UNITED NATIONS, Aug 14:
UN Chief Ban Ki-moon honoured over a million Indian soldiers who fought in the World War I at a commemorative event here and released a photo book authored by the Ambassador to the Permanent Mission of India to the UN featuring war memorials from across the world.
“India, then part of the British Empire, provided more than one million men. More than 60,000 died in action, along with so many others from Africa, Asia and Europe. All too often, the histories ignore this enormous sacrifice,” UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said in his remarks at the event yesterday.
Ban along with President of the UN General Assembly Ambassador John Ashe released the 113-page book ‘Indian War Memorials of the First World War’ that contains a brief overview of the many battlefields where Indian soldiers made the ultimate sacrifice.
The book provides details of the various war memorials across India, Europe, West Asia and Africa that honour individual Indian soldiers who gave their lives in defending international peace and security during the great war.
Ambassador to the Permanent Mission of India to the UN Asoke Mukerji said the event coincides with the 100th anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi’s letter of August 14, 1914 to the British Government, in which he had said that India’s voluntary participation in the war effort was “an earnest of our desire to share the responsibilities of membership of this great Empire, if we would share its privileges.”
Mukerji said a 100 years later, the same sentiment prevails among the vast majority of the membership of the UN, who have been willingly sharing the responsibilities of the world body “in the hope that they would be allowed to share in its privileges as well.”
Ban said the world’s current conflicts may be “pale in comparison” to the two world wars but the “tragedy is just as profound.”
“Yesterday’s terrible lessons remain to be learned fully,” he said lamenting that humankind appears not to have had enough of “such bloodshed” even after witnessing the sufferings of the Auschwitz and Hiroshima.
“The world must never forget the roll-call of carnage of the First World War. Let us also remember that although the so-called ‘Great War’ was fought in Europe, soldiers came from all over the world,” Ban said.
The UN Chief quoted a letter by a Garhwali soldier in early 1915 in which he had written that the bullets and cannon balls come down like snow and the number of soldiers who have been killed in battle “cannot be counted”.
Ban welcomed the release of the photo book on the war memorials, saying memorials are “points of pilgrimage” and a “fitting tributes to valour and sacrifice.” “I hope the images in the pages of this publication will prompt further reflection not only on the wars of the past, but on the multiple crises we face today,” Ban said.
The memorials in the book include India Gate in New Delhi, Mazargues War Memorial in Marseilles, which was the base of the Indian troops in France during 1914-1918, the Haidar Pasha Memorial in Istanbul which commemorates 122 soldiers of the Indian Army who died in 1919 and 1920, the Zehrensdorf Indian Memorial in Germany and the Damascus Indian Memorial in Syria.
The event was co-hosted by Belgium, Egypt, France, Greece, Iraq, Jamaica, Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania and South Africa, countries with whom India shares a special bond forged by the common sacrifices made during the war, Mukerji said.
A short film was also screened that showed archival photographs and texts to commemorate the thousands of soldiers from across the world who fought and died in the Battles of Neuve Chapelle in France and Ypres in Belgium.
“Their sacrifice, as the sacrifices of soldiers participating in the cause of United Nations Peacekeeping Operations today, should not be in vain,” Mukerji said expressing hope that such commemorative events generate awareness of the continuing need to “save succeeding generations from the scourge of war” and “reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small.”
About 65 million soldiers were enlisted during the First World War. Of these 1.3 million Indian soldiers took part in operations in Europe, Africa and Asia. (PTI)

NEW DELHI, Aug 14:
The Budget session of Parliament, the first of the Narendra Modi government, ended today reflecting the changed political reality with fewer disruptions and adjournments, and more debates and discussions unlike in the recent past.
The stark contrast between the functioning of the new Lok Sabha and the earlier one could be gauged from the fact that this time the House ran for 167 hours as against 19 hours and 36 minutes during the budget session of 2013.
Both, the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha were adjourned sine die marking completion of the budget session.
Besides the maiden General Budget and the Railway Budget of the BJP-led NDA coalition, the highlights of the month-long session was the passage of the landmark National Judicial Appointments Commission bill and the SEBI bill.(PTI)

NEW DELHI, Aug 14:
Around 38,000 Railway officials have been punished for their involvement in various irregularities and corruption in last five years, Railway Minister D V Sadananda Gowda informed Lok Sabha today.
Gowda said during Question Hour that punishments were meted out after conducting probe into 42,000 complaints received by the Railway Ministry from various parts of the country.
“I do not dispute the fact that there is corruption and irregularities in Railways. Of course there is corruption and we are taking all possible steps to check the menace,” he said.
Gowda said Rs 682 crore has been recovered by the Railways from various persons who had taken graft of Rs 882 crore.
He said instances of irregularities involving corrupt practices were reported in the form of complaints or unearthed during the course of regular preventive and decoy checks and investigation by an inter-disciplinary vigilance organisation, which has its offices in the Railway Board as well as in all zonal railways and production units.
To another question, Gowda said, “To augment revenues from parcel traffic, Railways have introduced a scheme for leasing of parcel vans. In addition to this, entire capacity of parcel express trains from specific origin-destination is also leased out to the private operators by inviting bids through open tenders.”(PTI)

NEW DELHI, Aug 14:
Strongly disapproving of disruptions in Parliament, President Pranab Mukherjee today said the need of the hour is to restore the grandeur and glory of institutions that have sustained democracy.
“I sometimes wonder: has our democracy become too noisy? Have we lost the heart of contemplation and calm thinking? Is is not the time to restore the grandeur and glory of our institutions that have sustained and nourished our beautiful democracy.
“Should not Parliament become the great hall of sombre thought and well debated legislation? Should not our courts of law become temples of justice? This calls for collective action by all the stakeholders,” the President said in his Independence day-eve address to the nation.
He said freedom is a celebration and independence is a challenge. In the 68th year of freedom, India has reaffirmed the power of individual and collective liberties by electing through a remarkably peaceful electoral process, a stable Government with a clear majority for a single party after three decades.
Mukherjee said the increase in voter turnout to 66 per cent from 58 per cent in the last elections showed the vitality of democracy.
“This achievement has given us an opportunity to take up the challenge of governance by reforming the policies, practices and systems of governance so that the enormous aspirations of our people can be fulfilled with vision, commitment, integrity, speed and administrative capability,” he said. (PTI)

NEW DELHI, Aug 14:
The Delhi High Court today sought responses from the Centre, Jammu and Kashmir government and the city government on a Pakistani lawyer´s plea for custody of her minor niece, who was here from Pakistan, and whose whereabouts are not known since July 17 this year.
The girl had come to India with her mother, Shabnam Barkat, and while travelling to Srinagar from Delhi they had met with an accident in which the child and her mother had received severe injuries, the petition said.
The mother had succumbed to her injuries in the last week of June, it said.
The Lahore-based lawyer Shazia Naz, in her habeus corpus petition, is seeking custody of her four-year-old niece.
Justice Reva Khetrapal issued notices to the Ministries of External Affairs and Home Affairs, Delhi and Jammu and Kashmir governments as well as the Commissioner of Delhi Police and the Foreigner Regional Registration Office here, seeking their replies by August 21, the next date of hearing.
Jammu and Kashmir government and Delhi Police were also directed to file their status reports regarding the whole incident before the next date.(PTI)