“At a ceremony held today at Rashtrapati Bhavan, P.J. Thomas was sworn in as the CVC,” said a Rashtrapati Bhavan statement here.

Thomas succeeded Pratyush Sinha, a 1969 batch IAS officer of Bihar cadre, who demitted office Monday after a four-year tenure as the CVC.

IANS

Health and Education Minister Geeta Bhukkal said that highly experienced and eminent persons are required to be appointed on these posts, but many times, such eminent and experienced persons are not available.

She added that the age limit was being raised so that eminent and seasoned persons could be retained for the effective administration of the universities.

The petitioner minority institutions said that the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009, is contrary to provisions of Article 14, 21A, 30 and 45 of the constitution in respect of the rights of the unaided private educational institution including the minority institutions.

The apex court bench of Chief Justice S.H. Kapadia, Justice K.S. Radhakrishnan and Justice Swatanter Kumar passed the order after counsel for the petitioners said that there were many provision in the act that infringed the rights of the private and minority educational institution.

The court was told that the act provides for 25 percent reservation for weaker and disadvantaged groups which was at variance with the apex court constitution bench judgment on the issue.

Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium told the court that the petitioner institutions have raised some valid points that needed to be looked into.

The court was also told that right to education law provides for the reimbursement of the expenditure incurred on imparting education to students from weaker and disadvantageous section under the 25 percent reservation category.

However, the gap between what the state would reimburse and the expenditure that an institution would incur on such students would be huge, the petitioners said.

The petitioner said that the act prohibits minority institutions from carrying out any screening test of either the students or their parents.

The court was told that this provision of the right to education law infringed upon the right of the educational institutions to adopt their own admission policy.

The petitioner institutions also objected to the provision in the law that poor students should be admitted without verifying their age.

IANS

The vote count will take place across the state Nov 24, he said.

About 55 million people will be eligible to vote in the country’s third most populous state. The total electorate was put at 5,50,88,402.

Quraishi said that Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) would be deployed in all the 56,943 polling stations.

The election will be overseen by thousands of officials, including those deputed to the Election Commission, besides thousands of security forces.

The top official said that the model code of conduct would come into immediate effect.

He said the Election Commission took into consideration all relevant factors including the climatic condition, academic schedule and law and order situation before deciding the polling dates.

In his reply, Sibal rejected the contention of opposition members that the Educational Tribunals Bill, 2010 had been brought in a hurry or the suggestions of the standing committee had been disregarded. He also said the bill will not have an impact on jurisdiction of states.

Sibal said that if the members wanted the bill to be deferred, he had no problems.

The bill provides for the establishment of educational tribunals for effective and expeditious adjudication of disputes involving teachers and other employees of higher educational institutions and other stakeholders (including students, universities, institutions and statutory regulatory authorities) and to adjudicate penalties for indulging in unfair practices in higher education.

IANS

The Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Bill, 2010, which provides for the appointment of a Claims Commissioner and the establishment of a Nuclear Damage Claims Commission, was passed by the Rajya Sabha by a voice vote.

The bill had been passed by the Lok Sabha last week with near unanimity. The bill, among other things, raises an operator’s liability from Rs.500 crore to Rs.1,500 crore in case of a nuclear accident. The liability for each nuclear incident has been put at 300 million SDRs (Rs.2,122.40 crore).

The bill will now be sent to President Pratibha Patil for her approval, after which it will become a law.

Amendments moved by Left parties in the Rajya Sabha Monday were negatived by a voice vote. Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader Sitaram Yechury insisted on division on an amendment which was negatived with a margin of 123-23.

Deputy Chairman K. Rahman Khan said the amendment had been “negatived” by a margin of 123-23 subject to corrections.

The prime minister was present in the house during the debate but did not intervene.

Replying to the over five-hour-long debate on the bill, Minister of State for Science and Technology Prithviraj Chavan said the government had tried to evolve a wide consensus on the bill, which was important for meeting the energy needs of the country.

He said adequate steps will be taken to strengthen the regulatory regime concerning nuclear energy and suggestions given by the members will be kept in mind while framing rules of the legislation.

He said the government will take adequate steps to strengthen nuclear energy generation programmes.

Terming the legislation as “complicated”, Chavan said the bill can be modified if there was a need to do so in the future. The minister said in the bill the liability ceiling of an operator in case of a nuclear accident was the same as in the United States.

“We will take care of suggestions of members,” he said, adding that there was no finality about a legislation as it can keep evolving with time.

The minister said the bill will ensure prompt payment to victims in case of a nuclear accident.

Referring to points made by Leader of Opposition Arun Jaitley, the minister said there was need of a civil liability regime for non-hazardous industries also.

He said that compensation amount in case of death in the Public Insurance Liability Act, passed after the Bhopal gas leak, was only Rs.25,000.

Disagreeing with Yechury over the cost of nuclear power, Chavan said the average tariff was comparable to any other source of power.

The minister said that the bill was not US-specific and India was in the process of acquiring reactors from other countries.

He said that a nuclear safety fund will be created by the nuclear industry.

Assuring the members that the indigenous nuclear programme was not being curtailed, he said the country had the capacity to build reactors of 500 MW capacity and was going to build 700 MW reactors.

The minister said the indigenous programme of producing 10,000 MW of nuclear power could not be fulfilled due to lack of good quality fuel. He said new sources of uranium in the country have yet not been tapped due to local and environmental factors.

The minister said that due to the Indo-US nuclear deal and subsequent steps taken, India was now free to import uranium.

He said an institute was being set up in Bhubaneshwar to meet the demand for world class nuclear scientists.

Jaitley had earlier said that the Bharatiya Janata Party will support the bill as most of its concerns have been accommodated in the 18 amendments.

The passage of the bill was seen as critical for full operationalisation of Indo-US nuclear deal.

IANS

Chidambaram made the statement in the Lok Sabha after some MPs raised the demand.

The home minister said there was no criterion in the constitution for inclusion of languages in the Eighth Schedule.

“At present, demands for inclusion of 38 more languages, including Bhojpuri and Rajasthani in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution, are pending,” he said.

He said the government had set up a committee in September 2003 to evolve a set of objective criteria for inclusion of more languages. The committee submitted its report in 2004.

“The report is under consideration in consultation with the concerned departments of the central government. A decision on the pending demands for inclusion of languages in the Eighth Schedule including Bhojpuri and Rajasthani will be taken, inter-alia, in the light of the recommendations of the committee and the government’s decision thereon,” he said.

But he gave “no time frame” to be fixed for consideration of the demands.

At present, 22 languages have been included in the Eighth Schedule. Of these, 14 languages were initially included in the constitution.

Sindhi was included in 1967. Thereafter, three more languages – Konkani, Manipuri and Nepali were included in 1992. Subsequently, Bodo, Dogri, Maithili and Santhali languages were added 2004.

IANS

He admitted that while the provision is not country-specific, it would disproportionately “affect Indian software companies adversely as a large number of H1B and L visas are availed by them”.

US President Barack Obama Aug 13 signed the Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Bill, which will raise funds for border security by increasing the visa fees for foreign workers under H1B and L category.

Krishna said that even while the legislation was under process, the Indian embassy in Washington had taken up the matter with the US administration and key lawmakers. It was also discussed by the Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma with his US counterpart, as well as by the Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao with the US ambassador, Timothy Roemer.

“It has been conveyed that the legislation would primarily impact companies of Indian origin and is seen as a discriminatory and protectionist measure,” said Krishna.

IANS

Law and Justice Minister M. Veerappa Moily moved the bill after withdrawing its earlier version, the Representation of the People (Amendment) Bill, 2006. The older version of the bill was withdrawn on the recommendations of a parliamentary standing committee which examined the legislation.

“The new bill is more comprehensive and it will enable the NRIs to participate in the democratic process of the country,” the law minister said introducing the bill.

(IANS)

The Nalanda University Bill, 2010, will establish a central university in Nalanda district of Bihar, on the lines of the ancient university which was founded there in 5th century AD and became a centre of learning for students from across South Asia.

Giving clarifications on the bill, Minister of State for External Affairs Preneet Kaur said the bill was being introduced by the ministry as 16 other countries are partnering in the re-establishment of the university.

“The name and motto of the university will be decided by the group of mentors, an international architecture competition will be held for finalising the design of the university,” Kaur said replying to members’ suggestions.
The minister also informed the house that a joint secretary-level officer will be appointed to monitor the work of the university.

Kaur stressed on increasing the reach of the university beyond South Asia to countries across the world.

While introducing the bill, the minister had earlier informed the house that Singapore government has committed to give assistance of 5 million dollars for this purpose.

Karan Singh also underlined that the ancient seat of learning which thrived for 800 years, was destroyed by Turkish invader Bakhtiyar Khilji and is now being rebuilt again after 800 years.

Janata Dal-United member N.K. Singh, who is also a member of a mentor group led by noted economist Amartya Sen looking after the re-establishment of the ancient university, said that the university will be an “icon of Asian renaissance”.

The University of Nalanda is proposed to be re-established under the aegis of the East Asia Summit (EAS), as a regional initiative.

The central government constituted a Nalanda Mentor Group (NMG) in 2007, under the chairmanship of Sen, to examine the framework of international cooperation and proposed structure of partnership which would govern the re-establishment of this University.

The NMG also has representatives from Singapore, China, Japan and Thailand.

The re-built university will focus on Buddhist studies, philosophy and comparative religions, historical studies, international relations and peace studies, business Management in relation to public policy and development studies, languages and literature and ecology and environmental studies.

(IANS)