Shatrughan
campaigns for BJP
SHILLONG,
Feb 29:
BJP’s star campaigner Bollywood actor
turned politician Shatrughan Sinha addressed a
series of elections rallies in Meghalaya and
asked the people to vote for the saffron party.
Sinha arrived in
the state last evening and addressed three
election rallies in East Khasi Hills district and
one in Laitmukhrah.
The BJP’s
star campaigner know as ‘shotgun’ and
‘Bihari babu’ send his listeners into
peels of laughter with his witty off hand
remarks.
Sinha drew a
parallel between himself and Congress president
Sonia Gandhi.
"We have many
things in similar. Our birthdays are on the same
day. She lives in 10 Janpath and I in 10
Talkatora. We both are ‘star’
campaigners of our respective parties" Sinha
said in lighter vein in course of an election
rally.
"Communication
in the state is is bad; health sector is in a
shambles. It’s a Government of confusion,
corruption and contradiction," Sinha alleged
in the rallies.
"The Congress
claims it has brought peace to the North East.
What it perhaps means is piece, because it has
actually fragmented the region into pieces in a
peace-meal fashion," he alleged.
Commenting on the
BJP’s image during a press interaction, the
legendary actor said, "How can the BJP be
branded communal? A person like me, who belongs
to people of all caste, creed and religion, can
never be with a communal party". (PTI)
Farm
loan waiver revolutionary step: Sonia
NEW
DELHI, Feb 29: Patting Finance Minister P
Chidambaram on the back, UPA Chairperson Sonia
Gandhi today termed the waiver of farmer loans a
"revolutionary step".
"Today is a
very happy occasion. The waiver of loans on
farmers by the UPA Government is a revolutionary
step," Gandhi said, addressing a large
gathering of farmers who descended at her 10,
Janpath residence soon after the announcement of
the relief in the Union Budget 2008-09.
"I
congratulate the UPA Government and Finance
Minister P Chidambaram for it," she said.
Chidambaram
announced a Rs 60,000-crore relief package for
farmers, including complete waiver of loans given
to small and marginal farmers.
The Government
announced a waiver of Rs 50,000 crore worth of
loans to small and marginal farmers and a
settlement scheme for other farmers that would
cost the exchequer another Rs 10,000 crore.
Holi, the festival
of colours, appeared to have arrived earlier than
schedule as farmers burst into celebrations
outside the residence of the Congress President,
smearing colour at each other and singing and
dancing to the tune of drum beats.
Congress leaders
too arrived at the scene as a race began to
express gratitude to the party leadership for the
loan waiver.
Party MP Deependra
Hooda came riding on a tractor.
Among the other
leaders who came to meet Gandhi were Outer Delhi
MP Sajjan Kumar and DPCC chief J P Aggarwal.
The Congress
President was visibly ebullient as she met the
farmers, shaking hands with them.
The entire stretch
outside Gandhi’s residence was choc-a-bloc
with large numbers of farmers who came to meet
her.
The VVIP address
witnessed joyous scenes as crackers were burst,
sweets were distributed and people raised slogans
hailing Gandhi and the UPA Government. (PTI)
Govt
directed to check crime against foreign
tourists in Taj city
LUCKNOW,
Feb 29:
Uttar Pradesh assembly today expressed its
concern over the rising crimes against foreign
tourists visiting the Taj Mahal while speaker
Sukhdeo Rajbhar directed the government to make
proper police arrangements to prevent such
crimes.
Raising the issue
through an adjournment motion during the zero
hour, Janmorcha member Dharampal Singh claimed
that since February 14, at least five cases of
purse snatching cases had been reported on the
Taj permises.
He said it was
unfortunate that even after having three-tier
security system at the Taj, the criminals get
away with petty crimes with targeting foreign
tourists.
Narrating the
details, he said while on February 14 a woman
tourist from France was robbed, the next day a
purse was snatched from a tourist from Scotland.
On Februrary 16, criminals robbed 36000 US
dollars from an US citizen while on February 21 a
UK woman tourist’s purse was snatched.
Similarly on February 23, the criminals snatched
away her purse from a tourist from Canada.
Mr Singh demanded
that adequate security should be given to all the
foreign tourists as these petty crimes were
earning bad name for the state. He also said that
lack of coordination between the CISF manning the
Taj and local police was one of the reasons for
the rise in such crime.
Replying to the
motion, state parliamentary affairs minister
Lalji Verma said the Government was concerned
with such petty crime at the Taj permises and
assured the house that all precautionary measures
would be taken to prevent such in future. (UNI)
SC
refuses prosecution of former Delhi
Police Commissioner
NEW
DELHI, Feb 29: The Supreme Court today refused a
petition seeking prosecution of former Delhi
Police Commissioner and member of UPSC Dr K K
Paul for alleged abetment to suicide of Devender
Manchanda, a former police inspector.
A bench comprising
Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan and Justice R V
Raveendran, however, permitted Prashant
Manchanda, the son of the former
Delhi Police
Inspector, to seek an appropriate remedy under
the law.
The Chief Justice
at one stage asked the petitioner, "Can a
superior officer be charged with an offence of
abetment to suicide and if such things are
allowed then no superior officer will dare to
take action against his sub-ordinate."
The wife of the
deceased also pleaded with the court to procecute
K K Paul and alledged that she was suffering from
cancer because of the harassment caused by the
latter.
According to the
petitioner, his father was suspended for not
withdrawing his complaint against the then Police
Commissioner, lodged with the vigilance
department.
The petitioner had
challenged the Delhi High Court order, which
dismissed his petition, but the apex court
refused to interfere with the lower court order
and dismissed it as withdrawn. (UNI)
Tobacco
addiction to cause over 10
lakh deaths in India by
2010
PATNA,
Feb 29:
As many as ten lakh people would lose their
lives by 2010 owing to their fatal addiction to
tobacco even as the country is gripped by the
catastrophic habit of smoking.
A joint research
team from India, Canada and the UK recently
revealed the startling facts that the devastating
addiction is expected to cause one in five of all
adult male deaths and one in 20 of all adult
female deaths by early 2010.
On an average,
male smokers were losing about six years of their
lives while female smokers were losing about
eight years compared to non-smokers.
After an extensive
research during which 11 lakh homes were surveyed
in India, the researchers found that among men in
the age group of 30-69 years, the smoking habit
proved to be fatal as it resulted into several
kinds of diseases.
Research team
leader Prabhat Jha from the Centre for Global
Health Research, St Michels Hospital, University
of Toronto, Canada, said smoking caused 38 per
cent deaths from tuberclosis, 32 per cent from
cancer, 31 per cent from respiratory diseases and
20 per cent from vascular diseases in the said
age group.
The research paper
suprisingly stated that smokers in India pick the
habit at a later age and smoke less as compared
to those in Europe and America.
The study found
that about 12 crore people were gripped by the
smoking habit and more than one-third of the men
and five per cent of the women in the age group
of 30-69 years smoked bidis.
Male smokers were
two-third more likely to die in their middle age
and female smokers twice as likely to die
compared to non smokers in the same age-group,
the study reported.
Perusal of the
research report revealed some disturbing facts as
more than 55 per cent of the men in the age group
of 30-69 years, who died from medical reasons
were smokers compared to 37 per cent of living
men of the same age.
Further 61 per
cent of the smokers were apprehended to die
before they reach 69 years of age as against 41
per cent of non-smokers.
Similarly, among
women, the report added that 62 per cent smokers
could expect to die before the age of 69 years
compared to only 38 per cent of non-smokers.
Meanwhile, former
Chairman of the School of Preventive Oncology,
Bihar Chapter, Dr Dhirendra Narayan Sinha said
there were no safe levels of smoking and
sometimes even a few bidis a day could prove
fatal.
He said the danger
from cigarettes was even greater as it could
double the risk of death in the middle age group.
Cigarette smokers lose as much as 10 years of
their lives compared to non-smokers.
Cigarette smoking
was more harmful compared to bidi smoking, Dr
Sinha said, adding that even smoking as few as
one to seven bidis a day raised the mortality
risk by 25 per cent while the same number of
cigarettes a day nearly doubled the risk.
He said smoking
was also one of the major reasons for the gap in
the male and female mortality rates in the middle
age group.
Illiteracy was
stated to be a major factor for initiating and
induldging in tobacco consuming habits as over
half of the tobacco deaths occured among
illiterate men or women and nearly 80 per cent of
such deaths occured in rural areas.
To minimise the
death rates in the next few decades from tobacco,
Dr Sinha said the only solution was to quit
smoking completely.
He, however, said
the quitting rates were low at around two per
cent in India and that too happens when the
smokers fell ill. (UNI)
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