Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Chavez back in Venezuela, says he's beating cancer - AP


Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has returned to Venezuela and says he’s “doing well” following cancer treatment in Cuba.

Mr. Chavez flew to Cuba last week for his third round of radiation therapy. He began the treatments in late March after having a tumour removed. He plans to have a total of five rounds in hopes of preventing a recurrence of his illness.

The Venezuelan leader has regularly travelled to and from Cuba for cancer treatment since last June. That’s when he says an initial surgery removed his first tumour, which was the size of a baseball.

Mr. Chavez has not identified the type of cancer or the precise location where the two tumours were located.

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

From Chief Minister to Chief Censor ---A.G.NOORANI

Mamata Banerjee's edict on selection of newspapers is a violation of the citizens' right to know and is an insult to libraries.

Around 1967, Warren Unna of The Washington Post asked Shiv Sena boss Bal Thackeray whether he read any books. He received a stunning reply: “I don't want to mix my thinking with that of others”. The same arrogance, bred by insecurity, explains the order of March 14 made by the West Bengal government headed by Mamata Banerjee: “In public interest the government will not buy newspapers published or purported to be published by any political party, either national or regional, as a measure to develop free thinking among the readers”. The affinities between the two leaders are striking — populism and intolerance of dissent.

However, Mr. Thackeray's preference concerned him alone. Mamata's affects 2,463 government-aided libraries, 12 government libraries, 7 government sponsored ones and the State Central Library. All English language dailies were barred. Initially, a mere eight survived — Sangbad Pratidin, Sakalbela, Dainik Statesman, Ekdin, and Khabar 365 Din in Bengali; Sanmarg (Hindi) and Akhbar-e-Mashriq and Azad Hind (Urdu).

Two of the Bengali dailies are headed by two Trinamool Congress MPs of the Rajya Sabha. The Hindi and an Urdu daily are headed by Rajya Sabha MPs of the same party. Sangbad Pratidin, for example, is owned by Srinjoy Bose, a party MP. Its associate editor Kunal Ghosh was elected recently to the Rajya Sabha on the Trinamool ticket to give the owner company. After an uproar, five more papers were added on March 28; namely, Himalaya Darpan (Nepali), Sarsagar (Santhali periodical), The Times of India, and two others.

‘First instance'

There is another aspect, besides. The right to select papers belongs to the management of each library depending on the demand among the readers in that particular area. A central edict is an insult to them. Ms Banerjee's order also flagrantly violates the citizens' right to know. It is not for any Minister to prescribe a select bibliography to the Indian citizen. An official acknowledged on March 28: “This is the first instance of such a circular. The management boards of libraries have so far been the final authority on deciding which newspapers and periodicals to offer, on the basis of readers' demands”. Now the readers are asked to read what Kolkata deems fit for their minds; “in public interest”, of course.

Arbitrary orders are invariably defended by absurd and contradictory explanations. On March 29, Mamata Banerjee and her Sancho Panza, Abdul Karim, Mass Education and Library Services Minister, explained: “We will promote local and small newspapers”. Some dailies on her approved list will not be flattered by this decision apart from the impropriety of State funding of the press.

There is a judicial ruling directly on point by a judge of eminence, Lord Justice Watkins, in the Queen's Bench Division on November 5, 1986 (R. vs. Ealing Borough Council, ex. p. Times Newspapers Ltd. (1987) 85 L.G.R. 316). He quashed decisions by some borough councils in the U.K. to ban from public libraries within their areas newspapers and periodicals published by Times Newspapers and News Group Newspapers for the duration of an industrial dispute between them and their employees. This was done as a gesture of support to the employees. The court ruled that the authorities had taken into account an irrelevant factor and abused their powers as library authorities under the Public Libraries and Museums Act, 1964. In India, the Constitution itself will render such an act invalid as being an abuse of state power.

The petitioners, represented by Anthony Lester, Q.C., relied on Section 7 of the Public Libraries and Museums Act, 1964, which reads thus: “(1) It shall be the duty of every library authority to provide a comprehensive and efficient library service for all persons desiring to make use thereof; (2) In fulfilling its duty under the preceding subsection, a library authority shall in particular have regard to the desirability — (a) of securing … that facilities are available for the borrowing of, of reference to, books and other printed materials, sufficient in number, range and quality to meet the general requirements and any special requirements of both adults and children …”

The abuse of power was blatant. The councils had but one purpose, namely to punish Rupert Murdoch for his stand in the industrial dispute. The ban was clearly for a purpose ulterior to Section 7. The violation of Section 7 was deliberate and wilful.

India's written Constitution repairs the omission of any such statute. As H.M. Seervai pointed out in his work Constitutional Law of India, Article 294 vests the assets and properties in the Union or the State Governments, respectively, for the purpose of the Union or the State, in short, for a public purpose.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1884 that “the United States does not and cannot hold property, as a monarch may, for private or personal purposes. All the property and revenues of the United States must be held and applied, as all taxes, duties, imposts and excises must be laid and collected, to pay the debts and provide for the common defence and general welfare of the United States” (Van Brocklin vs Anderson; (1884-85 U.S. 117 U*S.151 at 158). Arbitrary expenditure unrelated to public purpose also violates the fundamental right to equality (Art. 14).

Landmark ruling

The Supreme Court of India's landmark ruling in the International Airport Authorities Case in 1979 opened another avenue of challenge. Justice P.N. Bhagwati held: “The Government cannot be permitted to say that it will give jobs or enter into contracts or issue quotas or licences only in favour of those having grey hair or belonging to a particular political party or professing a particular religious faith. The Government is still the Government when it acts in the matter of granting largesse and it cannot act arbitrarily. It does not stand in the same position as a private individual...

“It must, therefore, be taken to be the law that where the Government is dealing with the public, whether by way of giving jobs or entering into contracts or issuing quotas or licences or granting other forms of largesse, the Government cannot act arbitrarily at its sweet will and, like a private individual, deal with any person it pleases, but its action must be in conformity with standard or norms which are not arbitrary, irrational or irrelevant.”

These tests render the order of March 14 a nullity on the very face of it. The Courts can strike it down suo moto or on the petition of any citizen.

They will render high service if they did so. For, it will provide a speedy and effective cure to a mindset which is completely out of sync with constitutional values and curbs. Ads have been stopped to “small” papers which depended on them for sheer survival. On Fools' Day, it was disclosed that the list of Banga Bibhushan awardees, who received Rs. 2 lakh each, included artistes, poets and writers who had campaigned for the Trinamool. Didi looks after her own, albeit at public expense. An Urdu saying casts her in a different light — “Halvai ki dukan par nanaji ki fateha (Prayers for the soul of grandpa at the sweet maker's shop, at his cost).

The Hindu

Newly elected Central Committee of CPIM

Newly elected Polit Bureau Members
1. Prakash Karat Gen.Sec
2. S Ramachandran Pillai
3. Sitaram Yechury
4. Biman Basu
5. Manik Sarkar
6. Pinarayi Vijayan
7. Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee
8. K. Vardha Rajan
9. B.V. Raghavulu
10. Brinda Karat
11. Nirupam Sen
12. Kodiyeri Balakrishnan
13. A. K. Padmanabhan
14. Surjya Kanta Mishra
15. M.A. Baby

Newly elected Central Committee Members
1. Prakash Karat
2. S Ramachandran Pillai
3. Sitaram Yechury
4. Biman Basu
5. Manik Sarkar
6. Pinarayi Vijayan
7. Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee
8. K. Vardha Rajan
9. B.V. Raghavulu
10. Brinda Karat
11. Nirupam Sen
12. Kodiyeri Balakrishnan
13. P. Ramaiah
14. Thamineni Veerbhadram
15. Penumalli Madhu
16. M.A. Gafoor
17. Sunkara Punyavathi
18. Uddhab Barman
19. Vijay Kant Thakur
20. P.M.S. Grewal
21. Arun Mehta
22. Inderjit Singh
23. Rakesh Singha
24. Aohd Yousuf Tarigami
25. J.S. Majumdar
26. V.S. Achuthanandan
27. M.A. Baby
28. Paloli Mohd Kutty
29. P.K. Gurudasan
30. P. Karunakaran
31. P.K. Shrimathi
32. M.C. Josephine
33. E.P. Jayarajan
34. Vaikom Viswan
35. Thomas Isaac
36. Badal Saroj
37. Ashok Dhawale
38. K.L. Bajaj
39. Janardan Pati
40. Charan Singh Virdi
41. Vasu Deo
42. Amra Ram
43. T.K. Rangarajan
44. U. Vasuki
45. G. Ramakrishnan
46. Aghore Deb Barma
47. Bijan Dhar
48. Khagen Das
49. Badal Choudhury
50. Bajuban Riyan
51. Rama Das
52. Subhashini Ali
53. S.P. Kashyap
54. Mohd Salim
55. Shyamal Chakraborty
56. Surjya Kanta Mishra
57. Shyamali Gupta
58. Banani Biswas
59. Basudev Acharia
60. Gautam Deb
61. Madan Ghosh
62. Mridul De
63. Hari Singh Kang
64. V. Srinivasa Rao
65. Hannan Mollah
66. Nilotpal Basu
67. Jogendra Shharma
68. Sukomal Sen
69. Suneet Chopra
70. A. Vijayaraghavan
71. A.K. Padmanabhan
72. K. Hemalata
73. Tapan Sen
74. Sudha Sundararaman
75. Deepak Dasgupta
76. Rekha Goswami
77. Nripen Choudhury
78. K.K. Shailaja
79. A Soundararajan
80. K. Balakrishnan
81. P. Sampath
82. S. Veeraiah
83. Narasayya Adam
84. G.V. Srirama Reddy
85. G.K. Bakshi
86. Deben Bhattacharyan
87. Rajendra Sharma

Special Invitee
1. Samar Mukherjee
2. R. Umanath
3. Md. Amin
4. Mallu Swarajyam

Central Control Commission
1. Benoy Konar – Chairman
2. E. Rajendra
3. Minati Ghosh
4. R. Gobindarajan
5. P. Ramalu

Ganashakti