RTE privileges for the poor students

29 June 2012

State asks schools to reserve 25 % seats for underprivileged
biswabrata goswami
TAMLUK, 29 JUNE: To implement Right to Education (RTE) Act at every school from this academic session, the state government has asked every government, public and private schools to reserve 25% seats at entry level for the students from underprivileged families and economically weaker sections of society.
The decision for the implementation of RTE Act from the academic session 2012-2013, was taken decided in a meeting of the state education project committee under Sarbasiksha Mission.
In East Midnapore, meetings were held at Contai Town Hall and Nimtouri Smriti Soudha two days ago where the district administration called for a 25% reservation in private schools for children from humble backgrounds. The school authorities have also been asked to submit the list of the BPL students admitted in the schools within a set deadline from the commencement of new academic season.
“The government and private schools should cooperate with the administration to implement the RTE Act in the district so that we can become a model district, and set an example for other districts,” Mr Mamud Hossain, saha-sabhadhipati of zilla-parishad said. The recent judgement of the Supreme Court in favour of Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009, the composition of students in classes in private schools and the economic matters of private educational institutions will see dramatic changes.
Authorities of many schools were not happy with the ruling but to accept it.
According to the RTE, all government and private schools have to admit 25% students from socially and economically backward families from this academic year (2012-13). These students will be guaranteed free education from Class I till they reach the age of 14. However, Madrasas and institutions of Vedic learning will be kept outside the ambit of the Act as the HRD ministry had declared these institutions were mainly institutes of religious instruction rather than educational institutions
Mr Hossain said, there are 274 schools in Contai sub-division while the numbers of schools in Egra, Tamluk and Haldia subdivisions are 174, 260 and 174 respectively. All schools have been asked to follow the RTE instructions from this year and make registration of the school with the Sarbasiksha Mission, Mr Hossain said.
To get government funds in lieu of getting financially backward students admitted, the private schools need to inform the state government through the district education office about the strength of BPL students admitted in 2012-13 academic year.
“On receiving the documents, we will evaluate them and send it to the state education department so that the funds are released to schools within a timeframe,” said a senior education department officer.
After a prolonged exercise, the private English schools agreed to implement the RTE guidelines under pressure from the district education department. But still a few schools have failed to induct poor children citing one excuse or other, said Mr Ranjan Maity, a resident of Tamluk.

Infrastructural woes plague development projects

28 June 2012

biswabrata goswami
MIDNAPORE, 28 JUNE: At a time when the chief minister, Miss Mamata banerjee, has made it clear that the proper implementation of various development projects in the Junglemahal should be the top priority of the district administrative officials, lack of proper infrastructure is spoiling such projects including school upgrade here.
According to the plans,  82 Madhyamik schools have already been upgraded in the Jhargram sub-division, but the entire process was done without following the general rules of school upgrade.  The students have refused to get admitted in the newly upgraded schools, and instead chose to seek admission in the existing Higher Secondary schools in the area. The school upgrade was done without verifying the necessity and requirements.
The state planning and development department has already proposed to hand over the responsibility of monitoring the development projects in the area to the ill-equipped paschimanchal unnayan affairs (PUA) department, a senior administrative officer said. A few months ago the department was allotted a sum of Rs 183 crore for the execution of the the development projects but the officials didn't know how to to utilise the funds. Finally, the planning department asked departments like PWD, forest irrigation, PHE, to submit schemes so that the PUA department can allot the required funds. The PUA could not spend Rs 61 crore allotted to it in the previous fiscal due to lack of infrastructure and manpower. The department will soon recruit 35 engineers, a full-time CEO and six WBCS officers in the parishad to monitor development the projects.

Dist gears up to improve state of adult education

22 June 2012

 biswabrata goswami 
TAMLUK, 22 JUNE: Even as the East Midnapore district holds the top position in literacy rate among all districts, in adult education it continues to lag behind the others.
In view to encourage adult education among drop-outs and under-privileged students in the backward areas of the district, the administration has planned to open adult high schools in its 25 blocks. To make the initiative fruitful, the district administration is all set to recruit six teachers, one head-master and one peon for each such school, said Mr Mamud Hossain, saha-sabhadhipati of the zilla-parishad. 
Mr Hossain said that the move has been initiated after it was found that only 31 per cent youth acquainted with adult education programmes have comprehensive knowledge about HIV transmission and its prevention while an equal proportion of teachers need to improve their awareness on these issues.
The drive for increasing literacy had received a jolt as Continuing Education Centres (CEC) had remained non-operational due to the political turmoil in the district since 2007.
In Nandigram all centres of continuing and nodal continuing education centres remained closed for long.
According to reports from the district literacy mission, the district has 2,608 CECs and 298 nodal CECs for the neo-literate and drop-out learners. Most of these centres were non-operational till the last Assembly polls.
As a result, the district which was once ranked at number one in terms of the rural literacy is now lagged behind other districts with 80.44 per cent literacy rate in 2008.
Mr Hossain said the district has received Rs 470 crore from Sarbasiksha Abhijan and 199 upper primary schools have already been opened. Two High Madrasha Schools and more 71 upper primary schools will be opened in the district soon, he said.
While briefing about the importance of opening new adult high schools in the district, a senior administrative officer said that only 31 per cent students from schools with adult education programmes and 20 per cent non-AEP had comprehensive knowledge about HIV and AIDS.
Nearly 30 per cent of the teachers in these schools lack comprehensive knowledge of HIV transmission and pregnancy-related issues. “Knowledge on methods that can prevent both HIV transmission and pregnancy (male and female condoms) is low among students. They need to learn the importance of consent driven voluntary HIV testing protocol, right to confidentiality and related issues,” the officer said.

Judicial commission to probe 1999 killing of 23 tribals

21 June 2012

biswabrata goswami 

MIDNAPORE, 21 JUNE: The state government has set up a judicial commission to probe  the incident in which 23 tribals were killed after being hit by a truck at Road Chandrakona in Garbeta police station in West Midnapore on 30 June, 1999.
 The one-member commission headed by the former justice of Calcutta High Court, Mr Justice (retired) Nikhil Bhattacharjee would carry out the investigation and he would submit report to the state government within six months, said Mr Sukumar Hansda, a Trinamul Congress MLA and minister for Paschimanchal Unnayan Parishad.
 “The state government decided to set up a Commission to probe the incident as there was an allegation that tribals were killed in a planned manner. The erstwhile Left Front government did not pay any heed to this matter and the whole incident was treated as a mere road accident”, said Mr Hansda.
 According to the reports available with the district police, the incident took place at on 30 June, 1999. Hundreds of tribals who were attending a rally to celebrate a festival at Saharbera in Garbeta were walking along the road from Road Chandrakona. A truck suddenly ran them over them, killing 23 tribals and injuring many.
At that time, Mr Jahar Samui, secretary of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) had alleged that it was not  an accident and appealed for an independent probe into it.
Mr Samui alleged that all the victims belonged to anti-Left camp and the CPI-M leader Susanta Ghosh had tried his best to bring them into his party’s fold.
 “But, as the tribals did not response to his call, Mr Ghosh had masterminded the plot of the accident”, Mr Samui had alleged.
 Mr Dahareswar Sen, a CPI-M district secretariat member alleged, “The state government is planning to frame Mr Ghosh in this case. Mr Ghosh is already facing trial in the skeleton recovery case”.

One year on, Junglemahal to catch up with parivartan

20 June 2012

biswabrata goswami
MIDNAPORE, 20 JUNE: A year has passed since Mamata Banerjee and her party, Trinamul Congress, took over Writers' Buildings getting a clear mandate from the people as she won them over with a thousand promises. It was just last month that the state government released its performance book after completing one year in office, boasting of the change and development that the party brought in the state. In Junglemahal, however, the picture is quite different as the word ‘development’ doesn't hold true in this case.
Even after a year, same problems plague the tribals in Junglemahal as the Trinamul Congress failed to keep its promises in West Midnapore.
During the last Assembly poll, Miss Mamata Banerjee gave many assurances to people, but laws meant for protection of tribal rights have not been implemented yet in the tribal heartlands of Jhargram sub-division. As a result the women still have to migrate to big cities in search of livelihood. Surveys carried out by different NGOs under the guidelines of the Union social welfare ministry reveal that the  Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, which was framed to prevent atrocities on SCs and STs, has not been executed here, though there has been enormous efforts to free the area from Maoist activities.
“Since tribal women have to spend ample time in forests collecting produce like sakhua and chironjee seeds, medicinal plants, kendu leaves and mahua fruits, which fetch good market prices, efforts should be made to secure their rights and restore forest cover,” reports suggested.
A Naxalite party which is active in the Gopiballavpur area said: “Tribals should be given permanent land pattas (deeds) under the Forest Right Act, as they do not have legal right over the land in which they have lived for years.”
The state government had announced a few months ago that it would buy forest products collected by people living in Maoist-hit area of the state, but, no initiative has been taken yet, the report said.
Moreover, reeling under an acute financial crisis, the state forest department has failed to involve the forest protection teams in planting new saplings of trees across the forest.
“The tribals are finding it hard to maintain their livelihood. At some pockets in the Belpahari, Banshpahari and Gopiballavpur areas, foodgrain is not being supplied to the beneficiaries thus adding to the woes of the tribals,” said Mr Santan Hansda, a resident of Belpahari. Economy has taken a backseat in Junglemahal as the security forces have launched a crackdown to reclaim territory from the Maoist-backed tribals. Tribals, nowadays, have stopped entering the forests for collecting kendu leaves in fear of being rounded up by security forces.
Admitting that restoration of faith among the villagers is necessary, a senior police officer, however, said security forces are not harassing the villagers. “If they want to go in the forest for collecting kendu leaves, security forces will not disturb them,” said Mr Alok Rajoria, additional superintendent of police, Jhargram.

State for innovation to improve services

biswabrata goswami

14 June 2012

While 90 per cent of the project cost will be financed under the DIF, remaining 10 per cent has to be shared by the local community or ngos

TAMLUK, 14 JUNE: The state government has geared up to launch schemes related to innovative plans for the first time, in consonance with the 13th Finance Commission’s recommendations, aiming at better delivery of services to people.
Initially, Rs 1 crore each would be provided to all 19 districts under the District Innovation Fund (DIF), which will be completely funded by the Centre, a senior administrative officer said.
While 90 per cent of the project cost will be financed under the DIF, remaining 10 per cent has to be shared by the local community (beneficiaries) or non-government organisations.
“Unlike the other existing ‘Assistance Fund,’ the DIF allows use of money in the existing capital assets to provide immediate benefits to people. The DIF will help fill the vital gaps in the available infrastructure, which is not being fully utilised for want of small investments,” said Mr Mamud Hossain, saha-sabhadhipati of East Midnapore zilla parishad.
To bring in competition among districts, the state government is also planning to make a provision to reallocate unutilised funds to districts which have come up with more innovative projects. A high-level committee headed by the additional chief secretary has been set up to monitor project implementation, an officer said.
For instance, the East Midnapore district administration has given priority to innovative plans for the agriculture sector. “Several such plans have already been recommended which include the setting up of three soil testing laboratories, three seed godowns and six vermicompost units at different places in the district,” said Mr Hossain.
For West Midnapore, Purulia and Bankura districts, which were mostly affected by the Left Wing Extremism (LWE), the state government has asked the district magistrate to recommend projects that would be demand-driven rather than supply driven and the schemes that would be conducive to triggering innovative measures to make government accessible and accountable to all sections of society.
According to administrative officials, each district will get Rs one crore for filling the vital gaps in public infrastructure already available in the district.
Fifty per cent of the grants would be made available to the districts during 2012-13 and the Administrative Reforms Cell has been entrusted as the nodal agency for implementation of the programmes. biswabrata goswami

Surgeon accused of not submitting autopsy reports in 350 cases

8 June 2012

biswabrata goswami
TAMLUK, 8 JUNE: A surgeon who does post-mortems in Tamluk district hospital has been accused of failing to submitting autopsy reports on about 350 cases since 2008. As a result, several police cases whose merits depend on the post-mortem reports have been pending in several courts for years.
Dr Pradip Das, who is also accused of botching several autopsies, meanwhile, alleged that he was threatened on Tuesday by Trinamul Congress workers who pressured him to alter the report on his autopsy of the body of a minor girl who was raped and murdered in Tamluk. Dr Das also alleged they ransacked his house.
"I made SOS calls to the police during the attack, and later met district officials, but no action was taken against the accused," Dr Das alleged. But the district administration accused him of defiance and neglect of duty.
Additional district magistrate Malay Haldar has served a show-cause notice against Dr Das and hospital superintendent Prakash Chandra Barui, asking them to explain within a week why a large number of autopsy reports have not been prepared.
The East Midnapore Zilla Parishad has shot off a letter to the director of health, urging immediate action to restore normalcy to the Tamluk district hospital immediately.  According to health department reports, Dr Das failed to submit 58 autopsy reports in 2008, 55 in 2009, 62 in 2010, 60 in 2011 and 42 up to May 2012.
This was revealed when Dr Das denied carrying out a post-mortem on Dipanjan Dey, a resident of Bolpur in Birbhum who recently drowned in the sea nea Digha. Dev's body was referred to Contai hospital from Digha, and Contai hospital sent the body for to Tamluk district hospital for an autopsy.
But Dr Das referred the body to Kolkata, which enraged the victim's family members, who repeatedly urged him to carry out the post-mortem, alleged zilla parishad saha-sabhadhipati Mamud Hossain. "Dr Das even misbehaved with the victim's family members when they went to his house to ask him to carry out the post-mortem on the body," said Mr Hossain. "This incident came in front of the district administration, which conducted a probe into this matter and found Dr Das guilty."
Dr Das, though, wanted to talk about the rape-and-murder victim's autopsy. He said the alleged murder victim was 11-year-old Puja Bhuiyan, who worked as a domestic help in the house of local schoolteacher Pranab Roy for four years. Mr Roy brought her to Tamluk district hospital on 23 May and told doctors she had fallen unconscious after taking poison to commit suicide. She died.
"I carried out the autopsy, but found signs of some abnormalities," Dr Das said. "The examination of her stomach suggested that the poisoning was post mortem, meaning that someone forced the poison down her throat after her death. Since the girl was a minor, there is no question of consensual sex. This indicates she was raped and murdered."
Trinamul Congress leaders brushed aside his claim that he had been attacked, saying "the doctor is very irregular at his work and he refused to carry out the post-mortem."