Turn veg to school your child

New Delhi, Dec 28: Delhi’s Jain schools may probably achieve what Anbumani Ramadoss and Baba Ramdev have been trying for long. Most of the 58 schools run by the community, in the capital, will give additional points for admission to children of teetotalers and vegetarians. Parents will have to sign declarations to that effect.

Private schools in Delhi follow a point based system by which applicants are given points based on proximity to the school, siblings in the school, alumni parents, famous parents and so on. The top scorers get into nursery.

While minority institutions have the right to prefer students of their community, discrimination based on food habits of parents is illegal says Ashok Agarwal of NGO Social Jurist. It is casteist move.

“Discrimination during admission violates the Right to Education (RTE) Act and the constitution,” says advocate Agarwal who has filed a PIL in the Delhi High Court against the nursery admission guidelines of the state government. The guidelines, he says, gave a free hand to private schools to select whom they wanted.

Agarwal favours the system adopted by government schools. Weightage is only given to proximity of the child’s home to the school. After that selection is by lottery.

But managements of private schools have deemed the lottery impractical. Some parents too favour preference in admission to a school whose value system they subscribe too. The government wants a mix of points and lottery.

“The RTE says states should formulate criteria for admission. We are following the point based system as laid down by the Ashok Ganguly committee, which the High Court prescribed,” says R. C. Jain, President of the Delhi State Public Schools Management Association.

Jain, a former secretary of the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee, adds that giving extra points to kids of vegetarians and teetotalers is a right of minority institutions. This right extends not just to the general category (75 %) but even the economically weaker category (25%). Reservation for poor children is imperative under the RTE.

Agarwal differs saying that while reserving seats for minorities is legal, policing food habits of people is not. “They’re not just saying seats for Jains. They’re also defining what kind of Jains.” Besides, the Ganguly committee called for a uniform selection procedure across the board, not unique criteria for every school, he adds.

At the time of filing this report Delhi’s education ministry was still undecided as to who could talk to the press- Minister A. S. Lovely or Director P. Krishnamurthy. However, the ministry will have to answer the court on Agarwal’s PIL by January 31.

But admissions begin on January 1 and it seems the revivalists will have their way.

The great Congress mela

Pheroze L. Vincent

New Delhi, Dec 19: Putting to rest all queries about his religion, a huge banner with a smiling Rahul Gandhi read: “The Indian flag is my religion.” This was among a series of banners lining Dr. Hegdewar Marg, on the periphery of the The All India Congress Committee’s 83rd plenary session in Burari, near the Delhi- Haryana border.

The banners also had images of local Congressmen who had erected them, complete with even their aliases. Aliases like Bobby, Lalu, Bhairon unnerved a sexagenarian Congressman from Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, who got off the van with me. “Yeh sab Kangressi hain,” (Are these Congressmen?) he remarked.

“Jaath se hum Brahmin hain. Naam hai mera Dubey,” (I am a Brahmin named Dubey) he said introducing himself. Dubey, visibly annoyed after realizing we had got off 4.5 km. from the main entrance, went on, “Corruption and price rise will kill this party. Coming here is just an obligation to the organization my family has been part of. Look how well, Nitish and Modi are working. Why can’t we abolish the (corruption ridden) MLA- LADS scheme like Nitish?”

The Burari complex is huge- an ocean of white tents and kurta-pyjamas- surrounded by a wall of khaki. Policemen from almost every state in the country have accompanied the Congressmen they guard. Though I didn’t have a pass, I could work my way through the Central Resreve Police cordon with the rudimentary Malayalam I know.

Budaun’s Suresh Goswami stood out among this white flood. Sporting a tattered tricolour kurta and bandana, with an array of shells and beads, he has been attending Congress sessions for 22 years. “Everyone knows me,” he said, rattling off names of every known Congress boss. “I want the Congress to win,” he shouted- his voice whistling between the four teeth he has left. “I dress like this for leaders to recognize me.”

The Burari complex also has a make shift post office, a railway reservation counter and a Directorate of Audio Visual Publicity stall selling “calandars” [sic] of endangered species. The post office says they haven’t made much of a profit. “We’re only here because we have been ordered to,” said a postal worker.

The stall with the largest crowd though is the ones selling Congress merchandise- flags, badges, diaries and posters of the Mahatma Gandhi, the Nehru- Gandhi family and even Ambedkar. Congressmen made a beeline at the section selling Kurta material.

“First me, mera teen metre kaato,” (cut three meters for me) barked a leader wearing a “We want Telangana” scarf. He wanted a mint green kurta for himself. He and a couple of others later took pains to explain to others that they were from Telangana, not Andhra Pradesh’s Congress.

There weren’t any foreign delegates of fraternal parties to be seen, except for Adrian Forster from London. Part of the West Bengal Congress’ theatre troop, Adrian is playing the role of Allan Octavian Hume- the party’s founder.

“The presentation will recreate the first session of the party in Bombay in 1885. It is a combination of theatre, dance, cinema and music. There is also film footage of the anti-partition movement of Bengal,” said the director and WBPCC spokesperson Sukhendu Sekhar Roy.

The 17 minute show has 60 actors drawn from various theatres of Calcutta. “We don’t want to mention their names else it may unnecessarily give political colour to these theatre groups,” Roy added.

Behind the scenes, an army of cooks stacked piles of jalebis, kachoris, and other sweets. Sambar, with an overdose of red chillies, simmered as Congress leaders and cops dropped by to sample the grub.

Some felt that the food wasn’t up to the mark and the power cuts were unacceptable. But for Chandy Oomen, of the Youth Congress, “the session gave a feel of India.”

“It’s a great exposure for youngsters to the party's line of thought,” he added.

At the exit, Mary Babychan of the All India Womens’ Association created a ruckus. “The Lord is coming she said,” holding up a bible. “I want to see Sonia. They should give each family 5 kg rice at Re. 1 per kilo like Tamil Nadu. You policemen, who are you to stop me? Will you stop me when judgment day comes.”

A crowd of Seva Dal cadre and police gathered. “Am I saying anything wrong,” Mary asked them. A plain-clothes police man came and took her name and address. On his list were a couple of other names too.

I asked him if he would take action against her. He asked me where my pass was.

Survival of the fittest

Graphic: B. Karthikeyan

HEALTH Local communities find ways to cope with food price inflation

Twenty paise (about 0.3 US cents). that's how much money is spent on veggies for lunch for a child in an anganwadi (Indian government creche) everyday.... click to read more

Forever young

Most people would be laid up in bed if they got blood clots due to acute physical strain; most people would be too demoralised to represent the country after their spouse and mentor died an unnatural death; most of us give up when faced with red tape. But homeo practitioner Dr. Vasantha Samuel isn't like most people...

Education loans X- rayed

Student loans and how, PHEROZE L. VINCENT finds out

DOCUMENTS NEEDED

Education records- Banks prefer students with 70 to 80 per cent marks. Carry your mark sheets along.

Proof of admission- Bring your admission letter, course details and duration, details of the university (should be accredited, preferably by a government agency). Admission should be on merit.

Identity- Banks insist on checking your passport, PAN card and proof of age.

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS

Some banks insist that the guarantor be less than 65 years old. They also need proof of her/ his residence.

If you are giving collateral, then it has to be assessed by the bank's accredited assessor, the documents be verified by the bank's lawyer and a non-encumbrance certificate acquired from the sub registrar.

You may be asked to take a life insurance policy.

Banks insist that borrowers be account holders in the bank, living in its vicinity. This is only a guideline and not a reason for denying a loan.

Shoestring existence

Mahalingam has been hammering me for 15 long years. We met when he came from Tiruchirapalli to make shoes here in Coimbatore. Back then, working out of his shanty in Kamarajapuram, we could produce a dozen pairs a day. Even with a rudimentary anvil like me we could make a profit of 35 per cent.

But after our customers went away to the big footwear outlets, we had to shut shop seven years back. We now work, out of a room in Ramanathapuram, for a local businessman. We have a few direct customers but now we mainly supply shoes to the dealers. Mahalingam and his friend Velu often have to wait long before they get paid. After our boss gets his cut, we make a meagre five per cent profit. No wonder none of their kids want to become cobblers...

Networking for special people

Dr. M. N G. Mani tells Pheroze L. Vincent about his mission to win the battles disabled people fight everyday

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"“Even if a tenth of all buses were disabled friendly, commuters would wait for those buses. Little things like audio signals at road crossings, for the blind, won't cost much.”...

Beyond the Bhavani

The narrow road to Upper Bhavani Dam clings to the hills and is overshadowed by tall pines and oak. A check- post and a few electricity board buildings lay the bright copper sulphate blue waters of the dam. Beyond it is the Mukurthi National Park.

The forest department's main interest in the park is to protect Tamil Nadu's state animal, the endangered Nilgiri tahr. These stocky brown wild sheep have curved horns.
They thrive in the shola grasslands founds on the slopes here and relish the hypericum bushes with yellow flowers...

Scrublands of the Nilgiris

There's a certain romance in these dry thorn forests.

Masinagudi reminds me of Malgudi, with its quaint old Mysore charm and the Kannada-laced Tamil spoken by its taxi-men. It is a small dusty town on The Nilgiris border with Karnataka. Small hotels and eateries have come up to cater to tourists who come to the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve.

I'm travelling with British Council's International Climate Champions, an eclectic bunch of youngsters trying to stop climate change.

Our first stop: Indian Institute of Science Research Station, where we meet environment researchers Geetha Ramaswami and Rutuja Chitra- Tarak, who study the dynamics of a dry forest. The Nilgiris mountains boast of four kinds of vegetation: scrub, dry deciduous, moist deciduous and semi evergreen. Masinagudi is in the scrub and dry deciduous part....

http://www.thehindu.com/mp/2010/02/08/stories/2010020850520100.htm

Here come the champions!

Pheroze L. Vincent joined British Council's International Climate Champions on a trip through the Nilgiris

Photo album: p2 onwards http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=130322&id=712606572&l=a07110f4dd