The Tribune – DC Aggarwal to preside over SGPC meeting

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, September 27. When Amritsar DC Rajat Aggarwal convenes the first meeting of the newly elected SGPC members, it will be a rare occasion as in the past 50 years no non-Sikh DC has got the opportunity to do so.

Aggarwal took charge as Amritsar DC in June, succeeding Kahan Singh Pannu. It was after 34 years that the holy city got a regular non-Sikh DC. The last non-Sikh DC in Amritsar was JD Khanna( 1975 to 1977).

Amritsar has mostly had Sikh DCs post-Independence. However, there is no clarity whether the DC of Amritsar would preside over the first meeting of the SGPC during the pre-Independence period.

Former SGPC secretary Kulwant Singh said: “There is no condition that a non-Sikh DC can’t convene the first meeting of the SGPC. Nevertheless, it is a religious issue directly linked with the gurdwaras. I think a Sikh DC should preside over the meeting.”

He recalled that once a non-Sikh was made the Gurdwara Election Commissioner, which created a lot of furore. Subsequently, he was replaced. “To my mind, this will be the first instance in independent India that a non-Sikh DC would preside over the first meeting of the new SGPC members,” he said. Another former SGPC secretary Manjeet Singh Calcutta said he had raised this issue when Aggarwal was appointed DC. “The holy city has had mostly Sikh DCs post-Independence. There have been non-Sikh DCs too, but they were posted for short durations. Amritsar is the biggest spiritual centre of Sikhism and receives guests from abroad. Therefore, its DC should be a Sikh who would be in a better position to acquaint the guests with various aspects of Sikhism.”

Former Sikh Gurdwara Judicial Commission Chairman Kashmir Singh Patti said: “As per the Sikh Gurdwara Act, 1925, the Amritsar DC presides over the first meeting of the newly elected members, but there is no clarity in the Act that the DC should be a Sikh. Technically speaking, it doesn’t make a difference.”

He said the Act would have to be amended if such a provision was to be made. He, however, said the Act was clear that only a Sikh should head the Sikh Gurdwara Election Commission and the Sikh Gurdwara Judicial Commission. He said if there were objections from certain quarters, then the Gurdwara Election Commissioner could be asked to preside over the meeting.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2011/20110928/punjab.htm#4

The Tribune – Bhullar Issue

House rules debar tabling of resolution: Bir Devinder

Umesh Dewan, Tribune News Service

Patiala, September 27. Former Deputy Speaker Bir Devinder Singh today claimed that existing House rules did not allow reference to any matter pending in a court of law. As such, the SAD could not table a resolution on the floor of the House on the issue of clemency for Bhullar.

Bir Devinder categorically said: “As per the existing Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha, rule 93 sub rule (2) clause (IV) clearly debars a member of the House from referring to any such matter on which a judicial decision is pending in a court.”

Meanwhile, quoting Rule 93 sub rule 2, he said an MLA could not refer to a matter on which a judicial decision was pending.

“This clearly implies that the issue relating to commuting the death sentence to Bhullar cannot be discussed on the floor of the House as the case is being heard by the Supreme Court.”

“If at all the Punjab Government wishes to discuss the matter in a form of resolution, then the government will have to request the Speaker to suspend Rule 93 sub rule (2) clause (iv). Furthermore, such a suspension of rules would require the support of a majority of members present in the House,” he added.

Chandigarh: Gurdaspur MP Partap Singh Bajwa has accused the SAD-BJP combine of double standards, claiming that the coalition government’s political opportunism had been exposed in the case of Devinder Pal Singh Bhullar.

In a statement, he accused the SAD-BJP government of changing its stand on Bhullar time and again. Bajwa said the BJP’s move to oppose a resolution proposed to be moved by the CM on the issue revealed that the party was two- faced. “ If the BJP does not subscribe to the views of the government, it should have the courage to walk out of the alliance.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2011/20110928/punjab.htm#9

The Asian Age – PM unfazed by row on 2G

Asian Age Corespondent Anand K. Sahay On Board Air India One

28 September 2011. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh appeared unfazed by the swirling controversy over certain aspects of the 2G spectrum case in the course of which the principal Opposition party, the BJP, has targeted Union home minister P. Chidambaram, and even hinted at the Prime Minister’s personal culpability in the 2G case.

The note, which has now become the basis for the Opposition attack on Mr Chidambaram, was “designed” only to bring out the record in the 2G case, the PM observed while on his way back to New Delhi.

He said the pertinent issues were in the public domain and before the courts, and it would not be right for him to really comment.

The PM noted that he was hearing about “in-fighting” in the government in the wake of the 2G case only from the media, but there appeared no indication of this on the ground.

He recalled in this connection his observation of last week that he continued to have confidence in Mr Chidambaram, the present home minister who was finance minister in the period pertaining to the 2G affair during UPA-I.

Asked why he had permitted a change in the terms of reference, and not allowed an empowered group of ministers (EGoM)) to take a call on the first stage pricing of spectrum, the PM said he accepted the logic of then communications minister Dayanidhi Maran (during UPA-I) that the issue of spectrum pricing was a “bread and butter” matter for department of telecom, and also that a group of ministers may not be a good idea when it came to processing technical data. In addition, he said, the discussion in government in 2006 pertained to defence vacating spectrum (for civilian uses), and not spectrum pricing.

In this connection, Dr Manmohan Singh recalled that the predecessor NDA government, in October 2003, had taken the view that the communications minister and the finance minister could together settle the spectrum pricing question.

http://www.asianage.com/india/pm-unfazed-row-2g-753

My visit to Italy from 18 July till 5 August

Pictures taken in Novellara on 31 July 2011
Pictures taken in San Bonifacio Gurdwara on 2 August 2011

Novellara, Sikh ‘calcio’ players (football)

Novellara, members of the Gatka Akhara also love ’calcio’ (football)

San Bonifacio Gurdwara
Ronca munda

San Bonifacio Gurdwara
Granthi Ji with on his right one of ‘my’ Guru’s Daughters

Associazone Guru Nanak, Mission Seva Society
Via Ritonda 81b
37047 San Bonifacio
Verona province, Veneto region

More pictures of my Italy trip to follow !
Harjinder Singh
Man in Blue

The Tribune – A Tribune investigation: Punjab Public Transport – 2

How the Badals hijacked Punjab’s luxury bus business

Punjab Bureau, Chandigarh, September 27. In the past five years, there has been a decisive shift in the ownership of buses for public transport. While Punjab Roadways and Pepsu Road Transport Corporation (PRTC) were the public sector behemoths that controlled almost 60 per cent of the market share a decade ago, they have since lost their share substantially to the private sector.

The situation is now reversed. Of the 7,500 buses plying on Punjab roads for public transport today, nearly 4,000 belong to the private operators giving them a 60 per cent share. Punjab Roadways, PRTC and its subsidiaries — Punbus and Kilometre Scheme — all put together have only 3,500.

It is not as though there is anything wrong with private players entering the transport sector. In fact, they have considerably improved connectivity, comfort and efficiency. The real issue is how the top state politicians especially Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and his son Sukhbir, the Deputy Chief Minister, have now managed to control an even larger share of the expanding private-sector pie. Also, how the transport policy has been tailored to the benefit of private operators.

In Part 1 of The Tribune investigation published yesterday, it was revealed that the private operators have benefited at the cost of the state exchequer, the state-owned public transport organisations and also the poor of Punjab.

Other than the Badals, among the private bus operators are the families of the Speaker of Punjab Vidhan Sabha Nirmal Singh Kahlon, BJP legislator Jagdish Sahni, PPP chief Manpreet Singh Badal, former Congress legislators Avtar Singh Henry, Amrik Singh Dhillon and Jasbir Singh Gill (Dimpa) besides the sitting MLA Amarjit Singh Samra (Congress) and families of former (late) legislators Dilbagh Singh Nawan Shahr and Kirpal Singh Libra.

Parkash Singh Badal in his affidavit submitted to the Returning Officer of Lambi constituency before the 2007 Assembly elections had declared family shares in Dabwali Transport and Real Estate Company and Baaz Transport Private Limited. In the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, Harsimrat Badal in her affidavit declared that her husband, Sukhbir Badal, had 28,551 shares of Rs 10 each in Dabwali Transport Company and 2,570 shares of Rs 100 each in Baaz Transport company.

Similarly, Avtar Henry had also given details of shares he and his wife hold in Kartar Bus Service, besides the 27 trucks he owns as a trucker. Jasbir Singh Gill, alias Dimpa, had also declared his shares in New Piyar Bus Service, though he now claims that he has sold his share in the family owned transport company.

In the Bathinda District Transport Office (DTO) alone, of the 440 buses registered private operators have a total of 270 buses. (Public sector transport companies have 170). These private companies operate their buses to various destinations from Bathinda to the rest of Punjab.

Officially, the Badals directly own 80 buses mainly in three companies — Orbit, Dabwali and Baaz — that dominate the Malwa region.

But in the past five years they are said to have been quietly acquiring controlling interests in at least 10 other private companies and now manage their operations. They now control directly or indirectly 130 of the 270 private buses registered in the Bathinda DTO. Though Manpreet Badal and his father Gurdas, the brother of the chief minister, had shares in the transport companies held by the Badal family, a decade ago there was a family settlement and a clear division was made. Manpreet claims he now owns only three buses registered under the name of Raghuraj Transport company.

When compared to the overall number of buses that ply in the state, these numbers do not look significant. But when one looks at the luxury and super-luxury sectors, the Badals have a virtual monopoly in the Malwa region. In the super-luxury segment all the 17 super-integral buses that provide air-conditioned luxury travel on trunk routes connecting major Punjab cities with Chandigarh belong to the families of the CM and his son.

In the luxury segment, the Badal companies and other private operators dominate. A study of figures available with the four Regional Transport Authorities located in Patiala, Jalandhar, Ferozepur and Bathinda show just how much they actually control. Among the the state-owned corporations, Punjab Roadways has 84 HVAC (High Vacuum Air-conditioned Coaches) and 23 Integral buses and PRTC has 48 HAVC and 14 Integral buses. Together the public sector companies have 169 buses in this segment.

On the other hand, private operators have between them 203 HAVC and 75 Integral buses totaling 278 or two thirds of the total such buses that ply in the state. Put together the Badals allegedly control directly or indirectly 167 of the 464 luxury and super luxury buses that ply in the state equivalent to both Punjab Roadways and PRTC.

Despite concerted efforts, The Tribune reporters could not get balance sheets of private bus operators who have been growing strong financially as is reflected by the growing size of their fleet of buses and new route permits they have got during the past few years. When The Tribune reporters contacted companies controlled by the Badal they refused to comment on either their holdings, the number of buses they own and also their controlling interest in other private corporations.

In Part 3, The Tribune would show how a suspiciously supportive government policy has ensured that private operators can not only recover their costs but make profits too.

Prabhjot Singh with inputs from Sushil Goyal, Gagan K. Teja, Ravi Dhaliwal, Pawan Kumar Jaiswar, Neeraj Bagga and Kusum Arora.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2011/20110928/main2.htm

BBC News – Soutik Biswas Column; Is India in the throes of ‘distress migration’?

28 September 2011

Are millions of Indians being forced to leave their villages for cities and towns because there aren’t enough jobs at home and farm incomes are drying up? Is this “distress migration” unprecedented in India’s history?

Award-winning journalist P Sainath thinks so. Examining the latest census data, he finds that India’s urban population has risen more (91 million more than in the 2001 census) than the rural population (90.6 million more than in the 2001 census). Nearly half the people in states like Tamil Nadu already live in urban settlements.

The last time, writes Mr Sainath, the rise in India’s urban population exceeded the rise of the rural population was 90 years ago and reflected in the 1921 census. The decline in rural population then could be possibly linked to the 1918 flu pandemic that killed several million people.

This time around, Mr Sainath says, the increase in migration is driven by the “collapse of millions of livelihoods in agriculture and its related occupations”. He writes that massive migrations “have gone hand-in-hand with a deepening agrarian crisis”: more than 240,000 farmers, mostly broken by debt, committed suicide in India between 1995 and 2009.

‘Despair-driven’

Mr Sainath has spent a lifetime reporting on distressed farmers and how the poor live in India. He admits that the census is not equipped to examine the complexity of migration in India. In a fast urbanising country, rising migration from villages to cities and towns is natural. Also, newer “urban areas” are being added all the time. The big picture is also not strikingly unusual. According to the census, 31.16% of Indians live in urban areas, up from 27.81% in 2001 – a rate which is actually significantly lower than the rate in many developing countries with similar income levels.

But, argues Mr Sainath, these “natural” factors which triggered migration from villages to cities have been valid in the earlier decades too when additions to the village population actually outstripped those to the cities. So why is the last decade throwing up a radically different result?

Mr Sainath believes that millions of Indians are trapped in “footloose” migrations – the poor drifting from place to place “without a clear final destination”. He talks about a “despair-driven exodus” in the countryside.

Many economists believe that it may be a little too early to conclude that the rising migration from villages to cities is being triggered by economic distress at home.

For one, they point to the fact that 90% of the increase in urban settlements – 7935 in 2011, up from 5161 in 2001 – is from the rise in the number of new “census towns”. A settlement is declared such a town when its population exceeds 5,000; when the number of male farm workers falls to less than 25% of the total; and where population density is at least 4,000 people per sq km. “It is also likely that a very significant part of the ‘urbanisation’ that is being talked about is actually a reflection of this reclassification of settlements rather than of rural to urban migration,” says renowned economist Jayati Ghosh.

Many economists believe that India’s landmark multi-billion dollar jobs guarantee scheme scheme has checked migration of workers from villages to cities. Thanks to guaranteed wages and days of work, many villagers prefer to stay back and work. Others believe that India’s big cities are becoming more and more uninviting to rural migrants: they are offered very few and appalling amenities, including housing and sanitation, have to pay bribes even for a basic vending business, and cough up steep rents. All this should slow down the rate of migration from rural to urban areas, economists like Amitabh Kundu of Jawaharlal Nehru University say.

There may be other pressing questions to ponder. How does India cope with its increasing urban population? Its cities are choking under power cuts, scarcity of water and polluted air. Also the increase of new urban settlements with poor amenities and limited access to jobs could easily lead to massive social unrest among the migrants in the new “cities”.

Which could actually end up wrecking India’s cities faster than its villages.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-15056418