Nagaland gears up to welcome Prime Minister

KOHIMA, Oct 23: Nagaland is all set to welcome Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee for his maiden visit to the state from October 27.

According to officials at the Chief Minister’s Office, the Prime Minister will be in the state for three days.

As a prelude to his visit, roads were being repaired, commercial establishments given fresh coloured-coating, breathtaking traditional Angami welcome gates being set up at strategic locations, traditional Naga dance troupes from across the state were busy with their dance rehearsals and the city had dressed up in a riot of colours.

State Government officials were seen working overtime to complete the preparatory measures.

As per the tentative programme made available to the State Government by the PMO office, the Prime Minister, on his arrival in Kohima on October 27, would meet the Governor and the Chief Minister same day and meet the Council of Ministers and then attend a cultural programme to be hosted by the Governor.

He is also expected to launch the mobile phone services in the State.

On October 28, the Prime Minister would lay a wreath at the Kohima war cemetery.

He would then inaugurate the Indira Gandhi stadium. This would be followed by a civic reception.

On the same day, Mr Vajpayee would attend the first convocation of the Nagaland University and in the evening attend a cultural programme and dinner to be hosted by the Chief Minister at the State Banquet Hall.

The Prime Minister would interact with mediapersons on October 29 before his departure to New Delhi.

The earlier programme of inauguration of the Phase-I of the mega Naga hospital Kohima project was dropped from the itinerary as its construction could not be completed on time.

Sources said though the structural work could be completed in time installation of sophisticated technical equipment could not be done within the stipulated time-frame.

According to official sources, the Prime Minister’s Office had asked for 30 Wireless Local Loop (WLL) sets for use during Mr Vajpayee’s visit.

While 15 such sets would be used by the Prime Minister’s entourage, the remaining by the family members and friends of Mr Vajpayee accompanying him, the sources added.

Meanwhile, the Chief Minister said his Government had invited Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani to visit the State in December.

The State Government had proposed December 1 for Mr Advani’s visit to the state to inaugurate the "hornbill festival".

During his visit, Mr Advani is likely to inaugurate the new building of Police Headquarters and a host of other undergoing centrally-sponsored schemes and projects in the State. (UNI)

No surrogacy vis-a-vis Prime Ministerial
candidate: Congress

NEW DELHI, Oct 23: In a rebuff to Sharad Pawar-led NCP, Congress has dismissed suggestions of anyone other than Sonia Gandhi being projected as the party’s Prime Ministerial candidate in the next elections saying a "surrogate does not serve the purpose".

Describing Ggandhi as an "outstanding leader" of Ccongress, its chief spokesman S Jaipal Reddy also said the party would emerge as the single largest and "we never depended upon the NCP as an ally in the next Lok Sabha polls, but I am not ruling that either".

"A person who commands popular confidence, .... Who has command over the party should lead the Government. A surrogate does not serve the purpose", he said in an interview to Karan Thapar’s "Hardtalk India" programme on BBC World.

Reddy stated this when told that Congress prospects might improve considerably if the party were to announce that Gandhi would not be its candidate for Prime Ministership.

Questioned about the Congress’s "faltering relationship" with NCP and that it had failed to attract any allies since the Shimla conclave in July, he said the Congress hoped to win more than 200 seats in the polls.

"We have a strategy in all the states where we are weak. We have a redoubtable reliable ally in Laloo Yadav. We need to fix up our alliance in UP.... We have an option with Mulayam Singh Yadav.... We have our strategy in all the states where we are weak", he said.

Besides, reddy said the Left parties "out of their unselfish ideological commitment, made an announcement that they would consider an alliance or an alignment with Congress in the post-poll situation".

On the economic front, Reddy said Congress was prepared to disinvest profitable public sector undertakings "provided their long term prospects are not bright".

Commenting on the coming assembly elections, he said in the four Congress-ruled states the party would prove that there is no anti-incumbency factor operating against it.

On Gandhi’s performance as leader of opposition and party president, he said she has proved to be "enormously successful" in keeping the party together. She is "too correct a Parliamentarian to speak in impromptu interventions.... Her interventions were well considered and.... They hit and also hurt", he added.

Disagreeing with the view that Gandhi had no answer to the country’s problems, he said she has been consistent in articulating an "alternative liberal vision" that Congress offers to the country. (PTI)

Private parties can move SC to prevent
miscarriage of justice

NEW DELHI, Oct 23: In a major judgement that could justify intervention of National Human Rights Commission in Gujarat riot cases, the Supreme Court has ruled that interested private parties can move the Apex Court in cases where they apprehend miscarriage of justice by acquittal of the accused.

Though in a criminal case persons other than the state and the accused have no locus standi to file appeals, a bench, comprising Justice Doraiswamy Raju and Justice Arijit Pasayat, said a petition moved by an interested private party apprehending miscarriage of justice could still be entertained by the Apex Court under Article 136 of the Constitution.

"We do not have the slightest doubt that we can entertain appeals against judgements of acquittal by the High Court at the instance of interested private parties also," the bench said in a recent judgement.

The ruling comes in a murder case where the Trial Court had convicted four persons on various charges. However, the Allahabad High Court had acquitted all the accused and had dismissed the appeal of the state.

One Ramakant Rai, father of the victim, had moved the Apex Court challenging the acquittal but the accused had questioned his locus standi to file an appeal.

Discussing Article 136, Justice Pasayat, writing for the bench, said the article neither conferred on any one the right to invoke the jurisdiction of this Court nor inhibited anyone from invoking the Court’s jurisidiction.

The bench said the power was vested in the Apex Court but the right to invoke the Court’s jurisdiction was vested in no one.

The exercise of the power of the Apex Court under Article 136 of the Constitution was not circumscribed by any limitation as to who could invoke it, it added.

"Where a judgement of acquittal by the High Court has led to a serious miscariage of justice, this Court cannot refrain from doing its duty and abstain from interfering on the ground that a private party and not the state has invoked the Court’s jurisdiction," Justice Pasayat said.

He said that the absence of provision for a private party to move the Apex Court in appeal against the orders of acquittal by the High Court "has no relevance to the question of the power of the Supreme Court under Article 136".

The bench said that Article 136 in express terms did not confer a right of appeal on a private party as such but conferred a wide discretionary power on the Supreme Court to interfere in suitable cases.

"Article 136 is a special jurisdiction. It is residuary power; It is extraordinary in its amplitude; Its limits, when it chases injustice, is the sky itself," Justice Pasayat said. (PTI)

Turning against the tide: some TN villages
say no to Deepavali

SIVAGANGA,(TN) Oct 23: Turning against the tide, some villages in this district have long given up celebrating Deepavali, considering it as an unnecessary extravaganza and a taboo.

Surprisingly, they are no protagonists of the Dravidian rationalist ideology. This voice belongs to the people of the rustic rural side.

For more than 46 years, they have been steadfast in their resolve not to observe the fest, which has now gained wider appeal, with the corporates and mass media "hijacking" the festival platform.

In this district, known for its deep rooted cultural heritage, 12 villages near Thirupattur town have never breached the decision taken by their fathers and grandfathers.

Not only in the villages, but wherever they go, they keep in mind to keep off Deepavali. Even those who had gone abroad admit to this fact.

Though Tamil Nationalists and Dravidian Ideologues hold Deepavali as a festival of the ‘Brahminical’ religion, having its origin in the 15th century during the Vijayanagara kingdom, the reasons for these villagers not celebrating it are mostly societal and economic ones.

Elders of these 12 villages gathered at the ‘Oor Manthai’ (village ground) in Mambatti and took the decision unanimously, recalls 62-year-old Sabapathy Abalam of Oppilanpatti, the chief of all these villages.

When asked why and what had prompted it, he explains that Deepavali, unlike other festivals of the Tamils, comes at an odd time in the month of ‘Aipasi,’ neither a harvest season nor a period of plenty for the farming community.

Hence, it is divorced from the Agrarian economy of the countryside. Further, it is not a traditional festival of the Tamils, unlike Pongal.

More importantly, during Aipasi, the farmers who have nothing on hand would be forced to borrow money from moneylenders to celebrate the festival. While the rich could afford to buy new clothes and crackers what would the poor farmers do, he asks. A farmer obtaining loans would be landing in a virtual debt trap as the entire produce would go on repayments, he points out.

The ban was based on sound Agrarian economics, notes 56-year-old M Dakshinamurthy and explains thus: Borrowing money for a festival not rooted in the tradition exerts additional monetary pressure. The farmer would have money after the harvest season, but Deepavali’s timing could best be described as ‘Trishaku Swarg.’ prior to it comes the sowing operation. Where is the resource to enter into a festival mood, he asks?

The 12 villages, forming a cluster and coming under the ancient ‘Nadu’ system are: Mambatti, Oppilanpatti, Thumbaipatti, Chandrapatti, Valayapatti, Kachchappatti, Thoppapatti, Kilukilupaipatti, Idaipatti, Thirupathipatti, Kalungupatti and Indira nagar, a Dalit enclave.

All the customs associated with Deepavali have been given up in this region. Usually, the newly-wed would be invited for the first Deepavali called as ‘Thalai Deepavali’ when they would be provided ‘Seer,’ a part of the dowry, as per the custom. For the last 46 years, this has been given up and those who take brides from this village know this pretty well.

M Subbukalai of nearby Azhagunagari, who had recently married a girl from the village, says he has no regrets about losing ‘Thalai Deepavali’ as he was very much aware of the custom before the wedding. After having worked in Dubai for nearly a decade, he had returned only recently.

Echoing the same view, K Muruganandham, who had just returned after working for ten years in Singapore, says besides unity among the people, sentiments and faith have prevented them from breaching the taboo.

According to 69-year-old Veerappan Chettiyar, two families which celebrated the festival in defiance of the decision of the Nadu suffered deaths of their close relatives and fell in line with the majority. This had made the village community believe that the ban had divine sanction. The ban was to remove the rich-poor divide in a popular celebration, he reasoned.

What about other festivals, aren’t they also extravaganza. To this, their response is that Pongal, the cultural expression of the Tamils, coming at the harvest season, could not be equated with Deepavali.

"We celebrate it in a grand manner for it is our festival, Uzhavar Thirunal (farmers’ festival)," says K Jayamani (46).

Ban on Deepavali does not mean that the populace of this Nadu are crass utilitarians. Explaining in detail about the months and the festivals, Rama Arunagiri (54) says Vaikasi Visakam in the month of Vaikasi and Pongal were being celebrated every year, besides the festival of the village deity, Kaadukatha Kavalar, held once in three years. During the festival of the village deity, the lord, mounted on a horse, would be taken around in a procession, called ‘Puravi Eduppu.’

In all, there are five schools, including a middle school, in these villages and the people are quite literate and have familiarity and knowledge about politics and events of importance.

These villages having banished Deepavali is not simply an economic one, according to Dr Lakshmanan of the Madras Institute of Development Studies. The successful continuation of the ban was possible because the festival had not entered into the cultural matrix of the Tamil society, he opines.

Dr tho Paramasivan of the Manonmaniam Sundaranar University, Tirunelveli, who has done seminal research on cultural studies, says Deepavali is not associated with the traditional mode of production and season. Its spread could be seen with the advent of the Hindu kingdom, the Vijayanagara empire, he points out.

Jains celebrating the festival was because Lord Mahavir had asked to observe his death with the lighting of lamps, he says.

Further, he says Deepavali, meaning an array of lights in the Brahminical tradition, was entirely different from ‘Thirukarthigai Deepam’ coming in the month of Karthigai. Hence, the festival remains the celebration of the Telugu-speaking communities, including Brahmins. To substantiate further, he says Tamils would not begin any celebration with an oil bath, associated with cremation ceremonies, being observed during Deepavali. Also, explosives entered the Tamil country only after the 15th century and crackers remain an identification mark for Deepavali, he quipped to prove his point that the celebration was only of recent origin.

This may be of academic nature, but nine-year-old K Santhosh Kumar of Mambatti, when asked, said he would burst crackers on other days but not on Deepavali, indicating how well the ban had become ingrained in the consciousess of the people. (UNI)

Special squads for traffic management in J&K

SRINAGAR, Oct 23: To further streamline traffic management in Jammu and Kashmir, traffic police has decided to constitute special squads for checking overloading and overcharging of fare by transporters particularly mini buses and auto rickshaws, Inspector General of Police, Traffic, Ram Lubhaiya said today.

Special squads for checking overcharging and overloading by transporters will be constituted for the convenience of the commuters and a time schedule for the passanger services will also be ensured strictly, Lubhaiya told reporters here.

He said his departement realised about Rs 1.50 crore as fine during past four months from traffic violators in Kashmir valley alone. Two lakh offences under various traffic violations have been registered upto September end, he added.

The IGP said although there has been sharp upswing in the number of vehicles from mere 1.61 lakh in 1993 to 3.98 lakh in 2003, no attention has been given to the proper road maintanence.

He said the relative disparity with regard to roads and number of vehicles was a matter of great concern for the planners whose responsibility was to move the state towards better road network.

Lubhayia attributed increase in the traffic to rapid urbanization followed by high standard of living of a section of people.

The Traffic Police Chief said militancy in the state has compounded problems to his departement in maintaining and managing the traffic.

Due to security scenario not only the free and safe flow of traffic was affected but the police were put into an embarrassing position while performing their duties that too without any arms on the roads, he said.

Replying to a question, he said parking lots as well as bus stands in Srinagar was on the priority agenda of the traffic departement and the matter in this regard has been taken up with the Transport Commissioner. (PTI)

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