Serendipity : Musings of an Islander

Demand to protect interest of local candidates in jobs gaining relevance and momentum in the wake of visit of Hon’ble President of India By Debkumar Bhadra Separation of the A ndaman and N icobar I slands from mainland I ndia by vast expanse of sea led the islands to develop into a treasure trove of biodiversity with a very high degree of endemism. To protect this unique biological wealth, 86 % (7170.69 sqkm) of the total land area ( 8249 sqkm) of the islands has been classified as R eserved and or P rotected F orests . If deemed forests are taken into consideration, approximately 94% falls under one or the other kind of protection regimen, leaving very little for civilian use. However in consonance with strategic view point, the islands have been populated under various Rehabilitation and Colonisation schemes of Govt of India. Later a good number of families from mainland India migrated to these islands in search of employment and ended up adding to the existing populati...

Implementation of High Security Registration Plates (HSRP) for motor vehicles in India could be traced to the Hon’ble Supreme Court order wherein the Secretary, Transport and the Commissioner, State Transport Authority of the State of Haryana had been held guilty of willful disobedience/non-compliance of court orders particularly the orders dated 30th November 2004, 7th April 2011 and 30th August 2011. Having found guilty the court punished the erring officials to pay fines and in default, undergo simple imprisonment for 15 days; Exemplary cost was also imposed on the particular State. The apex court further set 31st March, 2012 as the deadline to implement the scheme, pan-India. Consequently the RTO/Directorate of Transport, A&N Administration had drawn up a detailed schedule according to which fixing of HSRP started on 11th Jan and would be completed by 30th March ie., a day before actual expiry of the deadline set by the hon’ble apex court. A look at the schedule issued by ...