|
|
Three TSR jawans killed, four injured in ambush in Tripura AGARTALA, Apr 25: Three Tripura State Rifles jawans were today killed and four injured, ....more Satirist
Jaspal Bhatti CHANDIGARH, Apr 25: Having enthralled television audience with what he calls "intellectual comedy" for over two decades, ...more All
victims of gas tragedy NEW DELHI, Apr 25: With barely 15 per cent of the Rs 1503 crores disbursed as compensation in four months among .....more Govt to expedite introduction of e-governance to empower people NEW DELHI, Apr 25: Government today said it would expedite introduction of e-governance to empower citizens . ....more |
|
South Indian languages CHENNAI, Apr 25: South Indian languages should be taught in all the universities across the country, Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dixit said today. .....more Haryana
approves CHANDIGARH, Apr 25: Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda today approved a plan outlay of Rs 3000 crore....more ‘Wood
preservation BANGALORE, Apr 25: Judicious use of natural resources and managing them on a sustainable basis are the most debated.....more NGO
negative, call NEW DELHI, Apr 25: Favouring innovation in adopting plans for growth in rural areas, President A P J Abdul Kalam today......more |
 |
|
| Kerala
roads turn death traps ..... MP Govt to buy power worth Rs 5 cr per day ..... |
|
|
Three TSR jawans killed, four injured in ambush in Tripura AGARTALA, Apr 25: Three Tripura State Rifles jawans were today killed and four injured, three of them critically, in an ambush by National Liberation Front of Tripura insurgents at Naraynabari, 35 kms from here, police said. The ultras fired at the police patrol party around 6.30 a.m when it was on way to Teliamura town in west tripura district in three jeeps, killing one MD Chan Ahmed on the spot, police said. TSR’s Pradip Debnath died on way to hospital and another Jawan succumbed to injuries later, they said. A combing operation has been launched in the area and reinforcements rushed, police said, adding the ultras escaped with one SLR after the 15-minute encounter between the two sides. (PTI) |
|
Satirist Jaspal Bhatti now wants to try hands on animation CHANDIGARH, Apr 25: Having enthralled television audience with what he calls "intellectual comedy" for over two decades, engineer-turned satirist Jaspal Bhatti now wants to try his hands on animation. "I want to work in this field now. I think I can use my engineering skills in animation to churn out something new," says Bhatti who first shot into fame 19 years back with his five minute show "ulta pulta" on Doordarshan which used humour to convey messages on issues like corruption, red tapism and adulteration. Ask the "sardar of comedy" why he did not pursue his career in Engineering after Graduating in the Electrical Branch from Punjab Engineering College (PEC) here in 1978, bhatti says he was obsessed with doing something which concerned ordinary people and affected their daily lives. He first started as a cartoonist with a newspaper and worked with them for five years. "Things started happening immediately after I passed out from the PEC. In between cartooning, together with the help of a few friends we set up `non sense club’, started doing street shows on issues like selling of cinema tickets in black and bride-burning," he says. Bhatti’s unique way of highlighting an issue also helped in saving the famous Sukhna Lake, a landmark of Chandigarh, from shrinking. "In early 80s, a major portion of the lake had dried up and there was a huge island of solid mud formed in the middle. One fine morning we decided to play cricket on it. It immediately caught the attention of the who’s who in Chandigarh who came for morning walks daily, he recalled. The Chandigarh administration swung into action and launched desilting of the lake which continued for several years later," he says. Bhatti got his first major break in early 90s when his home production "flop show", a 30 minute teleserial, was broadcast weekly on Doordarshan at prime time. "It gave me the real stardom. The serial which touched upon a variety of issues, saw its popularity graph rise sharply and became a superhit across the nation. It was the first teleserial during those days whose entire shooting was done in Chandigarh with all stars belonging to this city," says Bhatti recalling the days when cable television was yet to make its foothold in Indian homes. With the advent of cable TV, Bhatti’s serials ran on different entertainment channels and his skits during the elections became popular. Bhatti’s skills have also come in handy for him in Hindi films and he made his debut in a Aishwarya Rai-Akshay Khanna starrer ‘Aa Ab Laut Chale’. "Working in Hindi films has been good fun," he says underlining the fact that he has had the opportunity to work with Aishwarya in three films so far and adds with a smile that he has preserved the T-shirt once gifted by her. Bhatti is now working in Hindi film "Kuch Meetha Ho Jayee" which revolves around the passengers stranded at an airport following delay in flight. After achieving so much in his field, he is still hungry for more and besides animation is working to bring to life the ideas which have not materialised yet. He is also building a studio called "joke factory", which surely promises to keep everybody in good humour. (PTI) |
|
All victims of gas tragedy to be compensated within a year: SC NEW DELHI, Apr 25: With barely 15 per cent of the Rs 1503 crores disbursed as compensation in four months among the victims of the Bhopal gas tragedy, the Supreme Court today allowed one more year to the Welfare Commissioner to complete the task of disbursement of money to the claimants. A bench comprising Chief Justice R C Lahoti and Justice B N Srikrishna allowed time till April 30, 2006 to the Welfare Commissioner, Bhopal gas victims, Bhopal, which has disbursed only Rs 224 crores among the claimants between November 15, 2004 and February 11, 2005. In its status report, the Commissioner said that though disbursement started on the auspicious day of Id-ul-Fitr, it ran into difficulties like lack of adequate number of judges for disbursement of the amounts as well as the complex process of establishing the identity of the claimants. It said it was unable to meet the deadline of April 30 fixed by the court. Even though the sanctioned posts of Judges was 37, only 25 Judges were provided, counsel S Muralidhar said. On problems in the identification process, the Commission said "after a gap of 12-13 years looks and appearances of the then minors have substantially changed in general and particularly in the case of girls. Even the names and addresss of most of the girls have changed due to marriage". Moreover, the Commission agreed that it had made "tall claims" about disbursing the money within a short span of time but the target could not be achieved. The bench court while granting a year’s time to the Commission, asked it to file quarterly status report on disbursement before the court. The court on October 26 last year had approved an action plan for the distribution of Rs 1567 crores among 5.72 lakh victims of the Bhopal gas tragedy that claimed more than 15,000 lives in 1984. Interestingly, the Commissioner informed the court that "more than 20-30 per cent of claimants are not available, as their whereabouts are not known. Despite best efforts, none is appearing for these claimants." Twenty years after the deadly Bhopal gas leak disaster claimed 15,000 lives and injured five lakh persons, the court had on July 19 directed disbursement of Rs 1503 crores of union carbide money among them. The Commissioner had said that the Rs 1503 crores with interest stands at Rs 1567 crores. The July 19 order had come on a petition filed by representatives of 36 affected wards at Bhopal which turned into a grave yard after leakage of deadly methyl iso-cyante gas from carbide factory on the night of December 2-3, 1984. The immediate death toll was over 4,000 but the figure swelled as people, sufferring from the poisonous effect of the gas, continued to die in various hospitals. Union carbide company, on the basis of a settlement between it and the Union Government, had deposited 470 million US dollars in the Supreme Court on account of its liability towards the victims. This money, with interest acruing on it for years, has swelled to Rs 1567 crores. The money was directed to be deposited in a dollar account, of which Rs 86 crores has already been disbursed as compensation to the injured and the kith and kin of the dead. (PTI) Govt to expedite introduction of e-governance to empower people NEW DELHI, Apr 25: Government today said it would expedite introduction of e-governance to empower citizens digitally and work towards providing broadband connectivity to all. "The Planning Commission is giving focused attention to the introduction of e-governance action plan as it can reduce transaction cost, introduce transparency and reduce time," deputy Chairman of the Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia said. "As part of national e-governance programme, 25 mission mode projects are in the process of being implemented," he said inaugurating Elitex 2005, the electronic and it exposition. The Commission has taken up the project of digital mapping of major cities. In the first phase digital mapping of basic civic services in Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Chennai, Mumbai and Bangalore will be taken up. The programme is part of the national urban renewal mission, a major initiative announced in the budget for which Rs 5500 crore has been set aside. Ahluwalia lauded the Department of Communications and Information Technology for exceeding the targets during the first three years of the tenth five year plan. He said in it applications the country has succeeded in occupying a leading position and emerged as a competitive supplier. Speaking on the occasion, Communication and IT Minister Dayanidhi Maran said the Government was working closely with the industry to bring down PC prices and make internet accessible to all to step up e-governance initiative. "Pc penetration is essential for the creation of an environment where the Government-citizen interface is subtantially automated. ...E-governance promises an administration that is transparent and citizen-centric. "The expeditious implementation of many e-governance plans of the Central and State Governments will come to naught if we are unable to empower digitally our citizens and make them future-ready," Maran said. To ensure accessiblity to a larger number of Government services through the net, the Government plans to have 1,00,000 common service centres in the rural areas by 2007. On ICT Manpower Development issue, the minister said, "...We must focus on regularly replenishing and nourishing the highly skilled professionals. We have to now work towards creating expertise that is geared up for the higher, value-added ICT services domain". Citing the strides taken by India in the areas of tele-density, internet penetration and mobile telephony and in ITES, Maran said "this performance is still the tip of the iceberg". (PTI) |
|
|
|
|
NGO negative, call them societal transformers: Kalam NEW DELHI, Apr 25: Favouring innovation in adopting plans for growth in rural areas, President A P J Abdul Kalam today said employment generation was the foundation for sustainable development in villages. "Repeating what we are doing for several decades with more of the same, may not be the way to proceed further. We need innovation and transparent performance in our action," he said in his inaugural address at the national summit of rural NGOs of India. Kalam said the term Non-Governmental Organizations had a negative connotation to it and suggested referring them as "societal transformers." Asserting the need to make NGOs and village authorities more accountable and transparent, he said connectivity of village complexes providing economic opportunities to all segments of people was an urgent need to bridge the rural-urban divide, generate employment and enhance rural prosperity. Making 12 suggestions, the President asked the Government to double grants-in-aid to Centre for Advancement of People’s Action and Rural Technology (CAPART) to Rs 10,000 crore annually and mainatain continuity in management structure of rural development bodies for at least five years, irrespective of regime change. Citing the successful experiments at Rashtrapati Bhawan, Kalam said "this is the first home of the country, we thought, it will be more appropriate to use the land for societal missions." He said two herbal farms were created on an unutilized piece of land in the premises. The first was used for assisting farmers on how to add value by learning how to extract, store and market their products while the second was for the visually challenged where they could feel, smell and learn about various plants through the braille boards. Kalam said along with a spiritual garden and a nutritional garden, a cultivated jatropha curcus, the bio-fuel plant, was created to educate the farmers about increasing their earning capacity by utlizing the feateures of the plant. Suggesting involvement of ex-servicemen in making the development more sustainable, he said the NGOs should tap local talent and creating village knowledge centres. The President asked NGOs to direct their energies towards lkeast developed regions like Bihar, easter Uttar Pradesh and north east states. Speaking on the occasion, Union Rural Development Minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh said Government was serious in bringing national wage guarantee bill after it is approved by the standing committee of Parliament. He said the work under Indira Awas Yojana would be doubled and the ministry ws aiming at meeting targets much ahead of the fixed 11th plan period. Singh said there were 12 lakh NGOs in the country, two for each of the six lakh villages and there was urgent need for their in tervention in water management, road connectivity and sanitation. (PTI) |
|
|
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, Apr 25: Roads in Kerala are turning increasingly dangerous, claiming on an average eight lives a day in road mishaps. With just 3.1 per cent of the total population of the country, the state recorded 12 per cent of the country’s road accidents in 2004 which was almost twice the national average, according to National Transportation Planning and Research Centre (NATPAC). A total of 41,220 mishaps were reported in 2004 claiming 3059 lives. On an average, 108 road accidents take place a day, killing eight persons and causing injury to 133, it says. The state’s accident rate stood at an alarmingly high 15 per 1000 vehicles against the national average of 7.5 per 1000 vehicles. The number of accidents per day had jumped from 90 in 1998 to 113 in 2004. National highways, especially those stretches passing through the cities, accounted for half the accidents, NATPAC Chief Coordinator V Rajagopal told PTI. Reckless driving is the reason for 98 per cent of mishaps. Kerala’s 1.38 lakh km road network accounted for 4.2 per cent of the country’s roads. Kochi, the state’s commercial hub, witnesses the largest number of accidents involving two-wheelers while Thrissur and Kozhikode top in bus accidents. Road safety has now become the most serious problem in the state with vehicle population growing at the rate of 10 per cent per annum and traffic by 10 to 11 per cent every year, Rajagopal says. The number of registered vehicles as on 2003 end stood at 25,52,171. About 68 per cent of them are two-wheelers followed by auto-rickshaws (18 per cent). About 650 new vehicles were being added every day in the state of which 440 were two-wheelers. High vehicular density is a major factor for Kerala turning into a high-accident prone area. The state has 6567 vehicles per 100 sqm and 5016 vehicles per lakh population, while the all-India figure is just 1673 and 5489 respectively. Besides improving road condition and a crackdown on reckless driving, putting in place a comprehensive policy on road safety education programme is also essential, the NATPAC official says. Since the target group consists of different types, there could not be any common road safety programme which could successfully meet the requirements of all the groups. Rejecting the theory that introduction of speed Governors is a solution to check accidents, he says speed on its own was not the killer as dangerous driving was the significant factor in many accidents. Considering the seriousness of the matter, Kerala Government recently constituted state and district-level accident monitoring committees comprising officials of public works, motor vehicles and police departments for an on-the-spot study of accident sites and suggesting preventive measures. (PTI) MP Govt to buy power worth Rs 5 cr per day BHOPAL, Apr 25: With the Centre refusing to come to the rescue of the BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh to tide over its severe power crisis this summer, the State Government has decided to buy power worth Rs 5 crore per day from the private sector. Agreements to this effect have been inked with Tata, Birla and Ambani groups, Chief Minister Babu Lal Gaur told UNI here today. Efforts are still on to purchase more power from any possible source, he said, adding that power was not available in the market at present. He said his Government had budgeted Rs 10 crore for buying electricity every day to meet the situation but could finalise such purchase for Rs 5 crore only. "We have tried our best but there is no power. It is not like rice, pulses, which one can buy from the market freely. We are prepared to pay even higher price," the Chief Minister said. The present arrangements with private companies is costing the Government Rs 3.25 per unit, which is much higher than the price of Rs 1.5 per unit from power plants in public sector. "Funds are no problem. We want electricity to provide relief to the people, both in urban and rural areas, during two-and-a-half months of simmering summers," Mr Gaur said. Even the Tata, Birla and Ambani power stations have expressed their inability to spare more power. Mr Gaur was confident that the power situation would improve following the onset of monsoons in June. Besides reducing the agriculture needs, the state would get about 1000 mw from Indira Sagar, Bansagar and Sardar Sarovar. The situation was being monitored regularly to maintain at least the last year’s power cut levels, Mr Gaur said adding that night night outages were proposed in villages to cater to the minimum requirements during the day. Claiming that his Government was seized of the potable water problem in villages and towns, Mr Gaur said Rs 400 crore had been kept for this purpose. He said the Asian Development Bank (ADB) had approved a Rs 1,500 crore plan for replacing old pipelines in Bhopal, Indore, Gwalior and Jabalpur. Of this, the state capital, which accounts for water leakage of 25 to 30 per cent, had been allocated Rs 200 crore, he said. Another scheme for Bhopal, he said, was to bring Narmada water within two years. The project would cost about Rs 260 crore, of which Rs 60 crore would come from the Centre. (UNI) Hurriyat to talk to Kashmiri Pandit outfits JAMMU, Apr 25: Asserting that it was keen on return of Kashmiri Pandits to the Valley, the Hurriyat Conference today said it will invite representatives of the displaced community next month to discuss the issue. A meeting of the representatives of Kashmiri Pandits from Jammu and other parts of the country would be held in Srinagar in the second half of next month with the Kashmiri leadership of APHC where threadbare discussions are scheduled on the issue of return of Kashmiri Pandits, president of J&K Freedom Party Syed Salim Geelani told reporters here. "Kashmir is incomplete without Kashmiri Pandits and present Kashmiri leadership is trying to fill this gap," Geelani, incharge of public relations wing of the moderate faction of the Hurriyat led by Mirwaiz Omar Farooq, said. Geelani has been touring different areas of Jammu and interacting with Pandit representatives. "As Kashmiri Muslims miss their Pandit brethren in the Valley on every occasion, so do Pandits feel nostalgic about their motherland," he said. However, Geelani said, the demand for separate homeland by a few Pandit organisations is not a solution. "Homeland should be in the hearts and minds of Muslims in Valley for their Pandit brethren," he said. Welcoming the recent Confidence Building Measures (CBMs) taken by India and Pakistan, Geelani said they are expected to bring peace and prosperity for the people of south Asia. He, however, urged the leadership of both the countries to take steps to help find a viable and amicable solution of Kashmir imbroglio by taking into confidence the genuine leadership of J&K. "Muslims of Kashmir do understand the sufferings of Pandit community but they must also understand the problems being faced by their Muslim brethren in last over sixteen years of turmoil," the DFP leader said. On the bus service between Srinagar and Muzaffarabad, Geelani said "the opening of this road is not enough, there is a need to open other roads connecting the divided people of both parts of the Kashmir. Alleging that some politicians were trying to take political mileage out of the recent steps, the DFP chief also urged the leaders of India and Pakistan to take the genuine leadership of Jammu and Kashmir into confidence for finding a lasting solution to Kashmir problem. He also urged the people of the State to remain vigilant against forces which were bent on dividing the State. "Such tendencies were the result of regional discrimination by the Governments that ruled the State and these need to be discouraged," he said. Dialogue process initiated by APHC with the leaders of different regions is aimed at finding a Common Minimum Programme for an amicable solution to Jammu and Kashmir issue so that people can live with dignity in the State, Geelani said. (PTI) Kolkata’s development plan a game of one-upmanship KOLKATA, Apr 25: Plans for Kolkata’s development have become a game of one-upmanship between the state’s ruling CPI(M)-led Left Front Government and Trinamool Congress-BJP controlled Kolkata Municipal Corporation with the civic poll at stake in the run up to next year’s Assembly election in West Bengal. Both the front Government and the KMC are drawing up multi-crore grandiose plans for development projects which include parks, flyovers, jogging tracks and shopping malls while some projects have been completed. But both the Left front and the Trinamool-BJP have denied that these projects have anything to do with the June 19 KMC poll. "We laid the foundation stones for a number of booster pumping stations a few years back. Now they are complete. Election or no election we will continue to work for the development of the metropolis," Mayor and senior Trinamool Congress leader Subrata Mukherjee said. Not to be left behind, CPI(M), the dominant partner of the front, in its desperate bid to re-capture the KMC which it lost the last time to Trinamool Congress-BJP in a close contest, is also chalking out its own plans. Expressions of interests are being invited for upcoming projects. "The State Government is inviting EOI from private companies for a number of projects shortly," Urban Development Minister Ashok Bhattacharya said. Although both sides are speaking about development, political rivalry has often led to bitter verbal duels. TC supremo Mamata Banerjee has accused the if Government of politicising drinking water supplies in the metropolis. The statement by the Urban Development Minister that additional water could not be made available to the Kalighat booster pumping station, which falls under Banerjee’s Lok Sabha constituency, came as an instant provocation. The TC also charged the State Government with planning to hand over Rabindra Sarovar, which has national park status, to private firms. The Mayor said a major park is coming up soon just before the landmark Victoria memorial. The State Government has showcased four flyovers which were constructed in different parts of the city at a cost of over Rs 150 crore in the last three years. Work is currently underway to build a six-lane in the metropolis while other streets were being widened at some other points, the Urban Development Minister said. To highlight its work, the West Bengal Government is inserting advertisements in major dailies, while billboards are being put up by the KMC. Apart from highlighting their success, TC has also used Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharya’s praise of the Mayor for reopening the historic star theatre after it was destroyed in a fire. However, Trinamool Congress is beset with a running feud between the party the party supremo and the Mayor who is in favour of fighting the civic election in alliance with Congress. Mamata has dubbed Mukherjee ‘Mir Zafar’ (traitor) for advocating a tie-up with Congress and holding parleys recently with senior Congress leader and Union Minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi. When the Left front has already announced its civic poll candidates and even projected former Tripura advocate general Bikash Bhattacharya as the Mayoral aspirant, TC has lagged behind. (PTI) |
|
| home | state | national | business| editorial | advertisement | sports | |
