Tribal girls till the land in Bt cotton fields

SALEM: Agrarian crisis may have forced farmers to switch over to Bt cotton much against the warnings of environmentalists but not without unacceptable fallouts. For 10 months after UNICEF brought out the prevalence of migrant child labour in Bt cotton fields with Attur taluk in Salem getting notorious along with Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and Karnataka, a current survey indicates that at least 13 per cent of the total labour in the cotton fields are children, particularly tribal girl children, with serious compromises being made on their right to education and health.Assertions and denials flew between UNICEF officials and the district administration at the one-day consultation on ‘Child Protection Issues in Salem district’, organised by the National Child Labour Project (NCLP) and the UNICEF here on Tuesday.Dr Davuluri Venteswarlu, a UNICEF consultant, put the total figure of migrant child labour in Attur Bt cotton fields at 38,000, while all over the state 65, 000 have been identified according to a survey conducted in 2006-2007. Tribal girls below 14 years and up to 24 in Kalrayan Hills (part of the hills between Villupuram and Salem) and from Sitheri hills in Dharmapuri continue to be the main source of migrant child labour.According to Vidyasagar, another UNICEF consultant, Salem accounts for 9,000 acres of Bt cotton seed, the highest in the state. That is also largely the reason for increased cotton production in the state. Being labour-intensive, cotton seed farming requires at least 1,00,000 labourers at a time. With labour cost rising two times, farmers demand cheap labour. Moreover, cross pollination process which spans 90 days between October and December is done manually in the case of hybrid varieties (including Bt). Girls are automatic choice, much sought for their nimble hand in plucking and transferring pollen.However, the activity is highly hazardous as children come into close contact with toxic pesticides. A girl reportedly died in the field at Attur after being overexposed. Children are forcibly pulled out from schools during the pollination season, never to return to education.Livelihood resources on a sustained basis continue to elude the tribals in Salem district despite an encouraging demographic shift favouring child development. Land alienation and dismal social infrastructure like health and education were said to be driving forces that send children to work. Farmers on the other hand expressed reservations and said as long as their incomes dip, the other steps would be piecemeal.Salem Collector, N Madhivanan, denied that the situation was all that alarming and referred to the steps initiated through a comprehensive child labour eradication drive under the NCLP. According Attur RDO, only 35 child labourers were identified between October and December 2007. NCLP Project Director, Viswanathan, said the children were malnourished, looked younger and small.Officials also take cover under the Child Labour Act excluding agriculture from its purview. Serious violations under the Act's regulations such as working hours (11 hours a day in Bt cotton fields) are not taken into account. However, there is a move to bring agriculture under hazardous category with respect to child labour employment.UNICEF plans to make social investments in solving the crisis through funding, capacity building, supporting education and health development in an overall child protection framework, said Vidyasagar.Supply side and demand side factors continue to challenge official and non-official interventions to arrest the pernicious trend. Some broad approaches to bring about the needed changes were discussed at Tuesday’s workshop.

Ponmudy receives over 1,000 grievance petitions

Special Correspondent
VILLUPURAM: Higher Education Minister K. Ponmudy received as many as 1,005 grievance petitions from people at the municipal office here on Sunday.
The petitions were related mostly to house site pattas, ration cards, old age pension, aid for the differently-abled and lack of civic needs.
Local Administration Minister M.K. Stalin would visit Villupuram on August 22 and all eligible petitioners would be given benefits then, Mr. Ponmudy said.
Some traders’ associations told the Minister that their turnover had come down drastically after the shifting of the bus stand to a new premises. Mr. Ponmudy said the residents were happy because the move had greatly reduced traffic congestion.
The starting of a new government engineering college on the old taluk office premises would give a thrust to business in the old bus stand area. The vicinity of the new bus stand to the integrated Collectorate complex had greatly brought down the difficulty of the people in reaching the district headquarters.
When a taxi stand was sought near the old bus stand, Mr. Ponmudy said a site had already been assigned for the purpose near the new bus stand. The government had allocated funds for the underground drainage project for Villupuram and works would begin soon. The roads that were in bad condition would be repaired after the completion of the project.
Though the town did not face water shortage, Rs. 10 crore had been allocated for the construction of overhead tanks to meet the demand two decades from now, Mr. Ponmudy said.
Collector R. Palanisamy, District Revenue Officer C. Kadhiravan, MLA S. Pushparaj and municipal chairman R. Janagaraj were present at the meeting.
Mr. Ponmudy has so far visited taluks such as Kallakurichi, Sanakarapuram, Ginjee, Tindivanam and Villupuram to hear the grievances of the people.

MDMK submits petitions to Speaker

New Delhi: The Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam on Friday submitted petitions to Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee seeking disqualification of Gingee Ramachandran and L. Ganesan for defying the party whip and voting in favour of the confidence motion on July 22.
In identical petitions submitted at the Speaker’s office, Dr. Krishnan said: “Gingee Ramachandran, MP, raised a dispute before the Election Commission, claiming him as the general secretary of the party.”
He said the Commission, in its order dated May 30, had held that the group led by general secretary Vaiko was the real MDMK and empowered to take decisions in all matters and functioning of the party.
Dr. Krishnan said both of them did not obtain prior permission from the party to vote contrary to the directions.

No more truck with DMK, AIADMK, says Ramadoss

TINDIVANAM: Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) founder-leader Dr S Ramadoss on Thursday said his party would not join hands with DMK and AIADMK in the future.Speaking to reporters at Thailapuram near here, he said the parties which ruled Tamil Nadu for four decades had ruined the State. The party would remain in an alliance headed by the Congress, he added.The PMK would stage a three-day statewide demonstration in Tamil Nadu protesting against power cut, which came into force on Monday, from July 28, he said, and added that the people were facing serious hardship in the wake of frequent power shutdown. Industries, including small and medium, were facing the heat and several lakh workers were deprived of the employment opportunities, the PMK leader said. School and college students were unable to concentrate on their studies and normal work in laboratories in schools also came to a standstill, he said. Though Chief Minister M Karunanidhi had signed a number of agreements for launching industries with entrepreneurs and corporate giants, the Government had not made any effort to improve power generation, he said. On the CM’s remark over previous AIADMK Government’s failure to improve power production, Ramadoss said the total power production in the State stood at 8,690 MW in 2004. Of this, 5,909 MW was consumed.While power generation had remained same up to 2008, the consumption increased manifold. As many as 6,500 MW of power was utilised in 2005, 7,124 MW in 2006, 8600 MW in 2007 and 9121 MW of power was consumed in 2008. This was a clear proof of the government’s failure in enhancing power production.

Ponmudy to receive petitions

VILLUPURAM: Higher Education Minister K. Ponmudy will receive petitions from people during a special session to be held at Villupuram Municipal office on July 27.
Collector R. Palanisamy and other officials will also be present.
The session would begin at 9 a.m., according to a statement from the Collectorate.

Departmental inquiry against DSP

VILLUPURAM: Departmental action would be initiated against Chengam DSP Murugan for allegedly driving a police jeep that met with a mishap killing a newly married couple in Nattarmangamal on Sunday, said Villupuram DIG Masanamuthu.Masanamuthu said Murugan had not consumed alcohol on Sunday and the blood sample collected from Murugan soon after the mishap, had no traces of alcohol. The study was conducted based on the direction of a court.However, local residents had alleged that Murugan was driving the vehicle after consuming alcohol. Besides, an empty distilled water bottle, lying in the jeep had been mistaken as an IMFL bottle, locals said.A newly married couple, A Devanathan (28) and Jaya (23) of Gengarampattu village, were going to conduct prayer at Sri Angala Amman temple in Mel Malayanur village on a two-wheeler on Sunday.A police jeep, proceeding to Tindivanam from Thiruvan namalai, dashed against the two-wheeler. Murugan, who was going to his native village, was driving the vehicle. Murugan had obtained necessary prior permission from SP, Thiruvanamalai.Devanathan and Jaya were thrown out of the vehicle and died on the spot. An eyewitness S Ravi had lodged a complaint in Gingee police station. Based on the direction of the Superintendent of Police Amalraj, ADSP George Isack Newton is investigating.The DIG said Murugan had violated the government rules with driving the police vehicle despite the presence of the police driver Yosuf Khan. Newton will conduct a detailed investigation and submit a report to the court.

‘Drunk’ DSP mows down newly-weds

VILLUPURAM: Devanathan (25) and Jaya (21) were looking forward to life together after their marriage a fortnight ago. On Sunday, they got death.The couple died by the roadside at Nattarmangalam village near Gingee after an allegedly drunk police officer — and also a novice at driving — rammed a jeep into them.Sources said the Chengam DSP was driving the jeep when the incident occurred. The DSP, Murugan, was going to Chennai into a police jeep. He was allegedly inebriated but at the wheels, learning to drive. Police jeep driver Yousuf Khan was seated behind him, the sources said.Around 6 am, Devanathan of Gengarampattu and Jaya were going to his village on a motorcycle. They reportedly saw the swaying police jeep and halted their bike on the side of the road, waiting for the jeep to pass. However, the jeep hurtled their way and hit them. The couple died on the spot.The DSP and the driver were admitted to Government General Hospital in Gingee. Demanding immediate arrest of the policemen, locals blocked traffic on the Thiruvannamalai-Tindivanam road for nearly three hours. Over 500 people assembled at Kalaiyur village and disrupted traffic in protest.Superintendents of Police Amalraj (Villupuram) and Balakrishnan (Thiruvannamalai), DSPs Rajendran (Gingee), Kumar (Tindivanam) and Jayabalan (Prohibition and Enforcement Wing) rushed to the spot and pacified the locals.

Driver averts train accident

VILLUPURAM: An alert engine driver averted a major train accident on the Chennai-Tiruchy section here on Wednesday, when a high tension electric wire hanging from a post got trapped in the wheels of a goods train near Janakipuram railway level crossing. The coal laden goods train was proceeding to Tiruchy from Villupuram. Electrification work on Villupuram-Tiruchy section was taken up a few months ago. The work on laying hefty copper wire was progressing on the section. Thieves had stolen a portion of the copper wire from the place late last night. The remaining part of the wire was hanging from the post near Janakipuram level crossing. The wire got trapped in the goods train wheels.Driver Thirumurugan heard a loud noise emanating from the engine. Immediately, he halted the train and jumped out. On information, railway officials from Villupuram station carried out the restoration works. Meanwhile, Ananthapuri Express and Rameswaram Express, going to Chennai, were detained for three hours. While Ananthapuri Express was halted at Kandampakkam the Rameswaram Express was halted at Ullundurpet. The trains left after a delay of three hours. Janakipuram railway level crossing remained closed for more than three hours.

Shopkeepers down shutters in Mayiladuturai

NAGAPATTINAM: Shopkeepers downed their shutters in Mayiladuturai, Sirkazhi, Kuttalam, Parasalur, Sembanarkovil and other places in Mayiladuturai revenue division in Nagapattinam district on Tuesday protesting the inordinate delay in broad gauge conversion work in Mayiladuturai-Villupuram section.
They urged the Railways to immediately run trains from Mayiladuturai to Chennai via Tiruchi on the chord line until the works were completed.
The hartal was called by the Varthagar Sangam, Mayiladuturai, as the work that was taken up by the Rail Vikas Nigam Limitedin December 2006 was not completed as scheduled by December 2007.
This has caused much hardship to all sections of the society including tourists, traders and others travelling on the main line from Thanjavur to Chennai via Kumbakonam, Mayiladuturai, Sirkazhi, Chidambaram, Cuddalore and Villupuram, they said.
A large number of traders and local people staged a demonstration near the Mayiladuturai railway station to draw the attention of the Railways.
Residents’ associations of Nagapattinam, chambers of commerce, traders, consumer council and service organisations said that the Railways should operate trains on the chord line at the earliest as the broad gauge conversion on the Nagore-Tiruvarur section had been completed.
Railway sources said that the project was expected to be completed by December 2008.

Villagers caned, 20 injured

VILLUPURAM: As many as 20 persons, including policewomen suffered injuries, when police resorted to lathicharge on local residents on Tuesday, who were protesting agai nst the frequent power failure in villages near Puducherry. More than 500 residents of Poothurai, Vaanur, Thiruchitrambalam, Kottakuppam and Auroville had blocked the traffic on the busy East Coast Road at Kottakuppam on Tuesday morning. Residents had been facing serious hardship in the wake of the frequent power cuts for the past few days, affecting agricultural activities in the region. The local residents had lodged complaints with TNEB officials, but the power supply was paralysed in many parts of Cuddalore and Villupuram districts. Dejected over this, the residents assembled in front of the TNEB office in Kottakuppam. The agitators, led by councillors, Velmurugan, Karthik and Saravanan raised slogans against the government. They demanded uninterrupted power supply to the villages. They then squatted on the ECR, blocking vehicular traffic during the rush hours. A large number of women, carrying empty pots also participated in the agitation. Though the police and revenue officials tried to pacify the angry residents, they remained adamant and refused to move from the spot. The agitation created heavy traffic snarl and vehicles were stranded on the road for more than 30 minutes. Police then resorted to a lathicharge to clear the area, but the agitators hurled stones at them and damaged the windscreens of six buses, which were stranded on the highway.Villupuram district SP Amalraj rushed to the spot and brought the situation under control. Nearly 20 persons, including SI Amal arasi, were injured. Police detained 10 persons in connection with the incident.

Government has designs for women self help groups

VILLUPURAM: In an effort to enhance the quality of products manufactured by women self-help groups, the State Government has roped in the National Institute of Fashion Technology, said Commissioner, Town Panchayats, Municipal Administration and Water Supply Department, Dr K Gopal.Speaking to this website's newspaper in Marakkanam, near Puducherry, on Wednesday he said the Government has decided to improve the articles and goods produced by women self-help groups and for the same the assistance of experts from NIFT was sought. Efforts will be made to improve the products quality. Nearly 3,000 women self help groups were formed in the town panchayats having a membership of 75,000 women. The Government has decided to form clusters amongst the groups and the products will be marketed through the network.He said the tsunami relief and rehabilitation activities undertaken in the tsunami affected town panchayats in five districts in the state will be completed before December 2008. The Government had sanctioned Rs 65 crore for livelihood enhancement programmes in 22 town panchayats in tsunami-affected Kancheepuram, Cuddalore, Nagapattinam, Kanyakumari and Villupuram districts. Similarly, the Government has allotted Rs 20 crore for providing basic infrastructure in habitations, occupied by tsunami rehabilitated persons.Gopal inspected the livelihood project works carried out by women self help groups in various places in the district on Wednesday.

PMK men caned in Ariyalur; 15 injured

ARIYALUR: A group of PMK cadre intercepted the police van taking Vanniar Sangam leader Kaduvetti Guru while the vehicle was coming out of the Ariyalur court complex here on Monday.A clash erupted between the police and the cadre, followed by a lathicharge by the police that resulted in injury to 15 persons, including four women.The cadre had reportedly sought to know where Guru was being taken and when the police gave evasive replies, the PMK men squatted before the police van and resorted to an agitation.Among the persons who sustained injuries in the lathicharge were PMK functionaries Raja Kannan (28) and PMK women's district secretary Kamala (35).Kamala, who sustained severe head injury, was sent to Thanjavur Medical College Hospital for treatment. Fearing further outbursts, all shops in the town downed their shutters.Earlier, Ariyalur judicial magistrate Vijayarani granted police custody of Guru for two days in connection with the investigation of a case relating to the hurling of bomb at the house of PMK State Magalirani’s former secretary Selvi.Guru was taken to Karur late in the night. Tight security was imposed in select areas of the town following the entry of Guru into the town. Besides officials of Perambalur and Ariyalur police, central zone top officials are also expected to conduct investigations.Guru's advocates have been permitted by the court to stay with him for a couple of hours daily during the investigations.In Chennai, PMK founder Dr Ramadoss, reacting to the lathicharge on PMK cadre said: “The minority DMK government will fall soon. No government committing such atrocities would last for long. The days of the DMK government are numbered.”In Vellore, PMK party men observed hunger protest at Nemili and Walajapet against the arrest of Guru. Condemning the State Government for his arrest, the protesters demanded the government to release him without any pre-condition.While town secretary of PMK Rajendran led the protest at Walajapet, district secretary of the party, N Krishnan led the protest in Nemili block. Arcot MLA K L Elavazhagan, who inaugurated the protests at Walajapet also took part in the protest.In Cuddalore, Vanniar Sangam activists observed a day's fast in front of the Collectorate demanding Guru’s release. Meanwhile, all night bus services of the Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation (Villupuram division) have been suspended from Monday.Official sources said a transport corporation bus proceeding from Chennai to Kumbakonam was stopped by a gang at Konjikuppam village near Neyveli here on Sunday night. The gang tried to set the bus on fire but was dissuaded by passengers, the sources said. They then damaged the windscreen and deflated the tyres.All night bus services in Cuddalore district have also been suspended.

Blueprint for E Coast rail link to Cuddalore ready

CHENNAI/villupuram/cuddalore: Gazing at the shimmering waters of the Bay of Bengal while traveling down the east coast on a train to Puducherry — the possibility is not so distant as Southern Railway is all set to lay a new line from Chennai to Cuddalore via Mamallapuram and Puducherry.

The project is part of an ambitious plan chalked out by the railways to connect Chennai to towns along the East Coast all the way up to Kanyakumari. Though the entire line will be executed later on, the railway board has given the go ahead to build the line from Chennai to Cuddalore at a cost of Rs 523 crore.

According to the approved alignment, the 179-km line will take off from Perungudi station on the Mass Rapid Transit System (MRTS) and traverse between Old Mahabalipuram Road (OMR) and East Coast Road (ECR) before reaching Jipmer at Puducherry and Cuddalore. No timeframe has been fixed for completion of the line.

After Perungudi, the line will pass through Sholinganallur, Kovalam, Tiruporur, Mamallapuram, Kalpakkam, Kuvathur, Cheyyur, Marakanam, Kunimedu, Kuiyilappalayam, Jipmer in Puducherry, Bahour, Varakalpattu, Tirupadipuliyur and Cuddalore Fort. The line will run close to the sea at Mamallapuram.

The railway line will run on an embankment, and as most of the ECR does not have buildings on either side, travellers will be able to have a view of the sea.

Surveys to identify passenger feasibility on the route have revealed that the line will be viable as more people are travelling from Chennai to Puducherry and Cuddalore because of the recent developments along the OMR and ECR.

A Perungudi-Cuddalore line will enable passengers to board an Electric Multiple Unit (EMU) to Mamallapuram and then switch to conventional trains to Puducherry or Cuddalore. Travellers will be able to reach Puducherry in two hours, as against the five hours via the current line through Chennai Egmore-Villupuram-Puducherry.

A senior official of Southern Railway said, “A final survey is being done by the engineering division to update the cost before starting work. But, there will not be any change in the alignment.”

Though Perungudi has been fixed as a take off point, railways is also considering other options “because they want to link the line to the main network. We are considering whether the new line can be connected to some point on the Beach-Tambaram line. This will enable it to handle long distance and freight trains,” said Southern Railway Chief Public Relations Officer Neenu Ittyerah.

If the line starts from Perungudi, the operations wing has decided to operate EMUs from Chennai Beach via MRTS to Mamallapuram and conventional trains between Cuddalore and Mamallapuram via Puducherry. The board has approved the new line by including it in the supplementary budget of September 2007.

Police sleep on Irula student’s complaint

villupuram/TIRUVANNAMALAI: A law student, allegedly attacked by some influential people around two weeks ago, is struggling to get his case filed. Harikrishnan, a student of Ambedkar Law College, Chennai, belongs to Irula tribe and is a resident of Irular hutments on Vettavalam Road here.

On June 25, Harikrishnan petitioned Tiruvannamalai East police station accusing his namesake B Harikrishnan, relative of an influential DMK man, of assaulting him, when he tried to stop the man and two of his associates from removing survey stones laid at Irular hutments.

But police refused to take his word and the case was not registered, following which Harikrishnan sent a registered post to SP V Balakrishnan. As per the advice from a well-known human rights activist Prof P Kalyani, he personally met the SP the next day and explained the situation.

On getting instructions from the SP, police went to the spot where the incident occurred and received a complaint from Harikrishnan. But, they refused to file an FIR and the case came to a standstill.

Prof Kalyani told Express that compared to the neighbouring districts of Cuddalore and Villupuram, police in Tiruvannamalai district were highly apathetic to the atrocities meted out to marginalised sections of people, particularly Irulars.

The activist quoted another case, where a member of Irular tribe was tied to a post and severely thrashed by some people of Villivanam village near Chethpet a few months ago.

In this case, police registered an FIR only after Tribal Irular Protection Sangam staged a demonstration and helped the accused to come clean of charges.

Pondy Minister hurt as bus rams into his car

A Minister of the Puducherry Cabinet had a miraculous escape when a bus rammed into his car near Tindivanam on Tuesday. Social Welfare Minister M Kandasamy was returning to Puducherry from Chennai last night when the incident occurred. According to police, a bus proceeding to Puducherry rammed into his car in the rear at a checkpost in Kaveripakkam. In the impact, the car dashed against a government bus, proceeding to Puducherry, and was trapped between the buses. Kandasamy suffered injuries and swooned in the vehicle. Meanwhile, police took the Minister out of the damaged car. He was admitted to the Indira Gandhi Government General Hospital and Post Graduate Institute (IGGGHPGI). X-ray, CT scan and ultrasound tests have ruled out any internal injuries. According to senior doctors attending on him, Kandasamy did not suffer any major injury or fracture, except for some minor injuries and inflammatory swellings on the right side of his chest, upper abdomen and leg.