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No threat to Vajpayee MUKTASAR, Mar 20: Lambasting the opposition for disrupting proceedings in Parliament in the .....more RSS-backed outfit NEW DELHI, Mar 20: The RSS-backed cultural outfit ‘Sanskar Bharati’ today announced that it ....more Mohanlal set to play THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, Mar 20: From the glitz and glare of the tinsel world, Malayalam....more Harshad allowed to MUMBAI, Mar 20: A special court today allowed ‘big bull’ Harshad Mehta to examine defence..more |
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anti-dumping investigation initiated against Nepal NEW DELHI, Mar 20: Government has for the first time initiated an anti-dumping investigation......more
Differences within NEW DELHI, Mar 20: Differences within Janata Dal (United) persisted today with its Rajya Sabha.....more Situation improves KANPUR, Mar 20: Encouraged on the improvement in the situation, the district administration today......more Sena chief demands MUMBAI, Mar 20: Joining the opposition attack on the Prime Ministers’s Office....more |
No threat to Vajpayee Govt, says Badal MUKTASAR, Mar 20: Lambasting the opposition for disrupting proceedings in Parliament in the wake of the tehelka.Com’s expose of defence deals, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has said there was no threat to the Atal Behari Vajpayee Government at the Centre. Talking to mediapersons at his village, Badal in this district late last evening, the Chief Minister said the Shiromani Akali Dal will continue to support the BJP-led NDA Government at the Centre. He also welcomed the Prime Minister’s announcement ordering a probe into the defence deals scandal by a Supreme Court judge. Mr Badal said he will meet Mr Vajpayee in New Delhi tomorrow to press his demand for announcement of the Minimum Support Price (MSP) for wheat. Adding he was hopeful that the Prime Minister would take an early decision in this regard. The Chief Minister said he would also put forward a request for speedy movement of wheat stocks from the state so that procurement agencies would have adequate storage space. The State Government had created an additional capacity of 19 lakh mt, he said. Mr Badal said he would also meet Defence Minister Jaswant Singh tomorrow to present a memorandum for early clearance of border areas road network in the districts of Gurdaspur, Amritsar and Firozepur. (UNI) |
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RSS-backed outfit to replicate
Bamiyan NEW DELHI, Mar 20: The RSS-backed cultural outfit ‘Sanskar Bharati’ today announced that it would "replicate" the Taliban demolished Bamiyan Buddhas in the Kulu Valley of Himachal Pradesh, if possible with debris of the statues from Afghanistan. The outfit’s activists have identified a monolith stone of the same size in identical surroundings and a team of 16 sculptors led by Sanskar Bharati’s Delhi art unit chief Advait Gannayak would begin work on the project from Buddha Purnima later this year, outfit spokesman Dev Mani Tripathi told PTI. Gannayak is a product of Shantiniketan and the Baroda School of Art. "It (the project) is our way of telling that India had provided refuge to all those persecuted in the name of religion in the past and will continue to do so in future," the outfit’s chief Shailendra Nath Srivastava said. "It will be our effort to get the debris of the demolished statues to be used in the new statues," he said. Sangh Parivar sources said the move is part of its efforts to forge fraternal relations with the Buddhist community. (PTI) |
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Mohanlal set to play Karna on stage THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, Mar 20: From the glitz and glare of the tinsel world, Malayalam superstar Mohanlal is coming on to the stage for the first time next week, to don the role of Karna in a Sanskrit play. The three-time national film award winner for the best actor is the protagonist of the play "Karnabharam" by Bhasa, which is being readied to be presented on stage by veteran dramatist and stage director Kavalam Narayana Panicker and his ‘Sopanam’ troupe. Thrilled at the prospect of adding a new dimension to his acting career, Mohanlal is eagerly looking forward to March 27 when the play is to be staged at New Delhi as part of the National School of Drama Festival. Mohanlal had an intense period of rehearsal at Sopanam and he learnt by heart his dialogues with the help of a recorded cassette made available to him by Kavalam. According to Kavalam, the play would depict the inner turmoil of Karna during the Kurukshetra war. It would be entirely up to Mohanlal to bring out the two conflicting emotions which besiege Karna at the dawn of the fateful day: The thought of his mother Kunti’s plea not to kill his brothers, the pandavas, and the thrill of the warrior on the battle-field. My first reaction when Mr Panicker offered me the role was ‘Ayyo’ (oh my god). But with his reassuring words, I decided to take up the challenge," Mohanlal says. In the shooting sets and even while moving from one set to another, he picked up the dialogues and learnt the nuances of Sanskrit pronunciation. He also spent days and nights at the rehearsal camp. Mohanlal says it is an entirely different experience to deliver the Sanskrit dialogue and understanding the meaning of it. He feels it has taken him to a "new level of existence". Always ready to experiment, he had taken lessons in Kathakali for a role in the film Vanaprastham which won for him a national award. Incidentally, the character portrayed by him as the Kathakali artiste was Arjuna, the rival to his present engagement, Karna. Kavalam rates Mohanlal as one who possesses a combination of both inborn and acquired talent. He has had a brush with Kathakali and Kalaripayattu, which will stand him in good stead for his present assignment. In fact, body formations are good and he is demanding to do (Kalari poses) more than what we actually expected him to do. He has already learnt all the dialogue which I sent to him in a cassette. He will make an excellent karna,’’ the Director vows. "Like a duck taking to water, he has imbibed the complex movements that characterise my theatre," Kavalam says. Mohanlal plans to capture the play on video and this would later be sub-titled and telecast. He intends to use the proceeds from this film to set up an academy for performing arts in the state. The day has come, "yells Karna in the play. So it has for Mohanlal. (UNI) |
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Situation improves in Kanpur, day curfew to be lifted KANPUR, Mar 20: Encouraged on the improvement in the situation, the district administration today decided to lift day curfew from Raipurwa locality from tomorrow, and relaxed it for one to two hours in other localities spread over eight police stations. Kanpur District Magistrate B S Bhullar told UNI that the administration has decided to lift day curfew from Raipurwa. However, as a precautionary measure, it would be reimposed at 1530 hours today. Curfew was relaxed for an hour between 1130 and 1230 hrs in Beconganj and Bazaria localities and for two hours in Chamnganj, Colonelganj, Moolganj, Anwarganj, Sisamau and Kotwali between 1330 and 1530 hours. Mr Bhullar said people purchased essential commodities during the relaxation period, which passed off peacefully. Inspector General of Police (Kanpur zone) Karamveer Singh said the situation was now improving and barring an incident in Phoolmati Ka Triraha, no untoward incident had occurred since last night. Indefinite curfew was imposed in areas spread over five police stations in the city on friday, after a demonstration held by three Muslim organisations, including the Student Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) against the burning of the holy Quran in New Delhi recently, resulted in communal riots. Curfew later was extended in four more police stations on Saturday. The riots left at least 17 dead, and many injured. More than 150 people have so far been arrested in connection with the recent violence. Police claim that they recovered over 225 country-made bombs and rifles during search and combing operations in the riot-hit areas. (UNI) |
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| Sena chief demands removal of Brajesh
Mishra, N K Singh MUMBAI, Mar 20: Joining the opposition attack on the Prime Ministers’s Office in the wake of Tehelka expose, Shiv Sena, chief Bal Thackeray today demanded immediate removal of Principal Secretary Brajesh Mishra and Officer on Special Duty N K Singh from the PMO till the judicial inquiry into the scandal was completed. Thackeray, whose party is a constituent of the ruling NDA coalition, also said that Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s foster son-in-law Ranjan Bhattacharya should have nothing to do with the PMO till the inquiry was completed. ‘If there are suspicions about National Security Advisor (NSA), Brajesh Mishra, Officer on Special Duty in PMO N K Singh and PM’s foster son-in-law Ranjan Bhattacharya, then they must be removed immediately’ the Sena supremo in an editorial in his party’s mouthpiece Saamna. ‘What is Mishra’s role as the chief of National Security Council’, the Sena chief questioned stating his functioning has come under attack right from the beginning. ‘Strictures have been passed against him (Mishra) in the Kargil episode while the nsa was not available to take decision to finalise the strategy when the Indian Airlines aircraft was hijacked from Nepal’, Thackeray alleged. Similarly, Singh has also received flak for his functioning, the editorial noted, questioning why such persons were needed in the PMO. Both Mishra and Singh yesterday publicly denied allegations made in the Tehelka tapes against them. Claiming that even NDA’s other allies have demanded their removal, Thackeray said as long as the enquiry in the Tehelka expose was completed ‘the trio should be removed from the PMO.’ Earlier, following the expose the Sena chief had demanded a thorough probe into the matter saying there was no need for the resignation of the Prime Minister. (PTI) |
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