AP, Nov 20, 2010, 05.58am IST
BEIJING: China has sentenced a woman to a year in a labor camp for "disrupting social order" by retweeting a satirical message urging Chinese protesters to smash the Japan pavilion at the Shanghai Expo, an international rights group said.
Cheng Jianping, 46, reposted a message from the social networking site Twitter last month hinting that Chinese protesters should smash the Japan pavilion at the Shanghai Expo and adding on the message "Angry youth, charge!" according to Amnesty International, which condemned the sentence in a statement.
Amnesty and Cheng's fiance said her retweet was meant as satire, mocking anti-Japanese protesters who had grown in number since tensions between the countries increased after a dispute erupted in September over islands claimed by both Japan and China.
"Sentencing someone to a year in a labor camp, without trial, for simply repeating another person's clearly satirical observation on Twitter demonstrates the level of China's repression of online expression," Amnesty International's Asia-Pacific director Sam Zarifi said in a statement.
Cheng's fiance, Hua Chunhui, said he thought the government reacted the way it did to the tweet was because they are activists. He said he posted the original tweet because he was mad at all the anti-Japanese protests.
Twitter is blocked in China, but some human rights activists use it by bypassing government controls . Hua said his fiance arrived at a labor re-education center in central China's Henan province on Wednesday evening. He said he is not allowed to visit her.
Sunday, November 21, 2010
IMA officials penalized for endorsements
Arun Ram, TNN, Nov 20, 2010, 03.18am IST
CHENNAI: After more than two years of arguments at different forums over Indian Medical Association (IMA) endorsing two food products in violation of its own ethics and Medical Council of India (MCI) regulations, MCI decided to remove secretary and president of the IMA from the Indian medical register for six months.
As a result, these doctors cannot practise for six months. MCI has also decided to serve censure letters to all the 187 IMA executive committee members ''to not to repeat such practices in future''.
IMA represents two lakh doctors in the country. This is the first time in IMA's history that names of its office bearers would be removed from the register.
The decision was taken at an MCI ethics committee meeting on November 9. This was later ratified by the board of directors. Union health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad announced the MCI decision in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha on Friday.
In April 2008, IMA had signed a Rs 2.25-crore contract with Pepsico to allow Tropicana fruit juice and Quaker oats to use the IMA logo on their packs for three years ending 2011. Dr K V Babu, an IMA central committee member, complained to MCI on June 6, 2008 and followed it up with RTI applications that brought out details of this and other endorsements.
Azad's reply in the Lok Sabha set off hushed discussions in medical circles on Tuesday about which names would be removed from the Indian medical register: those of the office bearers at the time of signing the deal or the present ones.
[From http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/IMA-officials-penalized-for-endorsements/articleshow/6957876.cms#ixzz15qpmwJqX]
CHENNAI: After more than two years of arguments at different forums over Indian Medical Association (IMA) endorsing two food products in violation of its own ethics and Medical Council of India (MCI) regulations, MCI decided to remove secretary and president of the IMA from the Indian medical register for six months.
As a result, these doctors cannot practise for six months. MCI has also decided to serve censure letters to all the 187 IMA executive committee members ''to not to repeat such practices in future''.
IMA represents two lakh doctors in the country. This is the first time in IMA's history that names of its office bearers would be removed from the register.
The decision was taken at an MCI ethics committee meeting on November 9. This was later ratified by the board of directors. Union health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad announced the MCI decision in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha on Friday.
In April 2008, IMA had signed a Rs 2.25-crore contract with Pepsico to allow Tropicana fruit juice and Quaker oats to use the IMA logo on their packs for three years ending 2011. Dr K V Babu, an IMA central committee member, complained to MCI on June 6, 2008 and followed it up with RTI applications that brought out details of this and other endorsements.
Azad's reply in the Lok Sabha set off hushed discussions in medical circles on Tuesday about which names would be removed from the Indian medical register: those of the office bearers at the time of signing the deal or the present ones.
[From http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/IMA-officials-penalized-for-endorsements/articleshow/6957876.cms#ixzz15qpmwJqX]
Thursday, November 18, 2010
‘Judiciary should come out of cocoon of secrecy’
Outgoing Haryana CIC says people want judiciary to open up
“Judiciary should come out of the cocoon of secrecy and understand that it is not out of the RTI Act,” said Haryana Chief Information Commissioner G Madhavan, who retired on Thursday. “People have tasted the RTI Act, and now they want more. Citizens expect the judiciary to open up,” he said. He gave reference to a judgment of Justice K Kannan of the Punjab and Haryana High Court regarding the Act. The judge had once said the line that was being drawn between what should be in public domain and what sealed in the iron chest of any establishment was getting dimmer by the day. “More than any other public institution, it should be the judiciary which should set an example to herald the era of transparency,” Justice Kannan had said, adding that any attempt to conceal information would only go to erode the majesty of the judiciary in public perception. Madhavan, who completed five years in office, had joined as the CIC when the RTI Act came into force in 2005. In five years, he has decided 2,575 cases — 174 of them in a double bench with either Meenaxi Anand Chaudhary or Lt Gen J B S Yadav. He has imposed Rs 1.13 lakh worth of penalty in 22 cases and awarded compensation worth Rs 11 lakh in 277 cases. However, the job was tough and challenging. “It was a new Act, and there was no precedent to follow. So one day, I sat down with the then Punjab CIC Rajan Kashyap and chalked out some procedures and norms. We decided to keep the proceedings judicial, but not unfriendly, and also drafted a proforma. I did not have an office and started work from a room in the Secretariat. The Act came into force in October 2005, but the budget for the building came only in March 2006. By July 2006, we were able to set up this building,” he said. When asked if the less number of complaints in the Haryana commission as compared to Punjab indicated a lower level of awareness in the state, he said: “We divide the cases into complaints and appeals, and also guide the information-seekers to go to the first appellate authority if they have skipped the step. This reduces the number of cases.”
He said a new interactive software and SMS services to inform applicants about the status of their cases would be launched soon. The service has been developed by the Centre for Good Governance, Hyderabad. Every appeal or complaint that comes to the commission will be given a number so that the applicant can track its status.
“Judiciary should come out of the cocoon of secrecy and understand that it is not out of the RTI Act,” said Haryana Chief Information Commissioner G Madhavan, who retired on Thursday. “People have tasted the RTI Act, and now they want more. Citizens expect the judiciary to open up,” he said. He gave reference to a judgment of Justice K Kannan of the Punjab and Haryana High Court regarding the Act. The judge had once said the line that was being drawn between what should be in public domain and what sealed in the iron chest of any establishment was getting dimmer by the day. “More than any other public institution, it should be the judiciary which should set an example to herald the era of transparency,” Justice Kannan had said, adding that any attempt to conceal information would only go to erode the majesty of the judiciary in public perception. Madhavan, who completed five years in office, had joined as the CIC when the RTI Act came into force in 2005. In five years, he has decided 2,575 cases — 174 of them in a double bench with either Meenaxi Anand Chaudhary or Lt Gen J B S Yadav. He has imposed Rs 1.13 lakh worth of penalty in 22 cases and awarded compensation worth Rs 11 lakh in 277 cases. However, the job was tough and challenging. “It was a new Act, and there was no precedent to follow. So one day, I sat down with the then Punjab CIC Rajan Kashyap and chalked out some procedures and norms. We decided to keep the proceedings judicial, but not unfriendly, and also drafted a proforma. I did not have an office and started work from a room in the Secretariat. The Act came into force in October 2005, but the budget for the building came only in March 2006. By July 2006, we were able to set up this building,” he said. When asked if the less number of complaints in the Haryana commission as compared to Punjab indicated a lower level of awareness in the state, he said: “We divide the cases into complaints and appeals, and also guide the information-seekers to go to the first appellate authority if they have skipped the step. This reduces the number of cases.”
He said a new interactive software and SMS services to inform applicants about the status of their cases would be launched soon. The service has been developed by the Centre for Good Governance, Hyderabad. Every appeal or complaint that comes to the commission will be given a number so that the applicant can track its status.
UP: SIC summons LU vice-chancellor
TNN, Nov 1, 2010, 11.58pm IST
LUCKNOW: The UP State Information Commission (UPSIC) has taken a stern view of the RTI anomalies in Lucknow University (LU). The commission has directed LU vice-chancellor (V-C) to appear before it in connection with at least three RTI cases and explain why the cases were not disposed of. The V-C is also the first appeals authority in these cases.
The three cases pertain to the complaints made by three RTI applicants where either they were not provided the information or the first appeals was not disposed of. The complaints were heard by information commissioner Gyanendra Sharma.
In connection with one of the first appeals, filed by applicant Mohan Krishna, the commissioner has issued a show cause notice to the V-C on why the appeal was not disposed of as per the Right to Information (RTI) Act. The commission is yet to get V-C's reply.
The commission said it was shocking to learn that despite notices being sent by the SIC, the university did not take the matter seriously. "The commission takes it very seriously and orders the V-C to be present in the commission in the next hearing and explain about the action taken on the applicant's first appeal," said the commissioner.
Similarly, in connection with the complaint filed by another applicant Vikas Kumar, though the first appeals authority of the university (V-C in this case) heard the appeal, he did not mention the date when the appeal was heard in his order. The commission has also ordered the university to pay a compensation of Rs 10,000 and Rs 5,000 to two applicants.
This isn't the first time when the UPSIC has taken note of the lapses on the part of the state universities as far as implementing the RTI Act is concerned. In April, the commission had issued show cause notices to the V-Cs of at least three universities in the state asking them to explain the failure on their part on the above count.
The universities in question were Uttar Pradesh Technical University (UPTU), Chaudhary Charan Singh University, Meerut and Lucknow University. The commission was getting lot of complaints from students regarding delayed or no response from the universities on their queries about marksheets and certificates.
The SIC took a stern view of it and sent show cause notices to the V-Cs of the universities asking them to explain why the students were not being provided information under RTI.
Read more: SIC summons LU vice-chancellor - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/lucknow/SIC-summons-LU-vice-chancellor/articleshow/6855544.cms#ixzz15ZThWeBd
LUCKNOW: The UP State Information Commission (UPSIC) has taken a stern view of the RTI anomalies in Lucknow University (LU). The commission has directed LU vice-chancellor (V-C) to appear before it in connection with at least three RTI cases and explain why the cases were not disposed of. The V-C is also the first appeals authority in these cases.
The three cases pertain to the complaints made by three RTI applicants where either they were not provided the information or the first appeals was not disposed of. The complaints were heard by information commissioner Gyanendra Sharma.
In connection with one of the first appeals, filed by applicant Mohan Krishna, the commissioner has issued a show cause notice to the V-C on why the appeal was not disposed of as per the Right to Information (RTI) Act. The commission is yet to get V-C's reply.
The commission said it was shocking to learn that despite notices being sent by the SIC, the university did not take the matter seriously. "The commission takes it very seriously and orders the V-C to be present in the commission in the next hearing and explain about the action taken on the applicant's first appeal," said the commissioner.
Similarly, in connection with the complaint filed by another applicant Vikas Kumar, though the first appeals authority of the university (V-C in this case) heard the appeal, he did not mention the date when the appeal was heard in his order. The commission has also ordered the university to pay a compensation of Rs 10,000 and Rs 5,000 to two applicants.
This isn't the first time when the UPSIC has taken note of the lapses on the part of the state universities as far as implementing the RTI Act is concerned. In April, the commission had issued show cause notices to the V-Cs of at least three universities in the state asking them to explain the failure on their part on the above count.
The universities in question were Uttar Pradesh Technical University (UPTU), Chaudhary Charan Singh University, Meerut and Lucknow University. The commission was getting lot of complaints from students regarding delayed or no response from the universities on their queries about marksheets and certificates.
The SIC took a stern view of it and sent show cause notices to the V-Cs of the universities asking them to explain why the students were not being provided information under RTI.
Read more: SIC summons LU vice-chancellor - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/lucknow/SIC-summons-LU-vice-chancellor/articleshow/6855544.cms#ixzz15ZThWeBd
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