AID News, Sat Jan 7

[aidnews at aidindia.dyndns.org]

Today's Headlines

1) Corruption alleged in SSP rehabilitation: Official forced to retire
2) Mathematics workshop series for teachers
3) Questions on the 104th amendment
4) In other news

Today's News

1) Corruption alleged in SSP rehabilitation: Official forced to retire

According to a Jan 6 NBA press release, Ashok Kumar Modi, Assistant
Rehabilitation Officer in Manavar, Dhar district, M.P. was forced to take
compulsory retirement on the 6th. This comes in light of corruption
charges, related to the rehabilitation of SSP-affected families, that were
levelled against him. The NBA alleged that large-scale corruption was
taking place in the rehabilitation process because the M.P. government was
illegally, against the directions of the Supreme Court, pushing oustees to
take cash instead of land-based rehabilitation. Regular readers may recall
that this was one of the reasons for protests in Badwani in the last two
weeks of December.

Earlier this week, around thousand people from the Narmada Valley
assembled in a rally in Delhi to protest the graft in the rehabilitation
process. The received an opportunity to meet with Mrs. Meira Kumar, the
Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment. They received  a patient
hearing and a promise that she would visit the Narmada Valley to view the
situtation. No time-limit, however, was set for this visit.

Later, the oustees had a meeting with Shri Harinarayan, Secretary of Water
Resources, who said that he would not accept cash compensation as a
substitute for actual rehabilitation. He said that the M.P. government
cannot give cash instead of land, as this would be a violation of the
Supreme Court orders. He also said that he would closely examine the ATRs
(Action Taken Reports) of the State governments, which are used to justify
raising the dam's height.

More coverage of the rally can be found at
http://www.hindu.com/2006/01/05/stories/2006010504371200.htm

 -- Excerpted from NBA press releases

2) Mathematics workshop series for teachers

Jodo Gyan, a Delhi-based self supporting not-for-profit organisation
working in the area of activity based education since 1998, will be
conducting a series of 2 day Math workshops on activity based learning of
mathematical concepts for pre-primary, primary and middle school levels,
in Bangalore, Hyderabad and Chennai. Jodo Gyan draws upon the latest
mathematical research to develop creative educational materials and
methodologies for teaching and learning mathematics. The workshop format
will be demonstrative, interactive and hands-on. Participants would be
using teaching-learning aids developed by Jodo Gyan for understanding
various mathematical concepts. While the language of communication will be
English, translations in local languages will also be provided

The topics: Spatial sense and Geometry, Measurement, Early Number
sense, Number & Number Operations,  Place value and Algorithms, Algebra,
Fractions, Puzzles.

Details of Venues, Dates and Times
a) Bangalore Feb 3,4 2006, 9:00am - 5:30pm
Christian Workers Center, on Nandidurga rd after UTS, Jayamahal etxn,
Bangalore- 46 (behind cantonment)
b) Hyderabad Feb 6, 7 2006, 9:00am - 5:30pm
St.Ann's Retreat cum Seminar center (St.Ann's Generalate),
Nagarjunanagar Colony, Tarnaka, Hyderabad.
c) Chennai Feb 13, 14 2006, 9:00am - 5:30pm
AICUF, 52, Sterling Road, Nungambakkam, Chennai 600 034

The cost of registration is Rs. 200/- per participant for day time
attendees (includes lunch and refreshments) and Rs 250/- per participant
for attendees staying at the venue (includes lunch, refreshments and
accommodation)
A maximum of 3 teachers from each school can participate in each workshop.
Interested individuals may fill in the following registration form and
send to the workshop coordinating team -
infoDELETE at THISlearningnet-india.org. Please clearly mention the name of
the city you would be attending the workshop at.

Registration form
Name of school/organisation:
Address:
Phone:
Email:
Number of Teachers:
Names of Teachers:
City where you are attending the workshop:
Accommodation Needed? (yes/no)
Date Arriving:
Date Leaving:
Any special requests:

More information on Jodogyan's activities is available at
http://www.learningnet-india.org/lni/data/groups/resourcecenters/jodo/index.php

 -- Contributed by Aniruddha Vaidya

3) Questions on the 104th amendment

The following questions, from a reader, pertain to the 104th amendment to
the constitution, passed recently, for reservation for SC/ST/OBC in
private unaided colleges and schools:

1. What was the need for this amendment? Is it backed by any study
which shows that the SC/ST communities have benefitted from the
reservations which have been in place for decades? Is there any study
that shows that such an amendment will actually benefit people? If so,
can someone direct me to the same.

2. What are the real specifics of the amendment? There are no details
available on the Ministry of Human Resource Development website. Will
the reservation be in place for a fixed number of years or forever?
Beyond the 50% reservation in schools and colleges, will the schools
that received land at subsidized rates have to reserve another 25%?

3. By introducing the amendment, isnt the govt outsourcing its work to the
private sector? Isn't the govt basically saying: "i can't provide health,
education, infrastructure, water or electricity. So let me outsource
everything. If the private sector wont do it, then we will nationalize
them. Lets start with education"?

4. It is understandable, if the govt wants to enforce reservation in
private aided colleges, but is it legally sound on the governemnt's
part to ask private un-aided colleges to enforce reservation?

5. What is the rationale for exempting minority institutions from the
purview of the amendment?

 -- N. Ramachandran

4) In other news

a) Peace March in "The Dawn"

The recent peace march organized by the Pakistan- India Peoples Forum for
Peace and Democracy was featured in "The Dawn".
"The distance from Jalo-de-Chonro to Khokrapar is approximately 24
kilometres and onwards to Zero-point another 10 km. In the 21st century
one is expected to travel that distance in half an hour, but for us it was
a day-long trip. Thirty-four kilometres is a rough four-wheel drive
through the Thar desert which takes a couple of hours, but half the day
was lost in convincing the administration of our peaceful intentions...."
http://www.dawn.com/2006/01/03/fea.htm

 -- Contributed by Priya Ranjan

b) Low-cost lamps in rural India

"....Grameen Surya Bijli Foundation (GSBF), a Bombay-based
non-governmental organization focused on bringing light to rural India.
Some 100,000 Indian villages do not yet have electricity. The GSBF lamps
use LEDs — light emitting diodes — that are four times more efficient than
an incandescent bulb. After a $55 installation cost, solar energy lights
the lamp free of charge....."

More at
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/techinnovations/2006-01-02-solar-light-india_x.htm

 -- Contributed by Krishna Adusumilli

===
Kicha

___Just Another Quote____
"If we do not maintain justice, justice will not maintain us."
 - Francis Bacon
--
everyOne counts @ www.OneForIndia.org

--
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