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Aftab convicted, two KOLKATA, Apr 26: Dubai-based don Aftab Ansari, main accused in 2002 terrorist attack on the American center here, was today convicted for....more Haryana AIDS control society take steps to prevent,control of HIV/AIDS CHANDIGARH, Apr 26: The Haryana AIDS control society has decided to take a number of steps to prevent and control ...more Tyagi visualises use of space for network-centric warfare NEW DELHI, Apr 26: Visualising use of space for network-centric warfare, Air Chief S P Tyagi today said his force has mooted ....more Aiyar
to visit Pakistan NEW DELHI, Apr 26: Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar will visit Pakistan in May to boost bilateral energy ties and discuss the 4.16 billion dollar Iran-India gas pipeline project. . ....more |
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Akademi has been put in bad light, says Balamuralikrishna NEW DELHI, Apr 26: Eminent carnatic vocalist Balamuralikrishna, who resigned from the executive committee of the Sangeet Natak Akademi last . .....more Vajpayee
demands NEW DELHI, Apr 26: Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee today demanded the dismissal of Railway Minister Lalu Prasad from the Union....more Camera club depicts nature’s best from Kadamath in Lakshadweep KOCHI, Apr 26: When the sea reveals its abundance amid breathtaking beauty of the land enveloped in a ....more Women power staggers wife beaters at local Panchayats NEW DELHI, Apr 26: Wife-beaters sit up and take note. The country sisters of the Charlie’s angels are on the prowl for ......more |
Aftab convicted, two other accused released KOLKATA, Apr 26: Dubai-based don Aftab Ansari, main accused in 2002 terrorist attack on the American center here, was today convicted for murder, conspiracy and waging war against the country. Judge Basudev Mazumdar ordered the release of two other accused persons in the case. Accused Jamiluddin Nasser, Rehan Alam, Adil Hasan, Musharat Hussain, Hasrat Alam and Shakir Aktar were also convicted. Six other accused are absconding. Dilip Patel and Shakil Mallick were found not gulity and were directed to be released. The quantum of sentence will be delivered by the Judge tomorrow. (PTI) |
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Haryana AIDS control society take steps to prevent,control of HIV/AIDS CHANDIGARH, Apr 26: The Haryana AIDS control society has decided to take a number of steps to prevent and control spread of HIV/AIDS infection in the state. State’s Financial Commissioner and Principal Secretary, Health Urvashi Gulati after presiding over a meeting of the governing body of the society and blood transfusion council held at Panchkula, while giving details of the decisions taken in the meeting, she said that it was decided to establish state of the art Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs) laboratory at PGI, Rohtak. It was also decided to introduce a state reference laboratory for external quality assurance of testing of samples of Voluntary Counciling and Testing Centre (VCTCs) and blood banks besides making a provision of CD4/CD8 cell counter to ascertain the progress and prognosis of HIV/AIDS patients at PGI, Rohtak. It was also decided to set up a anti-retroviral treatment centre for providing free anti-retroviral treatment to HIV/AIDS patients. A community care centre would also be established at Rohtak to ease load on the wards, she said. Gulati said that it was also decided to upgrade the blood bank, Karnal to blood component separation unit and to make operational three new blood banks at Jhajjar, Fatehabad and Dabwali to ensure infection free blood to the patients. Gulati said that it was also decided in the meeting to establish more STD clinics on the highways on experimental basis. One such clinic might be started at PHC murthal with the help of NGOs and this facility might be extended to other important halt points for truckers. Condom outlets or condom vending machines would also be installed at parking lots of main bus stands, railway stations and big industries etc. To promote condom usage as per the decision taken in the meeting, she added. She said that it was also decided to implement targeted inverventions in all the districts of the state and advertise vctcs more vigorously to increase their utilisation. It was also proposed to convene a meeting of the newly elected members of Zila Parishads, Panchayat Samitis, Gram Panchayats and Municipalities to make them aware of HIV/AIDS, besides implementing school AIDS education programme, now renamed as "family health and life skills education" throughout the state this year. (PTI) |
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Tyagi visualises use of space for network-centric warfare NEW DELHI, Apr 26: Visualising use of space for network-centric warfare, Air Chief S P Tyagi today said his force has mooted to the Government setting up of a strategic aerospace command to prepare for future star wars. Asserting that nations have begun the clamour for use of space to park stand off offensive weapons systems, he said India should also lay the groundwork to develop capability to degrade space weapons and for this an aerospace command has to be established. He said such a command for futuristic warfare has to be developed with the help and guidance of the country’s indigenous space agency. To a question on whether India has developed a nuclear strike capability, the Air Chief, in an interaction with the media at foreign journalists club here, said the country has a "no first use nuclear doctrine" and the IAF is well-prepared to carry out swift retaliation in case of a nuclear attack. "We are a nuclear weapons state. The Government has a declared no first use nuclear policy. IAF is designed to carry out objectives as laid down by the Government in case of nuclear strike," he said. On the recent controversy on arms deal, Tyagi said it would not affect acquisition of force multipliers like the multi-role combat aircraft, Airborne Early Warning and Control System (AWACS) and the advanced jet trainers. The Government is alive to the fighter force depletion in view of phasing out of MiG-21s, he said. The Air Chief said Government would soon send the Request For Proposals (RFP) for IAF’s planned acquisition of 126 multi-role combat aircraft but no timeframe would be given. "The process is on and the RFP would be sent soon," Tyagi said, indicating that besides the US F-16, Russian upgraded MiG-29, French upgraded Mirage 2000-5 and Swedish grippen fighters were in the reckoning. He said the Request For Information (RFI) has already been received from the French, Russian, Swedish as well as the US Governments. Lockheed Martin and boeing have been cleared to bid for India’s fighter deal, he added. Tyagi said IAF had asked Lockheed Martin for RFI on F-16 fighting falcons and not boeing which was offering twin engined F-18 super hornet. On the British Aerospace Hawk Deal, the Air Chief said the contract had been signed and IAF was expecting delivery of the advanced jet trainers on schedule. On whether the IAF was happy with the arms acquisition procedures, Tyagi said "left to armed forces, they would like the process to be speeded up" but in a democratic set up arms purchases has to be transparent and according to well laid out procedures which act as safeguards. On Sino-Pak tie up for manufacture of superior super 7 fighters, the Air Chief said there was no cause for alarm as all these weapon acquisitions factored into the defence plans and suitable counter measures were taken. On air space violation by Bangladesh, he said the matter was being investigated. (PTI) Aiyar to visit Pakistan in May NEW DELHI, Apr 26: Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar will visit Pakistan in May to boost bilateral energy ties and discuss the 4.16 billion dollar Iran-India gas pipeline project. During his visit starting May 25, Aiyar will push for diesel and petrochemical exports to Pakistan and discuss import of natural gas from Iran through a 2600-km pipeline, 760-km of which is to pass through Pakistan. "I am leaving for Islamabad on the 25th. Bilateral talks are scheduled for May 26 and 27," he told PTI. On May 28, the minister will visit Sui gas field and the next day he will be in Karachi. During the meeting with his Pakistani counterpart, Aiyar said he would take up the issue of removing diesel from the negative list of importable items from India. He would also look at settling the transit issue with Pakistan before his June trip to Tehran to seal a deal for the import of 60-70 million standard cubic meters per day of natural gas from Iran via the 4.16 billion dollar pipeline. "Aiyar will discuss issues like the route of the pipeline, transit fee etc with Pakistan as all it will have an important bearing on the cost of gas," an official of the Petroleum Ministry said. India and Iran are currently engaged in detailing techno-commercial issues like gas volumes, route and price and Aiyar’s visit to Tehran would be for signing a firm pact. (PTI) |
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Women power staggers wife beaters at local Panchayats NEW DELHI, Apr 26: Wife-beaters sit up and take note. The country sisters of the Charlie’s angels are on the prowl for men tormenting their spouses, who they will drag to the court if need be. Wednesday afternoons are busy time in some colonies of the national capital where members of the Mahila Panchayat hold court and take to task men who harrass their wives for whatever reasons, including dowry demands and infidelity. The maroon sari-clad crusaders for justice not only issue formal notices to the accused in marital disputes to be present at the gatherings, but also dole out justice as the situation requires. "But our first objective is to make the couple reach some sort of a compromise and send them home happy," Preeti, president of the Mahila Panchayat says. Supported by the Delhi Commission for Women, the organisation says the going is not always easy, given the "egoistic male attitude, which refuse to take a women’s group seriously," and the non-cooperation from the victims themselves who more often than not cower under pressure from their in-laws, she says. The 150 volunteers of the group, most themselves victims of domestic violence and discord, regularly visit the slum clusters and enlighten the women of their legal rights, hold workshops, besides investigating into the complaints filed by them. "When the plaintiffs and the defendants do manage to turn up at the Panchayat, it is not easy to reach a solution," Preeti says, adding that often help from the local police has to sought to apprehend "particularly aggresive men." When it started out in 1995, the organisation had only a handful of volunteers who were willing to rush out on distress calls at any hour of day and night, Preeti says. "However, we have now grown into a veritable force and after a recognition from the DCW, the going is a little easier," she says, adding that even now the husbands of most volunteers are reluctant to let their wives venture out into the slums of Delhi after sundown. "We do not have our own conveyance, or for that matter a shelter home for those women who are pushed out into the streets in the middle of night by their in-laws and have nowhere to seek refuge," she says. Meagre salaries to their staffers and lack of proper infrastructure are roadblocks to what she claims a system of swift dispensal of justice at the local level. "During the Panchayats sometime the women do not want to go back home, sometimes they are refused entry by their in-laws, the cases also goes to the court. But in maximum cases we are able to mediate and reach a compromise," she says. Incidents of aggresion, both on the women of the organisation and sometimes even on the police are common. "In one case, the local police team accompanying the complainant and the Panchayat members to her in-laws home had dogs let loose on them by the accused," an official of the Vivek Vihar Police Station says. "Although its not part of our responsibility, we sometime lend our forces to the Panchayat members during their operations," the official says. Surprisingly, letters pour in mostly from the urban educated women complaining of abuse and wanting the matter to be addressed at the weekly Panchayat. "It’s really amazing how even educated women approach us directly or through mail saying they are undergoing physical and mental abuse from their husbands," Preeti says. Not wanting to be branded a feminist, she admits sometimes women also falsely accuse their spouses of wrong-doing, when the matter turns out only to be a lack of adjustment from both sides. (PTI) |
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UP Govt set up committee on monuments, historical buildings LUCKNOW, Apr 26: Concerned over the poor shape of historical buildings and monuments in this city of ‘Nawabs’, Uttar Pradesh Government has constituted a five-member committee to suggest special by-laws to preserve them. State Housing and Planning Secretary Jai Shankar Mishra said the administration had ratified the "security zone" proposal under the Lucknow masterplan 2021. The maximum height of buildings around Vidhan Bhavan (legislature), Governor house and Chief Minister’s Official Residence will be seven metres under the plan, he said. Mishra said top priority had been accorded to prevention of unplanned and irregular alterations in the protected monuments in old city areas. Mishra said height of houses would also be restricted in densely-populated areas where the width of roads is "very less" and which also lack basic facilities. The maximum height in these areas had been kept at 12.5 metres so that population-density does not increase further, he said, pointing out Lucknow’s population is expected to touch 45 lakh by 2021. Mishra said the committee, to be headed by the chief town and village planner, would suggest special by-laws to check alterations in the shape of archaelogical and historical buildings. Keeping in view commercial growth of the city, special rules were required for decentralising commercial activities and check pressure on main business centres, he said, adding the committee was likely to submit its proposals by the end of June. The State Government has already accorded its approval to the Lucknow masterplan 2021, which had been prepared on the basis of the Union Government’s Urban Development Plan formulation guidelines. The masterplan has been prepared keeping in view the increase in the population of the city which is expected to touch 45 lakh by 2021, Mishra said. He said special attention has been paid to development of people in unorganised sector which is likely to reach to three lakh by that time. Mishra said it has been decided that all the housing boards would allot at least one per cent space to unorganised sector. A transport system for the city has been prepared to cope with traffic jam and new roads would be constructed to ease the rising traffic load, he said. There would also be decentralisation of business activities, he added. (PTI) ‘Transformation’ of three terrorists in prison NAGPUR, Apr 26: For months, the three terrorists would not utter a word while one of them would break his rosary for prayer everyday and collect each bead just to kill time. But all that changed for the trio, including a Pakistani national, lodged in the Central prison here as they overcame the stress of solitary confinement by reading Urdu newspapers, books and the Holy Quran. The credit for the turnaround in the prison lives of the terrorists, two of whom are from Jammu and Kashmir, goes to new deputy Inspector General Bhusan Upadhaya, a well-known Urdu poet. The trio, who are among six high-security prisoners, are presently undergoing life imprisonment for their alleged involvement in terrorist activities. The Pakistani national was allegedly involved in the Mumbai bomb blasts while two Kashmiri militants were found guilty of subversive activities in the Valley. They are lodged in an ‘egg cell’, better known in the crime world as ‘Anda cell’ (it is an egg-shaped cell in the jail barrack) and are separately lodged for security reasons. For more than two years, they had spent time looking out of the window. But a surprise was in store for them when Upadhayaya walked to their cell to inquire about their well-being. Upadhaya advised them to spend time by praying to God and reading the Holy Quran. Initially, none of them showed any interest. But wisdom prevailed over them after constant counselling and some humanitarian gestures. The bearded Pakistani national asked the dig for a copy of Urdu daily ‘Inqulab’ from Mumbai while the other two needed some other books and a copy of the Holy Quran. Upadhayaya immediately arranged the daily for the Pakistani national and now he spends the entire day turning its pages. The plight of these hardcore terrorists in jail was so pathetic that they would not utter a single word for months. As per the routine, they are for a few minutes taken out of the cell and after a brief physical exercise, are again lodged in their barracks. One of the them has confessed that he used to break his rosary for prayer every day and then collect each bead and put it in order just to kill time, Upadhayaya said. He said since the terrorists probably have accepted their fate and future in the jail, "we wanted them to live peacefully and transform them at least by inculcating some good habits like reading and praying." (PTI) Uma’s supporters to pressurise leaders to give her a role BHOPAL, Apr 26: With BJP’s sidelined Uma Bharti adopting an aggressive posture towards party higher ups during her "spiritual" sojourn in Amarkantak, her supporters appear set to step up a campaign to pressurise party’s Central leadership to give her a major role at the national level. Amidst rumblings over leadership in BJP, Bharti’s Tirade against the top brass seems to have put the beleaguered party in a piquant position as 45-year-old Sulking Sanyasin took potshots at top leaders when she broke her fortnight-long "penance" at Amarkantak on April 21. As speculation is rife about Bharti’s next move on her return from Amarkantak, the BJP leadership appears to be adopting a wait-and-watch approach. State party president Kailash Joshi said "I have taken note of Bharti’s remarks in the last few years but will not comment at this juncture." Bharti’s loyalists say the ball is now in Central BJP leaders’ court. "Umaji has made it amply clear that she needs to be given responsibilities and it is for the Central leaders to decide on it," Vice-Chairman of State Employment Generation Board Shailendra Sharma told PTI. "A leader of her stature should be given an important role at the national level as she does not seem inclined to return as Chief Minister and has extended all support to Babulal Gaur Government," he said. "We will step up our campaign for securing Umaji her due place. She should be given either a major task at the national level or be made Chief Minister again," said Chandrabhan Singh, MP and another Bharti loyalist. BJP should not forget that it was under her leadership that the party achieved an impressive landslide victory with three fourths majority in the Assembly elections in the state 16 months ago, he said and asked "how can the party afford to ignore such a charismatic leader with mass base"? Regarding Bharti’s possible future strategies, Shailendra Sharma said the saffron-clad Sadhvi has given a "clear signal that despite all her contributions towards strengthening the party, she is being made to struggle now for work, particularly after she stepped quit Chief Ministership." "Now she will wait for a response from the Central leaders before chalking out her future plans," he said adding "it would be in the interest of the party that the Central leaders take a decision on giving responsibilities to Umaji at the earliest." Any delay in entrusting Bharti with some responsibiliites would cause considerable harm to her as well as the party as it would not only trigger "wild speculation all over but also lead to uncertainties and instability," Sharma said. Sudhir Agarwal, State Warehousing Corporation Chairman and a known Uma loyalist, said the presence of so many admirers, including MPs and MLAs in the "spiritual" function at Amarkantak showed her "popularity". The main opposition in the state Congress lashed out at the ruling party alleging the infighting was creating obstacles on the path of development. Dismissing Bharti’s "penance" at Amarkantak as a "drama", leader of opposition Jamuna Devi alleged the entire exercise by the fiery Sanyasin was aimed at grabbing power under the "garb of religious ceremonies". Expressing similar views, state Congress spokesman Manak Agarwal said "the whole episode has exposed the bitter fight for chair in BJP because of which developmental work has come to a grinding halt in the state. People should not be made to suffer due to infighting in BJP". (PTI) Vajpayee’s slip of tongue sends house in peels of laughter NEW DELHI, Apr 26: Call it a slip of the tongue or a "human error " But it sent the Lok Sabha in a peel of laughter, unlike the "human error" that had caused the recent train accident in Gujarat. It all happened when former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee was making a statement in the House today, demanding the resignation of Railway Minsiter Lalu Prasad owning moral responsibility for the train accident in Gujarat involving the Sabarmati Express. Maintaining that the House could function smoothly only if ministers like Mr Lalu Prasad had some morality, Mr Vajpayee said by mistake "Meine Khabi Sadan Ka Samman Nahi Kiya Hai" (I have never respected the House). As the House broke into a laughter with the treasury bench members thumping their desks, the former Prime Minister realised his faux pas and, looking towards the Railway Minister, said "it was a human error," obviously having a dig at Mr Lalu Prasad for attributing the train accident to "human error." The Lok Sabha had a hearty laugh once again, prompting Speaker Somnath Chatterjee to remark that the atmosphere in the House was different for a change. "After a long time there has been laughter in the House," the Speaker said. (UNI) |
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