Supreme Court pulls up Defence Ministry

NDTV Correspondent, Updated: April 01, 2011 15:03 IST
New Delhi: The government was once again criticised by the Supreme Court, this time the court pulled up the Defence Ministry for not filing a status report on the sale of illegal weapons by the Army.
The court said," It seems that we are heading for another racket."
The Ministry told court that there are aberrations and a status report on how to deal with the issue will be submitted to court within six weeks. The court was hearing a plea seeking CBI probe in the issue.
Read more at: Supreme Court pulls up Defence Ministry
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Elderly fume over proposed licence norms

NO LICENCE TO DRIVE: Many elderly feel taking away their right to drive is akin to killing their independence

BARRING ELDERLY TO DRIVE
The motorcycles zipping along, cutting across the lanes, indifferent to their own and others safety are not driven by the elderly, the speeding cars jumping the dividers and hitting the on coming traffic are also not driven by the elderly. The drunk drivers speeding their BMW’s and Merck, late in the night, and overrunning the poor homeless sleeping on the foot paths are also not elderly. Also those driving on the e-ways, over-speeding, on the foggy mornings and hitting the stationary trucks, dumpers regularly are also not elderly. The infamous Blue line Buses of Delhi were also not driven by elderly.
Then why select the elderly to debar driving, has any survey of the accidents attributed to the elderly, age wise statically resulted in this conclusion.
For the sake of elderly, do not deny their mobility, most of us living alone with children having flown the nest, mobility so necessary in case of a medical or other emergency.
We, those who are medically fit to drive are more cautious, drive at the speed of the traffic and in lanes, do not unnecessarily over-take and let the brash overtake us at their whims and fancy.
Brig Lakshman Singh (Retd)
TOI article
Elderly fume over proposed licence norms:
Say Plan To Keep Those Above 72 Years Out Of The Drivers Seat Is Arbitrary, Prefer Tests

Corruption is the greatest stumbling block to infrastructure development in India

Corruption Knows No Ends...
No state in India is free from corruption and the small list of projects all over the country which are riddled with corruption. The list covers some of the recent charge-sheets or recent revelations and not all states/projects are listed. In this sense the list is not comprehensive. Also, older cases are not listed. The corrupt deals listed here in any case are just the tip of the iceberg as no government-run project anywhere in India is squeaky clean, whether it’s infrastructure building, dispersal of aid or giving permissions for any works. And as the nexus between the politicians, the criminals and the police tends to cover up a lot of scams, the public will never really what is the real extent of the rot. This list just gives an idea of some of the corrupt projects in the country and reminds us why the infrastructure/health in our country is not up to the mark, despite money being earmarked for it.
Nita J. Kulkarni
Freelance Journalist and Writer
Blog: A wide angle view of India
Corruption is the greatest stumbling block to infrastructure development in India

Ex Servicemen and Self Employment

Analysts say the number of approvals required from government agencies for setting up mid- size industrial plants has increased in some sectors despite economic reforms.

To set up a mid- size factory, at least fifteen state and six central government clearances are required. And that's not all. Indian manufacturers face an average 7.4 visits each year from government officials, wryly nicknamed "inspector raj".

Drastic changes may be visible soon as the government plans to cut down the time taken for various clearances to 3 months from present 10 months. But some areas such as employment are more problematic.

It is estimated that there are 47 central government laws and 157 state regulations governing employment— often inconsistent and at times overlapping.

Reforming labour regulations is a priority for India. The current rigidities impose significant costs in terms of lost jobs, but policy makers say touching them is just too controversial. Till now there is no unified policy to regulate employing ESM as security Guards in Civil Sectors. Most of ESM working with Security Agencies are underpaid and exploited.

There is strong opposition to reforms in India from certain quarters and they embrace or include both the left and the right. Reforms have been fitful, ad hoc and they have been abandoned as soon as they have encountered political or other kinds of opposition.

Ex Servicemen need fast tract clearances for setting up mid size projects and industrial units to utilise the reservoir of latent talent available for self employment.

James Kanagaraj
Lt Col (Retd)
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Brig Sukhwindar writes...
I am afraid the Post 'Ex-Servicemen and Self-Employment' is NOT well-researched. I have been running a private ltd company in IT since 1998. Only one official has visited Me. Yes, other Sectors have more Inspectors coming. There is a lot of change now. CII, FICCI, ASSOCHAM, and Other Trade Orgns continuously pressurise the Govt. on the Issue. Mid-sized companies by the ESM? Just kindly look at the Outlay needed. This Article would scare away would- be ESM Entrepreneurs. Suggest the "loader" must correct the facts in the article.

Sukhwindar Singh
Brig (Retd)
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Kindly Visit
India’s Prime Minister warns business about the “cancer of corruption”
Riding a Elephant

James Kanagaraj
Lt Col (Retd)
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