‘Don’t harass kids over Aadhar’

The education department has warned schools against threatening students or forcing them to get their Aadhar cards made. The move comes after some parent-teachers’ organisations drew the department’s attention towards the fact that some schools were threatening to expel students who failed to produce their UID card receipts within two days. Sources from the school education ministry also confirmed that no circular making Aadhar cards mandatory for students was issued from their office. Jayant Jain, president, Forum for Fairness in Education, said that they had been receiving complaints from parents across the city. “While the Supreme Court as well as various high courts in the country have ruled that Aadhar cards cannot be made mandatory, I wonder why the schools resort to such threats. It seems they have an ulterior motive,” he said. T.M. Dongre, education inspector, north zone, said that ever since the start of the academic year, the department had not come out with any circular pertaining to Aadhar cards being made compulsory. “Parents should ask for a copy of the circular if the school claims that it is from the department. If the school refuses, the parents should contact the department or the education inspector. Strict action will be initiated against the school,” said Mr Dongre.

*** Marketing federation asks for hike in transport rate Vivek Bhavsar Mumbai, Sept. 27

The Maharashtra State Cooperative Marketing Federation Limited has demanded an increase in the transport commission rate to ensure smooth implementation of the food security scheme in the state, which is likely to be implemented from December this year. The federation has contended that the `19 per quintal being paid to them by the government towards transportation is insufficient to fight competitors in the face of the hike in diesel prices. Announcing the financial results of the federation in a press conference on Friday at the YB Chavan centre in the city, Dr Vijay Satbir Singh, the federation’s managing director, said that they have been demanding an increase for six years. “The food and civil supply ministry recently increased the rate by `6, but is not sufficient. Our demand was that the state should sanction commission of `21 per quintal,” he said. B.D. Patil, a senior official of the federation, said that the organisation has to bear charges of diesel and payment of drivers. Hence, at the end of the day, it ends up getting just `2 for transportation.