‘Socialist’, ‘Secular’ terms missing in Preamble in new Telangana textbooks
Hyderabad, Jun 23: The Telangana State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) has got mired in a controversy following the publication of the Preamble of the Constitution on the cover page of a school textbook allegedly without the words 'socialist' and 'secular'.
The SCERT, however, maintained that the error occurred due to oversight.
The Telangana State United Teachers' Federation (TSUTF) submitted a representation to the secretary of education department on Thursday complaining that the words 'socialist' and 'secular' were "removed" from the Preamble published on the cover page of the class 10 social studies textbook published by the SCERT.
The two words were included in the Preamble through the 42nd Constitutional amendment, the TSUTF recalled.
However, the Preamble, including the two words, was published in the pages inside class 8 and 10 social studies books, it said.
At a time when there is a debate "across the globe" that secularism was in danger in India, the publication of the old Preamble "the way some people want it" instead of the one that is in force gives rise to several doubts, the Federation claimed.
It said that the error was a major one and that either it happened intentionally or due to oversight.
The Federation urged that the correct Preamble be published and sought tough action against those responsible for wrongly publishing the Preamble, after conducting an inquiry.
Meanwhile, the SCERT said the error was inadvertent.
"This happened by oversight and unintentionally while downloading the image at the time of designing the cover," the SCERT Director said.
However, in the inner pages of other textbooks, the Preamble after amendment was printed.
"The error crept in inadvertently," the Director said.
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Wine Merchants’ Association alleges corruption in excise dept, Minister Thimmapur refutes charge
Bengaluru, Nov 5: The Karnataka Wine Merchants’ Association has alleged that the Excise Minister R B Thimmapur’s office has collected Rs 16 crore from various excise department officers by transferring them in and around Bengaluru.
While the Minister refuted the allegation, the opposition BJP got new ammunition to target the ruling Congress.
In a letter to the Karnataka Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot, Chief Secretary and the Karnataka Lokayukta, the Association alleged that the Minister's office is involved in rampant corruption.
“Huge bribes and money laundering took place in the excise minister office in Bengaluru in transferring excise officers and to control illegal collection of money for election purposes from excise officials,” the letter sent by mail read.
Explaining further, the Association said about Rs 16 crore has been collected on a single day from three deputy commissioners of excise, nine excise superintendents, 13 deputy superintendents of excise and 20 excise inspectors “for transferring in and around Bengaluru from past 2 to 3.5 years, as their tenure was getting completed within a month.”
Naming a deputy commissioner, the letter said the officer was collecting money somewhere between Rs 25 lakh to Rs 40 lakh from each officer for transferring them.
The Association said Rs 2.5 crore to Rs three crore was collected from deputy commissioners (excise) working in Bengaluru.
The association has demanded action against those involved "in this corruption."
“No such thing has happened. You must ask them why they went to pay money. Why would anyone pay if everything is correct?” Thimmapur told reporters at Shiggaon in Haveri district.
He also assured to take action against officers if they have collected money.
“The matter is that when these people (wine merchants) do something wrong then they (officers) harass them. The wine merchants should rectify themselves,” the Minister said.
The Leader of Opposition in the Assembly, R Ashoka alleged that there was a Rs 700 crore liquor scam in the state.
“The Karnataka Wine Merchants’ Association in its letter to CM @Siddaramaiah has alleged that State Excise Minister R B Timmapur is involved in blatant extortion and bribery, unfolding another dark episode of the series of scams by 'SCAM'gress Govt in Karnataka,” he said in a post on ‘X’.
He said the Association has alleged that CL7 bar licences were given after collecting a bribe amount of anywhere between Rs 30 lakh to Rs 70 lakh each by the Minister.
In the last one year, 1,000 such illegal licences were given by the excise minister, amounting to Rs 300 crore to Rs 700 crore in corruption, Ashoka alleged.
“After the Maharshi Valmiki ST Development Corporation Scam, MUDA land scam, KIADB land scam, Waqf Scam, this Liquor scam is yet another fresh addition to the series of scams by CM Siddaramaiah led Congress Government in the last 17 months,” the BJP leader alleged.
