indian government

UNSUNG HEROINES OF INDEPENDENCE….

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SOURCE::::: “THE HINDU”….ARTICLE BY BULA DEVI…..
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Making history: Women picketers preparing for a protest in Madras in 1930. Photo: The Hindu Archives
Making history: Women picketers preparing for a protest in Madras in 1930. Photo: The Hindu Archives

Women’s participation in the freedom struggle, barring a few cases, has received little attention in post-1947 male-centric historical records

Though India’s freedom struggle saw a significant participation of women, unfortunately several of them have remained invisible to this day — unknown and unsung. The few women freedom fighters who made it into history books invariably came from elite or middle class backgrounds and their male relatives had often encouraged them to join the movement. In contrast, there were innumerable ordinary women, with no formal education or very little schooling, hailing from poverty-stricken, conservative homes, who got involved in the struggle with undaunted spirit and great commitment.

Raj Kumari Gupta was one of them. Born about a century ago in the little-known Banda zilla of Kanpur, she and her husband worked closely with Mahatma Gandhi and Chandrashekhar Azad. Her crucial contribution to the Kakori dacoity case barely figures in the narratives of freedom. Raj Kumari, who was given the charge of supplying revolvers to those involved in the Kakori operation, apparently hid the firearms in her undergarment and set out in khadi clothes to deliver them, with her three-year-old son in tow. On being arrested, she was disowned by her husband’s family and thrown out of her marital home.

There is also the case of Tara Rani Srivastava. She was born in Saran near Patna and participated actively with her husband Phulendu Babu in the Quit India movement. On Gandhiji’s call, Phulendu assembled a massive crowd of men and women in front of the Siwan police station to hoist the national flag on its roof. The just-married couple stood in front of the crowd and raised slogans. Phulendu soon fell to police bullets but Tara Rani was not deterred. Demonstrating exemplary courage, she bandaged his wounds and marched with the national flag straight towards the police station. By the time she returned, her husband had died.

Whether these women can be considered as revolutionaries or not, there can be no denying that they fought against great personal odds for the freedom of the country. They displayed great resolve despite seeing their children ascend the gallows. It is said that the night before activist Ram Prasad Bismil, a member of the Hindustan Socialist Republic Association, was to be hanged on December 18, 1927, in Gorakhpur jail, his mother came to see him. On seeing her, Bismil’s eyes became moist, but his visitor remained calm. She had never actively participated in politics but she understood the underlying importance of her son’s passionate espousal of revolution. She apparently told Bismil not to shed tears like a kayar(coward). Bismil is then said to have answered saying that he was crying because he would not have a mother like her. Steeled by her son’s death, she is believed to have said in a speech subsequently that she was ready to give another son to the nation. Saying this, she had raised the hand of Bismil’s brother.

Given domestic constraints, many women found it difficult to get directly involved in public action, but contributed in their own ways. Many took to spinning the ‘charkha’ as a mark of support for the Swadeshi movement. Others acted as secret envoys and messengers — passing on proscribed material, helping fugitives from the law shift from one place to another and ensuring that they were fed and looked after.

Ganga Devi from Uttar Pradesh had no formal education and had been married at the age of 13 into a home which had over 60 family members. Her husband, a government employee, enforced strict restrictions on her movement so as to keep her away from the raging political ferment of those times. But that did not stop Ganga from encouraging her children to be sympathetic to the rebels. She saved money from the household expenses and cooked food for men in hiding while her husband was asleep, washing the utensils herself to keep the matter a secret even from family retainers.

The stories of these women do not generally surface in contemporary India save for efforts like those undertaken by the Gandhi Smriti in Delhi recently, when it launched a permanent exhibition on ‘Great Indian Women Freedom Fighters’.

According to Charu Gupta, associate professor, Department of History, Delhi University, history writing in the 60s did not register the role of ordinary women in the freedom movement. She observes, “Implicitly the history of that time projected only a select group and this gave rise to a distorted vision.” She points out how the entire portrayal of the freedom struggle tended to be male-centric, bourgeois and upper caste, with the participation of women being seen as an extension of their domestic roles of serving their families.

The lack of the presence of ordinary women in historical work, according to Ms. Gupta, was due to several factors — the biggest constraint being that history writing was generally based on official records. She, however, believes that this approach has been undergoing a change, with historians now more inclined to base their work on “creative sources” like personal diaries, family histories, newspaper reports, magazine articles and oral narratives.

As Suruchi Thapar-Bjorkert observes in her book Women in the Indian National Movement Unseen Faces and Unheard Voices, 1930-42: “Reinterpreting Indian nationalist history required going beyond archival, official and unofficial sources.” On oral narratives, she says, “As a methodological tool, these narratives revealed the individual subjectivities of participants in the nationalist movement. Documenting these life histories opened a new world before me: a world more real than officials records.”

Women like Abadi Bano Begam, a widow and a freedom fighter from Lucknow, known by her honorific ‘Bi Amman’, need acknowledgement. She observed strictpurdah all her life and when the time came to speak on behalf of her jailed son, she did so from behind her burqa in 1917. This was, perhaps, the first time a Muslim woman in purdah had addressed a political gathering. (Women’s Feature Service)

                                    

CIVIL AVIATION IN INDIA….LOSING AUTHORITY

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SOURCE:::::ARTICLE BY SAGNNIK DUTTA IN” FRONTLINE “….

A THOUGHT PROVOKING ARTICLE ON THE MODERNISATION AND PRIVATISATION POLICY OF OUR GOVT….. IS THE POLICY ADOPTED BY GOVT. IN PUBLIC INTEREST ???….QUESTION REMAINS UNANSWERED….PL READ FURTHER .

Natarajan

The Airports Authority of India becomes another victim of the government’s obsession with “modernisation” and privatisation.

Terminal 3 of the Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi. Privatisation has made the airport one of the costliest in the world.
In a major embarrassment to the government and the private developers of Delhi’s international airport, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) recently slammed the airport regulator for allowing an exorbitant 346 per cent increase in the user development fees (UDF) to be levied on passengers.

Speaking at the annual general meeting of the association in Beijing on June 10, the IATA’s Director General and Chief Executive Officer, Tony Tyler, criticised the Airports Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA) for failing to protect the “public interest” and for making Delhi airport among the most expensive airports in the world. The criticism of the government regulator in an international forum raises concerns about the extent to which privatisation and restructuring of airports serve the public interest. The IATA’s admonition also raises serious concerns about the flip side of the “modernisation” and “restructuring” of airports.

Another significant concern that remains unaddressed as we approach the discourse of modernisation is the plight of the workers of the government entity, the Airports Authority of India (AAI), which is still engaged in significant operations in developing about 60 non-metro airports along with the mega projects in Delhi and Chennai. The trajectory of privatisation, especially in the case of the Delhi airport, points to the undue haste in paving the way for the success of private players, often at the cost of the employees of the existing government entity. Even if one goes by the logic of introducing competition as a method of improving services in a free market economy, a level playing field should be provided to the public sector.

However, the pace of airport privatisation in the last six years has been carried out without giving due consideration to the problems of workers of the government entity. All parliamentary standing committees constituted for the purpose have recommended that AAI workers’ concerns be taken care of following the modernisation exercise, but critical issues remain unaddressed. The latest in a series of decisions that might bleed the public sector unit is the proposal to carve out a separate Air Navigation Services unit from the existing company.

An agreement, termed the Operations, Management and Development Agreement (OMDA), was signed in 2006 between the AAI management and the Delhi International Airport Private Limited (DIAL), led by the GMR Group, whereby the project of designing, developing, constructing and managing the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport in Delhi was assigned to DIAL. The AAI leased the premises of the airport to DIAL for a period of 60 years at an annual lease rent of Rs.100.

A parliamentary standing committee headed by Sitaram Yechury, Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader, was formed to look into the workers’ issues. The committee, in its report in 2008, said that the AAI employees should not be put through any hardships owing to the changing decisions of the government. The Airports Authority of India Employees Union (AAIEU), in a lawsuit filed in the Delhi High Court in 2008, challenged several clauses of the OMDA as being harmful to the interests of AAI employees.

A Comptroller and Auditor General report tabled in Parliament in August 2011 pointed out that the AAI had incurred a loss of at least Rs.100 crore on account of the faulty implementation of the OMDA.

Speaking to Frontline, S.R. Santhanam, all-India president of the AAIEU, explained, “The case questioned some of the clauses of the OMDA as they were found to be discriminatory towards the employees of Airports Authority of India.” He also questioned the need to concede space to private players when in 2010 the government itself had conferred miniratna status to the AAI.

The union challenged three specific provisions of the agreement. The OMDA stated (Article 6.1.2) that general employees were to be retained at the airport for the duration of the “Operation Support Period” of three years from the effective date. At the end of the operation support period, employees would be free to choose between the private player and the AAI. However, as per Article 6.1.7 of the OMDA, the ones who continued with the AAI were to be deployed at establishments other than the IGI Airport. Article 6.2 of the OMDA states that DIAL shall have the right to appoint the senior management and, on the expiry period of the transition phase, no employees of the AAI will remain at the senior management level of the IGI Airport. The union found these clauses discriminatory towards the cause of workers. The matter is pending with the Delhi High Court.

In an official e-mail response to Frontline’s queries, DIAL said: “The said writ is pending for adjudication before the Delhi High Court and on the last date of hearing, i.e., March 22, 2012, the matter was adjourned on the request of AAI for filing the Report of the National Productive Council. The next date of hearing in the matter is September 13, 2012.”

Development fee

Employees of the AAI allege that the airport development fee (ADF) that is charged currently by the private developer at the Delhi airport is not shared with the AAI. Given the fact that the AAI continues to be a 26 per cent shareholder in the Delhi airport and is entitled to 45.99 per cent of the total revenue earned at the airport, the employees feel that the government entity should be entitled to its share of the fee. The ADF has been charged by the private developers since 2009 at the rate of Rs.200 per passenger for domestic flights and Rs.1,300 per passenger for international flights.

When contacted by Frontline, a source in GMR, however, said that the ADF was not a form of revenue but a viability gap funding necessary to meet the expenses incurred on expansion, construction and maintenance of infrastructure. The source said: “A total amount of about Rs.13,000 crore was required for developing infrastructure at the Delhi international airport, of which Rs.2,500 crore was raised through equity, Rs.5,500 crore through debt. Of the remaining Rs.5,000 crore, about Rs.1,500 crore was raised through land rental deposits by leasing out 45 acres [18 hectares] of land for a period of six years from 2006 onwards to private players for commercial purposes. The remaining Rs.3,500 crore was proposed to be raised through ADF to be implemented from 2009 onwards, which was approved by the AERA. Therefore, ADF is a form of viability gap funding and it is not a form of revenue for the company. Thus, it cannot be shared with the AAI. Also, ADF can be charged by the airport developer as per Section 22 of the amended Airports Authority of India Act, 2003.”

The DIAL e-mail said, “ADF is not an income of DIAL but a capital recovery. It is a pre-funding for capital expenditure. The amount received from ADF is used to create assets which will be used by them free of cost and at end of concession it will be transferred to AAI free of cost. Amount collected towards ADF goes to reduce Asset Base of the Airport Operator. This means lower charges for customer in perpetuity. There is no return being allowed on these assets to airport operator, nor is depreciation forming part of building block.”

Employees of the AAI, however, feel that the amendment in question was brought about purposely to facilitate additional charges to be imposed by private players. Santhanam said, “Even after the amendment of the Parliament Act and the insertion of Section 22A in the Act, the Authority is entitled to the ADF. The government routed the ADF to a private entity without giving it to the AAI, which was entitled to it.”

Section 22 of the Airports Authority of India Act, 1994, allowed the AAI to charge fees or rent “for the landing, housing or parking of aircraft or for any other service or facility offered in connection with aircraft operations at any airport, heliport or airstrip”. The amendment in 2003 resulted in the insertion of Section 22A, which enabled the airport developer to levy additional charges for funding or financing the costs of upgradation, expansion or development at the airport at which the fee is collected. The ADF is proposed to be charged until February 2014 with the approval of the AERA.

The IATA’s criticism of the AERA has brought to the fore legitimate concerns about the burden of both the ADF and the UDF being passed on to passengers. The user development fee at the airport was determined by the AERA and conveyed to DIAL through a government notification in April 2012.

The UDF, which was initially proposed to be charged from April 2009 to March 2014, finally came into effect from 2012. The fee has begun to be charged from electronic bookings from May. Now a passenger will have to pay an amount in addition to the already existing ADF.

The IATA has said that with the new charges, the Delhi airport will become the most expensive in the world. DIAL, however, has justified the move. In an official statement to the IATA Director General, it said, “It is pertinent to highlight the fact that the airport charges of Indian airports were not increased during the last 10 years except by [a] nominal 10 per cent in 2009.” In a 44-page statement, DIAL further says that as per an analysis carried out by the United Kingdom-based aviation consultant Leigh Fisher, Delhi airport has the highest passenger charges only on the long-haul international segment, which constitutes only 10 per cent of the total volume of passengers at the airport.

Employees of the AAI also accuse the government of taking away the major revenue-earning airports of big cities such as Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bangalore and leaving the AAI with the task of modernising non-metro airports. A tripartite committee report was constituted in February 2006 comprising representatives of the Ministry of Civil Aviation, the AAI and the AAI Employees Joint Forum. The committee, in its report submitted in 2009, observed that the AAI was undertaking development and modernisation of approximately 60 airports, including non-metro airports, besides mega projects in Chennai and Kolkata. The committee had also recommended that the existing airports be kept operational even if greenfield airports came up.

The closing down of commercial operations in 2008 at the Begumpet airport in Hyderabad following the establishment of Shamshabad airport hurt AAI employees. Santhanam said the Begumpet airport was making steady profits before commercial operations were closed down in 2008. “In fact, the airport showed a growth of 39.25 per cent in traffic revenue collection in the first eight months of 2008,” he said. The tripartite committee had recommended, for the benefit of the AAI, the reopening of commercial operations at the old airports in Hyderabad and Bangalore, which is yet to happen.

Splitting the AAI

In another step towards the agenda of aggressive privatisation, there is a proposal to carve out a separate unit for air navigation services, which until now has been the sole responsibility of the AAI. Air navigation services include providing communication, navigation and surveillance facilities to aircraft in flight in a dedicated airspace. The AAI controls a large airspace of 9.5 million square kilometres, of which 5.9 million sq km is oceanic.

With the proposal to bifurcate the AAI to create a separate unit for air navigation services, the revenue earned through activities such as route-navigation facilities will no longer be available to the AAI. Route navigation facilities are services available to international aircraft when flying over a country’s airspace. The carriers pay a fee to the airport operator for landing and parking of aircraft at airports.

Sources in the Ministry of Civil Aviation said that such a proposal was under consideration. Also, Section 12 of the AAI Act of 1994 says that “it shall be the duty of the Authority to provide air traffic service and air transport service at any airport and civil enclaves”. As per the 90th report of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture, headed by Nilotpal Basu of the CPI(M), route navigation facility charges and terminal landing charges constitute more than 50 per cent of the total income from all aeronautical charges.

A series of policy decisions pushing for aggressive privatisation have been carried out in a manner whereby the functions and responsibilities of the AAI have been diminished in a gradual manner even while it is engaged in significant operations in modernising airports in several parts of the country apart from the metros. It is perhaps high time one questioned what larger public interest is served by such privatisation.

A RAILWAY STATION ON THE RIGHT TRACK !!!!

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Source::::THE HINDU…PARANUR STATION WITH A DIFFERENT CAP !!!!….WE ONLY WISH ALL THE OTHER RAIL STATIONS DO A “PARANUR”, IN THE DAYS TO COME!!!!…A WILFUL WISH…PL READ FURTHER WHY PARANUR STATION IS DIFFERENT FROM OTHERS….

Natarajan

Paranur Railway Station
Travelling from Chennai to Chengalpattu on the suburban South Line, Prince Frederick stumbles on a surprise

A tiny railway station on the Chennai suburban line that services around 20,000 commuters — that’s Paranur.

So exactly why is it worth writing about? Because it has managed to do stuff that’s completely alien to train travel in our country. It’s clean (yes, the toilets too), it’s colourful, landscaped and well maintained.

The magic is the result of an impressive public-private partnership, reportedly the first of its kind in the country. Mahindra World City Developers (MWCD) joined hands with Indian Railways to give the dreary station a makeover, after Mahindra World City, an integrated business zone, came up here.

Money well spent

MWCD has spent Rs. 1.5 crore on the project and also meets the recurring expenditure of maintaining and protecting the facility. Considering that the station is the gateway to Mahindra World City and used by 40 per cent of its workforce, it is obviously money well spent for the company. And a windfall for the neighbourhood.

As the suburban train slides into the station, the scene shifts from dreariness to vibrant colour. A shock of well-tended greenery lines the main structure that contains the ticket counter, the waiting room and toilets. Fountains add drama to the view. Stretches of land near the tracks are landscaped, and the platform and foot over-bridge look slick, with their overlay of tiles. The surprise continues all the way to the toilets, immaculately kept and with a special facility for the differently-abled. Spittoons and high-velocity lighting complete the satisfying picture of modernity and sophistication.

“As the station abuts our city, we wanted to give it an ambience and amenities that will benefit the employees of MWC and others,” says Sangeetha Prasad, CEO, MWCD. Five years on, the station is set to become a beacon for similar partnerships elsewhere.

“A delegation from the Ministry of Commerce visited the station to see how the model works,” says Prasad.

Paranur is a trendsetter in how private companies can be roped into public infrastructure projects. May their tribe increase!

Some highlights

*Round-the-clock security

*Well-tended garden with fountains and flower beds

*High-velocity lighting

*Spacious ticket counter

*Waiting room with toilets, including one for the differently-abled

*Steel benches and spittoons

For a video go to http://thne.ws/prince-paranurstation