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| Pak Army authority now above ISI Musharraf will continue as Army Chief From B L Kak NEW DELHI, Aug 17: Pakistan President and military ruler, Gen. Parvez Musharraf, is keen to retain control over the Army...more NEW DELHI, Aug 17: The cabinet has approved six bills, likely to be introduced in the current.....more Love
against historical NEW DELHI, Aug 17: With almost fifty India-based television channels reaching out to many....more Daughter
of creator NEW DELHI, Aug 17: Mr K Rammohan Rao, TDP, today stunned the Rajya......more |
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‘Abu Salem had threatened Gulshan because of Nadeem’ MUMBAI, Aug 17: A few days before audio king Gulshan Kumar was gunned down, Dubai-based .........more NEW DELHI, Aug 17: Justice P Venkatarama Reddi and Justice Ashok Bhan were today sworn in as .......more Keep out
contentious NEW DELHI, Aug 17: Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee today said contentious issues in the .....more HC rejects
Bharat MUMBAI, Aug 17: Mumbai High Court today rejected the bail plea of incarcerated film financier....more |
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Pak
Army authority now above ISI From B L Kak NEW DELHI, Aug 17: Pakistan President and military ruler, Gen. Parvez Musharraf, is keen to retain control over the Army. Hence, his plan to give himself an extension as Army Chief. According to intelligence reports, an announcement in this regard is expected next month. Gen. Musharraf does not want to act like Ayub Khan, who made the mistake in the 1960s by elevating himself as Field Marshal and giving the Army to Yahya Khan, who later threw him out. If these reports were to be believed, there is no rift between Gen. Musharraf and some of his hawkish Corps Commanders. Men of consequence like Lt. Gen. Mohammed Aziz, Lt. Gen. MH Usmani and ISI chief, Lt. Gen. Mahmood Ahmed ads well as most of the remaining Lt. Generals, especially the Chief of General Staff Mohammed Yusuf Khan, are ‘loyal’ to Gen. Musharraf. Gen. Musharraf is also reported to be toying with the idea of extending the services of his trusted Lt. Generals. The idea, once translated into action, will effectively deny promotion to a host of Major Generals in the Pak Army. The officer corps, which is drawn from modern, educated families who keep their religion at home, do not, as it is, pose any challenge to Gen. Musharraf. The challenge is expected from the troops, coming from lower middle class families. They have, it is already become an open secret, become increasingly dogmatic about their faith in the post-Zia-ul-Haq era. Intelligence reports insist that the prolonged association with lawless jihadis has corrupted a section of the Pak troops. The ISI cadres, too, have been found quite friendly with Islamic fanatics and jihadis. But this may not be a serious problem for Gen. Musharraf, considering the fact that he has managed to change the power equation in Pakistan. The ISI, which earlier controlled the Government and the Army remained subservient, has undergone a definite change. Gen. Musharraf has reversed the situation by appointing his man, Lt. Gen. Mohammed Ahmed, as the chief of Inter-Services Intelligence. The political authority and the Army authority in Pakistan are now placed above the ISI. Gen. Musharraf has positioned himself on the nationalistic right. While spanking the jihadis, he has, in a significant development, ordered to seize unlicensed weapons and to make madrassas submit accounts. This is interpreted as signs of his desire to establish a civil society in Pakistan. Uncontradicted messages from Islamabad insist that Gen. Musdharraf, post-Agra, has positioned himself firmly on the nationalistic right which hates India. The challenge now is to rein in the religious right that hates the blabbering Hindu. It is generally felt in Pakistan that Gen. Musharraf’s India visit, under whose cover he made himself President, has been his most important and fruitful. Pakistan publication, Dawn, has noted that his reception in India, the way his visit became a media event and how he put across the Kashmir case has "reinforced his standing as a leader". "For providing him this opportunity he has reason to be thankful to Mr Vajpayee", the publication remarked. Whatever the attitude adopted by his critics towards him, there is no doubt that his foremost achievement so far is the consolidation of his rule-not too difficult a task given the Army’s backing and the Opposition of such fearsome luminaries as the Sharifs, Benazir Bhutto and unshaven mullahs of the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy. What does Gen. Musharraf’s new-found confidence and media-savviness mean for Pakistan? It means the obvious: An extended Presidential term and a new system whose foundations-in the form of local elections and election of Army approved nazims and naib nazims-are already being laid. These are not signs of an early exit. On the contrary, they hold the promise of a long haul. |
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NEW DELHI, Aug 17: The cabinet has approved six bills, likely to be introduced in the current session of Parliament, including controversial Electricity Bill, 2001, to prevent theft and carry on reforms in this sector as well as amendment in the salary, allowances and pensions of MPs Act, 1954, to enhance the salary and allowance of parliamentmembers. The cabinet has also decided to amend — Indian Divorce (Amendment) Bill, 2000 and Registration and Other Matters (Amendment) Bill, 2000 — in line with the recommendations made by the respective standing committees of Parliament. A comprehensive bill — The Electricity Bill, 2001 — will be introduced in the current session of Parliament, which ensures reforms in the power sector. The bill will also replace three acts the Indian Electricity Act, 1910, the Electricity Supplies Act, 1948 and the Electricity Regulatory Commission Act, 1998. Another major bill, which was approved by the cabinet, was the repeal of Sick Industrial Companies (Special Provision) Act 1985 (SICA) to ensure that the process of winding up of a company, which is taking about 20 to 25 years, reduced to about two years. Companies coming Banking Regulation Act, 1949 will not be affected by the proposed legislation. Another bill approved by the cabinet was, SC/ST order (Amendment), Bill 2001, which seeks to ensure that sub-castes of Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra will continue to get the SC/ST status, after their re-settlement in Gujarat due to the Sardar Saravor Project on Narmada river. The need to amend the order arises as few castes were not in the list of Gujarat though they were enjoying SC/ST status in their home state. An official spokesperson said the Indian Divorce Act was introduced in the Rajya Sabha in the winter session of Parliament and later referred to the standing committee as few christian organisation objected to certain provisions. The amendment in Registration Act will check Benami transactions in the sale or purchase of property and prohibit compulsory registration of property with the authorities. The bill was also introduced in the winter session of Parliament. The cabinet has also decided to extend the tenure of National Statistical Commission, headed by C Rangarajan, by one month till August 18. The Commission was set up early this year to suggest reforms and identify deficiencies in the statistical system of the country. The cabinet also discussed the first judicial pay commission report. The report to the Government was submitted on November 11, 1999 and a final decision will be taken after detailed deliberations. (UNI) |
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Love against historical
backdrops: Patriotism NEW DELHI, Aug 17: With almost fifty India-based television channels reaching out to many countries, it is not surprising that the unfurling of the national tricolour on the ramparts of the historical Red Fort was seen in more countries than ever before. But viewers overseas must have been equally surprised to see how the adrenaline runs throughout the week before and after August 15, Independence Day. If some could not telecast films depicting patriotism as some channels had beaten them to it, they got films with perhaps one song - or a single scene - that could be linked to patriotism as bollywood understands it: Loud protestations of love for the motherland and hatred for her enemies. Thus, films being shown this week have a variety, from the black and white ‘Jagriti’, ‘Anandmath’ and ‘Shaheed’ to the more recent ‘Henna’, ‘Lalkaar’, ‘Hindustan Ki Kasam’ and ‘Border’. Patriotism has always been a kind of trump card with bollywood producers, and it has generally been felt that if some eyes become moist by seeing scenes of sacrifices made in defence of the motherland, then the film has served its purpose and will be a box office success. The success of ‘Lagaan’ and ‘Gadar: Ek Prem Katha’ are testimony to this. But the definition of patriotism in Indian cinema has changed over the years: If it referred in the early post-independence period to sacrifices made for the motherland, it changed later to fighting enemies within the country, like the corrupt, the smugglers or the spies. But with a newer generation having attained adulthood during the past two decades, a kind of nostalgia has begun to seep in and once again there are films showing the enemies bent on creating chaos within the country - often with help from traitors - and some going back to either the British times or India’s relations with her nearest neighbour, Pakistan. Another change has been to shift from ‘historicals’ like ‘Gandhi’, ‘The making of a Mahatma’, ‘Ambedkar’ or ‘Sardar’ to modern stories set against the backdrop of actual events in history so that they can draw audiences while giving a bit of history. Thus, films like ‘Train to Pakistan’, ‘1947 earth’, ‘1942 - a love story’, ‘Henna’, ‘Mission Kashmir’, ‘Border’, ‘Sarfarosh’, ‘Hey Ram’ and ‘Refugee’, and the more recent ‘Lagaan’ and ‘Gadar’ all have stories that went down well without these films looking like archival material from dusty shelves of pre-independence India. But it is not merely films like these that can be termed patriotic. An Amrish Puri singing ‘I love my India’ in ‘Pardes’ or Pankaj Uddhas singing ‘Chithhi Aayee Hai’ brings tears to the eyes today just as ‘Aie Mere Watan Ke Logo’ by Lata Mangeshkar or ‘Mere Desh Ki Dharti Sona Ugley’ by Mahendra Kapoor did three to four decades ago. Before the country became independent, patriotism was used in cinema to arouse people against the British rulers. In the ‘silent’ era itself, there were films like D G Ganguly’s ‘England returned’ (1921), Baburao Painter’s ‘Sairandhri’, ‘End of slavery’. In the early talkie era, there were films like ‘President’ by Nitin Bose, Sohrab Modi’s ‘Pukar’, ‘Dharti Ke Lal’ by Khwaja Ahmed Abbas, and V Shantaram’s ‘Dr Kotnis Ki Amar Kahani’ which ridiculed the British or invoked a sense of nationalism. In the late thirties, V Shantaram made a film on the life of Chattrapati Shivaji which was initially named ‘Swarajya Toran’ but changed to ‘Udaykal’ when the British rulers objected to the word ‘Swarajya’. In the early forties, Vijay Bhatt made ‘Ram Rajya’ (believed to be the only film that the Father of the Nation ever saw) had a dialogue which impressed Mahatma Gandhi: ‘Bhawna Se Kartavya Ooncha Hai’ (duty is above emotion or sentiment). This film also had a song - ‘Bharat Ki Ek Sannari Ki Hum Katha Sunnate Hain’ (we tell you the story of a virtuous woman of India) - which conveyed a strong message to those who saw it. The ‘virtuous woman’, Lord Ram’s wife Seeta, tormented by the demon king Ravana, symbolized the motherland under British yoke. Mehboob’s ‘Aurat’ (later remade as ‘Mother India’) conveyed much the same feeling. Later, filmmakers also sought to expose decadent social norms while preaching nationalism. Bimal Roy’s ‘Do Bigha Zameen’ or Shantaram’s ‘Do Aankhen Barah Haath’ were steps in this direction, as were films like ‘Devdas’. ‘Naya Sansar’, ‘Dushman’, ‘My sister’, and ‘Grihalakshmi’ were all films in this direction. Soon after independence, Abbas made ‘Dharti Ke Lal’ in 1949 on rural indebtedness, while Raj Kapoor made the country’s first ‘Socialist’ film: ‘Awara’, followed by ‘Shri 420’, both of which were aimed at exposing the weaknesses of the new nation. And soon after, Manoj Kumar came up with a sure-win formula to appeal to the Indian audiences and awaken the feelings of patriotism. His films ‘Upkaar’, ‘Purab Aur Paschim’, ‘Roti Kapda Aur Makaan’ and ‘Kranti’ enraptured viewers with their music and emotional situations. Songs like ‘Aie Watan’ or ‘Sarfaroshi Ki Tamanna’ from ‘Shaheed’, ‘Mere Desh Ki Dharti’ from ‘Upkar’ and ‘Bharat Ka Rehne Wala Hoon’ from ‘Purab Aur Paschim’, and ‘Hum Us Desh Ke Waasi Hain’ and ‘Aa Ab Laut Chalein’ from Raj Kapoor’s ‘Jis Desh Mein Ganga Behti Hai’ helped to rekindle patriotic feelings. Even filmmakers like Dev Anand did their bit in films like ‘Des Pardes’, ‘Prem Pujari’ and ‘Hare Rama Hare Krishna’. Filmmakers of the early seventies led by Shyam Benegal showed their anger in the poor gains of independence in films like ‘Ankur’, but the question ‘Whither India’ began to come up loudly in films in the early nineties. Filmmakers like mani rathnam raised these questions in ‘Roja’, ‘Bombay’, and other films, while Benegal attempted to raise certain relevant questions related to partition (raised many years ago by M S Sathyu in ‘Garam Hawa’ and more recently by J P Dutta’s ‘Refugee’, Deepa Mehta’s ‘1947 earth’, Pamela Rooks’ ‘Train to Pakistan’, and Anil Sharma’s ‘Gadar: Ek Prem Katha’). New underproduction films like ‘Ek Hindustani’ and ‘Aaj Ka Raavan’ prove that patriotism as a theme will never die in popular Indian cinema, since it keeps reminding the average Indian of the independence won with great pain. (UNI) |
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Keep out contentious issues in Women’s Bill: Vajpayee NEW DELHI, Aug 17: Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee today said contentious issues in the Women’s Reservation Bill should be kept out at the initial stage to forge a consensus for its early passage in Parliament. "All of us know where the differences lie. I believe that it is not difficult to arrive at a consensus by keeping contentious issues out at this initial stage of enacting this revolutionary legislation," Vajpayee told the National Forum for Women’s Rights here. Though the Government was in favour of giving maximum reservation but "some male colleagues" think granting of the same would not be good for women’s welfare, he said. "But one cannot stop it (reservation bill) for long," Vajpayee said amidst thumping of desks by a large number of women, including women parliamentarians. Vajpayee called upon all political parties to evolve a consensus on "one of the most important promises" made to Indian women — reservation for women in Parliament and state legislatures. Complimenting late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi for ushering in panchayat raj system which gave reservation to women, Vajpayee said "we should appreciate him for his revolutionary and far-sighted thinking. It was not that he would not have visualised problems attached with it." Emphasising that universalisation of education, especially for women, should be taken up as a "national movement", Vajpayee said a lot was needed to be done for women’s literacy to achieve real empowerment. Regretting that the universalisation of education lacked the required momentum, he said there were nations which have hundred per cent literacy vis-a-vis women. "Why not India achieve such a feat?" he asked. Citing Mahatma Gandhi’s ideology that teaching a women could educate the whole family, the Prime Minister said "I will go a step further. Educating a woman means educating a whole generation." On the demand for amendment in various legislations including equal property rights for women, Vajpayee said there was no dearth of legislations and what was required was effective implementation and awareness among women for their rights. (PTI) |
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HC rejects Bharat Shah’s bail plea MUMBAI, Aug 17: Mumbai High Court today rejected the bail plea of incarcerated film financier Bharat Shah, charged with developing links with the underworld for targetting bollywood personalities for personal gains. Rejecting Shah’s bail petition, Justice A B Palkar said he would give a reasoned order later. Film producer Mahesh Bhatt and Shah’s sons, Rashesh and Rajiv, were present in the jam-packed courtroom. Shah, who is now convalescing in Lilavati Hospital following cardiac problems, was arrested on January eight under the provisions of Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA). The High Court has thrice rejected his bail while on three occasions earlier, the trial court turned down his plea for liberty. Shah has claimed he had financed the movie ‘Chori Chori Chupke Chupke’ while police alleged that it was in possession of tape-recorded telephonic talks between Shah and Karachi-based gangster Chhota Shakeel which revealed that the the film had been made at the behest of the latter. He pleaded that the film was financied by his firm ‘Mega Bollywood’ and this was reflected in agreements signed with the producer. Public prosecutor Rohini Salian argued that a prima facie case had been made out against Bharat Shah and High Court had upheld this argument while rejecting his bail plea earlier. She disagreed with Shah’s submission that the telephone talk between him, film producer Nasim Rizvi and Karachi-based gangster was not incriminating. Referring to the transcript of recorded telephone messages, Shah’s lawyers submitted that many film personalities had talked to Shakeel but only Shah had been singled out and was being denied bail. They argued that their client had only tried to help the victims of extortion by pleading on their behalf with the alleged gangster. Shah had talked to him on Rizvi’s telephone only to save their lives, the court was told. The producer’s lawyers said bollywood was in "complete" grip of the underworld because police had failed to provide security to the victims of extortion. Shah had also challenged the February 12 order of designated judge A P Bhangale who appointed Santosh Singh Jain as court receiver to release the film, attached on the plea of the prosecution. The money realised from the film’s proceeds after its release has been deposited in the state treasury. Shah later amended his petition and challenged only a portion of the trial court’s order which asked him to deposit with the court receiver Rs four crore received by him from various distributors even before the film was complete. Shah contended that his firm mega bollywood had financed the film in terms of agreement entered into with the producer Nasim Rizvi wherein it was settled that distribution rights would be vested with the financier. (PTI) |
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