Economy « Development news of orissa and India

EC makes strong pitch for financial autonomy

March 16, 2012 — IMC

The Election Commission on Thursday made a strong pitch for financial autonomy on the lines granted to constitutional bodies like the Supreme Court and the CAG, saying the dependence on the government could lead to conflict of interest.

“We want the budget of the Election Commission to be charged through the Consolidated Fund of India and not voted through Parliament,” Chief Election Commissioner S Y Quraishi said while speaking at a discussion on electoral reforms organised by the Aspen Institute.

He said, “Any dependence on the government for anything…and they may ask for a price and that is where the conflict (can) start because we will not pay any price because we value our independence and will guard it to the last drop of our blood.”

Quraishi’s remarks came in the backdrop of verbal skirmishes between ministers and the Commission in the run up to the UP assembly elections.

“We are going after politicians all the time and they will be then sitting in judgement and torpedo our proposals. It’s a happy thing that they have not damaged us so far”.

“The Supreme Court gets it directly from consolidated fund, the CAG’s funds come from consolidated fund, that of UPSC comes from consolidated fund. I don’t know why the Election Commission was kept out of this,” Quraishi said.

Apart from the funding, the CEC also sought an independent secretariat for the Commission.

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Rehabilitation Package for Displaced Persons

March 16, 2012 — IMC

The land acquisition for National Highways is done under the provisions of the National Highways Act, 1956 which involves due consultation with the stake holders as per the provisions of the Act. Highways are linear projects that involve widening of existing roads and opening of new road for bypasses, and have a long and narrow corridor of impact. The linear acquisition of land results in minimal displacement of families and loss of livelihood. On the other hand, development of highways results in the socio-economic development of the area, ultimately benefiting the local population.

Relevant provisions of National Policy on Rehabilitation and Resettlement, 2007 in relation to Land Acquisition of National Highways provides that in case of linear acquisitions, in projects relating to railway lines, highways, transmission lines, laying of pipelines and other such projects wherein only a narrow stretch of land is acquired for the purpose of the project is utilized for right of ways, each khatedar in the affected family shall be offered by the acquiring body an ex-gratia payment of such amount as the appropriate Government may decide but not less than twenty thousand rupees, in addition to the compensation or any other benefits due under the Act or programme or scheme under which the land, house or other property is acquired. Provided that, if as a result of such land acquisition, the land-holder becomes landless or is reduced to the status of a ‘small’ or ‘marginal’ farmer, other rehabilitation and resettlement benefits available under this policy shall also be extended to such affected family.

This information was given by the Minister of State of Road Transport and Highways Shri Jitin Prasada, in a written reply in Rajya Sabha today.

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Baby Falak dies at AIIMS

March 16, 2012 — IMC

Two-year-old battered baby Falak, whose harrowing ordeal shocked the country, died at AIIMS last night following a cardiac arrest after fighting a grim 58-day battle for life.

The abandoned child, who was admitted to the AIIMS on 18^th January with severe head injuries, broken arms, bite marks all over her body and cheeks branded with hot iron, breathed her last at 9.40 PM, doctors said.

“It was unexpected. She was fit to be discharged. All of a sudden, she had a cardiac arrest at nine and we tried to revive her. But then she gave up at around 9.40 PM,” said Deepak Agrawal, Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery at the AIIMS Trauma Centre who has been attending on her from the day she was admitted there.

During her treatment earlier, she had contracted meningitis and underwent five surgeries and had also suffered two heart attacks.

“But she had survived all this and had recovered well,” Agrawal said. “She was doing well. We removed her from the ICU and shifted her to the ward after we found that she had recovered well.

The whole day she used to spend time playing with the nurses at the hospital.

“All of a sudden she had a cardiac arrest. Since she is a medico-legal case, we will conduct a post-mortem tomorrow,” Agrawal said.

The child was brought to the hospital by a teenaged girl, who had falsely claimed to be her mother.

Investigations revealed the shocking story of Falak, her two siblings and their mother who were all separated after falling victim to human traffickers.

Falak’s mother Munni was tricked into a second marriage by three women out of whom two — Laxmi and Kanta Choudhry — were arrested.

The trio had promised that her three children will be taken care of but they were left to different people.

Ten people were arrested in the case, including the man who had abandoned the child with his teenaged girlfriend.

Police traced Falak’s five-year-old brother from the house of a vendor in West Delhi’s Uttam Nagar locality while her sister Sanobar was traced by Delhi Police to Muzaffarpur in Bihar.

On 15^th Februray, Falak was reunited with her 22-year-old mother Munni, who was married to a man in Rajasthan.

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HIV+ patients on rise in Kalahandi

December 27, 2011 — IMC

By Akhand in Bhubaneswar:

The number of HIV+ patients is on the rise in Kalahandi district of Odisha.
As per the available information, 356 patients with AIDS are undergoing treatment at various hospitals in the district while an unofficial assessment puts the figure at over 1,000.
Most of the patients are found in 13 blocks and three urban towns of the district.
Basically, migrating labourers from outside the state are bringing the virus.
The number of migrating labourers in the district has risen up to 1,500.
As per a health department report, out of 356 AIDS affected patients, 35 have already died and now seven women and 10 children are undergoing treatment at the district headquarters hospital. For detection of AIDS and preventive health measure, integrated AIDS examination centres have been opened at Bhawanipatna, Kesinga and Dharamgarh.
Sources informed from 2006 to 2011, 14,208 AIDS patients have been detected in the district and given counselling.
Out of them, the blood samples of 10,988 patients had been examined at Bhawanipatna district headquarters hospital and 236 patients were found as HIV positive.

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Indian Govt. intends to set up NSG hub in every state: PC

December 15, 2009 — IMC

The government today said it intends to set up National Security Guard (NSG) hub or an equivalent commando force in every state in due course to strengthen the national security apparatus. The Home Minister P Chidambaram told the Lok Sabha during Question Hour that the government is trying to have these units soon, though it was a long-term plan in view of the constraints of manpower and training.
Four regional NSG hubs in Hyderabad, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata have already been operationalised . He informed the house that setting up of Regional Centres of NSG at Kolkata and Hyderabad have been approved apart from raising 10 Commando Battalions for Resolute Action (CoBRA) to be raised during the three-year period from 2008-09.The Centre would also provide assistance for raising commandos in states, apart from upgrading existing four training centres for Central Paramilitary Forces at Silchar in Assam , Hazaribagh in Jharkhand, Sapri in Himachal Pradesh and Gawaldham in Uttarkhand.