Excelsior... Nation

Jaitley cautions against nepotism in DD, AIR

NEW DELHI, Nov 22: Information and Broadcasting Minister ....more

Judiciary should be administratively free: Justice Anand

CHENNAI, Nov 22: Chief Justice of India Justice A S Anand today called for ....more

40 extremists killed by CRPF since January

NEW DELHI, Nov 22: The Central Reserve Police Force ....more

After ‘ABCD’ it will be 1857

MUMBAI, Nov 22: India born American Director Krutin Patel, whose film "ABCD" became a hit in the ongoing ....more

President, PM greet
people on Gurpurab

NEW DELHI, Nov 22: President K R Narayanan and Prime Minister Atal......more

Gupta rules out major changes in Cabinet

LUCKNOW, Nov 22: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Ram Prakash Gupta today ruled out any "major changes" in the Cabinet, but ...more

Profile-C P Thakur

PATNA, Nov 22: Dr C P Thakur is well-known personality in the field of medicine,....more

Hindus picket Baptist Church in Boston over prayer book

BOSTON, Nov 22: Nearly four dozen Hindus picketed ....more

Jaitley cautions against nepotism in DD, AIR

NEW DELHI, Nov 22: Information and Broadcasting Minister Arun Jaitley today cautioned against nepotism in Doordarshan and All India Radio and said only a professional broadcasting service can survive in present times.

There must be transparency in the functioning of Doordarshan and AIR. They cannot be accused of nepotism.... That would affect the credibility of the body, he said addressing the programme staff of AIR and DD at a seminar into the next millennium - whither professional broadcasting?

Emphasising on the role of DD and AIR as public service broadcasters, he said let us have a professional, credible, non-partisan and educative media. It is only professional broadcasting which can survive today or else the viewer will see to it that you don’t survive.

He also said a public service broadcaster will have to find means of financing itself and resented that a body as big as this was being run without a proper marketing package.

Jaitley pointed out that advertising revenues had dropped in the past three years and that viewership had come down wherever regional channels had made an impact.

Stating that DD and AIR had a larger purpose than the private broadcasters, he said the latter should also realise their responsibilities as a medium which had the power to influence human minds. (PTI)

Judiciary should be administratively free: Justice Anand

CHENNAI, Nov 22: Chief Justice of India Justice A S Anand today called for making the judiciary financially and administratively independent so that the expectation of the teeming millions for speedy disposal of cases was realised.

It was the obligation of the judiciary and executive to meet the legitimate expectations of the public for quick justice, he said after inaugurating a computer cell in the Madras High Court here.

Financial constraints were coming in the way of filling up vacancies in the judiciary and providing necessary infrastructure and this was leading to an increasing backlog of cases and bottlenecks, particularly in sub-ordinate courts, he said.

Stating that only 0.2 per cent of the gross national product had been set aside for the judiciary, which by itself generated over 50 per cent of its resources by the sale of court paper and court fees, he appealed to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi to persuade the centre to treat the judiciary as a responsible and respectable part of the state.

Justice Anand pointed out that the number of judges per million population in India was less than 10 as compared to Pakistan, UK and USA where it was 50, 100 and 130 respectively per million. (PTI)

40 extremists killed by CRPF since January

NEW DELHI, Nov 22: The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) has killed 40 extremists and apprehended 3,614 in various encounters in the Northeastern states, but lost 62 officers and jawans in 79 encounters since January this year.

The force has captured 255 major arms and 2,431 rounds of ammunition during the period, a CRPF spokesman said here today.

In Assam alone, the CRPF killed 31 extremists and apprehended 3,290 while nine were killed and 324 apprehended in Manipur, Tripura, Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh during the period.

The maximum number of the CRPF personnel killed was 29 in Manipur followed by 22 in Assam, nine in Tripura and two in Meghalaya.

As many as 304 CRPF companies are deployed in the Northeastern region of which 129 are in Assam, 61 in Manipur, 60 in Tripura, 24 in Nagaland, 12 each in Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya and six in Mizoram.

The officials attributed the increased number of casualties among the force to ambushes and use of landmines by the extremists. They however, said despite an increasing "surprise element" in attacks on security forces, the CRPF played a vital role in containing insurgency and maintaining law and order in the region. (UNI)

After ‘ABCD’ it will be 1857

MUMBAI, Nov 22: India born American Director Krutin Patel, whose film "ABCD" became a hit in the ongoing Mumbai film festival, will make his next venture on 1857, India’s first war of independence.

Talking to reporters last evening on the sidelines of the festival, organised by the Mumbai Academy of Moving Images (MAMI), Mr Patel said at present he has several projects at hand but his priority would be the 1857 war to be filmed in an "essentially hollywood style".

Speaking about "ABCD", based on Indian diaspora in the United States, he said the film revolves around characters who are culturally lost since they can no longer adhere to the customs of the country they had left behind and nor do they belong to the mainstream American culture because of their ethnicity.

"The film is actually a search of cultural identitty which conveys the reality of what happened to the people in America who are neither white nor black Americans but fall somewhere in between", Mr Patel said.

Stating that "ABCD" is an expression used by the Indians in the US that stands for "America born confused desis", he said the emotional consequences of growing up without a firm cultural identity is reflected in the film. "It is the story of a family where the kids are very americanised and the mother who still keeps links with Indian culture is confused and trapped between the two worlds",he added.

Asked whether the film is autobiographical, Mr Patel said "no, but the film has an emotional honesty".

In bringing abcd to the screen, he said, "I had two intentions. First was to describe the true story of the experiences of Indian immigrants. Second, to highlight the talent of Indian Americans in front of and behind the camera. We are successful in this as the cast and crew included in the film are not only Indians and Pakistanis but also Hindus and Muslims along with our USA counterparts." (UNI)

President, PM greet people on Gurpurab

NEW DELHI, Nov 22: President K R Narayanan and Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee today greeted the people on the occasion of Guru Nanak Dev’s birth anniversary.

May the great Guru’s teachings of peace, harmony and brotherhood become practical lessons in our daily lives, the President said. (PTI)

Gupta rules out major changes in Cabinet

LUCKNOW, Nov 22: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Ram Prakash Gupta today ruled out any "major changes" in the Cabinet, but said some minor adjustments might be carried out to "satisfy" the allies.

Mr Gupta told newspersons here that there was no question of effecting changes in the portfolios. "There is absolutely no scope for reconsidering the allocation of departments to the ministers from the allies’ quota," he said.

In reply to a question, the Chief Minister said, "it (the pressure to re-allocate the portfolios) is nothing sort of a conspiracy but a natural expression of allies’ dissatisfaction over the allocation of the portfolios."

"The situation poses no problem to my eleven day-old Government and the matter would be resolved after mutual discussions," he said.

The ministers from the supporting parties had announced not to assume charge till they were satisfied with the allocation of portfolios.

Mr Gupta said he was not informed by the leaders of the supporting parties about the decision of the Uttar Pradesh Loktantrik Congress to boycott the Cabinet meeting, which was scheduled for today but was subsequently deferred. "Whatever I came to know in this regard was only through the media."

Also, he denied that the first-ever cabinet meeting of his Government was postponed due to allies’ threat. "It was postponed because it was felt the ministers should get some time to be familiar with their departments before deliberating on various issues to be discussed at the cabinet meeting, which was now scheduled for November 26," he said.

Asked if the BJP state leadership would have to resolve the issue before the Cabinet meeting in order to avoid a "crisis", the Chief Minister shot back, saying: "You are taking it as a crisis, not me. There were some initial hiccups but the Government would soon get over the situation. "I have full faith in the positive intentions of the allies."

The LCP, the Jantantrik Bahujan Samaj Party (JBSP) and the Janata Dal (Rajaram)— the three major allies— were on the warpath with the ruling BJP over the allocation of the portfolios announced on November 20. The allies were of the opinion that their leaders were given a raw deal in the distribution of the departments.

Referring to his earlier statement about the "criterion" for distributing portfolios, Mr Gupta said he knew that the allies had strongly objected to his reported comment that the departments had been allocated as per merit.

"In the statement, I spoke about the merit of BJP leaders. It should not be construed as a remark on the merit of leaders from the supporting parties."

In reply to a question, the Chief Minister also denied that he had bypassed any "decisions" over the portfolio distribution taken at the meeting with the allies before allocating the ministries. "There was a general discussion at the meetings and no decision was taken as such," he said. Asked about the next round of discussions with the allies over the issue, Mr Gupta said, "mutual talk is a continuing process." the next meeting with the allies will now be held on November 25 when state party president Rajnath Singh returns from Delhi, he said.

The Chief Minister, in reply to a question, said he was taking the allies’ demand over the portolio distribution as a suggestion. (UNI)

Hindus picket Baptist Church in Boston over prayer book

BOSTON, Nov 22: Nearly four dozen Hindus picketed outside a Church yesterday to protest a Southern Baptist convention prayer booklet that said Hindus have darkness in their hearts that no lamp can dispel.

The booklet, released during the Hindu festival of Diwali, contains a number of other phrases considered offensive by Hindus. It has ignited similar protests in Houston and Atlanta.

At any sign of religious intolerance, we have to speak up, said Chandra Kany Panse of new England Hindus against religious intolerance, which organised the protest at Beacon Hill Baptist Church. We would like the convention to drop this attack and apologize.

Similar guides have been distributed by the Southern Baptist convention’s International Mission Board asking Baptists to pray for the conversion of Jews and Muslims.

David Draper, pastor of the Boston Church, conceded the booklet was poorly timed, and arrogant, although he planned to distribute it.

Sheila Decter, the new England director for the American Jewish Congress, joined the protest because she was upset by similar pushes by the Southern Baptists to convert Jews.

If demonising another faith and converting others is part of the Church’s unifying project, then it’s a sad case, she said. (AP)