‘delhi goVt sitting on ward delimitation report’
State Election Commission had started the process of delimitation in October last year .
The Delhi government is sitting on the delimitation report submitted by the State Election Commission, which has recommended changes in the geographical location of around 150 of Delhi’s 272 municipal wards.
The elections to the three municipal corporations— North Delhi Municipal Corporation, South Delhi Municipal Corporation and East Delhi Municipal Corporation—are scheduled to be held in April. The last time it was held on 15 April 2012.
The Commission had prepared its draft report in September itself. Later on, the final delimitation report was submitted to the Delhi Chief Secretary on 20 November. Subsequently, the Chief Secretary sent it to the state Urban Development Minister Satyender Jain on 25 November. However, no action has been taken so far. Sources said any delay on part of the state government in notifying the amendments in the constituencies may lead to delay in holding the municipal corporation elections.
A BJP delegation recently met the outgoing LG Najeeb Jung in this regard. Jung reportedly told the delegation that he has sought a report from the State Election Commission.
Speaking to The Sunday Guardian, the Leader of Opposition in the Delhi Assembly, Vijender Gupta said the Delhi government is unnecessarily holding back the report of delimitation. “It appears that the government is not serious about holding civic elections on time. The Delhi government should take steps to ensure that the amendments are notified on time so that the elections could be held as per schedule,” he said.
The Commission had start- ed the process of delimitation in October last year for which a committee was constituted under the chairmanship of the State Election Commissioner.
The exercise was carried out keeping in mind the increase in population in Delhi. In 2001, the population was 1.34 crore which increased to 1.64 crore in 2011, as per the Census data. There has also been a change in many Assembly constituencies in Delhi. For example, constituencies like Bawana and Vikaspuri have seen a significant increase in population while constituencies like Ballimaran and Matiala have seen a decline. Sources
The State Election Commission had prepared its draft report in September itself. Later on, the final delimitation report was submitted to the Delhi Chief Secretary on 20 November.
said the average population of each ward is kept at 60,000 and the boundary of the municipal wards has been redrawn from within the boundary of the existing Assembly constituency, using geospatial maps and data from the 2011 Census.
It is to be noted that a delimitation exercise is done in every 10 years. Accordingly, boundaries of the existing wards would be redrawn on the basis of the increase/decrease of population in a particular Assembly constituency. After the exercise, the size of the wards may vary, but the number of wards would remain the same. Following UK’s footsteps, the India Medical Association is planning to request the Central government to begin discussions on allowing three-parent IVF (In Vitro Fertilisation) in India. Earlier this week, UK became the first country in the world to legalise making of a human baby with a three-parent technique.
The president of IMA, K. K. Aggarwal said, “I have started writing to various medical experts in the country as well as to the government to consider permitting threeparent IVF in India as well. We have all the technology that is needed. But unless it is legalised we cannot start practicing the technique. The other important requirement is of a proper framework to sort the guardianship issues of the child born out of three-parent IVF since the baby will be carrying the DNA of three parents i.e. of two mothers and one father.”
Legalisation of three-parent IVF technique in UK has come as a blessing for women who suffer mitochondrial diseases. More than 90% of the energy required to sustain life is generated my mitochondria in the cell. Mitochondrial diseases are a result of mitochondrial malfunction which can be inherited and results in chronic disorders.
The three-parent IVF technique involves transplanting nuclear DNA (contains all the characteristics which make up a person) from a fertilised egg into a donated egg which contains healthy mitochondria, or alternatively removing the damaged DNA from an egg and replacing it with healthy mitochondria and then fertilising it with the father’s sperm.
Nandita Palshetkar, an IVF specialist at Lilavati Hospital, Mumbai, said, “There have been generations in a family who have been unable to conceive a healthy normal child. For them this technique is no less than a miracle. There are said to be a few hundred women in UK who are suffering from mitochondrial disorders. Similarly in India there are not too many women who suffer from such illnesses. Nonetheless, this is a major breakthrough in the genetics world. It will be too early to assume if such procedures can result in extinction of mitochondrial diseases and what will be its larger effect on the future of human evolution.”
Commenting on the controversy surrounding the legalisation of the technique, Hrishikesh Pai, president, Mumbai Obstetrics & Gynaecological Society, said, “The first baby with a three-parent IVF technique has already been born in Mexico where US doctors led the procedure. Since Mexico had no regulation whatsoever, the doctors were exempted from any legal limitations. If India is to adopt the procedure then we need to closely examine the policy adopted by UK on the baby’s guardianship. Keeping in mind the challenges exclusive to India, we must ensure that this technique is not misused for feticide based on gender selection. Also, we need to closely evaluate the consequential trend of ‘designer babies’ that is being discussed now.”