramod Kumar, the JNU registrar, confirmed that these teachers' appointments would be valid only till March 31.

"Many who were on lien have returned to the centres they came from. The students will be transferred to other centres; we'll request teachers of related subjects to take them in," he said.

Similar centres for "women studies" had been established at over 100 universities in the 1970s, dozens of which continue to depend on plan funds. There's no decision to stop these centres' funding.

Sukumar, the Delhi University teacher, said the latest order had targeted the centres researching social exclusion because they "question the hierarchical Brahminical social order, and the UGC doesn't want such questions raised".

He said the regulator should have strengthened these centres by providing additional funds to their host universities so they could convert them into regular departments.

Kancha Ilaiah, director of the centre researching social exclusion at Maulana Azad National Urdu University, Hyderabad, said he had not received a similar letter from the regulator. Told about JNU, he criticised the regulator's decision.

Ilaiah said these centres study marginalised communities such as tribes, Dalits, backward castes and minorities, creating databases with details of their landholding patterns, livelihood, health, education and the like.

"These are used to tell the State where exactly to invest for these communities' uplift. The public perception of this government will change if it closes these centres; it will not send out a good signal," he said.

In November 2015, Sangh mouthpiece Panchjanya had published an article titled "JNU -Daraar ka garh" (JNU - the citadel of division) that targeted the university's centres for the study of social exclusion and Northeast India.

It said these centres had been set up as part of a "conspiracy" under which "Leftists and Christian missionaries" were employed to "corrupt the minds of the educated class".

TELEGRAPH, MAR 17, 2017HRD hurdle to skills universities

New Delhi, March 16: The human resource development ministry has come in the way of another ministry setting up universities specialising in skill-based programmes.

The National Skills Universities conceptualised by the skill development and entrepreneurship

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ministry seems to have been put on the backburner following resistance from the HRD ministry.

"Several ministries supported the proposal while some like the department of higher education and the ministry of HRD had some reservations. The ministry of skill development and entrepreneurship is in the process of examining the comments received," skill development minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy told the Rajya Sabha today in reply to a question by Congress member Ranjib Biswal.

×He said a working group had been constituted on March 31, 2015, to prepare the road map for setting up the universities. It submitted its report on April 22, 2015, along with a draft bill for the establishment of the National Skills Universities.

The draft bill had been circulated among the central ministries and departments and state governments concerned for their comments. No state has given feedback yet.

To a supplementary question by Trinamul Congress leader S.S. Roy, Rudy said National Skills Universities proposed to offer all skill-based programmes, many of which are under the regulatory regime of the HRD ministry.

The All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) regulates all engineering, management, architecture and pharmacy courses.

Besides, the University Grants Commission has advised all universities to start bachelor in vocational courses.

"This particular bill was trying to create the ecosystem of imparting skills under one vertical. This is a policy decision, which has a long-term impact," Rudy said.

HRD ministry sources said Rudy's idea of skill education under one vertical meant that the skill development and entrepreneurship ministry would have to be given the domain of the entire skill education, including engineering.

The proposed National Skills Universities wanted to start degree programmes in all vocational areas.

"The HRD ministry argued that all the courses being envisaged by the skills universities are already being offered by engineering colleges, polytechnics, IITs, NITs and general colleges. The need for such specialised universities was not explained," a source said.

Currently, skill development programmes are being offered by 18 central ministries and departments.

ECONOMIC TIMES, MAR 17, 2017

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UGC recast to free up higher education put on fast track

Following the budgetary announcement on restructuring of UGC and freeing up of higher education, the government is putting together a fast-track plan to implement it without any long-drawn legislative changes.

NEW DELHI: The rigid and heavily criticised regulatory regime of the University Grants Commission (UGC), the apex higher education regulator, is set to undergo a major overhaul.

The Prakash Javadekar-led ministry of human resource development has finalised the first roadmap to bring in a new system that is less prescriptive and encourages minimal regulation.

Plans are on to repeal obsolete UGC regulations, categorise institutes by performance, reward outstanding ones by converting them into universities and penalise laggards and defaulters with closures and stoppage of grants. Following the budgetary announcement on restructuring of UGC and freeing up of higher education, the government is putting together a fast-track plan to implement it without any long-drawn legislative changes.

THREE CATEGORIES

The HRD ministry proposes to introduce a system to classify institutes into three categories, depending on performance on a range of parameters. Outstanding institutions will get quick passage for conversion into standalone universities.

Institutes and colleges in the top category will be given total autonomy for expansion, starting new courses, fixing of fees and so on. Institutions found languishing in the lowest category will be put through a UGC-backed mentoring programme. If they still fail to improve, they could be targeted for closure or merger.

AUTONOMY Autonomy will be the thrust of the new regulatory regime. It is proposed that colleges should be allowed to start new courses without approval of the university, which is mandated to award the degrees. A restructuring of the scheme for autonomous colleges has been decided upon to transform outstanding institutions into universities.

In the case of technical institutes under All India Council of Technical Education, it is proposed that those with 75% of their courses accredited will be given autonomy to modify the syllabus when needed, besides a range of other issues.

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Autonomy will be granted in matters such as appointment of teachers, admission of students, research areas, pedagogy, courses on offer, award of degrees, requirement of faculty and fixing of fees.

All UGC regulations found out of tune or unnecessary will be repealed or modified and the commission is already identifying them.

ACCOUNTABILITY Along with autonomy, the changes will bring in accountability, clearly defining their parameters. Learning outcomes and clear quality benchmarks will be identified. Mandatory Aadhaar seeding into the faculty database is advocated to check bogus staffing. Penal provisions to stop grants to institutions submitting fraudulent data will be incorporated.

ACCREDITATION Bringing in a credible, predictable and transparent accreditation framework has been identified as key to cleaning up the higher education sector. It is recommended that the accreditation framework identify clear, streamlined quality benchmarks for agencies to assess institutions.

The focus will be on minimum physical inspection, which is viewed as a route to corruption, and on prioritising data capture instead. The score of an institute will be based on objective quantitative inputs gathered online (80%) and qualitative inputs through a peer review system (20%). The peer review report will be put online when ready in the interests of transparency. In his budget speech on February 1, finance minister Arun Jaitley had proposed reforms in UGC.

“Good quality institutions would be enabled to have greater administrative and academic autonomy. Colleges will be identified based on accreditation and ranking and given autonomous status. A revised framework will be put in place for outcome-based accreditation and credit-based programmes,” the minister said.

HINDU, MAR 21, 20179,000 ad-hoc DU teachers’ posts to be filled in a year, says CentreHRD Minister says govt’s policy is permanent employment

More than 9,000 ad-hoc posts of teachers in Delhi University (DU) will be regularised

within a year, the government said on Monday.

Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar told the Lok Sabha that part-

time employment is not the policy of the Centre and it wants to make the teachers’

appointment permanent.

‘No discrimination’

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“Our policy is permanent employment. Therefore, in the DU case, where there were more

than 9,000 ad-hoc posts, we have made it compulsory and there was a court case also. Now,

the solution is that within one year, all these posts will be made permanent and not

temporary,” Mr. Javadekar said during Question Hour.

The Minister said that even those who were appointed part-time teachers or temporary or

ad-hoc teachers, are paid regular salary of an assistant professor.

“So, there is no discrimination and we want to fill up these posts,” said Mr. Javadekar.

STATESMAN, MAR 16, 2017Education of the MindTarun Kumar Choudhury

The Committee on evolution of the New Education Policy (NEP) has reportedly submitted its report along with recommendations  to  the Human Resources Development ministry. The new HRD minister has recently announced  the constitution of  another committee, to be headed by an eminent educationist, to take yet another call  on the issue before  NEP is finalised. Incidentally, in an effort to change and cleanse the system of corruption and generation of black money, the Prime Minister demonetised high-value currency as a step in that direction. Interestingly enough, human thought  and action are correlated with the mind, which is an entity beyond  a person’s  body and intellect as Arjuna had told  Lord Krishna in the Mahabharata.

Regretfully, the legacy of colonial education, formulated by Lord Macaulay, is still the foundation of education policy in post-independent India with cosmetic experiments and changes based on the recommendations of various Education Commissions. In 1835, Lord Macaulay told the British Parliament that he had dislodged India’s traditional moral principles and value lessons in the scheme of Raj education to make people forget their own culture, their self-esteem and to imagine  that all that was foreign and  British  were good and greater than their own. The objective was to put in place a totally dominated nation, bereft of  self-respect and  subservient to the interests of the Empire.  Educationists of the era and even now, with a myopic vision and an eye on material gains, had accepted the argument  that moral lessons and cultivation of values had outlived  their utility with the advent of the scientific renaissance.

However, Swami Vivekananda had anticipated  its implications. He pointed out  unambiguously that if traditional morality and values are not stimulated and developed in the minds of young boys and girls at their tender age in school education, the nation is destined to die in spite of all social reforms, acts of law and material gains. True to his visionary forecast, the trend of developments in India today show that the nation is running along a downward curve of evolution with aggravated desires, multiplied wants, clashes and conflicts resulting in degeneration of the society. The supreme edifice of philosophical thoughts of the nation has been

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pulled down to the level of sordid utilitarianism undermining in the process the very foundation of its spiritual and cultural beliefs. Sadly, lack of morality and value cultivation swept the nation off its moorings, in the process destroying the  love for one’s own language and literature and the arts. There was unhappiness at home and this was reflected in society.

The tide can yet be turned with the restoration in people’s minds of  the values of morality through the inculcation of gospels and the scriptures of all religions ~ Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, Christianity, Jainism and so on ~ in the school curricula. The Committee of Religion and Moral Instruction, set up by what was then called the Central Education Ministry, had strongly suggested  that “the cure of growing maladies and ills of the society lies in deliberate inculcation of moral and spiritual values from the early years of our life.”

Again, modern researchers have revealed what our rishis were well aware of, specifically that human faculties and character are in a formative stage right from the stage of the  toddler and continues up to the teenage phase when the minds are impressionable. Incidentally, with the adoption of the Right to Education Act  for all,  school education has become a platform for mass education and can help to impart moral and value lessons to all boys and girls through a revamp of the school curriculum and thus usher in an era of morally disciplined people. If a nation is to become strong, virile and prosperous in real terms, its activities need to be based  on the foundation of morality and values. This was the thesis of Swami Vivekananda.

Training of the mind  to impart morality and cultivate values in students at their tender age during school education cannot be overlooked by the proposed new Committee, announced by present HRD Minister, while formulating NEP. Inclusion of comprehensive moral science text books, based on scriptures of all religious sects, highlighting such virtues as truthfulness, honesty, integrity, love, respect, faith, tolerance, gratitude, devotion, piety, forgiveness, modesty, fellow feelings, selflessness, compassion, service to others and so on can combat human vices like greed, corruption, violence, terrorism, excessive materialism, divisiveness, cruelty, selfishness, and other harmful traits of the personality. Provision of weightage for proficiency in moral science subjects in employment interviews can be another  step to awaken the parents to the need to improve the right social and domestic environment for their children.

Ironically, the recommendations of a Group of Secretaries, set up by the Prime Minister, have, reportedly, laid stress on physical and skill development as part of the curricula, but is unfortunately silent on enlightenment of the mind. The British accorded short shrift to the training of the mind in their own interest to make Indians a dominated nation.  Hopefully,  there is no agenda of our governments in independent India to maintain the status quo with regard to mental education. The government appears to have succumbed to the pressure of powerful vested interests. It is also expected that the  educationist, who will head the proposed Committee for framing NEP, would be suitably foresighted to understand the effects of indisciplined minds on the country’s future.

Let the Preamble of NEP be based on India’s greatest modern thinker Swami Vivekananda’s idea of education ~ “We want that education by which character is formed, strength of mind is increased, the intellect is expanded and by which one can stand on one’s feet”. This is possible

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only on a strong foundation of  mental  training and a basic condition for the fulfillment of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s  Ek Bharat, Shreshta Bharat dream.

The writer, an IIT alumni, is a freelance contributor and is associated with the NGO called Society of Elders.

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EMPLOYMENT

TELEGRAPH, MAR 21, 2017Qualification rider for govt jobless allowance- Chief minister's pet scheme is only for those who haven't studied beyond Class XII

Dev Raj

Patna, March 20: A person who has studied beyond Class XII is not worthy of assistance to find a job, according to the Nitish Kumar government.

The state government's ambitious scheme to provide self-help allowance of Rs 1,000 per month for two years to unemployed youth in the age group of 20-25 years is only for those who stopped studying after Intermediate (Class XII), did not take admission into undergraduate courses or did not pursue higher studies of any kind, a senior government official has confirmed to The Telegraph.

"The guidelines of the scheme mention that the designated allowance will be given only to those who have passed Class XII but have not studied further or have not taken admission to courses related to higher studies," a senior official of the planning and development department - which is handling the scheme - told The Telegraph today on the condition of anonymity. "The rules have to be followed, hence we are not giving it to anybody who does not fulfil the criteria."

×That, however, was not the original plan of the Mukhyamantri Nischay Swayam Sahayta Bhatta Yojana, a part of Nitish's "seven resolves for a developed Bihar", which was launched on October 2 last year. The scheme was meant to provide financial aid to unemployed youth in filling up job forms and travelling to appear for examinations and interviews. The chief minister had often mentioned it in his speeches at public and political gatherings, kindling hope among lakhs of such youth across the state.

He had never mentioned that those who have studied beyond Class XII would not qualify for the scheme.

For example, at the state-level bankers' committee meeting on January 6 this year, Nitish had said: "We will provide opportunities for skill development to youth after Class XII and will provide Rs 1,000 per month as allowance for two years to unemployed youth in the age group of 20 to 25 years to help them find employment."

Similarly, on August 28, 2015, in the run-up to the Assembly elections, Nitish, while unveiling his vision document for the next five years if voted back to power, had said: "Unemployed youth in the age group of 20 to 25 years would be given an allowance to support themselves for finding jobs. The government will register them and give them Rs 1,000 per month to search for jobs."

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Obviously, the plan was tweaked somewhere down the line - limiting the scheme to only those who have not studied beyond the Intermediate level. Planning and development department officials were not clear how or why such conditions or riders were incorporated while implementing the scheme.

District registration and consultation centres across the state have received around 1.19 lakh applications for the self-help allowance, of which 36,740 have been sanctioned. Till now 23,534 unemployed youth (educated only till Class XII) have started receiving the allowance in their bank accounts.

Those unemployed youth who are "over-qualified" (read have studied beyond Class XII) for the allowance are being made aware about the student credit card scheme under which they can avail of an education loan of up to Rs 4 lakh, the senior planning and development department official said.

However, even that scheme is not without its hiccups. As The Telegraph had reported in its January 17 edition, state government officials are blaming the low numbers of students availing the credit card on banks, which have made PAN cards mandatory for "applicants" (students) and "co-applicants" (parents or guardian).

BJP chief whip Rajnish Kumar, through an adjournment motion, raised the allowance issue in the Legislative Council today, which led to the adjournment of the House during Zero Hour.

He and other Opposition legislators demanded that the allowance be given to all unemployed persons in the age group of 20-25 years, even if they have completed graduation or postgraduate courses.

"The state government has no money or resources to fulfil the seven resolves of chief minister Nitish Kumar, hence such riders and conditions have been incorporated into the much-publicised scheme," alleged senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi. "The government never talked about the conditions for the scheme and generated false hopes among the unemployed youth in the age group of 20-25 years."

Sushil also pointed out that the state government was now advertising that cases would be lodged and money would be recovered from those who are studying or have studied beyond Class XII and yet have availed of the allowance. This, he alleged, was akin to penalising people for seeking higher education.

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HEALTH SERVICES

HINDUSTAN TIMES, MAR 18, 2017The new health policy can help India achieve universal coverage

The World Health Organization (WHO) was established in 1948 with the promise of realising

‘Health for all’. Almost seven decades later, both WHO and India are still striving towards

achieving the vision of universal health coverage. Universal health coverage is fundamental to

achieving the health objective under the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Yet, about

400-million people – one out of every 17 of the world’s citizens – lack access to essential health

services. With a population of 1.2 billion, India has a remarkable opportunity to take on a

leadership role in addressing this major gap and providing assured health services to all its

citizens.

Considering this, the Indian government’s newly-approved National Health Policy is a laudable

step in this direction. The policy seeks to promote universal access to good quality healthcare

services while ensuring that no one faces financial hardship, and to ensure that public hospitals

provide universal access to a wide array of free drugs and diagnostics. This policy can help

realise the vision of achieving universal health coverage and ‘health for all’ in India.

If carefully implemented, the policy’s proposed steps such as a health card for every family,

which will enable access to primary care facilities and a defined package of services nationwide,

will certainly help improve health outcomes in India. The recommended grading of clinical

establishments and active promotion and adoption of standard treatment guidelines can also help

improve the quality of healthcare delivery in India.

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WHO can play a significant role in this process. Over the years, as the sole coordinating

authority on health-related matters within the United Nations system, WHO has developed

significant expertise in all technical matters, including the development of guidelines and norms.

It can use this experience to work with the Central and state governments in India in, for

instance, defining a comprehensive a universal healthcare package of critical services and

improving the quality of care. WHO can also partner with the Indian government to leverage the

country’s remarkably cost-effective but innovative Indian health sector companies, to develop

products and technologies that can help improve the health outcomes of people around the world.

In today’s changing times – characterised by key health-related challenges such as frequent

epidemics, the rise of anti-microbial resistance, and the rapidly burgeoning burden of non-

communicable diseases – such close coordination between countries such as India and WHO is

the need of the hour. A strong political will at the country level and a visionary WHO leadership

can help drive such a partnership.

As various countries deploy their resources to achieve the SDGs by 2030, they must resolve to

keep health at the centre of their development agenda, policies and programmes, and work

closely with a fit-for-purpose WHO to realise the vision of health for all. It is, indeed, the best

gift that we, as people’s champions, can give to the citizens of this world.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is former minister for health, Ethiopia

TELEGRAPH, MAR 16, 2017Cabinet nod to national health policy

New Delhi, March 15: The Union cabinet today approved a national health policy that seeks to provide assured health care to all Indians, a senior government official said, adding that health

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minister J.P. Nadda is likely to provide details in Parliament tomorrow.

The approval follows consultations over a draft health policy that the Narendra Modi government had released over two years ago and that had, among other features, proposed a health cess to fund free health-care services and several preventive health campaigns.

The official declined to discuss the contents of the policy. The draft policy had said the government wants to ensure universal access to affordable and assured health-care services and will explore the creation of a health cess to raise the required funds.

The policy comes amid long-standing concerns that a vast proportion of households across the country remain unprotected from health-care expenses.

Public health experts estimate that gaps in healthcare financing and services push about 60 million people into poverty every years.

The draft policy document had also acknowledged gaps in healthcare services that keep primary healthcare separated from secondary and tertiary healthcare. It had indicated that steps would be taken to ensure that patients who approach primary centres are assured of continuity of care.

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JUDICIARY

TRIBUNE, MAR 22, 2017A welcome climbdownJudiciary-executive standoff over MoP scaled down

The judiciary-executive tussle over the Memorandum of Procedure (MoP), which lays down guidelines for the appointment of judges at the higher level, has come to an end, paving the way for filling vacancies in high courts. While setting aside the law to replace the existing collegium system with a National Judicial Appointments Commission, a Constitution Bench headed by Justice JS Khehar had suggested a revision of the MoP by the NDA government to ensure greater transparency in the system of judges selecting judges. In the process differences rose which kept the MoP shuttling between the judiciary and the executive for about a year. Objections finally narrowed down to two clauses. 

One was over the government granting itself the power to turn down any collegium recommendation on the ground of national security. The context was different then. Under Chief Justice TS Thakur the Supreme Court had put its foot down on this issue. In fact, so bitter became the government-judiciary relations that CJI Thakur went public, berating the executive for sitting over the collegium's decisions. The Centre cussedly refused to appoint 43 of 77 names recommended by the collegium. However, under Chief Justice JS Khehar the relations have normalised. While accepting national security and public interest as a new ground for objection to a judicial appointment the judiciary has made it clear that the collegium will have the final say in appointments. Two, the judiciary has also conceded the executive demand to set up secretariats in the Supreme Court and the high courts to provide assistance in the selection of judges. 

Though the collegium has ceded a little, it has kept intact judicial independence. It has refused to

accept another controversial executive demand for having committees of retired or sitting judges

to assist the collegium in finding suitable candidates. The government too has not insisted on

having its way and rightly put an end to needless confrontation. The judiciary's primacy in

judicial appointments remains unaffected though opinion may be divided whether that is part of

the basic structure of the Constitution as was claimed by the Constitution Bench headed by

Justice Khehar.  

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LIBRARIES

TIMES OF INDIA, MAR 22, 2017How Mosul's last librarian is preparing for when his city is free from Islamic StateChloe Farand

Once a treasure trove of Unesco-registered rare books, the central library of the University of

Mosul is now a blackened husk, full of ash.

Less than a year after it captured the city in the summer of 2014, Isis all-but destroyed the

building and burned its books. University professors and officials were forced to flee - but one

man, Mosul's librarian-in-exile, is still fighting for its survival.

A historian who taught at the university before it fell to Isis, he is the author of the "Mosul Eye"

blog documenting life in the occupied city and, as a result, cannot be named for security reasons.

Speaking exclusively to The Independent, the historian said he hopes to collect at least 200,000

books, largely from international donations, to rebuild the university's central library and others

across the city.

He described the period shortly after Isis entered Mosul, but before he was forced to flee, when a

meeting was called for faculty at the university. "One of the instructors said to an Isis member

appointed to the university: 'What do we do with Shakespeare's books? We need them to teach

students English.' The Isis member replied: 'And what would Shakespeare offer to Muslims?'.

"From that moment I realised what Isis was up to," he told The Independent.

Isis ransacked the university library not long after. In 2015, reports said more than 100,000 rare

manuscripts and documents spanning centuries of human learning were destroyed, including

some which were registered on a Unesco rarities list.

For the historian, the destruction of his country's knowledge and culture was "devastating", and

he warned the loss to Iraq's history was "dire".

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"Manuscripts that document the most important and critical phase of the history of modern

Mosul may not be ever recovered. There will always be a black hole in the history of Mosul and

Iraq as a result," he said. "The university's central library was my second home. It used to house

a wealth of rare publications and unique manuscripts that were available nowhere else."

Over the two and a half years that followed Isis' capture of the city, smaller libraries in Mosul

were repeatedly targeted and looted. Controlling knowledge to reaffirm its grip on power, Isis

aimed to "cleanse the libraries of all blasphemous literature and knowledge", said the historian.

Students, professors and residents of Mosul made several secret attempts to save the city's

manuscripts and hide them away from Isis' reach but, the historian said, it was hard to estimate

how much survived.

Now, he is turning his attention to the future, with a worldwide call for donations of books and

publications of all kinds, about any subject and in as many languages as possible. The books are

being collected in the relatively secure Iraqi city of Irbil, where they are sorted, labelled and

prepared for a more peaceful time when the libraries can be rebuilt.

"Voltaire said once, 'let's read and let's dance; these two amusements will never do any harm to

the world'. This is how we will create the future of Mosul," the historian said.

From music and literature to history and science, the Mosul Eye's founder said teaching people

about experiences of liberty and democracy around the world will help to fight extremism. He

recognises people have other concerns. Last week alone, more than 40,000 were displaced amid

the heaviest clashes yet between Iraqi forces and Isis fighters, since the start of a new push to

regain control of the city.

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POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT

TELEGRAPH, MAR 23, 2017

Bold action all the way- The UP polls have dashed hopes that the BJP would weaken

Swapan Dasgupta

It is not often that a state election establishes such a stupendous emotional connect all over India as did the recently concluded Uttar Pradesh assembly poll. To some extent this owed to the state's size and its role as the epicentre of Middle India. With an electorate that sends 80 members of parliament to the Lok Sabha, its political importance has never been minimized. This in spite of more than one government at the Centre ruling without any meaningful representation from the state.

The UP election was undeniably the most important mid-term political event of the single-party majority government that came to power in May 2014, Narendra Modi having broken a 25-year jinx. The 2017 assembly election was important for precisely that reason. How the Bharatiya Janata Party performed in this crucial state election would establish the parameters of politics till the next general election in 2019. Although electoral politics in India has increasingly established a disconnect between how people vote at the regional level and nationally, the consensus among the political punditry was that the prime minister, Modi, could simply not afford a repetition of the horrible defeats in Delhi and Bihar in 2015. Defeat in India's largest state, it was felt, would lead to a buoyant Opposition undermining his political authority and making governance impossible for him. There was even speculation - based on nothing in particular -that a setback in UP would resurrect those forces inside the ruling BJP that had never been reconciled to his unquestioned leadership.

The anti-BJP forces laid great store on the outcome in UP. From a ringside seat in Parliament, I watched the growing belligerence of the Opposition as the election approached. After the November 8 demonetization, the Opposition convinced itself that Modi had overplayed his hand and that the anti-notebandi backlash would completely destroy whatever hopes the BJP had of repeating its spectacular 2014 performance in the state. It was this understanding of Modi's vulnerability that prompted the Opposition to disrupt the entire winter session of Parliament. It was also a major factor in Akhilesh Yadav unfurling the banner of rebellion against his father and family patriarch, Mulayam Singh Yadav. And it was the prime motivation behind the belligerence with which two chief ministers - Mamata Banerjee and Arvind Kejriwal - chose to establish their national presence. Indeed, in Parliament the Congress often resembled a B-team of the aggressive Trinamul Congress.

The UP election was important for another reason too. Ever since he assumed office, Modi had mounted an assault on an Establishment that he had inherited from the near-uninterrupted tenure of the Congress. The Establishment, particularly in Lutyens' Delhi, did not merely imply the political class, it included the entire power structure. This included the bureaucracy, media, professions and intelligentsia - all the groups that connected to the Indian State. The prime

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minister's exasperation with their innate status quoist outlook, their profound sense of entitlement and, increasingly, their corruption had become apparent within a few weeks of his assuming charge. Initially, the distance he maintained from the Establishment was attributed to his temperamental aloofness. However, it soon became quite clear to all those who cared to probe that his status as a loner was also a political statement. Modi wanted change and he had insufficient faith in the ability of the existing Establishment to be the harbinger of his New India.

The wariness turned out to be mutual. Corporate India, which backed him quite enthusiastically in the 2014 election, was puzzled by the social distance he scrupulously maintained and his stubborn reluctance to accord many of them special accommodation. Those accustomed to the ways of the past soon discovered that under the Modi raj there were no power brokers and that money could not ensure special treatment. The bureaucracy (or at least a section of it) realized that Modi was an unrelenting taskmaster and was fanatical in insisting on performance. The media on their part were incensed that Modi put an end to their special (and often unethical) privileges and moved quickly to plug those selective 'leaks' that prevented decision-making. And the intelligentsia lamented the loss of its special status vis-à-vis the State. What has often been portrayed as the anti-intellectualism of the BJP government has implied the conscious distancing of those who conferred intellectual legitimacy on earlier governments. This also meant the fall from grace of the non-governmental organizations that had acquired a special status during the Congress regime thanks in large measure to the patronage of Sonia Gandhi.

For the entire clutch of forces that had been unsettled by Modi and his style of government, the UP election was billed as the comeback moment. It is not that anyone expected an anti-BJP verdict to trigger an abrupt collapse. It was hoped that another big defeat for the BJP in the Hindi heartland would create an environment that would lead to an erosion of the prime minister's political authority. The Congress's last-minute alliance with Akhilesh Yadav led to an euphoric reaction among anti-BJP forces because it was seen as a repetition of the Bihar mahagathbandhan that had contributed to Nitish Kumar's emphatic victory. Certainly, a very large section of the media that never concealed its distaste of the prime minister and the BJP did its utmost to paint ground realities in a particular way. The foreign media took their cue from their local counterpart and forced a global wait-and-see attitude towards India.

The stakes were indeed high. It was felt that a defeat in UP would put an end to the prime minister's experiments with radical change -such as demonetization. He would be bereft of the political authority that is a precondition to bold action. To put it bluntly, many powerful forces hoped that a setback in UP would render Modi a lame duck prime minister and pave the way for the return of a more flexible dispensation after 2019.

It is in this context that the near-hysterical reaction to the UP outcome of those who had created their own echo chambers becomes more understandable. As the sheer magnitude of the BJP victory in the Hindi heartland sunk in, there was a sense of horror among those who, till the morning of counting day, had come prepared to celebrate the impending downfall of Modi. The despondency has been particularly marked among the intelligentsia who are now veering to the exaggerated conclusion that the forging of a new, bigoted Hindu rashtra is imminent. The

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colossal misreading of the popular reaction to demonetization has added a new dimension to the dejection. It is now being felt that Modi and the BJP president, Amit Shah, have successfully forged a cross-caste Hindu consolidation and shifted the BJP centre of gravity further down the economic ladder.

The belief that after the UP verdict Modi's re-election in 2019 is a certainty has become part of an over-simplistic media narrative. However, this impression of rock-solid political stability will certainly ensure that Modi's larger project of change meets with relatively less political opposition, although the disavowal of the prime minister by the Left-liberal intelligentsia is certain to continue unabated. Indeed, the appointment of Yogi Adityanath as the chief minister of UP has provided new ammunition and reaffirmed his opponents' perception that Modi's modernity is regressive and tinged with communal hate. The irony is that the prime minister doesn't mind this caricatured version of himself being presented to the electorate. It is only when he is under sustained attack that he is at his combative best. If the visceral opposition to him didn't exist, he would probably have to invent it.

TRIBUNE, MAR 16, 2017Capt Amarinder Singh takes oath as Punjab CMRahul Gandhi, Manmohan Singh attend swearing-in ceremony

After steering the Congress to a stupendous victory, Captain Amarinder Singh on Thursday took oath as Punjab Chief Minister. Seventy-five-year-old Amarinder was sworn in as the state’s 26 th

Chief Minister along with nine ministers, including Navjot Singh Sidhu.

Speculation was rife that the cricketer-turned politician would be given the post of Deputy Chief Minister but he was the third among the list of nine ministers sworn in today.

Two Ministers of State — both women — were sworn in at the ceremony attended among others by former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi. The ceremony was held at the Raj Bhawan here and the oath was administered by Punajb Governor VP Singh Badnore.

Besides Sidhu those sworn in were Braham Mohindra, Manpreet Singh Badal, nephew of former Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, Sadhu Singh Dharamkot, Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa, Rana Gurjit Singh and Charanjit Singh Chann.

Two women MLAs Aruna Chaudhary and Razia Sultana were sworn in as Ministers of State (Independent Charge).

Congress sources said that an expansion of the state Cabinet would take place at a later date.

The state can have a maximum of 18 ministers, including the Chief Minister. The Congress has 77 MLAs in the Assembly.

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Amarinder had announced that the oath-taking ceremony would be a simple affair in view of the financial crisis facing the stage. This will be Amarinder’s second stint as Chief Minister.

A galaxy of senior Congress leaders led by the party vice-president attended the ceremony, including Anand Sharma, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Ajay Maken, Sachin Pilot, Partap Singh Bajwa.

Amarinder’s wife former Union Minister Preneet Kaur and his family members were also present.

Congress under the leadership of Amarinder had won 77 seats in the 117-member Assembly elections wresting power from the SAD-BJP alliance which was relegated to the third spot with 18 seats.

New entrant Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) won 20 seats and two seats went to its ally Lok Insaaf Party.Highlights:—PM Narendra Modi congratulates Amarinder Singh on taking over as Punjab CM, wishes him the best in working for state's development

—Order of swearing-in: Capt Amarinder Singh, Brahm Mohindra, Navjot Sidhu, Manpreet Badal, Sadhu Singh Dharamsot, Tript Rajinder Bajwa, Rana Gurjeee Singht, Charanjit Singh Channi, Aruna Chaudhary and Razia Sultana

—Razia Sultana and Aruna Chaudhary have been sworn in as ministers of state

—Aruna Chaudhary takes oath in Hindi

TELEGRAPH, MAR 20, 2017A time to engage- After UP, the BJP is certain that it can get away with anything

Worm'seyeviewManini chatterjee

A week is truly a long time in politics. On Saturday, March 11, when the assembly election results of five states were declared, the Bharatiya Janata Party's legions of supporters were awash in euphoria. Journalists and commentators ran out of superlatives to describe the party's victory in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand: stupendous, stunning, spectacular, magnificent, monumental, and, of course, the much abused "historic".

Narendra Modi, a gushing media declared, was a man with unparalleled charisma - a leader who towered over the pygmies on India's political stage and had the ability to mesmerize the masses with his hypnotic alchemy of hope and hype. It was his promise of "development", his ringing slogan of " sabka saath, sabka vikas", his crusade against corruption exemplified by the demonetization gamble, his indefatigable energy and his abiding popularity that seemingly transcended caste and class that were responsible for the BJP's biggest ever victory in the most

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populous state of India, they said.

Amit Shah, who did most of the heavy lifting in Uttar Pradesh, even declared that Modi was "the most popular leader since Independence", felling in one stroke not just Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi but also Lal Bahadur Shastri, Jayaprakash Narayan and Atal Bihari Vajpayee. No one took it amiss. Hyperbole had become the norm. Forget Shah, even respected and neutral observers declared that in light of the BJP's sweeping victory, all criticisms of Modi no longer have legitimacy.

A week later it was all undone. Make no mistake. Saturday, March 18 will go down in history at par with December 6, 1992 - arguably the darkest day in post-Independence history when the Babri Masjid was demolished by rampaging Hindutva mobs. With the anointment of Yogi Adityanath as chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, Narendra Modi's cunningly crafted "development" mask has been ripped apart .

×No one knows whether Narendra Modi and Amit Shah chose Adityanath or whether the hate-spewing "yogi" forced their hand by threatening to unleash the wrath of his "Hindu Yuva Vahini" supporters if he was denied the top post. Either way, the decision has severely diminished Modi. No matter how many more elections he may win or lofty speeches he may make, Modi can no longer claim to be an inclusive leader, a pro-poor "development" messiah, but stands exposed as a deeply divisive figure who has no qualms any more about making his latent communal agenda much more explicit and speeding up the journey to transform a secular republic into the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh's cherished goal of Hindu rashtra.

The appointment of Adityanath, a man who has never couched his anti-Muslim venom in coded language as does Modi, also shows that the RSS-BJP combine under Modi's leadership is now much more confident that it can pursue its agenda without much opposition from weak and dispirited secularists.

Their confidence, sadly, is not misplaced. The euphoria of Modi's supporters after the UP victory was all too understandable but even those who claim to be Modi critics refused to call out the brazenly communal campaign the BJP conducted in Uttar Pradesh. Modi's ' kabristan versus shamshan' remark in course of the campaign was dismissed as poll rhetoric and after the results came in, few were willing to point out that systematic effort at polarization at the grassroots was one key reason for the scale of the BJP's victory.

The post-UP narrative only further boosted the BJP's confidence that it can get away with anything. According to this narrative, since Modi has established himself as the most popular leader in the country, to oppose him and his party is not just futile but also disrespectful of mass sentiment. The media's penchant for instant and sweeping judgments wherein every victory is made bigger and every defeat more abject than it is has also helped the BJP adopt a 'winner takes all' swagger; just as it has driven its opponents to a state of despondency and despair.

For the Muslims - even before Adityanath's appointment - this despondency was laced with cold fear, reports of aggressive mobs pasting threatening posters on the walls or trying to raise

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BJP flags atop village mosques being a grim indication of things to come.

But it is not minorities alone who fear the 'transformation' of India. Millions belonging to the majority community, too, are deeply worried about the steady ebbing away of pluralism and diversity, dissent and debate under Modi's homogenizing 'me and my 125 crore countrymen' mantra. The post-UP chorus, however, decreed that in light of Modi's 'popularity', opponents have only two options: silence or surrender. And many seem to have internalized this decree.

The main reason the BJP can get away with the Adityanath appointment and hate-mongering groups can get away with destroying movie sets and stopping university debates and attacking village mosques is that their opponents feel too dispirited and defeated, too isolated and outdated to put up even a semblance of a fight. This sense of defeatism and feeling of isolation - deepened that much more by the choice of the UP chief minister - are dangerously misplaced.

For one, the pro-Modi populace - in spite of its vociferous dominance across platforms - is still much smaller than those who are not enchanted by him and his party. Electoral mandates in the first-past-the-post system always exaggerate victories but no ruling party in India has ever got even 50 per cent of total votes polled. Rajiv Gandhi with his 400 plus seats in 1984 came closest with 49.10 per cent.

In Uttar Pradesh, the BJP managed its best ever performance, winning 312 seats with less than 40 per cent of the vote. That might sound like quibbling but the exact numbers provide a better picture. The Election Commission data shows that a total of 86,657,529 men and women voted in the seven-phase election this year. Of these, 34,403,039 voted for the BJP - which means 52,254,490 voters did not. Their votes may have 'gone waste' in a three-way or four-cornered contest but they are not a mere statistic, but flesh-and-blood human beings, over five crore of them, who chose not to be swayed by Modi's magic or moved by communal feelings.

Second, electoral victories do not make a leader infallible or the ruling party's ideology the unchallenged dogma of the nation. In today's climate, speaking against the prime minister may be regarded as heresy, but there is no better inspiration for the Opposition than Narendra Modi himself. When Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi won big mandates, Modi did not lose faith in his RSS ideology, he did not give up politics, he did not surrender to the Congress's (and Constitution's) ideals of secularism and plurality.

Even when the BJP was down to two seats, Modi and his brethren soldiered on, determined to rebuild their party in keeping with their own ideology, however divisive others might find it to be.

Today, it is the turn of the Congress and all other parties opposed to the BJP to show the same resilience, patience and energy to build a vibrant and creative alternative to the RSS's blueprint that Modi and Adityanath are out to execute.

And third, there is much more to democracy than elections and legislative majorities. Even outside the realm of politics, battles need to be fought every day in every space to safeguard small freedoms, ensure peace, secure justice. Despair is an indulgence engaged citizens cannot

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afford - especially in light of the decision in UP.

TRIBUNE, MAR 20, 2017A Yogi and a CMUP deserved better

NO one need fret about the choice of Yogi Adityanath, a saffron extremist facing trial on charges of incitement to communal rioting and attempt to murder, as the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister. Prime Minister Modi has defied the conventional wisdom, once again. Every party has its Adityanath or Azam Khan, but only the BJP arms them with such positions and power. Those who believed in the BJP’s vikas narrative — and disbelieved and took lightly the underlying communal streak — are in no position to complain. They had read the UP mandate as a vote in favour of development and demonetisation, and congratulated the voters for disregarding caste/class politics. For the BJP it is clear the road to 2019 goes through a communal cauldron which Adityanath can be trusted to keep simmering.

Whether the endorsement of Hindutva’s hardcore face comes from the RSS or the PM, or both, is immaterial; political consequences will be huge for the BJP. The party that had earlier gambled on Modi with such stupendous success has not hesitated in placing its bets on Yogi Adityanath, making even its moderate supporters a bit uncomfortable. They are now forced to defend the indefensible. Anyway, the BJP has a history of handing over chief ministerial posts to “hardliners” or even RSS pracharaks—among them being Narendra Modi, Uma Bharti, Manohar Lal Khattar, and more recently, Trivendra Singh Rawat of Uttarakhand. After Yogi Adityanath, they appear harmless.  

Giving power to a short-tempered, intolerant yogi is not without its risks. None of the saner elements in Sangh Parivar or the PMO may be able to restrain him from tearing apart the secular fabric of Uttar Pradesh beyond a limit. The BJP had a good candidate for the top post in Telecom Minister Manoj Sinha, an able administrator with an M. Tech. Instead the BJP has picked up a Thakur as CM and a member of the OBC and a Brahmin as Deputy CMs, all inexperienced in administration. Academic qualifications or administrative credentials do not seem to matter in the larger game plan of building a divisive agenda for 2019.

HINDU, MAR 17, 2017The Governor’s optionsKrishnadas Rajagopal

The Sarkaria Commission report spelled them out

The legal challenge of the Congress in the Supreme Court against the BJP’s claim to form

the government in Goa brings to fore a vacuum in the Constitution. In the case of a hung

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legislature, is the Governor bound to follow the constitutional convention to call upon the

single largest party to form the government and prove its majority in the House? Or, as the

court endorsed on Wednesday, can a political rival cobble together a post-poll alliance to

form a majority that overcomes the single largest party and form the government?

The Manohar Parrikar government came to power on a first-come-first-appointed basis

despite the fact that the BJP came second in the Assembly elections. The Governor did not

consult the single largest party, the Congress, before giving Mr. Parrikar the green signal.

The SC, in turn, said the Congress did wrong by not staking its claim to form the

government. It had shown no proof to the Governor that it had the requisite numbers to

prove a majority in the House. The debacle exposes the fact that there are no specific

guidelines in the Constitution on who the Governor should invite to form a government in a

State where rival parties with narrow majorities engage in a face-off.

The constitutional convention of inviting the single largest party in the case of a fractured

mandate has been outlined by the Sarkaria Commission recommendations, which were

affirmed by a Constitution Bench of the SC inRameshwar Prasad v Union of India in 2005.

The Commission report specifically dealt with the situation where no single party obtained

absolute majority. It provided the order of preference the Governor should follow in

selecting a Chief Minister in such a fluid situation: (1) An alliance of parties that was

formed prior to the elections. (2) The single largest party staking a claim to form the

government with the support of others, including independents. (3) A post-electoral

coalition of parties, with all the partners in the coalition joining the government. (4) A post-

electoral alliance of parties, with some of the parties in the alliance forming a government

and the remaining parties, including independents, supporting the government from outside.

It is clear that the leader of the party which has an absolute majority in the Assembly should

be called upon by the Governor to form a government. However, if there is a fractured

mandate, then the Commission recommends an elaborate step-by-step approach and has

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further emphasised that the Governor should select a leader who, in his/her judgement, is

most likely to command a majority in the Assembly.

ECONOMIC TIMES, MAR 18, 2017Trivendra Singh Rawat will be new CM of UttarakhandBy Sanjay Singh

DEHRADUN: Trivendra Singh Rawat, former RSS Pracharak, will be sworn in as the ninth chief minister of Uttarakhand in Dehradun on Saturday afternoon, in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP national president Amit Shah.

Trivendra was unanimously elected as leader of BJP’s legislature party at a meeting held on Friday and later, went to Raj Bhavan.

His name was proposed by former Union minister Satpal Maharaj, who is now MLA from Chaubattakhal, and former speaker Prakash Pant, who is MLA from Pithoragarh in presence of BJP’s central observers for Uttarakhand — Union minister Narendra Singh Tomar and MP Saroj Pandey. Both Maharaj and Pant were considered to be in the race for Uttarakhand’s top post.

Union ministers JP Nadda and Dharmendra Pradhan were also present at the 20-minute meeting.

Before the formal declaration, supporters of Pant a nd T r ivend r a shouted slogans in favour of their leaders at two spots outside the hotel.

The former state agriculture minister’s long association with the party’s o r g a n i s at ion a l work in the state worked in his favour.

Trivendra served the Jharkhand as in-charge of the BJP unit there in the last assembly polls. His standing with the central leadership remained undiminished by his defeat in 2012 and in a byelection in 2014.

The BJP national secretary is expected to be spoilt for choice while naming his ministerial colleagues since the BJP won a record 57 seats in the 70-member Uttarakhand assembly. Rekha Arya, Subodh Uniyal, Gopal Rawat, Bishan Singh Chuphal, Harbans Kapur, Madan Kaushik, Yashpal Arya and Harak Singh Rawat can be expected to get a place in the Trivendra cabinet.

“It may not be surprising if Ritu Khanduri, who is daughter of former CM BC Khanduri, also gets a chance to become minister in the new government,” said a source in the BJP.

Another party source said the assembly Speaker’s post was up next. “The names of Satpal Maharaj and Prakash Pant are under consideration. Prakash Pant has been speaker of the house in the past.”

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STATESMAN, MAR 16, 2017The M factor in historic UP winAftab Alam

The BJP must give credit to Muslims f or its resounding victory in assembly elections in the politically crucial state of Uttar Pradesh (UP). It may appear to be paradoxical as Muslims are normally believed not only to never vote for the BJP but also to do their best to ensure that its candidates never win by voting tactfully and en bloc. It is this very factor the BJP turned  into its favour by steadily building a Hindu vote bank by arousing communalist sentiments from Muzaffarnagar riots and kairana exodus to raising the Shamshan-Kabristan and Eid-Diwali divide.

It is a matter of fact that as per the 2011 Census Muslims account for 19.3 per cent of the state’s population and if they vote ‘strategically’ may decide the fate of candidates in roughly 150 assembly constituencies. This has led many to project the myth of Muslims as a monolithic vote bank.

This time while the BSP and the SP-Congress combine remained busy crafting new strategies to woo Muslims, the BJP concentrated silently and singularly on consolidating non-Yadav backward caste and non-Jatav Dalit Hindu vote bank who had felt ignored during a decade of BSP-SP rule in the state. The BJP also generated a feeling among them that their deprivation was due to Muslims who enjoyed undue weightage during SP-BSP reigns.

The BJP not only gave these communities due representation in the party organisation, it even appointed Keshav Prasad Maurya as its State President. It also organised a series of ‘caste meetings’ and celebrated many ‘caste festivals’ to lure them.

The decision of not fielding any Muslim candidate was also a well crafted conscious choice and not because it could not find a single winnable Muslim candidate in the entire State, as claimed by it, despite the party's Muslim membership count having swollen to over 200,000. The BJP had calculated that despite its best efforts it would not be able to snatch any sizable number of Muslim votes from SP-BSP-Congress, for whom Muslims have been voting traditionally.On the contrary by giving tickets to them it would not have been able to project itself  as an exclusive Hindu party concerned with interests of the majority community and could not have sharpened attacks on ‘pseudo secular’ parties for their ‘minority appeasement’ and ignoring the majority. 

The BSP and SP, on the other hand played the Muslim card very ineptly by fielding more than 150 Muslim candidates in the election. BSP chief Mayawati even cautioned Muslims not to split their votes. She repeatedly stated in different rallies that her party has given highest number of tickets to Muslims and thus they should vote en masse for the BSP as only it would be in a position to defeat the BJP with solid support of Dalits who constitute 20.7 per cent of the population.

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To counter this, the SP and Congress forged an alliance to prevent split of Muslim votes. All this created an impression that if BSP or SP won the election Muslims would be over-represented and that actually went in favour of the BJP as Hindu voters in reaction solidly consolidated behind it.

The BJP’s game plan was made easier by some Muslim clerics like the Shahi Imam of Delhi’s Jama Masjid Maulana Ahmed Bukhari, Maulana Aamir Rashadi of the Rashtriya Ulama Council and Shia cleric Maulana Kalbe Jawad appealing to Muslims to vote for the BSP and another cleric Maulana Khalid Rashid Firangi Mahali extending his support to the Samajwadi Party and Congress alliance. Their appeals though usually have limited impact but they not only confused Muslim voters but also proved counterproductive as BJP also played the Hindu card more carefully.The BJP also did not fail to recognise the importance of raising communally sensitive issues during the election campaign. It gave due importance to controversial issues like the construction of Ram Mandir, ban on triple talaq, closure of slaughter houses and prevention of Hindu exodus from Kairana in its manifesto making it amply clear that it was not averse to polarisation of Hindu votes in its favour as it was uncertain whether the development agenda alone would ensure its victory in the state.

The BJP was successful in falsely convincing voters from the majority community that both the SP and BSP Governments have unduly favoured Muslims and discriminated against Hindu in the state whether in the distribution of freebies like laptops or scholarships and even in compensating the riot victims.

In an election rally in Chauri Chaura the BJP President Amit Shah said that “They will ask your religion and caste first, if that doesn’t seem favourable to them, they won’t give you laptop.” The Prime Minister himself accused the ruling SP of discriminating between communities in Uttar Pradesh in distribution of land for kabristan and shamshan and supply of electricity during Holi and Eid and insisted that there should not be any discrimination.

Though these charges were found to be untrue, they  succeeded in giving the message that the SP Govt. was working in a prejudiced manner against the Hindus. 

Overall the BJP was successful in projecting SP, BSP and Congress as Muslim parties and itself as the only party that cares for Hindus. It also convincingly projected minority Muslims as a pampered lot and majority Hindus as aggrieved in UP resulting in creation of a brand new Hindu vote bank solidly standing behind it in reaction to the mythical Muslim vote bank. The challenge before the new government would be to keep the different communities united, which is sine qua non for the development of the state. These communities were, after all, pitched against each other by all political parties for their selfish political interests.

The writer is a Professor of Political Science at Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh.

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PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

HINDU, MAR 16, 2017Nuh mini-secretariat gets makeover with display boards, heritage gallery Ashok Kumar

Plagued by poor public services, it has now become the first secretariat in Haryana to earn the coveted ISO 9001: 2015 certification

For those visiting the Nuh Mini-Secretariat, the sudden transformation over the past couple of months is hard to miss. Motivational quotes, display boards, properly managed records, heritage gallery, reading zone, lush green lawns, clean corridors and forthcoming staff marks the new identity of the secretariat building situated in one of the most backward districts of Haryana.

In a major image overhaul, the Nuh Mini-Secretariat, plagued by poor public services, bad management and uncleanliness till a few months ago, has now become the first secretariat in the State to earn an ISO 9001: 2015 certificate adhering to the priniciples of quality management and improving the efficiency of processes.

“I have been to Gurugram and Faridabad on a few occasions, but the Nuh secretariat building is far more cleaner and the services here are more prompt compared to those two cities. Stinking toilets, broken window glasses, unkempt lawns and beggars roaming inside the premises are common sights in Gurugram Mini-Secretariat, but not anymore in Nuh,” said Feroze Khan, a local resident visiting the Nun Mini-Secretariat.

But the turnaround was easier said than done. “When I took over almost a year ago, it was unthinkable for the secretariat to earn the coveted certificate. Let alone the quality of services rendered to the public, the building did not even have drinking water facility for visitors. The toilets were dirty and the elevators were dysfunctional. When city magistrate Pradeep Ahlawat mooted the idea of an ISO certificate for the building, I suggested to him to get the basic issues addressed before aiming so high. But we have now achieved it with the support and dedication of the staff,” said Deputy Commissioner, Nuh, Mani Ram Sharma.

Additional Deputy Commissioner Naresh Narwal said effective delivery of public services and citizen satisfaction was one of the major pre-requisites for the certificate, besides clean premises. “We hired a consultancy agency for the purpose and the agency representatives met the secretariat officials to collect their feedback, gave power-point presentations to make them aware about the certificate conditions and explored the reasons for the poor public services. The agency even conducted a pre-audit before the International Certification Services (ICS) team visited for

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inspection and gave useful tips to officials on how to deliver better services,” said Mr. Narwal, one of the forces behind the change.

Similar certificate

After three days of continuous assessment, and reviews across a wide range of departments, the ICS, an independent certification and inspection body, finally approved the certification of the building. The certificate holds good for three years.

Encouraged by the success, Mr. Sharma has now decided to bid for a similar certificate for the two hospitals in the district to ensure better services to patients and visitors.

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PUBLIC SECTOR

FINANCIAL EXPRESS, MAR 20, 2017After 7th Pay Commission payment, now 12 lakh CPSE staff to get Rs 20,000 cr windfall wages in 2017-18Revision to be based on paying capacityBy: Prasanta Sahu

The salary revision for four lakh CPSE executives will likely take place in July with retrospective effect from January 1, 2017, and is expected to cost R8,000 crore/year, sources told FE.

In a move that could boost consumption and stimulate the economy, central public sector enterprises (CPSEs) are likely to pay out an additional R20,000 crore in 2017-18 as recompense to 12 lakh employees. This would be the second time in two years that government employees are getting pay hikes; central government staff got hefty pay hikes last year following the implementation of the 7th Pay Commission’s recommendations.

The salary revision for four lakh CPSE executives will likely take place in July with retrospective effect from January 1, 2017, and is expected to cost R8,000 crore/year, sources told FE. These pay hikes are expected to be followed by a wage revision for over 8 lakh workers which would cost the CPSEs another R12,000 crore in a year, they added.The salary revision exercise, based on the recommendations of the 3rd Pay Revision Committee (PRC) constituted by the department of public enterprises, will be carried out by each CPSE separately by negotiating with employee unions.

The 3rd PRC, which broadly followed the 7th Central Pay Commission award, has suggested a 15% pay hike (on sum of basic pay, stagnation increments and industrial dearness allowance) subject to ability of the CPSEs to bear the financial burden. The pay hike can be nil for executives of some CPSEs if the additional cost due to salary revision is over 40% of their average profit before tax of last 3 years. The 7th CPC had recommended a 14.3% pay increase for central government staff.

The PRC has recommended a minimum pay of Rs 30,000/month, from Rs 12,600/month now, for executives and a maximum of Rs 3.7 lakh for CMDs, from Rs 1.25 lakh, (for Schedule A CPSEs). The maximum pay of CMDs varies for other category CPSEs. Depending on profits, the CPSEs are categorised into different schedules, with highest being Schedule A, followed by B, C and D.

The PRC’s report on salary revision of executives is currently with the Cabinet secretariat. The government is likely to form a committee of secretaries shortly to look into the report before the Union Cabinet gives the go-ahead for its implementation around July.

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The salary and wage bill of 235 operating CPSEs stood at Rs 1.27 lakh crore in FY15 and is estimated to have reached over Rs 1.4 lakh crore in FY17. The salary hike for executives, who share nearly 40% of the total pay bill of CPSEs, are likely to be implemented by only profitable companies, whose number is understood to have come down to 140 in FY16 against 157 in FY15. However, the wage hike for workers is likely to take place even in non-profitable ones, sources said.

The once-in-ten-years salary and pension revision for over 1 crore central government staffers and pensioners entailed an additional cost of Rs 84,933 crore in FY17. The revised allowances, if implemented from April, may cost an additional Rs 29,000 crore to the government (including railways) in FY18.

The 7th Pay panel’s award implementation is usually followed by the public sector undertakings as well as state governments. Besides additional pay to CPSE staff, the likely pay revision for state government staff could give a consumption-led boost to the economy in FY18.

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TRANSPORT

TIMES OF INDIA, MAR 16, 2017Free parking in Delhi colonies may go

Highlights

Parking on the footpath to be “strictly prohibited”, roads and commercial streets will be categorised as ‘no parking zones’

People looking to park their vehicles for the entire day will be encouraged to park at multi-level parking lots

NEW DELHI: Delhi could finally be inching towards a comprehensive parking policy. The transport department, which came out with a draft parking policy on Wednesday, has been directed by lieutenant governor Anil Baijal to consult stakeholders within a month for implementation thereafter, said an official from the LG secretariat.

The draft policy includes a range of suggestions, from incremental parking rates to doing away with free parking in residential colonies. A senior government official, who attended the meeting held by the LG, said: "The idea is that nothing should be free. The current parking rates are not a deterrent as is obvious from the fact that people park their vehicles for the entire day." The emphasis, added the official, is on "location-specific solutions".

To discourage such use of public space, the draft policy has recommended identification of roads and streets based on density, width and connectivity. While parking on the footpath will be "strictly prohibited", roads and commercial streets will be categorised as 'no parking zones' in consultation with the traffic police and local bodies.

"The measures will be categorised into short, medium and long term solutions for strict implementation," said a statement from the LG office. The official said, "Rates will be incremental, and short stay parking will be encouraged."

Those looking to park their vehicles for the entire day (read shopkeepers) will be encouraged to park at multi-level parking lots through deferential parking rates that will reflect the area and density of the road.

"Parking in residential areas will also be discouraged. If people are willing to spend so much on a vehicle, parking for it cannot be free," added the official.

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The draft also makes it clear that adequate authorised parking is required, along with enforcement. "Municipal corporations and other agencies should strictly monitor contracts of parking lots," said the LG office statement. The draft also suggested continuous patrolling of roads and more use of technology for issuing challans.

The Delhi Metro, meanwhile, has been asked to provide parking slots for para-transit vehicles and underground parking for public convenience and last mile connectivity, in the draft policy. Also, free parking for non-motorised vehicles is to be emphasised.

The draft parking policy comes in the wake of the LG setting up a task force to tackle the issue of "implementable" parking in the city in Janaury this year. Those attending the meeting included transport minister Satyender Jain, as well as senior officials like the chief secretary, transport commissioner, secretary PWD, heads of organisations like DJB, DTC, DMRC, NDMC as well as the traffic police and commissioners of the civic bodies.

People don't have a sense how and where to park there vechile. It's high time that anybody has to take a step to bring a little discipline in this regards. Hope the government imposes heavy penalty f...

Meanwhile, Baijal chaired a separate meeting on road cutting on Wednesday, a perennial problem for Delhi roads which are dig up with increasing frequency and hardly ever repaired, or repaired properly. He directed that all agencies which have underground services should ensure that no damage is done to facilities of other agencies when they are carrying out work beneath the ground. Road cutting schedules should be made public while a standard operating procedure for online permissions and road restoration should be put in place.

Sources further added that in case a project is not completed in time, contractors should be charged for the additional time taken and that strict monitoring before of roads before and after digging of roads is a must.

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WOMEN

ECONOMIC TIMES, MAR 22, 2017Women fighting harassment will get 90 days' leaveThe move is significant as there have been complaints of those accused of sexual harassment trying to influence or threaten the victims.

Tax planning:

How to complete all tax work before March 31

NEW DELHI: Women employees of the central government who file complaints of sexual harassment at the workplace now have the option of getting 90 days paid leave during pendency of the inquiry under the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013.

The move is significant as there have been complaints of those accused of sexual harassment trying to influence or threaten the victims.

The special leave in this case will be given on the recommendation of the internal committee or the local committee formed to look into such charges.

The leave granted to the aggrieved woman employee "shall not be debited against the leave account", the department of personnel and training (DoPT) said.

The DoPT also issued Central Civil Services (Leave) Amendment Rules, 2017 to allow the new provision.

In December, the DoPT had issued guidelines to deal with sexual harassment of women at the workplace. The guidelines stipulated that the inquiry of cases must be completed within 30 days and under no circumstances should it take more than 90 days from the date of the complaint.

Ministries and departments have to keep a watch on the complainant so as to ensure that she is not victimised in any manner because of her having filed the complaint. All ministries have to submit monthly reports to the ministry of women and child development so that progress can be monitored. As per the guidelines, the aggrieved woman had the option of sending a representation to the secretary or head of the organisation in case she felt she was being victimised because of her complaint. The authority concerned would be required to dispose of this complaint within 15 days.

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