OBSERVER The Daily
Volume 14 | Issue 6
Monday, March 30, 2015
6,500 crores for minorites left unspent Nikhil M Babu
The state government has not spent over Rs 6500 crore funds allotted for scheduled castes for 2014-15. Documents obtained by The Daily Observer via a Right to Information request revealed that various government departments- until February - haven’t spent 56.5 percent of Rs 11,518.99 crores allocated for the so called lower castes. “This is not a surprise,” said Beena J Pallickal, a member of the National Campaign for Dalit Human Rights, New Delhi, an umbrella organization of various dalit organizations. “It happens not only in Karnataka but everywhere else. This shows the importance government gives to dalits,” she added.
Beena, member of NCDHR, New Delhi
The Social and Welfare Department of Karnataka (SWD) is the nodal agency for monitoring the funds spent by various departments of the state. The RTI reveals that 19 out of the 33 departments haven’t submitted expenditure reports to SWD. Arun Furtado, Deputy Secretary, SWD, said: “It is like that, we have to call them100 times to get a report from them. It’s always the same thing.” According to a new bill passed by Karnataka in 2014, the state government had to form a committee headed by the Chief Minister for the planning and allocation of funds. Even though the state budget was presented in February last year, the committee headed by the CM decided on the projects only in October. This delay is cited as one of the main reasons for the huge sum of money remaining unspent. “Since it is the first time, there are some hiccups. This year there won’t be so many problems. The fact that funds can be transferred to the year following the immediate year would have made them (departments) lazy,” Arun added. Some departments which have spent a meager part of the funds allotted to them are: Youth Services - 5.21%, Public Works - 7.07%, Labor - 16.32% and Horticulture - 17.63%. Many schemes which come under these departments like Child Labour Rehabilitation, Insurance schemes, training programmes for SC/ST, Assistance to state poultry farmers etc will suffer due to the under spending. There were already allegations by various organizations that the government had siphoned about 50% of the funds in the 14-15 budget to general projects like building courts etc.
Advocating conversion with promise of ‘minority’ benefits Kimaya Varude Aparna Singh People from lower caste communities are being asked to convert to Buddhism if they want to take advantage of minority class government benefits. Campaign organisers hope to have over 50 lakh ‘Buddhists’ by next year’s census. According to the last census, there were just 3 lakh buddhists in the state. Hindus from lower castes cannot take advantage of benefits handed out by the government. The mass religious conversion could mean a 74 percent increase. The campaign is held to encourage people to mark Buddhism as their religion in the census application form if they are scheduled castes or scheduled tribes. Dalit organisations are asking people to do so in order to enjoy the privileges of being a minority. Hindu
scheduled tribes or scheduled castes are not able to receive the privileges and benefits a minority community gets from the government. State President of Karnataka Samata Sainik Dal, Dr. M Venkataswamy said, “SC/ST youths, all families of Karnataka should register their names as Buddhists in the religion column and in the caste column they can mention their respective caste or sub-castes. According to the last census of Karnataka there are more than 3 lakh Buddhists, after this census maybe it will cross more than 50 lakhs. We hope so because in the last 10 to 15 years we have been canvassing for this conversion.” In Census application form there is a column for castes. If a Hindu or Christian who is a scheduled tribe or scheduled caste then they will have to register themselves as Buddhists. They are no more Hindus or Christian. On March 1, 2015 the Karnataka Samata Sainik Dal (SSD), student
leaders, district level political leaders and other dalit groups along with the Buddhist group held a meeting. At the end of the meeting they came to a conclusion that the follower of Ambedkar will not call themselves as Hindus but Buddhists. They will have to register themselves as Buddhist in the court before the Census survey 2015 starts. In the press release of Boudh Sangharsha Sangh, the association has mentioned that the rights and benefits of schedules caste people will not be affected if they convert into Buddhism. In December 2013, President of Social Welfare Department had issued a circular where they have said that all the people who belong to Buddhism or have converted to Buddhism should be given schedulesd caste certification. According to the Constitution [Scheduled Castes] Orders [Amendments] Act, 1990, there are 101 scheduled castes and 50
scheduled tribes in Karnataka. Before the amendment in 1990, Buddhists were not included amongst scheduled castes. Nobody who is not a Hindu, Sikh or Buddhist can be a scheduled caste under the act. “In 1990 amendment there is a provision to get reservation for scheduled castes/scheduled tribes. Conversion to Buddhism will benefit reservation needs to be conveyed. We have been distributing this pamphlet there is a government order to register their name as Buddhist on getting benefit and reason for registration,” said Dr. Venkataswamy. However, President of SSD, Chand Miah said, “There are 250 members in our committee. Everyone has different religions. I am a Muslim and I don’t want to mention Buddhism as my religion. Most of us do not know about Buddhism.” National Secretriate Officer from National Campaign on Dalit Rights said, “We surely work for the dalit rights but religion is a very secular thing. It is a very personal
choice. If they think that Buddhism is providing them with dignity as oppose to Hinduism, so be it.” Aditi S (name changed), a law student, said, “Not all dalits are Buddhists. I am a Hindu and I believe that it is our personal choice if we want to mark Buddhism as our religion or not.”
Dr. Venkataswamy says this conversion will benefit all Dalits
2 The Daily OBSERVER
Monday, March 30, 2015
Beware of LIC spurious calls Ridhi Agrawal Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) policy holders have been receiving spurious calls from people posing as LIC officers or IRDA(Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India) officials promising bonuses and payments. On Complaint Board, a national consumer complaint forum, Ashish Naik said he received a call from LIC Delhi. He said, “The lady on the phone asked me to claim my so called unclaimed amount of Rs.3,20,000. They cooked a nice story and got all my personal information from me. “I gave them all the information they asked for like PAN, bank account, DOB etc, but all fake. I spoke to them for very long time. I wanted to see what she tells me finally. After receiving all the info from me finally they kept the call by giving some petty reasons. Be aware of such fraudulent calls.” “I haven’t incurred any loss as such but I would like to stop this kind of malpractice.” Another policy holder, Varun Upadhyaya, also received similar calls. He said: “I have been receiving fraud call from Delhi (IND) saying
LIC OF INDIA. I keep on receiving the call on my landline number; saying that there are some bonuses to be credited in my account from LIC. The peculiar thing is these calls come on Sundays and holidays.” He also posted on the consumer forums on how the caller spoke very nastily to the female members of his family. On shouting at the person, Varun was threatened. The caller said he would be calling when there are female members at home and did threaten of dire consequences. To track the calling number, Varun installed a caller id at home. He posted the calling number on Complaint Board. Prasanna has a similar complaint. He said: “I too got a call from a person claiming to be from LIC funds dept. And interestingly they create call center kind of background noise in the call to make us feel like he is from one of the call center. He mentioned that I have got a bonus of about Rs.1.2 lacs and my LIC agent has not informed this to me as it would benefit the agent if the amount is not claimed. “Then he started asking for FGI(Federal General Insurance) relation as a mandatory thing in order to claim money. That’s when I started to scrutinize him back. Realizing
TWEETS OF THE DAY @chetan_bhagat : AAP fired its Lokpal. Arvind lovers may send hate tweets but what's the point of a Lokpal if the Supremo can fire him at will? @ b o b b y m a c Re p o r t s : Times of India report attributes unusual Delhi rains to "a western disturbance over Afghanistan and North Pakistan." Well played. @sagarikaghose : Prob with locating womens empowerment ONLY in sexual rights/ sexual vanity is it ends up in same trap of commodification.@deepikapadukone @sardesairajdeep : Thoughts with valley. Many still struggling with last year's floods, now suffering again. Hope to see real 'healing touch' #KashmirFloods @AunnaWilson : Just saw someone "fixing" a
Issued in public Interest Dear Policyholder, We have been receiving certain complaints where our policyholders received phone calls promising undue amounts/Bonuses to them. Caller normally poses as if he is calling from LIC office or IRDA office. Before disclosing any information you are requested to check the genuineness of the call. It can be checked through your regular agent. You can also call on IVRS number 1251 or send an e-mail at co_crm_fb@licindia.com. In case ,it is known that you had received a fake or spurious call please file an FIR with the police and lodge complaint at TRAI regulated phone number ‘1909’ with your mobile /landline on which spurious call was received within 3 days of receipt of such call. Please send a copy of complaint to LIC also. Assuring you of our best services always. Executive Director (CRM) LIC of India The message sent by the LIC team to its policy holders my alertness, he dropped the call. But by then I had already revealed my DOB, Policy No, etc.” Shashikala Prasad, a registered LIC agent, said, “These fake agent’s usually approach by informing you that your policy is about to mature in three months. “In such cases, check the integrity of the call. Ask the caller the
@Jamesallenonf: Is Vettel victory the first sign of a new era for @ScuderiaFerrari ? #F1 #MalaysiaGP @WorldBank: Over 50% of the world’s rural population lacks access to improved #sanitation @SophieCo_RT : Foreign intervention unleashed war, #terror in #Yemen Iran’s deputy FM @ashu3page : Delhi Anti corruption branch to pursue case against Mukesh Ambani in KGD-6 scam as MHA’s notification doesn’t apply on retrospective cases.
ment of LIC. On questioning further, he failed to give an official email id of LIC and provided a fake one instead. In public interest, LIC has issued a notice to all their policy holders asking them to check the genuineness of the call before disclosing any information.
‘Good Friday’ not good for Christians
pothole with newpaper. Cannot make that up. @thetanmay : Amazes me when an indian athlete who is world number of anything despite our apathy for sports and lack of resources. Just amazing.
branch he is calling from. They usually fail to give that detail.” “It is also best to just cut the call since 95per cent of the time LIC contacts its customers through mails.” The Daily Observer called one of the numbers given on the Complaint Board. The person said he was from the Verification Depart-
Vignesh S.G. Karnataka Christians have condemned a High Court judges meeting to be held on Good Friday, claiming it as an intentional attempt to degrade the Christian holy day and their faith The government step to observe Christmas day as a good governance day created wide disapproval from the Christian community last year. Rev. Vincent Raj Kumar, Karnataka Chief of Christian Union of India said: “The present government is only showing interest on conversion issue. They are turning against Christians and Muslims as they are not ready to accept their own caste weakness.” He added, “The government is putting forward the development of growth and not development of people. The government’s action against the minority religions are happening for last few months.
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All people have rights to enjoy a holiday on Good Friday. Even though Good Friday is a Christian ceremony even Hindu has the right to enjoy holiday on that day. - Lalit
They are trying to segregate minorities and are trying to smash down caste structures.” Apart from religious organizations, politicians also criticized the move.. Rev. Dr. H.M. Watson, Secretary Karnataka Christian council said: “It’s against minority rights. The Good Friday is a holy day for Christians; the authorities should cancel this meeting.” He claimed that on Good Friday we have special ceremonies in our churches which cannot be skipped. V.M. Sudeeran, State President Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee, in his open letter to President of India conveyed his disagreement. In his letter Sudeeran stated that the conference of Chief Justice in High Courts on Good Friday will hurt the sentiments of Christian community. He requested the President to intervene to cease these kind of activities against minorities in future. On Ed-Ul-Fitar (29thJuly 2014), the Prime Minister organized a meeting of scientists of Indian Agricultural Research Council and on Christmas Day 25th December of the same year organized a good governance day both of which received criticism from minority communities. Lalit, a High Court Advocate said: “All people have rights to enjoy a holiday on Good Friday. Even though Good Friday is a Christian ceremony even Hindu has the right
V.M.Sudeeran, State President Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee to enjoy holiday on that day. Actually High Court has a ruling regarding this issue.” Sreelal, LLB student said: “All religion has equal rights. The Christians have the rights to enjoy holiday on Good Friday. Conducting a meeting on that day is against the minority rights to enjoy the holiday on special occasion”. Contradicting the claims of various Christian organizations, Binu Paul, a businessman, claims that this decision to conduct meetings does not affect his religious belief. He said, “As a Christian I strongly believe that nothing will happen if a meeting is conducted on Good Friday. This issue is only being made into a political issue for no reason.”
The Daily OBSERVER
Monday, March 30, 2015
Pay or perish : Cops to Vendors Elizabeth Mani Saheli Sen Gupta Various vendors have faced trouble with police asking for money on a regular basis for ‘maintenance purposes’. As a cop was leaving without paying for his plate of biryani, Mr. Deepak, manager of Shahi Hyderabad Biryani, said, “If we don’t co-operate with the cops it’s difficult to run our business in peace so it’s alright if the cops come here to eat and end up not paying.” “We give them food for free but vendors on the pavement have to pay a lot of money to the cops,” he added. “I have to pay them Rs 1,500
Free biryani for the police
to Rs 5,000 as “rent” every month because of which I hardly earn any profits from my business,” said Asif, owner of a street side footwear shop. Mr. Stephen, manager of Boca Grande said, “We pay Rs 10,000 to the Adugodi police every month as parking fee so that our customers can park their vehicles even though the place has a ‘No Parking’ sign.” Hotel manager of Blue Petals, Mr. Joyson said, “Since we have a food certificate, we do not give any money to the cops but they come for free food once every fortnight.” He added that the cops also take four to five reels of A4 sheets from the hotel. A coconut seller in the area, Azeez, said that the cops collect Rs 500 from almost all shops on the pavement. A source at Tapwater pub also claimed that they have to pay a minimum of Rs 1 lakh to the cops of Ashok Nagar police station every month. In addition to that they also pay at least Rs 1,000 whenever they visit. Sources at Miller’s pub said that they pay around Rs 5 lakhs to the cops every month. Earlier this year, Bangalore Club lost its liquor license after a top
Coconut seller, Azeez, pays Rs 500 to the cops cop of the city got offended when asked for credentials as a member by one of the security guards. Sources at Tapwater said, “It is better to pay what they ask for because even the slightest provocation can lead to us losing our license.”
An officer at Adugodi police station denied the charges while the Assistant Sub-Inspector of Police, Mr. Gopal refused to comment on the situation.
Nikhil M Babu
Screenshot of the updated website of Hoshisms asking existing members to put more money ent companies like Gucci and CCD and will be paid Rs 50 for viewing each link. Also if the member introduces another person he will get further incentives. But after taking money from people they closed shop and disappeared with the money. The new update in their website reads “Thank you for waiting. We are gladly informing you that Hoshisms is successfully registered in India named as Hoshi SMS Private Limited. From April 5th, 2015 we will launch again. Till that we want to re-communicate with our investors…” Last November we reported about Hoshisms and the possible connection it had with another ponzi scheme Adyooe which also operated on similar grounds.
NEWS DIGEST Floods in Sri Nagar collapse houses; 16 trapped Mukhtar Abbas has been asked by Narendra Modi to assess the situation as houses collapse due to the flood situation in Budgam district of Sri Nagar. The floods are a result of River Jhelum plummeting due to persistent rains.
‘Con’ Banega Crorepati returns A fraudulent online firm which conned people out of crores and disappeared six months ago is active again. Hoshisms’ Rs 400 crore fraud was reported by The Times of India last November. It is now geared up to take new members and is also asking existing members to renew their accounts by paying more money. “I got a message from them a few days back that they are back and asked me to put some money in their bank account for renewal of my membership,” Raju, one of the many who got conned by Hoshisms said. “It is a fraud and I’m not putting any more money in it.” From phone numbers available on the updated website of Hoshisms, The Daily Observer contacted Sanjay Patel and Ashish Kumar who confirmed that they are functioning again. When our reporter told them that he wanted to join Hoshisms, Ashish, replied, “Sir, you have to kindly wait till April 5.” Ashish said that they are linking the old accounts to the company and existing members have to pay 20% of the initial registration fees. He also said that they are operating from Uttar Pradesh and the company will be working the same way it used to. Hoshisms offered people high returns for clicking on advertisements and also for introducing new members. People can join by paying a membership of Rs 2800. Later members will be sent links of differ-
3
Sources at Vylikaval Police Station, Bangalore, where a case has
“It is a fraud and I’m
not putting any more money in it. - Raju who was conned by Hoshisms
been registered against Hoshisms, said that the case has been transferred. As per their records, the case, with an FIR number of 195/14 had
been transferred to the cyber cell department but a spokesman there said they had no further information on it. When our reporter contacted the cyber cell they said that no such case was registered with them. When the Vylikaval police denied having the case for the second time, our reporter got back to cyber cell again. Lokesh Kumar, DSP of cyber crime department, said: “I checked it again in my office. There is no such case in the cyber crime department.” “I am 100% sure, you have to go there (Vylikaval Police Station) and see about it,” he added. The PRO of commissioner’s office also denied having any such case with them.
Plane sent to Yemen to rescue Indians An Airbus had been sent Monday morning to rescue the trapped Indians from the conflict-ridden Yemen. External Affairs Minister, Sushma Swaraj, also tweeted that a ship with 1500 capacity is also being prepared to be sent. Extremists kill another Bangladeshi blogger Two of the three suspected Islamists have been arrested after a 27-year-old blogger, Washiqur Rahman Mishu, from Bangladesh was hacked to death. This comes one month after a famous American blogger was murdered in a similar manner. I was not driving the car: Salman Khan Famous Bollywood actor, Salman Khan, denied driving his car the night it ran over five people, killing one. His driver, Ashok Singh, has made a statement in the court that it was him at the wheel the night the accident happened.
4 The Daily OBSERVER
Monday, March 30, 2015
Once famous ‘Jakkanna’ now faces rocky patches Suharika Rachvelpula Renowned artists and sculptors are finding it difficult to make ends meet due to a lack of encouragement both in terms of financial aid as well as encouragement of the traditional arts. Award winning sculptor, Kalappa Dyamanna comes from a family that has been specializing in wood and stone carving for generations. He said that his father had to quit wood carving and look for a different job to make a living. Their second occupation is farming. Lingappa Badiger, 60, still does stone carving. He says sculpting is the only thing he knows and that is his life. Despite winning many
A sclupture of an Indian Godess by Prabhulinga Bajjanaur awards, he didn’t get financial support from the government. He said
Sreedhar’s brother, making sculptures in Mareguddi he deserved the honour from government along with pension so that he doesn’t have to depend on his sons. Sreedhar Badiger, a relative of Lingappa, feels traditional sculpting is being replaced by sculpting only for the sake of money. He also said that modern art is dominating sculpture. He said that now-a-days who ever delivers first, regardless of it being artistically beautiful, benefits. This is only because they deliver faster and at a much cheaper rate. In this way the traditional sculpting is dying and the younger generation is not interested in this as it is not encouraged by government. “The fine arts in Karnataka have to be encouraged in such a way that these sculptors and artists live a peaceful life and future generations also tend to gain interest in arts. There is an immediate need to save traditional sculpting” said Sreedhar
Badiger. Shivappa, another sculptor, claimed that even though Karnataka is famous for sculptures, Tamilnadu encourages their sculptors and artists more than the Karnataka government. “The state government needs to take some action regarding this,” said Shivappa. Prabhulinga Bajjanaur, sculptor and farmer, earns his income through farming but not in sculpting. He does the sculpting for his peace, passion and self satisfaction. He does not ask for money for the work he does. Nagaraj Pattar, award winning artist who is a resident of Mareguddi lives in poverty. He gets salary of Rs.2000 to Rs.3000 per month and cannot afford a house of his own. His wife does odd jobs for the family and that helps to fund the kids’ education. He too wishes that the
No rehab for prisoners Punita Maheshwari A District Mental Health Program for the patients in the Central jail is urgently required, according to a hard hitting report by NIMHANS. The psychiatry department of NIMHANS came up with the report to have rehabilitative measures for the inmates. The report mainly urges treatment for mental health and HIV prevalence in the jail. “We do not send our doctors to the central jail for regular counselling but there are various studies that have been conducted overtime, “ said, Dr. Mathew Varghese, HOD, Psychiatry Department, NIMHANS. The report mentions measures of behavioral rehabilitation. As per the report, “Prisoners high-risk behavior needs to be addressed before they go back into the community after release. This can be done by various methods including education, lectures, seminars, workshops, dramas, group therapy and individual psychotherapy.”
government would support him and his family. Rama Pattar, wife of Nagaraj said: “We try to make ends meet despite the salary he earns. Holding the brush is the only way we earn money for life. With the less income, it is difficult for us as the children are growing too. “The promises that government made have not been met. There has been no support or required encouragement from the government for the artists. We really hope the government identifies the artists like him and encourage the art by providing the employment that’s required. So, the interest of art remains enhanced for future generations,” she added. Tejendra Singh from sculpting department of Chitrkala Par-
ishath, said: “The government is doing whatever they can under their capacity. Although, it is not like abroad, they are trying. The government is doing what they can under the budget provided to them. If the situation of our sculptors and artists in all the parts of state has to be changed, improvement depends on the budget allotment to the arts in the state.” “Kannada and culture department and Shilpa Kala academy under Lalith Kala Academy does organise campaigns and exhibitions for sculptors. They are organizing workshops, shows and exhibitions in different parts of state. They call sculptors from all over India for the national camps that help improve the art of the sculptors,” he added.
Lingappa Badiger, 60, received an award for making this chain out of a single stone
Kidnapping cases in the city on the rise C.L.Ramakrishnan
A file photo of Bangalore Central Prison The inmates of the prison expressed the need of the counselling session. “We are not visited by any psychiatrists and we do not have access to medical health. We are provided with a Church where sometimes, the father gives us lectures on social behavior, said, Gangadhar, an inmate. With Sweden known for its rehabilitation process, the recidivism rate is around 30 percent. According to Bureau of Justice Statistics, around 4, 00, 000 prisoners have been recorded under re offending
cases in India. “We never had any psychology session in the prison,” another prisoner said. The Chief Medical Officer of the central prison, Dr. Kumar believes that counselling is very important for the prisoners to reestablish them in the society. “We have an acute shortage of staff for counselling of the prisoners. We have three psychiatrists visiting on regular basis but that does not solve the purpose of rehabilitation for the prisoners,” he said.
There has been an 11 percent rise in the number of kidnapping cases registered in Bangalore, according to the Bangalore City Police. The city police statistics also reveal that the police have filed 532 kidnapping cases in Bangalore in 2012. In 2013 the numbers rose to 642 whereas in 2014 there were 708 cases filed. H.T. Sangliana, former Bangalore City Police Commissioner said: “24-hours patrolling is required by cops in order to reduce kidnapping. These crimes are carefully planned and in recent years it (kidnapping) has become a frequent occurrence. When youngsters are kidnapped it is hugely publicized nowadays.” He claimed that monetary involvement and sexual jealousy are the reasons behind rise in kidnapping in Bangalore. Surya, a High Court lawyer said: “Kidnapping is a serious offence.
H.T. Sangliana, former Bangalore City Police Commissioner There are a lot of cases where kidnapping goes unreported as the victim’s family does not want the life of the victim to be under jeopardy.” He added: “Trafficking of minors and women contribute to most of the kidnapping cases. Minors who move out of their home are the main targets of the kidnapping groups. Being a well planned crime, not much can be done to curb the crime.”
OBSERVER Team: Editor - Tushar Kaushik, Chief Sub-Editor - Saheli Sen Gupta, News Editor - Pulaha Ray, News Desk - Nikhil M. Babu, Layout Head- Devdutta Sukhadev, Layout Desk- Apoorva Choubey, C.L. Ramakrishnan, Sub-Editors - Natasha Singh, Soumya Chaterjee