Day: March 16, 2012

By RS Jassal

Introduction
This is with reference to the article by Wg Cdr G Baruah (Retd.) published in The Sangai Express issue of 02 Feb 12.  It gave me an interesting reading. Maintaining internal security of a big Nation like India is a tedious problem since hyper-active powers, inimical to India from within & across are always at play to weaken its strength to retard progress, development and economic growth with an ultimate aim to dismember its territorial Integrity. Youths of the country need to be more sensitive to the National responsibility by distinctive weeding out of bad, coercive and sinister influences on them from such evil powers. If their energy is harnessed in a committed manner, India can become an exemplary a strong secular Nation of its own example in the world. Up to 1947, the country was a combination of scattered kingdoms, Princely States, fiefdoms commanded by Rajas, Maharajas, Nawabs, Nizams, Chogyals and Choudharys, segregated from each other due to lack of communications & infrastructural resources and above all divided by castes in high and low by religious fanaticism. India has got present shape cobbled from all sorts from within and from all directions known to the world by its perennial wisdom & boundaries.

My article is not a comment on Wg Cdr Baruah`s perception of AFSPA of what he wants and what he does not want, but a sincere effort to cast truth about three incidents he has raised in his write up so that readers can get true picture to compare whether AFSPA was responsible for those unfortunate incidents, concerning which Army had lost their Officers and men and yet earned displeasure of writer like him and media.

Tyre burst Incident at Kohima

As mentioned in the article that for a tyre burst Army troops in convoy opened blind & blatant fire along NH 39 (now NH-2) killing and injuring scores of people. At that time I was posted at Tuensang as Assistant Adjutant & Quartermaster General (AA& QMG) with HQ 7 Sector Assam Rifles I was detailed to receive that particular Bn of Army at Jorhat on arrival and to guide them up to Mokokchung, where they were to be deployed for intensive operations against NSCN (IM) & (K) group both subsequent to the killing of Col Nair, the then CO of 16 Maratha Light Infantry (MLI) at New Chungtia road on his way back from Longkhan (Mokokchung). He had just conducted 10-15 days operations against NSCN (IM) & (K) groups since they had created havoc among local population and were involved in inter factional clashes but killing numerous civilians.

The truth is that the Army Bn (name of the unit withheld) had successfully done duties in Manipur & were on their way to Jorhat, in a convoy consisting of more than 30 vehicles. Tyre of a jeep/ Jonga had burst near DGP Police HQ (then under construction). Since vehicles were spread over more than a Km & half, from KTC (Kohima Town Committee) gate to Naga Hospital with more than five major curves in between, the sound of tyre burst reverberated so much in echo that it sounded like explosion of an IED (Improvised Explosive Device). And Kohima also used to be frequented by NSCN groups as was Longkham area.  The Officer in the rear  echelon immediately fired two rounds of two inch Mortar into a nullah dividing the AR complex and Accountant General`s office  where there was no population.  Forget about killing, not even a single civilian was injured in the said incident. Shri SC Jamir, then CM was present in his home cum office complex. He immediately contacted GOC 3 Corps on his hot line. To avoid further confusion, the Bn was ordered into stand still mode by GOC 3 Corps and was concentrated in Assam Rifle Complex. The Bn was withheld at Kohima for three to four days.  The Court of Inquiry was carried out and based on the above facts; the Bn was absolved of any blame & allowed to move to Jorhat thereafter.

Stray Firing Incident at Mokokchung

Prior to Kohima incident, 14-15 days operation of 16 MLI was concluded in area Longkham where village khels were divided over 50:50 support to UG gps (both factions). There was no cease fire at that time. Col Nair, then CO of the Bn was entrusted to deal with both factions. He warned both the warring factions of serious consequences if they did not stop their firefight. He was successful in stopping the daily routine of firing and village authorities also agreed not to allow entry of UGs into their village. A Barakhana with village elders was organized, so there was no indication of NSCN (IM) annoyance with the CO. He was to move back ahead of convoy to Jorhat to receive his wife who was to join him same day for a week or so. The Jonga in which he was traveling was ambushed along with other two vehicles as OP Monsoon which was launched by NSCN (IM) was still not called off by them. The Officer got killed instantaneously. Later a letter of apology was sent by NSCN (IM) to the wife of slain Late Col Nair. The Battalion (of Kohima incident) was to move to area Mokokchung to launch operations in area Longkhan & South of Khonsa as mentioned above.

See the tragedy. Lt Col Chengappa, the Second in Command of Maratha Light Infantry Bn with one company was left behind at Mokokchung, with Assam Rifles, to wait for Kohima Bn (temporarily under detention) to be relieved. A sudden face to face firing started between both NSCN factions in main Market, 200 ft away from police round about (Dr. Imkongliba Square).  Lt Col Chengappa rushed with his troops to control the situation. A stray flying bullet hit the Officer and unfortunately he died on the spot. During this firing by the groups some bullets hit a barrel of petrol/diesel stocked in a shop, which caught fire and enflamed 12-14 other cloth shops too in a row & reduced all to ashes.  Two civilians from a nearby village who had come for shopping were also caught in a shop with shutter down and not knowing how to extricate themselves, were burnt to death.  There was no incident of rape.  Live bullets were flying for a few minutes not knowing from which directions, UGs disappeared into their dens. Army/AR troops stayed behind to control the situation, swallowing the grief of loss of their Officer and to inhale all possible winds of dis-affectation from all sides. The incident was in the news on AIR Radio/DD the same evening.  It was a scene of confusion of the highest order where an Army Officer lost his life while bringing faction tiraders under control.            

A Parliamentary team consisting of eight Members of Parliament (MsP) arrived within 2 days in Mokokchung first ever in the history of counter insurgency in NE, who studied each and every aspect minutely & absolved SFs of any fault. UGs were blamed, and as such they are always above law, so case was closed. And that was Assembly Constituency of CM himself.

Napalm Bomb incident of Mizoram

Wg Cdr Baruah has claimed throwing of Napalm bombs in Mizoram by the Army. I have checked up with all possible Defence sources and it is confirmed that India does not possess Napalm bombs in its combat arsenals. Some helicopters are fitted with special machine guns for firing bullets into areas where foot soldiers are not able to reach/operate and where militants have taken full control of the area or security forces camp/post is under siege. And also to provide air cover to VVIP aircraft while on board. There are some places in Mizoram like Farkawn, where memorials of Army Infantry Company(s) exist of complete company strength with JCOs & Offrs, annihilated by MNF militants overnight.  In such situation if strafing was done, I have no knowledge, but never any napalm bomb was thrown.

There was another event of even bigger magnitude created by FGN/NNC Army at Mellury (the Naga Hills now Nagaland) in 1957 when late V. Krishna Menon was Defense Minister. Assam Rifles Wing HQ plus one Platoon post was under siege for 10-12 days and Air Force Dakota was sent for dropping aid in rations/medicines was shot at by Naga Army under SS Gen Zuheto Sema and SS Lt Col Kaito Sema grounding it about two kms or so away from the post. The whole Nation came to stand to. Menon cut short his visit to Ladakh, held emergency meeting same evening with three Chiefs and had to make a statement in the Parliament next day.  Then AVM Sondhi, AOC-in-C Eastern Air Comd flew a Dakota himself with medicines, water & ammunitions and delivered with low flying over the post after two abortive flights. Even under these circumstances No bomb was thrown in the suburbs of post.  The Defence Forces have well laid battle doctrines for operating within own country, within own insurgents/ militants, whatever the provocation may be.

Tough Times – Truth Vs Lie

At times, Armed Forces in uniform have to face utter disgusting environment in most unfavorable terrains, yet under oaths taken on passing out, officers & men keep nations IZZAT above self always. They sacrifice their lives without grudge. To them Nation is first, rest afterwards.

Fight by interested groups against AFSPA is alright but must not hurl disgrace to the finest Army of the World as Wing Commander G Baruah has attempted to do.  I really feel sorry for such people who feed concocted information to the readers without verifying.  He should know who are the components of the Forces – all are Indians from within four corners. AFSPA whether stays or withdraws, amended or modified, used with human face or iron fist is all Political & Administrative expediency BUT how these three incidents have been projected as an resultant of AFSPA is incomprehensible!  I am clear in my belief that AFSPA is not difficult to remove because that is the state decision.  Withdraw the Army, AFSPA rolls back. How can you perceive Armed Forces on Internal Security duties fighting, against well armed uniformed militants with sophisticated weapons, with gun in one hand and the second hand tied at the back? So measures like fast unto death, holding `Inter Regional Rallies
` and marches across the country cannot achieve any tangible results. Mis – users of AFSPA have been punished under law and will continue to be punished in future also. Wherever it has not been done, must have been due to evidential lacunae.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2012/03/afspa-as-i-see-it-wg-cdr-g-baruah-retd-vs-truth-abstract-of-lie/

By: G.S. Oinam
This time, Union Budget 2012 shall not left Manipur in lurch. Once the Information and Knowledge Management project is successful, our long demand for removal of AFSPA will go from Manipur phase wise. Beside, we shall not ignore the problem faced by the women and children. Special scheme has to be introduced immediately to facilitate women in conflict states specially widows and lower income groups.

Before highlighting pre-budget discussion of Union Budget-2012 to be presented on 16th March, know about the man who will be presenting Union Budget-2012!

76 years old Congress leader Shri Pranab Mukherjee, Union finance Minister was rated as the ‘Finance Minister of the Year for Asia 2010’, by London-based magazine ‘Emerging Markets’. The title was awarded to him for his “ability to steer the Indian economy through the global financial crisis and balancing growth with fiscal responsibility.” In 1984, Pranab Mukherjee was rated as the ‘Best Finance Minister in the World’ by ‘Euro money’ magazine. Pranab Mukherjee will present the Budget for seventh time in history, thus becoming the Finance Minister to have made third highest number of budget speeches.

Pranab Mukherjee was born on 11 December 1935 in a small village, Mirati of Birbhum District in West Bengal. He is a son of Shri Kamada Kinkar Mukherjee, a respected freedom fighter spent more than 10 years in British jails.  His parliamentary career was begun as a Rajya Sabha member from Congress Party in 1969. In 1997 Pranab Mukherjee was voted Outstanding Parliamentarian. Active in West Bengal politics, he was the president of the state’s unit of Congress since 1985, but resigned in July 2010. Well-respected by politicians of all parties, Pranab Mukherjee is the Congress party’s main troubleshooter and has often been called upon to guide the party through difficult situations. He is married, and has two sons and one daughter. His children are all good “like father like son!”

The UPA wants to unleash a new approach to skills development in its penultimate Budget before the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. But there is a hitch in announcing the new skills framework to make youth more employable by training 500 million people over the next decade. Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh has asked Tata Consultancy Services vice-chairman S Ramadorai to urgently untangle the crosshairs between the two ministries (HRD and Labour) so that Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee`s Budget speech can make a clear statement about the UPA`s `Big Idea` for developing skills. Ramadorai is the skills advisor to the Prime Minister and holds the rank of a Cabinet minister. Singh stepped into the imbroglio over skills development, a subject close to his heart, at a meeting in late February where it was pointed out that no country has two departments evolving independent frameworks on the same subject. Ramadorai`s intervention is expected to begin with a meeting early this week with top officials from the two ministries along with Planning Commission member Narendra Jadhav.

With a view to overcome the shortage of skilled manpower in the Indian gems and jewellery industry, NSDC, co-promoted by the Union finance ministry with the mandate of involving the private sector in training people, has identified 21 sectors for which 150 million people will be trained by 2022 and gems and jewellery is one of the focused segments.

The healthcare industry in partnership with the government plans to train as many as 4.8 million skilled healthcare-allied workers over the next 10 years to fill the industry`s massive manpower shortage.

The initiative will be executed through Healthcare Sector Skill Council (HSSC), an industry body that will be run by a 15-member governing group comprising representatives of healthcare industry, members of Medical Council of India, Nursing Council, Quality council of India and Health ministry, among others. Corporate hospitals, small private clinics and existing medical colleges can provide training once they are registered with the council, which will also certify the courses. The council is in the process of finalizing the curriculum and appointing a full time CEO. These trained people will be eligible to work at both government and private hospitals.

To begin with, the council has proposed eight courses, which have been identified after a detailed review and feedback from the industry requirements and the skills needed to be employable. These are nursing assistants, auxiliary nursing midwives, emergency technicians, ECG technicians, radiology technicians, laboratory technicians, dialysis technicians and special assistants for elderly patients.

At present, the $65 billion domestic healthcare industry is growing at around 20% a year and according to ratings agency Fitch, the Indian healthcare sector will swell to $100 billion by 2015. But the industry faces acute shortage of skilled manpower, which the industry believes will be a constraint to growth.

According to Reddy, the country needs to quadruple the number of such allied medical services workers to 10 million from 2.5 million currently to meet the industry`s requirement.

The programme is part of the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), a public-private partnership body that plans to train as many as 500 million skilled workers across 30 sectors by 2020. NSDC will also aid the initiative. At present, such technicians are trained by standalone training centers that have their own standards and curriculum, many are not recognized by the authorities and therefore not eligible to work for government healthcare centres. “In most cases, the skill levels are also not adequate,” an industry executive said.

Skype, biometrics, M-health (use of mobile phones) and E-health are all set to make an entry into India`s primary health centres (PHCs) and sub-centres as the health ministry plans to go hi-tech. The steering committee on health said that in the 12th plan (2012-17), all district hospitals would be linked to leading tertiary care centres through telemedicine, Skype and similar audio visual media. M-health will be used to speed up transmission of data.

India will also put in place a Citizen Health Information System (CHIS) – a biometric based health information system which will constantly update health record of every citizen-family. The system will incorporate registration of births, deaths and cause of death. Maternal and infant death reviews, nutrition surveillance, particularly among under-six children and women, service delivery in the public health system, hospital information service besides improving access of public to their own health information and medical records would be the primary function of the CHIS.

The ministry plans to give a big push to support telemedicine services in primary, secondary and tertiary care. Disease surveillance based on reporting by providers and clinical laboratories (public and private) to detect and act on disease outbreaks and epidemics would be an integral component of the system.

“The system will also support financial management – from resource allocation, resource transfers, accounting and utilization to financial services like making of payments to facilities, providers and beneficiaries. It will provide a platform for continuing medical education and support regulatory functions of the state by creating a nation-wide registration of clinical establishments, manufacturing units, drug testing laboratories, licensing of drugs, approval of clinical trials,” the document added.

Beside, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee may move to boost infrastructure in the Budget. To allow tax free bonds of at least Rs 50,000 crore by government undertakings like NHAI, HUDCO & ports.

Budget Expectations- check out what women want: As woman we have lot of expectations from life, (God has made us like that, capable of expecting & delivering), so why not add some more to our wish list.  Like, as this is exam time, we expect a lot from our children, Appraisal time, so lot of expectations from boss, Anniversary time, so lot of expectation from husband and budget time so lot of expectations from Finance Minister, Bienu Vaghela, Chief Editor, Apnapaisa said.

We just celebrated International Women`s Day on March 8, but the hangover still persists, particularly when the issue is of reaching out to Finance Minister, Pranab Mukherjee, who is just few days away from presenting the Union. This Woman`s day, as a woman I would request Finance Minister to consider slashing duties from branded cosmetics as it will motivate us to be well turned out in office. It will in deed a pleasure if the duties are reduced to minimum on food and beverages so that healthy and cheap food is accessible to millions of Indian homes Budget. We as women love to dress our children, ourselves, so duty on apparel to be drastically reduced to make them more affordable. As they are really expensive which is a big dampener as it is eating badly into family’s budget? The prices of apparel should be reasonable so that every home maker is happy to buy them, Ms Bienu Vaghela said.

Another big expectation and the most important one too, decent pricing for a decent home which will be possible only if duties from steel/ cement are slashed. Also declaring housing under Infrastructure may go a long way in making us realize our dream of owning home of our home.  As a working professional, I would expect that Income Tax slab goes up from present Rs1.80 lakh to Rs 2.5 lakh, which will mean more cash in hand to provide better amenities.

Those who have home loan need some respite too, and that can be granted if standard deduction on home loans goes up from age old Rs1.5 lakh to Rs 3 lakh.  It`s not that we as women only love to splurge, we love to save too! Finance Minister would surely know that whenever a family faces financial crisis, women of the family comes forward to bail out the family. And they achieve this by the small amounts invested in many small saving instruments from their pin money.

It will be a great help if interest rates on small saving instruments are increased to ensure better returns. Not only this, this budget should lay thrust on long-term investment and the standard deduction of 80C may be raised to Rs 1.5 lakh. It is also proposed to increase the tax exemption on investments in infrastructure bonds under Section 80CCF from the current Rs 20,000. Hence, instead we home makers cutting our expenditures year after year, we will expect FM to cut expenditure and show much needed financial prudence, Ms Bienu Vaghela concluded.

Bangalulu Initiatives on Skills:

Karnataka Small Scale Industries Association (KASSIA) will be made as a partner institute in the skill development scheme to provide financial assistance, Union Minister for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Virbhadra Singh said. There is a need to equip the youth with skills and knowledge for giving them access to productive development,” Singh said. Unveiling a slew of initiatives taken by his Ministry for the development of MSME sector like public procurement policy for SMEs, which mandated 20% reservation for SMEs in all procurements by Government departments and PSUs in addition to a special quota of 4 % earmarked for SC/STs; target of training 1.5 crore persons within 2022 and more than 40 lakh persons during the 12th Five-Year Plan.

He said the ministry would give free training to SC/STs, women and physically challenged persons along with monthly stipend of Rs 500 per trainee; provision for 15 % capital subsidy on institutional loans upto Rs 1 crore availed by MSMEs under the Credit Linked Capital Subsidy Scheme (CLCSS); providing guarantee cover upto 85 % on collateral-free credit facility extended by lending institutions to new and existing SMEs for loans up to Rs 1 crore.

The KASSIA School of Business Management, started jointly with ICBMS Educational Trust and Info Career Pvt Ltd would offer Certificate, short-term and long-term courses on soft skills and other skills specifically required by prospective and existing entrepreneurs in multiple languages including English and Kannada and also incorporate e-learning practices.

KASSIA is coming up with several initiatives for the small scale industry, such as the launch of a dedicated B2B cum Employment Exchange portal called kassia.com by the end of this month. The website would aim at listing at least 5,000 small scale industrial units in the next one year.

The KASSIA Credit Cooperative Society would shortly expand its outreach and function as a micro finance organization. KASSIA had invested Rs 12-crore in the last 5 years towards infrastructure building and the setting up of a state-of-art world class Industrial Campus at KASSIA Udyog Bhavan. KASSIA had not availed of any funding from the Central Government for this purpose; Raikar said and requested the MSME Minister to release at least Rs 1 crore from the Ministry. He also appealed to the Minister to consider enhancing the limit under CLCSS Scheme to Rs 2 crore from Rs 1 crore and the subsidy limit from Rs 15 lakh to Rs 30 lakh.

Qualification Frameworks differences between two Ministries:

The problem between the labour and HRD ministries is that both have developed their own vocational qualification frameworks. While the HRD ministry calls it the national vocational education qualification framework (NVEQF), the labour ministry calls it NVQF. The HRD ministry, which is led by Kapil Sibal, has had several parleys with state education ministers, including one as recently as February 22, and industry bodies for its national qualifications system, which would cover all schools, vocational education and higher education institutions. It would set occupational competency standards that list out major activities and knowledge a worker must possess to perform a task, based on inputs of skills councils for different sectors.

There are a few other critical differences in approach. The HRD ministry`s vocational courses impart a few hundred hours of training along with the student`s regular classes. With the Right to Education law in place, the ministry is also constrained from including school dropouts in such courses. The labour ministry`s institutes deliver courses that run into thousand hours or more but focus only on the skill sets relevant for a job. They allow school dropouts from even Class V to scale up their skill sets.

The two ministries also differ on creating equivalence between those who acquire skills from industrial training institutes and those who acquire it from HRD ministry-run formal schools, colleges and polytechnic institutes. While the HRD ministry wants to start vocational courses from Class IX with a training focus on the services sector, the labour ministry`s focus is on both the services and manufacturing sectors.

As per the government`s allocation of business rules, vocational education refers to such courses being offered in schools and polytechnic institutes, with the HRD ministry entrusted with the overall responsibility. Vocational training comes under labour ministry`s watch and refers to courses offered by separate training institutes such as ITIs

The labour ministry, led by Mallikarjun Kharge, controls the National Council of Vocational Training (NCVT) and runs over 10,000 industrial training institutes (ITIs) and 6,000 vocational training centres.

Beside, seventeen different ministries are involved in imparting skills, but primarily in their own sectors. It has an agreement with the World Bank and a Euros 6.5 million pact with the European Commission (EC) for technical assistance to develop its vocational framework in India. The first meeting with EC officials took placed.

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2012/03/union-budget-2012-focus-on-skills-development-and-infrastructure/