9:10 am
Jack
LUCKNOW : It seems that Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi is gradually losing his relevance among different institutes and organisations, which come under the Central government.
The organisations, which restrain from austerity to celebrate their foundation day with a religious regularity have given Gandhi Jayanti a complete miss, reveals a RTI query filed by Mahendra Pratap Singh, who sought information from institutes that come under the CSIR, UGC, MHRD and other Central government bodies.
Singh wanted to know about money spent on celebrating Gandhi Jayanti, other national holidays and institutes' foundation day, by research labs, educational institutions and several public sector undertakings in the five-year period, from 2005 to 2009. "The facts are surprising," he said.The compiled RTI data for all the units of GAIL (Gas Authority of India Limited) shows that not even a single penny was spent on celebrating Gandhi Jayanti, while the Pata unit of GAIL (in district Aurraiya) alone spent over Rs 12.5 lakh on its foundation day in 2009.
CSIR (Council of Scientific and Industrial Research) laboratories fare no better. Out of the 30 labs, which responded to the query, 29 only mentioned about the budget allocated for Gandhi Jayanti celebrations, while, they continued to spend luxuriously on their foundation day activities.In 2009 alone, about Rs 43 lakh were spent on foundation day celebrations by 28 CSIR laboratories. And, in the five-year time, for which the information was sought, close to Rs 2 crore was spent on foundation day celebrations by the labs. Though Independence Day and Republic Day have been celebrated by some of these laboratories, the celebrations have not been regular.
Father of the Nation has been cold shouldered by educational institutions, colleges and universities as well, which otherwise preach a good deal on Gandhi, his life and philosophy. While, Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow said that it has no event-wise expenditure details, IIM-Ahmedabad, IIM-Kozhikode and IIM-Shillong did not earmark a budget for October 2. Of late, BHU has started celebrations and has spent Rs 15,000 on October 2 in 2009. In 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008, Mahatma Gandhi was not remembered.ONGC, in the five-year time, never celebrated the day, says the RTI information. However, the foundation day celebration has been a regular annual event. The saving grace is the fact that it has accorded due importance to Independence Day and Republic Day. The organisations like BHEL, IOCL and NTPC said that the information is not available in the form in which it has been sought."We have filed an appeal with the President, PM and other dignitaries regarding celebration of Gandhi Jayanti in government and semi-government organisations," said Singh.
Singh wanted to know about money spent on celebrating Gandhi Jayanti, other national holidays and institutes' foundation day, by research labs, educational institutions and several public sector undertakings in the five-year period, from 2005 to 2009. "The facts are surprising," he said.The compiled RTI data for all the units of GAIL (Gas Authority of India Limited) shows that not even a single penny was spent on celebrating Gandhi Jayanti, while the Pata unit of GAIL (in district Aurraiya) alone spent over Rs 12.5 lakh on its foundation day in 2009.
CSIR (Council of Scientific and Industrial Research) laboratories fare no better. Out of the 30 labs, which responded to the query, 29 only mentioned about the budget allocated for Gandhi Jayanti celebrations, while, they continued to spend luxuriously on their foundation day activities.In 2009 alone, about Rs 43 lakh were spent on foundation day celebrations by 28 CSIR laboratories. And, in the five-year time, for which the information was sought, close to Rs 2 crore was spent on foundation day celebrations by the labs. Though Independence Day and Republic Day have been celebrated by some of these laboratories, the celebrations have not been regular.
Father of the Nation has been cold shouldered by educational institutions, colleges and universities as well, which otherwise preach a good deal on Gandhi, his life and philosophy. While, Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow said that it has no event-wise expenditure details, IIM-Ahmedabad, IIM-Kozhikode and IIM-Shillong did not earmark a budget for October 2. Of late, BHU has started celebrations and has spent Rs 15,000 on October 2 in 2009. In 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008, Mahatma Gandhi was not remembered.ONGC, in the five-year time, never celebrated the day, says the RTI information. However, the foundation day celebration has been a regular annual event. The saving grace is the fact that it has accorded due importance to Independence Day and Republic Day. The organisations like BHEL, IOCL and NTPC said that the information is not available in the form in which it has been sought."We have filed an appeal with the President, PM and other dignitaries regarding celebration of Gandhi Jayanti in government and semi-government organisations," said Singh.
