Excelsior... Nation

Madan Lal Khurana

Khurana demands
inquiry into functioning
of Apollo Hospital

NEW DELHI, Oct 11: Former Delhi Chief Minister Madan Lal Khurana and 59 Members of Parliament today ......more

Jayalalitha

I will be absolved: Jaya

CHENNAI, Oct 11: AIADMK general secretary Jayalalitha today claimed that she was certain to be absolved .....more

Chitnis elected
PTI Chairman

NEW DELHI, Oct 11: Prof E V Chitnis was unanimously elected Chairman of the Board of Directors of .....more

Chronology of
developments in
JMM MPs bribery case

NEW DELHI, Oct 11: Following is the chronology of developments in the JMM MPs bribery case in which .....more

Gen Pervez Musharraf

Gen Musharraf’s
one year rule witnesses
increase in violence

NEW DELHI, Oct 11: Pakistan Chief Executive Gen Pervez Musharraf’s one year rule has witnessed increase in violence, consolidation of political forces of Sindh, Baluchistan and North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) against Punjabi dominance and Islamabad’s growing isolation in the international community.......more

Bhagwaan Gopi all in all
Snakes at his beck and call

By B. L. Kak

Women empowerment essential for sustainable development

CHANDIGARH, Oct 11: The empowerment and autonomy of women and improvement of their social, economic and political status is essential for achievement....more

5 kg opium seized,
5 nabbed

JAIPUR, Oct 11: Railway police have arrested five passengers and recovered five kg. ...more

I will be absolved: Jaya

CHENNAI, Oct 11: AIADMK general secretary Jayalalitha today claimed that she was certain to be absolved of all charges in the TANSI land deal cases, in which she has been convicted by the trial court, as various courts had given ‘contradictory verdicts’ in the same case.

In a statement here, she cited the earlier Madras High Court order discharging her from the TANSI case and said the special court resumed the trial only after the Supreme Court directed it to do so on an appeal by the Karunanidhi regime.

"The special court has given a verdict quite contrary to that of the High Court," Jayalalitha said.

She also referred to the proceedings still pending in the Supreme Court on her plea questioning the authority of the Governor to sanction her prosecution in the TANSI case.

"Under these circumstances, the Karunanidhi Government hurriedly sought permission from the present Governor for prosecuting me and commenced trial proceedings in the special court," the former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister said. "It is clear from all these contradictory verdicts that there is certainity about justice being done to us," she said.

Claiming that the AIADMK would return to power next year, she said, "the people’s forum is eager to teach a lesson to those trying to subvert our growth and glory. It depends on each individual’s attitude and perception as to which judgement of the courts one should accept."

Jayalalitha also appealed to her partymen not to sacrifice their lives in protest against her conviction.

She announced a solatium of Rs 10,000 to the family of Raja, a party sympathiser and daily wage earner at Tiruchirappalli, who allegedly set himself on fire and was in hospital for treatment of serious burn injuries.

She said, there was no need to be disheartened over the court verdict as it was not final and there were enough avenues for appeal and enough opportunities to prove her innocence.

Jayalalitha was sentenced to three years’ rigorous imprisonment in one case and to two years in another. Both related to the 1992 purchase of state-owned property belonging to the Tamil Nadu Small Industries Corporation (TANSI) by firms in which she and her close associate Sasikala Natarajan were partners while the former was Chief Minister.

The verdict gave rise to state-wide protests by AIADMK men who damaged buses, burnt one of them and blocked roads in many places. Hundreds of party activists were taken into custody during the protests.

Jayalalitha had yesterday justified the protests as ‘righteous’ response to the court verdict. (PTI)

Chitnis elected PTI Chairman

NEW DELHI, Oct 11: Prof E V Chitnis was unanimously elected Chairman of the Board of Directors of Press Trust of India here today.

Prof Chitnis, an eminent physicist, was elected to succeed N Ravi, editor of ‘The Hindu’, at a meeting of the Board following the 52nd annual general meeting of shareholders.

Vijay Kumar Chopra, Editor-in-Chief of the Hind Samachar group of newspapers, was elected the Vice-Chairman in place of Prof Chitnis, who was the Director of the Space Application Centre of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), from 1981 to 1985.

Prof Chitnis is one of the three public interest directors on the PTI Board, the other two being Justice H R Khanna and N A Palkhivala.

Shekhar Gupta, Editor-in-Chief of the Indian Express, was also elected to the Board at the meeting of shareholders in place of the newspaper’s Managing Editor Vivek Goenka.

Other directors representing newspapers on the board are N Ravi (The Hindu), C R Irani (The Statesman), Shobhana Bhartia (The Hindustan Times), R Lakshmipathy (Dinmalar), Pravinchandra V Gandhi (Janmabhoomi), Philip Mathew (Malayala Manorama), M P Veerendra Kumar (Mathrubhumi), Vineet Kumar Jain (The Times of India), K N Hari Kumar (Deccan Herald) and Aveek Kumar Sarkar (Ananda Bazar Patrika).

Prof Chitnis, 75, who has been closely associated with space and communication projects like Thumba Equatorial Rocket launching, brings with him rich experience in the fields of satellite communication and space application for development and television experiments.

Beginning his carrer as a physicist at Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad, Chitnis earned an offer to join Prof Bruno Rossi’s world renowned Cosmic Ray Group at Massachusetts Instilogy, USA.

Dr. Vikram Sarabhai assigned him the responsibility of the world’s largest Indo-US communication experiment-site (satellite instructional television experiment) which was successfully conducted in 2400 villages in 1975-76.

Besides Padma Bhushan, Prof Chitnis received the Vikram Sarabhai Life-time Achievement Award in 1996 for contributions to educational communication. He represented India at the meetings of the UN committee on the peaceful uses of outer space between 1967 and 1973.

Vijay Kumar Chopra is Chairman-cum-Managing Director as also Editor-in-Chief of Hind Samachar Group of newspapers, which has grown to be the fourth largest group of newspapers in the country since his taking over in 1984.

Chopra, who was awarded Padma Shri in 1990, undertook training in the UK for Thompson Foundation Newspaper Management Course and in printing technology in Leipzig (Germany).

He made hiby running rotary web offset press with the help of a tractor in 1974 when electricity supply was denied to the newspapers.

He has won several awards in the field of journalism including those of FIE Foundation, Foundation of Freedom of Information and Munshi Prem Chand Award. (PTI)

Chronology of developments in JMM MPs bribery case

NEW DELHI, Oct 11: Following is the chronology of developments in the JMM MPs bribery case in which the trial court of Additional Sessions Judge Ajit Bharihoke today reserved judgment on the quantum of sentence to convicted former Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao and his erstwhile cabinet colleague Buta Singh.

Feb 1, 1996 : Rashtriya Mukti Morcha (RMM) president Ravinder Kumar approaches CBI, seeking booking of a case for alleged bribing of opposition MPs to vote against July 28, 1993 no-confidence motion against then P V Narasimha Rao Government.

Mar 25, 1996: CBI registers four FIRs against JMM MPs Suraj Mandal, Shibu Soren, Simon Marandi and Shailendra Mahato.

May 24, 1996: Delhi High Court orders CBI to register fresh FIR on the basis of RMM complaint which had named Mr Rao.

Sep 4, 1996 : CBI questions Narasimha Rao.

Sep 5, 1996 : Soren, Marandi, Mandal arrested in Delhi.

Sep 6, 1996: Mahato arrested in Jamshedpur.

Oct 30,1996 : CBI files first chargesheet, naming as accused Rao, Buta Singh, Satish Sharma, Soren, Mandal, Marandi and Mahato.

Nov 8, 1996 : Rao gets anticipatory bail from Delhi High Court.

Dec 9, 1996 : CBI files second chargesheet naming six as accused —V Rajeshwar Rao, H M Revenna, Ramalinga Reddy, M Veerappa Moily, D K Adikeshavalu and M Thimme Gowda.

Jan 4, 1997 : Marandi, Mandal, Soren and Mahato released on bail after being in jail for four months.

Jan 22,1997 : CBI files third chargesheet naming eight as accused — Ajit Singh, R L Yadav, Bhajan Lal, Ram Saran Yadav, Abhay Pratap Singh, Haji Ghulam Mohammed, Roshan Lal and Anadi Charan Das.

Mar 17,1997 : Mahato seeks to become approver.

Apr 8, 1997 : Court permits Mahato to turn approver, pardons him. May 6, 1997 : Trial court decides to frame charges against all 20 accused, rejects petitions to name then Congress president Sitaram Kesri as accused.

Sep 12,1997 : Delhi High Court upholds trial court decision to frame charges.

Sep 15,1997 : Trial court frames charges against Rao, 19 others.

Oct 13,1997 : Rao, Bhajan, Moily file SLPs in Supreme Court seeking constitutional immunity under Article 105. Court issues notice to CBI, but refuses to stay trial.

Nov 18,1997 : Three-member SC bench refers SLPs to constitution bench for interpretation of Article 105.

Apr 17,1998 : In a three-two verdict, SC rules that Article 105(2) of the Constitution provides immunity to bribe takers — Mandal, Soren, Marandi, Mahato, R L Yadav, Roshan Lal, Anadicharan Das, Abhay Pratap Singh, Haji Ghulam Mohammed — as their act involved voting in Parliament. Those accused of giving bribes are liable to prosecution. Dec 8, 1998 : Government seeks review of judgment. SC subsequently dismisses petition, citing the long delay on part of Government.

May 20,1999 : Ajit Singh, R L Yadav, eight others move trial court seeking discharge in the light of SC verdict.

June 4,1999 : Nine accused — Marandi, Soren and Mandal (besides approver Mahato who was also JMM MP), — and the former break-away Janata Dal (A) MPs — Ramlakhan Singh Yadav, who was also a Union Minister, Abhay Pratap Singh, Anadi Charan Das, Ram Sharan, Roshan Lal and Haji Ghulam Mohammed — discharged.

May 30, 2000: Trial ends, judge reserves judgment.

Sep 29, 2000: Court delivers judgment, convicting Rao and Buta Singh and letting off nine others including former Union Ministers Ajit Singh and Satish Sharma and former Chief Ministers Bhajan Lal and M Veerappa Moily. Order on sentence reserved for Oct. 11

Oct 11, 2000: Court reserves order on quantum of sentence for Oct.12 after hearing arguments by the defence and prosecution. (UNI)

Gen Musharraf’s one year rule witnesses
increase in violence

The growing violence in Pakistan has not remained confined to Sindh province, but it has engulfed Punjab where 21 bomb blasts occurred since the military took over in October last year, leaving 66 dead and 320 injured, the Friday Times and other press reports said.

Political parties have also started questioning the accountability process of Gen Musharraf, which had so far not taken any action against the corrupt defence officials, who have allegedly received hundreds of crores of rupees in multi-billion dollars arms sales in the past ten years.

In the international arena, the west and other countries have not shown interest to maintain good relations with Pakistan and in fact some of them rejected the nomination of top military officers as envoys of Pakistan. They had intensified pressure on the Government to restore the democratic rule. Pakistan remain suspended in all forums of the commonwealth, which has hinted further action against the military junta if democracyis not restored.

Pakistan also remained in a financial mess with the country’s economy showing no prospects of improvement. The international monetary fund and other financial institutions are reluctant to help the military regime to overcome the economic crisis.

Leaders of Sindh, Baluchistan and the NWFP recently met in London to chalk out strategy to fight the military rule and even demanded greater autonomy for their provinces. They have also decided to launch an agitation if their demands were not met by the military regime. The leaders also feared repression agains their activists by the Government.

On the issue of accountability, Qazi Ahmed Hussain of the Jamaat Islami had criticised some of the advisors of Gen Musahrraf. He said they have also accused Finance Minister Shukat Aziz and State Bank Governor Mohammed Yaqub, besides Gen Musharraf of acquiring properties worth crores of rupees.

Nawai Waqt Daily also has come down heavily on the Accountability Bureau, stating its approach is "selective." It had not initiated any action against defence officials.

The economic situation has worsened and the Government has to increase prices of petroleum and other products under pressure from the financial institutions, the reports said. (UNI)

Bhagwaan Gopi all in all
Snakes at his beck and call

By B. L. Kak

Emotion excited by what surpassed expectation or experience: Bhagwaan Gopinath "appeared" to have taken a bath only twice during the last 30 years of his life. First at the Khirbhawani shrine in Ganderbal sector of Kashmir, and, second time he took a bath was in his last residential abode at Chandpora in Srinagar during the harsh winter of 1962-63.

This finding is contained in Pandit S.N. Fotedar’s book titled Jagadguru: Bhagwaan Gopinath Ji. Even as Pandit Fotedar’s association with him lasted more than 20 years, nothing has been mentioned as to why Bhagwaan Gopinath took a bath only twice during the last three decades of his life-that is, between 1938 and 1968.

Bhagwaan Gopinath was nearly 70 when he breathed his last on May 28, 1968. What Pandit Fotedar chose to emphasise was that even though the ‘Jagadguru’ did not take a bath, his skin gave out an aroma. In fact, the biographical study has, for reasons best known to Pandit Fotedar, avoided bringing to the fore the factors responsible for the unwillingness or inability of Bhagwaan Gopinath to take a regular bath even during summer months.

After the great ordeal he underwent during the 1930-37 period, Bhagwaan Gopinath obviously did not want to expose a part of the treasure he had acquired: Power to have snakes and handle them in accordance with his wishes. His secret, constant association with snakes also confirmed his "direct contact" with the snake-God, Shiva. During the meditation during the 7-year crucial period of his life, Bhagwaan Gopinath also established the fact that he was Lord Shiva’s ‘pupil’.

At the end of the 7-year-long tapasya, Bhagwaan Gopinath chose to have one or two snakes around his waist, under his pheran. The unnatural phenomenon was part of his spiritual accomplishments. Obviously, he did not want his new companion (snake) to get exposed. Hence, his unwillingness to take a bath. Pandit S.N. Fotedar’s book does contain an instance vis-à-vis Bhagwaan Gopinath’s power to produce a snake as per requirements at a particular point of time.

Pandit Fotedar has quoted Pandit Vish Nath, an old man in the employ of Ganesh Asthapan, Srinagar, as saying that on the day following Diwali in 1960 he called on Bhagwaan Gopinath in the afternoon, when he found many people at his residential premises. "A young man from among them picked up a lump of hashish lying in front of Bhagwaan Ji while the latter was busy smoking his chilum, and hid it in his pheran pocket. After Bhagwaan Ji had finished smoking, he asked the young man to keep the hashish tied in a handkerchief. Thereupon, the young man noticed that the pocket in which he had placed the hashish had become heavy. He also sensed something moving in it. After he had put a hand into the pocket, he started shrieking, ‘A snake, a snake, I am dying, I am dying. Save me’. And a black snake, about 3 feet long, came out of the pocket, and all those present in the room, including Bhagwaan Ji’s sister, bolted…."

Bhagwaan Gopinath killed two birds with one stone: In the first place, he imparted a lesson on honesty and integrity of mind. Second, he demonstrated his supremacy over the awe-inspiring creature like poisonous snake. The snake, which came out of the culprit’s pheran pocket, crawled on to Bhagwaan Gopinath’s lap and stayed there for a while. He was found patting it on its back with his right hand and then asked it to go away. According to the book, the snake obeyed his master (Bhagwaan Gopinath) and crawled into one of the folds of his aasna and was "never seen again".

Those who had, over the years, come close to him had found him with a "full vision" of the past, the present and the future. Curiously, however, their master (Bhagwaan Gopinath) had kept them in the dark about his belief in astrology. Bhagwaan Gopinath couldn’t be blamed, considering the fact that the supremely great mind of Francis Bacon found room for a belief in astrology. Kepler, one of the founders of modern astronomy, avows that a study of the facts has "instructed and compelled my unwilling belief" in the inexplicable relationship of planetary aspects and conjunctions with human affairs.

Bhagwaan Gopinath was a great spiritualist. But he always avoided holding discussions on spiritualism. In connection with the whole volume of research that goes by the name of spiritualism, it is as certain as the occasional appearance of comets in the sky, that spiritual seances are sometimes-very often-attended by invisible beings who are actually the departed souls of people who once lived in the body. Persons who deny that are ignorant as they are silly.

They are ignorant of the fact that scores-hundreds, indeed-or highly-cultured people b ear testimony to their experience in that matter, and they are silly in supposing that their trumpery little prepossessions as to what is probable and what is improbable are to be set against the positive evidence of others at variance with those prepossessions. Also they are marvellously silly in supposing that because they may go to some spiritualistic séance and see reason to think the proceedings are imposture, therefore the proceedings at all other seances must be imposture too, There are forged bank-notes in the world, no doubt, but that does not militate against the fact that there are also others which are genuine.

But on the other hand, while the rank disbelievers in spiritualism are foolish to an exasperating degree, the devotees of that pursuit are grievously unscientific in their methods, as a rule. They are on the threshold of a mighty science, but they too often think themselves in possession of advanced knowledge. Spiritualism has certainly shown, what, indeed, could have been ascertained in other ways, that the human soul survives the death of the body.

But it has not explained the destinies of the human soul after death, because people who pass away only learn about these by degrees, and while they are in a position to communicate with friends still in flesh, they have rarely gone very far on their ultimate journey, and have not acquired any knowledge concerning its later stages.

Bhagwaan Gopinath was a clairvoyant. The term "clairvoyance", in this case, means, of course, no more than clear seeing-seeing, that is to say, with the eye of the mind, in some mysterious fashion, which has nothing to do with optics, but, nevertheless, is a bona fide perception of actual things. Clairvoyance is a faculty as old as the world. A humble analogy may be derived from the position of the man (Bhagwaan Gopinath) on a ladder looking overt a maze in which holiday-makers are wandering about and trying to find their way.

In the midst of the twists and obstacles they cannot tell at any given moment whether they are pursuing a path that will enable them to get out, or running up a cul-de-sac. But the man on the ladder can see quite plainly. He can see the obstacle or clear path, as the case may be, which is veiled from their sight. Therefore, he can foretell whether they will go on or very soon be turned back.

Women empowerment essential for
sustainable development

CHANDIGARH, Oct 11: The empowerment and autonomy of women and improvement of their social, economic and political status is essential for achievement of both transparent and accountable administration as well as sustainable development in all areas of life, says Dr Kumud Sharma, Director, Centre for Women Development Studies, New Delhi. Speaking at the opening session of regional consultation on gender and governance workshop organised by Haryana Department of Women and Child Development here yesterday.

She said for promoting gender equality and gendered governance, several issues needed to be addressed collectively.

The main challenges that require attention include making local governance bodies more representative effective.

She said developing local area planning systems that reflect the priorities of the community particularly the poor and setting up of monitoring and information sharing systems would ensure that resources meant for development were used effectively.

Dr Sharma said that coordinating activities of Civil Society Organisations and elected local bodies and strengthening the operational capabilities of local bodies were also necessary.

There was also a need to expand economic opportunities for women and to strengthen their role in governance. The much neglected area of violence against women and children also needed to be addressed and effective changes in mind-sets that perpetuate anti-female bias also required to be brought about.

Deepa Jain Singh, Commissioner and Secretary, Social Welfare and Women and Child Development, Haryana said Indian women had made their presence felt in every sphere. Sex ratio, she said, had gone down alarmingly since the beginning of the century. This was despite the fact that women had ruled and been in power in india and a number of other countries. "Only proper governance will help curb this problem. The gender and governance has to be synthesised together and women made part of decision making".

Dheera Khandelwal, Director, Haryana Department of Women and Child Development said the objective of the workshop was to deliberate upon the Government’s responses to issue of gender in various sectors and initatives taken by the Government in the form of structures and agencies. Its objective was also to action plans including the state plans and to analyse the programmes formulated by the state with regard to affirmative action for women in local self Government, particularly in panchayats and urban local bodies.

A report on the status of women in Haryana and initiatives taken by the Government for women’s development was presented by Dr Reicha Tanwar, Director, Women’s Studies Research Centre, Kurukshetra University and Dr Belu Maheshwari, Department of History, Panjab University, Chandigarh.

The report emphasiseds the status of women as being an elusive concept which could be defined as the degree of women’s access to material resources like food, income, land and other assets within the family, community and society at large.

The status of women is inter-related with their economic position which, in turn, depends upon their rights, roles and opportunities for participation in economic activity,it says.

It has also presented the role of the State Government in reducing gender irregularities through various developmental programmes with direct focus on women’s development.

The participating states in this north regional consultation included Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana and Union Territory of Chandigarh. (UNI)