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Prayers mark 20th anniversary of Bhopal
tragedy
Over 40 hurt in farmer-police
clashes
TMC defies HC order, holds
bandh
Rahul to venture out of
Amethi
BJP workers opposing Uma’s re-entry?
AP to try novel steps against
AIDS
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Justice delayed is not always justice
denied
Centre to set up wage board for journalists
G.K. Gandhi to be West Bengal Governor
Gen Negi is Uttaranchal PSC Chairman
Railways to recruit 20,000 RPF personnel
Cop held on rape charge
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Prayers mark 20th anniversary of Bhopal
tragedy
Bhopal, December 3 Governor, Bal Ram Jakhar and Chief Minister Babulal Gaur were among the dignitaries who attended an all-religious prayer meeting in the morning. Speaking on the occasion, the Chief Minister held out a promise of full assistance to those who were suffering from the effect of the gas leak. Effigies of Union Carbide and its former CEO, Mr Warren Anderson, were set afire at several places in the old city by organisations of the gas leak survivors. Anguish was expressed at the apathy of the Governments of India and Madhya Pradesh in providing medical and economic rehabilitation to the affected people and ensuring punishment to the guilty of the world’s worst industrial disaster. A torchlight procession was taken out last night, the torchbearers demanding extradition of Mr Warren Anderson for standing trial. Activists from several parts of the country, who had assembled here on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the disaster, decided to launch an agitation against the multinational corporations, starting with Pepsi and Cola. The disbursement of the second instalment of compensation among the victims is continuing at a slow pace. Cheques worth about Rs 25 crore have been given to 7,000-odd claimants so far. Over five lakh sufferers have to be covered. What the victims are getting after 20 years of the disaster is a pittance, not enough even for repayment of the debts they have incurred on their treatment, many genuine victims complain. According to a Madhya Pradesh government press note, the Union Government has asked Engineers India Limited (EIL), a public sector undertaking, to survey the chemical waste left behind by Union Carbide on its erstwhile pesticides factory premises and recommend an agency for its removal.
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Over 40 hurt in farmer-police
clashes
Sriganganagar, December 3 Nearly 600 of the thousands of agitating farmers were taken into custody at the two places. A majority of them were sent to jails in Sriganganagar, Hanumangarh, Churu and Bikaner districts, the sources said. Former MLA Sohan Nayak, Executive Magistrate Shankarlal Sharma, one RAC constable, two Rajasthan police jawans and over 36 farmers were injured in a clash at Anupgarh. RAC Company Commander Parmeshwarlal and a Special Task Force jawan were among those injured in a clash at Gharsana. The police said it used batons to drive away farmers who indulged in brickbatting at both places. Tensions ran high following the clashes and because of the intensification of the over two-month-long agitation for release of more water from the Indira Gandhi canal for the rabi season. The agitationists organised protests at Srivijaynagar, Anupgarh and Gharsana (Sriganganagar district) and Rawatsar (Hanumangarh). More than 80 per cent shops in Mohangarh remained closed in support of the farmers’ demands. Five persons were killed in the police action on the agitationists at Gharsana on October 26 and 27.—
UNI |
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TMC defies HC order, holds
bandh
Kolkata, December 3 The TMC leader claimed the bandh was successful despite stiff opposition by a section of the CPM and the police. She said she was ready to face any punishment the high court would give her for observing the bandh. She felt she had done no wrong by joining the common people in raising her voice against price rise. “To express opinion and to protest against injustice have been our constitutional rights which no court can stop,” she reiterated. The Chief Minister, Mr Buddhadep Bhattacharjee, said life was normal everywhere except a few places in the city and the districts. The government had strictly abided by the high court’s directive to maintain normal life throughout the state. The “compliance report” would be submitted to a Division Bench of the court on December 7.
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Rahul to venture out of
Amethi
New Delhi, December 3 As a first step in this direction, the young Gandhi will hold a “chintan shivir” or a “brainstorming” session with leaders from the state in Allahabad in the second week of January next year. This low-key affair could well prove to be a “soft launch” of brand Rahul. The party has invited 100 youth leaders from Uttar Pradesh for this interactive session, billed as the Congress scion’s first major programme after his entry into politics. Referred to as “Team 100” in party circles, these leaders were identified in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections. The one-to-one meetings with them are meant to serve two purposes. It will help Rahul Gandhi identify potential leaders in UP, who can subsequently be groomed for a larger role in state party affairs. The two-day session is also meant to elicit their views on reviving the party in Uttar Pradesh. In addition, it will be a learning exercise for the young Gandhi as he prepares to take on a more active role in Uttar Pradesh politics. “It was decided to organise this particular session with the youth as they identify with Rahul Gandhi,” explained a senior Congress leader, adding that the party feels Rahul Gandhi’s mass appeal can help counter the communal and castiest forces in Uttar Pradesh. Preparations for this session are under way. The photos and resumes of these “young leaders” have been put together. “These will be handed over to Rahul Gandhi before his meeting so that he has a fair idea about the people he is to meet,” explained a senior Congress leader. Ever since Rahul Gandhi’s formal entry into politics, there has been a pressing demand from party cadres in Uttar Pradesh that he tour the state and play a more active role in state organisational matters. MPs from the state,who had met him during the last Parliament session, had especially implored him to venture out of Amethi. Rahul had then promised to do so after the October byelections. Although he has been meeting Congress leaders regularly, Rahul Gandhi has, so far, chosen to keep a low-profile. Nevertheless, his grooming has begun in real earnest. He recently paid a hush-hush visit to Assam and Meghalaya and to Bangalore where he deliberately avoided the party apparatus and instead interacted with IT professionals, think tanks, academics and university students. |
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BJP workers opposing Uma’s re-entry?
New Delhi, December 3 Ms Bharti, who met Mr Advani for the third consecutive day today, did not speak to the media after the 45-minute meeting. Earlier, in the day several second-rung leaders were understood to have conveyed their strong reservation to Mr Advani against any move to revoke her suspension in the wake of the critical remarks made against them in a letter purportedly written by her. Ms Bharti, however, yesterday denied writing any such letter and termed as “fake” the document which appeared in a Hindi news magazine. The controversial letter had accused BJP General Secretary Pramod Mahajan of grooming such people in all state units of the party, who were working with the objective of acquiring power and making money. The anonymous letter also attacked General Secretaries Arun Jaitley, Mr Mahajan, Ms sushma Swaraj of “tarnishing her reputation through their off the record media briefings.” The letter also attacked almost the entire second-line of leadership, including former party President M. Venkaiah Naidu and Vice President Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi. |
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AP to try novel steps against
AIDS
Hyderabad, December 3 Endowments Minister M Satyanarayana Rao, known for his unorthodox approach, said the promotion of condoms should begin with schoolchildren of class VII and above as they are over-exposed to obscenity on television, magazines and posters and there is urgent need for spreading the message of safe sex. “Let us face it boldly. There is nothing of feel ashamed of distributing condoms along with textbooks. If we have to fight the AIDS scourge, it should begin at the school stage,” the septuagenarian minister told reporters. Andhra Pradesh has the dubious distinction of ranking second in the country after Maharashtra in terms of HIV incidence. There are an estimated 4.7 lakh HIV positive cases in the state and the disease is spreading rapidly even in rural areas. “I know my suggestion is bound to enrage many parents and school authorities but time has come for us to tackle the problem in a bold manner,” Mr Rao said. The minister had recently represented AP at an international AIDS conference held at Bangkok. Meanwhile, the state authorities have, of late, taken several initiatives to check the menace. In a novel experiment, all liquor shops have been asked to supply condoms free of cost with every bottle of alcohol sold. “This is an innovative step we are trying out to spread the message of safe sex and prevention of the dreaded disease,” Director of the state-run AP State AIDS Control Society (APSACS) K Damayanthi said. In another bold move, the government will involve religious leaders in spreading AIDS awareness. Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy has convened a meeting of various religious leaders here for December 10 to enlist their support in promoting public awareness to check the spread of the disease. The state government will also take the help of barbers in communicating the message of safe sex. The APSACS has decided to train 25,000 barbers across the state in counselling their customers on the dangers of the dreaded disease. |
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India’s twin hopes in film
fest
Panjim (Goa), December 3 The first is “Bow Barracks Forever”. It is a bitter-sweet tale of a middle-aged Anglo-Indian widow in Kolkata, a city she hates, who manages to survive by brewing quality wine. Her sole dream is that her elder son will one day call her and her younger son over to London. The film revolves around several idiosyncratic characters who finally find the courage to stick together in their crumbling tenement. The cast includes Lillette Dubey, Victor Banerjee, Neha Dubey and Clayton Rodgers. It has been directed by Anjan Dutt who was launched as an actor by filmmaker Mrinal Sen. This is his second film after “Bada Din” (1996). Marathi entry “Shwaas” (A Breath) is the debut film of director-screenplaywriter Sandeep Sawant who has been active in Marathi parallel theatre for the past 15 years. He puts his masters degree in applied psychology to good use in this powerful film which has Arun Nalavade, Ashwin Chitale and Sandeep Kulkarni in the cast. An old villager (Nalavade) brings his seven-year-old grandson (Chitale) to the city to consult a doctor (Kulkarni). The child is diagnosed with eye cancer. The doctor suggests a severe treatment for the boy, which will result in lifelong blindness. The shaken grandfather tries to avoid the reality but is finally convinced. While the boy faces his fate with a smile, his grandfather has to learn many harsh but inescapable lessons about living life gracefully. “Shwaas” is also India’s official entry for Academy Awards, quite an honour for a debutant director. Sawant says the time has come to change the taste of Indian cinegoers who are currently bombarded with pure entertainment. A Shwaas Foundation has been formed for collecting funds for cancer patients. At the beginning of the screening of the film, Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikkar handed over a cheque for Rs 21 lakh to Mr Sawant. From tennis court to producer’s chair
Ashok, the youngest of the tennis-playing Amrithraj brothers, has taken on some of the best players of the world during his forays into the Wimbledon, the US Open and Wimbledon in the 1970s. Now that he is into film-making, he says he is into the “toughest terrain on the earth”. His 50-odd films are not exactly top-quality stuff but as far as popularity is concerned they are way above the average. Five of his creations are being screened at the 35th International Film Festival of India here. These are “Bandits” starring Bruce Willis, “Bringing Down the House” with Steve Martin and Queen Latifah, “Moonlight Mile” starring Dustin Hoffman, “Raising Helen” with Kate Hudson and John Corbett and “Walking Tall” starring Dwayne Johnson “The Rock”. Talking about his experience in Bollywood and Hollywood, Ashok says in the former filmstars are the gods while producers and others figured way down the line. In Hollywood, it is the other way round. Here the film stars are chosen first, other arrangements follow while the story is hammered into shape last to fit this arrangement. Narrating how he got into the film industry, Ashok says while watching a public show once, Gary Marshall, top director of films like “Pretty Woman”, called him up on stage because Gary was a tennis fan. That made Ashok hooked to films and he struck gold with the Jean-Claude Van Damme starrer “Double Impact” in 1972. “Once my foot is in the door, it is difficult to push me out,” he emphasises. A few years later, Ashok was to hire Gary to direct his film. |
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Justice delayed is not always justice
denied
Lucknow, December 3 It was the third generation of lawyers and fourth generation of litigants who last fortnight witnessed the end of a dispute that had started in 1938 over a rambling 18,000 sq ft property in this Uttar Pradesh capital. But the documentation in what was one of the oldest pending litigation in the country had clearly withstood the ravages of time. When the case was finally decided last fortnight at the local civil judge’s court here, the files had to be carried in a rickshaw - they weighed more than 60 kg! According to lawyer Pankaj Shukla, the property in Lucknow’s cantonment area originally belonged to landlord Daroga Bux, who had purchased it from a British Army officer in the early 1920s. His four sons got involved in a tussle over the property and approached the courts for action in 1938. The action took some time in coming, but none of the benefactors are complaining too much. When it all began, there were only four litigants. There were 42 a fortnight ago. Of the four brothers, three died during the fifties and one moved to Pakistan after Partition. Though the ‘Pakistan’ brother’s heirs did not stake a claim, the 42 descendants of the others did - and are now jubilant at getting something out of the property pie. After all, the property has escalated in value, from Rs 6,000 66 years ago to Rs 200 million ($4.5 million) now. “Even though a large portion of the property is under illegal occupation, some private builders have already begun to approach us,” said Riyaz Khan, one of the key litigants. Justice delayed is not always justice denied, all’s well that ends well — the clichés are many, but for the 42 litigants who have suddenly come into money that badly matters. —
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Centre to set up wage board for journalists
New Delhi, December 3 He told a delegation of Kerala Union of Working Journalists (KUWJ), who presented him a memorandum highlighting the demand after a Parliament march, that the journalists of the electronic media would also be brought within the purview of the Working Journalists Act and extended the benefit of the new wage board. Mr Rao said, “In the event of there being any difficulty in bringing the TV journalists within the purview of the existing act, remedial measures would be taken to achieve the goal.” He said the new wage board would include representatives of all sections in the newspaper industry. The KUWJ delegation comprised of president Bobby Abraham, general secretary S. Jayasankar, Delhi unit president D. Vijayamohan, Kerala Press Academy vice-chairman C. Gauridasan Nair. Earlier, the members of the Leftist parties raised the issue in both the Houses of Parliament and reminded the government that seven years had elapsed since the last such board gave its award. “Even if a new wage board is set up today, it will take two to three years to give its award”, CPI-M member P. Karunakaran said raising the issue during zero hour in the Lok Sabha. He said such a board needed to be set up urgently as several employees in the newspaper industry were not getting a fair deal. |
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G.K. Gandhi to be West Bengal Governor
Kolkata, December 3 A former bureaucrat, Mr Gopal Krishna Gandhi, had served in several gubernatorial positions in European and African countries in his long administrative career, besides serving in South Block in different capacities. Mr Shah said he would have a peaceful retired life, enjoying reading and playing golf in Mumbai and his home in Ahmedabad. He also does not intend to take any active part in politics. |
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Gen Negi is Uttaranchal PSC Chairman
Dehra Dun, December 3 Governor Sudershan Agarwal has issued the orders regarding his appointment. This is the first time an Army officer has been appointed as the Chairman of the commission. General Negi would assume office on January 7. |
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Railways to recruit 20,000 RPF personnel
New Delhi, December 3 Replying to another question, the Minister said recent stampede at New Delhi railway station was an unfortunate isolated incident and there was no lapse on anybody’s part. Cop held on rape charge Dehra Dun, December 3 The 14-year-old girl has been sent for a medical examination to Srinagar, the police said. |
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Ms Mamata Banerjee ignored the high court’s order and observed a 12-hour Bangla bandh today which evoked a partial response. 
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