Satta racket busted

NEW DELHI, Nov 3: Delhi police today claimed to have busted a satta racket related to transactions over yesterday’s one-day....more

Indian film wins
award at Italian
wildlife festival

NEW DELHI, Nov 3: Indian film-maker Mike Pandey’s ‘shores of silence: Whale sharks in India’, a short film about the mindless slaughter of whale.....more

Vittal defends
Tehelka expose

NEW DELHI, Nov 3: Attacking the critics of the Tehelka expose, Chief Vigilance Commissioner (CVC) N Vittal today defended the initiative, saying ....more

VHP favours constitutional amendment to build Ram temple

JAIPUR, Nov 3: The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) today said it favours an amendment to the Constitution to achieve the construction of a Ram temple at Ayodhya. ......more

Experts outline policies to eliminate hunger from India

NEW DELHI, Nov 3: Eminent experts, including Planning Commission Deputy Chairman K C Pant, have highlighted strategies for achieving freedom ....more

Bush, Vajpayee expected to have wide-ranging talks

WASHINGTON, Nov 3: US President George W Bush and Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee are expected to have wide-ranging talks but may not .....more

Confrontation brews
over ‘conversion’

NEW DELHI, Nov 3: A move by a Dalit organisation for mass conversion to Buddhism tomorrow appeared to be heading for a confrontation, with the .....more

Urdu poets regale
audience in Jeddah

DUBAI, Nov 3: Urdu poets from all over India regaled a packed audience in Jeddah with soulful recital of their compositions.....more
 

Satta racket busted

NEW DELHI, Nov 3: Delhi police today claimed to have busted a satta racket related to transactions over yesterday’s one-day cricket match between Sri Lanka and Pakistan in the ongoing Sharjah series with the arrest of one of the operators in north Delhi last night.

Anil Kumar Agarwal was arrested in his Shalimar Bagh residence around midnight following a tip-off while he was booking satta on the match, police sources said.

Agarwal, who had booked satta for Rs three lakh on the match, was allegedly working for two "big operators" named S K and Surinder Nandi.

A hunt has been launched to arrest the two operators, they said.

A colour TV, four telephones, a tape-recorder, six cassettes containing conversation regarding the transactions were seized from the premises, the sources said.(PTI)

Indian film wins award at Italian wildlife festival

NEW DELHI, Nov 3: Indian film-maker Mike Pandey’s ‘shores of silence: Whale sharks in India’, a short film about the mindless slaughter of whale sharks in the country, has won the top prize at the prestigious Turin Enrvironmental Film Festival in Italy.

The film, which won the ‘Green Oscar’ last year, received the best short film award ‘Citta Di Torino’ last week in the competition section at the ‘Cinemambiente’ festival that had 17 films from all over the world.

The 24-minute film was cited by the jury for being the "first visual documentation of the presence of whale sharks in India".

The award carries 1,500 euro, a scroll of honour and a citation.

Mahesh Mathai’s ‘Bhopal Express’ participated in the feature film section.

The three-member jury at the festival, which draws environmentalists and conservationists from across the globe, included Peter Myers of Greenpeace, UK and Director-Scriptwriter Luca Verdone.

‘Shores of silence’, which was shot off the Gujarat coast by Pandey for over three years, had won the second ‘Green Oscar’ for Pandey last year. He won the first ‘Green Oscar’ for ‘The last migration: Wild elephant capture in Sarguja’.

The jury said it was a "balanced film that reflects the plight of the fisherman as well as the necessity of the conservation of a species of which very little is known about and is not a food resource in India".

"It is a most remarkable film and speaks of conservation from the heart and approves that conservation can’t work in isolation," the citation said.

A few months after the film, which discovered the presence of whale sharks in India, was made the Government brought a total ban on the killing of whale sharks in the country under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. The Government also brought 40 other marine species of sharks, sea cucumbers, sea horses and corals under the act.

According to the film-maker, the whale shark is a highly endangered species. It’s the first time in India that a film was made on a marine species, he said.

The film also won an award at the Slovakian film festival last month and is selected to the competition section of gold Panda awards at the ongoing Seshwan film festival in China. (UNI)

Vittal defends Tehelka expose

NEW DELHI, Nov 3: Attacking the critics of the Tehelka expose, Chief Vigilance Commissioner (CVC) N Vittal today defended the initiative, saying it confirmed existence of middlemen in defence deals and suggested transparency and simplification of rules to eliminate corruption.

"Before the Tehelka, there was hypocrisy that there are no middlemen in defence deals. But the Tehelka episode has exposed that," Vittal said addressing a function of railwaymen, who are observing vigilance week.

The CVC, who has been investigating the defence deals, said the Tehelka expose had confirmed, what he had been saying since last year, about existence of middlemen.

"There are middlemen in defence deals," he said, adding "Tehelka was right in pointing out corruption."

Attacking the critics of the Tehelka operation, Vittal said, "fools are looking at the finger and not where it is pointing to."

"Corruption in defence and politics is regular in the system. But nobody is answering that," he added.

He lauded the role of the judiciary in trying to curb corruption and bring "probity in public life".

Suggesting simplification of rules and regulations and bringing of transparency in transactions to eliminate corruption, he said the CVC has be used as an agency to identify the menace.

The CVC was using various means, including use of internet, in its fight against corruption, he said and emphasised that the heads of departments not punishing the corrupt personnel are "incapable". (PTI)

VHP favours constitutional amendment to build Ram temple

JAIPUR, Nov 3: The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) today said it favours an amendment to the Constitution to achieve the construction of a Ram temple at Ayodhya.

"Religious heads ought to have the final say in religious matters. The Constitution needs to be changed if it is at variance with the opinion of religious leaders," VHP general secretary Praveen Togadia told a press conference here.

He said a mass movement would be launched against the Central Government if it did not make available land for the temple at Ayodhya before March 12.

He said a final announcement about such a movement would be made after religious heads congregate in Delhi on January 27.

Dr Togadia said the temple would be built before March 12 next year. "It is an issue very dear to millions of Ram bhakts in the country," he said.

He appealed to different parties to keep politics out of the temple movement. "The VHP is not interested in politics of any kind, he said. "If the Congress and the BJP both were to help us achieve what we want, then the BJP alone would not be able to take advantage of the temple movement," he said.

The VHP leader said the Congress leadership should respect the "Hindu sentiment". Congress president Sonia Gandhi should follow in the footsteps of her predecessors, he said, referring to the ‘shilanyas’ performed at Ayodhya during former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s tenure and the passive support of his successor, P V Narasimha Rao.

Ordinary Congress workers had taken part in the Ram temple movement in the past, he added.

About the talks that Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had said were on to resolve the Ayodhya issue, Mr Togadia said VHP leaders had met the Prime Minister. He said he did not know if any other party to the dispute also had held discussions with the Prime Minister.

Among other issues, Mr Togadia said it was unjustified to compare the Bajrang Dal with the banned Students Islamic Movement of India. (UNI)

Experts outline policies to eliminate hunger from India

NEW DELHI, Nov 3: Eminent experts, including Planning Commission Deputy Chairman K C Pant, have highlighted strategies for achieving freedom from hunger in India by 2007, saying this requires giving emphasis to people-oriented investment and efficient delivery systems.

While stressing the need to give women a pivotal role in economic activities, the experts said focus should be on extending opportunities of sustainable livelihood, decentralised food management, timely response to natural disasters and improving the market access of agricultural exports. A people-oriented investment means spending more on areas such as supply of clean drinking water, minimum, food nutrition, health care and education.

They were speaking on the subject of hunger following the release of a publication by Mr Pant last night. The experts were Dr Y K Alagh, former Union Power Minister and Vice-Chancellor of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Mr Pedro Medrano, Representative, World Food Programme, Prof Abhijit Sen, former Chairman, Agricultural Costs and Prices, and Mr M D Asthana, Principal Adviser, Planning Commission.

The collection, the outcome of a national consultation earlier, is a joint effort of the Planning Commission, world food programme and the M S Swaminathan Research Foundation. The papers discuss the paradox of coinciding food surplus and hunger in India and the role of food assistance programmes in ensuring household food security. Recommendations are presented in the form of a ten-point agenda for action during the tenth five-year plan period.

Mr Pant said the tenth plan will shift focus from a target -oriented approach to improved governance and delivery systems for food security and poverty alleviation programmes.

The achievement of food security for halving poverty by 2015 will require a strong political commitment at the national and global levels for priority both to resource allocation and policy reforms, experts said.

They were of the opinion that battling hunger required a multi-pronged strategy and the problem was not uni-dimensional. Saying that hunger is the worst form of deprivation, the experts pointed out that India alone comprised 207 million undernourished people. This is one-fourth of the world’s malnourished and more than one-fifth of the population of India.

The elimination of hunger would require putting agricultural investment and better functioning of agricultural markets on top of the policy agenda.

They highlighted the huge fiscal burden of maintaining 40 million tonnes of foodstocks, which in 1999-2000 was of the order of Rs 13,000 crore. Of this, the subsidy element was Rs 6,000 crore and Rs 7,000 crore was the cost of holding the stocks. This calls for operation of private trade which requires assistance of public institutions supporting the market. Dr Sen, who teaches at JNU, said the operation of three different prices in the Public Distribution System (PDS) gave scope for corruption. He said the operation of the PDS at the micro level was deplorable.

Mr Pant said while the country had solved, to a large extent, the problem of production of foodgrains, the main constraint was that of accessibility. "This entails generating incomes in the hands of the rural and urban poor. It requires that the fruits of development must accrue more and more to the poor. Upgradation of poverty alleviation programmes is crucial for this purpose."

He said the group of ministers in their meeting on October 31 had decided to set apart Rs 1,000 crore for ‘grain banks’ in tribal areas.

Dr Alagh said improving the efficiency of irrigation systems, faster groundwater exploitation through acquifier management and land and water management in difficult agro-climatic regimes would have to be at the heart of efforts to achieve higher agricultural productivity and equity.

"This will imply that the state will have to support organisational and financial reforms for faster replicability of such models. We need support for large programmes of small projects, he said.

The economist said such programmes would be the resource base for widespread agricultural growth, which would be a major way of raising the income levels of small farmers and landless labourers having a high proportion of poor and malnourished persons.

Diversification of Agriculture with faster growth of non-cereal crops, tree crops, horticulture and fish was necessary to raise income levels and thereby access to food by income growth of deprived rural populations, he said. Transport and communication, first stage processing and training infrastructure were the key elements. These investment requirements for a diversified agriculture were additional to land and water and crop technology support.

Dr Alagh said the process of market reforms would be central to this process. However, deprived sections of population, living in difficult agro-climatic zones, would need targeted subsides.

Mr Medrano said summit after summit and conference after conference had stressed the need for lifting the entire population out of hunger, but lack of political will was responsible for the tardy progress. "The problem of hunger, nutrition and food security is related to the entire development process." (UNI)

Bush, Vajpayee expected to have wide-ranging talks

WASHINGTON, Nov 3: US President George W Bush and Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee are expected to have wide-ranging talks but may not follow a structured agenda when the two leaders meet on Nov 9, Indian Ambassador to the US Lalit Mansingh has said.

"When two leaders of this stature meet, they decide their own agenda. They do not necessarily follow a structured agenda," Mansingh told reporters here yesterday.

It is expected that they will discuss the global war against terrorism. The two leaders are likely to express their resolve to fight not only in Afghanistan but elsewhere too against terrorism, he said.

"This will be an important visit. The President and Prime Minister have spoken with each other and exchanged letters but this will be their first face-to-face meeting. We thought it was high time that the leaders of the two largest democracies got together," Mansingh said.

Vajpayee will arrive here from Moscow on Nov 7.

He will attend functions organised by senate majority leader Tom Daschle and the house leadership including Speaker J Dennis Hastert and democratic leader Richard Gephardt. He will also meet the House International Relations Committee headed by Congressman Henry Hyde.

Later in the day, Vajpayee will meet the leadership of the Indian community here at a reception in his honour.

After talks at the White House and lunch with Bush the next day, Vajpayee will leave for New York, where his engagements include an address to the UN General Assembly. Mansingh said India is keenly interested in the events in Afghanistan and has always maintained close links with Kabul,

"India remains concerned about the future of Afghanistan. As India views the post-Taliban scene, she is keen that there should be a Government that is representative of all the elements in Afghanistan.

"It is necessary to ensure that whichever shape the new Government takes, it does not export terrorism. India also expects it to be friendly to all the neighbours," he said.

"We expect that in the discussions which take place, we will have a fair share in determining the future course of action in Afghanistan," Mansingh added.

India also wishes to share in the reconstruction of Afghanistan. She had taken part in the economic development of Afghanistan in the 70s and 80s, he said. "And we must see that the scourge of terrorism is eliminated in our region."

Asked whether he believed the Government was involved in providing assistance to militants in Jammu and Kashmir, he said things cannot happen without the Government being aware of it.

India has already announced a donation of one million tonnes of wheat to Afghanistan and extending a 100 million dollar credit line to Afghanistan, apart from the supply of humanitarian assistance like blankets and medicines.

Apart from terrorism and Afghanistan, the two leaders are expected to discuss bilateral relations and look at common issues, common values, their commitment to democracy, respect for human dignity and the rule of law and common strategic perceptions in the world, he said.

Mansingh hoped the US will support India’s claim to a permanent seat in the Security Council. New Delhi has the support of Russia and France and "we have indications of support from the UK. (PTI)

Confrontation brews over ‘conversion’

NEW DELHI, Nov 3: A move by a Dalit organisation for mass conversion to Buddhism tomorrow appeared to be heading for a confrontation, with the organiser threatening to go ahead with the programme despite Government’s denial of permission.

"We will go ahead with our programme although police is trying its best to sabotage it," said Ram Raj, chairman of the All India Confederation of SC/ST Organisations, who has gone underground apprehending detention by police to "prevent" him from going ahead with his programme to convert thousands of dalits to Buddhism.

"Even if the authorities deny permission for holding the function in the Ram Lila ground, we will do it on roads," Ram Raj told PTI.

Police said Ram Raj did not have permission for the conversion programme.

"There is no permission for the programme to be conducted in the Ram Lila ground," Joint Commissioner of Police Ajay Chaddha told PTI.

On the confederation’s insistence to go ahead with the programme despite denial of permission, Chaddha refused to comment, saying "let us see how the situation develops".

Police sources, meanwhile, said Ram Raj had been initially granted the permission for a "specific purpose" but it was withdrawn after "information was received that the ground will be misused".

Ram Raj alleged that the programme was being sabotaged under a "conspiracy" by BSP leader Mayawati, VHP and other Sangh Parivar outfits because of the coming Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections and their other respective agenda.

"While the Sangh Parivar outfits are concerned about their Hindutva agenda, Mayawati is concerned about Dalit plank," Ram Raj charged.

He charged that police was terrorising the activists descending into the capital for the programme and "publicising falsely" that the programme has been cancelled.(PTI)

Urdu poets regale audience in Jeddah

DUBAI, Nov 3: Urdu poets from all over India regaled a packed audience in Jeddah with soulful recital of their compositions.

The 15 poets who took part in the session brought out the richness of Urdu poetry, some poems highlighting contemporary themes like the war in Afghanistan.

"The function at the international Indian school auditorium began with the recitation of a "Nazm" by Tajwar Sultana, a well-known poetess, and reached the crescendo when Prof Waseem Barailvi enthralled the audience with his renditions showcase a report in the Jeddah-based `Arab News’ daily said.

"That was Waseem, the voice of the masses. There was waseem, the sensuous lover too. In one of his couplets, Waseem raised the question of the war games in the world. `Naterja Jang Ka Jab Kuch Nikalna Hi Naheen; Shaheedoon Ka Lahoo Maidan Mein Kya Rang Layega,’ was a realistic portrayal of the present world crisis," the paper said.

He sent across his message about the afghanistan war through his couplet, "Kisi Maqsad Pe Mar Mitne Ki Dhun Kuch Aur Hoti Hai; Jahan Jazba Hi Jazba Hai Wahan Siasat Lad Nahin Sakti."

Another of his couplets was an example of romanticism in his collection, "Bahut Bebaak Aankhoon Mein Ta’Aluq Tik Nahin Pata; Mohabbat Mein Sharmana Zaroori Hai."

Nawaz Deobandi though his compositions reminded that one should not lose hope and pray for everything.

One thing which was very much on display on Thursday night was the pain and agony being felt by almost all the poets in the aftermath of the Sept 11 attacks.

Poets, who are said to be the most sensitive lot of humanity, expressed their feeling about the ongoing clash of power. Jauhar Kanpuri in one of his couplets warned the world that, "Siyasat Ko Sambhalo Ki Sarhaden Awaaz Deti Hain; Siyastoon Ki Kharabi Se Bagawat Jag Jati Hai."

One of the poetesses, Shabeena Adib, aroused the passion of the expatriate audience through one of her couplets, "Tum Agar Jaoge Pardes Saja Ke Ye Sapna; Aur Ayoge Jab Chamka Ke Chehra Apna; Mere Chere Ki Chamak Khak Ho Jaigee."

Though nearly all forms of urdu poetry were lauded by the audience, it was Ghazal, the traditional genre of Urdu poetry, which sailed across the hearts of hundreds of poetry-enthusiasts, the daily reported.

It was proven once again that through the matchless composition of Ghazal king, Kaleem Aajiz, that there may be new trends in Ghazal, but its form is not dying, it said.

Poems recited by humorous poets and satirists like Shair Jamali and Ejaz "popular" Meeruti, prompted loud laughter among the audience while referring to the oddities of today’s world.

The Mushaira was anchored by Anwar Jalalpuri, a renowned name in the contemporary urdu poetry. (PTI)

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