National News

Parliament's stand on Ambedkar cartoon disturbing: Panikkar

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Thursday, 17 May 2012 00:00

Renowned historian K.N. Panikkar on Wednesday said that the stand taken by Parliament in the controversy over a cartoon on B.R. Ambedkar was disturbing as it rather hurriedly intervened in an issue that called for more serious thought.

“The members of Parliament have reacted with rare unanimity and an unwarranted sense of outrage to the cartoon included in a textbook published by the NCERT. If they had not done so they would have realised that the text book in question was an excellent example of creative pedagogic innovation, which is rare in our school system,” Dr. Panikkar told The Hindu. He said that the cartoon was a thought-provoking lampooning of one of the major events in the history of modern India in which Jawaharlal Nehru and Dr. Bhim Rao Ambedkar were caricatured (but it did not imply any insult to either of them).

Dr. Panikkar, a former Professor of History at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, said that some political leaders seemed to have thought otherwise and members of all parties joined in a vociferous protest.

‘Finance Ministry did demand inclusion of spectrum pricing in ToR of GoM'

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Wednesday, 16 May 2012 10:23

Please refer to the report on page 12 of your newspaper dated 15 May 2012, purporting to raise “new questions.”

I am afraid your correspondent has contradicted herself in the second column and in the fourth column of the story.

The original Terms of Reference (ToR) was issued by the Cabinet Secretariat on 23 February 2006. It includes spectrum pricing as one of the terms. The ToR was amended on 7 December 2006. Hence, where was the occasion for the Ministry of Finance to raise any objection during that period?

When a proposal was made by the Ministry of Communications & Information Technology to amend the ToR, the Ministry of Finance sent an O.M. on 18 May 2006 with the approval of the Finance Minister, insisting that spectrum pricing should be included in the ToR. Hence, there was no “silence” on the part of the Ministry of Finance.

Pranab defends Chidambaram, says no favour was shown in Maxis deal

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Tuesday, 15 May 2012 09:28

The Union government on Monday denied any wrongdoing by P. Chidambaram in granting clearance to the Aircel-Maxis deal by the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) in 2006 when he was the Finance Minister.

Seeking to clear the air, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee made statements in both Houses of Parliament, dismissing allegation of any delay in the deal to favour Mr. Chidambaram's family. He said there were two separate proposals, which processed in “normal course” without any delay.

“There is no scope for any misunderstanding and misinterpretation. In both cases there was no delay in granting the approval,” he said.

An investment was made by Global Communication Services Holdings Ltd, Mauritius, to acquire 73.99 per cent equity in Aircel Ltd. on January 6, 2006. FIPB approval was granted to it on March 7, 2006 after the ministries and departments concerned took the “normal time” of 4-6 weeks to offer their comments. Another application was received on September 1, 2006 for downstream investment by Global Communications through Aircel Ltd. in Dishnet Wireless Ltd. and the final approval was granted on October 20, 2006, Mr. Mukherjee said.

We proved sceptics wrong on survival of democracy: Pratibha

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Monday, 14 May 2012 10:22

President Pratibha Patil on Sunday paid rich tributes to the Indian parliamentary system, saying the country had proved wrong sceptics on the survival of its democracy.

She underlined that “democracy cannot be allowed to falter, it is the very essence of our nationhood.”

Addressing members of both Houses of Parliament at the Central Hall to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the first sitting of both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, (after the first election in 1952 on May 13), Ms. Patil said: “Sceptics, in those early post-Independence days, doubted whether democracy in such a large and diverse country could possibly survive. We proved them wrong.”

On the achievements of Indian democracy, she said that in accordance with the Constitution, representatives to Parliament, the State Legislatures and the local bodies had been chosen through electoral exercises which had been fair and open. “Our record has been remarkable and there is widespread acclaim about the tenacious manner in which we have adhered to democracy.”