Nothing can stop me from staying in Mumbai: Bachchan

NEW DELHI, Apr 29: Accused of not doing enough for Maharashtra, Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan today said nothing could stop him from staying in Mumbai even if those opposed to him "throw bottles at my house or paint my posters black or burn effigies".

"For somebody to tell me to leave this city because I have done or even questioning is unacceptable," a combative Bachchan told NDTV when asked about the recent outbursts of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray against the actor.

"I am living here, staying here and let them do whatever they want to do. Let them throw bottles at my house or do dharnas or stop my films from being released, paint my posters black or burn my effigies or throw stones at me, I am not budging," he said.

Questioning his critics’ right to challenge him from staying in Mumbai, he said he was "not answerable" to anybody and that he will do what he feels to do whenever he likes to do.

"I do not hold any public office, I am not a minister, not a Government servant. You cannot question me...I am not answerable to anybody," the actor said.

Bachchan said he was hurt at the "insensitivity towards the Constitution.

"This whole land is ours and this land belongs to me as much as it belongs to you or anybody else. I do not need any particular pass or visa to visit any particular part of this country," he added. (PTI)

Bangla director captures mythological
Eklavya’s story on film

NEW DELHI, Apr 29: A slice of the epic ‘Mahabharata’ featuring the story of Eklavya’s sacrifice of his thumb as a gift for his guru Dronacharya is being enacted in a contemporary setting deep inside the jungles of a remote place in Bangladesh’s Sherpur district close to the border with India.

It is an effort to translate into celluloid a dream young international award-winning Bangladeshi director Abu Sayeed, who won a special jury award for his previous film ‘Nirontor’ at the International Film Festival of India in Goa in 2006, has been cherishing for the last three years.

The story of Eklavya is the subject of Sayeed’s latest film ‘Rupantor’ (Transformation) in which he seeks to show metamorphosis of political and military power through the centuries.

Through contemporary characters, Rupantor delves into a story from the epic. In the film, Arif, a young filmmaker, is set to make a movie on the story of Ekalavya and his guru dakshina to Dronacharya. Shaila is Arif’s assistant.

According to Mahabharata, Dronacharya wanted Ekalavya’s right thumb for his "guru dakshina", which ended the possibility of the latter becoming a formidable archer.

While shooting the film, Arif comes into contact with Santhals who tell him that the thumb is not necessary to be able to shoot an arrow. It is the index and middle fingers that are used in archery.

Then, why did Dronacharya ask Eklavya to sacrifice his thumb? Arif and Shaila become perplexed and go deep into the story and reach a new reality.

Actors Ferdaus and Sohana Saba will play the lead roles-Arif and Shaila. Jayonto Chatyopadhyay will play Dronacharya, Bikram will don the role of Arjun and Mithun will be seen in the film as Ekalavya.

The film also features Santali characters.

"I have transported the powerful story from Mahabharata to contemporary reality to show the metamorphosis of power. You may call it political or military power in a sense", Sayeed said over phone from the shooting location in Sherpur.

The director, whose non-didactic and detached treatment of the poignant story of a young woman turning to prostitution to sustain her lower middle class family in Dhaka in ‘Nirontor’ earned wide critical acclaim, is a little worried about how his new film would take shape from visual point of view, given the challenge of bringing out the story on the big screen.

"It’s a challenge, no doubt. I don’t know how the story would come on the screen. But a number of people from different countries have appreciated the script after reading or hearing about it", the director said.

Sayeed is trying his best to recreate the setting of Mahabharata in the film, being produced by state-owned Bangladesh Film Development Corporation, despite budgetary constraints and infrastructure in Bangladesh.

The idea to make a film out of Eklaviya’s story had first struck Sayeed three years ago either by watching a film or reading a book. He says he doesn’t remember exactly how. But it is a subject he has been holding close to his heart ever since.

"Eklavya’s story is the supreme example of guru bhakti", says Sayeed who first read "Mahabharata" when he was a school student.

For four months, Sayeed and his team of researchers interacted with Kanchan Mulkhopadhaya and other anthropology experts of Anthropological Survey of India in Kolkata and searched various websites to confirm that Santhals use middle and index fingers to shoot an arrow so that the film does not go factually wrong.

For Sayeed, another challenge emanates from getting the best out of absolute newcomer actors like Bikram and Mithun who have no experience of big screen or television acting.

However, Sayeed has learnt to thrive in challenges, whether be it struggling for funds to make movies in a country like Bangladesh or exploring new ideas and their cinematic treatment.

Ample proof of Sayeed’s prowess is evident in three of his films so far-"Kittonkhola" (which got the honour of being the opening film in foreign section of the prestigious Cannes Festival in 2000) "Shankhanad" and "Nirontor"-which made him one of handful directors in present-day Bangladesh, along with Tanvir Mokammel, Tareque and Cathering Masoud and Enamul Karim Nirjhor, who have made thought-provoking movies. (PTI)

330 rape, molestation cases in this year

NEW DELHI, Apr 29: The national capital seems to be finding it difficult to shed the image of being the "rape capital" with over 330 rape and molestation cases reported in the first four months of this year.

According to official figures, 121 cases of rape were registered so far this year while about 210 incidents of molestation were reported from various parts of the city.

Eight minors were among the 14 women raped in the city this month, which prompted the Parliamentary Committee on Women and Child Development to summon Delhi Police Commissioner Y S Dadwal and ask him to submit a report on cases of crime against women in the recent past and action taken by police.

"We have arrested the alleged rapists in over 90 per cent cases. In majority of the cases, persons well known to the victims were behind the crime," a senior police official said.

In 98.28 per cent of 581 rape cases registered last year, the accused were known to the victims and had been interacting with the victims in the normal course of life.

While 658 rape cases were reported in 2005, the figure fell to 49 the next year. The number of molestation cases were 762 and 713 for 2005 and 2006 respectively while last year, 835 such incidents were reported.

Delhi Police attributes the incidents of rape to a number of sociological factors, including "mushrooming of JJ clusters and sub-human living conditions" there.

An analysis of rape cases in 2007 by Delhi Police said 68 per cent of rape accused were illiterate while 24 per cent studied up to Class X. About 80 per cent of the accused belong to the poor strata.

"Of all the cases last year, 64 per cent were committed in houses and five per cent in slums," the Delhi Police Annual Report for 2007 said.

"Poor civic amenities, sub-human living conditions, inadequate housing facilities and mushrooming of JJ clusters are few of the sociological factors contributing to the increased tendencies in general and incidents of rape in particular," the report said.

"In JJ clusters, the entire family lives in a small area devoid of any privacy which affected family taboos and moral barriers," it said.

A two-and-half year-old girl was the youngest rape victim this month while two minors were sexually assaulted in a moving car, including one in which a traffic police constable was arrested along with his property-dealer friend.

The red-faced Delhi Police immediately dismissed Sanjeev Rana, the constable who also tried to allegedly bribe the victim’s family to drop the case, from the service.

In shocking incidents, a woman, who accused her land lord of raping her, was publicly thrashed by family members and neighbours while a mentally-challenged girl, who is deaf and dumb, was allegedly raped by a bus driver.

A teenaged boy, who was arrested for allegedly raping a minor girl, escaped from police custody in north-west Delhi this month.

In other cases, a 40-year old woman was allegedly gangraped on April 16 by four men, including her husband’s friend in a moving car while a day later unidentified men who barged into a house in north Delhi raped a 26-year-old woman before decamping with valuables. (PTI)

Bill for increasing Judges strength in SC introduced in LS

NEW DELHI, Apr 29: A bill to enhance the number of Supreme Court judges from 25 to 30, excluding the Chief Justice of India (CJI), was introduced in the Lok Sabha today to ensure speedy disposal of cases.

Introducing the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Bill, 2008, Law and Justice Minister H R Bharadwaj said that the pendency of cases in the apex court had been constantly on the rise largely due to higher rate of institution of cases. As on March 31 last year, 41,581 cases were pending in the Supreme Court.

He informed that the Chief Justice of India had intimated that the judges of the Supreme Court were over-burdened and had been working under acute work pressure.

Besides it was not possible for the CJI to constitute a five-judge bench on a regular basis to hear cases involving interpretation of constitutional law as doing that would result in constitution of less number of Division Benches which in turn would result in delay in the hearing of other civil and criminal matters.

It was therefore necessary to augment the strength of the judges so that the court could function more efficiently and effectively towards attaining the ‘ultimate goal’ of rendering speedy justice to the litigant public, he said. (UNI)

CBI files chargesheet in kidney racket case

NEW DELHI, Apr 29: The CBI today filed a chargesheet against nine persons, including alleged kingpin Amit Kumar, in the multi-crore kidney racket case.

The chargesheet was filed under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and Transplantation of Human Organs Act 1994 against Kumar and the other accused in an Ambala court.

Apart from Kumar, whose real name is Santosh Kumar Raut, his brother Jeevan Raut, Upender Kumar, another doctor K K Aggarwal, nurse of Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital Linda, Saraj Kumar Kovind, Jagdish and Gyasuddin were chargesheeted in the case, the CBI said.

While filing the chargesheet against all the accused in the court of Special Judicial Magistrate for CBI cases (Ambala), the agency sought permission for continuing the investigation against the rest of the arrested accused persons as also against some others whose names have surfaced during the investigation.

The chargesheet was filed under various sections of the IPC, including 120B (criminal conspiracy), 307 (attempt to murder) and three sections of Transplantation of Human Organs Act 1994.

During investigation, the CBI claimed to have the evidence to establish that Amit Kumar was the alleged kingpin behind the racket of illegal kidney transplantations. "The real name of Amit Kumar was Santosh Kumar Raut and he had changed his name as well as date of birth in the year 2001," the CBI chargesheet said.

Starting from 1995 till date, eight criminal cases were found to have been registered against him in Mumbai, Jaipur, Guntur and Delhi. All these cases pertain to illegal transplantation of kidneys.

Although the accused has a degree in Ayurvedic medicines only, he has been conducting kidney transplant surgeries in the clandestine hospital owned and established by him at 4347, Sector-23, Palam Vihar, Gurgaon, the CBI said and claimed that his borther Jeevan Kumar, who possesses a degree only in Homeopathic medicine, was "actively" assisting him.

Upender Kumar was alleged by the CBI as the kingpin for supply of victims to Amit Kumar. The victims whose kidneys were fraudulently removed were poor people, who were lured to Gurgaon on the pretext of employment by Gyasuddin and Jagdish, who were working as agents for Upender Kumar. (PTI)

HC grants bail to arms dealer Suresh
Nanda, son and 2 others

NEW DELHI, Apr 29: The Delhi High Court today granted bail to arms dealer Suresh Nanda, his son Sanjeev and two others who allegedly manipulated evidence in a case of alleged kickbacks in the Barak missile deal.

The Nandas, their chartered accountant Bipin Shah and IRS officer Ashutosh Verma had been in custody for the last 53 days.

"Each of the petitioners shall be released forthwith," Justice S N Muralidhar said while pronouncing the order.

The court said that all the four would have to furnish a personal bond of Rs one lakh and two sureties of like amounts.

The Bench also directed them not to leave the country without the court’s permission.

Suresh Nanda and Sanjeev, who is also an accused in the BMW hit-and-run case, Shah and Verma, Deputy Director (Investigation) in the IT department, were arrested by the CBI on March eight from a Mumbai hotel.

The CBI has alleged the Nandas bribed public servants to manipulate income tax records. (PTI)

NCC to be introduced in all private schools: Govt

NEW DELHI, Apr 29: The Central Advisory Committee of the National Cadet Corps (NCC) has proposed to introduce NCC in all new private schools under the self-financing scheme.

Disclosing this to reporters here after the 44^{th Meeting of the NCC Committee, Minister of State for Defence M M Pallam Raju said it has been recommended that provision be made for NCC junior division/junior wing in the private schools having classes VIII to X/XII at the time of application for registration by the education boards.}

^{The plan could be initially rolled out for CBSE and ICSE affiliated schools and later extended to schools under the state education boards.}

^{The Minister said these proposals would be taken up with the HRD Ministry to incorporate these provision in the registration norms of new private schools so that the large number of children studying in private schools could also benefit from the NCC programme.}

^{The meeting also proposed to shift the state of Himachal Pradesh from Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh Directorate to Uttarakhand Directorate. This would lead to better monitoring of NCC activities in the hill state of Himachal Pradesh besides other administrative conveniences.}

^{Moreover, at present Uttarakhand Directorate was under strength and with another state coming under its ambit, would make this Directorate a full-fledged one.}

^{The meeting was also attended by Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal F H Major, NCC Director General Lt Gen Prakash Singh Chaudhary and other members of the committee. (UNI)}

Mayawati’s social engineering lift from Congress: Paswan

GWALIOR, Apr 29: Taking a dig at Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and BSP supremo Mayawati, Lok Janshakti Party chief Ram Vilas Paswan today alleged that the ‘social engineering’ formula was a "blatant copy" of the policy the Congress has been following.

Paswan said the BSP has "lost its soul" and it no longer is a party that has any interest in the welfare of Dalits.

"Her ideology has taken a u-turn. The soul of the BSP is out of its body. A weak body does not matter. There is nothing new in her Dalit-Brahmin-Muslim formula which is the old slogan of the Congress," Paswan said.

He said Mayawati’s social engineering will not fetch her results in the future.

"This (social engineering) will not go on for long. This might help her win one or two elections. But it will fizzle out and lose its relevance," said Paswan, who is also Union Minister for Chemicals, Fertilisers and Steel.

Asked about his relationship with Mayawati and her party, he said, "chhattis Ka Ankada Hai (we have never been friends)."

On Mayawati’s ambition to become Prime Minister, he said every politician aspires for the top post, but it "will not come true for everyone".

Paswan said there were no problems in his party’s alliance with the Congress.

"We have no problems with the Congress. But the UPA has other parties like the RJD with whom we do not share the same rapport," he added.

Paswan also said the LJP would keep equidistance with both RJD and BJP.

On the LJP’s strategy for the coming elections, he said pre-poll alliances would be made on a state-to-state basis.

Paswan expressed his support for 33 per cent reservation for women in Parliament and state Assemblies.

"I support women’s reservation. It should be there. If not given, they might revolt one day as they constitute 50 per cent of the electorate," he added.

Asked about reservation in private sector, he said his party has been vociferously demanding it because recruitment in Government jobs was very low. (PTI)

MCD urges Centre for amending
MPD-2021, amnesty scheme

NEW DELHI, Apr 29: As the sealing drive resumed in the national capital, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi today asked the Centre to amend the Master Plan for Delhi (MPD-2021) and a one-time amnesty scheme for those affected so as to escape the court-ordered action.

However, the Centre has rejected their demand saying one-time amnesty scheme was not the answer to the problem and it was considering how further relief can be given to people.

An MCD delegation led by Mayor Arti Mehra met Union Urban Development Minister S Jaipal Reddy here in the wake of the resumption of sealing drive on non-notified roads as per Supreme Court’s directive.

"We have demanded immediate amendment to the disastrous Master Plan under which the sealing drive has been resumed," Mehra told reporters after the meeting here.

"Government has to come out with required amendments to stop the drive in areas including all villages and professional establishments in basements," she said.

Mehra said properties which have been "wrongly" sealed will be desealed immediately.

The Mayor was accompanied by Leader of the House Subhash Arya and Standing Committee Chairman Vijender Gupta, who demanded a one time amnesty scheme for Delhi.

Union Minister of State for Urban Development Ajay Maken said that one time amnesty scheme was not the answer to the problem.

"We are considering how further relief can be given to people," MoS for Urban Development Ajay Maken, who was also present in the meeting, said. (PTI)

Injured Aamir resumes shooting

MUMBAI, Apr 29: Bollywood actor Aamir Khan who received injuries in his right thigh while shooting a stunt sequence for his upcoming movie ‘Gajini’ has resumed shooting in Hyderabad.

"I had injured the adductor muscle in my right thigh. I’m recovering well and have restarted shooting with muscle supports and belts," Aamir wrote on his latest blog.

After the accident last week, the shooting was cancelled and Aamir returned to Mumbai for a few days rest.

Aamir said he will be in Hyderabad till the first week of May and evinced interest in meeting his blogger friends from the city.

The actor also revealed that he has managed to rope in his cousin Mansoor Khan as producer of his next release ‘Jaane Tu .. Ya jaane na’ which marks the debut on his nephew Imran Khan.

Aamir said he is excited about ‘Jaane Tu’ as it marks the debut of not only Imran but also Abbas Tyrewala as a director.

Abbas who is an established writer has written films like ‘Munna Bhai MBBS’, ‘Maqbool’, and ‘Main Hoon Na’ among others and has done a great job as a director, he said.

"While I was busy with Taare Zameen Par (TZP), he was doing ‘Jaane Tu’ (JT), and when I saw the completed film it was an excellent translation onto screen of the script, which for me is the most important yardstick for any filmmaker," Aamir wrote.

Aamir said, "I finally managed to lure Mansoor out of his hiding place. When I took over as director of TZP I needed a hands-on producer on JT so I requested Mansoor. To his credit despite his reluctance he did not hesitate to step in. I would like to think it was because of me but I suspect it was because of Nasir Sahab."

"Both Mansoor and I know that Nasir Sahab would have wanted the two of us to stand by Imran at this important juncture in his career. So Mansoor makes a return, albeit as producer," he added. (PTI)

Lalu suspends staff for dereliction of duty

PATNA, Apr 29: Railway Minister Lalu Prasad has ordered departmental proceeding after suspending several employees, including the station manager and health inspector posted at Sonpur, for dereliction of duty.

Chief Public Relations Officer(CPRO) of East Central Railway(ECR) A K Chandra told UNI last night that the minister was on a ‘flying inspection’ of Sonpur station. He was shocked to see filth on the station and surrounding areas. He ordered suspension of the station manager and health inspector for maladministration.

Mr Prasad also went to Akshayvat Rai Nagar station of ECR were he suspended all the ticket observers and booking clerks posted at Murliganj station for dereliction of duty on the complains of passengers of the Saharsa-Amritsar Janseva express and ordered departmental proceding against them, the CPRO informed.

The passengers had also complained against the booking clerks and observers for extracting extra money for tickets.

The railway minister was shocked to know the details as the fare for Murliganj to Jalandhar was reduced to Rs 226 in the current railway budget, the CPRO said, adding Mr Prasad also instructed the ECR General Manager to notify the current fares at every station.

He directed the railway officials present there to take immediate action with the help of vigilance sleuths of railways to check such menace and ordered an inquiry into the inferior construction undergoing at platform number two at Akshayvat Rai Nagar station. (UNI)

Migrants outgrowing ‘original’ Delhiites: Survey

NEW DELHI, Apr 29: The national capital seems to be a dream destination for many from neighbouring states with official statistics indicating that the number of migrants may soon outnumber the "original" Delhiites.

According to the economic survey of Delhi 2007-08 influx of population from the states like Uttar Pardesh, Bihar, Haryana has been estimated at 2.33 lakh whereas growth due to natural increase is comparatively less at 2.24 lakh in 2006.

Population due to natural increase has gone down from 2.30 lakh in 2005 to 2.24 lakh in 2006 while the migrated population has increased over the same period from 2.09 lakh to significant 2.33 lakh.

"The estimates of migration in Delhi are based on birth and death rates and total increase in population. It is revealed from the estimates that percentage of migration was 47.61 per cent in 2005 whereas percentage of natural growth was 52.39 per cent," the survey says.

During 2006, delhi’s total population was 1.62 crore against 1.57 crore in the previous year.

Quoting the figures available from Registrar General of India (RGI) for the 2001 census, the survey says the total population of Delhi at 1.38 crore comprised of 82 lakh people from within Delhi and 53.18 lakh migrated population from various states.

A closer look at the percentage of inflow from various states suggests that maximum migration was from Uttar Pradesh with as much as 43.56 per cent contributing to the total migratory population followed by Bihar (13.87 per cent) and Haryana (13.87 per cent).

People from Rajasthan, Punjab, West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh too preferred to make the national capital as their home, resulting in pressure on infrastructure, says the survey.

In addition, large scale influx of commuters also known as floating population come to city everyday for work, medical care, education and sports. (PTI)