1) Government call to tweet in Hindi sparks row
New Delhi: A Union home ministry circular issued
the day after the Narendra Modi government was sworn in has re-ignited the
“Hindi imposition” debate, provoking a warning from M. Karunanidhi and forcing
North Block into a fire-fight.
The May 27 circular, whose contents have only now become public,
observed that government employees “neglected” Hindi while using social media
platforms such as Twitter and Facebook.
“On official accounts on such platforms, both Hindi and English shall be
used with the Hindi version preceding the English version,” the circular,
written in Hindi, said.
DMK chief Karunanidhi reacted in Chennai by saying this amounted to
“treating non-Hindi-speaking people as secondary citizens”.
It was the cue for the home ministry to try and stem the damage by
tweeting only in English.
A post in the ministry’s official Twitter handle, launched today, said:
“The home ministry is of the view that all Indian languages are important. The
ministry is committed to promote all languages of the country.”
Government sources claimed Union home minister Rajnath Singh had been in
the dark about the circular, issued by the ministry’s official language
department on his first day in office. They said an explanation had been sought
from department secretary Nita Chowdhary.
Sources said junior home minister Kiren Rijiju had met bureaucrats in
the department on May 27 and discussed ways to promote Hindi. Soon after, the
department called a meeting of its Central Hindi Committee, meant to promote
Hindi across the country, which had not met for three years.
Rijiju blamed “a communication gap” for the controversy. “We have to
promote Hindi because it is our official language but that does not mean we are
discouraging regional languages,” the politician from Arunachal Pradesh said in
chaste Hindi.
He said the country had to “take its culture and its languages along as
it progresses”.
Modi himself has been speaking almost solely in Hindi at his public
appearances as Prime Minister, whether at his swearing-in — attended by Saarc
leaders — or while addressing the Bhutanese parliament.
Fresh buzz
There was a buzz that the government had issued another circular
offering cash prizes to officials excelling in Hindi.
“The circular urges us to use more Hindi, although this is not a new
thing in government,” an official said.
But bureaucrats at Rajnath’s office denied there was any such new
circular. They said the official language department observes a Hindi fortnight
for all government officials in September every year where it awards prize
money for proficiency in Hindi.
Sources, however, said that since coming to power, the Modi government
had been encouraging officials to write to the states, even non-Hindi-speaking
ones, in Hindi.
States are divided into three categories: Ka, Kha and Ga — the first
three consonants in the Hindi alphabet.
The first relates to states where Hindi is the major language spoken,
such as Bihar and Uttar Pradesh; and the second includes the likes of Gujarat
and Maharashtra where Hindi is understood and written well.
It’s the third category, which includes all the non-Hindi-speaking
states like Bengal and Tamil Nadu, that is at the heart of the debate.
Ill-timed
BJP sources rued the timing of the controversy. “We have exhausted our
gains in the north and west and can’t better our performance there. So, our
next strategy would be to gain a foothold or consolidate in the south and
east,” a source said.
“In Bengal and Tamil Nadu, we believe, we can make a mark if we work
hard and work intelligently. So, how does it help to rake up divisive issues
like languages and hurt sentiments?”
No BJP spokesperson commented on the ministry circular. “It’s a matter
concerning the government,” spokesperson Captain Abhimanyu said.
However, the BJP has always been seen as pro-Hindi, its zeal anchored in
the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s worldview, elaborated in the work of its
first chief, M.S. Golwalkar.
In his book Bunch of Thoughts, Golwalkar contested
the claim by “Tamil protagonists” that they have a distinctive language and
culture.
He argued that the theme of Thirukkural, written by the sage
Thiruvalluvar, was the “same old Hindu concept of chaturvidha purushartha (the four aspects of life) put
forth as the ideal”.
Flying in the face of modern linguistic theory, Golwalkar claimed that
all “our” languages, including Tamil, were “inspired” by Sanskrit.
Anti-Hindi
Karunanidhi today recalled the anti-Hindi agitations that had rocked
Tamil Nadu, first in the late 1930s and again, violently, in the mid-1960s.
“The battlegrounds where they were fought are still wet,” he said,
referring to the events that catapulted the DMK to power in 1967.
He advised Modi to focus on delivering on his economic and social
promises instead of on the promotion of Hindi.
“Can we forget (Jawaharlal) Nehru’s assurance that English would be the
official language as long as non-Hindi speakers want it to be?” he asked.
Some government officials, however, suggested the 91-year-old was
flogging a dead horse. They argued that the language row was outdated in the
Internet age.
“All central government departments have websites in both English and
Hindi. Some interactive websites — like those hosted by the income-tax
department — are exclusively in English for ease of operation,” an income-tax
official said.
A Press Information Bureau official cited how virtually any language can
be machine-translated into any other nowadays. “No government department that
wants to reach out to the public can ignore the non-Hindi-speaking population —
or English, which is the natural language of the Internet,” he said.
Nanjil Sampath of the AIADMK poured scorn on Karunanidhi, saying he was
bereft of issues and was therefore raking up the language controversy.
“His children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren have studied or are
studying Hindi at school,” Sampath said.
The anti-Hindi agitation of the 1960s denied an entire generation of
Tamils the opportunity to learn Hindi, hobbling them in the matter of finding
central government jobs outside Tamil Nadu.
There’s now a spurt in Tamil Nadu students enrolling in the Hindi
courses offered by the Dakshin Bharat Hindi Prachar Sabha. Many schoolchildren
in Chennai have Hindi as a second or third language.
2) Fauna first, humans next
New Delhi: In this new government of the people, blessed are those that walk on four legs.
Maneka Gandhi may be the cabinet minister for women and child development, but the welfare of animals remains a top priority for this long-time animal rights activist.
Sources confirmed that Maneka met health minister Harsh Vardhan yesterday to request him to take steps to stop the use of the hormone Oxytocin, used to enhance milk production in cows and buffaloes, as it reduces the lifespan of the animals.
Her concern for bovines also had a human angle to it. “The hormone dissolves in the milk which is consumed by humans and could have severe health issues,” said a health ministry source privy to a letter Maneka has written.
If one of Maneka’s priorities as child development minister is increasing the number of adoptions, she has also been busy promoting adoption of strays through her patronage of the Sanjay Gandhi Animal Care Centre.
“She is very passionate about animals and it is great that she is doing so much for them. There are not many people in this country who do this work for animals,” said an official close to the minister.
Maneka has been a minister under four governments and was instrumental in creating the animal welfare ministry, serving as its first minister. As minister for animal welfare, she banned the use of bears, primates and big cats for public performances, formed an animal welfare institute and replaced municipal killing of homeless dogs with a sterilisation programme.
Today, in a letter to transport minister Nitin Gadkari, Maneka voiced concern over the “smuggling” of animals. “Specially designed trucks should be used to transport animals to ensure that they don’t get hurt,” she wrote, saying only such “designed trucks” should get the licence to transport animals. “Reduce the smuggling of cattle for illegal slaughter. Bring more revenue through registration of such trucks,” she wrote.
She also asked Gadkari to ensure that rules framed under the law for prevention of cruelty to animals are followed while transporting animals.
Maneka also said the transport ministry would “reduce” the loss of livestock in transit due to “strangulation, exhaustion and overwork” if the rules were followed. She requested Gadkari’s “personal intervention” in the matter.
On June 13, Maneka had written to Rao Inderjit Singh, the minister of state for planning, statistics and programme implementation, asking him to provide more funds for the “rescue and rehabilitation of homeless animals”.
Sources in Singh’s ministry said they had received the letter in which Maneka said that since most of the work done for such animals was by a “handful of animal welfare organisations” that build shelters and gaushalas, the ministry should give them more funds as well as “animal ambulances”.
3) Solar roof for trains to save fuel
New Delhi: Scientists have asked the railways to consider installing rooftop solar power panels on train coaches to meet their electricity needs and curb the country’s diesel consumption and carbon dioxide emissions.
Researchers from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, have sent their proposal to the Rail Coach Factory at Kapurthala, Punjab, after showing through a theoretical study that solar panels can save up to 90,000 litres of diesel per rake per year.
They have estimated that a single rake — made up of five air-conditioned coaches, 12 other coaches, a pantry car and two power cars — relying on rooftop solar panels and making 188 forty-hour trips during a year could reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 239 tonnes.
Their study has indicated that the additional cost of the solar panels could be recovered within three years.
“Given our huge oil imports, every possible option to reduce dependence on oil must be explored — this is one such option,” Jayaraman Srinivasan, professor at the Divecha Centre for Climate Change at the IISc and a co-author of the study, told The Telegraph.
The study, accepted for publication in the journal Current Science, published by the Indian Academy of Sciences, examined the feasibility of installing solar photovoltaic panels that convert sunlight into electricity on a type of rail coach produced at the RCF, Kapurthala.
While the train coaches would be pulled by conventional diesel-run power cars, the solar panels are intended to provide all the internal electricity needs for lights and fans on both AC and non-AC coaches.
“The cost of solar photovoltaic panels has rapidly come down — we’re in a period of time when this idea can be tested for economic viability,” said Sheela Ramasesha, a materials scientist at the Divecha Centre who led the study.
The researchers relied on estimates by the new and renewable energy ministry that present-day solar photovoltaic panels would cost Rs 90 per watt. This would increase the cost of the rail coach retrofitted with rooftop solar panels by four per cent.
“We’re assuming 15 hours of sunshine during a 40-hour trip,” said M. Shravanth Vasisht, an electrical engineer and research fellow at the Divecha Centre. The excess energy generated by the solar panels could be stored in batteries for use during cloudy days or during the night.
But the idea doesn’t appear to have impressed railway engineers, who have questioned the stability and functioning of the solar panels on rooftops of fast-moving trains.
“A train moves at speeds exceeding 100kmph --- how are they going to fix the solar panels? This will be a big challenge,” Paramanand Singh, chief design engineer at the RCF, told this newspaper.
The researchers say they are trying to collaborate with railway engineers to select appropriate solar panels that could fit on rail coach rooftops and tolerate the vibrations and other forces they would encounter during high-speed runs.
4) Arvind Kejriwal’s daughter following the footsteps of her father
New Delhi: Harshita Kejriwal, daughter of Arvind Kejriwal, AAP convener and former CM of Delhi has been selected in the IIT–JEE entrance examination and came out with a rank of 3,322, which, according to her, is lower than expectations.
Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur has confirmed her selection in Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) Advanced. Just like her father, Harshita is moving in the field of IIT.
Her father is definitely her inspiration.
She may not get to choose the course or institute but she can get into an Indian Institute of Technology.
Talking to media, she said, “I did put in a lot of work. She further added, “I studied for 12 hours a day and started preparing two years ago. I focused more on coaching than on my school classes.”
She says that she will consult others and decide the stream and college.
5) Mumbai: Angry Campa Cola residents in Worli prevent BMC officials from entering by blocking the main gate
Mumbai: Angry residents of Worli’s Campa Cola society protested against the BMC officials arrived at the compound to disconnect water, gas and power supply.
Residents closed the main gate of the society to prevent the civic team officials from entering. They also chanted "we want justice" slogans amid presence of political leaders who also arrived.
“We have come to disconnect water, electricity & gas connections. We would request & try to convince the residents to let us do our duty and abide by the Supreme Court order,” said a BMC official talking to reporters.
The team had to eventually return & would now take further instructions from their seniors.
BMC officials at the Campa Cola Society
Dejected house owners are refusing to budge and performed a havan at the entrance of the compound this morning.
The demolition of illegal flats in Campa Cola compound beginning June 20 will be filmed and used as proof against the residents if they offer resistance, the city's municipal body said on June 17.
At the first stage of eviction, the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) will cut off electricity, water and gas supplies to the illegally built flats. Internal walls of the flats would be pulled down in the second phase before finally demolishing the balconies.
Seven buildings of Campa Cola Housing Society in south Mumbai were constructed between 1981 and 1989. The builders had permission for only six floors, but one of the buildings 'Midtown', has 20 floors and another 'Orchid' 17.
As many as 102 illegal flats in the seven buildings in the compound are to be razed.
3) Solar roof for trains to save fuel
New Delhi: Scientists have asked the railways to consider installing rooftop solar power panels on train coaches to meet their electricity needs and curb the country’s diesel consumption and carbon dioxide emissions.
Researchers from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, have sent their proposal to the Rail Coach Factory at Kapurthala, Punjab, after showing through a theoretical study that solar panels can save up to 90,000 litres of diesel per rake per year.
They have estimated that a single rake — made up of five air-conditioned coaches, 12 other coaches, a pantry car and two power cars — relying on rooftop solar panels and making 188 forty-hour trips during a year could reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 239 tonnes.
Their study has indicated that the additional cost of the solar panels could be recovered within three years.
“Given our huge oil imports, every possible option to reduce dependence on oil must be explored — this is one such option,” Jayaraman Srinivasan, professor at the Divecha Centre for Climate Change at the IISc and a co-author of the study, told The Telegraph.
The study, accepted for publication in the journal Current Science, published by the Indian Academy of Sciences, examined the feasibility of installing solar photovoltaic panels that convert sunlight into electricity on a type of rail coach produced at the RCF, Kapurthala.
While the train coaches would be pulled by conventional diesel-run power cars, the solar panels are intended to provide all the internal electricity needs for lights and fans on both AC and non-AC coaches.
“The cost of solar photovoltaic panels has rapidly come down — we’re in a period of time when this idea can be tested for economic viability,” said Sheela Ramasesha, a materials scientist at the Divecha Centre who led the study.
The researchers relied on estimates by the new and renewable energy ministry that present-day solar photovoltaic panels would cost Rs 90 per watt. This would increase the cost of the rail coach retrofitted with rooftop solar panels by four per cent.
“We’re assuming 15 hours of sunshine during a 40-hour trip,” said M. Shravanth Vasisht, an electrical engineer and research fellow at the Divecha Centre. The excess energy generated by the solar panels could be stored in batteries for use during cloudy days or during the night.
But the idea doesn’t appear to have impressed railway engineers, who have questioned the stability and functioning of the solar panels on rooftops of fast-moving trains.
“A train moves at speeds exceeding 100kmph --- how are they going to fix the solar panels? This will be a big challenge,” Paramanand Singh, chief design engineer at the RCF, told this newspaper.
The researchers say they are trying to collaborate with railway engineers to select appropriate solar panels that could fit on rail coach rooftops and tolerate the vibrations and other forces they would encounter during high-speed runs.
4) Arvind Kejriwal’s daughter following the footsteps of her father
New Delhi: Harshita Kejriwal, daughter of Arvind Kejriwal, AAP convener and former CM of Delhi has been selected in the IIT–JEE entrance examination and came out with a rank of 3,322, which, according to her, is lower than expectations.
Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur has confirmed her selection in Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) Advanced. Just like her father, Harshita is moving in the field of IIT.
Her father is definitely her inspiration.
She may not get to choose the course or institute but she can get into an Indian Institute of Technology.
Talking to media, she said, “I did put in a lot of work. She further added, “I studied for 12 hours a day and started preparing two years ago. I focused more on coaching than on my school classes.”
She says that she will consult others and decide the stream and college.
5) Mumbai: Angry Campa Cola residents in Worli prevent BMC officials from entering by blocking the main gate
Mumbai: Angry residents of Worli’s Campa Cola society protested against the BMC officials arrived at the compound to disconnect water, gas and power supply.
Residents closed the main gate of the society to prevent the civic team officials from entering. They also chanted "we want justice" slogans amid presence of political leaders who also arrived.
“We have come to disconnect water, electricity & gas connections. We would request & try to convince the residents to let us do our duty and abide by the Supreme Court order,” said a BMC official talking to reporters.
The team had to eventually return & would now take further instructions from their seniors.
BMC officials at the Campa Cola Society
Dejected house owners are refusing to budge and performed a havan at the entrance of the compound this morning.
The demolition of illegal flats in Campa Cola compound beginning June 20 will be filmed and used as proof against the residents if they offer resistance, the city's municipal body said on June 17.
At the first stage of eviction, the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) will cut off electricity, water and gas supplies to the illegally built flats. Internal walls of the flats would be pulled down in the second phase before finally demolishing the balconies.
Seven buildings of Campa Cola Housing Society in south Mumbai were constructed between 1981 and 1989. The builders had permission for only six floors, but one of the buildings 'Midtown', has 20 floors and another 'Orchid' 17.
As many as 102 illegal flats in the seven buildings in the compound are to be razed.
