Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur

Director’s Office

DIR/IITK/2007/ 89

September 16, 2007

Office Order

In the recent past there have been several concerns expressed on the issue of welfare of the Contract Labour engaged and supervised by the contractors who have been entrusted with the contracts by the Institute.

The undersigned alongwith the concerned team of Institute officials visited several sites and held / conducted several interactive sessions with the contract labour, contractors, faculty members, officers and other stakeholders.

Based on the wider level deliberations, the Institute wishes to reiterate its stand on the policy issues related to contract work-force duly stressing the welfare and the statutory obligations. A detailed document with operational procedures in this regard vide Annexure I is attached along with this office order. Further, the following guidelines are reiterated for strict compliance by the contractors and all the concerned in the Institute in a time bound manner. All the Institute administrators shall strictly ensure implementation and compliance of these statutory provisions by the contractors / concerned incumbents without fail.

1. The Government of India’s guidelines and the statutory provisions for protection of the interests of the contract workforce engaged and supervised by the contractors of the projects / work assignments shall be followed in toto by the contractors without any deviation. A synopsis of the statutory provisions for the information of the IWD, Institute’s administrators, contractors and all others concerned as Annexure -II.

2. An undertaking to the effect that all statutory compliance will be ensured by the contractors shall be submitted by them by September 30, 2007. A compliance report shall be submitted by all the administrators, Superintending Engineer IWD/DOSA/Registrar on completion of the exercise by October 5, 2007.

3. The entire work-force engaged and supervised by the contractors shall be ensured of payment of Minimum Wages as applicable as per the statutory provisions from time to time. The payment of wages shall be made in the presence of representatives of the MWMC of the institute. (The details of the processes adopted are provided in Annexure I) Any deviation by the contractor shall be viewed seriously and necessary penal clauses shall be invoked as per the Law and the agreement. At every major work-spot the rates of minimum wages in force shall be displayed invariably.

4. The contractor shall issue the multipurpose employment cum attendance card on monthly basis to all the workers employed by him/her and shall maintain the records as per the statutory provisions. Details in this regard are provided in Annexure I. All the contractors should comply with this order at the earliest but not latter than September 30, 2007. A compliance report be submitted by all the Administrators, SE, IWD/ DOSA/Registrar by October 15, 2007.

5. Any complaint related to payment or taking the money back after payment of wages shall be examined according to the grievance redressal mechanism elaborated in Annexure I. Wherever possible, the wages shall be paid by a crossed cheque / bearer cheque payable at SBI/UBI branch at IIT Kanpur or by way of cash in front of the MWMC representative duly obtaining a proper receipt.

6. All the contractors who follow the best practices as an employer of the work-force shall be given suitable encouragement in all possible manners by the Institute.

7. A suitable canteen facility should be provided for the benefit of the workers at major work sites as per the statutory provisions.

8. A medical facility should be made available for the benefit of the workers for consultation for common ailments as per the statutory provisions. The contractor shall ensure that a first aid kit is readily available at the work site at all times. At the work-spot the information about the nearby hospitals which are well equipped for emergency treatment shall be displayed prominently.

9. All necessary measures shall be initiated to approach the insurance companies so that the contractor (s) obtains a master policy of insurance against accidental death or disability of workers while working at the site.

10. All work-spot safety measures should be ensured by the contractors without any deviation. The contractor shall procure sufficient number of safety/gum shoes, safety gloves, hard cap etc., for the use of the workers wherever required invariably.

11. The duty hours should be strictly observed as per the statutory provisions by all the contractors.

12. No worker, or the family members, shall be allowed to stay on the campus without proper authorization. Contractors shall declare the names of such workers (and their family members, if any) who wishes to stay back at the work site on the request, and personal risk and liability of the contractor(s) shall have to obtain prior permission from the Institute through the administrative in-charge of the project/contract.

Modus operandi:- Many of the above guidelines issued are to be initiated and implemented. For this purpose, sub-committees which are attached as Annexure III have been constituted. The member(s)-secretary of the committee(s) are required to submit a report of the implementation by October 15, 2007. These committees shall complete their work by a date not latter than October 31, 2007. The entire implementation shall be reviewed by the first fortnight of November 2007.

Sd/-

Sanjay G Dhande

Director

Copy to:

1. Dy Director
2. Registrar
3. All Deans
4. IAC Members
5. SE, EE-I, EE-II, all JEEs of IWD
6. Chairman, COW and all the Warden(s) – in –charge.
7. All Head(s) of departments / Units / Sections
8. Chairman and all members of the MWM Committee
9. Conveners and all members of sub-committees.
10. All the Contractors of the Institute
11. All others concerned
12. Information cell for placing the orders on the website of the Institute.

Amendments to the Right to Education Bill 2008
Preliminary Remarks:
(i) These amendments address the text of February 2, 2008, of the Right to Education Bill circulated by the Government of India among the Ministries concerned before the Bill could be introduced in the Parliament. Since the Bill is still under consideration by the Government, it may be further revised. But the revisions are not likely to be many.
(ii) The amendments suggested here are not completely inclusive. Only essential amendments are suggested. It is assumed that once some of the basic amendments are accepted, consequential amendments would have to be made. There is no attempt here to suggest such consequential amendments.
(iii) There is also no attempt to suggest exact formulations of the amendments. Only the substance of the amendments to be made are indicated.
(iv) These amendments are confined to the text of the Right to Education Bill. Other issues relating to school education which are of great concern to many of us are not raised here. These include providing compulsory and free education to children in the age group 4 to 6, defining the term “children” to include those in the age group 15 to 18, commodification of education, privatisation of education, likely offer in the primary education sector in the ongoing negotiations on services, in WTO etc. These issues will have to be raised independently in other appropriate forums and contexts.

A. Non-negotiable amendments:(1) Financial implications of the Bill:There is no attempt in the Bill to calculate the financial implications
of ensuring the availability of the various components of free and compulsory education. Some norms and standards are specified in the schedule to the Bill but there is no effort to put any price tags to them. Unless the required financial resources are calculated and provision made in the Bill that the State shall provide them in a time bound framework, the time targets set out in the Bill are unlikely to be met, and free and compulsory education to the children in the age group 6 to 14 is unlikely to be available in the foreseeable future. It is, therefore, necessary to calculate the over-all financial implications of the Bill and submit to the Parliament a Financial Memorandum attached to the Bill.
Regarding financial resources, the assumption in the Bill is that the enhanced financial resources made available to the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), including States’ contribution to it, will take care of the financial requirement. This assumption is not justified. To illustrate this point by one set of figures, it may be pointed out that the total resources for Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan including the contribution of the State governments, in the 11th Five Year Plan is Rs.1,51,453 Crores. This comes to an annual resource allocation of a little above Rs.30,000 Crores. This is far short of approximately Rs.73,000 Crores per annum which was the estimate given by the Expert Group set up by the CABE Committee on the Right to Education Bill.
(2) Norms & Standards:Norms and Standards are the most crucial requirement for ensuring the quality of and equality in school education. The norms and standards given in the Schedule to the Bill are grossly inadequate and skimpy. There are not only numerous omissions like norms regarding availability of school at a particular distance from the habitation of children, types of schools, students per school and per class room, school furniture, laboratories, medical facilities etc., but also a number of the norms are left to be prescribed by the government. This is in spite of the fact that these norms have been specified or prescribed in the recent past by a number of committees, commissions, and agencies of the Government of India. The Schedule, therefore, is a caricature of norms and standards for school education which are essential for ensuring its quality.
(3) Responsibility of Schools to provide free and compulsory education:Section 17(1):

Different scales of responsibility have been assigned to different types of schools for providing free and compulsory education. The net result of this provision will be the perpetuation of different types of schools, some meant for privileged classes and others for the poorer classes. This violates both Article 14 (equality before law) and Article 21A (Right to Education) of the Constitution. This Section should, therefore, be amended to state that “all schools shall provide free and compulsory education to the children in the age group of 6 to 14 years and in the manner specified in the Bill”. Points (i),(ii) and (iii) and the proviso under Section 17(1), should be deleted.
In this connection it may be emphasised that the Common School System is the most effective, if not the only, framework for universalising free and compulsory school education of an equitable quality within a specified period of time. The RTE Bill, therefore, must be rooted in the framework of CSS which must bring within its fold all schools, including private unaided schools, the so-called specified category schools etc.
(4) Exclusion of Non-aided private schools from the obligations under the Bill: Unaided private schools are excluded from a large number of obligations
under the Bill. To give only a few examples, the provision relating to not permitting more than 10 percent vacancies of teachers (Page 24, Section 27(1); Accountability of Teachers (Page 25, Section 30); and Obligations to Constitute School Management Committees (Page 23, Section 25), do not apply to unaided private schools.
(5) Neighbourhood School:The concept of “neighbourhood” is defined (Page 9, aa) in relation to a
child and not in relation to a school. This has the effect of exempting certain schools, mainly unaided private schools, from the responsibility of admitting all the children in the neighbourhood. Both the definition of “neighbourhood” as well as the operative paragraph relating to it (Page 12, Section 3(1)(i) ) should be amended to define “neighbourhood” in relation to a school. In the definition part, it should be stated “as prescribed by the competent authority for each school taking into account the need to optimise the socio-cultural diversity of the children” and in the operative part it should be provided that every school shall admit all the children in the age group 6-14, in the neighbourhood. Without this, the goal of compulsory education for these children is unlikely to be met.
(6) Responsibility of Local Authorities:The Bill, on page 17, Section 13, spells out the responsibility of the Local
Authorities. To discharge these responsibilities, the Local Authorities require both capacity and devolution of finances. The provision regarding the devolution of finances is made in Section 11(2)(i) where it is stated that this will be in accordance with “such formula regarding sharing of cost - - - as the appropriate government may determine from time to time”.
It is difficult to know how long it will take to arrive at such a formula and whether there would at all be a proper devolution of finances to the Local Authorities. The provision made in the Panchayati Raj Act that the State Finance Commission would suggest the formula for the devolution of finances to the Local Authorities has been implemented by only a few States. State Finance Commissions have submitted their recommendations but no action on them have been taken by many States.
Moreover, Panchayats are still in a rudimentary state of evolution in a majority of the States. In one State, no Panchayat elections have been held. In several other States, there is only nominal devolution of authority to the Panchayats. In this context, the provision in the Bill relating to the responsibility of the Local Authorities is unlikely to be implemented in most States in the near future. Taking into account this reality on the ground, the responsibilities entrusted to Local Authorities should be given to the School Management Committees in cases where Local Authorities lack capability, empowerment or resources. Section 13 should, therefore, be amended accordingly.
(7) School Management Committees:Page 23 Section 25

School Management Committee (SMC) is the critical link in the chain of institutions ensuring free and compulsory education of equitable quality to children. The provisions on SMC in Section 25 are utterly inadequate. The total membership of an SMC is not given. A very large SMC can become non-functional. Besides, there is no indication as to how the Chairperson and other office bearers of the SMC would be elected. In many States, local MLAs and M.Ps become Chairpersons of SMC in their ex-officio capacity. This lies at the root of several of the abuses to which the schools are subjected. There must be a clear cut provision that the Chairperson and the other office bearers must be elected by and from among the elected members of the SMC. Moreover, the functions of the SMC (Section 25(3) should be spelt out in greater detail. These functions will have to be considerably expanded particularly because in several States, the SMCs will be required to take over most of the functions that are assigned in the Bill to the Local Authorities.
(8) Language Policy:Page 27, Section 32(2)(iii)

The provision in this Section on language is also utterly inadequate. It only states that the child’s “mother tongue” will be used as the “medium of instruction as far as possible, at least during the first five years of the elementary stage”. This clause does not define the word “mother tongue”. It has to be clarified that the “mother tongue” of a child can be other than Hindi (such as Bhojpuri, Maithali) in a Hindi speaking region, or other than Bengalee or Marathi in a Bengalee speaking or Marathi speaking region etc. Secondly, distinction has to be made between using language as a medium of instruction and teaching a language. Thirdly, a provision must be made in order to start implementing, at least from now onwards, the 3-language formula recommended by the Kothari Commission and in the 1986 National Education Policy and since then reiterated several times by the Government of India. The text in Annex-II to the Legislation on Common School System and Right to Education, recommended by the Common School System Commission, Bihar, provides a good basis for drafting a text on this subject for this Bill. Lastly, the question of choosing the language as a medium of instructions or teaching languages cannot be left to the discretion of the Government, as done in the Bill. It must be a clear-cut legal obligation. It is, therefore, necessary for the Bill to have a separate Annex, fully spelling out the language policy.

(9) Pre-Primary Education:Page 15, Section 8

This Section is of far-reaching importance. There is a very strong view that the fundamental Right to Education should have been extended to at least two years of pre-primary education i.e. to the children in the age group if 4-6 years. There is no such provision in the Bill. This may be understandable because the Bill is designed to give effect to Article 21A, which excludes children below 6 from the Fundamental Right to Education. But, if pre-primary education is to be brought in this Bill, it has to be as a Fundamental Right and not as a Directive Policy. There is, therefore, no place for Section 8, as presently drafted, in the Bill. Provision for pre-primary education under this section is on a best endeavour basis as in the previous Article 45 of the Constitution. Secondly, the provision is applicable only when facilities for providing such education through the ICDS do not exist. The fact is that ICDS covers only a part of the population of the children in this age group, and the education component function of ICDS is discharged only perfunctorily. Section 8, therefore, is of little value and only a camouflage for not extending the Fundamental Right of Education to children in the age group 4 to 6.

(10) Monitoring of Right to Education:Page 29, Sections 36 to 39

It is not desirable to have, as recommended in the Bill, the Commission for the Protection of Child Rights Act, 2005, to monitor the Right to Education. The burden of monitoring the implementation of the Child Rights Act is really onerous which this Commission has only recently undertaken. The full discharge of this function will call for a sizeable expansion of its resources. The Commission will not be in a position to assume the additional burden of monitoring the Right to Education even with the augmentation of its resources that can be expected in the next few years. Besides, the members of the Commission have expertise in the area of child rights and the related fields. They are not necessarily best qualified or competent to deal with the subject of school education. In these conditions, if the monitoring of the implementation of the Right to Education Bill is entrusted to the Commission for the Protection of Child Rights, there is a real danger of the entire process of monitoring the Right to Education being sidelined.
Besides, Commissions for the Protection of Child Rights are yet to be established in several States. It may take many years to do so. The interim suggestion given in the Bill is that the State government may create a State-level authority to discharge the functions of monitoring at the level of the State. This will create a dual system of monitoring in the States and that between the Centre and the State.
It is, therefore, absolutely necessary to create a separate statutory body at the national level, and its counterparts at the State level, vested with the power to monitor the implementation of the Right to Education. Paragraphs 36 to 38 of the Bill would, therefore, require to be drastically amended.
(11) Penalty for Non-compliance:Page 31, Section 41

The inclusion of this Section under the Chapter on the monitoring of the implementation of the Bill, detracts from the very significance of the Bill. The provision under Article 41 is based on the assumption that there would be violations of some of the most crucial provisions of the Bill i.e. those relating to child labour, screening procedures and capitation fees for admission, recognition of schools and application of norms and standards. The implementation of these provisions depends mainly on the political will of the State, its earmarking adequate resources and exercising control over the schools, particularly the private schools. Imposition of fines is the least effective way of ensuring compliance of these measures. As a matter of fact, it may provide to schools, particularly the private schools, the easy way out of paying fines and getting away with non-compliance of the key provisions of the Bill. This section should, therefore, be deleted.


(12) Teachers: – Service Terms & Conditions:Section 28 of the Bill provides for pre-service training of teachers
and enabling those who are not qualified to acquire the necessary qualifications within a time limit. So far as other terms and conditions of the service of teachers are concerned, the Bill leaves it to the State Governments to lay down the rules and norms. This cannot be accepted. The service terms and conditions of teachers should have provided for the levels and scales of their salaries and allowances. This is absolutely essential because without motivated qualified teachers, it is not possible to deliver quality education. When the norms and standards recommended by most of the committees/expert groups and practised in government schools, clearly prescribe salaries and other service conditions for teachers, there is no reason why it should not be provided in this Bill.
(13) Teachers Training & Innovation:At the end of Section 35 (2), it is stated that “teachers shall be
provided opportunities for peer interaction and encouraged to engage in innovation”. It is not clear as to what precise form these opportunities will take and how encouragement will be given for innovation. There are norms laid down for these purposes also, like establishment of teachers forums for peer interaction, the empowerment of this institution, stipends to teachers for research and further studies etc. This clause should, therefore, be enlarged to include detailed and specific norms for achieving the purpose mentioned in it.
(14) Teachers Grievances & Complaints of Citizens regarding Violation of the Provisions of the Bill:
The provision relating to the redressal of teachers grievances is in Section 31 and on citizens complaints regarding the violation of the provision of the Bill in Section 40(3). In neither case, the statutory Commission to be established under the Bill, has been given the standing responsibility for the hearing and disposal of grievances on citizens’ complaints. The relevant provision of the Bill only states that the Commission can take suo moto cognizance of the violation of the Bill. Instead, the Bill should have provided for the Commission being the final authority to hear cases of grievances or violation and dispose of such cases. These should include teachers grievances which are not settled up to the level of the State Government.

(15) Definition of “Working Child” and payment for the opportunity cost of forgoing child labour: Page 11(tt)

The definition should include “children in bondage and those not sent to school because of their being obliged to take care of their siblings”.
In addition, the Bill should provide compensation to a household for the opportunity cost of foregoing child labour. The forms in which such a compensation should be paid is spelt out in the relevant section of the report of the Common School System Commission, Bihar.

B. Other Important Amendments:(I) Definition of Free Education:Page 7, (q)

As in other sections, in the definition of “free definition” also, the Bill leaves the matter vague and at the discretion of the government by using the words “as may be prescribed”. Most of the “other expenses” are very well known and they are charged in one form or the other even in a system of free education. Therefore, there is a need to spell out these expenses. This should include supply of text books, stationary, uniforms, mid-day meal, teaching aids, fees for tests, examinations and use of computers and other instruments, charges for such facilities as games, cultural or artistic performances, library and extra curricular activities etc.
(2) Specification of Schools for admission outside the neighbourhood:There is a provision to this effect in Section 5(1) of the Bill. This
provision should be amended to state that where education up to the level of class VIII is not available, the local authority shall take action to upgrade the present school to that level within, say, a year or two, or build a new school up to class VIII, rather than saying that the prescribed authority would specify another school which may be for removed from the habitation of the child.
(3) Education of Equitable Quality:It is stated in Section 6(4), page 14, that the State shall ensure that
“children in schools receive education of equitable quality”. This provision has no value unless the term “equitable quality” is defined or concretized. The only way this term can be concretized is through norms and standards. This Section of the Bill should, therefore, be reformulated to relate equitable quality to the norms and standards in the Schedule. As already stated, the Schedule itself should be drastically revised and expanded to include almost all the norms and standards which make for quality education.

(4) Prohibition of Deployment of Teachers for Non-educational purpose:Section 23, page 22

The exception made in this Section for deployment for the decimal population census, election to Local Authorities, State Legislatures and Parliament can have a crippling effect on the provision of quality education to children. Some of these events, particularly elections, have now become too frequent. If teachers are deployed for these purposes there will be continuing disruption in teaching. Therefore, deployment for these purposes should also be prohibited. The only exception to be made should be for disaster relief, the duty for which should be equally applicable to teachers in private schools also.

(5) Rules relating to Grant of Recognition:Page 20/21, Section 20(3)

At the end of this sub-section, some of the criteria to be taken into account for framing rules for recognition are mentioned. These criteria are fragmentary and incomplete. The sub-section should simply state that recognition should depend on the compliance with the norms and standards included in the Schedule of the Bill.


(6) Duties of Teachers:Page 25, Section 29

In this Section, teachers are supposed to report on cases of non-compliance to parents or guardians or to SMC. This Section should have provided for first reporting to the Head Teacher.
(7) Freedom of Expression by the Child:Section 32(2)(i)

In this sub-section, the exercise of the right of the child to express her views freely is qualified by the phrase “in accordance with the age and maturity of the child”. This qualification is unnecessary and undesirable as it can be made an excuse for effectively preventing a child from expressing her views. This phrase should be deleted.
(8) Maintenance of Pupil:Teacher Ratio:It is specified in Section 26 that the concerned authority should ensure the
enforcement of the specified pupil:teacher ratio within six months from the commencement of the Bill. This seems unrealistic because ensuring the enforcement of the ratio may call for recruitment of the requisite number of teachers and their training. In another Section of the Bill, it is provided that teachers’ recruitment should be completed in five years. How it is then possible to ensure the enforcement of the ratio within six months?
(9) Not Serving in any School Other than the School of posting:
Section 26(2)

The intention behind this provision is good. But the way it is formulated may imply that a teacher may not serve in another school even on transfer. It is, therefore, necessary to add at the end of the sub-clause the phrase “except on transfer”.

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http://www.scribd.com/doc/74954870/AIF-RTE-Hindi-Newsletter-Talim-Ki-Ladai-December-2011

Once upon a time water used to be available for free in open wells, ponds……

by

Dr.V.N.Sharma

Water is called the elixir of life on this Planet. But this resource is dwindling very fast because of variety of reasons which include accelerated pace of industrialisation causing immense damages to the Ecology and Environment leading to Climate Change etc., and over population causing ever increasing load on water resources and agriculture. But a closer look at the water issue indicates in addition to the above causes mismanagement of this resource, rather lack of intention for its harvesting where it drops, conservation and control on its misuse etc.

Until recently ‘water water everywhere, not a drop to drink’ remained  only as a forecast for the coming times. Many never believed that this would ever happen. But the water crisis world over is to the fore and has come sooner than later. Many reasons are being assigned to the causes of water scarcity. The most important impact of non-availability of this resource is increasing food insecurity. A review of the happenings of the last century is expected to provide better understanding of the scarcity of water and food insecurity.

Genesis

With the onset of the 20^th century variety of changes the world over began - entry of communism, growing tension between powerful European Nations, entry of the US and USSR as Big Global Players. By mid-century the two world wars were fought and European Nations esp. the British were forced to withdraw from their never-sunsetting empire and allow new powers to share the booty. The US and the USSR got to play the major role with world bodies like the UN and its subordinate organisations. For the spread of capitalism and subjugating the newly freed countries various UN agencies, the World Bank, the IMF etc. were given physical shape to play greater role in shaping the future world based on over exploitation of Natural Resources and converting the then existing monarchies and empires to Corporate monarchies via a defective democracy route. All this led to the accetance of ‘Development through Industrialisation mode’ world over. Though there were basic differences between Capitalist and Communist systems of governance yet the development was accepted and retained by both as panaceea for all the ills of their people. The same became true of those who were known as non-aligned nations. However, by the turn of the last century even the Communism lost its grip in many countries and the world got definite tilt to capitalism. The field was left open for the only world Power, the US to make the Rules of the game unilaterally and play as per its wishes.

Development through Industrialisation resulted in setting up of high capital and high energy intensive industries all around. However, this gave desired output - mass production of consumer and non-consumer goods, availability of more jobs in industry, growth of towns and cities, good roads, population transfer from rural to newly created urban and industrial centers and improved quality of life for a small part of the population. As expected this also created more destitutes, have-nots and downtroddens all around. Burning of fossil fuel and felling of trees coupled with dam building activities gave way to thermal and hydro power generation respectively.  As an effect industrialisation created a side show of Environmental issues-damages to all aspects of life on this planet through massive air, water and noise pollution, increased consumerism causing enormous domestic and industrial waste generation. Various reports talked about in different fora indicate that water bankruptcy is going to be worse than the financial meltdown now destabilising the global economy, and there will be no way of bailing the earth out of water scarcity.

Studies revealed that the world has not been as warm as it is now for a millennium or more. The three warmest years on record have all occurred since 1998; 19 of the warmest 20 since 1980. And Earth has probably never warmed as fast as in the past 30 years - a period when natural influences on global temperatures, such as solar cycles and volcanoes should have cooled us down. By mid - eighties Global Warming followed by Climate Change took the front seat and IPCC got created to suggest ways and means to counter the fear of these two evils. Like the otherworld bodies, IPCC also had the same objective –transfer of ‘Clean technologies’ from developed to developing nations and money flow in the reverse direction.  This enriched the already rich ones-domestic as well as the foreign variety.

Increased population, on the other hand, caused increase in the input of chemical dose in agriculture sector increasing, in turn, water pollution. By 1970 the US came up with National Environment Protection Act and the UN created a body under its arm known as United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). This was followed by most of the countries making laws for protection of the Environment. But many including the protestors in the on-going worldwide Occupy movement have identified the 1% as the real source of environmental destruction which includes water also in the ultimate analysis, not the 7 billion.

Water scenario in India

Many academic and field studies attempted to develop alternative routes of development to counter industrialisation as the only mode to better the life of the people. They simply  got rebuffed by the money power of the money makers. India already had its Nature worshipping scriptures with low consumption of resources and less waste generation themes. Mahatma Gandhi added to the same. But none of this could influence the Indian political leaders sufficiently to follow the traditional route of living without massive industrialisation.

Looking at the seriousness of the issue water was chosen as the first major resource for protection. India had its first water Act in 1974 which was revised and improved with passage of time. But none of these showed a turn around. Water issue took global shape and rich people took the first step to make money out of the crisis through bottled water schemes, and energy and chemical intensive water treatment and recycling route. All the sources of water including municipal supplies for domestic uses were declared unsafe. To provide better impetus to this business the members of the elite group who were responsible for making drinking water available to the populace were shown in TV shows and print media with bottled water in front of them on the dais. Such pictures spoke more than millions of words - that water was a scare resource and it would be available to a limited few , that too for a payment. Water distribution in India has the pattern: Irrigation- 69 %, Industry- 23 %, Domestic/Municipal- 8 %. Govt. has failed to provide drinking water to about 20 % urban and about 50% rural population. Attitude of high profit making by money makers through increased consumerist culture leads to overexploitation, pollution of water and depletion of other resources. Polluted water from industries, automobiles, chemical uses in agriculture and 80 per cent of urban waste water discharged daily into the country’s rivers leads to disability of large part of the population due to health reasons ending in loss of man/women-days in work place, loss of life of more than 2.2 million people per year which is more than the number of people killed from all forms of violence, including wars, making most water bodies unfit for human use. All this culminating into an additional expenditure in Health care which is helping in wealth generation for very few.

It is claimed that population has gone up also because of improved Health delivery system leading to increase in longevity and decrease in  infant mortality rate. Whatever be the reason the population increase in last 60 years is reported to be 850 million whereas the figure for 150 years from 1801 AD was 150 million only. Change in irrigation pattern needing 500 km³  water in 1900 AD  to 2000 km³ in 2000 AD - an increase of 4 times in a hundred years. Quite natural that it led to exponential increase in food and water demand. On the other hand system administrators could not match their planning and execution steps with these demands of times.

Conversion of traditional water sources - ponds, lakes etc in the urban areas for raising multi – storied buildings and concreting the open space in the cities are causing low rate of ground water recharging. Overexploitation of water leads to further lowering of ground water tables and salinisation in both urban and rural areas. Silting of Natural and artificial lakes, dams and reservoirs are causing less water availability esp. in lean season.

Water is considered a Govt responsibility but lack of will and planning, financial allocation and engineering intervention reveal

Ø      Lack of interest / awareness - towards conservation and retention of rain water where it falls, Govt. inaction and negative attitude

Ø      Govt at the Centre and most of the States/UTs failed to take wake calls provided by low rainfalls in recent years and initiate corrective steps/ action

Ø      Lack of vision for utilizing collective wisdom of all sections of the stakeholders and mobilizing them.

It is wrongly assumed that more investments in water treatment, ignoring the existing traditional water sources and creation of dams etc or newer schemes with profit motives will solve the problem. Interlinking of rivers in India is wrongly proposed as a solution to water problem. In fact it is a proposal for privatisation of Water resources ending with money making for a few.

Suggestion for problem solving

In addition to the improvement in Surface Water Management like desilting and periodical maintenance of rivers, dams, ponds, lakes etc. and building new reservoirs and check dams extensive awareness programme like Communicating the water agenda in the right perspective to the people added by community driven or community owned / people’s participation approach has better chance to succeed. Using more local wisdom (succeeds) than technology oriented programmes (invariably fails) has already been established as better result giving approach to solve the problem.. 

Post-Gandhi Indian political leaders must be reminded of Nature worshipping scriptures & tradition of low consumption of resources, less waste generation themes and Mahatma Gandhi’s teachings of low cost, more distributed employment generating village industries with better wealth distribution strategies.

 “Catch where it (rain) falls” strategy is expected to increase in extensive Rain water harvesting in both rural and urban areas by extensive Ground Water Recharging. A simple calculation says that half of Av. annual Rainfall of 1170 mm – captured on 1.12 ha of land in each of 5,87,226 villages, 6.57 million litres of rain water in each village will meet the cooking & drinking needs of 1200 people. So far no approach has been made to tap 135 million ha meter (mham) of available precipitation 

Watershed Management schemes must include Social Economic Development, Economic benefits of local population as well as  people /life downstream, Crop Planning /Rotation, Livestock & Animal Husbandry, Weather Modification, Coastal water Management and aggressive but positive to all round Water Management 

Conclusion

Water has been considered thus far a free and unlimited resource - this is not true anymore. The situation is tending towards ‘water water everywhere, not a drop to drink’. Therefore, if policy makers, administrators and social activists do not honour the wake-up call provided by Nature in last few years and take immediate steps to rectify the situation it may lead to disastrous consequences for humanity and other lives on the planet. By the turn of the century academic curricula and Granny’s fiction stories may include “once upon a time water used to be available for free in open wells, tanks, ponds and rivers flowing near each and every village and city with no private ownership, no control by the governments or their appointed private agents, no water bottling plants and no price to be paid for its use in whatever manner”.

Published in JANATA Vol.66 No.43, Nov. 27, 2011, pp11-13

The Article can also be read Online in  

http://www.scribd.com/doc/75858833/Water-Availability-in-India-A-Crisis-Situation

Dr.V.N.Sharma, the author, is Environment & Water Management Consultant & Chairman, Jharkhand Vigyan Manch. He can be contacted at e-mail: vnsh44@gmail.com  &  Cell: +919431102680; Ph: +91651-2441524 and located at A-100, SAIL Satellite Township, Ranchi-834004, Jharkhand, India

*****

साथियो,


नीरज जैन के लेख और सुझाव तथा डा सदगोपाल की टिपणी का मै पूर्ण समर्थन करता हु और जो भी साथी अपने शहरो/ कस्बो में अणुराक्षस दहन का छोटा से छोटा कार्यक्रम कर सकते हो वह मानवता के पक्ष में, उसके बचाव के लिए बढाया हुआ सही दिशा में एक कदम होगा.



सारी दुनिया जानती है की हिरोशिमा - नागासाकी की घटना और चेर्नोबिल दुर्घटना से मानव को कितनी सीखे मिली. भोपाल त्रासदी एक गैस लिक की दुर्घटना थी उसकी गूंज अगले सैकड़ो सालो तक गूंजती रहेगी. दुर्घटना से ज्यादा हमारे लालची धनासेठो का, हमारी न्यायव्यवस्था का, हमारे राजनेताओ की नाकामियो का, हमारी अदुर्दार्शिता का इतिहास होगा वह सब. सबके ऊपर हमारे परमाणु वैज्ञानिकों और बुधिजियो के विचारो का, जो जापान में हुई इस प्राकृतिक दुर्घटना से कुछ सीखने के बजाय गलत तर्क और तथ्य का इस्तेमाल कर रहे है और टीवी पर बैठकर यह कह रहे है की हमारे भारतीय परमाणु संयंत्र पूरी तरह सुरक्षित है. ये सरकारी कृपा पर टिके हुए सरकारी संवादों की हां में हां मिला रहे है. जब इतनी अच्छी कार्य संस्कृति वाले जापान और रूस परमाणु दुर्घटनाओ से अपने और दुनिया के लोगो को बचाने में सक्षम नहीं है तो भारत या दुनिया की किसी और सरकारों के भरोसे तो मानवता को नहीं छोड़ा सकता है.



अतः सभी सही सोच वाले नागरिको से मेंरा अनुरोध है की कुछ लालची लोगो, मार्केट इकोनोमी और अक्षम सरकारों की नीतियों का विरोध करते हुए विकास के इन खतरनाक तौर तरीको और जीवन जीने के अप्राकृतिक तरीको को बढ़ावा देने वाली तकनीको, प्रचारतंत्रो और नीतियों का खुलकर विरोध करे. यह विरोध भूमंडल के स्तर पर होगा क्योकि अब हर समस्या का भूमंडलिकरण हो रहा है.



डा वी एन शर्मा



१६ मार्च २०११ १२:१३ अपराह्न को, Anil Sadgopal ने लिखा:

- उद्धृत पाठ छिपाएँ -





प्रिय साथियो,



लोकायत, पुणे के नीरज जैन का जापानी सुनामी एवं परमाणु हादसे के संदर्भ में लिखा पत्र फ़ार्वर्ड कर रहा हूं। ध्यान से पढ़ लें। इसमें प्रस्तावित जैतपुर परमाणु बिजली घर (जो फ़ुकूशिमा से बड़ा होगा) के खिलाफ़ दो कार्यक्रमों का जिक्र है। खासकर, मुझे होलिका दहन पर अणुराक्षस का दहन करने का प्रस्ताव भोपाल के लिए भी जंचा। मैं कुछ निजी कारणों से इस मामले में पहलकदमी करने की हालत में नहीं हूं। यदि आप लोगों में से कोई पहलकदमी करें तो यह देश की बड़ी सेवा होगी। हमें भारत को परमाणु हादसे से बचाना है तो महाराष्ट्र के जैतपुर और मध्य प्रदेश के चुटका (मंडला जिला) को रुकवाने के लिए जनता को जगाना होगा। होली पर अणुराक्षस जलाना इस दिशा में एक कदम होगा।



इटारसी के राजेश व्यास (अध्यक्ष, शिक्षा अधिकार मंच, जिला होशंगाबाद) का कल फोन आया था कि इटारसी से 15-20 लोग 19 मार्च को भोपाल आएंगे और बोर्ड आफिस से रोशनपुरा चौराहे तक मैराथन दौड़ लगाएंगे और वहां लकड़ी-रहित होली जलाएंगे। उनका मकसद पर्यावरण की चेतना जगाना है। लेकिन उन्हें भी समझाया जा सकता है कि आज के संदर्भ में अणुराक्षस जलाने से बेहतर कोई और मुद्दा नहीं हो सकता। राजेश व्यास का नंबर – 8109347968.



अब कमान आपके हाथ में है। यदि ऐसा कोई भी काम हुआ तो अणुराक्षस (या उससे भी बेहतर कोई और प्रतीक) को जलाने में मैं आपके साथ हाजिर रहूंगा। इससे अधिक कुछ और नहीं कर पाऊंगा।



आप सबको झकझोरने के लिए मार्टिन नीमोलर (1945) की ऐतिहासिक कविता नीचे पेश कर रहा हूं। याद रखें कि जो फ़ुकुशीमा में हुआ है, वह कल जैतपुर और चुटका में भी हो सकता है। फ़ुकुशीमा से निकली रेडियोधर्मी विकिरण टोक्यो और पड़ोसी मुल्क रूस के व्लादीवास्तोक नामक शहर में भी पहुंच चुका है। कल जैतपुर, महाराष्ट्र और मध्य प्रदेश के चुटका (मंडला जिला) से निकला रेडियोधर्मी विकिरण क्रमशः मुंबई-पुणे और जबलपुर-भोपाल भी पहुंच सकता है। इस नजरिए से मार्टिन नीमोलर की निम्नलिखित कविता एकदम सटीक है। यदि इस खौफ़नाक मौके पर सोते रहे तो इतिहास हमें कभी माफ़ नहीं करेगा।



अब युवा शक्ति की पहलकदमी की इंतजार में,



ज़िंदाबाद।



- अनिल सद्गोपाल

The ‘Free and Compulsory Education Act 2009’ is a sell out Act

by

Dr.V.N.Sharma

vnsh44@gmail.com

Member, Secretariat, All India Forum for Right To Education

The so called ‘Free and Compulsory Education Act 2009’ will be in force w.e.f. 1st April 2010. It is a sell out Act, with an intention of keeping 90% of the children away from getting education by privatising, profit making and fulfilling the requirements of neo-liberal agenda of the Developed world and the World Bank. All attempts are being made to keep India healthy, wealthy and wise only for 10% of the population.

The All India Forum for Right to Education (AIF-RTE) organized a massive Rally to Parliament on 24th Feb 2010 against this Act and the Agenda, in order to give a clear message to the people that the neo-liberal assault on education from “KG to PG” is not acceptable. We are talking about Common School System (CSS) and Neighbourhood Schools (NS), replacing the present Act with a new Act based on CSS-NS. In view of this we are also calling for halting all forms of privatization and commercialization in education, including voucher schools and Public –Private Partnership (PPP).

In the meantime the Union Cabinet has approved the Foreign Educational Institutions Bill and if it is not stopped at this stage it will become a law in due course. Therefore, added action is required to expose the irrelevance of foreign universities and FDI in India and ask for withdrawing the offer of higher education at GATS.

The implementation of the Act is being publicized as a revolutionary step. Government claims that due to this Act all the children of this country will be educated. But there is no truth in this. The facts given below expose the fallacy of the claims by the Government.

Ø This Act has taken away the Fundamental Rights of balanced diet, healthy childhood and pre-primary education (Nursery, KG), of the children below six years of age which was guaranteed by the Constitution. What is this Act claiming to give in future if the foundation itself is so weak? We will expose, in the following paragraphs, the deceitful character of the Act which claims to give Right of Education for 8 years (Class 1-8). This Act has closed all the doors of higher education and career building opportunities after 8 years of schooling by not extending the Right for Secondary Education from Class 9 to 12.

Ø There is nothing in the Act to say that handicapped children will be educated in the regular schools. The provision for the namesake has been made only in the standards for those handicapped who can not move independently. The blind, deaf and mentally retarded children have been totally ignored. The intention of the Government is to keep such children indoors and to wash off their hands by handing over the responsibilities to NGOs.

Ø There is no mention in the Act that all the children will get free education (Ref Clause 3). In fact there is no mention that fees other than tuition fees will not be charged. Even such strange Rights of Free Education will not be available to those who are forced to study in private schools due to bad or unworthy conditions of the government schools (Ref Clause 8a). If the children in private schools will have to continue to pay the fees as before then is this Act not cutting an ugly joke on the children?

Ø To fulfill the conditions of the Act Government will surely appoint teachers but they will be temporary, untrained and ‘para teachers’ on contract appointment. There is no provision to bar appointment of ‘para teachers’ (e.g. contract teachers, guest teachers, shiksha mitra, shiksha upasak etc.). This leads to a conclusion that the teachings in government schools and low economy private schools will be left to invisible forces. The question arises whether education of children in this country can be carried out satisfactorily without creating a cadre of permanent, trained teachers with a respectable salary.

Ø The Act has not intentionally defined the qualification, salaries and other terms and conditions of the teachers. The Government can take whimsical decisions on these and related issues as per their own convenience. This will lead to creating chaos in Education. This year’s budget has clearly indicated that appointment of ‘para teachers and low paid teachers in private schools’ and their exploitation –financial and otherwise - will continue.

Ø The standards of student –teacher ratio and room sizes have been fixed in such a way that it is clear from the data circulated by NUEAP (National University of Educational Administration and Planning) that around 40 percent primary schools (with less than 60 enrolments) will continue to have two teachers and two rooms. What it means is that the existing practice of one teacher-one room with several classes will continue. The same conditions will be applicable to about 30 percent of the schools (with less than 90 or 120 enrolments). That is to say that in future also the practice of educating poor children of two or three classes in the same room will be continued in a shameful way.

Ø The Act permits the engagement of Government school teachers in non-academic activities like Panchayat to Parliamentary elections, census, relief works during disaster management etc. This means that the children in private schools will be taught everyday whereas the classes for poor children will get interrupted and disturbed due to the involvement of the government school teachers in non-teaching activities. This way the students of the Government school will continue to be unfavorably discriminated against and made to suffer.

Ø The Act does not prohibit enhancement in school fees by private schools. This allows them to enhance the fees in uncontrolled and arbitrary manner. The Act does not require the private schools to follow government guidelines or to allow participation of parents, social workers etc in managing the affairs of the school. In fact the HRD Minister Kapil Sibbal has already announced that after the Act is implemented the laws prevailing in different States with respect to monitoring the management and the fee structure of private schools will automatically become redundant. In such a situation the education will become dearer.

Ø The Act talks nowhere about measures required to check ever increasing inequality and discrimination in education. Just as a follow up the Government is encouraging further widening of the gap. In such a situation only poor children will be left out in the Government schools with more and more discrimination and miseries. As a result of the implementation of the Act every child will have a formal right to education but poor ones out of them will be destined to have an extremely low quality education and level of dissatisfaction to ultimately drop out from the school education. (Government, by this Act, has ensured a freedom for itself from all responsibilities of ensuring a minimum amount of learning to children by the time they reach 5^th or 8^th class).

Ø The Act providing free education to 25 percent poor children in private schools is being publicized as a big achievement (The tuition fees, for such children, will be paid by the Government). But it is cunningly silent on how the poor children will pay the fees other than the tuition fees which are charged by the private schools. The Act is also silent on the modalities, guidelines or criteria for selecting poor students under this provision. It means that it has been left out entirely to the whims and fancies of the private schools to devise ways and means of selection in arbitrary manner. Bigger question than that is whether quality education will be provided to the poor children admitted under this provision. No such possibility exists simply because a majority of private schools are themselves below standard. Added to this is a question about what will happen to those (~75 %) who will be left out. They will be forced to continue with low quality ‘namesake’ education only. In any case such children will be dumped on the street after 8^th class because there is no responsibility of the private schools under the Act for educating them any further.

Ø The Act provides for education up to class 8 without appropriate formal evaluation of the students. This means that children in Government and low economy private schools will be pushed upwards up to class 8 with half education or no education at all. Class 8 certificate earned in this manner, for sure, will not help them in admission to higher classes.

Ø The Act provides for mother tongue as medium of teaching only if it is ‘practicable’ for the government. For selected few, English has been left anyway as medium of teaching. Therefore, the education with double standards has been allowed to continue.

Ø There is neither the intention nor a will in this Act to control profit making and commercialization of education. Opposed to this the Government, under the guise of public-private–partnership (PPP), is inviting capitalists, NGOs, religious organizations and helping them by allotting government land, money, and other direct and indirect concessions to allow them higher profit making by charging arbitrary fees, employing low paid teachers and paying taxes under concessional rates.

Ø The Act is silent on the quality of teachers with the B.Ed and D.Ed. Degrees earned from an ever flourishing high-cost private colleges which are infamous for awarding degrees without conducting proper teaching/ training programmes.

Ø The privatization, commercialization of higher education and ever rising coaching business is continuously on the rise. HRD Minister Kapil Sibbal has already announced that syllabus for Science and Mathematics for Class 11-12 and the entrance test for different technical courses (Engineering, Medical, Management etc) will be the same for the whole country. It is clear that this will add class 9-10 students also to the increased coaching business for some, whereas the number of poor children will be diminishing in the higher classes in the same order. This Act legitimizes the multi-layered discriminatory system of education as a permanent arrangement and has no scope for common syllabus or common entrance examination.

Ø Government will have a moral right to introduce common syllabus or common entrance examination if and only if it replaces the present Act by an appropriate law to establish common school system in which every school - government or private-will be a neighborhood school (CSS-NS) and every child-rich or poor-will receive education under the same roof without discrimination. The world history is replete with evidences that the countries which educated their whole population followed common school system one way or the other. But this Act takes the country in reverse direction.

Ø A new Bill is being brought to Parliament for permitting foreign universities to enhance commercialization of education, profit making and exploitation of resources which will result in continued mismanagement of and misrule in higher education.

Ø One more danger. The Union Government has tabled a proposal to GATS (General Agreement on Trade and Services) under WTO (World Trade Organization) with the intention of converting higher and professional education as a saleable item. If this is not withdrawn immediately the foreign universities/ institutions will claim to have the same or higher level of facilities in comparison to the Indian Universities / Institutions in India. In addition the Government will be under compulsion to provide legal protection to the foreign universities.

From the aforesaid facts it is clear that the Right To Education Act 2009, being implemented w.e.f. 1^st April 2010, is nothing but cheating and deception of Indian public. Under the guise of this the Government is making fool of the Indian public by expanding commerce, trade and profit making in Education. This, in turn, will lead to deprivation of education to the children of common people and accelerate number of suicides by them. Further still, the Indian youths will be compelled to move further towards increased unemployment, inequality, violence and extremism. Do we desire to make this type of India?

In view of this All India Forum for Right To Education oppose both the so-called Right To Education Act and the Foreign Universities Bill and ask people to raise their voice against trade and commerce in Education and work for the right of equal opportunity in education to all the children of this country. The call given by AIF-RTE is to agitate and fight to make the Government to repeal the present Act and fulfil its constitutional responsibilities by formulating a new law for equitable quality free and compulsory education for all under CSS-NS system.

The Article is also available in

http://www.countercurrents.org/vnsharma240310.htm

Climate Change and Cars: A letter to PM

Dear Dr. Manmohan Singh, In my considered opinion Cars are the biggest consumer of energy sources and cause of CIimate Change. If you pause and think over the issue you will find, as I have found, that Cars are the most unwanted item on the planet and is used recklessly without any consideration of Energy uses, Ecology, Environment, Climate Change and Global rise in Temperature. They take much more and return the least. Imagine the benefits accrued by utilising the saved resources better somewhere else in some other economic activity in raising the living standard of the people to a decent level with no harm to rich. Though economists and money makers find this, for various reasons, a great product it is really working fully against the interest of ‘Life’ on the planet. Just ask yourself whether everybody really needs a car and are they not being run most of the time for non-essential purposes. If the country adopts better discipline by keeping the residence and work places, education and day to day marketing areas in the same vicinity so many cars will not be needed and huge consumption of energy sources and jams on the roads will be reduced. With the present rate of car production it will become impossible to drive cars on the roads. In fact a simple calculation shows that 15-20 years later the roads in the Indian cities will be used only for parking. Cities after cities are already facing reduced efficiency due to such congestion. Then what benefit the car is meant for if it cannot make movement of humans smooth and relatively fast in reaching their destination. For the same reasons the car making industries also should not be encouraged in the name of tackling recession which is a phenomenon born out of high profit motive, corruption and consumerism. Cars in so many numbers serve little purpose. So they can be easily replaced by Mass Transport system. No congestion on the roads, no meaningless burning of fuels. I hope you will agree with me on this. In view of the facts stated above I request you to please propose to the World leaders in Copenhagen to reduce the number of Cars and production of Cars in next 20 years to 10 percent of the present level of Cars on the road and car under production. With regards,

--
Dr.V.N.Sharma
http://tinyurl.com/drvnsharma

Indian Democracy and Section 49-O
Democracy is not simply voting or making Head or hand counts. It is much more than that. It is spirit, it is culture, it is a way of life, it includes tolerance, balanced thinking and approach to every issue that a society faces during its existence. A good number of people especially the educated ones assume that the elections are throwing up very nice, efficient, competent leadership for governance of the State. And further that Rule 49-O will hamper that process and throw up incompetent ones. It is not so. Rule 49-O was not there originally in the Election laws of १९५० (http://sharmavn.blogspot.com/2008/12/summary-of-i-vote-nobody-rule-49-o.html). Though leadership of then India was born out of struggle and dedication and devotion towards the Motherland yet with some experience of 1st & 2nd general elections they introduced Section 49-O in 1961 Amendment. By this, people who neither wanted a नागनाथ nor a सांपनाथ had an opportunity to say so in stead of sitting at home. This required much more of a democratic strength than needed to go to the booth, vote or cancel your ballot by innumerable no. of methods described in the Rules. This is neither anti - democracy nor non-constitutional. Just make a difference between those who profess that Elections are farce and those who go to say that none of the candidates is genuine or not worth my vote as in Section 49-O.

Presently what is happening? A nice, knowledgeable, well meaning person cannot be a candidate as he knows his fate if he is not heading a goons brigade, he is not backed up by Moneywallahs. I know of a few candidates who tried their hands at the elections and left a message for us. One example was late Shiv Verma, a comrade of Sardar Bhagat Singh and overtly a much respected person living in Kanpur and was working with the Trade Unions for protecting the workers from exploitation and for defending their rights. He took part in 1971 Elections from Kanpur constituency He had only 3000+ votes in the count. Elections today need money and muscle power and both are interrelated. Section 49-O is a safety valve for those who are frustrated with the present election system. It would be more meaningful if larger votes under Section 49-O leads to cancellation and a Re-election in that constituency. That will keep the candidates under some control.

As said earlier much better would be the inclusion of Voters' Right to Recall their incompetent representatives from Parliament and State Assemblies and all other public offices.

Rule 49-O: Clarification by Election Commission

Recently we had a lot of discussion on Rule 49-O of Conduct of Election Rules, 1961. I obtained the information from Election Commission of India under RTI Act
2005.  The reply and clarification are as follows.

1. This Rule has not been amended . It is as it was in 1961.

2. ECI issued a press Note on 5th Dec 2008 stating that Elections will not be cancelled even if " I vote Nobody" is more than the winner's votes. Read the Press Note in the following link
http://eci.nic.in/press/current/pn051208.pdf

3. ECI has proposed to the Govt to provide for "None of the Above " provision in the ballot paper. A petition is pending in the Supreme Court but no details have been given.

I hope and believe that this clarifies the issue and discussion may
continue as to what to do now.

Dr.V.N.Sharma