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NEW DELHI, Oct 2: In a world aging fast, recounting and celebrating the turn of the autumn has assumed a special significance. .....more C’garh
Govt rejects RAIPUR, Oct 2: Chhattisgarh Government has refused to recommend a CBI inquiry into the issue of alleged payment of Rs 2.5 lakh to Rajnandgaon Zilla .....more 2
women jailed on GUWAHATI, Oct 2: In a bizarre incident, the Assam Police in a suo-motto action arrested two women and sent them to jail after forcing them to ..more CM
urges Centre to NEW DELHI, Oct 2: Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh has urged the Centre to decla.....more |
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Confirmed employee ALLAHABAD, Oct 2: The Allahabad High Court has ruled that a confirmed employee of an establishment cannot be denied the right to explanation or an ......more Polish
missionary BHUBANESWAR, Oct 2: A Polish missionary, who has been working for leprosy eradication in India for the last 50 years, has been recommended for .......more Police
bust Bangladesh GURDASPUR, Oct 2: Two girls, 15-year-old Ajmera and the 14-year-old Sajda, were brought all the way from their homes in Bangladesh and were up .....more Cong, opponents surprised by heavy turnout in rally LUCKNOW, Oct 2: The impressive Congress showing during the protest rally against the State Government’s taking....more |
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PM, Sethi siding with K’taka on Cauvery issue: TN Minister .... Not sure of Soccer, you could be mad in Brazil .... Nation remembers Lal Bahadur Shastri ......
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NEW DELHI, Oct 2: In a world aging fast, recounting and celebrating the turn of the autumn has assumed a special significance. While the policy makers brace themselves for one of the greatest population shifts in the human history, a picture book, titled "ageless mind and spirit,’’ released in the capital yesterday, captures in black and white the stories of some of the most celebrated good old folks of our society. The book, with 140 black-and-white tritone photographs and 30,000 words, which has a foreword by Buddhist spiritual leader Dalai Lama, is being highlighted by photographer Samar S Jodha and editor Vijay S Jodha as a ‘path-breaking’ photography book. It is a product of an eight-year effort covering 400 elderly people all over India to create a series of engaging human-interest stories in the voices of the elderly themselves. "Each story represents one or more facets of ageing. Together they form a picture of the way we are or will be,’’ reads the promotion. The release of the book, which was preceded by a high pitch print publicity through write-ups and feature articles, comes two days after who celebrated the active ageing day. The book is precious to all those who wish for more than the cut and dry analysis of health, diet and exercise as a means to a productive old-age. The book showcases greying greats such as Alyque Padamsee, Dr Mulk Raj Anand, Verghese Kurien, Nadira, Kushwant Singh. However the book also captures faces and stories of not so widely known elderly members of the community who literally are the voices of history, unique and imaginative. For instance Chang Ja, editor, printer and publisher of ‘The Chinese Journal of India’, born in Kolkata, 1934. He claims that theirs is the only paper in the whole of South Asia which is still using machines that other publishing companies have sold for scrap at least ten to 15 years ago. "We don’t have the circulation to support either modern machinery, off set press or air-conditioning,’’ he says. He laments that among the Chinese community, the new generation is studying only English. " In ten years, the Chinese language in India will be totally gone." " My motto for old age is, don’t rely too much on children or they will take you for a ride. First they will go for the cupboard key and next they will say bye-bye,’’ he adds. The celebrated author Dr Mulk Raj Anand, born in Peshawar, Pakistan, 1905, relates the concept of old age to the agility and productivity of mind. "How old do you feel? some people become old at 50, some like Nirad Chaudhuri didn’t feel old even at 100. The question is if you have 11 degrees what use are they? of what use are you to others and how alive are you in your mind?’’ For the advertising Guru Alyque Padamsee too, ageing is about mind. " I think ageing has to do with your mind. If you feel old then you will be old,’’ he says.(UNI) |
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C’garh Govt rejects oppn demand for CBI probe in Mandavi case RAIPUR, Oct 2: Chhattisgarh Government has refused to recommend a CBI inquiry into the issue of alleged payment of Rs 2.5 lakh to Rajnandgaon Zilla Panchayat president Prembai Mandavi to defect BJP to Congress, saying the police is investigating the allegation of abduction of the tribal woman by a top BJP leader. Home Minister Nand Kumar Patel told the State Assembly last night that Mandavi’s son had lodged a complaint that she was abducted by one BJP national vice president and a central minister, and the police are probing the case. Patel was replying to a question of senior BJP member Brij Mohan Agrawal who, supported by the entire opposition, alleged that the Ajit Jogi Government was ‘encouraging and engineering defection in other parties’. ‘Mandavi’s allegation has proved how other 13 BJP MLAs had earlier defected to Congress’, the BJP members, led by the leader of opposition Nand Kumar Sai, said and demanded a CBI inquiry into the entire Mandavi episode. ‘It is unfortunate that Jogi, while replying to the no-confidence motion, did not touch the Mandavi episode at all, when his own Congress members are demanding CBI inquiry’, Sai remarked. Since the CBI can not directly inquire into this on its own, let the State Government order a probe by the agency, the BJP members said. They also said that Mandavi had met Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and informed him about the alleged defection attempt by the ruling party in the State. (PTI) |
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2 women jailed on the basis of mere rumours GUWAHATI, Oct 2: In a bizarre incident, the Assam Police in a suo-motto action arrested two women and sent them to jail after forcing them to undergo virginity test on the basis of mere rumour of acting in pornographic films in Nalbari district of lower Assam. The two women, Reeta Dutta and Shikha, who were granted bail, mustered enough courage to narrate their ordeal which has sent shock waves across the society at the Guwahati Press Club yesterday. According to Reeta who is also a village Panchayat head, Belsor Police picked them up after a series of baseless stories appeared in a local Assamese daily last week, beside widespread rumours of local Assamese girls acting in pornographic films. "We were picked up from home at night, kept in the police station and then jailed after being forced to undergo virginity tests by a male doctor despite our repeated protests," she said. Talking to the media persons, both the women said they were budding artists and were now being ostracized by the community after the arrest. "We can not come out of our house, everywhere people look down upon. How can we now prove our innocence?" "Even the police have now admitted that the rumours could have been spread by a jilted lover, which eventually made its way into the newspaper," said the more articulate Reeta asserting that their whole life had been jeopardized by senseless reporting and police action. The police on the other hand had no direct reply when contacted. Additional Superintendent of Police, Nalbari district, Jitmol Doley said that a suo motto case was filed by the police on the basis of a series of reports in an Assamese daily. "I have not seen the films, but the women were picked up on the basis of an account by a person who had seen the film as well as the newspaper reports. They may also not be involved in the films," he said admitting that the medical test was not necessary. The concerned newspaper editor said that the news report came from the mofussil and after the women informed him about the truth, their names were withheld in the subsequent reports. Nalbari district magistrate Kalyan Chakravarty when contacted was on the defensive. "The arrest does not mean conviction," he said. To seek justice the women now plan to knock the doors of State Human Rights Commission, the Press Council of India and State Women’s Commission seeking justice. (UNI) |
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Police bust Bangladesh human trafficking gang GURDASPUR, Oct 2: Two girls, 15-year-old Ajmera and the 14-year-old Sajda, were brought all the way from their homes in Bangladesh and were up for sale in the market at Pathankot but the timely police intervention saved them from being sold to prospective customers for a mere of Rs R,000 each. The two girls were among the 24 Bangladesh nationals who were taken away from their homes and then across India and to Punjab where they were to be sold. All of them, belonging to poor families, left their homes and came here in search of greener pastures. Police, on specific information, descended upon the abandoned Ashoka Timbers building on the outskirts of Pathankot town and rescued the two minor girls besides three married women and 19 men. Police also arrested Kamal Sheikh, a Bangladesh national, who was responsible for bringing this group here with a promise that they would get respectable jobs. Both Ajmera and Sajda were promised by Kamal Sheikh and his other associate Kalu Dalal that they would be married off in respectable families in Punjab. Kalu Dalal, however, could not be arrested as he had gone back to Bangladesh. Giving details of the police operation, a release issued by the SSP office here today said information was received that a gang of Bangladeshi national, identified as Kamal Sheikh, was indulging in illegal activities of bringing minor girls, women and men from his country without any valid visas. While the girls and women were sold for Rs 5,000 or 6,000 depending on their physical appearances, the men were sold to farmers for working in their fields, the release added. Two asis of Pathankot Sadar police station, posing as buyers, went to the place where the 24 Bangladeshi nationals had been kept. They struck a deal with Kamal Sheikh for the two minor girls, Ajmira and Sajda, and paid a sum of Rs 1,000 in advance, the release added. Thereafter, a police party, led by Sub-Inspector Sulakhan Singh, descended upon the hideout and nabbed Kamal Sheikh and all the 24 who were to be sold, the release added. On search of Kamal Sheikh, Rs 5,900 in Pakistan currency were recovered. He was booked under section 46 of the foreign exchange regulation act besides the Indian passport act. The release further said the 24 Bangladeshi nationals, who were rescued by police, too, had been booked under the Indian passport act as none had travel documents. (UNI) |
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Cong, opponents surprised by heavy turnout in rally LUCKNOW, Oct 2: The impressive Congress showing during the protest rally against the State Government’s taking over of the land meant for Indira Gandhi Pratishthan has come as a surprise for not only its political adversaries but also for the Congress leadership of the State. While the Samajwadi Party and the BJP termed the Monday rally’s success as a warning for each other, the Congress leaders were coming to terms with the massive support for the retrieval of the Pratishthan land. Samajwadi Party State unit president Ram Saran Das said yesterday that the impressive turnout by the Congress was a matter of concern for the BJP which would now be forced to accept that its upper caste support base was gradually weaning away towards the Congress. "It could be termed as an expression of people’s opposition to the misgovernance of the parties in power for a long time and its indulgence in petty religion-based politics that has not served any purpose," Das added. BJP spokesman Hriday Narain Dixit on the other hand said people’s support to Congress yesterday, showed disenchantment of the minorities with the Samajwadi Party which has been continuously exploiting them as their vote bank. Fresh from the success of "Dhikkar Rally", the BSP, however, ruled out any revival symptoms of the Congress and said it was mere a face saving measure for the party. "For a party which had been out of power for 12 years now organising such a good show through its own means indicates growing people’s support for the party," Congress spokesman Akhilesh Singh claimed. (PTI) PM, Sethi siding with K’taka on Cauvery issue: TN Minister CHENNAI, Oct 2: Tamil Nadu Public Works Minister O Panneerselvam today took strong exception to Union Water Resources Minister Arjun Charan Sethi’s Statement that Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa’s conduct in the Cauvery issue was unbecoming of a Chief Minister. In a strongly-worded statement here, he charged that Prime Minister A B Vajpayee and Mr Sethi were "blatantly siding with Karnataka and this was highly unbecoming of the high office they are holding." "Both the Prime Minister and Mr Sethi have failed to maintain the neutrality" expected of them while dealing with a dispute between two States on a sensitive issue like sharing of river water, he alleged. The Minister claimed that at the fourth CRA meeting, Mr Sethi had agreed that the PRO Rata distress formula had already been worked out and discussed at length in the 13th monitoring committee meeting. After Ms Jayalalithaa walked out in protest against the unrelenting stand taken by Karnataka Chief Minister S M Krishna, Mr Sethi did a complete turn around and released a statement to the media saying that the pro Rata distress formula had not been worked out yet and it would be done in 15 days time. He further alleged that Mr Sethi also went on to claim that the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister walked out of the meeting because she wanted the pro rata distress formula to be worked out immediately and was unwilling to wait for 15 days. "This statement of Mr Sethi was quite contrary to what really transpired at the meeting,’’ Mr Panneerselvam charged. Referring to Mr Sethi’s alleged statement that Ms Jayalalithaa walked out of the CRA meeting chaired by the Prime Minister and later, when it suited her, led an all-party delegation to call on the Prime Minister, Mr Panneerselvam wondered whether Mr Sethi felt that Mr Krishna’s act of refusing to honour the directives of the supreme court and the CRA to release water to Tamil Nadu was right. "Willfully disobeying the order of the supreme court and blatantly refusing to heed the CRA’s direction meant, in effect, disobeying the orders of the Prime Minister," he charged. It was a normal democratic practice for a Chief Minister to lead an all-party delegation to meet the Prime Minister and presenting a memorandum was the democratic duty, he said.(UNI) Not sure of Soccer, you could be mad in Brazil NEW DELHI, Oct 2: In Brazil, the easiest way for a father to understand that his son has become a neurotic is when he can’t even remember if the city’s best player is playing soccer that day. That is what Neto’s father thought before a couple of not-so-violent incidents forced him to turn his son into a mental asylum. But Neto’s father was terribly wrong. What he did not know was that his son was behaving so as he was going on pot. There are no separate hospitals in Brazil to treat drug and alcohol addicts who get dumped in mental asylums. Neto was lucky to escape before he became a mental wreck. He went on to become an activist against these as asylums which house about 70,000 patients (of whom 12 per cent are alcoholics and drug addicts) all over the country. Neto’s true story became the story for Brazilian woman director Lais Badanzky whose award-winning first feature film ‘Brainstorm’ (Bicho De Sete Cabecas) opened the 33rd International Film Festival of India (IFFI) here last evening. (In real life Neto is called Austregesilo Carrano). "These hospitals have become an industry in Brazil. The Government gives them 300 dollars per patient. So, the effort on the part of the doctors is to admit more and more patients,’’ Luiz Bolognesi, the producer and scriptwriter of the film, told a news conference. The film was a big commercial success in Brazil and other Latin American countries. People were surprised to see a slice of their contemporary lives on the screen instead of the usual Hollywood mix of action and thrills, said Bolognesi. The film tells the story of a middle class boy who experiences the cruelty and corruption of an Archaic hospital bureaucracy after he is forced into a mental asylum by his father. The film won the ‘best film’ and ‘best actor’ award at the Cartagena Film Festival in Colombia and the ‘young jury award’ at the Locarno Film Festival last year. The leading actor of the film even went to the Hollywood. Ironic, when one sees that 90 per cent of films screen in Brazil is from Hollywood. "But the situation is changing in the past ten years. Ten years ago, the Hollywood market share was 99 per cent,’’ said Bolognesi. Brazilians prefer watching Indian rather than American films. "Both India and Brazil are developing countries and with similar problems there should be greater interaction between Indian and Brazilian and other third world film makers,’’ said Bolognesi. Gero Camilo, an actor in the film, said it is exciting to work in Brazilian films now because it is changing and developing. "We want to make films which talk of the future of the country and its problems.’’ In an industry plagued by financial problems, a non-governmental organisation came to fund and promote the film. Fatita Celes, the president of the NGO and also a trained psycho-analyst, is accompanying the film delegation to IFFI. "We deliberately did not use a linear narrative in the film but a more complex one to educate audiences who are addicted to watching only soap operas and TV serials with very predictable formats. We wanted to make the viewers think for themselves and not be too comfortable while watching the movie,’’ she said. Drug addiction and alcoholism is an old problem in the Brazilian society. With the advent of globalisation it has become more complex. "It was a struggle to make this film and bring it here. But we are very happy and feel honoured that we could bring this movie to India and be here for the opening night,’’ she said. The film received a huge
applause from the delegates on the opening night. Too bad
the director was not there. Well, not too bad either, she
is caring for her baby who came only two weeks ago. (UNI)
Nation remembers Lal Bahadur Shastri NEW DELHI, Oct 2: The country today remembered former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri on his 98th birth anniversary and several functions were held in the capital to pay him a floral tribute. President A P J Abdul Kalam, vice-president Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishna Advani and leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha Sonia Gandhi went to the Samadhi of the former Prime Minister to offer flowers and observe a two minutes silence in his memory. An all-religion prayer meeting was also held on the occasion. The function which started around 0745 hrs lasted over an hour. Among others who attended the function were Union Ministers Sahib Singh and Vijay Goel, senior Congress leaders Manmohan Singh and Shivraj Patil, Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and her cabinet colleague A K Walia. Mr Shastri’s sons, Anil and Sunil, were present. A function in the memory of the great Kisan leader, who gave the "Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan" call, was also held in the Central Hall of Parliament. Mr Advani, Mrs Gandhi, leaders of various political parties, Union Ministers and members of Parliament all offered their floral tributes at the portrait of Shashtriji. (UNI) |
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