LETTER TO HON'BLE CJI

Sri C H Kapadia
Hon'ble Chief Justice of India
New Delhi

Respected Sir

I read a news item in Sunday Times of India ( Bangalore Edition) dated 26th August 2012, with a headline "Hounding out NE youth from Bangalore brought tears" attributed to your speech in New Delhi. The news item quoted you saying " It was said because days before that young people from north east were being thrown out of Bangalore . The way the exodus was happening , it had brought tears in my eyes".

Sir, I am holding the portfolio of Law and Parliamentary Affairs as a minister in the government of Karnataka . Though it is true that thousands of persons - especially youth - moved out of bangalore for four days , it is not correct to say that they were 'hounded out' of Bangalore . The people of Bangalore and the entire Government Machinery did it's best to prevent their moving out of Bangalore. In fact, on 16th August I myself stayed at the railway station for nearly 14 hours making all efforts to prevent their moving out. When it could not give us result, we facilitated their smooth travel with food , drinking water and special trains. It may be  pertinent to mention here,  that  on 19th August,  the two honorable ministers from Assam who came to assess the situation first hand,  wholeheartedly praised the swift action taken by our government to give protection and our attempts to prevent their moving out . Even the central government has acknowledged our quick and sincere efforts in this regard .

Sir. It is essential here to mention the reasons for this temporary - what can be called as - reverse migration .

A) Most of the persons , at least 60% of those who wanted to go back have on record said that they want to be with their parents when Assam is facing serious conflict . In fact, it was the fervent appeals from their parents to return that made these youngsters to rush back.

B) Few SMSes  which were sent to this particular section created a sort of apprehension about their safety after a particular date i.e, August 20th.

C) In very few isolated incidents some individuals were threatened by some anti-social elements .

Sir, these  are the real reasons. With full humility I want to reiterate  that north east youth were neither 'hounded out from Bangalore' , nor were 'thrown out of Bangalore'. The people of our  state have full faith in the rule of law and we adhere to the letter and spirit of the Constitution of India . We have never allowed and we will never allow any such attempt to throw out any Indian - more so, persons from north east from Bangalore, because we feel all of us are Indians first.

Respected Sir. I request you to appreciate  the spirit behind the words in this mail. I request you further, not to mistake me for writing this. I honestly felt that the real picture should also be brought to your lordship's notice.

With regards

Sincerely, 

S.SURESH KUMAR.
LAW MINISTER

GOVERNMENT OF KARNATAKA

AN EYE OPENOR

The recent Assamese exodus should act as an eye opener for variety of reasons. While being continuously aware of the damage that the anti social elements could cause to the Society, we as the citizens should also have a fresh perception of our responsibilities too. My views on the incident find mention in today’s Kannada Prabha.

S.Sureshkumar

AN IDEAL EXAMPLE FOR INSTITUTIONAL PATRIOTISM

I didn’t intend to write anything after I witnessed the state of affairs of the Bangalore University in Jnanabharathi yesterday. It is literally a tale of woes and a galore of loopholes. Badly maintained and blocked toilets, dilapidated hostel rooms greeted me and Mr CT Ravi, Minister of Higher Education. The ego clash between the two key players i.e., the Vice Chancellor and the Registrar is the rootcause for the present day malady. As I said, “When two elephants clash, it is the grass that suffers.” Unfortunately, in this case, the suffering grasses are the hapless students who have their own dreams but are full of night mares today.  The Institution which otherwise should have been an epitome of emulation is sadly a shocker by the state of affairs it has been reduced to.

But, what prompted me today to pen my feelings was my visit to the Direct Taxes Regional Training Institute at Bangalore today. DTRTI as it is shortly described is an arm of the National Academy of Direct Taxes which heads the training sector of the Income Tax department of India. The Institute offers training for departmental personnel from Karnataka, Goa and Andhra Pradesh.

You will never believe it is a Government run Organisation. So high is the degree of professionalism that has been infused in its working atmosphere. DTRTI is located amidst the lush green campus near Jalahalli. Constructed four years ago at a total cost of 30 crores, the whole campus is so aesthetically built, that it has everything that an ideal training centre offers. The building has six state of the art lecture halls named after philosophers from different parts of the world.

DTRTI offers specialised training in frontier areas such as e commerce, e-investigation with professional capability in core areas of direct taxation, law-jurisprudence, accountancy and attitudinal reinforcement through soft skills. These specialised courses have national jurisdiction. Training of Tax administrators of other countries too, of late has become a feather in the cap of the Institution.

So much of care has been taken so the whole campus is quite sensitive towards the environment that every existing tree has been protected and retained by designing the construction around its presence. Rain water harvesting, ground water recharging, using treated water for horticulture and flushing purposes, sensor based taps - everything is in place to make it ideal. On top of all, the cleanliness- it’s just spic and span. The zero tolerance towards dust and waste has made the whole Institute so neat and clean.

The Institute stands out, all thanks to the single minded pursuit of one person. Mrs Jhankab Akthar who heads this wonderful office is the one who has brought the reform here. Being herself, an IRS Officer, she has completely eradicated the hierarchy. She has lead from the front for the continuous upliftment of the Institute. I should mention special thanks to her relentless enthusiasm in making this Institute a truly world-class.

While I was still languishing to come out of the awful experience of yesterday, it was a refreshing feeling that assured faith in the system we are in.

I wrote in the visitor’s book this way: BOTH HARDWARE (STRUCTURE) AND SOFTWARE (ATTITUDE) ARE EXCELLENT AND WORTH EMULATING. That summed up the feelings of my visit to this excellent campus.