Loud Thinking

Archive for December, 2013

If AAM AADMI party can give free water and subsidy on electricity (within 2 days of coming into power) to the millions of people in Delhi, why can’t our AAM AADMI parties i.e., PPP, PMLN and PTI give relief to teeming millions in all the four provinces where these parties are ruling in Pakistan?

CM Delhi, Kejriwal cuts power tariff, millions to benefit.

NEW DELHI: Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday fulfilled his second major election promise and cut power tariff by half to benefit an estimated 28 lakh households.

Kejriwal, who took oath on Saturday, also suggested an audit into the power companies in the capital, giving them time until Wednesday morning to file their objections if any.

The CM said that those consuming up to 400 units — 0 to 200 units and 201 to 400 units — of electricity a month would get 50 per cent subsidy.

The new power rates will go into effect from January 1 (Wednesday).

This would benefit some 28 of the 34 lakh households in Delhi, he added after a cabinet meeting, describing the intended beneficiaries as the poor and the middle class.

Tuesday’s decision came a day after he announced that 667 litres of water would be provided free to all households in the capital who have metered connections.

Kejriwal, whose AAP made providing water and drastically cutting power rates its main election promise, also met Comptroller Auditor General (CAG) Shashi Kant Sharma to seek an audit of the power companies.

Kejriwal told the media that his government would wait for the responses from the companies before taking a final decision on audit.

“By tomorrow evening we will decide whether to go for audit or not,” he said.

He estimated that the revision in electricity tariff would cost the government Rs 200 crore but Rs 140 crore of this would be borne by the power companies against their outstandings.

Kejriwal seeks CAG audit of Delhi discoms

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday asked the state’s electricity distribution companies to state their objections to their likely audit by the nation’s Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG).

“We have given notice to power companies for audit. Power companies have been asked to send their reply on why there shouldn’t be an audit, by tomorrow (Wednesday),” the CM told reporters here after meeting CAG Shashi Kant Sharma to discuss the issue ahead of a meeting of the Delhi cabinet.

“Delhi government is of the view that audit of these companies can be done. But under the provisions of law, the three companies were being given the opportunity of being heard on the government audit of their finances,” Kejriwal told reporters ahead of the meeting.

“They are being given time till tomorrow morning by which they will have to give their representations,” he added.

The three discoms in question — Reliance companies BSES, BSES Rajdhani (BRPL) and BSES Yamuna (BYPL) — have had their accounts described earlier by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) as being “fudged and unreliable” and thus untrustworthy regarding their revenues situation.

AAP had also earlier demanded that tariffs should only be increased after the companies’ audit by the nation’s Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG).

“Cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right.”

Oprah Winfrey (born 1954);
American television host, publisher

New Year Resolution – From Pakistan With Love to All the Indians

While wishing all the Indians a very happy and prosperous new year 2104, we would like to inform everyone in India that if at all we have to be friends, then that friendship must be in true sense; and we must not act and behave with each other in a hypocritical manner.

We would also like to assure the Indians that even of we wanted we can’t conquer India. At the same time even if India wanted, it can’t pull down Pakistan, without India being destroyed as well.

So, why to waste our time and energies in an imaginary hatred policies. Why to waste our precious resources, in being the prisoners of our foolish past.

From the first day of the new year 2014, let us bury our bitter past and be friends in true sense, like all the European countries.

Ring out the old, ring in the new,
Ring, happy bells, across the snow:
The year is going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in the true.

Let us have a genuine peace. Let India remove all its strike forces corp from the border without any fear. Let us join hands to wage a war against poverty, hunger, disease and illiteracy. Let us turn this subcontinent a bastion of peace and a heaven on earth.

Ring out false pride in place and blood,
The civic slander and the spite;
Ring in the love of truth and right,
Ring in the common love of good.

Ring out old shapes of foul disease,
Ring out the narrowing lust of gold;
Ring out the thousand wars of old,
Ring in the thousand years of peace.

India and Pakistan just need a period of single decade of genuine peace to turn around its fortunes to emerge as the most potent economic and cultural power house of this world. The only condition is the genuine and authentic peace like the one which exists in between the EU countries.

Don’t be afraid of problems between the two countries, because they will remain for ever, but we have to give priority to peace over the problems.

Let us make a new start from the beginning of the new year 2014 with the slogan – Long live the friendship of the teeming millions of India and Pakistan.

This Times of India news is a lesson for the PMLN which is hell bent in making lives of the AAM AADMI by increasing taxes and rates of each and every item of daily use.

AAP government delivers on free water supply promise

GHAZIABAD: Fulfilling its poll promise, the Aam Aadmi Party government on Monday announced 667 litres of free water daily for each household having metered connection in Delhi.

The decision was taken at a meeting of the Delhi jal board chaired by chief minister Arvind Kejriwal at his residence here in Kausambi, Ghaziabad.

“All the domestic consumers having metered connection will get 20 kilolitres of water free of cost from January 1. We will not even levy any existing charges such as water cess and sewerage charge,” newly-appointed Delhi jal board CEO Vijay Kumar told reporters.

He, however, said if the consumption limit crosses 20 kilolitres, then the consumer will have to pay for the water and other charges.

Kumar was appointed CEO of DJB on Saturday evening in place of Debashree Mukherjee who is understood to have reservation over supplying water free of cost.

In its election manifesto, the Aam Admi Party had announced that 700 litres of free water will be supplied daily to each household if it comes to power.

Last month, Delhi jal board had planned to increase the water tariff by 10 per cent from January to improve its finances.

It is not immediately clear whether government will charge for water being supplied to over 1,600 unauthorised colonies across the city as in most households in these settlements water metres are yet to be installed.

“As I learned to accept myself, I began to relate to people on a deeper level and saw that everyone comes with their own pains and struggles. I learned to appreciate them for their flaws as much as their strengths, which in turn helped me to accept myself more.”

— Amyra Mah

“Life is one big road with lots of signs. So when you riding through the ruts, don’t complicate your mind. Flee from hate, mischief and jealousy. Don’t bury your thoughts, put your vision to reality. Wake Up and Live!”

— Bob Marley

A must read for the advocates against the Two Nation Theory

Unpardonable Crime of the Muslims in India !!!

Who said congress is better than BJP of Modi, both are the two sides of the same coin.

An article published by the daily “Pakistan Observer”.

How about same yardstick for rape victims in India?

Nilofar Suhrawardy

Sunday, December 29, 2013 – whenever a case of sexual assault hits the headlines in India, without waiting for a court’s verdict the media and civil society emerge as great sympathizers of victim. In this context, it can be assumed that Indian women are not weak and culprits cannot get away with their crimes.

However, things are not as simple as they might appear. A victim must be supported but such cases should be dealt with extreme caution. During the past few months, a number of rape cases have shocked the Indian nation. Interestingly, the treatment of each case remained very different. We all are familiar with the Tehelka sex scandal. Tarun Tejpal, editor-in-chief of the magazine, has been accused of molesting his colleague in Goa. He was taken into police custody on Nov. 30. Consequently, Tejpal had to step down from his position. Of late, similar charges have been levied against Justice A.K. Ganguly. A law intern has recently accused him of having sexually harassed her last December in a hotel room in New Delhi. Former Supreme Court judge, Ganguly is currently the chairman of the West Bengal Human Rights Commission (WBHRC). He has denied charges and has refused to step down as WBHRC chairman.

In a spectacular frenzy of sensationalism, the Indian media tend to ignore the other side of the story. Please note, in each of the three cases mentioned above, the judicial system took different paths. Tejpal is in custody and no longer the editor-in-chief of the magazine he had founded. Ganguly has refused to quit office. However, he might be compelled to take this step on the directives of the Indian president. So far, he has not been taken into custody.

Charges filed against the accused in these cases rest primarily on the recorded statements of the victims. Certainly, the Indian judiciary must be praised for giving so much importance to what the “victims” have stated against the alleged culprits. But then, why are only a few being accorded a “fair” treatment? Why has the Indian legal system turned a blind eye to scores of Muslim women who were brutally raped by rioters in September in Muzaffarnagar? There are reports of numerous girls being held captive for several days and others having been raped in front of their family members. It is not without reason that the Muzaffarnagar violence has been labeled by some as the second “Gujarat carnage.” Numerous women faced similar atrocities during the 2002 Gujarat pogrom.

If the judicial machinery and media can swing into action so swiftly in the case of Tejpal or Ganguly on the basis of complaints by the victims, why can’t the same treatment be meted out to the victims of the Muzaffarnagar riots and the Gujarat violence?

—Courtesy: Arab News

Are we paying our teachers as per law in Pakistan, as well?

81 private schools to refund excess fees to parents: Panel to Delhi high court

NEW DELHI: A judicial panel set up by the Delhi high court has recommended that more than 80 private schools have to refund the excess fees they charged in 2009 without paying salaries to their staff as per the sixth pay commission.

A three-member committee headed by former Rajasthan high court chief justice Anil Dev Singh, set up in 2011, examined the financial records of 173 schools on a random basis out of total 1,172 schools and submitted its fourth interim report before the bench headed by chief justice N V Ramana recently.

With this report, the committee has so far examined the financial records of 605 private schools in the city.

In the report, the committee said that many schools “unjustly” increased fees and recommended that all of them refund the same with 9 per cent interest to the parents.

According to the report, 73 out of 173 schools including Rukmani Devi public school, Pritampura, Kulachi Hansraj Model school, Ashok Vihar and Manav Sthali school in New Rajinder Nagar, where the committee has found the fee hike to be “unjustified, either partially or fully”, and hence recommended the refund of excess fee.

About eight other schools, “where besides, finding the fee hike to be unjustified either partially or fully, the committee also found their records to be unreliable”, and recommended “special inspection” in addition to refund of fee.

In August 2011, the Delhi Court had set up the committee to scrutinise the accounts of various unaided private schools to determine the validity of the city government’s February 2009 notification permitting them to hike tuition fees.

This order had come on a petition filed by an NGO, Social Jurists, through advocate Ashok Agarwal alleging that schools had hiked the fees “unreasonably” but they failed to pay the salaries of the teaching and non-teaching staff as per the sixth pay commission.

A must read letter published by the daily “The Nation”.

A selfless leader

December 28, 2013

Stanley Wolpert, famous for writing, ‘Jinnah of Pakistan’ wrote in the preface of book, “Few individuals significantly alter the course of history. Fewer still modify the map of the world. Hardly anyone can be credited with creating a nation-state. Mohammad Ali Jinnah did all three.”

It is worth mentioning here that the father of the nation played a fatherly role while drafting his will. He left an example that must be followed by all leaders around the world who portray that they have love for their country. The Quaid left his property and assets for his people, most of which was given to colleges notably the colleges and universities where he had studied.

This proves how selfless and devoted he was to this nation which has besmirched his name in the world. He was an icon who eulogized education and distributed his wealth among renowned educational institutions.

Today we can pay tribute to him by establishing higher standards of education and eradicating illiteracy, extremism, nepotism, joblessness, and corruption from society.

IFTIKHAR MIRZA,
Islamabad, December 26.

“Turn your face toward the sun and the shadows will fall behind you.”

— Maori Proverb