Volume 15 | Issue 18
Tuesday, December 1, 2015
Waste-picker chosen to attend climate talks denied visa French govt feared she would not return to India EXCLUSIVE Mouli Shree Irien Joseph A waste-picker supposed to accompany Bangalorean Mansoor Ahmed to the Paris climate talks, was denied entry as the French government was worried she wouldn't return home. Ashabai Doke, a waste manager and green entrepreneur, was denied a visa on the grounds that she may not return home and that she had no funds to sustain herself while in France. All the documents required including sponsorship letters and accommodation confirmation were submitted. Mansoor Ahmed, a waste picker from the city, was cho-
Ashabai Doke
sen to speak at the event in Paris, attended by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and world leaders like Barack Obama and the UK PM David Cameron. But while Mansoor’s application to the French government – hosting the talks – was accepted, Asha Sambhaji Doke’s was declined, even though they had both submitted the same documents and proofs. Asha, a member of Civic Response Team (CRT), runs two recyclable waste shops. Her efforts have resulted in better incomes for 30 sanitation workers. She is also a member of Kagad Kach Patra Kashtkari Sanghthana (KKPKS), a trade union. According to a post on the blog “What’s With The Climate”, the visa was refused multiple times. “In first application the consulate refused the visa on two grounds: not sure whether she will come back, not clear how she will sustain herself there. It was decided to apply again. This time we paid the visa fees and to our surprise there was a courier service to Aurangabad. For some
reason the center didn't take Biometrics of Asha. They said they were recorded the previous time. Suddenly out of blues after four days, consulate asked them to provide the Biometric details.” “It is saddening that we are talking about the poor, who are most vulnerable to climate change, many through their work are actually mitigating it. And the space for them to share their thoughts, experiences and reflections is shrinking.” Nalini Shekhar of Hasiru Dala, which sponsored Ahmed’s trip, she said, “Mansoor was associated with the organisation since 2010. He is passionate about working for the city. He understands the importance of recycling matter, and because of his leadership quality he was chosen.” Shekhar calls Doke a “spokesperson for people like her, who made a living from collecting waste materials from dumps”. Mansoor, who studied till sixth grade, used to help his parents who owned a small dry waste collection shop. After his
father’s death, he had to take up the responsibility and began working as a rag-picker. In 2010, he joined Hasiru Dala and started working for them. Shekhar said that earlier the Alliance of Indian Waste-pickers (AIW) picked youth representatives from north India but never from south. In 2011, Hasiru Dala established a similar organization in Bangalore. The AIW asked them to send one person from Bangalore to attend the conference as a youth representative. Ahmed is the first one. At the 12-day Conference of Parties (21st COP) in Paris, leaders from 196 countries will discuss ways to limit the global warming. Ahmed will talk about the importance of waste segregation. He will describe his journey in which he was able to inspire customers to segregate waste at source. Doke was supposed to be a panelist at side events during the conference. It is estimated that there are 1.5 million waste pickers and itinerant buyers in India and 15,000 waste pickers in Bengaluru alone.
Modi's solar performance eclipsed by BESCOM Parvathi Benu Farmers are an “undisciplined” lot, according to the state’s power chief, who blamed them for misusing solar power equipment. As Prime Minister Narendra Modi shared the stage in Paris today with French President Francois Hollande to launch a global solar energy campaign, Bangalore’s state electricity chief was criticizing farmers for abusing solar energy equipment. “Solar technology is evolving, costs are coming down and grid connectivity is improving,” said Modi. “The dream of universal access to clean energy is becoming more real. This will be the foundation of the new economy of the new century,” he added. It was a slightly different picture in Karnataka, where Pankaj Kumar Pandey, man-
aging director of the city’s electricity and supply company BESCOM, was speaking at a symposium organised by Zen Dialogues on the future of electricity. He spoke about the growing dependence of agriculture on solar power. “There are around 800,000 pump sets in the BESCOM area which causes extra burden. We have separate feeders for farmers. This is helping us and them as well," he said. Mr Pandey added: "Segregated solar feeders, which supply electricity separately to different sectors, were implemented in agriculture because we do not want undisciplined farmers to interrupt the power supply. "These solar feeders will help the farmers to get power supply for more hours, but they are misusing it in some parts, like switching on auto starters leading to flooding and loss of
top soil.” He said solar power is the key to solve the state's power crisis and that solar energy may even cause a power surplus in Bangalore in the next five years. "Solar energy is very viable. It is very much possible as we get more than 300 sunny days here," he said. However, he said that the energy contribution of solar cells is very small. To solve the problem, power grid would help, he added. Antonius Van Megen, co-
founder of Auroville Consulting, said: “India faces a storage crisis and not an energy crisis and power grids would help in solving the issue.” He also spoke about the importance of bi-directional grids and how they would draw maximum energy. Research scientist, Sandhya Sundararagavan spoke about solar grids and their efficiency to solve power crisis. She added that there is a need to strengthen grid infrastructure.
BRIEFS Street Vendors suffer as govt officals play blame game Street vendors and the police accused BBMP of harassment and forced eviction from shops. Page 2 Accused in alleged scam took money from family The family of a finance firm boss accused of a Rs 85 crore scam say they lost their savings. Page 3 BBMP faces tax struggle BBMP has collected just about half the taxes they hoped to collect this fiscal year, the taxation chairman has said. Page 3 Fund crunch plagues AIDS patients on World AIDS Day The state's failure to deliver funds promised to fight HIV leaves thousands in distress, according to health workers.
Session on ‘Trends in electricity sector.’ Pankaj Kumar Pandey made the comment here.
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Tuesday, December 1, 2015
Street vendors suffer as government officials play blame game Aparajita Khandelwal Mouli Shree Street vendors and the police accused BBMP of harassment and forced eviction from their shops. Inspector Satyanarayan Singh of the Broadway police station, said, "The footpath is not for vendors, it is for pedestrians to walk. The Supreme Court has directed the BBMP to register these vendors and demarcate a place for them. So far no place has been demarcated by the BBMP. Till the vendors are allotted a place, they are not allowed to conduct any business on the footpaths. Once the BBMP allots them space, we will not trouble them. In and around Shivaji Nagar, the footpaths are very narrow which does not make vending feasible." Padma, a footpath vendor said, “I don’t have any source of income, the only shop I had, was in Kauvery Nagar and that too has been shut by the BBMP.” Shantha, a cosmetic vendor in Airport Road, said: “I am not working for the last one year and we don’t have enough food to eat. “Now we have no other option but to ask the BBMP to issue identity cards so as to get recognised.” Leelaraju, a human rights lawyer said, “According to the Protection of Livelihood and Regulation Street Vending Act,
Street vendors protesting at Anand Rao Circle for the implementation of Street Vendors Act, 2014 2014, the police are prohibited from evicting even a single street vendor.” Police is blaming BBMP for not abiding by the Supreme Court’s judgement. According to the 2014 Act, a town vending committee should be set up to issue vending certificate and to allot vending zones to street vendors. No street vendor can by evicted under this law. Mr. Babu Mathew, professor at National Law School of India University, Bangalore, said: "The legal solution for this issue is to file a contempt petition in the Supreme Court.
“This issue is a question of attitude towards street vendors, are treated like dogs. People should read the Supreme Court’s judgement to help them get rid of this attitude. “BBMP hasn't issued vending certificates or set up TVCS. To address this we should go to the court, we can get a writ of mandamus. The authorities must implement the law, it is their statutory duty." Mrinmoy Mandal, research scientist at 'EQUATIONS', a tourism research organisation, said, "The street vendors lend an essence of flavour to the place. Evicting them
will take away the microcosm of the place. The vendors are part of the informal sector and bring to the forefront the small scale industries. They also contribute to the tourism of the city." N Jairam, general secretary of PUCL, Bangalore, said, “We need movements like Shilpa Phadke's "Why Loiter" in Bangalore. The movement has caught momentum and women are reclaiming public spaces in Mumbai. In a larger context we are fighting against the neo-liberal patriarchal system." B.Suresh, a prominent Kannada film director who supports the cause, said, "As directors, we need to keep talking about
issues like this. We are trying to build a harmonious society and we need street vendors to add to the harmony. Street vendors provide better security to women, children and the elderly than the police - that is the harsh reality. We as a 'learned' society must support the street vendors.” “I support the software engineers’ protest to reclaim the footpath as well. The govt and society should stop pumping the idea of car ownership. Public transport should be promoted to avoid traffic congestion in the city," added B. Suresh.
In the city today
MM Active Sci-Tech Communications and CANEUS International, in association with MRO India, will be hosting India’s only Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul expo in Bengaluru on December 1 and 2, 2015. The two focal points of the two-day exhibition will be based on reviewing the significant issue of having a strong maintenance, repair and overhaul findustry for both the domestic and international airlines. “The highlight of the two-day conference will be the CEO Conclave, where policy makers and industry stakeholders will debate and chalk-out a path to make India a global’ MRO Hub,” said Mr.Pulak Sen, Founder Secretary General of MRO Association.
The communion of educators across India met at J.N Tata auditorium in Bangalore today for the fourth Mentor Conclave. The conclave is a two day conference where educators from across the country meet for sharing their ideas, innovations and experiences. The conclave is held by Mentor magazine, which is a monthly print and online magazine on education and school practices. More than 350 schools across the country have come together for the conclave. It also offers stalls for displaying latest innovations in the educational sector. The idea of the conclave is to create a platform for the educators to create a cohesive coordination in the educational sector.
Tuesday, December 1, 2015 3
THE OBSERVER
Accused in alleged scam took money from family Payal Gangishetty Aditi Mallick The family of a finance firm boss accused of a Rs 85 crore scam say they also lost their savings. M. Srinivas, Chairman of Shreyas Finance and Investment Company, Shreyas Hind Chits India, Pvt.ltd and ShreyasSouharda Credit Co-operative Ltd and his wife Pushpalatha, 55 were arrested on Sunday byJayanagar Police for allegedly cheating investors HemantJadav, the brother-in-law of M.Srinivas, the owner of ShreyasSouradha Credit Co-operative, said that his entire family has been cheated. “My whole family has invested more than 50 lakhs in the company. I don’t think he has any money left to return the principle amount,” he said. Satish Chawan, a relative of the ac-
cused, said that he has lost his investment worth about Rs.17 lakh. “We’ve been investing in his company for more than 20 years. We were in the US for the past four months and by the time we came back, the company was shut,” said SavithaRao, a cousin of Srinivas. Srinivas launched his company in the late 1980s and became its chairman. “Srinivas involved his wife, son and daughter-in-law with the company. They all went on to become its directors,”said Rajesh Kotal, Inspector of Jayanagar police station. Prabhakar, an investor, said: “As I wanted to buy a flat for my daughter’s wedding, I approached them to return some amount from my deposit. I was told that I would be paid in two instalments by the end of July but I did not receive any amount by July." He added, “Whenever we tried contacting him, he always postponed the dates and finally he went missing in October.”
My whole family has invested more than 50 lakhs in the company. I don’t think he has any money left to return the principle amount - Hemant Jadav Brother-in-law of M.Srinivas
M. Srinavas and Pushpalata, the main accused of Shreyas Finance and Investment, Sheryas Hind Chit Pvt. Ltd. ShreyasSouharda Credit Co-operative Ltdand company duped 200 people’s money
BBMP faces tax struggle Maqsood Maniyar The city council has been able to collect just about half the taxes they hoped to collect this fiscal year, the taxation chairman has said.
BBMP tax and finance committee chairman, M. Shivaraju.
He also said that in cheques paid in taxes sometimes bounce, resulting in low tax collection. M. Shivaraju, the Taxation and Finance Committee chairperson, said: “The BBMP (Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike) had set aside a target of Rs.2,400 crore of tax money to be collected annually, but so far we have managed only Rs.1,532 crore. This is close to 55 per cent. “In the east zone of the city, our target was Rs.610 crore but we have only reached the Rs.310 crore mark.” “Some wards have been functioning in an unacceptable manner. For instance in Pulakeshi Nagar’s ARO ward, 760 cheques made out by way of taxes have bounced. Tax collection in such areas is nowhere near where it should be.”
Shivaraju said: “We formed our committee two months ago and since then we’ve been trying to fix the current taxation issues that the city administration had been facing. We go on a tax collection drive every Wednesday. We call the initiative ‘Tiruge Vasulati Andolana’ (tax collection movement). In the past week alone, we collected over Rs.16 crore in all eight zones of the city.” He defended the recent decision by the BBMP to publicly name the top ten property tax evaders in the city. He also denied claims of some evaders who said they have “educational institution status”. “We have reviewed all of these evaders and taken an informed decision. Our decision and our figures are sound. We took this decision to do right by the middle class.”
He said that the BBMP, under the BJP, had done an “awful” job in terms of tax collection. He added: “We have looked in to the unscientific methods which were being deployed for collection of taxes. Taxes should be collected from all sources including property taxes in order to accumulate a healthy amount in revenue. Collections are on the up in our administration.” The Congress member cited a number of reasons as to why the BBMP was not receiving enough funds by way of taxation. “If this institution is to function efficiently, it needs revenue. Therefore we ask people to pay their taxes on time,” he concluded. Bangalore Development Minister KJ George said that about Rs.1,500 crore had been
collected in property taxes so far in this fiscal year and Rs.900 crore is still due. BBMP IT department coordinator, Sudhindra confirmed this and added that they will have a clearer picture once they analyze and collate data further.
About Rs.1,500 crore worth property tax has been collected so far, Rs.900 crore of it is still pending - K.J George Bangalore Development Minister
4 THE OBSERVER
Tuesday, December 1, 2015
Fund crunch plagues AIDS patients on World AIDS Day Oindrila Sarkar The state's failure to deliver funds promised to fight HIV leaves thousands in distress, according to health workers. As World AIDS day is celebrated today, several NGOs have raised concerns about commitment to HIV treatment and prevention in Karnataka. "The Karnataka State AIDS Prevention Society (KSAPS) is not providing funding properly. They are not giving money for the last nine months but they want exact reports. Our field workers because of fund crunch cannot give their 100%,” said Nisha , who works for Sangama, an NGO which deals with the rights of sexual minorities in Bangalore. “In Ramanagara & Bengaluru Rural, Female Sex Workers’ Targeted Intervention Project funded by KSAPS has not been running for the past one and a half years. In Udupi and Hasan, Male to Male Sexual Transmission (MSM) targeted intervention project is neither being implemented, nor being funded by KSAPS.That is a bad situation,” she said. She added, “The patients are facing more side effects due to changing combinations in medicines. Medicines for HIV AIDS are provided by KSAPS.” UT Khader, the health minister of Karnataka, said that he is unaware of funds not being released for HIV AIDS patients.
KSAPS employees in Gulbarga district, Karnataka marking World AIDS Day “If there is a funding issue, someone must com plain.But we haven’t received any such complaint,” he said. Nisha said that they’ve complained about the lack of funds to the minister as recently as October. At that time he promised them that the funds would be released. “Till now, no action has been taken,” she said. "Once you start with ART (anti-retroviral treatment) you need to continue. We are facing medicine shortage. “In this treatment you cannot skip medicine even once a day,” said Subhash, who runs Desire Society for HIV infected children. He said, "HIV infected children have been afflicted with a lot of infections in the last three weeks due to changes in weather.
“We take them to the Indira Gandhi Children Hostel where basic medicine from the government is given to them.” He added that HIV positive children from Ramnagara and Mandya districts, who are
brought to Bangalore for treatment, are physically very unfit. He said that the NGO provides each and every child with paustic plus (nutrition for HIV children). 800 grams of this powder is administered twice a day. To mark the occasion of World AIDS Day, the Empire State Building was lit in deep red. Senior officials from the White House and administration and community leaders commemorated the day with the theme“The Time to act is now.” AIDS healthcare foundation(AHF), the largest global AIDS organization commemorated the day through dozens of free HIV awareness and testing events throughout the US, Africa, Latin America, Caribbean, Eastern Europe and Asia.
A child rights NGO in Bangalore organized a conference today at Press Club asking for a revision of the present judicial system. According to Child Rights and Shared Parenting (CRISP), more than three crore cases are yet to be heard in Indian courts. Stressing on human rights, founding member and President of CRISP, Kumar Jahgirdar said, "We need an effective and a transparent judiciary. The pace at which it works does not give people its due. Justice in most cases is delayed and this in turn affects everyone. There are more than three crore cases which are pending and may take more than 100 years to complete.” He added, “We have suggested that court proceedings
be recorded through an audio visual medium, matrimonial disputes be settled on time and cases related to corruption and public interest be given due importance.” The NGO also suggested that the government should create an Indian Judicial Services such as the IAS and the IPS and set up a full time independent judicial commission that could work at the national level to administer the appointment of judges, train them and monitor post retirement jobs. It also said that governments in all states should take steps to ensure that it invests in quality investigative machinery and establish fully equipped forensic laboratories. Jahgirdar said that a memorandum has been sent to the Prime Minister, the Chief Justice and the Law Minister.
@firstpost Terror hideout busted in Poonch, J&K; arms, ammo seized by Army and J&K police in joint operation @TimesNow PM Modi set to launch 'Accessible India Campaign' to ensure ease of access for persons with disabilities @Sports_NDTV Lewandowski, who scored 5 goals in 8 mins, has created history in Guinness World Records
Children in Chikkamagaluru spread awareness on World AIDS Day
CRISP calls for fast-track courts Rajarshi Das
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@ndtv Girl, 13, has baby in school washroom. Teachers had no idea. @ndtv Nepal unrest leaves millions of children facing food shortage: UN @BBCBreaking The High Court in Belfast rules abortion legislation in Northern Ireland is in breach of human rights laws @BBCBreaking The High Court in Belfast rules abortion legislation in Northern Ireland is in breach of human rights laws @IndiaToday Bug in #IRCTC system lands #VaishnoDevi pilgrims in soup @cnnbrk Student suspected of threatening to kill people at University of Chicago is identified as 21-year-old Jabari Dean.
President of CRISP, Kumar Jahgirdar, addressing the press conference at Press Club in the city
@ndtv 200 expressways closed as China is blanketed by polluted smog
THE OBSERVER Editor: Regina Gurung | News Editor: Sanskriti Talwar and Tanay Sukumar Chief Sub-Editor: Reema Mukherjee | Picture Editor: Payal Gangishetty | Layout Designer: Sana Husain Sub-Editors: Sutanu Guha, Rishi Sabharwal and Prabhpreet Sood | Reporters: Rajarshi Das and Raina Paul