by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
By Nivedita Singh,
New Delhi : Nearly 600 of Delhi’s government schools are running headless — some of them for the past six years — according to an RTI reply, and the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) blames the central governments neglectful attitude for this “serious issue”.
According to the information sought under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, there are 918 posts of principals in 1,024 Delhi government schools. Some 106 schools don’t have such posts. Out of 918 posts of principals, 595 are lying vacant, the reply revealed.
It said 768 vice principals are holding the charge of the head of the school “due to principals not physically working or some schools have(ing) no post of principal”.
“As on July 12, 595 posts of principals are vacant out of 918,” it said. And of 323 principals, 71 have been re-employed after their superannuation.
In most of the schools, the post is vacant for more than a year and some have not had principals for the past several years.
For example, in the Sarvodaya Kanya Vidyalaya No. 2, in Madipur, the vice principal has been holding charge since December 2012.
Sarvodaya Co-ed Senior Secondary School in Jaidev Park and Government Girls Senior Secondary School in Samaipur have had no principals in the last four years.
Similarly, it has been more than three years since Government Sarvodaya Bal Vidyalaya in Subhash Nagar had a principal.
In Government Girls Senior Secondary School No 1, Tilak Nagar, the post has been vacant since June 2015.
The post of the principal has been vacant at Government Boys Senior Secondary School No. 1 in J.J. Colony Khyala and Government Co-ed Senior Secondary School at Ghogha since 2016.
Sarvodaya Kanya Vidyalaya No.3 in Tilak Nagar, Sarvodaya Kanya Vidyalaya in Shalimar Bagh and Government Sarvodaya Bal Vidyalaya (Ved Pandit Khushi Ram) in Nangal Thakran have not had principals for the last two years.
In some zones, the posts have been lying vacant in almost all the schools there for more than a year now. For example, of the 14 schools in Zone 28 (central Delhi), 13 are without principals. In Zone 3 (east Delhi), of the total 27 schools, 19 are without principals.
Similar is the situation in Zone 19 (southwest Delhi) where out of 17 schools, 12 are running without principals. In Zone 20 (southwest Delhi), out of 24 schools, 13 have no principals and in Zone 27 (central Delhi), of the total 25 schools, 12 are without principals.
This, despite the fact that education has been one of the priorities of the AAP government which allocated 26 per cent of its budgetary expenses for education in Delhi. But the recruitment of principals in Delhi government schools is done by the Union Public Service Commission.
The reforms undertaken by the Arvind Kejriwal government in the city have won non-partisan global praise.
Asked about the huge number of vacant principal posts, AAP leader Atishi Marlena said the recruitment is a matter of Services that is being currently looked after by the Lieutenant Governor — the central government’s representative on administrative affairs of the national capital.
“Lack of principals is a serious issue. The matter is out of our hands. We, in the past two-three years, have raised this point before the LG, who holds the charge of Services,” Marlena, former advisor on education to the Delhi government, told IANS.
(Nivedita Singh can be contacted at nivedita.singh@ians.in)
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
By Nivedita Singh,
New Delhi : The ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has decided to give another push to its demand for full statehood to Delhi with a public campaign, but experts said it was not a burning issue among residents and a way should be found to give more powers to the elected government to make its work easier.
The issue of statehood for Delhi has been raised for the decades but no party has given it so much thrust as the AAP. It was a key part of its manifesto, the party had released a draft bill in 2016 and passed a resolution in June this year.
Its leaders — Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia — have consistently said that statehood will usher in speedier development of Delhi besides making the entire administration responsible to the elected representatives in the way it is in other states.
Delhi, at present, is a Union Territory with special status. Unlike other states, matters concerning law and order and land fall in the purview of the central government. And with the Centre controlled by a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government, AAP has been having a running battle for greater control and freedom to act.
Former Lok Sabha and Delhi Assembly Secretary Sudarshan Kumar Sharma said that Delhi can become a full-fledged state only if the constitution is amended. He said capital of a country has its own administrative requirements.
“Nowhere in the world is the capital of a nation is under the rule of a state government. The capital belongs to all,” Sharma told IANS.
Delhi got a full-fledged assembly in 1991 after the passage of the Constitution (69th Amendment) Act. The Act also provides that the Lieutenant Governor, appointed by the President, will be the administrator of the National Capital Territory of Delhi.
Sharma, who has written several books on issues related to Delhi, said the common man “was never and will never be interested in full statehood issues”.
“There have been movements for so many things in the country but people in Delhi never demanded such a thing (statehood),” Sharma said.
He said the issue had been raked up in the past and “there must be a reason all the previous government could not succeed in making Delhi a state”.
Former Lok Sabha Secretary General, P.D.T. Achary, said that the statehood demand is genuine and legitimate, especially when “the rift between the Centre and state government is so high”.
“The present situation is unacceptable. The major question is what sort of administration Delhi wants. There should be special arrangements. Some thought has to go into this,” he said, adding that the interest of the central government should also be taken into consideration.
Subrata Mukherjee, a political analyst who taught at Delhi University, said that the statehood issue has been articulated by many parties but has not been fulfilled — and there is no apparent demand for it among the people.
He said there was confusion due to multiplicity of authorities in Delhi and statehood can further complicate the issue.
“I feel it is not required. Delhi enjoys special powers. People don’t really want Delhi to be a full state. They want services and till the time they are being served, they are happy,” he said.
He said AAP had done well in health, education and they should keep doing good work with the powers they have. “Statehood is not desirable.”
Narender Kumar, Professor, Centre for Political Studies at Jawahar Lal Nehru University, said most capital cities in the world have structures similar to that of Delhi’s.
“I feel statehood is not required and would not be appropriate but there should be more powers with the Delhi government,” he said.
He noted that the demand for statehood had not been met when the same party was in power in Delhi and at the Centre and “now it is all the more difficult”.
Former Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit said her 15-year-tenure saw governments led by the BJP and Congress at the Centre.
“Things were not always as I wished them to be. I too faced issues, but instead of running to the public with all that (complaints), I tried to find solutions. We cannot stop all other work and sit with an issue. We worked and had a rapport with both the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government and with the Manmohan Singh government,” Dikshit told IANS.
“The only way to make Delhi a full state is to change the constitution. If they are able to do that, then it is fine; otherwise, Delhi is and will remain a Union Territory, partly governed by the Centre,” she said.
Dikshit said Congress had also demanded statehood but was not successful.
“We tried our best but we all have to respect the constitution,” she added.
BJP leader Vijender Gupta, who is the Leader of Opposition in Delhi assembly, contended that the AAP does not have any concrete plans about statehood and there should be a proper discussion on the issue.
“Just saying things will make no difference. Any new model that is proposed should not have flaws,” he said.
(Nivedita Singh can be contacted at nivedita.singh@ians.in )
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Corporate, Corporate Governance, News, Politics
By Nikhil M. Babu,
New Delhi : Ninety-two per cent of the total number of RTI requests filed with different departments of the Delhi government were filed online after the system was introduced 10 months ago, according to government data.
Of the total 20,276 Right to Information (RTI) requests received by different departments since the launch of the online option, 18,582 were filed online while only 1,688 were filed by post and other means, according to the data accessed by IANS.
The data is from July 10, 2017, the day when the system was launched by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, to May 4, 2018.
Under the online system, an RTI can be filed with around 190 departments and autonomous bodies under the Delhi government, by paying a fee of Rs 10 and it can be done round the clock, making the process simpler.
The government received Rs 118,520 as RTI fee in the same period, according to the data.
One of the officials responsible for the implementation of the online RTI system said the government had saved money on postal charges as most RTI replies were now sent online.
“We are working on an option for users to create accounts like in central government RTI system and are also planning to put up online questions asked under RTI,” the officer said.
Mohit Goel, an RTI activist for the past 12 years, said after the introduction of the online system, the entire process had become convenient and faster.
“Earlier, we used to send the RTI request by post and it took four-five days to reach the office. And many times, the RTI was transferred to another department and it also took time. But now everything has become online,” Goel said.
A senior government officer said the monitoring and management of RTI requests had become easier online.
“We did not have a centralized figure of the pendency of RTIs. But now we know the total number of pending RTIs and also the first and second appeals,” he said.
The officer said earlier the RTI fee paid went to different departments. But now it goes to one account of the Delhi government and can be used for something useful as the amount gets consolidated.
The Delhi government launched the online system with 173 public authorities and now public can file RTI requests with around 190 departments online.
(Nikhil M. Babu can be reached at nikhil.b@ians.in)
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
New Delhi : Officers of the Delhi government will on Tuesday afternoon attend a cabinet meeting related to the budget, a week after they decided to boycott all meetings with Ministers in protest against an alleged attack on Chief Secretary Anshu Prakash by two AAP MLAs.
Last week, the Chief Secretary alleged that on February 19 night he was beaten up by AAP MLA Amanatullah Khan and another AAP MLA in the presence of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal at the CM’s residence where he had been called for a meeting.
Addressing media after a meeting of the Delhi Government Employees Joint Forum here on Tuesday, Pankaj Kumar, a member of the association, said they would continue to not attend meetings or talk to Ministers over phone and the exemption is only for the cabinet meeting at 3 p.m. on Tuesday.
The cabinet meeting is scheduled to be attended by the Chief Secretary also.
The association said they would continue to contact Ministers and MLAs only through written channel till Kejriwal tenders a “written public apology” for the alleged attack.
Meanwhile, Prakash wrote a letter to the Chief Minister that the meeting is being held on the “assumption that the CM will ensure that there is no physical attack and verbal assault on the officers”.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Business Ideas, Entrepreneurship, News, Politics, Startup Basics, Your Business Plan
New Delhi : An innovation centre will be set up in the city soon order to promote entrepreneurial potential in the youth, the Delhi government said on Wednesday.
An official statement said Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia had approved the setting up of the centre at the Delhi Emporium on Baba Kharag Singh Marg in central Delhi.
Sisodia said the emporium has sufficient space to accommodate the proposed centre and is ideally located to attract young entrepreneurs easily.
The emporium has a total carpet area of 7,476 square feet.
The idea of setting up an incubation centre was developed during the Innovation Summit at Hyderabad in November last year.
“Delhi being the national capital and centre of economic, social, educational, and technological activities is ideally placed for developing itself as a major centre of innovation and start-up culture,” said Sisodia.
The innovation incubator will work with entrepreneurs and raise the profile of its community of innovators and start-ups, thus creating jobs and help Delhi economy.
It will house at least 50 innovators and start-ups at any point of time.
It would be an independent registered non-profit organisation and become an intersection for the start-up community, government, corporate, academic and research sector.
It will have a hostel-cum-residency facility for the entrepreneurs and researchers.
—IANS
