|
|
Badal refutes having
deployed cops in CHANDIGARH, Nov 19: Shiromani Akali Dal(SAD) president Parkash Singh Badal today strongly refuted as "totally incorrect" press reports ascribed to .......more 20
killed in passenger HYDERABAD, Nov 19: In a major strategic blunder, People’s War Group (PWG) extremists blew up a State Road Transport Corporation bus, . ....more Amnesty
raps UP, LUCKNOW, Nov 19: International human rights group Amnesty International has condemned the Uttar Pradesh and ......more Nation
pays rich NEW DELHI, Nov 19: The nation paid rich tributes to former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, an outstanding leader and .......more |
|
Lakhs take holy dip on auspicious Kartik Purnima NEW DELHI, Nov 19: Braving an early morning nip in the air, lakhs of devotees today took holy dip in sacred rivers and ponds and offered prayers ........more Mob
behaviour in NEW DELHI, Nov 19: Throwing light on an important aspect of the Gujarat riots, Justice G T Nanavati, heading the inquiry commission into it, today . ......more Shed
differences in the NEW DELHI, Nov 19: President A P J Abdul Kalam today said differences in the name of religion and caste and ....more Gehlot
asks Centre to JAIPUR, Nov 19: Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot today asked the Centre......more |
Badal refutes having deployed cops in Golden Temple CHANDIGARH, Nov 19: Shiromani Akali Dal(SAD) president Parkash Singh Badal today strongly refuted as "totally incorrect" press reports ascribed to him that he too had ordered the police into the Golden Temple during his tenure as the Chief Minister. Mr Badal, in a statement here, said the press reports had even surprised him as some parts of his comments on providing routine escort in plain clothes to the Queen (Elizabeth), who was a distinguished guest of the Khalsa Panth, had been taken completely out of context. "Sending the police into the Golden Temple has only one connotation, and that is sending it in to storm the place and to show disrespect to the maryada of the holy shrine. Not even my enemies can accuse me of doing that," he added. Mr Badal alleged that the Punjab Police, on directions of Chief Minister Amarinder Singh had entered the Golden temple complex during last week’s Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) elections as a "marauding army of the Mughals". The police had crossed the ‘Darshani Deodi’, trampled sentiments of the Sikh Sangat, stopped devotees from paying their obeisance, threw out legitimate occupants out of the serais and intimidated those employed to ensure observance of Maryada within the complex. He said the whole world saw this aggression of the police on TV. The policemen were in full uniform, carried their weapons, wore their shoes and behaved like an occupation army. Mr Badal said all this had been faithfully reported by the media in a show of courageous commitment to duty. He asked captain Amarinder Singh to deny even a word of this. He asked him further to clarify whether according to him the Darshani Deodi forms a part of the Golden complex or not. The SAD supremo chided Capt Amarinder Singh and said if his allegations about the police being ordered into the Golden temple complex during the Akali regime were indeed true, then why did he keep mum about the matter at that time? he asked "Can he(CM) show us a single statement by him condemning what he calls police entry of that time? does the present Government think that the media and the entire Sikh world will have ignored it if such a thing had indeed happened during the Akali-BJP regime?" asked Mr Badal. Mr Badal alleged that police action at the Golden temple last week had to be seen in perspective. It came as a climax to a State-wide "operation occupation" launched by the Chief Minister against the innocent people, especially the Akalis and SGPC members. "Dozens of SGPC members and hundreds of Akali leaders and workers were placed under house arrest. Thousands had been arrested and section 144 was clamped throughout the State. The holy city of Amritsar was sealed off and turned into a police garrison. People were stopped even from praying at the sanctum sanctorum. "And this happened when there was total peace in the State. Not even a small incident of violence by any Akali worker or anyone else was reported from anywhere. The only signs of tension in the State were those caused by the Government." He said the fact of the matter, was that the Capt Amarinder Singh had no answer as to why he ordered the police into the Golden Temple last week. The police entry into the Golden temple was a highly emotive issue for the Sikhs. "The term police entry into the sacred complex has a clear connotation and every Sikh remembers by heart the occasions whenever the police and the para-military forces entered the shrine. This included the operation Blue Star," Mr Badal said. (UNI) |
 |
20 killed in passenger bus blast in AP HYDERABAD, Nov 19: In a major strategic blunder, People’s War Group (PWG) extremists blew up a State Road Transport Corporation bus, mistaking it to be carrying police personnel, killing atleast 20 passengers, mostly tribals, in Warangal district of Andhra Pradesh last night. The RTC bus was blown to smithereens using a remote control device near Chintagudam village in a deep forest area, considered a stronghold of Naxalites, about 150 kms from Warangal town. As PWG’s tactical error proved costly, the tribals, returning to Eturu Nagaram after attending a weekly shandy in Tupakulagudem, became victims of the blast that came in the backdrop of a fierce encounter in a nearby Ilapur forest area on Sunday last that resulted in the death of five ultras. The landmine blast was apparently a retaliatory attack targetting policemen who were believed to have participated in the encounter, police said. The Naxals, however, missed their target and blasted a passenger bus, resulting in the death of 20 people, including the bus driver and conductor, and serious injuries to 17 others. As the blast occured in remote forest area, there was considerable delay in information reaching the district headquarters and there was also confusion about the death toll. Of the injured, nine persons have been shifted to a Government hospital at warangal, the Deputy Inspector General of Police Gouthan Sawang said. A group of policemen, travelling in another RTC bus, had a providential escape as their vehicle had passed by the area minutes before the blast occured. The landmine, placed under a culvert, was triggered as the passenger bus passed through a gravel road. The front portion of the vehicle was blown to pieces and the mutilated bodies were strewn all around owing to the impact of the blast. The passengers sitting in the rear side escaped with injuries, driver and conductor were among the dead. ‘There was a loud explosion followed by a series of blasts and we were thrown into the air’, a survivor Shivalinga Prasad said recounting the ordeal. Some of the injured passengers broke open the glass windows and jumped out of the bus. The villagers of Chintagudem were the first to reach the blast site and shifted the seriously injured passengers to a hospital in Eturu Nagaram. Meanwhile, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu reviewed the situation at a high level meeting here and is likely to visit the spot later in the afternoon. Naidu, who has dubbed the attack as barbaric, is likely to make a statement in the State Assembly about the incident. The blast sent shock waves in the State with the Assembly, which is in the midst of winter session, condemning the dastardly act. (PTI) |
|
Amnesty raps UP, Rajasthan for poor literacy of Dalit women LUCKNOW, Nov 19: International human rights group Amnesty International has condemned the Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan Governments for the poor literacy rate among ‘Dalit’ women in their domain, saying it directly violated their rights. "Overall, members of Dalit and Adivasi communities are less well educated than their non-Dalit counterparts. Within Dalit communities in UP and Rajasthan, literacy levels among women are among the lowest in the country," said the Amnesty report. In Rajasthan, an average of 8.3 per cents (dropping to 4.73 per cent in rural areas) of Scheduled Caste (SC) women are literate as opposed to 42.38 per cent of the male population. Similarly, in UP an average of 10.96 per cent of SC women are literate as opposed to 40.79 per cent of the male population. While as per 1991 census, the national average for SC female and male literacy is 27 per cent and 49.91 per cent respectively, the national average for non-SC literacy, as reported by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), is 38 per cent and 66 per cent respectively. The latest report while agreeing that poverty was not directly responsible for violence, claims that the dependency of these groups on more powerful groups in the community encourages exploitation. "It is often accompanied by violent acts," it said. Of serious crimes against SCs including murder, kidnapping, and arson, rape was the highest during 1996-98 period, the report points quoting the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB). Dalit women also suffer violence within their own communities, it said. Violence against women within the community is often characterised by attacks on the honour of women and pitching one community or group against another. But at the same time, the otherwise damning report, appreciates the fact that despite women being forced by economic circumstances to leave their homes in order to work, they enjoy greater mobility and economic dependence than middle-class women. "While it is undoubtly the case that some economic development has benefitted women, the pervasiveness of corruption and exploitation, and disregard by economic factors of the livelihood of under-privileged groups has meant that women have often borne the brunt of economic development of powerful groups," the report observes. The process of empowerment of women can itself lead to violence as male members of a family or community react in anger to challenges to the patriarchal social structure which benefits them. The violence could be in relation to assertion of their economic rights regarding labour conditions as well as their political rights. "While the advent of reservation for the participation of a certain number of women in panchayats has had some positive impact, there have been backlashes against women, particularly dalit women, who are elected to the panchayat and who attempt to assert their rights within that forum," the report claimed. In addition, economic empowerment of women has not been matched by equality of property rights. While many women in poor families are forced to contribute to the family income out of economic necessity, they do not have rights over property either in relation to their parents or within marriage so that in the event of a break-up they are left destitute. (UNI) |
|
|
|
Shed differences in the name of religion, caste: President NEW DELHI, Nov 19: President A P J Abdul Kalam today said differences in the name of religion and caste and haves and have-nots should be shed to transform India into a developed nation. "We should shed the differences in the name of religion and caste and in the name of haves and have-nots," he said giving away the 2001 Indira Gandhi prize for peace, disarmament and development to outstanding humanist Prof Sadako Ogata of Japan. Kalam said this was the message the people of India got from Prof Ogata’s noble and humanitarian contribution. He congratulated Ogata, a former UN High Commissioner for Refugees, for her achievements in the field of alleviating the pain of millions of refugees all over the world. He said the care and compassion for the downtrodden and under-privileged which Prof Ogata has brought to bear on her work was "exactly in line with the ideals of late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. "Care and affection for the downtrodden and the under-privileged was always upper most in the mind of Indira Gandhi. By conferring this prize on Prof Ogata, we not only honour an outstanding personality, we also honour a great national leader Indira Gandhi who had dedicated her whole life to remove poverty, the great polluter of the world," he said. Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in his speech referred to the Palestinian and Afghan refugees and said "we also recognise our moral responsibility to work for the harmonious return of all refugees to their rightful homeland with peace, honour and security". Stating that India had a long tradition of welcoming in her fold all those who knocked at her doors, Vajpayee said "care for a `Sharanarthi’ (one who seeks shelter in our home) is a sacred duty enjoined by our spiritual heritage". He said that twice in the history of independent India, the country had a large influx of refugees. "We accepted them as part of our universal family. Thousands of them, now including the second and third generations, enrich our cultural diversity even today," he said. Stating that four million Afghan refugees were gradually returning, the Prime Minister said the international community had to redeem its pledge of assistance for institution building and human resource development "so that Afghans from outside can return to a climate of political stability and economic recovery". He said New Delhi has pledged 100 million dollars towards this objective and was working closely with President Hamid Karzai’s Government to achieve it. "But the magnitude of the task demands the participation of other countries, of NGOs and of the UN agencies," he said, adding as Japan’s special envoy for Afghanistan, Prof Ogata had been playing an important role in mobilsing such international participation. Congress president and chairperson of Indira Gandhi Memorial Trust Sonia Gandhi, in her welcome address, recalled Indira Gandhi’s vision to build a strong, self-reliant and self-confident nation and said the former Prime Minister was still lovingly remembered by the weaker sections. (PTI) |
|
||
Gehlot asks Centre to enact employment guarantee legislation JAIPUR, Nov 19: Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot today asked the Centre to enact an employment guarantee legislation to meet the minimum livelihood requirement of ordinary people. "A legislative guarantee for at least 100 days employment in a year would automatically solve many of the problems of the deprived classes," Gehlot said inaugurating a national seminar on social security. "I had raised this matter in the meeting of the National Development Council (NDC) also that an employment guarantee scheme with legislative mandate should be made available for the whole country on the pattern of the innovative scheme introduced in Maharashtra," said. He spoke of the deepening financial crisis in Rajasthan as in most states following the implementation of the fifth pay commission’s recommendations, and said because of it’s limited financial resources, it would be difficult for the State Government to bring all the poor under a single umbrella of social security on its own. "We would need creative and positive support from the Central Government, the industry and the voluntary organisations in our endeavour to provide social security cover to all the needy," he added. Asserting that Rajasthan was way ahead of other States in taking up social welfare measures to help people of deprived classes, Social Welfare Minister Chhoga Ram Bakolia said the Gehlot Government was the most sensitive to the needs of the poor. Referring to Shahbad and Kishenganj blocks in Baran district from where starvation deaths had been reported, Bakolia said he had visited the areas and arranged food for the needy. State Chief Secretary Indrajit Khanna stressed the need for effective delivery of benefits of various schemes to the benificiaries. The two-day seminar, organised by Rajiv Gandhi Social Security Mission under the Social Welfare Department of the State, will discuss topics like social welfare, food security, employment, health security and education. A ‘Jaipur declaration’ would be issued at the end of the seminar tomorrow. (PTI) VHP critices Advani’s remark on Hindu State KANPUR, Nov 19:Criticising Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani for his remark that India can never be converted into a Hindu nation, the Bajrang Dal today said it was an "insult" to Hindus who constitute 85 per cent of the country’s population. In a statement issued here, Bajrang Dal national convenor Prakash Sharma said "India was a Hindu State, it is a Hindu State and and it will remain a Hindu State in future." "We do not want certificates from any Advani or Atal on this issue," he added. Replying to an adjournment motion on Gujarat issue in the Lok Sabha yesterday, Advani said India can never be converted into a Hindu State and the people would neither condone communal violence nor tolerate pseudo-secularism. (PTI) No power should enforce its will on Iraq: Vajpayee NEW DELHI, Nov 19: In an oblique reference to the United States, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee today warned that no power should enforce its will on any country and said all issues relating to Iraq should be sorted out under the auspices of the United Nations. "We hope no more war takes place in Iraq. All issues should be sorted out through discussions under the auspices of the United Nations. No one should try to enforce its will on others," he said in his speech at a Sikh congregation to mark the 533rd birth anniversary of Guru Nanak here. On the reported nuclear capabilities of Iraq, he said if it had "such weapons which endangered humanity, it (Iraq) should give it up on its own". In a categoric statement aimed at the United States administration, Vajpayee said everyone should understand that "people of all nations have a right to rule themselves and choose their own leader". "No country should try to impose its will on any other country," the Prime Minister said. Vajpayee made these remarks, the most categoric since tension mounted between US and Iraq, after he referred to Guru Nanak’s visits to various parts of India and the world including Baghdad. "If terrorism, of any form, any colour or any hue, wants to impose itself on anyone else, it will not be allowed to succeed," the Prime Minister said. He said Guru Nanak’s dream and vision of peace, friendship, equity and brotherhood gave "an India of 100 crore" the strength to fight the challenge from terrorism or any quarter. Asking people to place themselves in a situation which existed when Guru Nanak lived over 500 years ago, he said India was then under foreign rule and there was lot of exploitation and terror. Superstition and regressive ideologies were on the rise and everyone used to blame their fate, and not their deed (karma), for all evils. It was in that age of darkness that the Guru "ushered in an era of light by giving the message of brotherhood, equity and fearlessness". He toured the entire country, met the common people, shared their woes and nurtured and nourished the feeling of camaraderie between all sections of society, the Prime Minister said. Earlier, Delhi BJP chief Madan Lal Khurana said the Guru had spread the message of unity and brotherhood among the people, whatever faith they belonged to. Minorities Commission Vice Chairman Tarlochan Singh thanked the Government for sending this year a "token Jatha" (delegation) of Sikhs for pilgrimage to Nankana Saheb, birth place of Guru Nanak in Pakistan. He urged the Government to send a larger jatha next year onwards. (PTI) Lure of the lucre lands them in jail GURDASPUR (PUNJAB), Nov 19: Over a dozen youth, who paid huge sums to travel agents to settle abroad, are languishing in Quetta jail in Pakistan. This was revealed in a letter written by one of them to his uncle at Sohal in this district from Quetta jail. Satnam Singh, who wrote the letter to his uncle Gurdial Singh, said instead of settling in greece as promised by the travel agent, he along with his friend is now languishing in Quetta jail. He said in the letter that more than a dozen youth, who were lured by the travel agents, are also lodged in the jail with them for the past several months. Gurdial Singh told reporters here yesterday that Satnam Singh and his friend paid Rs three lakh to a travel agent who promised to send them to Greece. He said both were flown to oman first from where they were taken to Lebanon. They later went to Turkey and then to Iraq allegedly on a fake visa where they were arrested and sent to Pakistan and lodged in Quetta jail. Seeking intervention of the centre in getting Satnam Singh deported to India, Gurdial Singh said he feared Satnam might be implicated in a false case in Pakistan. (PTI) Controversy over Mahabharta-Utsav celebrations KURUKSHETRA, Nov 19: Kuruskhetra is heading towards another ‘Mahabharata’ even before the actual commencement of the proposed Mahabharata-Utsav , under the aegis of Union Tourism and Cultural Affairs Ministry at the Purshiuttampura Bagh here from December 11 to 15. A controversary has raked up over the very title of the festival. Though a large number of people of the region are full of anguish over the title of the festival, a few even have taken the cudgels to register their protest with the district administration. The district administration has accepted the responsibility of organising the festival on behalf of the Central Government, clubbing it with the Haryana Government’s annual festival of Gita Jayanti Samaaroh . All zonal cultural centers, Haryana Tourism Department and the Kurukshetra Development Board have been roped in for organising this national level festival. The resentment on the proposed theme of the national level festival was witnessed during a citizens’ meeting, convened by the Deputy Commissioner Abhilaksh Likhi. A freedom fighter and eminent literateur Bal Krishan Muztar, questioned the justifiability of the theme of the festival as the Mahabharata-Utsav . Muztar, who has authored 18 books mainly on Kurukshetra and Haryana history, culture and religion, said the very term of Mahabharata had always been used for chaotic and anarchical conditions in literary and behavioral language. He pointed out that the term Mahabharata had been used for the great war, which laid to rest 18 lakhs of armies of India of the day. Hence, Mahabharata could never be an Utsav, an anecdote or event to rejoice and celebrate, he emphasised. The controversy further heightened with the appearance of a poster entitled Mahabharata-Utsav Ka Auchitya: Ek Yaksha Prashan published by Muztar. The poster gives vivid details of the impact of the epic war of Mahabharata, indicated by Arjuna in the first chapter of the ‘Gita’ from 31 to 46 Shlokas. He has thrown an open challenge to the organisers of the Mahabharata Utsav to justify its thematic title, by saying that the Mahabharata war was the end of India’s science and technology, war techniques and strategies compelling the rulers of the day to ponder over the causes of wars and the reasons of defeats therein. He said: If the Mahabharata war is a thing to rejoice over, after total doom it carried along, and the Union Government could afford to spend one crore rupees on its celebrations by way of dances, dramas, fireworks among other things, then invasions by Mehmood Ghazanvi and by others, including razing of Somanath temple in Gujarat after its loot in 12th century, the three battles of Panipat in 1526, 1556 and 1761, and even Indo-Chinese war of 1962 and India’s defeat in all of them, must also be celebrated in the same spirit. It is a matter of shame and disgust that we are celebrating the war which is full of incidents of cheat, deceit and immoralities, instead of feeling ashamed of it. Is it right to celebrate such wars which broght havoc on earth? , he has posed a question to the organisers and people alike. Muztar, in an interview with the UNI said, it would have been in the fitness of things had the national festival been named as Kurukshetra-Utsav like the Pushkar Utsav, Ajmer Sharif Urs, Benaras fair, Anand Sahib festival and other festivals in the names of cities denoting their religious, historic and cultural significance. Kurukshetra, he said, has a great relevance ever since the period of the Vedas, crossing the epic Mahabharata age, upto the Pushyabhooti Vardhan dynastic rule of King Harshavardhan who established Thanesar, the twin city of Kurukshetra as his capital even before Kannauj. Muztar said Kurukshetra Utsav could run down to cover the period of Sufism and Bhakti movement. He said saints like Sheikh Chehli whose tomb stood on the northern side of Kurukshetra city on the pattern of the Taj Mahal of Agra, Guru Nanak Dev and all other Sikh Gurus visited this holy land to pay their obeisance. Kurukshetra, he said, was also known for its communal harmony since ages. This year the annual Gita Jayanti Samaroh, would include grand event incorporating dances, dramas, music, theatre, paintings, ballets, crafts etc. A special feature would be the ‘grand spectacle’ to be held at Purshotampura Bagh at Brahamsarover. This would be a choreographed musical of art forms associated with the epic. The district administration claims that it would be yet another Mahabharata at Kurukshetra, "not of the armies and cavalries of the battle, but assemblance of over 1,500 performers and artisans displaying their talent. The highlight of the cultural performances by the north, south, south-central, east, north central, north eastern and west zone cultural centers would include Kathak, Chhau, Bhagawat Mela, Chakravyuha dances. For the first time a sustained effort has been initiated to promote Kurukshetra as an pilgrimage tourist destination. (UNI) |
||
|
||
|
| home | state | national | business| editorial | advertisement | sports | |
