People's Democracy

 on file

 MAHARASHTRA government on Thursday (August 25) admitted before the Bombay High Court that 1,590 minor children, aged under six, have died due to malnutrition in five tribal districts of the state between April and July 2005.

Taking note of the deaths in the districts of Thane, Nandurbar, Nasik, Amravati and Gadchiroli, the a bench comprising chief justice Dalveer Bhandari and justice D Y Chandrachud directed the State director-general of health services to submit a comprehensive time schedule for implementing recommendations of the Abhay Bang Committee. The Bang Committee was constituted in December 2003 to suggest means to reduce the Child Mortality Rate in tribal areas.

---- DNA (Daily News & Analysis), August 26

A LOCAL NGO has accused the Rajasthan government of not providing alternative employment to labourers who lost their hobs after the marble mines in the district were shut down in compliance with a Supreme Court ban on mining activities in the Aravalli ranges.

The government has not mooted any alternative scheme to provide employment to mitigate the sufferings of these labourers,” the NGO ‘Hammer Reach’ said…..

The Supreme Court had in October 2002 prohibited mining activities in the Aravalli ranges, vast tracts of which fall in Rajasthan, to protect the depleting forest cover…

As a result, people from villages near the Andhi marble mines in Ramgarh tehsil, 60 km from here, have been compelled to migrate in search of jobs, the NGO said. It said thousands of labourers became unemployed after the Rajasthan government in 2003 shut down 175 marble mines and ordered stopping of all mining activities.

---Business Line, August 29 

AFTER having achieved lowest ‘loss level’ in the city for all the three discoms, the NDPL has brought out a hall of shame list of areas where as much as 40 per cent or even more power supplied is stolen. Warning its consumers that they “are paying for what others steal” and that “every unit stolen results in losses that increase tariff”, the Tata discom has appealed to local Resident Welfare Associations (RWA’s) to report theft cases so that its 33 per cent loss level can improve further.

Shockingly, the list includes the names of many posh areas in Shalimar Bagh and Civil Lines. Pitampura and Model Town feature with usual suspects like Bawana. Mangolpuri and Narela. “As of now, medium-size industries and high-end commercial and residential complexes are the biggest thieves apart from the slums where industrial and commercial activities take place,” said an NDPL official.     

--- The Times of India, August 29

THE eldest son of prime minister Ariel Sharon was indicted on Sunday (August 28) on corruption charges in connection with fundraising activities for one of his father’s election campaigns, the justice ministry announced.

Mr Omri Sharon is suspected of setting up fictitious companies to conceal illegal contributions during the 1999 campaign, when his father won the chairmanship of the Likud Party and became its candidate for prime minister.

Mr Sharon’s term as prime minister has been marred by multiple scandals over shady campaign financing and real estate deal.     

--- The Asian Age, August 29

THE cost of sending children to private day schools in Britain has risen by more than three times the rate of inflation over the last 20 years, according to research from the Halifax bank today.

In 2005 the average annual cost of educating a child in a private day school was ₤8,388 against ₤1,806 in 1985 --- an increase of 364 per cent against a 103 per cent hike in inflation.

Parents who sent their children to board also felt the impact on their wallets. Annual boarding fees in 2005 of ₤18,282 were more than four times the 4,045 annual cost in 1985.

Over the last 20 years average annual earnings in real terms grew by just 48 per cent against a real term rise in private school fees of 129 per cent.

School fees now account for 36 per cent of the British average annual income of ₤27,452 compared with 22 per cent of 1985 average earnings.

Boarding fees represented 69 per cent of average incomes in 2005 compared with 43 per cent in 1985 while day school fees took up 31 per cent of income compared with 19 per cent in 1985.

--- DNA (Daily News & Analysis), August 29