BPSC asked to give break-up of marks on RTI application

BPSC asked to give break-up of marks
The Hindu, Friday, Oct 31, 2008
http://www.hindu.com/2008/10/31/stories/2008103154860800.htm

Patna: In an order which could be handy for the students to assess themselves, the Patna High Court has upheld the order of the State Information Commission (SIC) directing the Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC) to disclose question-wise break-up of marks obtained by them.

A single bench of Justice Ajay Kumar Tripathi has dismissed the petition filed by BPSC challenging the order of SIC directing it to provide the detailed marks to the examinees.

Dismissing the petition, Justice Tripathi on Thursday said that information and knowledge are critical for realising human aspiration. Only a knowledgeable society can assert its fundamental rights and demand quality life.

The court said that the Right to Information Act was meant to facilitate transparency in every sphere of life. The Act has been put into effect with the objective of open and a participative government which shall fulfil the needs of the people as envisaged under the Constitution of India, Justice Tripathi observed in the recent judgement.

The court did not find any fault in SIC's direction to the BPSC to provide question-wise marks to the examinees of 46th Combined Competitive Examination. The court has some difficulty in accepting the stand of the petitioner (BPSC) that they are not duty bound to furnish the information demanded by respondent no. 3 (the examinee), he stated.

The bench observed that the State Information Commission has not transgressed its power in directing the petitioner (BPSC) to furnishthe information to the examinee. –PTI

Seeking information on PERFORMANCE OF INFORMATION COMMISSIONS IN INDIA : Both CIC and SICs

Seeking information on PERFORMANCE OF INFORMATION COMMISSIONS IN INDIA : Both CIC and SICs

The Right to Information Action group of Uttar Pradesh is organizing an event where the issue of PERFORMANCE OF INFORMATION COMMISSIONS IN INDIA will also be taken up. All activists and RTI workers are requested to please send in their views on the performance of their State Commissions and also the Central Commission.

The review may include information on the following areas: (only an indicative list)

1. Date of establishment of the SIC – Whether within the date / period prescribed by the RTI Act or not. (Say for example, the SIC in Uttar Pradesh was established very late, beyond the statutory limit prescribed by the Act.)

2. How much is the CIC / SIC equipped to handle and dispose of the cases? Say in terms of infrastructure and manpower support.
3. Does the CIC / SIC follow the suo-moto disclosures as prescribed in Section 4 of the act? If yes to what extent?

4. Cases filed (say upto a cut-off date)
5. Cases disposed (upto cut-off date)
6. Percentage of cases heard and disposed
7. Average time taken to dispose off a case
8. Fines levied : Extent and in how many cases
9. How many cases are disposed in favour of the applicants?

10. How many cases were not in favour of the applicants?
11. What are the general pleas taken on record by the CIC / SIC to deny information?
12. Does the CIC / SIC levy penalty as a deterrent for concealing information? So that other A/PIO feel the pinch.
13. Commentary on any landmark order by CIC / SIC that has a long term impact on the future of RTI in India.
14. Any blot (negative order) that is likely to be a hamper in the path of RTI in India.
15. Major grievances of people / applicant against the CIC / SIC.
16. Does the SIC has a website
17. Is the website regularly updated by the commission
18. Does the website provide details of cases coming up for hearing, cases pending, cases disposed and the decisions of the commissions?

19. Any other information that you feel important.

This is only an indicative list and not an exhaustive one. RTI workers and activists are free to include any other detail which they feel may be relevant in this regard. We are attempting to present a PERFORMANCE REPORT CARD of the information commissions before a wider audience. You may also send in your experiences.

All of your are requested to please provide the information available as there is no central source for capturing and maintaining such information. You may also take the above questions as a survey and send your personal feedback.

Your feedback and cooperation is very crucial in this fact finding mission. All contributions shall be duly acknowledged. The closing date is November 12, 2008.

Please feel free to get in touch over email of phone for any further discussion.

Regards,

Sachin Agarwal
Secretary
Society for People’s Action, Change and Enforcement (SPACE)

Email: tellsachin@yahoo.com
Phone: +91 94152 55042

Pvt medical, engg colleges under purview of RTI Act

By Vaibhav Ganjapure & Ranjit Deshmukh,
Nagpur - TNN 27 Sep 2008,
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Nagpur/Pvt_medical_engg_colleges_under_purview_of_RTI_Act/articleshow/3533077.cms

Private medical and engineering non-aided colleges can no longer choose to hide information sought under the Right to Information Act, 2005.

In a landmark order, information commissioner for Nagpur and Amravati Vilas Patil has made it compulsory for all private engineering and medical colleges to reveal information under RTI to every applicant. These colleges had earlier refused to provide information on the pretext that they were beyond the purview of the Act.

The order was delivered in response to an appeal filed by Rajkumar Bhoyar against first appellate officer, principal of Yashwantrao Chavan College of engineering (YCCE), Wanadongri and YCCE public
information officer.

Earlier, private engineering and medical institutions refused to divulge information under RTI to applicants as they "were not governed by the government nor they received any government grant and hence the RTI was not applicable to them, Patil told TOI and said he took help of two Supreme Court judgments for passing the order.

"As per verdict of apex court, all private engineering and medical institutions were governed by the University Grants Commission (UGC), All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and the Medical Council of India (MCI)," Patil said.

RTI Convention at Lucknow

Highlights of

One Day Convention on Third Anniversary of RTI Act, 2005

Organised by: Right to Information Action Group, UP

Location: Nirala Sabhagaar, Hindi Sansthan, Hazrat Ganj, Lucknow – UP

Date: October 12, 2008.

Chief Guest: Mr. Shailesh Gandhi, Central Information Commissioner, India

Special Guest: Justice (Retd.) Kamleshwar Nath of Allahabad High Court

Other persons on the dais: Mr. Izhar Ansari, RTI activist

Others Present: RTI activists from all over the state of Uttar Pradesh, media persons and members of the public.

Some blips as starter:

1. No representative of the State Information Commission of Uttar Pradesh was present. Given the fact that the CIC was there, the absence of representation of the SIC attains significance. Did the organizers not invite anyone from SIC or did they not turn up? This question needs to be answered, as a large part of the convention actually hammered upon the functioning of the Information Commissioners. The CIC in his address himself focused on the working of the information commissioners and their faulty working.
2. Some journalist friends were found discussing that when the CIC arrived in Lucknow no Officer of the State Government was there to receive him at the railway station. Neither any official vehicle was send for the CIC. The grapevine doing the rounds was that it was much later that a car was send by the administration to ferry the CIC.
3. Mr. Shailendra Singh (State President of Congress (I) RTI task Force) was conspicuous by his absence. He was in news for being arrested by the Police for asking questions on the Ambedkar Udyaan a dream project of Chief Minister Mayawati which is alleged to be costing a lot to the exchequer.

***

The event was a remarkable event with the conglomeration of so many activists from diverse locations of Uttar Pradesh having hands on experience in the field of RTI, coming on a common platform. They shared their experiences and resolved to work relentlessly to further the cause of transparency in public offices. Some highlights of the convention revealed through the presentations of various activists are illustrated below.

1. The victimization of RTI workers and information seekers was the most prime issue being brought up and discussed at the convention. People from all over the state reported victimization by state, administration and police machinery. They were penalized for asking questions from the various departments. Many information seekers were even laden with police cases to deter them from asking questions which were uncomfortable for the system to answer. There was a unanimous view on this issue.

Many activists presented their experiences in victimization of RTI workers and common man. They even reported case studies documented by them in this regard. A need was felt for concerted effort in this direction to build pressure on state, administration and also the judicial machinery to look into such cases and take steps that further victimization of RTI workers is prevented.

Mr. OP Sharma from the State RTI Task Force of Congress (I) suggested that some kind of statutory protection be accorded to the RTI workers and information seekers under the act itself. Importantly, Mr. Sharma addressed the people present as the participants in the second freedom movement of India.

Jitendra Chaturvedi of DEHAT (A voluntary organization from Behraich district in Uttar Pradesh) shared his experiences in using RTI as a tool to bring rightful justice to the residents of the forest areas. He narrated that an effective tool in this regard would be to file multiple RTI applications of same nature in various names. Then it would be difficult for the system to crawl back at the information seekers as the number of people would be very large. It was a pragmatic solution and he has himself used this method while doing community work. He got 50 applications filed in one case and no one was victimized.

2. Expansion / extension of the concept of the Assistant / Public Information Officer (A/PIO) was another contribution of this convention. It was again a unanimous view that the A/PIO is not only the person who is designated to be such under the provisions of the act. In-fact, in many cases the A/PIO is a very junior cadre officer in the system who is designated to be such. The information sought may not directly fall in the purview / control of the A/PIO. So s/he may have to collect it from some other person / officer / department in the organization and then provide it to the information seeker.

Thus it becomes important for the Appellate Authority (AA) and also the Information Commissioners (ICs) to consider the merits of this point while deciding any case against any A/PIO. The concept of A/PIO shall by extension include any person in whose possession such information lies. And if such person denies the information or prevents the A/PIO from providing such information or is deemed to have denied such information (as provided in the act) then such person should / also be responsible for failure to comply with the provisions of the RTI Act. Penalty may also be imposed against him / her and not only the A/PIO so designated.

Writers Submission: In this regard readers may refer to this news item. A senior officer victimizes a junior A/PIO for providing the information. Please see this news item from Ludhiana.

3. The inclusion of political parties and seeking their commitment for furtherance of this cause also figured as an issue. In a democracy many roads end at the gates of politics and politicians. While this was the view of the people at the convention, the organizers reported that when they approached the people from various political parties they were either apprehensive of attending this convention or asked that what they would be required to do at the convention? Mr. Izhar Ansari one of the organizers of the event quipped that most politicians are either interested in inaugurating events or chairing the sessions. With great effort the organizers were able to rope in a representative of Congress (I), (whose name this writer has forgot). This guy submitted that as Congress is the party who has introduced this Act, their commitment should not be doubted.

4. The office should not provide TA/DA to A/PIO for attending appeals at the Information Commission. Any failure to provide the information should be deemed to be a personal failure of the A/PIO and no TA / DA should be provided by the office for attending appeals at the Information Commission.

Writer Submits: Appeals at ICs is also being misused by many government officers for doing their personal work in the state capital. As many of them are located in far-off places in the state, traveling to the state capital entails considerable expense and time. But, when they come for attending an appeal at the IC they not only get TA/DA but also get duty leave from their office. Time and official resource are used to get personal work done at the state capital.

5. The issue of monitoring of penalty realized from the A/PIO was also raised. It was reported by the activists that many A/PIO were fined by the ICs but they were either not paying the fine or where the fine has gone was not known to anyone. So a monitoring system should be evolved to keep check in this area.

6. The income tax returns should not fall in the category of exempted information. All income tax returns should be made available on the websites (if possible). This would actually help in reducing corruption in public offices. Many irregularities and disparities in incomes of people can be located from what they declare before income tax authorities. If this is made possible it will automatically deter people from engaging in corruption in public offices. What people earn and report to income tax are quite apart. This information can be easily had from any income tax return.

Presentation of Mr. Justice (Retd.) Kamleshwar Nath.

For sake of brevity they are also being presented in a point wise manner.

1. Provision of monitoring of penalty levied on the A/PIO should be evolved.
2. The penalty charged from the A/PIO should be paid to the applicant.
3. RTI Act is the implementation of the fundamental rights conferred upon the people under the Article 19 (The Six Freedoms) of the Constitution of India.
4. Extending the concept of A/PIO was necessary for the smooth functioning of the RTI Act. It should mean to include any person with the information rests.
5. He stressed on the need to establish Gram Nyayaalayas (Village Courts). This would help in the effective implementation of the RTI provisions.
6. Officers called for attending the appeals at SIC/CIC should not be reimbursed any TA/DA by the state.
7. A large number of Committees and Commissions are set up the Government to look into various issues. People should raise questions on their reports and action taken on these reports.
8. State should be prevented from increasing the scope of section 8 (the exempting section) and the scope of section 6 should be sought to be increased. Constant public pressure should be build on state and prevent it from doing such acts as would increase the scope of section 8.
9. A question was raised on whether an NGO or Association can seek information under the RTI Act. To which the learned Justice replied that the Section 3 of the RTI Act provides that “subject to the provisions of this Act” any “Citizen” can seek information. Who is a Citizen may be drawn from the provisions of the General Clauses Act where any “person” can be a citizen. A person can be natural or artificial (it includes Association of Persons, Body of Individuals, Firms, Societies and even Companies incorporated / registered under any act of law). So an NGO or association is very much entitled to ask questions under the RT Act.
10. The Justice also commented on a decision of Prof. MM Ansari (Information Commissioner) where Ansari had ruled that a suspended employee may not ask questions under the RTI Act. Ansari has opined that as there is an established procedure of law to deal with suspended employees such people would not be eligible to ask questions under the RTI Act. But, the Justice stated that there was nothing that prevented a suspended employee from seeking recourse under this Act because a suspended employee continues to be a citizen and a person.

***

The most enthralling presentation was made by Shailesh Gandhi, the CIC himself. He charmed the audience by addressing the people present as “swatantra desh ke partantra naagrikon” (loosely translated in English as: slave citizens of a free country.)

The highlights of his presentation are as under:

1. The very first poser thrown by him was that why are we still “partantra” or slaves? If it is so, it is our fault. For if, activists are being victimized in Uttar Pradesh (UP), it is a reflection on the governance in UP. In a democracy the government belongs to the public. Inherent meaning being that we should think of governments that are sensitive to people or we are responsible for putting a government in power that victimizes its people.
2. He narrated a case where he had asked the uses of the money in Maharashtra CM Relief Fund. The answer was not easy to come by for the state defended that it was a personal / discretionary fund of the CM. Gandhi fought that it was still created by the taxpayers money and things reached the gates of the SIC in Maharashtra. But nobody victimized him. The answers received after a long battle were indeed shocking that the funds were used for organizing Gazals programmes, Kabbaddi Matches, money was given to Press Club and even constructing latrines for CM in Maharashtra Bhawan at Delhi.
3. Politics becomes power politics. You get associated with a political party to exert power. That’s what happens in India. Ordinary works are not being done without political pressures. In America, someone can call up Passport Office and inquire about the status of his/her passport. Something you can’t even expect in India. The official view will be something like “how dare you ask it over the telephone?”
4. The state machinery would always like to increase the scope of exemptions in the RTI Act. But here he refers to the public action for driving away a government that existed in India before 1947. That was not our government so we drove it away. Now it’s our government. Can’t we take up the cause of protecting an Act? Can’t we protect the sanctity of one act?
5. He criticized the process of selecting Information Commissioners. The fact that he has been selected does not validate the process itself. In his views the nominations should come from the public and then the ICs be selected.
6. Even courts don’t want to be transparent. Many courts have put exorbitant fees of Rs. 5000/- or Rs. 3000/- for filing RTI applications.
7. In reality everyone wants others to become transparent.
8. Use of RTI is akin to the discovery of truth. The truth which is largely captivated in the files of the government system.
9. Hitting at a common argument by the government machinery that RTI is a tool of blackmailing, Gandhi referred to the PC Alexender Committee where it was quipped that we got independence through truth and now why we are getting afraid of the truth coming out?
10. RTI is a tool and not a weapon. Let’s have a positive view on the issue. Weapon is used to kill / harm an enemy. Our government is not our enemy for we have put it in power. We do not necessarily wish to destroy our governments (by using a weapon).
11. He criticized the working of the ICs. Appeals should not be lingered on. RTI should not go the way of “justice delayed is justice denied.”
12. He reported that he has been given only two clerks. He types his orders on his own and delivers on the same day the case is disposed.
13. Now he has decided to take salary of the CIC and from which he shall pay the staff that he shall appoint on his own for the working of the commission.
14. He may even put donation box at the office of the CIC, if still the funds are not sufficient.
15. He suggested that the courts should also do their work fast. CIC can’t function as court. The job of court would have to be done by a court.
16. The civil society should pressurize their ICs to do timely disposal of cases.
17. Adjournments should be stopped and time bound reply should be given to applicants.

*****

Writer’s submissions:

1. On the issue of the victimization of RTI workers an effort can be made to use the internet and connect with activists of far-off places. As personal security and safety is important to all of us, we can raise public interest questions through people who may be located in distant places. Say for eg. Someone in Lucknow may ask questions for issues related to Chennai. Someone from Bihar may ask a question for issues related to offices in Maharashtra.

This can reduce victimization to a large extent. It would be difficult for the machinery to go and victimize people in other / far-off states. This way we can do public work without jeopardizing our personal security. Readers may debate the idea and send their feedback on tellsachin@yahoo.com

2. The idea of according official protection to the information seekers is also a valid one. A machinery be evolved right up-to the commission level to look into such cases. Even the police can be asked to create a special wing to look into such cases.

***

A report prepared by:

Sachin Agarwal
Secretary
Society for People’s Action, Change and Enforcement (SPACE)
Phone: 94152 55042

Global Financial Crisis & India: Leadership required

By Sucheta Dalal

Published at: http://www.suchetadalal.com/articles/display/3004/3007.article

on 11 Oct, 2008

India is in the middle of a financial meltdown and the extent of panic among finance companies, banks, corporates and investors is yet to be adequately reflected in the media. At a time like this, India needs bold economic leadership that is extremely credible and capable of quick decision-making to create confidence in the market.

Look around the world; policy decisions in the US are personally announced by President George W. Bush. In Britan it is the Prime Minister Gordon Brown who announced the policy package and faced media-gruelling with tact and equanimity. In France and Germany it is Nicholas Sarkozy and Angela Merkel who are leading the damage control effort.

In India, the situation is worsening by the day. Apart from a severe liquidity crunch that continues despite the cut in Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR), many finance companies are facing a crisis. There is also a massive run on Fixed Maturity Plans with corporate investors withdrawing investments and the credit ratings of the issuers also looking shaky. Some companies have begun to default on Certificates of Deposit (CDs) and are asking investors to roll over the CDs instead of increasing panic by announcing the default. The realty sector is among the worst hit. Clearly, the situation warrants quick, credible and intelligent steps to protect the financial sector, without necessarily bailing out reckless gamblers.

So, what do we have by way of prudent decising making? Believe it or not, every significant regulator or decision maker is either is new at his job or does not carry enough credibility in the financial world.

• Finance Secretary, Arun Ramanathan spoke to the press on Friday, 10th October, but he didn’t carry conviction with business and industry, especially those who know that he has just four months to retirement and is hardly likely to take decisions that may end up being controversial or may fail to work.
• Governor Dr. D Subbarao of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) comes with a good reputation, but he is far too new at the job. More importantly, he and Deputy Governor Rakesh Mohan are abroad at a meeting. The RBI’s decision to cut CRR by 1.5% was also made overseas. In any case, since RBI operates out of an ivory tower, nobody is quite sure if it will initiate action aimed at mitigating potential damage to India’s financial system.
• SEBI Chairman C.B.Bhave is a veteran of the capital market, having been associated with it since the mid 1990s. He also comes with a good reputation. Unfortunately, Bhave has somewhat blotted his copy book with the meaningless flip-flop on Participatory Notes (PNs). The expectation that a change in policy that allows the issue of fresh, more non-transparent financial paper, would immediately boost market sentiment is so absurdly naïve that it does no credit to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI). Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) who bring in these funds are busy pulling their money out of the market. A little homework would have shown that there was already plenty of head-room to issue fresh PNs without changing the policy. Worse, it smacks of double standards regarding Know Your Customer (KYC) norms applicable to domestic investors and foreign ones. After the PN decision flopped, SEBI seems to have chosen to maintain a discreet silence about the market mayhem.
• Then there is Finance Minister P Chidambaram, who has never missed an opportunity to talk up the market and assure investors that the Indian economy is doing fine as reflected in the huge tax collections whipped out of business and industry. Unfortunately, he has said this so often that he carries little credibility among market players.

The only person, who carries credibility in the government today is Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh. We need the Prime Minister to get into the thick of decision making and take charge of the situation at a time when some unprecedented action is required.

Lets go back in history to the Harshad Mehta scam of 1992. There is no Indian scam in 2008 (at least none that is evident), but it is worse. We have a global financial crisis that is bound to have a huge impact on the Indian economy. Let us compare the situtation with 1992 and how it was handled. Dr.Singh was the Finance Minister then and carried incredibly high credibility. More importantly, he had excellent support in and equally credible G.V.Ramakrishna at SEBI, who was unafraid of initiating quick action and the S.Venkitaraman at the RBI, who had excellent rapport with central banks around the world.

In his book, Two Score and Ten, Mr.Ramakrishna writes about how he persuaded a reluctant Dr.Manmohan Singh to make a statement in parliament and to set up a committee in the RBI to investigate the scam. The result was the multi-disciplinary Janakiraman Committee whose six reports and investigation formed the basis of the Joint Parliamentary Committee’s reports.

Well, there is a committee of sorts that has been set up by the RBI this time. Only time will tell if it is capable of assessing the situation on a continuous basis and come up with recommendations that will safeguard the finanical system without hurting tax payers interests by recommending panicky bailouts.

Email the author: suchetadalal@yahoo.com

Indian couple wins Alternative Nobel Prize

October 1, 2008 by Shahidul Islam
Source:
http://www.google.co.in/search?hl=en&q=Krishnammal%20Jagannathan%2C%2082&gbv=2&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=iw

Krishnammal Jagannathan, 82, and her husband, Sankaralingam, 95, have spent a lifetime fighting for the rights of the deprived, especially the Dalits, the former untouchables, who form the lowest rung of India’s ancient caste ladder.

The couple - named Wednesday among the recipients of the 2008 Right Livelihood Awards, often called the Alternative Nobel Prizes -have ensured over decades that thousands of acres of land were distributed to landless Dalit labourers in India’s southern state of Tamil Nadu.

The Jagannathans and their organization, Land for the Tillers’ Freedom, were cited by the awards jury for “realizing in practice the Gandhian vision of social justice and sustainable human development.”

Krishnammal Jagannathan comes from a landless Dalit family and managed to get a university education in spite of her family’s poverty.

“I took a vow in my childhood that I must liberate Dalits, specially women, from the clutches of the landowner,” she said while remembering the troubles of her mother, left a widow at 32 with 12 children.

“Six of them died, but she made every effort to see that the rest of us were brought up with some dignity, and she was poor and not educated,” Krishnammal Jagannathan said.

Despite India’s affirmative action policy, the Dalits are still among the country’s poorest, and a majority of them remain landless labourers and manual scavengers.

Krishnammal Jagannathan said she would use the award money to build “beautiful houses” for the Dalit women who work hard in paddy fields by day and then return to do housework and often are beaten by drunken husbands at night.

“I have succeeded in getting land for 13,000 women,” said the prize winner, who with her husband is to share the 2-million-kronor (300,000-dollar) prize with the three other award recipients. “Now I want for them beautiful homes. The award money will help.”

“The award is a gift for my hard work over a long period,” she added. And a very long period indeed, spanning more than 60 years.

Krishnammal Jagannathan met her husband when she joined Gandhi’s social reform movement in the 1920s. Sankaralingam Jagannathan was born into a wealthy family but left his studies in college to join India’s freedom movement led by Gandhi, of which the social reform element was an intrinsic part.

Gandhi’s philosophy of sarvodaya - which encompasses dignity of labour, an equitable distribution of wealth, communal self-sufficiency and individual freedom - inspired the couple to take up the cause of the rural poor, especially the landless Dalits.

After India gained independence from British rule, the couple joined another Gandhian leader, Vinoba Bhave, in his bhoodan (gift land) movement where the activists walked the roads trying to persuade landlords to give one-sixth of their land to the landless.

The Jagannathans started their work on land reform in Tamil Nadu’s Thanjavur district in 1968 after the Kilvelmani massacre, in which 42 Dalits, mostly women and children, were burned alive in a remote village in the district by a landlord’s hired goons over a wage dispute.

Land for the Tillers’ Freedom was an outcome of the Jagannathans’ decades-long struggle for the landless. It was founded in 1981 with the aim of bringing the landless and the landlord to the negotiating table and to obtain government and bank concessions for loans so the landless could buy land at reasonable prices.

The organization, which is committed to raising the social status and acceptability of the Dalits, also helps the tillers farm collectively and repay loans through cooperative efforts.

And now the group is helping Dalit labourers and farmers build livable houses, one more step in the Jagannathans’ efforts for a better life for Dalits.

While Krishnammal Jagannathan is still active in the organization- she was on a bus travelling between two towns for it when called for this story - her husband is more frail and can no longer move around as before.

But the couple’s efforts continue to receive recognition, including one of the country’s highest civilian awards, the Padmashri.

Life Moves on : The Video

Here is the video for my previous post.

Life moves on: 24 Hours after the under construction bridge collapsed at Lucknow.

Life moves on: 24 Hours after the under construction bridge collapsed at Lucknow

Picture 1

Picture 2

Picture 3

Picture 4

Here are some shots of the site of the under construction bridge which collapsed in Lucknow. Some are still photos and one video shot on my Nokia 2110C cellphone. An amateur work done to find out the situation at the site of the accident 24 hours after the accident happened on 30 September 2008. These visuals are taken on 01 October 1, 2008 at around 5:45 PM. I am writing this post after returning from the site at around 8:30 PM. Let me add that my house is within walking distance from the site of the accident.

The traffic movement on this National Highway No. 24 was moving as usual. Be it known that it is a very important road which connects Lucknow with a good number of districts in eastern Uttar Pradesh. Some of the districts being Barabanki, Faizabad, Devaria, Behraich, Gonda, Gorakhnpur, Basti etc. This is the road connecting to Bihar and even Nepal. The problem of people and the administration was further aggravated as the accident happened almost at the entrance of the city (municipal) limits of Lucknow (read capital of Uttar Pradesh).

The hustle and bustle is back. Vehicles are moving past the beam which fell yesterday, as they would have done even if the beam would not have fallen. The only thing different today was that every passer by was curiously looking at the fallen structure of concrete. A large number of people still stopped and tried to retrace what would have happened yesterday.

Some Police personals were posted at the site. They were driving people away, who were stopping by to have a look at the fallen beam. As their stopping by was making the road congested. They repeated the exercise of chasing people away at regular intervals. No TV camera, no Reporters and no rescue teams and above all no Politicians. All of them were back to their routines. No crying relatives of people injured or dead. All of them were absent. As expected.

Yes, the people who were otherwise conspicuously missing were the people from the construction crew of Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) who were away from this site possibly fearing a public backlash. Only the signage of HCC was there. On any ordinary day this signage would have signified the emerging strength of an economically liberalized India. The progressing India, the India growth story and the infrastructure boom etc. etc. But, today it signified gloom – a dark side of the ‘India growth stories’ which I have read in every newspaper and magazine. For a moment I too felt a La-Mamta Banerjee kind of feeling.

But, this is not the end. Today the traffic has returned to normal and tomorrow or may be some days after, the work at the site shall also begin. Leaving us with the reminiscences of what happened as an ‘unfortunate accident.’

The life moves on. So we have seen and so we shall see.

Under construction Bridge collapses in Lucknow: India or Canada!

On 30 September 2008, as news of an under construction bridge collapsing in Lucknow spread on television news channel I rushed on to the internet to search for the news feed being made available. A search on Google revealed that an under construction bridge has collapsed in Lucknow. As I was getting impatient to read the news I followed the very first link made available, not realizing that it was of CTV. As I read the first few lines I realized that the contents of the news are similar to what I knew but something was there which was not fitting into the real picture। And the later lines in the news item made it clear that I was reading a piece from CANADA and not INDIA. This incident happened in Lucknow (some place in Ontario, Canada) on Sunday, Nov. 11 2007. The search was made on Google with the words lucknow bridge collapses and all the results on page one of the search except second last one from INDIA TODAY did not talk about the bridge collapse I was looking for। What a co-incidence? That a place with similar name exists in Canada and there too an under construction bridge had collapsed as a 'concrete block crumbled' while workers were trying to move it. Six people were reported dead there too and that it was also 'a brand new bridge', as revealed by the news report. Sounds similar and familiar to what happened here in Lucknow at India। But what was not similar was that; there the victims were 'airlifted to hospital' and the 'search for more people under debris was on।' The Ministry of Labour was inquiring in Ontario and in Lucknow our Ministers, sensing good chance to gain political mileage, were doing (shifting) the blame upon each other. There the bridge was in news and INFORMATION WAS OBTAINED BY THE CANDAIN PRESS as it was 'ten weeks behind schedule' and here who cares even if the bridge was five years behind schedule or fifty years behind schedule. Just a comparison for all of us to think upon.

Plagiarism Peril Prevails

The peril of plagiarism prevails and the most shocking fact is that it is prevalent in the class considered to be 'intellectual' and 'knowledgeable' by the society. Plagiarism is the act of passing someone else's work (generally intellectual work like research material, data, lifting from book, work of art or music etc.) as one's own and original creation without acknowledging the original author or inventor. It is an intellectual theft having moral, social and financial implications. On a legal level it also a violation of intellectual property rights of the original inventor or author. Although cases of such copying and theft have been reported in industry (where such theft could have large financial implications), large part of this discreditable works are registered in the name of the academic and research fraternity. In these professions it is largely an issue involving moral turpitude committed for seeking recognition amongst fellow workers. Some are motivated to do it for capturing chances of upliftments in career. Various forms and facets of plagiarism are reported by people from the academic community spanning different parts of the world. From the developed world to the third world countries to the socialist China (the emerging superpower), all have witnessed there share of this evil. Reports of such acts have been repeatedly springing up in media and when such issues are made public there is a huge outcry against the persons named in it. But, the fact remains that there is a need for a strengthened mechanism to handle cases of plagiarism on permanent basis. While such systems and agencies exist in USA, in India, we are devoid of any such institutional mechanism. With all major international findings indicating a dominant position of our country in the new emerging world economic order such system is much needed to preserve the credit and integrity of our academic and research institutions. (Visuals courtesy www.chemistry.berea.edu and www.sociology.camden.rutgers.edu revealed through Google Image Search)