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Indian cinema will MUSSOORIE, Nov 14: Filmstar Anil Kapoor is extremely optimistic about Indian cinema soon "creating waves" in the international film market and.......more UP
Speaker serves LUCKNOW, Nov 14: The Speaker of Uttar Pradesh State Assembly Kesri Nath Tripathi has served a seven-day notice to dissident BSP MLA Jai.....more AHMEDABAD, Nov 14: Describing as "anti-Hindu" the Election Commission (EC) ban on its "Desh-Dharma Raksha Yatra", the Vishwa Hindu Parishad .....more Kalam
gives children NEW DELHI, Nov 14: President A P J Abdul Kalam today gave children his mantra for success - curiosity, thinking, knowledge, hard work and perseverance. ...... ..more |
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Create conducive atmosphere so child labourers pursue study: PM NEW DELHI, Nov 14: Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee today asked employers of child labour to create a conducive........more Judicial
methodology NEW DELHI, Nov 14: Stressing that judiciary and the investigating agencies should adopt a complementary role......more BJP
trying to de-franchise LUCKNOW, Nov 14: With barely four days to go for the crucial bye-election for the lone Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council seat, BJP is trying desperately .....more Mahapanchayat to block JHAJJAR, Nov 14: A Mahapanchayat of villagers held at Duleena in this district of Haryana today......more |
Indian cinema will soon hit the world market: Anil Kapoor MUSSOORIE, Nov 14: Filmstar Anil Kapoor is extremely optimistic about Indian cinema soon "creating waves" in the international film market and awareness about Indian films increasing the world over. In an interview with UNI here, the actor who gave a powerpacked performance in films like ‘Lamhe’, ‘Woh Saat Din’, ‘Pukar’, ‘Tezaab’ and ‘Virasat’, said Indian films were extremely different from the kind of films popular in the West. "Their cinema is definitely more realistic than ours... They believe in those kind of films. But, we have made great progress on the international fora and will soon do much better". Naming ‘Pukar’, ‘Virasat’ and ‘Mr India’ as his favourite films, Kapoor said the industry had given him much more than he had ever hoped for. "When I did small roles in films like ‘Hamare Tumhare’ and ‘Ek Baar Kaho’, I had not imagined that I would have such a long and eventful journey." "But two of my films — ‘Lamhe’ and ‘Pukar’ — did not receive the kind of acclaim they deserved," he said. Talking about his forthcoming film ‘Armaan’, which is being shot here, the national award recipient said the movie is extremely dramatic and deals with father-son and husband-wife relationships in a sensitive manner. ‘Hhoney Irani has written the script and is directing the venture as well. I play a doctor and Amitabh Bachchan is my father in the film." Coming to music in Hindi films, Kapoor said he had been "very fortunate " to have done films like ‘1942-a love story’ and ‘Taal’ which had exquisite music. "I consider A R Rahman a rare talent in our industry today... He keeps giving us unique music". Agreeing that the storyline of many movies had been repetitive, the actor said writers and producers were trying to change that. "Films with surprise element are being made now... Just wait for some of the films that are to be released next year. Some great winners are round the corner." Whether he would like to dabble into parallel cinema, Kapoor on a lighter note said, "it may perhaps be difficult for me to look like a man who had been starved for days". But hastened to add, "I am waiting for such an offer." (UNI) |
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UP Speaker serves notice to dissident BSP MLA LUCKNOW, Nov 14: The Speaker of Uttar Pradesh State Assembly Kesri Nath Tripathi has served a seven-day notice to dissident BSP MLA Jai Prakash Yadav asking him to file by Nov 20 his reply on a BSP petition seeking his disqualification under anti-defection law, official sources said here today. The BSP Legislature Party had moved a petition yesterday asking the Speaker to disqualify Yadav from the State Assembly for speaking against the State Government which, Chief Minister Mayawati claimed, comes under the purview of anti-defection law. The petition, on behalf of BSP Legislature Party leader Mayawati, was given to the Secretary of Assembly Secretariat R P Pandey by senior BSP minister Swami Prasad Maurya. According to sources, after scrutiny and verification, the said petition was found "technically correct" and subsequently notice was issued to the dissident BSP MLA, who represents Dhuriapar constituency in Gorakhpur district. The Speaker had asked Pandey to send the said notice to the Lucknow residence of Yadav and also get the same published in newspapers. Mayawati had already suspended Yadav after he met the Governor and submitted a memorandum contending that the her Government was reduced to a minority after withdrawal of support by independent MLAs and urged him to convene a special assembly session for a trial of strength. Criminal cases were also registered against Yadav, who claimed it was "an act of vendetta". BSP’s ally BJP has already sought disqualification of its 10 dissident MLAs who proposed the name of arms dealer Suresh Nanda for Rajya Sabha elections. The Speaker has issued a show-cause notice to all these legislators asking them to explain their postion by November 19. (PTI) |
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AHMEDABAD, Nov 14: Describing as "anti-Hindu" the Election Commission (EC) ban on its "Desh-Dharma Raksha Yatra", the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) today declared that it would go ahead with the state-wide Yatra from Godhra on November 17 despite the ban. "The State-wide yatra will go ahead come what may. The Godhra authorities have already permitted us to take out the Yatra and if the EC tried to obstruct it, we will move the court," VHP international secretary-general Pravin Togadia said at a crowded press conference here. "In that case, we would also make efforts to produce in the court the State Government’s actual report submitted to the Election Commission," he said. He described as "anti-Hindu" the CEC decision banning the yatra. However, Dr Togadia assured that no riots would take place anywhere in Gujarat as a consequence. "The Election Commission has taken the decision merely on the basis of some media reports, without even giving us an opportunity to explain, and did not even know that the yatra was scheduled to start from November 17, not November 15," he said. Brandishing the Godhra administration’s written permission for the Yatra, Dr Togadia said this was given after due consideration of all the facts on the ground and before the EC order came. Reiterating that the VHP, being a religious organisation, was not bound by the EC order which is applicable only on political parties contesting the elections in Gujarat, the VHP leader said the poll panel had "no right" to ban a religious yatra. "The Commission should maintain its decorum and dignity and must not exceed its brief," he remarked. The VHP declaration comes just a day after the EC banned the yatra anticipating trouble ahead of the December 12 Assembly elections. Dr Togadia criticised Chief Election Commissioner J M Lyngdoh charging him with an "anti-Hindu bias" and said the poll panel chief, a former IAS officer of the Bihar cadre, had, as a central observer, tried to create a "Bihar-like situation" in the Radhanpur Assembly constituency in 1997 in favour of the then BJP rebel Shankarsinh Vaghela who had contested from there. The VHP leader also charged the CEC with following his own "Christian agenda" having commented against the BJP in the wake of the 1998 dangs incident and then overlooking the church’s appeal to the people to vote for the Congress party in the last Assembly elections in Goa and Chhattisgarh. Dr Togadia said the VHP’s yatra, commencing at Godhra on November 17 and culminating at Ahmedabad on December six, had nothing to do with the December 12 elections. The decision was taken months ago at Ayodhya and it was 18th such annual yatra, he added. Drawing inspiration from Chhatrapati Shivaji’s spiritual Guru, Samarth Swami Ramdas, VHP leader Acharya Dharmendra, who is seventh descendent disciple of the Swami, will carry the 18th century saint’s wooden slippers (Khadauns) on this yatra, which will pass through nearly 200 towns and cities of Gujarat and hold religious programmes at different places, he said. Describing the purpose of the yatra as "religious reawakening", Dr Togadia said it sought to make the people aware of the twin "dangers" facing the country. These were, according to him, the "secularist attempt to turn the Godhra victims into perpetrators of the crime in the garb of human rights and the "vote-hungry politicians’ attempts to shield terrorists and separatists". He alleged it was these people who tried to derail the Godhra investigation in a wrong direction, spoke the language of Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf after the recent Ansal Plaza shootout case and opposed POTO. "But we would not take these things lying down and create awareness against such elements. The reply of Godhra is Gandhinagar next month, New Delhi in the next election and Pakistan afterwards," he asserted. Claiming that the reply to "Islamic Jehad" could only be "Hindu Rashtra", Dr Togadia maintained that the VHP Yatra would create the "roadmap" for the same. The slogan of the Yatra was "to make each youth a Shivaji". The VHP leader reiterated the demand to ban those Islamic seminaries (madrasas) which he alleged, were promoting organisations such as Ahl-e-Hadis, Dawat-ul-Islami and Tabligi Jamat which created the mindset for terrorism. When asked if the EC banned the Yatra fearing it could trigger violence, dr togadia said it was like killing a child fearing he would become a terrorist. He also appealed to the minorities not to be "misled" by politicians and vested interests and to the Hindus, to maintain peace and communal harmony during the rally. Lashing out at the Delhi-based Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) which he labelled as "factory of secularists", he demanded its closure or scrapping its subsidy. At taxpayer’s expense, this institution was encouraging all sorts of anti-Indian activities, he claimed, adding JNU should seek financial aid and subsidy from Pakistan in whose overall interest it was functioning. Dr Togadia said the VHP was striving to make a modern and strong India on lines of President George W Bush’s USA, Vladimir Putin’s Russia and Ariel Sharon’s Israel. He praised the people of these countries for empowering their leaders with "democratic rights" to deal with the terrorist menace and urged the people of India to follow suit. (UNI) |
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BJP trying to de-franchise ten dissident MLAs LUCKNOW, Nov 14: With barely four days to go for the crucial bye-election for the lone Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council seat, BJP is trying desperately to disenfranchise its ten rebel MLAs, whose disqualification has been sought for proposing arms dealer Suresh Nanda’s name for Rajya Sabha polls. As a possible cross-voting by the ten dissidents could put the victory of the ruling BSP-BJP combine’s nominee Munna Singh Chauhan in doubt, the party is likely to approach Assembly Speaker Kesri Nath Tripathi for an interim order disenfranchising them before a final decision on the party’s petition seeking their disqualification, party sources here said today. Anticipating the State leadership’s move, the dissident camp was also seeking legal opinion to block such an attempt. Spokesman of the ‘Save BJP Committee’ Ramashish Rai told PTI that they were seeking legal opinion, both with regard to the disqualification petition and the possible move to disenfranchise them from the November 18 poll. All the ten MLAs had received the notices served to them by the Speaker in which they had been asked to file their replies by November 19 next, a day after the bye-election. As the ruling and opposition nominees were locked in a straight contest, the bye-poll is being construed as a virtual trial of strength for the beleagured Mayawati Government. The State BJP leadership is also consulting legal experts on the matter of getting the ten MLAs disenfranchised in the the bye-poll, BJP legislature party leader Lalji Tandon said. A meeting of the BJP legislature group has been convened on November 17 to formulate strategy for the bye-election, he said. The dissidents’ candidate, Yashwant Singh, has claimed that he had enough numbers to ensure a comfortable victory. A confident looking rebel camp has claimed that the party could expect more "shock" in the coming days as a few MLAs were likely to skip the legislature party meeting being held at the official residence of Lalji Tandon. Meanwhile, the opposition parties, mainly the Samajwadi Party and the Congress, have declared that they will support Yashwant Singh, fielded by the BJP dissident group. President of the Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee said that his party would vote in favour of the opposition candidate to expose the Mayawati Government, which, he claimed has been reduced to minorty. With the results of the bye-election being attached so much importance the ruling and the opposition camps were likely to leave no stone unturned for getting their respective candidate elected, political obervers said. (PTI) |
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Mahapanchayat to block roads to
press JHAJJAR, Nov 14: A Mahapanchayat of villagers held at Duleena in this district of Haryana today decided to launch a nine-hour daily blockade of various roads from here tomorrow to press for the release of ten people, including five arrested today for their alleged involvement in arson, looting and assault on police in protest against the arrest of five people in Dalits lynching case at Duleena on October 15. Roads from here to Delhi, to Rewari, Dadra and Rohtak would be blocked from 0800 hrs to 1700 hrs daily till November 20 to force the Government to release all the ten people. Five people were arrested earlier on the charge of Dalits’ murder. Those arrested today were later remanded in judicial custody by a Duty Magistrate, a police spokesman said. He said the district administration had yesterday invoked Section 144 of the CrPC here which prohibits Assembly of five or more people. Uneasy calm prevailed in the district but the situation is said to be under control after prohibitory orders under Section 144 of CrPC were clamped in the district yesterday. Police have made adequate security arrangements to maintain law and order, the spokesman added. All schools and colleges have been closed in this district till tomorrow as a precautionary measure. The spokesman said four police personnel, including DSP Prem Singh Saini, and an inspector, were injured near Surah village when some people pelted stones at them in protest against the arrests. He said Inspector Satbir Singh, SHO Bahadurgarh Police Station, was hospitalised at PGIMS, Rohtak after he was seriously injured in the mob attack. Meanwhile, Director General of Police M S Malik today visited the injured officer and directed the doctors to give him the necessary medical help. He said Mr Malik also held a meeting with the senior police and civil officers at Rohtak and Bahadurgarh to take stock of the situation. He directed them to take strict legal action against the rumour-mongers and law-breakers. He said they must ensure the law-abiding citizens were not harassed. Meanwhile, the National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes has summoned the Haryana Home Secretary to question him about the tragic killings before sending its report to the Union Home Ministry. The Commission has already conducted on-the-spot probe into the lynching. Rohtak Divisional Commissioner R R Banswal, who was directed by the State Government to probe the killings, is yet to submit his report. (UNI) Anti collision device
functioning in trains on BANGALORE, Nov 14: The Railways have recently installed an anti collision device in the trains running on Jalundhar-Amritsar route on an experimental basis, Minister of State for Railways Bandaru Dattatreya said today. Speaking to newspersons at Yeshwantpur Railway Station here, after flagging off the Yeswanthpur-Gulbarga-Solapur Express train, his department would be spending Rs 52 crore on the project which aimed at avoiding head on collisions. Trains with a speed of 150 km per hour would also be run on the tracks in Konkan rail route on an experimental basis soon. On metro rail transport system for Bangalore city, he said it could be initiated with the active participation of the State Government, Railways and the Union Urban Development Ministry. He said under the Prime Minister’s ‘Rail Vikas Yojana’ all major metropolitan cities Delhi, Calcutta, Mumbai and Chennai would be connected quadrilaterally. There were also efforts to ensure speedy movement of freights on these lines as it is here that the railways got more than 70 per cent of its revenue. Goods train at a speed of 100 km per hour would be run on these lines, he added. Replying to queries, he said a special railway safety fund has been created involving Rs 17000 crore which would be mainly used for track development, strengthening of old bridges and signalling modernisation. Mega bridges at Brahmaputra in Assam and two more across rivers in Bihar, involving a cost of Rs 3000 crore would be constructed. The project, launched in 2001-02, would be completed in five years, he added. Mr Dattatreya said a new railway line would be laid between Udhampur and Baramullah in Kashmir Valley by 2007. Optic fibre cables would be laid by 2004 and all the stations in both urban and rural areas would be provided with exclusive cell phones. Earlier, at the flagging off function, he said out of 7000 railway stations in the country, 289 including Bangalore and eight others in Karnataka would be modernised. Between April and October last 116 new trains were started and routes of 66 trains extended with 16 more new trains to be included shortly, he detailed. He also announced that three more trains from Bangalore to Hubli, Kannanur and Durg in Madhya Pradesh would be started before end of january. (UNI) India, US to enhance air force cooperation NEW DELHI, Nov 12: As part of their increasing defence cooperation, India and the United States will conduct joint air force exercises with helicopters and combat planes to make their respective forces fully geared to meet any challenge at a short notice. This was decided at the two-day seventh meeting of the Indo-US Executive Steering Group (ESG) which concluded this evening. The Indian side was led by Air Marshal S G Inamdar, Vice-Chief of the Air Staff, while Lt Gen Steven Polk, Vice Commander of the Pacific Air Force, headed the US delegation. Briefing reporters after the meeting, Air Marshal Inamdar said the two countries had already conducted joint air force exercises with transport planes in early October at Alaska. We will now be conducting joint exercises with helicopters in early 2004...This will be followed by the two countries holding exercises with combat planes. Describing his discussions with the Indian side as productive, Lt Gen Polk said our objectives are to promote mutual understanding, learn from each other and enhance exposure to latest equipment, technology, diverse terrain and operating conditions. Asked why the two countries could not conduct joint exercises with combat planes in the near future, both Air Marshal Inamdar and Lt Gen Polk said we have to become familiar with each others’ equipment and other training procedures......We have to walk together before we start running. Air Marshal Inamdar said India had a lot to offer to the US in terms of training American air force personnel in air defence in mountains, jungles and rugged terrains. Similarly, the US Air Force could offer a lot to the IAF as it had the best technology and machines to undertake any combat operation. He said a large number of IAF personnel would be visiting the US over the next two years to participate in seminars and training courses. The US air force personnel would be coming to India for the same purpose. Answering a question, Air Marshal Inamdar said the familiarisation of the US Air Force personnel with the Himalayas had already begun because the IAF air-dropping zones were located there but there was no proposal for joint exercises at this stage. He said the ESG, which meets twice a year alternatively in India or the US, also looked at the programme for the future as already decided at the defence policy group levels so as to define the activities for the coming year. (UNI) Tohra endorses Amarinder’s summoning to Akal Takht CHANDIGARH, Nov 14: Sarb Hind Shiromani Akali Dal (SHSAD) president Gurcharan Singh Tohra today supported the SGPC resolution appealing to the Akal Takht Jathedar to summon Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh but at the same time said the Chief Minister had not violated the sikh tenets by allegedly sending police into "the Golden Temple Complex". Addressing a news conference here, he, like the Chief Minister, differentiated between the SGPC complex, which houses the administrative offices of the apex religious body of the Sikhs, and the Golden Templex complex which has the sanctum sanctorum of the holiest Sikh shrine and the building of Akal Takht, the highest religio-temporal seat of the Sikhs. "The two complexes are divided by a Municipal Corporation road " and, therefore, the police entry to the SGPC complex could not be construed as violation of the Sikh tenets. Mr Tohra said if entry into the SGPC amounted to violation of sanctity, then former Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, too, had been guilty of having violated it for three consecutive years from 1998 during the annual presidential elections of the SGPC. He, however, said police should not have entered the SGPC complex either. Mr Tohra said he had repeatedly urged Mr Badal to transfer the 64-foot-wide municipal road to the SGPC when the latter was the Chief Minister but to no avail. Mr Badal said yesterday the road and the SGPC complex are part of the Golden Temple complex, claiming the road automatically became the property of the SGPC because of adverse possession for over twelve years. The SGPC general house, in a meeting held immediately after the re-election of Badal’s candidate Kirpal Singh Badungar as president of the body on November 12, had passed a unanimous resolution urging Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Joginder Singh Vedanti to summon the Chief Minister and punish him for violating the Sikh tenets by sending police into "the Golden Temple complex ". Mr Tohra attributed defeat of his party’s candidate in the SGPC polls to the "nexus between feudal of Congress and Badal’s party and the Hindu fundamentalists", alleging his arch rival Parkash Singh Badal has become a lackey of the Hindu fundamentalists. He further alleged that both Mr Badal and Mr Simranjit Singh Mann had ditched the Khalsa Panth (Sikh community), the latter by boycotting the polls. Mr Mann’s four loyalists in the SGPC had supported Mr Tohra’s candidate last year. Mr Tohra claimed Badal has "surrendered" before Hindu fundamentalists. "We were facing four Governments - centre, Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh in the run-up to the SGPC elections," Tohra said, adding, "whether it is a Congress or a BJP-led Government at the Centre they have always opposed panthic forces." Mr Tohra, who began the conference expressing "satisfaction" at the conduct of the elections, ended up declaring that he did not accept the verdict and could consider moving the High Court to challenge the result. His confidant and former minister Mahesh Inder Singh Garewal had said at Ludhiana in Ludhiana that the SHSAD would challenge the SGPC polls on grounds of "corrupt and unfair means used by Badal". Mr Tohra lost his cool when asked if he accepted Giani Joginder Singh Vedanti as the Jathedar (head minister) of the Akal Takht. He, however, later apologised for the spat with journalists, admitting that his ire against some body else came out here. He, however, added, "we will reinstate Bhai Ranjit Singh as the Akal Takht Jathedar at the first given opportunity to restore the dignity and honour of the institution ". On Badal’s suggestion that he should quit public life and take "Sanyas", Mr Tohra quipped, "I am already a Sanyasi... I have no farmhouse in Haryana, no hotel in Gurgaon and no land in the United States either ", in apparent reference to the alleged assets acquired by Mr Badal in public life. (UNI) "Swadhikar, Sandeshe"
projects launched NEW DELHI, Nov 14: Congress president Sonia Gandhi today launched "Swadhikar and Sandeshe" projects at her residence here for providing computer based facilities to the people of her parliamentary constituency Amethi in Uttar Pradesh on the occasion of the 113th birth anniversary of the nation’s first Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru. AICC media secretary Tom Vadakkan said in a statement that Gandhi believes "while the internet revolution has galvanised many aspects of our lives, the rural areas have lagged behind. The websites—Swadhikar and Sandeshe are an attempt to make available to the common citizens of Amethi the benefits of the information technology revolution". Currently, this facility was being launched at three tehsil headquarters of Amethi, Gauriganj and Salon and would be managed and controlled by Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust, he said. Swadhikar is essentially a portal for information dissemination in Hindi on Central and State Government schemes relating to welfare, rural development, poverty alleviation and income generation, he said adding that those sites currently not available in Hindi have their links to the NIC site of the Central Government. He said Sandeshe is a package for providing e-mail services in Hindi and English to the interior areas for faster and cheaper communication. Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee spokesman Akhilesh Singh said from now on, the people of Amethi could send their grievances directly to Sonia Gandhi throught the two websites. The websites would be controlled and monitored by the Rajiv Gandhi Trust, he said. To be initially operational in tehsil headquarters of Amethi, Gauriganj and Salon, their services soon would be extended to other parts of the parliamentary constituency, Singh said. For this, the process of opening new computer centres in other areas had already started, he added. (PTI) |
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