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Village should be BHOPAL, June 14: Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Digvijay Singh has said that a village should be counted as a unit for .....more Family elated at Kalam’s nomination, recall his childhood RAMESWARAM, TAMIL NADU, June 14: The nomination of celebrated scientist Dr A P J Abdul Kalam for the ......more A
drop of sweat NEW DELHI, June 15: Certain to be the next President, A P J Abdul Kalam had ..more HC
allows Afroz to MUMBAI, June 14: Mumbai High Court today allowed suspected Al-Qaeda terrorist Mohammed Afroz Abdul Razak, ..more |
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Opposition walks out THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, June 14: The Marxist-led opposition in the Kerala Assembly today walked out of the house in protest against the ....more Sahgal
becomes first NEW DELHI, June 14: Dr (Capt) Lakshmi Sahgal of the Indian National Army has emerged as the left choice for appeal to the patriotic sentiments .....more Left never reciprocated SP’s gestures: Amar NEW DELHI, June 14: Spewing venom at the Left Parties for accusing it of supporting NDA’s candidate for the .......more Congress will return to power in Gujarat: Sonia DAHOD, GUJARAT, June 14: Congress president Sonia Gandhi today said she was confident her party...more |
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Village should be counted as a unit for implementing JPRGY BHOPAL, June 14: Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Digvijay Singh has said that a village should be counted as a unit for implementing "Jai Prakash Rozgar Guarantee Yojana" (JPRGY) in the state. Villages should be identified on the basis of food security, vulnerability to drought, lack of assets, tribal population and forest ring, Singh said while speaking as a special invitee at the third meeting of the Task Force on implementation and designing of JPRGY in New Delhi yesterday, an official release said here today. Families living below poverty line must be guaranteed employment of minimum of 150 mandays, he said adding, providing foodgrain in the form of wage would ensure food security to the poor. Funds should go straight to "gram kosh" at village level to ensure optimum utilisation, the Chief Minister said. JPRGY could evolve a new model of creating job opportunities at micro level, he said and added that the poor sections benefiting from the scheme should be allowed to use their labour earnings for land improvement. Labour intensive activities like farm and forest conservation, water harvesting, improving degraded forest land and contract farming with commercial value should be taken up as a tool to generate employment, he said. Referring to the "grain bank scheme" under implementation in the state, the Chief Minister said that the grain banks would greatly help secure food to the poor during lean months. Listing the impressive results of state-corporate partnership in Madhya Pradesh for expansion of micro economic activities, he said that it has offered opportunities for growth of micro level entrepreneurship. The state Government provides intensive training to the unemployed and extends credit facilities, Singh said. He said that employment opportunities have come up in rural areas due to state-corporate partnership. The Chief Minsister said that Vindhya which has been launched as a brand for spices with Government partnership has elicited an encouraging response from the market. Special Commissioner, Madhya Pradesh Shashi Jain and Project Coordinator, DPIP, Gauri Singh represented the state Government at the meeting, the release added. (PTI) |
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Family elated at Kalam’s nomination, recall his childhood RAMESWARAM, TAMIL NADU, June 14: The nomination of celebrated scientist Dr A P J Abdul Kalam for the post of President is a recognition of his outstanding intelligence and a gift bestowed on the family by god, his elder brother says. Wearing in his one-storeyed ancestral home in Mosque Street near the Railway Station here, 85-year-old A P K Muthu Marakkayar (also known as Chinna Marakkayar) told UNI that the entire family was now "thousand times happier than when he was given the Bharat Ratna a couple of years back." Dr Kalam was born in this middle-class home on October 15, 1931. The 75-year-old family dwelling, named "house of Kalam", has now been given a face-lift and sports a fresh coat of exterior paint. This UNI correspondent was taken around the house and saw the family members in good spirits and eagerly awaiting the day when the electoral college announces Dr Kalam as the new President of India. Wearing a traditional Muslim cap and sitting on an old-fashioned teak-wood bench in a room used by Dr Kalam during his visits, a jubilant but visibly weak Muthu Marakkayar described his brother as a straightforward man with high thoughts. An old table used by Dr Kalam in his school days and during his visits now sits inside the room. The books in the almirah, and a T-scale used for drawing evokes memories of the old days, he says. "Our joy knew no bounds. Every person on this tiny island is happy," a relative present in the house said. People of all religions were making a beeline to the ancestral home to greet Mr Marakkayars on Dr Kalam’s nomination. Dr Kalam’s elder brother has been busy of late meeting members of the media who have descended on this temple town. Taking some time off, he described the hardships faced by Dr Kalam during his school days and the quality that made him one of the most-respected citizens of the country. "It is a recognition of his intelligence, national spirit, selfless service, honesty, self-discipline and simplicity inherited from his parents and friends," his brother said. "Everyone who comes to greet me feels honoured by Kalam’s nomination". Recalling the day when Dr Kalam broke the news to him, Mr Marakkayar said: "at around 1240 hrs on Monday, I was offering my usual prayers when Kalam called up from Chennai and informed me of his candidature. He sought my blessings and wanted me to pray for him to succeed in his new assignment." "I am sure he will achieve more laurels and do India proud in all fields," Mr Marakkayar said. Of the four sons born to A P Ambalam Jainulabdeen Marakkayar, only two survive now — Mr Muthu Marakkayar and Dr Kalam, the youngest child. Mr Marakkayar said Dr Kalam’s humane nature was evident even in his childhood, when he used to assist his cousin Samsudeen, a newspaper vendor. Dr Kalam was encouraged by freedom fighter S T R Manickam, with whom he spent his childhood and youth, to read the books in his personal library. Even now, in his correspondence to Mr Manickam, Dr Kalam affectionately addresses him as Manickam "Anna" (brother). An active and obedient child, Dr Kalam also evinced interest in sports, playing the veena and reciting the Bhagwad Gita in Sanskrit. Though born and brought up in a Muslim family, he was allowed to perform religious rites during the festival seasons in the ancient Sri Ramanathaswamy temple in the town. The temple administration used to give away pots, jaggery and rice to the family during Pongal and Deepawali, but stopped it without intimation in 1968, his brother said. Though the family members decided to move the court against the denial of rights, Kalam’s father, who was then indisposed, asked them not to "file a case against god as it is god who has taken away the rights." Dr Kalam’s father died in 1972 and his mother in 1976. Referring to the temple incident, Mr Marakkayar said god has now paid the family back by nominating his brother for the post of President. "It is god’s gift to the family and the island," he felt. A strict vegetarian and a teetotaller, Dr Kalam commands so much respect at home that whenever he visits his house, family members stay away from non-vegetarian food. "Until Kalam leaves, we also eat only vegetarian food. We do not do anything that he dislikes," his brother added. Mr Marakkayar said Dr Kalam was most affectionate and never pulled a long face. "I cannot remember even a single instance of Kalam getting angry," he added. Dr Kalam’s cousin, Nooruddin who completed his schooling with him and even stayed in the same hostel, recalled the days spent with the Presidential candidate. "Whenever we took a stroll on the beach, he used to say his only aim was to come up in life. He was always seen with books." "We are confident that he will win even in the event of a contest. But, there should not be a contest. Kalam is scientifically strong and highly talented and acceptable to all. "He is the right man for the right post," Nooruddin, who owns a conch shop near the temple, added. Mr Manickam, who was instrumental in shaping the scientist’s career, said Dr Kalam used to read books from his library, which boasted of precious titles like "Duties of Man" by Italian author Mazzini, "Socrates’ Dialogue" and "Aristotle’s Policies". "Kalam, despite his busy schedule, never fails to meet me whenever he visits here," he proudly says and describes Kalam as a man of progressive thinking, who always wanted to do something for the people and society. "He wanted to be good to the society, irrespective of caste, creed and religion," he added. Recalling the days gone by, Mr Manickam said Dr Kalam was a strict vegetarian, and earned the nickname "Kalam Iyer". He still treasures the new year greeting sent by Dr Kalam in 1998. Written in Tamil, it reads : it is a unique gift from a unique person. Your library proved to be a treasure trove for me in my school days...Many thanks.’’ Dr Kalam was gifted something special, too. Soon after the Pokhran tests, Mr Manickam gave him a book "100 Great Lives", chronicling the deeds of eminent achievers in various walks of life. It had been purchased in 1941 for Rs five. Mr Manickam has a wish — that the book be reprinted and republished, but titled "101 Great Lives", incorporating the achievements of Dr Kalam. Dr Venkatasubramania Sastrigal, whose father shared a close rapport with Dr Kalam’s father said: "We are family friends. There is no differentiation of caste or religion. We used to go to his house and Dr Kalam’s father used to come to ours." Dr Kalam used to lead a simple life and was proficient in reciting Telugu keerthanas, besides playing the veena and reading the Bhagwad Gita. "He equally respects the Koran and the Gita and treats them as his two eyes," he added. (UNI) |
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A drop of sweat could have taken Kalam’s life NEW DELHI, June 15: Certain to be the next President, A P J Abdul Kalam had a miraculous escape from a devastating fire caused by a drop of sweat from a colleague’s forehead while working at the Payload Preparation Laboratory (PPL) at Thumba. On a hot and humid day, Kalam along with his colleague in the PPL at Thumba, as part of the pre-launch schedule of Satellite Launch Vehicle (SLV), were "filling and remotely pressing the hazardous sodium and thermite mix" when the accident happened. "After the sixth such operation, Sudhakar and I went into payload room to confirm the proper filling of the mix. Suddenly, a drop of sweat from his forehaed fell onto the sodium, and before we knew what was happening, there was a violent explosion which shook the room," recalls Kalam in his autobiography "wings of fire". "For a few paralysed seconds, I did not know what to do. The fire was spreading, and water would not extinguish the sodium fire," he mentioned. But for the presence of mind of his colleague, whose sweat drop caused the fire, Kalam and he would have been in serious trouble escaping the inferno. "Trapped in this inferno, Sudhakar, however, did not lose his presence of mind. He broke the glass window with his bare hands and literally threw me out to safety before jumping out himself," narrates the missile man. "I touched the Sudhakar’s bleeding hands in gratitude, he smiling through his pain. Sudhakar spent many weeks in the hospital recuperating from the severe burns he had received," he says. (PTI) |
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Left never reciprocated SP’s gestures: Amar NEW DELHI, June 14: Spewing venom at the Left Parties for accusing it of supporting NDA’s candidate for the presidential election, Samajwadi Party today alleged that the left had no principle and consistency and never reciprocated SP’s gestures towards it. "The Left Parties have no principle and consistency. They oppose corruption but still join hands with scam-tainted people at the time of elections. Though we have been extending support to the left at the time of elections, they never reciprocate. Rather they field their candidates against us," SP spokesman Amar Singh told reporters here. Asserting that SP had on its own walked out of the People’s Front, he said it would be wrong for the CPM leader Harkishan Singh Surjeet to say that SP was expelled from the front. "SP is not isolated, it is the left," he said. "People’s Front was formed to maintain equi-distance from Congress and BJP, but the left took a pro-congress line to oppose the NDA candidate for the high office (though Congress later declared its support to Kalam)," Singh said. Asked to comment on his party’s stand on the left candidate Lakshmi Sahgal, he said once Kalam is in the fray and SP has already announced its support to him, Sahgal’s candidature will not have much of a significance any more. "The left has committed another historical blunder by fielding Sahgal. They will repent at leisure," he said. On Left Parties’ charges that SP had joined hands with BJP in supporting Kalam’s candidature, Singh said those who levelled such allegations against Samajwadi Party should see their own nationalist credentials. To a question as to why SP chose to dump opposition unity for the sake of the NDA candidate for the high office, singh asserted that even before Kalam became an NDA nominee, the name of the noted scientist was proposed by it to Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee. "How can we oppose him now. Moreover, the SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav as then Defence Minister in the erstwhile United Front Government made Kalam the country’s Defence Advisor and recommended his name for Bharat Ratna," he said. He explained that SP had earlier favoured another term for president K R Narayanan when the NDA mooted the name of Maharashtra Governor P C Alexander. But with NDA selecting Kalam for the top post, the scenario changed altogether. On the Left Parties reservations that Kalam had no poliitical experience, he alleged even the former President S Radhakrishnan did not have any such background. In a lighter vein, Singh said whenever the left criticised or opposed SP, it turned out to be a good omen for Samajwadi Party. "We get less seats in their company. When we go it alone we get more seats. SP has never gained from the left. Rather, SP has been transferring its votes to the left," he said. Singh, however, said SP’s doors would be open for the left. "It is a case of political rivalry and not one of enmity," he said when asked if SP’s doors were permanently closed for the left. (PTI) |
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Congress will return to power in Gujarat: Sonia DAHOD, GUJARAT, June 14: Congress president Sonia Gandhi today said she was confident her party would return to power in Gujarat in the next Assembly elections. Addressing a well-attended public meeting at the arts college grounds at Leemkheda in the tribal-dominated Dahod district during her day-long visit, Mrs Gandhi said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Government led by Chief Minister Narendra Modi had not only "failed" on all fronts but also dragged a progressive state like Gujarat back by years due to its policies. Describing Mr Modi as a "criminal", she said the state’s sufferings had multiplied after he become Chief Minister. "He failed to control the unprecedented violence that killed ‘thousands of people’ recently and there should be no place for such an ‘enemy of humanity’ in state politics," she said. The ideals and achievements of Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Patel in Gujarat had been thoroughly destroyed by the BJP Government, she alleged. Mrs Gandhi’s hard-hitting speech began an hour behind schedule after she arrived from Kutch district, where, earlier in the day, she dedicated to the people 754 houses built by the Rajasthan Government for the quake victims of three villages. Criticising the Modi Government for its "anti-farmer and anti-industry" policies, Ms Gandhi said unemployment and poverty had increased during the BJP rule and nothing had been done for the emancipation of women. "The entire society in Gujarat is unhappy," she claimed. Mrs Gandhi said that after coming to power, the Congress would bring back peace and security in Gujarat and work towards the uplift of the downtrodden, OBCs and others. Referring to the recent communal riots, she said the state had witnessed several crises in the recent past, like the recurring droughts, floods, cyclones and the earthquake. "But none of these put Gujarat back by decades like the recent riots have," she felt. Ms Gandhi appealed to the people to let bygones be bygones and said the need of the hour was co-existence and unity. Her political advisor and Rajya Sabha MP from Gujarat Ahmed Patel, AICC general secretary in-charge of the state Kamal Nath, Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee president Amarsinh Choudhary and leader of the opposition in the Vidhan Sabha Naresh Rawal were also present.(UNI) |
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