Controversy over the appointment
of new President of Indian School Darsait
May 26, 2002
Even before the newly formed management committees
(MCs) of various Indian schools could complete two months in
office, a new controversy is brewing about the dubious manner
in which at least one of the candidates secured his position
in the school management committee and ultimately became the
President of a leading Indian school in Muscat. Senior educational
experts alleged that probably a serious conspiracy was hatched
to appoint one of the candidates who completed more than six
years in the managing committee of the same school as new president
by misrepresenting certain crucial facts!
It may be recalled that the former president of Indian
School Darsait, Abraham Mathew, was asked to resign because he
had completed more than seven years in office as a MC member
and school president. C.N.P.Nampoothiri, Convener of the Indian
Social Club Malayalam Wing set an example to others by resigning
from the school MC because he was not a parent of ISD. Kiran
Asher, former Chairman of the Indian School Board, Yeshpal Mehta,
Vice-Chairman of the Indian School Board and many other former
members of the Indian school board were forced to resign by the
Indian Ambassador K.M.Meena because they all exceeded their legally
permitted term in office. A number of new members have been inducted
in the Indian school board and individual school MCs. The underlying
principle is that those who put in several years in the same
position develop vested interests and may breed corruption in
the school functioning.
If this is what the essence of the Indian school reform
process initiated by the Indian Ambassador, the patron of Indian
schools, how can a member who has already completed almost seven
years in the same school MC become the ISD president, asked many
educational experts. Keralamonitor.com, which is closely monitoring
the functioning of various Indian schools in Muscat has got concrete
evidence which indicates that Mr.Visruthan, the new president
of ISD MC, was a member of the ISD MC in the year 1995! However,
the Indian School board has recommended his name to the Indian
Ambassador as the president apparently by suppressing certain
facts and showing him as functioning in the school MC since 1997
only! If it is not a typing error, the concerned authorities
need to explain about it and clear doubt from public mind.
When Keralamonitor.com investigated the case by seeking the views
of some leading personalities who have been associated with the
ISD for the last eight years, some of them admitted that Visruthan
was a member of the MC in 1995. On the contrary the recommendation
made by the Indian school board to the Ambassador showed him
as the Treasurer of the school MC since 1997. Does it mean that
he was holding some other position before 1997? - it is not clear
to us and needs further investigation? A crucial document says
that K.S.Visruthan was present along with George Mathew, Abraham
Mathew, C.N.P.Nampoothiri, M.M.Mathew and Shiva Shankara Pillai
in the Kerala State Board Syllabus Stream Indian School Management
Committee meeting held in October 1995. Visruthan was responsible
for checking 162 applications for fee concession received in
the school. He was responsible for checking the eligibility of
poor students who had applied for fees concession, says the relevant
documents. (Copy available with Keralamonitor.com). ISD President
could not be contacted to get his version.
It is also alleged that the head of a leading socio-cultural
organisation had recommended the same name to the Indian School
board/ the Ambassador for the presidents post. However, Keralamonitor.com
could not verify this allegation, but some of the aspiring members
alleged that there was misrepresentation of fact. Apparently
the former school management committee is keen to keep new committee
members from the school records. The first meeting of the school
president and MC with the ousted board chairman started with
a dictat that all activities within the MC should remain top
secret and no information should be given to the media! What
is so much to hide in a school of 1,600 students? The school
reform said everything should be transparent, but the board chairman
and school president swear by rules of secrecy?
According to leading community members, the Indian
Ambassador K.M.Meena, the ousted chairman of the board of Indian
Schools, R.M.Parakh, honourable members of the new Indian school
board and the Special Educational Advisor to the Indian School
Board Mr. Ramesh Mathur owe an explanation to the Indian community
about this double standards followed in appointing the school
president . The Indian Ambassador says he has been misinformed
by the board and the ousted chairman about the candidate, especially
about his total number of years in the MC. A member of Indian
school board said that according to the information made available
to the members from the Educational Advisor's office, Visruthan
had completed only four years in office! Patron's office claimed
that he signed the paper forwarded by R.M.Parakh, the board chairman
and that he could not smell any mischief at that point of time.
'The patron has been misinformed by the board chairman about
the candidate's total tenure in office. It might be part of a
conspiracy to suppress facts," alleged sources.
As per the information provided to the Patron, Abraham Mathew,
Shivashankara Pillai, C.N.P.Nampoothiri, C.K.Davis and K.M.Jose
who have completed seven years in office as MC members were not
eligible to continue in school committee. This is because of
the new ceiling imposed by the patron for the tenure of School
MCs. However, sources who have been closely associated with the
ISD MC pointed out that Visruthan was an integral part of the
above team from the beginning. Recently, there was an intense
power struggle among the former school MC members. It is alleged
that the board members conspired with some members of the former
MC to misrepresent facts before the patron in order to retain
their own people in the MC.
According to the information forwarded by the board
to the Indian school patron, Gopinathan Nair and Shahul Hameed
has been members of the ISD MC from April 1998 and George Mathew,
Reena Alex and Y.Mohandas have been members since April 2000.
The Indian community has a right to see to it that
people with high level of integrity are appointed as school presidents
and management committee members. If a person has managed to
remain in the school MC by giving wrong information, his integrity
needs to be questioned. If the school president and MCs are men
of dishonesty and lack integrity, how can they mould the future
generations in a proper manner? (keralamonitor.com)
Pakistan Firing Retaliated
There was prolonged exchange of Arty fire in Kargil
and Dras Mushkoh Sectors.
New Delhi: There was heavy exchange of mortar fire
in Naushera Sector also. Several Pakistani posts suffered damage
and at least 04 to 05 enemy soldiers were killed/wounded.On the
evening of 28 May 2002, in response to Pakistani Arty fire, in
Punch Sector, Indian troops retaliated with effective fire causing
damage to several Pak Posts and resulting in causalities also.
First Indian Roadshow on NELP Held
in Singapore
India launched an effective promotional campaign for
its third round of NELP (New Exploration Licensing Policy) in
Singapore today, providing an opportunity to compete for 27 blocks
for exploration of oil and gas in India’s offshore and onland
areas. Speaking on the occasion, Shri Ram Naik, Minister of Petroleum
and Natural Gas, has pitched for the highly attractive opportunity
being offered under the third round of NELP and impressed upon
the companies for actively participate in the bidding process
so as to enter into a long term mutually beneficial relation
ship.
Moreover, they would be a part of India’s growing
and vibrant Petroleum Sector, said Shri Naik. The Minister is
leading a high level delegation to Singapore to promote NELP-III
to the prospective investors. As many as 34 Companies attended
the Roadshow on NELP-III in Singapore today. These include E&P
Companies like Itochu Corporation, Petronas Carigali, Unocal,
BG Group, Singapore Petroleum Company Limited, Woodside Energy,
Cairn Energy and Premier Oil.
On this occasion, Shri Santosh Kumar Gangwar, Minister
of State for Petroleum & Natural Gas highlighted the latest
developments in the Indian gas sector. While the Indian speakers
at the function made presentation on the policy, fiscal, legal
and contractual frame work and also highlighted the attractiveness
of the terms and geology under NELP-III, the major stakeholders
in India’s upstream petroleum made the presentations about
their experience and vision about India’s petroleum sector.It
may be pointed out that after the launch of promotional campaign
for NELP-III in Singapore, further road shows in the series are
to be held at London on 6th & 7th June, followed by Houston
and Calgary between 10th and 14th June.
Comprehensive New Mobile Security Portfolio From Symbol
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MobiusGuard™ Features Advanced Mechanisms for
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Dubai, UAE, May 29, 2002 – Symbol Technologies,
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