Ranchi: Monday was earmarked as CM question hour prior to the Zero hour. CM Shibu Soren faced a lot of difficulty in ‘reading’ out the answers but somehow managed to reply to all the questions. Most of the answers to the follow up had curt one line answers.

The CM question hour began with Anant Pratap Dev’s question on providing benefits to suitable people under the Indira Awas, Kanyadaan, Widow pension and Handicapped persons pension schemes, the CM answered that the said programs were being implemented and and every deserving person would be provided with the benefits of the schemes. JVM legislator Arvind Singh wanted to know whether the CM would bring into force the 50% reservation for women in the Panchayat elections as ruled by the Apex court, the CM replied in the affirmative.

Annapoorna Devi of RJD raised the issue of regularization of Para-teachers. The CM replied by announcing that a proper regulation would be framed and in the next three months consolidated steps would be taken to address the issue. Pradeep Yadav wanted to know whether the Centre promoted Operation Green Hunt would come into force in the State or not to which Shibu replied that it would definitely be implemented and in any case severe steps and action have been taken to control the naxal activities and the government was serious about addressing the law & order situation in the State.

Arvind Singh wanted to know from the CM as to whether the Panchayat elections would be held before the monsoon set in, the CM assured him that the Panchayat elections would be held befor 15th of June. Saawna Lakhra of Congress pointed out to the CM that as it is there was a huge shortage of teachers in the government schools and even most of these teachers were utilized in other works affecting the students’ studies. The CM assured him that he will ensure that the teachers are not disturbed in any way and the Right to Education is in any case coming into force from 1st April yhis year.

AJSU’s K K Bhagat wanted to know if the cases against the persons involved in the Jharkhand revolution are being withdrawn, the CM answered that since the formation of the new State 3200 people have been exonerated in 340 cases and the next of kin of these people were being suitably compensated. The process would continue.

The CM stated that the State had no intention of making any change in the existing CNT and SPT Act, in reply to a question from Geeta Shree Oraon of Congress relating to the same and answering to Bandhu Tirkey’s question on the filling up of 80000 vacant posts, the CM said that the reports from various States in similar cases have been called for and action taken accordingly.

The CM left the Assembly immediately after the CM question hour.

|| It  is about the man behind the sting operation ||
Ranchi: A classic example of the ways of the ‘powerful’ politicians was witnessed by all, when senior leader of BJP and former legislator of Jamshedpur (he lost the elections this time) Saryu Rai’s goons bashed up Shaubikh Chattopadhyaya so badly that he received multiple wounds and had to be admitted to ICU of Raj Hospital.

Shaubikh’s ‘crime’ was that he entered the press conference venue of the former legislator to clarify his point of view directly to Rai. Instead of listening to him (understandably as there were nearly 4 dozen media persons present) he was unceremoniously shooed out. Without a word of protest Shaubikh left the hall but was gobbled up by the media persons who ran after him outside leaving Rai staring at a near empty hall.

Shaubikh unhesitatingly answered all the questions posed by the media and pointed a accusing finger at Saryu Rai stating that he was trying to influence every body by presenting half baked truths and trying to divert the investigations. He alleged that he had enough documentary evidence to prove Rai’ involvement with Binod Sinha in the Usha Martin matter and that he would produce the same at the appropriate time.
 

This revelation was a little hard for Rai to digest and he sent out his goons to teach Shaubikh a proper lesson. The goons in the highest handed manner took the law into their own hand. First they smashed the car of the hapless victim and later bashed him up so badly that he had to be hospitalized.

On being questioned on the incident Saryu Rai washed his hands off by retorting that ‘I’m with you people for the past hour, how would I know about it. It (bashing) has got nothing to do with me. A generalized statement. The fact is that the goons were identified as very close associates of Rai. An FIR was lodged in the Chutia police station against one Abhishek and Vikas, both related to Saryu Rai. Saryu Rai however, denied this and reiterated that it was nothing to do with him.
 

The incident has now sown seeds of doubt on everybody’s mind as to why a person should be dealt with violent means, when he had come on his own to just present his side of the story. Maybe the idea was to make the media realize that there were two sides to a coin? Worth giving a thought! It is a fact that three press conferences from Rai in a span of just 15 days have been single sided without a reaction from the ‘other’ side. The first time a reaction was witnessed, the person lands up in the hospital!

- by NewsWing City Reporter

Ranchi: Ten years into the 21st century and a supersonic era, the women of Jharkhand, basically a tribal infested State, have hardly anything to boast of in the name of modernity. India may be talking of equal rights to women and with the women’s reservation bill slated to be floored in Lok Sabha on the day celebrated world over as the 100 years of women’s day, the Jharkhand women, unfortunately remain an exploited lot.

Hapless women, mostly widows or daughters of the deceased head of the family are the main victims. They are singled out in particular to be branded as ‘witches’ and tormented by the villagers. A many number (229) according to official data from the Police have succumbed to this inhumane torture. The unofficial figure of course is nearly 700 since the inception of the new State.

An off hand survey reflects the fact that most of the affected women are victims of lust for property. The greed is so much that the human pathos is practically non-existent. The larger the value of the property the more intensified is the height of crime. Of all those killed in the name of practicing witch craft it has been revealed that the near and dear one’s involvement in branding her as a ‘witch’ comes to the fore. The connivance of the local ‘witch doctor’ (Ojhas) with these greedy kin is a sure pointer. The superstitious and ignorant villagers unwittingly abet the crime and help the motive of the greedy. 99 out of 100 times the ‘witch’ branding is done with vested interest.

Special laws have been framed by the country against such crimes but the law enforcing agencies are helpless for want of testifying witnesses. The police however claim that there have been cent percent convictions in all the ‘murder’ cases in this category.

A large number of ‘surviving’ victims have taken upon them to create awareness amongst the village folk against such baseless atrocities in form of street drama and reflective skits.

The classic example comes from Chutni of Koderma. Branded as a witch in her mid twenties in 1995, Chutni was driven out of the village after being forced to consume the ‘excreta’. She walked around in a state of imbalance and mental shock before being picked up by a representative of Free Legal Aid Committee (FLAC).

Chutni shudders when she recollects the nightmarish days of 1995. She says “ I kept on protesting that the allegations lined up against me are false, but the villagers believed only the ojha and I was continuously tormented for days together and one night I was forced to eat the excreta as it was believed that it would drive the ‘witch’ out of me. I was so shaken up by the incident that I escaped from the village in a daze with no where in particular to go, till the FLAC people picked me up”.
Chutni, now fully recovered and composed, has set out on a mission to create awareness amongst the villagers against ‘witch hunt’. She performs street shows and skits to push through the message. She is ably supported in the venture by 25 year old Sumeeta from Ranchi District. Sumeeta’s grandparents too had faced the same inhumane treatment as Chutni and she too recollects the horrifying moments when they fled the village to escape death. She was hardly 12 year old girl then.

The FLAC people are doing their best to create awareness in the villages and are always in the fore front to help the likes of Chutni & Sumeeta. The two are lead campaigners for FLAC today. Many victims are gradually joining the fold. FLAC provides them with training & assistance to make them self reliant.

The author met ADG Police G S Rath in this context to assess certain facts and was pleasantly surprised by the ADG’s response on the issue. He believed that the lust for property forced humans to act in a most inhumane manner. The innocent villagers fall easy prey to the dictates of ojhas. The need of the hour is not just punishing the guilty but to ensure that such crimes are totally erased from the minds of villagers. The government alone would not be sufficient to create the awareness part but more and more conscientious and dedicated NGOs have to volunteer. The government’s priority of course would be to provide a proper primary health centre at every village and ensure literacy amongst the villagers. Experts should be pressed into service to give proper counseling at the village level. More awareness oriented programs should be pressed into operation. Then only we can feel that a step forward has been taken in the direction.

The million dollar question is that, as to what purpose is the celebration of 100 years of Women’s Day if in our country the rural womenfolk continue to be exploited and degraded? Or is the celebration restricted to the elite only, who hog the limelight giving lectures, sermonizing and attending seminars! How is that liberating or come to that even reaching the rural woman. Some serious introspection is what is needed on this day!

- P.Vijay Raghavan

Ranchi: The State BJP today passed a resolution to fight the spiraling price and the Centre’s apathy towards it by venturing a signature campaign State wide to lodge the Party’s protest and carry it from the streets of Jharkhand to the lok sabha, where a ‘Gherao’ programme has fixed by the central leadership of the Party on the 21st instant.

It is ironical that today’s Working Committee meeting had more absentees than the presence, Yashwant Sinha was confident that they would be able to muster over one crore signatures!

Yashwant Sinha stated that the centre has taken the matter of price rise as a no issue and sent out a warning that BJP’s agitation would continue till such time the Finance Minister is compelled to seriously address the problem.

Apart from Sinha only State’s Dy.CM Raghubar Das & former State president P N Singh a handful of legislators were present.

Ranchi: Veteran BJP leader Saryu Rai released yet another Video CD. This time around the CD disclosed an alleged accomplice Saubhik Chattopadhyaya, PIL petioner’s lawyer Ritu Kumar and a Standing Council Rajendra Krishna closed door conversation. The talks were more or less related to the weakening of the on going case in the Madhu Koda related scam and conspiring to frame Saryu Rai in the case. The audio track revealed that Rs.5lakh was being paid as advance for the matter and balance Rs.15lakhs after execution.

Saryu Rai was speaking to the media persons at Hotel Green Horizon, when suddenly the alleged accused of the CD Saubhik Chattopadhyaya barged into the press conference and identified himself. The entire media and Saryu Rai were taken by surprise and it took a while for Saryu Rai to react and he shouted at Shaubhik to ‘get out’ of the PC. Shaubhik obliged and the entire media rushed out after him leaving Saryu Rai facing a near empty hall. Pandemonium prevailed as all the persons from the electronic channels pushed each other to get the version of Shaubhik. He happily obliged.

Shaubhik admitted to having conducted this sting operation as shown by Saryu Rai and openly accused Rai of diverting the investigations by his frequently convened press meets to influence the on going investigations. He alleged that Rai was presenting half truths and was afraid of the ED & Vigilance enquiry as that would ultimately expose his involvement too in the scam. He added that Saryu Rai was directly involved in money transactions in connivance with prime accused Binod Sinha in the Usha Martin matter.
He claimed that he had necessary documents and evidence to prove his allegation and he would do so at the right time.

Meanwhile, Saryu Rai repeated most of his demands of the previous press-meets and reiterated his demand for a CBI inquiry into the entire scam as it had spread to the entire nation as well as many other countries.

He added that the links of senior Congress leaders were being disclosed with the scamsters as the investigations were proceeding. He cited the case of M S Khan arrested by the Delhi police for allegedly cheating people in the garb of getting Rajya Sabha nominations. Punamia had lodged a complaint to the effect with the ITO PS in Delhi after which the police managed to nab Khan.

Saryu Rai claimed that the arrested Khan had named two senior Congress leaders’ involvement in the racket including that of Ahmed Patel during the interrogation. The police however, have not confirmed this.

In a question related to the Meinhardt investigations, the former legislator said that the investigations were complete but no action has been taken as yet, though the findings are against the accused. He reiterated that it was his personal opinion that BJP should not be part of the current coalition as it is adversely affecting the Party image.