NEW DELHI: An Army marches on its stomach, said Napolean Bonaparte. But the 1.13-million strong Indian Army, the third largest in the world, marches largely on sub-standard food and rations, well past their consume-by date.
The Army is already reeling under a series of meat, egg, atta, dal and other ration scams in recent years, with even Lt-General rank officers being indicted in the scandals. Now, the CAG has punched several holes in the Army’s entire "supply chain management of rations", hinting at widespread corruption and existence of cartels.
Tabled in Parliament on Tuesday, the latest CAG report paints a dismal picture of the Army’s procurement and supply of dry rations (rice, wheat, dal, sugar, tea, oil, tinned items) and fresh rations (vegetables, fruit, meat, milk), undertaken at an annual cost of Rs 1,440 crore.
Noting that the satisfaction levels of troops about quantity, quality and taste of rations was "very low", CAG has called for a complete overhaul of the existing system, ranging from computerization and better procurement procedures to expansion in the vendor base and blacklisting of defaulting parties.
As per CAG, the main villains of the piece are Army Service Corps (ASC) and Army Purchase Organization, all under the benign gaze of Army HQ and the defence ministry.
Around three lakh soldiers under the Northern Command in J&K, for instance, were issued rations by Army supply depots even after the expiry of their original estimated storage life (ESL), based on "repeated extensions" given by Central Food Laboratory at Jammu.
"While instructions prohibit any extensions beyond three months of the ESL, atta, sugar, rice, tea, dal, edible oil etc were consumed (by soldiers) even six months to 28 months after the expiry of the original ESL," said CAG, adding that MoD and Army HQ needed to get their act together "to ensure supply of good quality rations to troops".
The existence of cartels, a "risk too serious to be ignored", is also affecting the quantity and quality of rations. "Serious absence of competition was noticed in procurement of fresh rations…82% of procurement was based on less than three quotations, 36% based on single quotations," it said.
For instance, from 2005 to 2008, only one vendor purchased the tender documents for supply of meat and chicken in Delhi and the Rs 5 crore annual contract was awarded to him.
Take another example. In blatant violation of norms, several transport and tour companies were registered as vendors to supply meat, eggs, vegetables and milk, in addition to transportation. Conversely, a poultry firm was found registered for the supply of transport and vegetables.
"Abnormal variations in rates of vegetables, fruits and meat must be investigated. MoD may provide an assurance these variations do not arise from any fraud or corrupt practices in procurements of fresh rations," said CAG.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/6251327.cms?prtpage=1
2. Court rejects CBI plea seeking remand of Shah
In a setback to the CBI, a special court in Ahmedabad on Wednesday rejected its plea seeking remand of former Gujarat minister Amit Shah, arrested in connection with the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case.
Special CBI Judge A Y Dave rejected the CBI application, saying the agency was earlier given time to question Shah inside the jail for three days but they questioned him for only three hours.
Hence, the CBI demand for Shah’s remand cannot be entertained, the court said.
CBI had demanded 10 days remand of Shah, saying that he did not cooperate during interrogation in jail.
Senior Supreme Court lawyer K T S Tulsi representing the investigating agency had demanded Shah’s remand, giving reasons for it in a sealed cover on Monday last.
The former minister’s custody is required by the CBI for recovery of "important documents which are in his possession and which could prove to be vital evidence in the case," Tulsi had said. Shah, who was represented by senior Supreme Court lawyer Ram Jethmalani had opposed CBI’s plea and said that the agency has no proof against him.
Shah, a former Minister of State for Home and close aide of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, was arrested by CBI in connection with the fake encounter case and charged with murder, extortion and kidnapping.
www.ddinews.gov.in/Homepage/Homepage+-+Headlines/cbi.htm
3. Oldest university on earth is reborn after 800 years
By Andrew Buncombe in The Independent, Aug 4
During the six centuries of its storied existence, there was nothing else quite like Nalanda University. Probably the first-ever large educational establishment, the college – in what is now eastern India – even counted the Buddha among its visitors and alumni. At its height, it had 10,000 students, 2,000 staff and strove for both understanding and academic excellence. Today, this much-celebrated centre of Buddhist learning is in ruins.
After a period during which the influence and importance of Buddhism in India declined, the university was sacked in 1193 by a Turkic general, apparently incensed that its library may not have contained a copy of the Koran. The fire is said to have burned and smouldered for several months.
Now this famed establishment of philosophy, mathematics, language and even public health is poised to be revived. A beguiling and ambitious plan to establish an international university with the same overarching vision as Nalanda – and located alongside its physical ruins – has been spearheaded by a team of international experts and leaders, among them the Nobel-winning economist Amartya Sen. This week, legislation that will enable the building of the university to proceed is to be placed before the Indian parliament.
"At its peak it offered an enormous number of subjects in the Buddhist tradition, in a similar way that Oxford [offered] in the Christian tradition – Sanskrit, medicine, public health and economics," Mr Sen said yesterday in Delhi.
"It was destroyed in a war. It was [at] just the same time that Oxford was being established. It has a fairly extraordinary history – Cambridge had not yet been born." He added, with confidence: "Building will start as soon as the bill passes."
The plan to resurrect Nalanda – in the state of Bihar – and establish a facility prestigious enough to attract the best students from across Asia and beyond, was apparently first voiced in the 1990s. But the idea received more widespread attention in 2006 when the then Indian president, APJ Abdul Kalam set about establishing an international "mentoring panel". Members of the panel, chaired by Mr Sen, include Singapore’s foreign minister, George Yeo, historian Sugata Bose, Lord Desai and Chinese academic Wang Banwei.
A key challenge for the group is to raise sufficient funds for the university. It has been estimated that $500m will be required to build the new facility, with a further $500m needed to sufficiently improve the surrounding infrastructure. The group is looking for donations from governments, private individuals and religious groups. The governments of both Singapore and India have apparently already given some financial commitments.
Mr Sen said the new Nalanda project, whose ancestor easily predated both the University of Al Karaouine in Fez, Morocco – founded in 859 AD and considered the world’s oldest, continually-operating university, and Cairo’s Al Azhar University (975 AD), had already attracted widespread attention from prestigious institutions. The universities of Oxford, Harvard, Yale, Paris and Bologna had all been enthusiastic about possible collaboration.
Some commentators believe a crucial impact of the establishment of a new international university in India would be the boost it gave to higher education across Asia. A recent survey of universities by the US News and World Report magazine listed just three Asian institutions – University of Tokyo, University of Hong Kong and Kyoto University – among the world’s top 25.
Writing when plans for Nalanda were first announced, Jeffery Garten, a professor in international business and trade at the Yale School of Management, said in the New York Times: "The new Nalanda should try to recapture the global connectedness of the old one. All of today’s great institutions of higher learning are straining to become more international… but Asian universities are way behind." He added: "A new Nalanda could set a benchmark for mixing nationalities and culture, for injecting energy into global subject. Nalanda was a Buddhist university but it was remarkably open to many interpretations of that religion. Today, it could… be an institution devoted to global religious reconciliation."
As Mr Garten pointed out, the new university will have much to live up to. The original, located close to the border with what is now Nepal, was said to have been an architectural masterpiece, featuring 10 temples, a nine-storey library where monks copied books by hand, lakes, parks and student accommodation. Its students came from Korea, Japan, China, Persia, Tibet and Turkey, as well as from across India. The 7th Century Chinese pilgrim, Xuanzang, visited Nalanda and wrote detailed accounts of what he saw, describing how towers, pavilions and temples appeared to "soar above the mists in the sky [so that monks in their rooms] might witness the birth of the winds and clouds".
Yet the project is not without controversy. Mr Sen was yesterday asked about reports that claimed the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan Buddhist leader who has lived for more than 50 years in the Indian town of Dharamsala, had been deliberately omitted from the project to avoid antagonising potential Chinese investors and officials. He replied: "He is heading a religion. Being religiously active may not be the same as [being] appropriate for religious studies."
The Indian authorities believe the establishment of the college would act as a global reminder of the nation’s history as a centre of learning and culture. Politician Nand Kishore Singh, who sits on the country’s influential federal planning commission and who is also a member of Nalanda’s steering group, said legislation would be placed before the parliament this week. He added: "I think there is strong bi-partisan support." http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/oldest-university-on-earth-is-reborn-after-800-years-2042518.html
