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ballets interpret mythology through contemporary themes NEW DELHI, May 12: For Padmashri Shobha Deepak Singh, Director and Vice-Chairman of the ....more "India first nation to field NEW DELHI, May 12: India, after years of research, will become one of the first countries to field.....more Water scarcity : More to do NEW DELHI, May 12: The summer of discontent is here. Delhi is facing a water shortage of over 150...more Political instability PANAJI, May 12: After achieving the dubious distinction of having as many as 14 Chief Ministers in....more |
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HC can order CBI
probe only if there is ‘prima facie’ case:SC NEW DELHI, May 12: The Supreme Court has ruled that a high court could order a CBI probe only...more Russian experts join probe NEW DELHI, May 12: Following rising concern over a spate of MiG-21 crashes....more Police awaits report NEW DELHI, May 12: Notwithstanding the findings of the autopsy, the Delhi Police today said it....more Centre allocates Rs 1,000 cr NEW DELHI, May 12: The Centre has increased allocation under police modernization....more |
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Shobha’s
ballets interpret mythology through NEW DELHI, May 12: For Padmashri Shobha Deepak Singh, Director and Vice-Chairman of the Shriram Bharatiya Kala Kendra (SBKK), life is an endless zest for knowledge that drives her artistic instincts to create and experiment with Indian dance forms. And the "creative vent" for her ideas is provided by the Kala Kendra, which is commemorating its golden jubilee year with a ‘festival of ballets’, showcasing dance-drama directed by her over the past decade. "I am presenting this festival to bring into focus various productions that have been presented in the last decade ... This is a special year for us and we have some of our best dance-drama being highlighted," says Singh as she puts performers through their paces during a rehearsal. "People have short memories, they have to be reminded of our good work," she adds. The Kendra was founded in 1947 as ‘Jhankar’ or a music circle, by Singh’s mother, Ms Sumitra Ram, but was registered as an organisation five years later. The festival celebrates ballets — ‘Karna’, ‘Parikrama’, ‘Chakravyuha’, ‘The mystic bride and the sacred witch’ and ‘Meera’ — directed by Singh. Ask her about her favourite production and pat comes the reply, "how can you ask me to pick a favourite ... They are all special. "All the ballets are steeped in mythology but presented in the contemporary context ... They are not projecting the old mind-set," explains Singh. Attributing an acting course, under the tutelage of Ebraham Alkazi in 1992, for her change of perspective on mythology, singh says, "when I joined the class I used to have blind faith on god and thus perceive mythology vis-a-vis that only, but theatre changed all that ... One can see god through various perspectives in theatre." While ‘Karna’ depicts the debate on who deserves the rightful place in the social milieu — the one with the right lineage or the one with talent, ‘Parikrama’ portrays the state of mind — the cycle of birth and death. ‘Parikarama’ is all about the indian psyche. The five elements — earth, water, wind, fire and ether — depict the ‘Hiranyagarbh’, the golden egg. ‘Brahman’, the soul of the ‘Hiranyagarbh’ seeks to manifest itself in the form of the ‘Atman’ from the state of non-being to that of being." ‘The mystic bride and the sacred witch’, the Kendra’s latest ensemble work in Bharatanatyam choreographed by Justin McCarthy, is also being premiered and highlights the lives of two women as Tamil deities and devotional poetesses. As the name suggests, ‘Chakravyuha’ tells Abhimanyu’s tale and serves as a rallying point for the examination of the roots of our actions as well as the ongoing reinterpretation of mythology. "Though tradition forms the base of my productions ... They are new interpretations and ‘Chakravyuha’ is a rework of some of our myths through my personal experiences as well as collective experiences of our time," says Singh. Though all the five ballets are based on modern interpretation, ‘Meera’ redefines the image of the saint poetess. It portrays a woman — meera — who defies the patriarchal order and signifies female abandon. "The Meera here doesn’t cry, she is a strong person who believes in herself ... She poses challenges and seeks space in the male-dominated society." The concept of being a strong person who believes in herself is not new to her. From the outset, Singh wanted to carve out a niche for herself and she never let her gender come in the way. Born on October 21, 1943 into one of India’s top business families, she chose to make a distinct identity for herself. "Being a woman never came in my way ... My parents and husband were always there for me. If there is a woman behind a man’s success then my husband is the reason for my success." Alumni of the Delhi University, she joined the Kendra in 1969. "My mother wanted me to join the Kendra ... I was not keeping well and she said it would work as therapy. Once I joined it became my blood, breath and oxygen. "The Kendra has given me total artistic freedom and provided the platform to present my ideas." Awarded the Padmashri in 2002, she revived the Mayurbhanj Chhau Dance from Orissa and several dance-drama and ballet in the idioms from Jagdev, Kalinga Vijay, Mahadev, Kamayani and others. A trained Kathak dancer, she has also presented various dance-drama. Though the Kendra is an important part of her life, the petite femme has other aspects to her personality too. She is an avid photographer, a good cook, runs a boutique of antique sarees and jewellery besides looking after her family. Ask her how she manages to pack in all these activities in one day and her prompt reply is, "watches should be thrown out of the window and used only for keeping appointments." "Life is a passion and one should use each moment judiciously ... It’s just time management and determination. "Failures don’t scare me ... They are a source of introspection. If a production doesn’t do well I go into the reasons for its failure and try and not repeat the same in the next venture. "I would take the responsibility for my failures and not blame it on others ... I am an optimist and believe that with determination anything can be achieved." (UNI) |
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"India first nation to field laser weapons in next 5 yrs" NEW DELHI, May 12: India, after years of research, will become one of the first countries to field laser weapons in the next five years, country’s top defence scientist Dr V K Attrey has said. "For the past few years, our scientists have achieved major breakthroughs in experimenting with high power laser system," Attrey told a gathering of DRDO scientists last night. Though he described the experiments on the high power laser as ‘technology demonstrator project" - a synonym normally used for projects like Agni, the Scientific Advisor to the Defence Minister said India would achieve the capability of fielding starwar laser weapons by the end of tenth five year plan (2002-07). At a meeting of galaxy of country’s top missile and strategic weapon scientists presided over by Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, Attrey spoke at length and outlined the parameters of ongoing missile, MBT, LCA, Laser Technology and Radar Project. He described as ‘significant’, progress in the missile programme saying tests of both the shorter and longer range variants of the Agni missile had been flawless. On the Indo-Russian supersonic anti-shipping cruise missile ‘Brahmos’, he said the missile was set to enter full-blooded trials within the next few months" after which it would enter commercial production by November 2003. Simultaneously, Attrey said DRDO would continue experiments on its own indigenous sea to shore missile-Dhanush. "We are making a breakthrough in these missiles after initial hiccups," he said. Attrey said DRDO had also achieved a big breakthrough by developing a battlefield surveillance radar which had undergone trials in high altitude as well as in the plains and soon to be tested in desert conditions. It had also developed a 3-D radar and was working on sensors which could be used in detecting Kargil-like intrusions, he said. Development of these sensors would be a major achievement for the DRDO as India is currently importing such sensors from Israel and the US. On the Pilot-led Target Aircraft (PTA) Lakshya, he said such system had been delivered to the airforce and the navy and its Army variant was undergoing testing. He said the unmanned aerial reconissance vehicles Nishant were ready for acceptance trials by the Army and the airforce. Elaborating on the light combat projects, he said after the first successful flight TD-1, further tests at supersonic speed would commence soon. On the indigenous Kaveri engine for the LCA, he said they had been sent to Russia for undergoing what he called high altitude test. Attrey drew the attention of the country’s political leadership to a disturbing trend of younger defence scientists opting for greener pastures in the west and moving to the IT sector. Though claiming that the "braindrain" had not yet reached an alarming level, Attrey sought swift remedial measures to keep the talent at home. His suggestion of framing and attracting incentive packages for defence scientists received an immediate nod from the Defence Minsiter George Fernandes. Fernandes drew a parallel with China which, he said, in its current defence budget had earmarked a sum of over Rs 19 million USD for incentives for defence scientists. Responding, the Prime Minsiter said the Govermment was ready to consider such an incentive package. As part of the recruitment drive for an inflow 300 scientists per year, Attrey outlined an open stream policy for direct campus recruitment. He said the matter was discussed and received support from the Parliamentary Standing Committee on defence as well as the consultative committee on defence. (PTI) |
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Water scarcity : More to do with inequitable distribution NEW DELHI, May 12: The summer of discontent is here. Delhi is facing a water shortage of over 150 million gallons per day; Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai too are grappling with an acute shortage of water. A National Water Policy to manage water resources efficiently not withstanding, water riots are breaking up in Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh while a major crisis is brewing up in small towns and interior parts of the country. India has enough water to meet the needs of its over one billion population, but uneven availability of water and mismanagement of the available resources has led to water shortage in many parts of the country, say experts calling for judicious management of available supply and compulsory use of water conservation techniques. According to P K Tripathi, Chief of Delhi Jal Board, "water woes in Delhi are more because of inequitable distribution of water than actual shortage. Also, almost 40 per cent of the city’s water supply gets lost in distribution, most of which is at the consumer end." "The water loss is about 260 mgd, nearly double the city’ current shortfall. Delhi, which gets about 650 mgd of water, requires about 800 mgd every day and the lost amount would have easily bridged the gap and provided a surplus," he says adding that simple things like automatic closure of tank valve once it is full and not throwing the filled water daily can go a long way in conserving water. According to reports from Kolkata, people living in the Municipal Corporation’s added areas such as tollygunge, Jadavpur, Santoshpur and Garia are already facing water shortage. Kolkata city is getting 10 million gallons of water less each day as the 62-inch pipeline from Palta to Tala has been blocked for repair since last month and the water is being supplied through a pipeline of lesser capacity. The situation is no better down south. In many towns of Tamil Nadu, the water table has gone down substantially to several hundred feet. In some areas, people are buying water and in last few weeks, there have been protests at several places, demanding water supply through water tankers. Junagarh, Bhamnagar and Ahmedabad are all badly water scarce. Water riots have broken up in many areas. The administration as of now is supplying in tankers and no long term measures are being envisaged, she rues. Citing the case of Rajkot, she says the administration had last year promised the people that water would be supplied from Narmada Dam through a network of canals. The state government had even given a large number of connections in anticipation of that. But till today, no water has flown down these canals and the taps are all dry, she says. Tourists are having a harrowing time in Goa, where some places get water only for a few minutes every day. However, the apathy towards the administration is apparent in other parts of the country also. "... In Hubli the city corpoation supplies a small quantity of drinking water once in several days. One can find serpentine queues at public taps. There are often quarrels at these taps," writes Uttam Satiya, a resident of Hubli in an open letter to the city administration, which is posted on the net. According to a report by population action international, India’s water shortage problem is more a result of unavailability of water than actual shortage. India, the second most populous country in the world has enough water to meet its people’s needs. A World Bank study on water losses in Delhi details how water is lost and where is it lost? the study suggests a full metered mechanism which would help check losses and make possible a water audit, says tripathi. (PTI) |
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Police awaits report of inquest
proceedings NEW DELHI, May 12: Notwithstanding the findings of the autopsy, the Delhi Police today said it would await the outcome of the magisterial inquest into the death of Ritu Singh, daughter of senior Congress leader Natwar Singh, before giving its conclusions on the circumstances. A three-member Medical Board, which conducted the post-mortem examination on the body of Ritu Singh on Friday, had concluded that she died of "asphyxiation and cerebral conjunction" due to hanging, indicating that the 31-year-old fashion designer had committed suicide. However, making the first official comments on the incident, Deputy Commissioner of Police (South-West) Taj Hassan told UNI, the inquest proceedings by a Sub-Divisional Magistrate in the case is in progress and anything could be concluded only after the report is available. The police have been keeping mum ever since the incident took place on Thursday and none of their senior officials were available for comments on the circumstances and reasons of the death in the past three days. It also chose to keep quiet because of its ‘bad experience’ during the investigation of the Natasha Singh (Natwar Singh’s daughter-in-law) death case. Natasha Singh had jumped to death from the terrace of a South Delhi luxury hotel on March 17. The police had initially said there were two wounds which suggested that she could have been shot, but later concluded that she had committed suicide. The Natasha Singh case was later handed over to the Crime Branch of the Delhi Police which is still investigating. Asked how long it will take for the SDM to complete the proceedings, Mr Hassan said it could take about two to three weeks. The senior police official said the viscera had been sent for medical examination and the forensic experts are carrying out the tests on the evidence collected from the scene of the incident. These reports are expected to come in a couple of weeks. "Once all these reports are available, we would be in a position to comment on the nature of the case and the reasons for her (Ritu’s) death... It would be only after that, that we will decide whether to close the case or to persist with the investigation," Mr Hassan said. Interestingly, neither there had been any complaints from the family or friends about any foul play in the case, nor the autopsy report has said anything which suggest any foul play in the case and the police have taken note of this. "However, we are going ahead with our routine investigation, as done in such cases, to rule out any possibility," the police official added. Ritu Singh was found hanging from the hook of the almirah in her first floor room of D-1/37, Paschim Marg residence in Vasant Vihar Area of South Delhi on Thursday evening. The opinion of the Medical Board in the Ritu Singh case was that "the death was caused due to asphyxia and cerebral conjunction caused by anti-mortem hanging by ligature." Police during the past three days questioned a number of people to ascertain the reasons and circumstances of the death. Her friends and relatives were asked questions relating to Ritu’s behaviour ever since the death of Natasha Singh with whom she was considered very close. The police also talked to certain people in London who were known to Ritu Singh. In fact, it was Ritu Singh who had introduced Natasha to modelling and helped her in her professional fronts. Later, Ritu Singh introduced her brother Jagat to Natasha who eventually became her sister-in-law. Certain reports had suggested that Ritu Singh had been upset and depressed after the death of Natasha on March 18. She had been regularly taking sedatives for acute depression. Even on Thursday evening, she is said to have taken a few tablets of Alprax. At the same time, the family members of Ritu Singh insist that though she had been depressed, she would not have taken such an extreme step. However, the Singh family did not suggest any foul play while talking to the police. (UNI) |
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Centre allocates Rs 1,000 cr to modernise police force NEW DELHI, May 12: The Centre has increased allocation under police modernization scheme from Rs 200 crore to Rs 1,000 crore per annum to make police force more effective and reduce human rights violations by them. The Union Home Ministry says in a memorandum of action taken on the annual report of the National Human Rights Commission that the allocation would be used to improve existing forensic laboratories, set up new ones, upgrade training institutions and provide better communication system. However, the increased amount would be subject to matching contribution by the State Goverment to modernise its police force. "This will enable the police force to function in an effective maner and would also reduce the incidents of violations by the police forces, the ministry says. Stating that the Government was keen on police reforms, it said that the final decision of the Supreme Court on the report of the Ribeiro Committee was still awaited. However, most of the recommendations of the Padmanabhaiah Committee on police reforms have been accepted and State Governments have been asked to implement the recommendations relating to them. Regarding NHRC recommendation that in each case of custodial death prima facie presumption be that of custodial violence and a criminal case be registered against the guilty police personnel to check the rising incidents of custodial violence, it said that police and public order were state subjects. However, the Government admitted that legal aspect of not only custodial deaths but all custodial crimes be strengthened. A proposal providing mandatory judicial inquiry in a case of death or disappearance or rape of a woman in police custody and in case of examination of body within 24 hours has been included in the code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Bill, 1994, but the bill was still pending for consideration in the Rajya Sabha, it pointed out. The Government was also considering the NHRC suggestion that Section 197 of the Code of Criminal Procedure be amended on the basis of the Law Commission’s recommendation to obviate the necessity for Governmental sanction for the prosecution of a police officer where an inquiry by a session judge establishes "prima facie’ a custodial offence. Regarding Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Mizoram, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, Delhi, Chandigarh, Andaman and Nicobar, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Lakshadweep not complying with NHRC recommendation of compulsory video-filming of post-mortem examination to curb custodial violence and bringing guilty to book, the ministry said that it has been forwarded to the concerned States/UTs for necessary action. The sates have also been asked to allocate appropriate fund to human rights cells established in the offices of the Director General of Police to enable them prepare appropriate curricula and conduct workshops for the spread of human rights awareness among police personnel of states. The sensitisation was required to reduce violations by police personnel and increase public trust in them, it said. The Centre has requested states to translate into local languages the guidelines relating to arrest and detention power of police and distribute them not only to police personnel but also to ngos, citizen fora and lawyers association to curb the abuse of power by police. The states which have not incorporated these guidelines in the training curricula for police personnel have been asked to do so. The Bureau of Police Research and Development has initiated action to prepare guidelines containing the legal provisions, detailed procedure, constitutional and statutory rights of the accused person during "pre-arrest, arrest and post-arrest" and relevant judicial rulings on the subject to sensitize the police officials during the course of training. Once prepare, it would be circulated throughout the country and incorporated in the curriculum, the sources said. The ministry has also asked states to implement the NHRC recommendation that states should have toll-free telephone facilities to establish a system to inform complainants of the status of their complaint, instruct SHOs to hold regular meetings with the public to build rapport and confidence and regular meetings between Superintendents of Police and with leaders of public to promote better police-community relationship. Such exchanges could contribute to better protection of human rights in the country and greater sensitivity in society towards such rights, says the ministry. (UNI) |
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