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Medvedev keen on meeting Bollywood actors during visit
Big support for fasting Naidu
CPM general secretary Prakash Karat meets TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu in Hyderabad on Saturday. — PTI |
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Former BJP leader Uma Bharti in Lucknow. — PTI
RTE trouble: Parents’
union petitions NAC
India, Pak lawyers on peace mission
Govt to decide on IAF role in tackling Naxals, says Air Chief
Ayodhya title suit
Rs 900-crore package for Orissa farmers
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Medvedev keen on meeting Bollywood actors during visit
New Delhi, December 18 A day after stitching nearly 15 deals with India in different areas in New Delhi on December 21, Medvedev will travel to Mumbai and meet representatives of the Hindi cinema in the film city to explore the possibility of enhancing cooperation between the two countries in the field of cinema. According to Russian Ambassador to India Alexander Kadakin, himself a Hindi film buff, one of the proposals being considered by the two countries is to produce a sequel to the Nargis-starrer “Pardesi”, released in 1957. “India is a superpower in films. Raj Kapoor and Nargis were icons in Russia,” said the Russian envoy, fondly recollecting how popular their films like “Awara” and “Shri 420” were even today. Such is the popularity of the Indian cinema that one TV channel exclusively shows Hindi movies throughout the day, charging a nominal fee. Describing Mrinal Sen, Shyam Benegal and Satyajit Ray as among the world’s greatest film producers, Kadakin said his president would be very happy to meet some of the top Hindi film actors during his visit to the film city. Asked which is the last Hindi movie that he had watched, he said it was “Peepli Live”, the comic satire produced by Aamir Khan that explores the topic of ‘farmer suicides’ and the subsequent media and political response. The popularity of Bollywood in Russia dates back to the Soviet days when films from Hollywood and other western countries were banned in the Soviet Union. As there were no means of other cheap entertainment, films from Bollywood provided the Soviets a cheap source of entertainment as they were supposed to be non-controversial and non-political. In addition, the Soviet Union was recovering from the onslaught of World War II. The films from India, which were also recovering from the disaster of Partition and the struggle for freedom from colonial rule, were found to be a good source of providing hope with entertainment to the struggling masses. The aspirations and needs of the people of both countries matched to a great extent. These films were dubbed in Russian and shown in theatres throughout the erstwhile Soviet Union. The films from Bollywood those days also strengthened family values, which was a big factor for their popularity with the authorities in the Soviet Union.
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Big support for fasting Naidu
Hyderabad, December 18 As the hunger strike reached second day today, the CPI (M) General Secretary Prakash Karat, JD (S) leader and former Prime Minister Deve Gowda and JD (U) president Sharad Yadav met Naidu and expressed solidarity with him. Earlier, the CPI leaders AB Bardhan and D Raja had called on Naidu at the hunger strike camp yesterday and pledged their support to the demand for enhanced aid for farmers, weavers and artisans who were hit by the recent floods in the state. “We demand that the UPA government should immediately enhance relief for farmers as they are suffering untold misery this season,” Karat said. The TDP chief launched the fast at the new MLA quarters here yesterday, demanding higher compensation for crop losses and declaration of the recent flood ravage as a national calamity. Over a dozen TDP legislators sat on relay hunger strike in support of their leader while thousands of party activists and well-wishers thronged the hunger strike camp. Elsewhere in the state, the TDP workers held protest demonstrations, set up roadblocks at various national highways and raised slogans against the Congress government for failing to rescue the farmers in distress. Meanwhile, Naidu addressed a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh urging to initiate urgent measures to ameliorate the sufferings of farmers. Naidu’s demands include payment of compensation of Rs 10,000 per acre to paddy farmers and Rs 15,000 for commercial crops like cotton and tobacco, minimum support price of Rs 2500 per tonne for sugarcane and Rs 4,500 per bale for cotton and lifting the ban on cotton exports. His party also demanded Rs five lakh ex-gratia for families of rain victims, free housing and waiver of crop loans. “The farmers and artisans faced the nature’s fury at least five times in the last one year,” the TDP leader said. However, the ruling Congress and other opposition parties dubbed Naidu’s indefinite fast as “drama” aimed at garnering political mileage and pointed out that during his nine year rule Naidu had completely neglected farmers and agriculture sector in his unabashed pursuit of economic reforms.
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Uma bats for BJP over terror remark; may soon rejoin party
New Delhi, December 18 Notably, Rahul Gandhi had, as per WikiLeaks, told US Ambassador Timothy Roemer that he feared that Hindu terror groups were a greater threat than Lashkar-e-Toiba. Describing Rahul as “immature”, the former Madhya Pradesh chief minister said Rahul “required some training under her”. Ever since she stormed out of a BJP senior leaders’ meeting in 2005, Uma has refrained from commenting on the Congress and preferred to train guns at her parent party. After her ouster, she floated her own party -- Bharatiya Jan Shakti, an acronym for the earlier avatar of BJP, Bharatiya Jana Sangh -- to make the BJP bite the dust, but failed miserably in her endeavour. Earlier this year, she virtually wound up her party and expressed a desire to work for LK Advani. Ever since, Advani and BJP president Nitin Gadkari have been trying to persuade her detractors in the BJP and RSS to agree to her rehabilitation. But, MP Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan and RSS MP in charge Suresh Soni have put up the stiffest resistance against Uma’s return. Therefore, Advani suggested that Uma keep away from MP and focus only on Uttar Pradesh to revive the party’s lost base among Lodh Rajputs of her caste. Uma, long in the wilderness, is willing to confine to UP at least for the time being. While BJP sources didn’t reveal when Uma would return to the BJP, they opined that Uma being a seasoned politician would not have made such a public statement until she knew that all decks for her re-entry had been cleared. Meanwhile, BJP leader Jaswant Singh, who was also expelled in 2009 and recently re-inducted, has welcomed the move. “I would be very happy if Uma comes to the party. I think she would be an asset. I have known her capabilities…. She is a person with dedication, devotion and a big deal of ability,” Singh said. Notably, Advani, whom Uma has met twice and also accompanied him on two plane journeys, has indicated on his blog about Uma’s return and that she would strictly confine to UP and not venture anywhere near MP.
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RTE trouble: Parents’
union petitions NAC
New Delhi, December 18 In a letter to NAC chairperson Sonia Gandhi, the association said the Delhi government’s order gave a free hand to private schools (of Delhi) to formulate their own admission criteria based on categorisation of children for admission to the academic year 2011-12. “This move is against the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009, and would lead to further commercialisation of education. Categorisation is impermissible under the Act,” the letter stated. The order came in the backdrop of the Union HRD Ministry issuing a recent notification that diluted the no-screening provision of the Act. The Ministry has allowed unaided schools to have admission criteria based on categories. Parents, however, feared that this dilution would take away from the law its only equitable provision with respect to children’s admissions. Originally, the law only mandated random selections. But Delhi has become the first state to order dilution of admission rules as per HRD Ministry’s notification. The association, in its petition to NAC, argued that the fee-paying parents were already being exploited by private schools, which hike fees exorbitantly every year. “We seek a central law to regulate fees and other charges in private schools,” the petition adds, recalling the 100-point admission criteria the Delhi government was hitherto following under directions of the High Court, which had set up a committee to look into arbitrary admissions by private schools. The Ashok Ganguly Committee had called for transparent admission, abolition of interview system and minimisation of management discretion. “Ever since the RTE Act has come into force from April 1, old selection criteria no longer applies,” Ashok Agarwal, of the Association, said.
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India, Pak lawyers on peace mission
New Delhi, December 18 Spearheaded by students and alumni of the premier law schools in India and Pakistan, the initiative will see a five-day trip of Indian lawyers and law students to Pakistan beginning next week and signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the legal fraternities of both the countries. The coming together of the lawyers and law students of India and Pakistan are expected to provide a fresh chance to the peace efforts. A 10-member Indian delegation, headed by Solicitor-General Gopal Subramaniam and former Union Law Minister Shanti Bhushan, will begin its visit to Pakistan on December 22. The team includes students and alumni of premier Indian law schools. The visit is organised by “The Jurists,” a registered trust formed by students of all the national law schools in India. The first stop of the delegation will be Lahore. “The highlight of the visit will be a meeting between the Indian delegation and the heads and students of leading law schools of Pakistan on December 24 to concretise the plans of better cooperation between the legal communities on both sides. Both the teams will sign a MoU on various topics related legal ties,’’ said Advocate Raghav Awasthi, a founder of ‘The Jurists’ and the initiative's national coordinator
for India.
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Govt to decide on IAF role in tackling Naxals, says Air Chief
Hyderabad, December 18 "Four IAF helicopters have been doing the job for the last 6-8 months in some of the Maoist-infested areas after the Ministry of Home Affairs asked us in this regard," he told reporters on the sidelines of the Combined Graduation Parade of flight cadets of IAF at the Air Force Academy at Dundigal here. "We have been carrying out casualty evacuation, observation, recee and transfer of troops in forest areas near Jagdalpur in Chhattisgarh. These are some of the roles IAF is doing in the Maoist-hit areas and at present we don't envisage undertaking any other roles. "It is up to the government and they will decide on what (more) roles to undertake," Naik, said when asked if IAF had any plans to actively participate in the operation against the Naxals.
— PTI
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Hindu Mahasabha to approach SC
New Delhi, December 18 The Mahasabha will submit that the High Court had erred in directing that 2.77 acres of disputed land be divided into three parts among Muslims, Hindus and Nirmohi Akhara. "We will be filing an appeal in the Supreme Court on Monday and we will not sit idle till we get the entire disputed land for the construction of a magnificent Ram Temple there," Kamlesh Tiwari, member of the Mahasabha, told a press conference here. The Mahasabha has earlier filed a caveat to pre-empt any ex-parte order on the Ayodhya title dispute. The title dispute on Ramjanmbhoomi-Babri Masjid structure has already reached the Supreme Court with Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind (JUH) and Sunni Wakf Board challenging the Allahabad High Court's verdict. Challenging the verdict of the High Court's Lucknow bench, the JUH too had submitted in the appeal that the judgement is based on faith and not on evidence. "It is humbly submitted that the mosque was illegally demolished. However, the ruins still exist. The foundation of the mosque is still intact. Title would not extinguish by demolishing the mosque," it said. — PTI
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Rs 900-crore package for Orissa farmers
Bhubaneswar, December 18 The announcement was made by chief minister Naveen Patnaik in the assembly. He said farmers were "badly affected" due to heavy spell of unseasonal rain from December 6 to 13. Patnaik said the state government had decided to assist farmers with an ex-gratia of Rs 2,000 per hectare who suffered crop loss of more than 50 per cent due to the heavy unseasonal cyclonic rains.
— PTI |
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Despite his busy schedule in India, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev is set for a date with Bollywood during his visit to India.
A day after stitching nearly 15 deals with India in different areas in New Delhi on December 21, Medvedev will travel to Mumbai and meet representatives of the Hindi cinema in the film city to explore the possibility of enhancing cooperation between the two countries in the field of cinema.
The indefinite fast by Telugu Desam Party President N Chandrababu Naidu, demanding fair compensation for rain-hit farmers, has attracted national attention with several leaders arriving here to express solidarity with him.
