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| ‘Hate-India’ theme
won’t pay Pak pursues political terrorism: Swami From B L Kak NEW DELHI, Nov 17: Union Minister of State for Home Affairs, Mr ID Swami, has warned that the world community will be investing in a "future tragedy" if it turns....more Naidu
backs POTO, NEW DELHI, Nov 17: In a morale booster to the NDA Government on the POTO issue, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister...more Govt
should ensure NEW DELHI, Nov 17: National Commission for Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes Chairman Dileep Singh Bhuria....more Unique
rainforest festival NEW DELHI, Nov 17: The curtain goes up today on a unique rainforest festival at the remote Joypur in Assam, the first ever. ...more |
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Civil groups urge NEW DELHI, Nov 17: The path to universal education is not hindered by financial constraints but by absence of political will, Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit said today......more ISRO
taking steps to BANGALORE, Nov 16: Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) today said it would take all possible steps like suspending camera operations........more Plans
afoot to make DEHRA DUN, Nov 16: Plans are afoot to make training for Gentlemen Cadets (GCs) at the Indian Military .......more Mumbai:
Historical link of MUMBAI, Nov 16: Talkie cinema made its advent in India and Iran around the same time in the early 20th century with .......more |
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‘Hate-India’
theme won’t pay From B L Kak NEW DELHI, Nov 17: Union Minister of State for Home Affairs, Mr ID Swami, has warned that the world community will be investing in a "future tragedy" if it turns a Nelson’s eye to all the goings-on in Pakistan. In an obvious reference to Pakistan, Mr Swami insists that time has come for the world community to ostracise nations sponsoring cross-border terrorism. Pakistan, according to Mr Swami, cannot capture Indian territory-in other words, Jammu and Kashmir-by harping on the out-worn theme ‘the will of the people’. This, he said, was for the purpose of pursuing political terrorism. Stoutly opposing the cry for a plebiscite in Kashmir, Mr ID Swami referred to UN Secretary-General, Mr Kofi Annan, and former US President, Mr Bill Clinton, who, he said, had ruled against plebiscite in J&K. And Mr Swami regretted: "Yet, Pakistan continues to harp on this camouflaged and out-worn catch-phrase for waging a proxy war against India". Arguing that no grievances can justify the killings of innocent persons, the Minister of State for Home observed: "In any case, terrorists are not the best people to cry for ‘the will of the people’ or to espouse the cause of human rights". Mr Swami justified his Prime Minister’s statement that "Kashmir is at the core of Indian nationalism". Mr Swami’s yet another warning: "If Pakistan’s intention is to wrest Kashmir from India, it is pursuing a problem that has no solution. In that case, the problem will remain with Pakistan and Kashmir with India". The Minister of State for Home placed himself on record by saying: "The two nations have remained at a stand-off for long. The reason is that the national politics of Pakistan is completely focused on a ‘hate-India’ theme". Mr Swami has opined: "If Pakistan can stop terrorist violence across the border, most of the troops of the two nations can go back to their barracks. Friendly relations can be fostered, opening trade doors, facilitating cultural exchanges". Stating that the problem with Pakistan is that it links everything to the events of the past, on which the present has no control, Mr Swami observed: "That not only makes their present miserable but also its future uncertain". Strongly defending the Vajpayee Government’s refusal to see Kashmir as ‘central’ to normalisation of relations between India and Pakistan, Mr Swami asserted that it "arises not from any blinkered approach to bilateral relations but from genuine reasons explained in clear terms by the Prime Minister". Mr Swami stated that Pakistan, after failing in direct conflict with India, resorted to proxy wars using mercenaries. He also stated that inciting and arming local dissidents to wage campaign of terror was the method employed by Pakistan in Kashmir. He recalled: "Their most heinous terror methods include booby-trapped transistor sets to trigger simultaneous explosions in 19 targets, including economic symbols in Mumbai in March 1993 and a symbol of democracy in Srinagar (Legislative Assembly complex) on October 1, 2001". Arguing that good and effective democratic governance was necessary for effectively countering terrorism, Mr Swami has noted: "As is obvious, democracy is a thing not well-known to most Islamic countries". He wants the international community, particularly the more powerful nations, not to succumb to the temptation of using religions or sectarianism for purposes of their foreign policy interests. Mr Swami also warned that making concessions to terrorists "is dangerous". The United States, he also recalled, once supported and armed the mujahideen who later turned on the US. The global support now extended to the US, he felt, was for fighting terrorism everywhere-from New York to New Delhi, from Washington to Srinagar and everywhere else. Unmistakably, Mr Swami’s reference was to Islamabad when he said that it would be illogical to regard violence against the citizens of one country as terrorism and the same against the citizens of another country as ‘freedom struggle’. He stated that if cross-border terrorism sponsored by Pakistan was not included within the ambit of this anti-terror war, that will be a "blatant act of rewarding a terrorist-sponsoring nation for consistent bad behaviour". Mr Swami said that if the cause of striking Afghanistan was Taliban’s involvement in destroying the symbols of economic and military power in the US, similar causes "exist for India too". Emphasizing that India is a country that exercises maximum restraint, Mr Swami remarked: "But it is wrong to presume that India’s patience is unlimited. The Prime Minister has already said that there is a limit to our patience". |
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Naidu backs POTO, but calls
for safeguards NEW DELHI, Nov 17: In a morale booster to the NDA Government on the POTO issue, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu today defended the promulgation of the controversial ordinance even as he demanded that adequate safeguards be taken to eliminate the scope for its abuse. "There is no gainsaying the fact that extraordinary situations require extraordinary solutions. The security of the nation and its people is of paramount importance and brooks no compromise," Naidu said at the day-long Chief Ministers’ conference on internal security here. He, however, sounded a word of caution saying "adequate safeguards should be taken up to eliminate the scope for abuse of extraordinary powers vested in law enforcement agencies." "A right balance has to be struck in protecting human dignity and other fundamental rights enshrined in the constitution of India especially the freedom of speech and the needs of national security," Naidu said. Inviting the Centre’s attention particularly to the provision of Section 3 (8) and Section 14 of the Ordinance, he urged their suitable modification to "protect the freedom of press which is the hallmark of parliamentary democracy." He also suggested that the validity of the ‘Sunset Legislation’ be reduced from five to three years. The Chief Minister expressed "disappointment" over the non-inclusion of people’s war group, indulging in terrorist activity in Andhra and other states, in the 23 organisations proscribed by the Centre under the ordinance. He also opposed the concept of a federal investigation agency, mooted at the last conference. (PTI) |
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Govt should ensure reservation after PSUs privatisation NEW DELHI, Nov 17: National Commission for Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes Chairman Dileep Singh Bhuria today said the Government should ensure that the reservation policy was implemented even after privatisation of Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs). Addressing a news conference here, Mr Bhuria said the Commission, in its sixth report for 1999-2000 and 2000-2001 submitted to the President last evening, has recommended that in the era of liberalisation, the Government should insist on a clause to ensure continuation of reservation even after privatisation. Lamenting that due to the lack of political will the benefits of reservation were not reaching SC/STs, Mr Bhuria said the representation of SCs in group a services was 11.29 per cent and 12.68 per cent in Group B against their population percentage of about 16.5 per cent. In central PSUs their corresponding representation was 10.35 per cent and 11.05 per cent. The representation of scheduled tribes was much lower in all the groups under the Central Government. In group a, their representation was 3.3 per cent and in Group B 3.35 per cent as against their population of eight per cent. He said the policy of reservation in appointments and admissions should also be extended to private institutions. Which avail of facilities such as lands at concessional rates and funding from financial institutions and nationalised banks. Moreover, a law should be enacted to implement the reservation policy, which should be kept in the ninth schedule of the constitution so that it was not open to frequent judicial interpretations, he said. Mr Bhuria said there was a need to strengthen educational facilities for SCs/STs and give them access to quality education by setting up a network of residential schools and providing financial support to the deserving among them for education in the existing reputed institutions. This would increase their representation in jobs also, he felt. The Commission has also urged the Government to issue instructions along with necessary financial support for creation of more exclusive special courts under the PCR and SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act especially in the states where pendency is high. The functioning of special courts should also be closely monitored in terms of timely disposal of cases and increase in conviction rate, he said. The SC/ST (POA) Act should be suitably amended so as to provide for admission by special courts directly without going thorough committal proceedings, he added. The Commission has said a comprehensive strategy for removal of untouchability should be worked out and necessary instructions issued to the State Governments for its implementation. Gram panchayats and NGOs need to be involved in the programmes for removal of untouchability and a scheme of incentives/rewards be formulated for this purpose. All central ministries should allocate proportionate funds for SCP and tribal sub plan, the Commission has recommended. It said the ministries not having any specific programmes for development of SCs and STs should place the proportionate funds at the disposal of nodal ministries of social justice and empowerment and the tribal affairs for utilisation under the identified schemes. The nodal ministries at the Centre and states should be made responsible for coordinating the formulation of SCP/TSP and monitoring its implementation. Allocation of funds should be proportionate to population of these communities and no diversion should take place, Mr Bhuria said. Tribals who have been cultivating forest lands or are residing in forest areas prior to 1980, should be conferred ownership rights on such lands. Forest policy and forest laws should be suitably amended to make them tribal friendly and to declare forest villages as revenue villages so that they could take benefit of development schemes, he said. A north eastern forest policy should be formulated to meet the specific needs of the region and the tribal development cooperative corporation should be revamped to enable it to play an effective role in marketing tribal products, he said. The Commission, which has submitted five reports and three special reports on implementation of SC/ST POA Act since its inception in 1998, has also called for giving more power to it under the constitutions to ensure effective implementation of its recommendations. (UNI) |
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Plans afoot to make IMA training more consolidated DEHRA DUN, Nov 16: Plans are afoot to make training for Gentlemen Cadets (GCs) at the Indian Military Academy (IMA) more academic without diluting the military aspect of the training. "We are trying to work out a plan by which the training period may be extended by six months and made two years during which the gcs would be able to follow an academic education and get a post-graduate degree," Lt Gen T S Shergill, Commandant, IMA told mediapersons here today. "This would give the country more professionally trained officers. We are working out various options in this direction," he said. The curriculum would have to be reorganised and a balance would be maintained between military and academic syllabi, he added. Gen Shergill said his goal would be to produce officers of high self-esteem, enormous confidence, intitiative and the spirit to lead even in the toughest of situations. About the Tehelka episode, the IMA commandant said it was a sad chapter but the Army took prompt action. He said it was wrong to say that the "best" was not coming to the Army. "We are getting the best." About suicide squads being used by the militants as part of their offensive strategy, Gen Shergill said it had proved a failure. "It does not take great skill to become a human bomb. It is a clumsy technique," he added. Training at the ima makes the GCs ready to face any eventuality. "The most important training is that of the mind. Mental cool in every situation helps neutralise the enemy or the terrorist," the Commandant said. About the recent tragedy when two cadets and an instructor were killed in a mortar blast during training, he said experts had been called to conduct an inquiry and the final report was yet to come. He said the IMA campus would be expanded over the next few years to keep up with growing requirements of the training. "Land has already been acquired by the academy for the purpose". (UNI) |
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Mumbai: Historical link of first Indian, Iranian talkie MUMBAI, Nov 16: Talkie cinema made its advent in India and Iran around the same time in the early 20th century with Mumbai, being the common thread. The first Indian talkie "Alam Ara" was made by Ardeshir Irani of the imperial film company here in 1931, while the sound recording of Abdolhosein Sepanta’s "Lor Girl", the first Iranian talking motion picture, was also done at the imperial and was released in iran in 1933, according to information culled from archives at the cultural house of Iran here. The warm welcome given to this film in Iran encouraged the production of several other Iranian motion pictures. Among them, the popular ones are "Shirin and Farhad", "The black eyes" and "Leili and Majnoun". Iranian cinema, which celebrated its centenary last year, will be a major focus of the fourth Mumbai International Film Festival beginning here from November 21. As many as 15 films made in the last decade would be shown in the section "Focus on Iran" — "Two women", "The boot", "Willow and wind", "My lady", "Birth of a butterfly" are some of the classics which are to be screened during the film fest. In the 50s, Iranian cinema was at its peak of film production. Esmail Koushan established the first film studio in Iran during this period, and several others produced motion pictures on a large scale. With the change in Iran’s political atmosphere from 1936 to 1948, which imposed tough censorship on art, and the eruption of the second world war, the country’s cinema stagnated. It must be noted that till then, Iran’s cinema was not so popular and the few cinemas in tehran and other major cities just served the aristocracy and some particular classes of the society. After 1953, with the establishment of several companies by some investors and cinema’s enhanced publicity, cinematic activities flourished in Iran. Unfortunately, however, with the limitations on the garnering of profit from investment in cinema and curbs on freedom, the main engine of cultural growth, due to the socio-political situation in Iran’s pre-islamic revolutionary era, Iranian cinema mainly churned out commonplace and cheap movies which became part of Iran’s film making tradition in those days. But happily in the later years, some film makers like Samuel Kachikian, Hooshang Kavoosi, Farrokh Ghafari, Ebrahim Golestan, Masuod Kimiaie, Dariush Mehrjooie, Fereidoon Rahnama and Ali Hatami inspired a fresh cultural trend in Iran’s cinema. According to the records, the establishment of the centre for the intellectual training of children and young adults in 1969 was also a good opportunity to mould Iran’s cultural cinema. The co-operation of UNESCO with this centre as the distributor of children’s movies in Iran, which started with the trip of Nooroddin Zarrinkelk to Belgium, left a significant impact on the elevation of the centre’s cultural level. The cultural trend set by the renowned film makers, the establishment of the cultural centre for children and young adults and the fading public interest in cheap entertainment elements like violence, sex and gangsters, especially among the youth, all combined to produce a new constructive current in Iran’s cinema between 1971 and 1978. Bahram Beyzaie, Abbas Kiarostami, Khosrow Sinaie, Kamran Shirdel, Dariush Mehrjooie, Naser Taghvaie, Ali Hatami, Amir Naderi and some others played a major role in forming the new wave and prepared grounds for Iran’s cinema to take more creditable steps in the later years. After the Islamic revolution, between 1978 and 1983, due to lack of definite film-making rules, Iran’s cinema became disorganised. After 1983, when film-making rules were outlined as per the post-Islamic revolution criteria, violence and sex were forced out of Iran’s cinema. Despite less profit, Iranian directors made some movies whih aroused the admiration of critics around the world. In that period young film makerspsuch as Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Ebrahim Hatamikia, Ja’afar Panahi, Vajid Majidi and Abolfazi Jalili, who had entered cinema with their own different tendencies, gradually gained enough experience and expertise to employ various elements of cinema and contribute their share to its development. (AGENCIES) |
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