Thursday, July 9, 1998
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N A T I O N | Thursday, July 9, 1998 |
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Noise
level affects reading skills NEW DELHI, July 8 — A child brought up in Manali, Dharamsala or Dehra Dun is likely to have better reading skills compared to one brought up in a megalopolis like Delhi, Mumbai or Calcutta... 40 Assam villages submerged GUWAHATI, July 8 — The flood situation in Assam remained grim with 40 more villages submerged by fresh floods in the worst-hit Dhemaji district today... K. L. Sharma ends fast NEW DELHI, July 8 — The BJP Vice-President and Outer Delhi MP, Mr Krishan Lal Sharma, ended his two-day fast today... |
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Prospects of good
kharif crop brighten |
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NHRC
plea on Army
rejected NEW DELHI, July 8 (PTI) — The government has rejected the National Human Rights Commission’s (NHRC) recommendation to bring the Army and paramilitary forces under its closer scrutiny for probing complaints of excesses. The government is of the view that the existing producers laid down in the Protection of Human Rights (PHR) Act which restrains the commission from directly investigating alleged Army excesses are good enough. The commission in its latest annual report recommended the same procedure set for the police to be followed by the Army and paramilitary forces in directly reporting any death and rape in their custody to the NHRC within 24 hours of such occurrence. However, in its memorandum of action taken on the NHRC’s report, the government ruled this out saying the PHR Act of 1993 has prescribed a procedure to deal with such complaints. Soon after its inception in 1993, the NHRC directed the district police chiefs and the jail authorities all over the country to report to it any instance of custodial death or rape within 24 hours of its occurrence. Similarly, it strongly recommeded that “the paramilitary forces and the Army also make it a point to report directly to the commission any instance of death or rape occuring while a person is in their custody.” The government’s action taken report said “while not condoning any violation of human rights and punishing the guilty, the procedure which have been delineated in respect of the armed forces should be followed.” It said whenever their are complaints of violation of human rights by the members of the armed forces, the matter is immediately investigated by the authorities concerned and a report is called for. It is on record that a number of Army and paramilitary personnel, including officers, have been punished by the authorities whenever such complaints are found to be having substance, it said.  The NHRC in its annual report said it cannot “countenance or condone any death, rape or torture occuring when a person is arrested by the armed forces in situations when the latter is called upon to act in aid of civil power.” Under the relevant law, it said any person so arrested must be made over to the officer in charge of the nearest police station with the least possible delay, together with a report of the circumstances occasiong the arrest. It said the courts have interpreted this to mean that the arrested person must normally be made over to the civilian authorities within 24 hours of arrest. According to the procedure laid down in the PHR Act with respect to armed forces, the NHRC may seek a report from the Central Government while dealing with complaints of violation of human rights by members of the armed forces. A high-level advisory committee headed by former Chief Justice of India A.M. Ahmadi is considering various amendments in the PHR Act, including this procedure which does not permit direct involvement of the commission in investigating complaints of human rights violation by armed forces. The commission received reports of 888 custodial deaths, including 700 in judicial custody during 1996-97, but no case of death while in the custody of the paramilitary forces or the Army was reported to it by their authorities during the year, commission sources said. The NHRC annual report noted that security forces were making a conscious and serious effort to exercise restraint and that their constant training and instruction was beginning to have a positive effect. Nevertheless, the commission has continued to receive complaints alleging violation of human rights by the armed forces, particularly from Jammu and Kashmir and the northeastern states, it said. “At the same time, the commission cannot but note that in the past year and not least because of the restraint they have been exercising the armed forces have themselves been facing a grim toll in lives lost and personnel injured,” the report said. |
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| Noise
level affects
reading skills NEW DELHI, July 8 (UNI) — A child brought up in Manali, Dharamsala or Dehra Dun is likely to have better reading skills compared to one brought up in a megalopolis like Delhi, Mumbai or Calcutta. In fact, recent studies by scientists in the USA show that children living in noisy environments, replete with the hubbub of traffic and the market place or the ear splitting noise of aeroplanes, have poorer reading skills than those living in quieter areas. Research in Cornerll University in Ithaca, New York, suggests this is because children living in noisy areas find it harder to recognise and understand human speech, says a reprot published in a recent issue of. New Scientist, a British science journal. According to the scientists carrying out the research, the studies have established, for the first time, a link between noise exposure and language development. In the first study to explain how noise and reading ability are linked, Dr Gary Evans and Dr Lorraine Maxwell compared 58 seven and eight-year-olds from a school which lies in the flight path of one of New York city airports with 50 children of the same age from a quiet neighbourhood. The researchers gave the children a variety of reading and hearing tests. For example, the children had to identify certain words in a list, read out non-sense words to show their grasp of consonant-vowel combinations and identify recorded words that were partially obscured by a static object. All tests were carried out at a quiet place. Results of the study revealed that children from noisy neighbourhoods not only have poorer reading skills compared to those from the quieter areas but they also found it harder to recognise and understand spoken words. The scientists explained the findings of the study by saying that in order to cope with the din, the brains of children residing near the airport or any other noisy area cut down the burden of noise that they were subjected to by “filtering out” certain sounds that include human speech. According to the scientists, this tendency of the brain to ignore speech hampers the development of reading skills since the reading skills of an individual are developed in part by listening to the speech of others. |
| 40
Assam villages
submerged GUWAHATI, July 8 (PTI) — The flood situation in Assam remained grim with 40 more villages submerged by fresh floods in the worst-hit Dhemaji district today. The villages were submerged in fresh floods in the Jiadhol river following incessant rains in neighbouring Arunachal Pradesh, official sources here said, adding other rivers too continued to be in spate in 17 districts of the state due to continuous rains in Assam. The flood situation was “serious” in Nalbari district following a 100-metre breach in an embankment on the Pagladiya river. The waters gushing in through the breach had submerged about 20 sq km of land and inundated the National Highway no 31 near Paikarkuchi affecting road communication, the sources said. The Army’s 21 Mountain Division assisted the district administration in rescuing 50 families marooned in Khata Katara village in the district. The breach led to flooding of six other adjacent villages. The families have been shifted to safe areas, the sources said. The situation in Nagaon district had also worsened and the Army had been asked to stand by to assist the district administration, they added. |
| Prospects
of good kharif
crop brighten NEW DELHI, July 8 (PTI) — Prospects of a good kharif crop have brightened with the monsoon in full swing across the country and a majority of meteorological subdivisions receiving normal to excess rainfall. If the rains maintain their current tempo till September, it would mean an 11th consecutive good monsoon, agronomists said adding that the rains seem to have had a sobering effect on the foodgrain prices. Reports from Indian meteorogocical departments in June showed that cumulative rainfall was normal to excess in 22 of the 35 meteorological subdivisions, though total rainfall this year has been 3 per cent lower at 117.8 mm compared to the normal precipitation of 120 mm. But, 52 per cent districts received normal to excess rainfall this year as against 48 per cent a year ago. Foodgrain prices rose by just 0.3 per cent in the all-India index of wholesale prices of foodgrains from mid-May to mid-June this year. In the same period wholesale prices of cereal shot up by only 1.1 per cent while that of pulses fell by 3.6 per cent. Giving details of the crop situation, official data said the nursery raising for kharif rice had started and transplanting of paddy had begun in Assam, Haryana, Punjab and Kerala. |
| K.
L. Sharma ends
fast Tribune News Service NEW DELHI, July 8 — The BJP Vice-President and Outer Delhi MP, Mr Krishan Lal Sharma, ended his two-day fast today. While breaking the fast, he said the purpose of sensitising the Delhi Administration to the water, power and other problems faced by the people had been served. The fast was not a protest against the Delhi Government, Mr Sharma told reporters after breaking his fast in the presence of Delhi Chief Minister Sahib Singh Verma and his Cabinet collegue S.P. Ratawal and BJP General Secretary Venkaiah Naidu and several other party leaders. Mr Sharma said top officials including the Delhi Chief Secretary, Mr Omesh Saigal, the Delhi Vidyut Board Chairman, Mr Naveen Chawla and Police Commissioner V.N. Singh had assured him full cooperation and persuaded him to give up his fast. BJP Vice-President said he would undertake a 21-day tour of his Outer Delhi constituency from July 10 to listen to the grievances of the people and try to redress these. He would cover each assembly constituency a day and the Chief Minister would accompany him in most of the constituencies. |
| Thackeray’s
retreat ends
today MUMBAI, July 8 (PTI) — Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray emerges from a self-imposed political hibernation tomorrow amidst speculation that he might undertake an organisational reshuffle following the party’s debacle in the Lok Sabha poll. The Sena mouthpiece “Saamna”, of which Mr Thackeray is the Editor, today reported that the party supremo, who had gone into temporary political retreat in March this year expressing dissatisfaction with the functioning of some state minisers, would come out of it tomorrow on the auspicious occasion of Guru Purnima. It quoted unnamed senior party leaders as stating that Mr Thackeray was likely to go in for a thorough overhauling of the organisation. He would act as a watchdog of the public interest and take steps for the welfare of the people in the state, the report said. |
| In brief Traffic banned near garden BARODA: The Vadodara Municipal Corporation has issued a notification banning the movement of traffic near the 118 year-old Sayaji Garden to protect the rare species of birds and animals in a zoo at the garden. Deputy Municipal Commissioner H.S. Patel said here on Wednesday that the air and noise pollution created by vehicles passing near the garden had been affecting over 1000 birds and animals in the garden. — PTI Smallest fossil eggs found NEW DELHI: Geologists have discovered for the first time the smallest fossil eggs, resembling those of fish, that date back to a much earlier period. What makes the finding unique is that the eggs are microscopic, soft-shelled (devoid of hard calcium layer) and belong to the late Gondwana age around 225 million years ago, reports Mr D.P. Das and Mr P.M. Datta from the Geological Survey of India (GSI) in Calcutta. — PTI WHO plan to counter polio NEW DELHI: The World Health Organisation (WHO) has urged its member states to draw up a list of all wild polio virus kept in research laboratories as they might pose a threat to the population, once polio is eradicated. The virus is retreating at a fast rate after the initiation of the who’s global programme to eradicate polio which started 10 years ago. It is now endemic in only 52 countries of the world’s 215 countries that report to WHO — PTIMother seeks compensation CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has admitted a petition of a woman for a direction to the authorities to pay her Rs 5 lakh as compensation for the death of her son in the central prison, Coimbatore. Admitting the petition, Mr Justice V S sirpurkar directed the issuance of notice to the Tamil Nadu Home Secretary and the prison’s superintendent. According to the petitioner, Mumtaz, here 24-year-old son, MD Ibrahim was lodged in the prison on a charge of theft. Subsequently, she said he was granted bail, but remained in prison as the security amount could not be mobilised. He was in the prison for eight months. — PTI Coimbatore blasts: 3 detained COIMBATORE: Abdul Nasser Mahdhani, chairman of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has been detained along with two others under the National Security Act (NSA), the police said. Mahdhani, along with Kerala residents Mohammed Ashraf and Zubair, was arrested three months ago for harbouring some accused in the February 14 serial blasts. They were lodged in the Coimbatore Central Prison. Eight more accused have also been detained under the NSA since Friday. — PTI High rate of coronary disease NEW DELHI: Coronary artery disease that reduced blood supply to heart muscles and can lead to heart attacks is more widespread in the Indian subcontinent than other regions, says a report. South Asians in general are more prone to the disease than other ethnic groups. They tend to develop the disease’s manifestations at an earlier age and respond less to the treatment, the report in the research journal Current Science says. Studies suggest that the prevalence of coronary artery disease is four times higher than that in the USA. — PTI AMSU ‘jeopardising’ students’ career IMPHAL: The Thoubal District Students Union (TDSU) has blamed the All Manipur Students Union (AMSU) for the closure of all educational institutions in the state. The TDSU in a statement here on Tuesday charged AMSU of jeopardising the career of lakhs of students by launching an agitation following the disappearance of a class X student, Y. Sanamacha Singh. The AMSU had forced the closure of the educational institutions in the state from June 12 to press for its demand of handing over of Sanamacha Singh, who was arrested by the Army in February. — PTI |
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