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Fresh evidence on NEW DELHI, Dec 5: Negligence by union carbide and not sabotage was responsible for the Bhopal gas disaster, the British journal New Scientist ....more UP BJP ministers feel "ignored" and "powerless" LUCKNOW, Dec 5: With the political stand-off between State BJP leadership and the dissident party legislators continuing, BJP ministers are reportedly ...more Cong optimistic of Vaghela junior making it in Sami SAMI (GUJARAT), Dec 5: This sleepy backward constituency has suddenly woken up from slumber and is being referred to by Congressmen as a .... .more Sonia promises to bring back Gujarat’s ‘Gaurav’ BABRA, AMRELI (GUJARAT), Dec 5: Congress president Sonia Gandhi today ...more |
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PM ready to call all-party meeting to discuss PDS failure NEW DELHI, Dec 5: Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee today announced in Rajya .......more A
little harassed, AHMEDABAD, Dec 5: A little confused, a little harassed, the dream girl walked out . ......more Royal
grandeur JUNAGADH, Dec 5: Set in idyllic surroundings on the foot of mount Girnar and famous .....more Delhi
to stage first NEW DELHI, Dec 5: The continent’s first Asian women directors theatre festival ....more |
Fresh evidence on Bhopal gas disaster NEW DELHI, Dec 5: Negligence by union carbide and not sabotage was responsible for the Bhopal gas disaster, the British journal New Scientist said today basing its conclusion on documents just released in the United States. "The documents suggest the US owner of the chemical plant cut crucial corners in its design, and reduced investment to maintain control," New Scientist said in a leading article. This compromised safety of the plant, it added. The accident at Union Carbide’s pesticide plant in Bhopal in 1984, the worst industrial disaster on record, killed 8000 people and injured at least 150,000. The victims are still dying. The company paid $470 million as compensation to a trust in 1989. The survivors received around $500 each. The report said Union Carbide, now taken over by Dow Chemical, was forced to release the documents last month by a court in New York State that was hearing a class action suit filed by Bhopal survivors in 1999. The internal documents contradict earlier claims of the company that the accident was an act of sabotage and not due to faulty design, New Scientist said. According to New Scientist report, Union Carbide, in order to retain control of its Indian subsidiary decided to reduce the amount of investment to $20.6 million instead of $28 million. "This meant using unproven technologies," the report said. The company’s 1972 memo further revealed that the sevin pesticide production system involved in the accident had "only a limited trial run", the report said. New Scientist said its investigation of the accident and subsequent studies by the company and trade unions, showed that a faulty valve let nearly a tonne of water being used to clean pipes pour into a tank holding 40 tonnes of methyl isocyanate (mic), an intermediate in the production of sevin. The resulting runaway reaction produced a cloud of toxic gas. "Regardless of how the water got into the mic, the runaway reaction should have been contained," New Scientist article said. "It was not, largely because Bhopal had far more limited emergency equipment than Carbide’s US plant." Crucially, Bhopal had no "knock-down" tank where the mass of chemicals that boiled out of the mic tank might have settled. Then only gases would have escaped, which could have been burnt off by flare towers or by filtered out by a "scrubber". But the Bhopal plant had only one flare, shut for repairs on the night of the accident, the report said. The US plant had a back up. Bhopal’s sole scrubber was overwhelmed by the mass of liquids and gases that boiled up at a rate over 100 times what it was designed for. Also unlike the US plant, Bhopal’s waste was poured into open lagoons to evaporate. Recent analyses of groundwater, soil and the people near the plant have found high levels of heavy metals such as mercury and toxic organochlorine chemicals. According to new scientist, Carbide’s 1972 memo specified that the US headquarters would either perform all design work for the plant, or approve designs done elsewhere. The report said that on the basis of fresh evidence, the US company could be tried for negligence only if the Indian Government joined the campaigners in the US lawsuit. (PTI) |
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UP BJP ministers feel "ignored" and "powerless" LUCKNOW, Dec 5: With the political stand-off between State BJP leadership and the dissident party legislators continuing, BJP ministers are reportedly sore over being ignored by the bureaucracy and not being able to have a say in policy decisions. Several BJP ministers bitterly complained during their meeting with the BJP legislature group leader, Lalji Tandon, last evening that the officials did not listen to them, party sources here told PTI today. The ministers also reportedly told Tandon that the district magistrates and district police chiefs of their respective districts were being transferred without even informing them and that they often came to know about it through the media, sources said. They said that the district officials listened only to the BSP office bearers and complained that it appeared as if the BJP was not a part of the Government. The ministers urged Tandon to apprise the Chief Minister of their feelings and also impress upon her that she should consult the concerned ministers before effecting transfer of officials of their respective districts. Earlier also the BJP MLAs and ministers had complained that they were being "ignored" by the officials in the district and warned that it could cost the party dearly in the next parliamentary elections, sources said. Only recently senior party leader and Minister for Irrigation, Om Prakash Singh, had registered his protest against the State Chief Secretary, D S Bagga’s surprise inspection of a canal in Barabanki district and releasing to the media the ‘irregularities’ detected there. Singh and other senior BJP ministers had taken up the matter with the Chief Minister, who had assured them that she would look into it. Tandon, then, had said that his party would not take such matters lying down. The senior BJP leader assured the sulking ministers that he would speak to Chief Minister Mayawati on this issue and see to it that the transfer of officials were not effected without consulting them, sources said. Tandon also asked the ministers to fulfil the organisational responsibilities enstrusted upon them and redress the grievances of the party workers. (PTI) |
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Cong optimistic of Vaghela junior making it in Sami SAMI (GUJARAT), Dec 5: This sleepy backward constituency has suddenly woken up from slumber and is being referred to by Congressmen as a prospective Chief Minister’s constituency despite the party not winning the seat for the past 27 years. PCC president Shankersinh Vaghela has fieleded his son Mahendrasinh from this constituency in Patan district of North Gujarat to keep the seat warm for him in the event of Congress causing an upset to the Narendra Modi led BJP. Thirty-eight-year-old Mahendrasinh, who runs a paper mill in nearby Mehsana district, is pitted against Gujarat Minister of State for Prohibition Dilip Thakor, who feels it would not be difficult for him to make it to the State Assembly for the third time. His optimism is, however, countered by local Congress MP Pravin Rashtrapal who insists that BJP had so far benefitted from a division of opposition votes, an advantage it will not have this time. Surprisingly, Godhra and its aftermath is not the issue in this scarcity-hit area witnessing a drought for the third year in succession. It had also been affected by the killer quake two years back with houses in several villages damaged due to tremors. Scarcity of water and shortage of electricity are the main problems being faced by people in this underdeveloped area and promises of bringing the Narmada water to the parched land have so far remained a pipedream. BJP campaigners claim that Dilip Thakor’s hat-trick was an easy job given the fact that his father Veeraji Thakor had represented the constituency three times earlier with the solid backing of the Thakor community which is in large numbers in the area. But, Congress supporters say Thakor’s "consistent neglect" of the development of the area would cost the BJP dear as Shankersinh Vaghela’s entry into the Congress has resulted in the OBCs, which include the Thakores, backing the party in a big way. BJP’s charge that Mahendrasinh was an "outsider" and an unknown face in the constituency is stoutly denied by Congress workers who say that Vaghela junior has been active in Patan district for the past five years and was the campaign manager of the party’s candidate in the last Lok Sabha polls. With the rival sides known for their political skills and influence, people tend to keep their opinion to themselves on which party has an upper hand. "We know politicians come at the time of elections and later we do not see them till the next polls", said one of the residents of Sami pointing to the State transport bus stand, whose roof was blown away in a storm over a year ago. The bus stand is roofless since then despite some surveys and some visits by officials. Supporters of the PCC president said that putting up Mahendrasinh from Sami has been a shrewd move on the part of Vaghela as it would help Congress in mobilising greater support in nearby seats. As Chief Minister, Vaghela had won the adjoining Radhanpur seat a few years back in a bye-election. Dilip Thakor, who was made a minister when Narendra Modi became Chief Minister last year, had won the 1998 Assembly poll by over 14,000 votes over his nearest Congress rival. But that time candidate of Vaghela’s erstwhile Rashtriya Janata Party was also in the fray and had polled over 21,000 votes. Besides Mahendrasinh, sons of two Congress leaders—the CLP leader Amarsinh Chaudhary and late PCC president Prabodh Raval have also been given tickets by the party. While Chetan Raval is the party nominee from Asarva constituency in Ahmedabad, Tushar Chaudhary has been made the candidate from Vyara, the seat once held by his father in Surat district. Sons of three other Congress leaders—Madhavsinh Solanki, Yogendra Makwana and Urmilaben Patel—Bharat Solanki, Bharat Makwana and Siddharth Patel respectively—who have been MLAs have also been renominated from their respective seats. (PTI) |
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Royal grandeur gone, Junagadh fights for basics of life JUNAGADH, Dec 5: Set in idyllic surroundings on the foot of mount Girnar and famous for its Jain temples, this erstwhile princely state lies in tatters today. Dusty and under construction roads and dilapidated buildings greet visitors to the town which ironically survives on its tourism industry with more than 22 lakh visitors driving down to this southern district in Saurashtra region which boasts of more than 200 monuments, including the famous Somnath temple and the Gir forests, home of the Asiatic lions, and Prabhash Patan, where Lord Krishna is said to have died. Jutting out of the Aravallis, the oldest mountain range in the world, mount Girnar attracts nearly 10-12 lakh pilgrims twice in a year — once for the ‘Parikrama’ after Diwali and then for the Mahashivaratri Mela — each occasion generating a business of about Rs 25 crore in five days. "People have to climb 5,500 steps to reach the mountain top where Lord Shiva’s temple is situated the other option, ‘Doli’ (palanquin) is very expensive for the common people. The BJP has done nothing to develop facilities for visitors. The ropeway plan has been hanging for the past 12 years," says Ashwin Vyas, a local Congress leader. BJP nominee and sitting MLA Mahendra Mashru, however, counters the allegation. "A private company has already been given the contract for the ropeway and administrative work is under way to execute the project. I am determined to make Junagadh a beautiful city," Mashru told UNI. With a hat-trick of victories under his belt, twice as an independent candidate before he joined the BJP in the 1998 polls, Mashru has an apparent edge over his rival, Congress nominee and a former village sarpanch Ishwarbhai Chanchadia of the Patel community. A clerk in a cooperative bank, Mashru’s domination over the area stems from his philanthropic works as a trust, floated by him, runs a free blood bank from the town’s civil hospital complex and provides free medicines to the ailing village folk. Describing this as a mere ‘gimmick’, the Congress candidate, a first time contestant, says Mashru has done barely anything for the development of the area. To support his contention, Chanchadia points to the shabby condition of roads and the meagre supply of potable water, available once in three days and that too for only 20 minutes. Though little known in urban areas, Chanchadia is credited with having introduced the diamond polishing business in the area, giving employment to over 10,000 locals. Waters from the Narmada have reached Anandpur dam, 30 km from the town. But the narrow pipelines for distribution have failed to resolve the water crisis. "As a three-time representative, Mashru should have made sincere efforts to get the pipes changed which could have largely solved the water problem," Vyas alleges, saying the Congress is fighting for "Parivartan and Pragati" (change and progress). On the unkempt condition of the monuments dotting the township and its surroundings, Kartik Upadhyay, editor of the influential ‘Saurashtra Bhoomi’, says: "most of these remain hidden from sight by residential buildings and unauthorised construction to an extent that one would have to take a chopper ride to have a glimpse." Power supply is also erratic, especially in rural areas, which has hampered the irrigation of major crops such as groundnut, cotton, sugarcane and mango in the district reeling under drought for the past several years. "The villagers need 14-16 hours of power supply for irrigation, but they get only 7-8 hours of supply. Along with water, power is going to be a major issue for the polls," says a local resident. Out of the ten Assembly seats in Junagadh district, the BJP won eight in the last elections. The city has over two lakh voters of which patels are 58,000, Brahmins 25,000, Kolis 9000 and Ahirs 4000. Muslims constitute around 13 per cent of the electorate. (UNI) |
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Delhi to stage first Asian women directors theatre fest NEW DELHI, Dec 5: The continent’s first Asian women directors theatre festival and conference will be held here from January 3 to 14, next year, tracing the common threads in the experiences and expressions of women of the region. The festival, which has been named Poorva to denote the eastern, oriental world of women, will focus on women directors who are trying to evolve a new language, trying to experiment with form and content, said Ms Kirti Jain, project director of the event and a senior faculty member at the National School of Drama (NSD). Announcing the holding of the event, NSD director Prof Devendra Raj Ankur told mediapersons here yesterday that it has been organised by the NSD, the Indian Council of Cultural Relations (ICCR) and Natarang Pratishthan, a theatre resource centre, and has been supported by the Department of Women and Child Development of the Government. Of the 20 plays that would be staged during the festival, 14 are the works of Indian directors and six of foreign directors. Besides New Delhi, the foreign troupes will also perform in some other Indian cities. The Thai, Vietnamese and Philippine troupes will perform in Imphal from January 5 to 7 and in Kolkata from January 7 to 14, while the Japanese, Malaysian and Cambodian troupes will perform in Hyderabad from January 6 to 10. "We wanted to make this a sharing forum. So the whole programme has been structured in such a way that we first have the festival (from January 3 to 10), which will form the base for the conference that will follow it," Ms Jain said. The festival and the conference seek to explore the commonalities in the experiences and works of women directors from the region and also the commonalities of Asian aesthetics, Ms Jain said. "It would be interesting to find out if the works of women directors are following a different path and whether we need a separate critical vocabulary for it, she added. The plays, which can be watched by buying the "nominally-priced tickets," would be in different languages and one would have to rely on their synopsis and other theatrical elements for understanding, she said. However, there might be a provision of sub-titles, with the help of slides put up at the sides of the stage, for some plays, said Ms Anuradha Kapoor of the NSD, who is a part of the organising team. The foreign directors and troupes participating in the festival are Thailand’s Sineenadh Keitprapai (crescent moon company), Vietnam’s Dang Tu Mai (Vietnam national theatre), Ma. cecilia B. Arriola of the Philippines (Mebuyan peace project), Malaysia’s Faridah Marican (actors studio), Cambodia’s Nou Sandab (national theatre) and Japan’s Natsuko Kiritani (black tent theatre). Among the Indian directors whose plays would be staged during the festival are Nadira Babbar (Ekjute, Mumbai), Mita Vashist (Mandala, Mumbai), Moloyshree Hashmi (Jana Natya Manch, New Delhi), Usha Ganguly (Rangakarmee, Kolkata), B Jaishree (Spandana, Bangalore) and Anamika Haksar (Nirakar, New Delhi). Ms Jain also said that while the organisers couldn’t find any women directors in Bangladesh, one director they eagerly wanted to invite from Sri Lanka could not be contacted. Pakistan was left out in view of the difficulties involved in getting the Government’s permission and other related things. Some 60 delegates from all over Asia will participate in the conference (January 11 to 14) that will discuss issues like structure, exercises, director-performer relationship, collaboration on cross discipline work, politics of gender, evolving a vocabulary for critiquing women’s work and Asian aesthetics. "This will probably be the largest such event in the Asian region focusing on the work of women directors," Ms Jain said. A photographic exhibition of eminent theatre actresses, exhibition of posters depicting the works of women directors and a photo exhibition devoted to women at work in different fields have also been planned to be put up during the period, she added. Besides, the India habitat centre will hold a one-week exhibition on a women artistes, she said, adding that the organisers are hoping to rope in the collaboration of an art gallery too, to showcase the work of women painters during the period. Attempt will also be made to reach out to the younger generation by organising theatre workshops, quiz competitions and debates in colleges during the poorva celebrations, Ms Jain said. At the NSD, the participating countries would set up country-corners, which would offer glimpses into their cuisines, cultural and handicraft traditions, she added. Regarding what commonalities one could anticipate to see in the festival, Ms Kapoor said one could expect to see an interest in structure, different ways of putting forward different experiences, local histories, traditional forms especially in story telling and how certain traditions have got concealed as part of modernisation. The Japan Foundation, Hivos (Netherlands), Ana (Singapore) and the Ford Foundation, besides the department of women and child development, are providing the funding for the event, Ms Jain said. (UNI) Tripura to implement community policing AGARTALA, Dec 5: The Tripura Government has announced an ambitious ‘community policing’ scheme to promote people’s involvement crime. Releasing the concept paper on community policing yesterday, Director General of Police Mathew John said there was an "inner policeman" in every individual and the concept of community policing was a way to develop and sublimate it in the citizen. He said a related concept, which was more pro-active and holistic was the "Friends of Police Scheme (FoPS)" which shares power and responsibility of the police with the public. In this, residents of a locality between 18-70 years, could become a "friend of police" by writing to the local police chief stating his area of interest like crime prevention, victim assistance, patrolling and traffic assistance, who enrolls them as "FoPC" after verification. FoPS and police can produce a powerful synergy empowering people and enabling the police to serve the social cause better, the concept paper said adding that it intends to reduce social isolation and alienation of the police, besides acting as a check on abuse of power by the police. In the present scenario, the DGP said, problems facing the police force in Tripura were terrorism and ethnic conflict. To be effective on these fronts, the Tripura Police have been striving to work together with the community and foster good relations with the citizens. Besides developing people-friendly policing, village defence parties have been set up to guard against anti-social elements. Under this scheme, people are given preliminary training on patrolling and protecting the villages from anti-social elements. It has also taken initiatives for appointment of special police officers, to work along with the police and security forces, who act as a link between the local public and the security forces, along with providing information on neighbourhood problems and insurgency. The police has also been forming area committees in urban areas, in which responsible citizens are asked to actively involve themselves in helping the police in maintaining law and order and ensuring peace in their areas. (UNI) BJP’s Kerala unit chief in trouble over interview THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, Dec 5: The BJP’s Kerala unit president C K Padmanabhan has landed in trouble over an interview he gave to a leading Malayalam weekly in which he reportedly said that RSS had often put hurdles on the path of BJP’s growth as a political party. BJP national executive member in charge of party’s Kerala affairs, said yesterday that the leadership would seek an explanation from Padmanabhan for his reported remarks on RSS and PDP leader Abdul Nasser Mahdani in the interview. Acharya made the comment while addresssing party workers at Kozhikode. "They (RSS leaders) often make statements without thinking about the context and people get agitated. We (the BJP) have our own party constitution and will have to work within that," Padmanabhan had reportedly said in the interview to the weekly, `Kalakaumudi.’ About the controversy, Padmanabhan told PTI that he had never said RSS was a stumbling block to BJP’s growth. "What I meant was that conscious efforts should be made to remove the apprehensions of minorities who were hesitant to join the BJP," he said. "I myself have grown through the RSS. The Sangh is the main source of energy for BJP," he said. Padmanabhan said the party leadership had not sought any written explanation from him. However, Acharya had asked him for a meeting tomorrow to clarify certain points made during the interview. On PDP leader Abdul Nasser Mahdani, Padmanabhan had reportedly said in the interview that he did not feel that Mahdani was now on the extremist path. "He is physically and mentally weak now and may have changed from his old stance. Others are trying to create trouble in the name of Mahdani who is in jail." In the interview, he also reportedly disclosed that his daughter had told him that she had voted for the CPI(M) affiliate Students Federation of India in the school elections. He said he has "warm relationships" with CPI-M leaders including S Achuthanandan and E K Nayanar. Padmanabhan also reportedly said no organisation could claim to be a representative body of Hindus. RSS should take a positive stance for protecting the interests of Hindus, he said. Reacting to the row sparked by the interview, Padmanabhan said he did not intend to cast aspersions on any of the ‘Parivar’ affiliates. "I have not said anything by way of blame or complaint. The misunderstanding was created by the way certain points were highlighted while omitting others," he said. (PTI) EC restricts VHP’s Shauryadivas rally to city limits AHMEDABAD, Dec 5: Gujarat Election Commission has put curbs on the speeches of VHP leaders and limited their proposed ‘Shauryadivas’ rally to mark the 10th anniversary of Babri Masjid demolition tomorrow, at two places in the city under strict surveillance. The steps have been taken under directives of the EC to keep the ‘programme’ of the VHP at low-key to avoid any confrontation which may disturb the peace and law and order situation in the communally sensitive state, Additional Commissioner of Police Satish Sharma told PTI today. VHP has been given permission to hold religious congregation at two places - Bapunagar and satellite areas -with restriction that ‘no derogatrory speeches against any Government official, Election Commission, contesting candidates be made by speakers so as to incite communal passion’, Sharma said. Earlier, VHP had planned a public meeting at Akash Ganga road near Sola to be presided by its international president Ashok Singhal. However, city police refused permission for it and only allowed for a low-key religious function. VHP international general secretary Pravin Togadia, unhappy over the decision said ‘I have been adressing public meetings at various places in the State and nothing has happened. I find no reason how a public meeting in the city can effect the peace of the State’. (PTI) BJP owns up responsibility for not preventing Godhra AHMEDABAD, Dec 5: The BJP today owned up responsibility for failure in preventing the Godhra carnage and the Akshardham terrorist strike even as it charged the Congress with "sowing and growing seeds of divisive forces." "We take responsibility for whatever happened at Godhra and Akshardham. We are not running away from it. There is nothing to hide but it takes time to rectify mistakes committed over the past 50 years," party president Venkaiah Naidu told reporters in response to a question on why these incidents took place during the BJP rule. Naidu, who is here to launch the second phase of the party’s campaign for the crucial December 12 polls, also defended the party raising the Godhra issue "if Congress, Communists, and other secularists can rake up every year the matter of demolition of the Babri structure even years after the incident." "The opposition has objection to our raising an issue in the elections which happened eight months back, but what is the rationale behind their observing December six, in which no one died, every year except to take political advantage? this is a classic case of double standards," he said. Naidu said the Congress has not bothered to even give a clarification with regard to the allegation of its involvement in the Godhra carnage. "One can never forgive and forget Godhra. We don’t need any permission from anyone to raise the issue," he said adding it was being raised only to "remind people of what happened". Reacting to Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s recent statement that BJP had created an atmosphere of fear in the State, Naidu charged the party has "sown and grown seeds of divisive forces" and said its hands were "stained with blood." The BJP chief also sought to know from Congress as to who was responsible for the growth of terrorist outfits such as JKLF, HuM, ULFA and LTTE besides Bodo and Punjab militant groups. "Who raised the issue of Ali, Coolie and Bengali in Assam? who encouraged Bhindranwale in Punjab? during whose rule was the Golden Temple raided?", he asked and charged the Congress with pursuing "wrong policies" including on Jammu and Kashmir. Blaming Nehru for the Kashmir crisis and giving full credit to Sardar Patel for resolving the contentious issues of Junagarh and Hyderabad, he challenged Congress for a debate on the handling of the Kashmir issue "for which the nation is paying a heavy price even today." He alleged that the murderous attempt on the life of State VHP general secretary Jaideep Patel was carried out by forces "who did not want peace and wanted to get the elections postponed on some or the other pretext." "There were riots in Gujarat earlier also including 1969 when the Congress was in power. Congress has no right to talk of Gujarat’s `Gaurav’ (pride) as it has defamed the State and is an accused in the Godhra incident," he said. Regretting that terrorism did not find any mention in the Congress poll manifesto, Naidu said, "there cannot be progress without peace. If you want peace, you need tough action, Sardar Patel like action." The BJP president also denied any knowledge about party cadres screening video cassettes of the Godhra incident to woo voters. (PTI) |
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