Joshi offers cash, George ‘comfort’

The Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry today forwarded an educational activity grant of Rs 83.14 lakh for students belonging to the m...

The Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry today forwarded an educational activity grant of Rs 83.14 lakh for students belonging to the minority community and their parents living in relief camps in Gujarat. The move comes a day after the boycott of Gujarat State Board Examinations by nearly 90 per cent students of the minority community.

Sources said the grant is part of the Centre’s damage control exercise and is to be used in setting up 1,109 educational activity camps for an estimated 7,715 children now living in relief camps.

VHP SLAMS CENTRE, OPP OVER GUJARAT

New Delhi: The Sangh Parivar on Friday termed the demand for the ouster of Gujarat CM Narendra Modi ‘‘a deep-rooted conspiracy’’ to destabilise the Vajpayee Government at the Centre. VHP senior vice-president Acharya Giriraj Kishore said “Modi is not the real target…it’s the Centre”. He also alleged that the Centre as well as the states were adopting ‘‘double standards’’ vis-a-vis Hindus and Muslims and were ‘‘incapable of justice’’. — ENS

‘‘These (educational activity) camps are aimed at helping children as well as parents to recover from the recent setbacks,’’ the Ministry said in a press note.

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For the Vajpayee Government, yesterday’s boycott of board examinations by students of the minority community has come as a source of major embarrassment.

Sources said the grant, sanctioned in a jiffy by the HRD Ministry, is aimed at pacifying riot victims living in relief camps in the eight riot-affected districts of Gujarat — Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Anand, Panchamahals, Sabarkantha, Mehsana, Kheda and Dahod.

The latest sop from the Government has also been made out to be its answer to riot victims’ complaints that the Prime Minister did not make announcements of adequate relief measures during his recent visit to the state.

Even though the HRD Ministry maintains that ‘‘the grant was given with a view to provide children with recreational activities and to create congenial educational environment’’.

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However, it is yet to be seen how much of the grant meant to provide ‘‘recreational kits’’ and ‘‘educational kits’’ goes to provide solace to riot-affected children.

The decision to provide the grant-in-aid was reportedly taken by HRD Minister Murli Manohar Joshi himself on a priority basis. Interestingly, Joshi has consistently refused to make any comment on the Gujarat crisis or on Narendra Modi government’s handling of it even after Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee chose to adopt the BJP hardliners’ views in Goa.