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| Painting life with light: Soile NEW DELHI, Jan 31: Soile in finnish means‘sunshine’. The paintings of finnish artist Soile Yli Mayry, much like her....more BJP to
approach EC NEW DELHI, Jan 31: BJP today decided to approach the Election Commission to complain about deterioration of law....more Use of
tricolour on NEW DELHI, Jan 31: Hoisting a national flag is the fundamental right of every Indian but how appropriate is it to use the......more Parrikar
to seek vote PANAJI, Jan 31: Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar would seek vote of confidence to prove his majority on the floor.....more |
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Little known parties in Haryana can play spoilsport CHANDIGARH, Jan 31: Though these parties may not have much of a vote bank in the Assembly constituencies from......more Celebrating
50 years MUMBAI, Jan 31: The historic moments and Euphoria of scaling Kangchenjunga — the third highest peak in the world.......more Karnal
likely to witness KARNAL, Jan 31: Denied nomination by the Congress, which he supported during last year’s Rajya Sabha elections,.......more Lalu
stands tall as divided PATNA, Jan 31: With no major erosion in M-Y (Muslim and Yadav) votebank and a broad ‘anti-Lalu’ front failing to take.......more |
Painting life with light: Soile NEW DELHI, Jan 31: Soile in finnish means‘sunshine’. The paintings of finnish artist Soile Yli Mayry, much like her first name, are full of light, and abreast with vibrant colours. A painter of international repute, Soile was recently here to participate in the the triennale India, the golden jubilee celebrations of the Lalit Kala Akademi. Six of her major works-Sun Urn, Asphalt Light, Dream Ash, Memory Oil, Burning Dream and Asphalt Dream are exhibited at the Triennale. In all these works, she has splashed colours that strike on one’s face, to depict frustration of man, estranged from himself. "I use bright colours to brighten up life that has turned void, after man messed up his ties with nature," Soile, who has 210 exhibitions in 25 countries across the globe to her credit, including five in India, says. She owns a private gallery in Helsinki and has had the honours of having retrospectives of her exhibited at leading galleries all across the globe. Soile says the painter in her was born only when she found that the pallette knife, used to mix paints was n fact er too to paint. And the discover came ater year of laour andgloom (because she could not xpressherself with the traditiona brush). "The 80s were a painful period. I started off by paintings classics and later graduated to abstract painting. Yet the medium was the traditional brush, which stood between my mind and the canvas. But the pallette knife has torn away the barrier," she says. Trained in art studies from the art academy in Stuttgart, Germany, Soile calls her paintings that of the ‘cave’ genre. "I try to bring together the abstract and the concrete with my knife. The paintings are symbolic of the frustration that man faces in today’s highly mechanised life," she says. Soile feels that the east still has retained the bond man has with nature, though the west now is on its path of reviving the bonds. "The west, under the influence of the information revolution had forgotten to look at what was happening within the minds. But the east always had an intuitive mind," she says. Soile says she uses art to ‘throw open the doors of the self’, the credit of which she gives to her upbringing in a remote finnish village and to her deaf parents. Silence was the language and solitude, the companion, she says, in her life record, ‘burning ash’. This coupled with introversion and honesty moulded her into an artist, she says. "The times I had to go through as an artist were very painful. And nobody helps you, one has to discover oneself. Professional training can help one to be technicians, but to be an artist, self discovery is very important," she says. (PTI) |
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BJP to approach EC for law and order situation in Bihar NEW DELHI, Jan 31: BJP today decided to approach the Election Commission to complain about deterioration of law and order situation in Bihar and seek deployment of more central security forces to ensure peaceful elections. A delegation led by party vice-president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi will today cite a number of violent incidents that have taken place in Bihar, in its effort to convince the EC that the situation was not conducive for free, fair and peaceful polling unless security was stepped up across the state, Siddharth Nath Singh, national convenor of BJP’s media cell told PTI. The delegation will also seek protection for NDA candidates as it believes that they do not have adequate security and are vulnerable to targeting by extremists and other anti-social elements. "The law and order situation is deteriorating at every passing day. In the prevailing situation, conduct of free, fair and peaceful polling is impossible," Singh said. He said that the NDA candidates were apprehending attacks and cited the recent incident when the helicopter of former BJP president Venkaiah Naidu was blown up after its emergency landing in Gaya. Naqvi said an atmosphere of fear prevails in Bihar and tight security is needed for smooth conduct of polling. "There appears to be an attempt to sabotage the conduct of polls in free and fair manners. So there is a need for deployment of more Central security forces and increased vigil by the EC," he said. (PTI) |
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Use of tricolour on faces, garments - how appropriate? NEW DELHI, Jan 31: Hoisting a national flag is the fundamental right of every Indian but how appropriate is it to use the tiranga and its colours on all sorts of things, be it painting the face, garments or commercial merchandise? A year after the Supreme Court allowed every Indian to fly the national flag, a new book on the tricolour discusses issues on the way it should be used and what defines respect and patriotic spirit while chronicling pictorial history of the flag. "The flag is not a design element and should not be used as one," says Amba Sanyal, a crafts expert and writer. "In this age of globalisation, to destroy your symbols will make it all the more difficult to retain yourself in this onslaught of homogenisation," says Sanyal, in the new coffee table book "tiranga - a celebration of Indian flag". "The flag and map are symbols that appear to be up for grabs. I am therefore in conflict. While I want everyone to have the right to the flag but to have it produced ad nauseam and commercialised is not something that I would go with," says Geeti Sen, art historian and critic. "It is like a plastic shopping bag that came into my household the other day that had the Indian flag printed on both sides. It amused me at first and then made me very angry," says sen, in the book. Kirpal Singh, an artist says "I am not sure if the idea of painting your face in flag colours is a way to honour your country. Suppose you have your face painted like that and someone comes and slaps you. What does this mean? You have brought dishonour to the whole country?" However, Rajeev Sethi, a designer and scenographer, asks "what is wrong with flags making appearances everywhere including on T-shirts, trucks and building walls? It is like images of gods appearing everywhere. What is sacrosanct about it?" "Our country has lived with layers of iconography and making iconographic statements has been part of our culture, involving both use and abuse of icons," he says. "New icons may appear while old ones may get forgotten or return to dust. For me the change of icons is not a concern but the level of faith. The dynamics of creative use of icons, whether old or new, is the most interesting part of it all," says Sethi. "The national flag should be displayed selectively and rarely so that it gets the respect it deserves. It has its own appropriate place. You cannot want it to be hoisted at an Idgah Maidan or for that matter the Kashi Vishwanath temple or any such place. It has been a flag of freedom and our freedom struggle and it should not be turned into a flag of coercion or annexation," says poet Ashok Vajpayee. "The national flag is an emblem of our fight for freedom and an assertion of our sovereignty. It is our common property not a status symbol for VIPs. We have every right to fly it where and when we like," says noted columnist Khushwant Singh. The coffee table book tries to capture the many moods of Indians and their association with the saffron-white-green -from children playing with the flag to the roadside vendors selling small paper flags and the flag painted on the back of trucks. "A flag by itself cannot hold a big nation like ours enthralled with national pride. But it can help inculcate a sense of unity and friendship amongst its young citizens," says filmmaker adoor Gopalakrishnan. The battle on the right to fly the flag has ended but there continues to be another battle ahead - to translate the ideals represented by the flag into reality and make ours a proud and prosperous nation, says Navin Jindal, the man who fought a long court case to win the right to fly the Indian triolour. Jindal along with his wife Shallu, have brought out this book, which has more than 100 photographs depicting the work of 70 of India’s top photographers on the theme of the flag The book has frames shot by the likes of Raghu Rai, Dayanita Singh, Avinash Pasricha and Swapan Parekh. "Consciously and unconsciously, Indians are always referring to the flag... We wanted to show that the flag is part of so many things in India," says Shallu, who also heads the flag foundation of India. (PTI) Parrikar to seek vote of confidence on Feb 3 PANAJI, Jan 31: Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar would seek vote of confidence to prove his majority on the floor of the House on February 3. The unanimous Cabinet resolution to this effect has been conveyed to Governor S C Jamir and Speaker Viswas Satarkar who would convene the House at 1430 on that day. Announcing this at his Altinho residence here after the cabinet meeting in the presence of Tourism Minister Mathany Saldanah, who returned from Spain today, Mr Parrikar said the vote of confidence would be in the form of a single motion. The Chief Minister said the Speaker had accepted the resignation of Transport Minister Pandurang Madkakiar, reducing the 40-member strength of the House to 36 with the BJP having the support of 18 MLAs, including that of Mr Saldhana. Mr Saldhana had also sent a letter to the Governor in continuation of his fax message reiterating his unconditional support to the Parrikar Government in the "best interests of the people of Goa." The Chief Minister maintained that as per several the Supreme Court orders it was the "floor of the House" that had to decide the strength of the Government, "not the lawns of Raj Bhavan." Mr Parrikar had also rubbished reports in a section of the electronic media that his Government had been dismissed. The Speaker, he said, was taking immediate steps to convene the special session of the House on February 3. Meanwhile, the Speaker told UNI that he had received a petition from BJP legislator Rajesh Patnekar seeking disqualification of independent MLA and Water Resources Minister Phillip Nerri Rodrigues who resigned from the Cabinet on January 29 in favour of the Congress. (UNI) |
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Lalu stands tall as divided opponents train guns PATNA, Jan 31: With no major erosion in M-Y (Muslim and Yadav) votebank and a broad ‘anti-Lalu’ front failing to take off, Bihar strongman and RJD chief Lalu Prasad stands tall in the wake of onslaught from political opponents. As all political parties mobilised resources in their respective arsenals to outwit Lalu in his home turf, a last minute effort to forge unity in a limited manner between LJP and JD(U) did not fructify as none of the parties agreed on identifying the ‘weak candidates’ nominated by each of them. Of the 64 constituencies which go to polls on February three, polarisation had since surfaced in more than 50 seats while the scenario remained hazy in a few places. The call for poll boycott by the proscribed CPI(Maoist) and indications that they meant business, hangs like a democles’ sword on Magadh region and the threat acted as a deterrent to many political activists from actively participating in campaigns. Amidst apprehension of retaliatory action by ultras against defiant political activists, candidates had to confine their campaigns to meetings attended by party leaders and close electioneering well before nightfall. The BJP is ahead of other parties in mobilising important leaders for electioneering in Bihar. Star campaigner and former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, BJP president L K Advani, former BJP chief M Venkaiah Naidu and party general secretary Pramod Mahajan had already visited Bihar to woo the voters in favour of the NDA. Cinestar-turned-politicians Satrughna Sinha and Hema Malini on the one hand and firebrand BJP leader Uma Bharti attracted large crowds in all places which they visited last week to address election meetings. While the BJP has fielded 27 candidates, its ally JD(U) will vie in 37 seats. Former Railway Minister Nitish Kumar, very often named as the Chief Ministerial candidate in the event of ouster of RJD, emerged as the star campaigner for JD(U). Similar is the case with LJP which appeared to be dependent on its president Ram Vilas Paswan for campaigning in 43 constituencies where the party fielded candidates. The LJP has an electoral understanding with the Congress which will contest 21 seats in the first phase. The Congress, this time, looks serious in its efforts to restore its lost glory and hosts of party stalwarts are camping in Bihar to brighten prospects of its candidates. Congress president Sonia Gandhi is likely to address 10 election meetings in Bihar. For the RJD, electioneering centres around Mr Lalu prasad as all others, including Chief Minister Rabri Devi, are dwarfed by the personality of the ‘champion of social justice’. Top on Mr Lalu’s agenda are checking the erosion in support base among minorities threatened by alluring offers from Mr Ram Vilas Paswan, consolidating the position among yadavs and Backward Classes and attracting upper caste voters disillusioned with the BJP. Political leaders whose future are at stake in the first phase include Congress candidate and Assembly Speaker Sadanand Singh at Kahalgaon, BJP legislature party leader Aswini Kumar Choubey at Bhagalpur and veteran CPI(M) leader Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthy from Hisua. All the leaders are engaged in multi-cornered contests. While Mr Singh is challenged by JD(U) and CPI(M) nominees, Mr Choubey faces, among others, Congress and RJD candidates. Mr Vidyarthi will have a tough time at Hisua against LJP and BJP nominees. Poor law and order situation and tardy pace of development are the main poll planks for the opposition while RJD is trying to withstand the opposition attack playing the secular card and the issue of social justice. As a poll strategy, major parties took time in giving momentum to campaigns so that the tempo generated by visits of party bigwigs can be maintained till the D-Day. LJP, however, launched the campaign ahead of others and now the party finds it difficult to keep it running high pitched particularly in the face of all out efforts by the BSP to claim its pound of flesh from Dalit vote bank in western Bihar. The presence of Samajwadi Party candidates in a limited number of constituencies has put the LJP in an uncomfortable situation. (UNI) |
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HC orders arrest of 3 MLAs,
directs PATNA, Jan 31: The Patna High Court today ordered arrest of three legislators, including two from the ruling RJD — Sayed Nausadun Navi alias Pappu Khan and Prahlad Yadav —evading arrest for long in criminal cases. The court also rejected the prayer of absconding former minister and ruling party MLA from Belaganj, Surendra Yadav to review the order for his arrest in three criminal cases and directed him to surrender on February four. Responding to petitions filed by common voters requesting the arrest of absconding MLA from Biharsharif pappu Khan, Prahalad Yadav (Suryagraha, Lakhisarai), both of RJD, and Mehboob Alam, CPI-ML member from Barsoi in Katihar district a division bench comprising acting Chief Justice Nagendra Rai and Justice S N Hussain directed Superintendents of Police of Nalanda, Lakhisarai and Katihar to arrest them and report to the court on February seven. All the three were facing murder charges and different courts had issued non-bailable arrest warrants and property attachment orders against them in the past. The petitions came up during hearing of a PIL of Bihar chapter of Indian Medical Association. Earlier, the court rejected the prayer of absconding former RJD minister and sitting MLA from Belaganj Surendra Yadav to recall the order of arrest. The bench, however, accepted the request of Surendra Yadav’s counsel B P Verma to allow his client to surrender after the poll in his constituency on February three and directed him to surrender on February four. (PTI) SC dismisses‘Black Friday’ producer’s petition NEW DELHI, Jan 31: The Supreme Court today dismissed a petition filed by producer of the controversial movie ‘Black Friday’, which narrates the 1993 serial bomb blasts in Mumbai, challenging a Bombay High Court order staying the release of the film scheduled for last Friday. The court, while dismissing the petition filed by mid-day Multimedia Ltd, said the High Court had given an interim stay till February three and that the petitioner should approach the High Court for appropriate relief. The Bombay High Court had stayed the release of the movie on a petition filed by an accused in the serial bomb blasts case, Mustaq Musa Tarani, who alleged that the movie would create a bias against him and other accused in the mind of public. The movie was based on a book of the same name published in December 2002, copyright of which was bought by mid-day multimedia. The film was given censorship certificate on the condition that the makers would insert a disclaimer right at the beginning of the screening of the movie that it was based on a book and did not impute any innocence or guilt on any of the personalities depicted in the film, counsel for petitioner Nikhil Nayar told reporters. On the petition by 33 accused in the case challenging the release of the movie before the designated TADA court at Mumbai, the producers had given an undertaking to remove the words ‘true story’ from the title of the film. However, not satisfied with the order of the TADA court allowing release of the movie recording the undertaking, the accused had moved the High Court, which stayed the release of the movie. (PTI) Election comm’n needs to review situation in Bihar: Naidu NEW DELHI, Jan 31: Terming Bihar a fit case for imposition of President’s rule as there was a "total collapse of law and order" there, BJP today said the Election Commission should review the situation in the state at the highest level in view of the forthcoming Assembly elections. Just back from his election campaineering in Bihar and Jharkhand, BJP leader M Venkaiah Naidu, who had a nightmarish experience in a Naxal-infested area in Gaya district after his chopper had to forceland there, said, "there is a total collapse of law and order in the state. And the State Government has neither the commitment nor the political will to tackle the situation." "Taking note of this, the Election Commission needs to review the situation at the highest level and deploy adequate paramilitary forces in the state," Naidu told reporters here. He stressed that the deployment should be done by the Election Commission and not the State Government. Admitting that he was not the target in the attack on his helicopter in a remote extremist-infested area in Gaya district after it had to make a forcelanding after running out of fuel, the BJP leader said, "it was the election campaign which was the target of the extremist groups. They have given a call for boycotting the election. "And when we landed there, they thought we were campaigning there and the helicopter was attacked," he said. Naidu also said that ideally the elections should have taken place under President’s rule as there was a total failure of the law and order mechanism in the state. Naidu, who returned from his tour of Bihar and Jharkhand late last night, said, "people are moving freely with weapons and there is no fear of rule of law in the state." He also claimed that the morale of the state police was very low. "It will be wrong to say that the police came to my rescue. The spot where the incident happened was just 13 km from the highway, but they were afraid of going to the area and were waiting for us at the highway," he said. "The police was afraid to go there. They said they did not have enough men or weaponry," Naidu said. He also criticised the BSF, whose troops were camping not very far from the police station in the area, for their slack response, saying it took them 24 hours to reach the spot. Naidu said Home Minister Shivraj Patil called him up after the incident, and he has apprised him about the situation. "The Home Minister told me that 500 companies of paramilitary forces have already been sent to the state. But I told him that I traversed 13 km in an extremist-infested area, covering seven villages, and nowhere did I see even a single policeman. Even BSF troops took 24 hours to reach the site," he said. "I told the Home Minister that the Centre should keep an eye on the situation in the state and provide adequate security to not only the candidates but also the leaders going there to campaign," Naidu said. He said the Centre and the EC need to step-up security in the state in consultation with the various political parties and candidates and informed that a BJP delegation will today meet the EC to press their demands. (PTI) SC dismisses petition seeking
release NEW DELHI, Jan 31: Controversial film ‘Black Friday’ based on 1993 serial bomb blasts in Mumbai would have to await the verdict of Bombay High Court for its release in theatres as the Supreme Court today dismissed a petition filed by its producers challenging an order staying screening of the movie. A bench comprising Chief Justice R C Lahoti and Justice G P Mathur dismissed the petition filed by Mid-Day Multimedia Ltd, the makers of the movie based on a book of identical name, and observed that it did not want to interfere in the interim order passed by the High Court on January 27. The High Court had stayed the screening of the much-hyped movie saying the screening could influence the public opinion even though the producers had given an undertaking before the designated TADA court, which is trying the case, to display a disclaimer before screening of the film. The trial court had allowed screening of the movie, challenged by the accused in the movie Mustaq Moosa Tarani and others before the High Court, on the recording of the undertaking that the disclaimer would clarify that the movie was based on the book and drop the words ‘True Story’. It had also agreed to state in the disclaimer that the depiction of any of the character would not impute any innocence or guilt on the person. However, the Apex Court noted that the High Court has fixed hearing on the petition filed by the accused on February three and that the interim order was in force till then. It asked the petitioner to appear before the High Court in seeking any modification of the interim order. (PTI) |
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