Tuesday, February 9, 1999
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Police launches manhunt; NHRC issues
notice to govt PHULBANI, Feb 8 — The authorities at Kandhamal in Orissa have been put on alert and the police has launched a manhunt to nab the assassin of two tribal Christians — a girl and a boy — in Granu forest, about 60 km from here yesterday. Tripura bandh paralyses normal life AGARTALA, Feb 8 — In a rare occurrence, both the ruling Left Front and the Opposition Congress-Tripura Upajati Samiti today organised a bandh paralysing normal life in Tripura on the issue of militancy though with differing perceptions. |
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Visa
to Rushdie can be reconsidered: Naqvi |
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Soldiers ‘may see in
pitch dark’ |
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Orissa killing PHULBANI, Feb 8 (PTI) — The authorities at Kandhamal in Orissa have been put on alert and the police has launched a manhunt to nab the assassin of two tribal Christians — a girl and a boy — in Granu forest, about 60 km from here yesterday. The police, which initially suspected the involvement of more than one assailant in the crime, today said "only one tall and fair person clad in a lungi" had committed the heinous act. The assailant had also attempted to rape the 20-year-old resident of Mandasaru, a predominantly Christian-inhabited village, the police said. The girl and 10-year-old Ajit Pradhan were crushed to death by a stone while resisting the man’s attempts. The girl had gone to a stream in the forest valley, about 2 km away from her village, to collect hill brooms along with three boys. Aswini Nayak, a 13-year-old eyewitness, was severely assaulted and hospitalised in a serious condition in Berhampur. The other eyewitness, Babula Pradhan (10) escaped and climbed a nearby hill to inform villagers, who rushed to the spot and found the three lying in a pool of blood, the police said. The state Home Secretary,
Mr Sanjib Hota, said at Bhubaneswar that there was no
communal element involved in the incident. "Judging
from the brutality of the act it is evident that the
crime had been committed by a hardened criminal," he
said. |
Tripura bandh paralyses normal life AGARTALA, Feb 8 (PTI) — In a rare occurrence, both the ruling Left Front and the Opposition Congress-Tripura Upajati Samiti today organised a bandh paralysing normal life in Tripura on the issue of militancy though with differing perceptions. While the Congress-Tripura Upajati Samiti blamed the Left Front government with failure to protect the lives and properties of the people and demanded imposition of President’s rule, the Left Front sought to pass the buck on to the Centre, charging it with failure to provide adequate security forces and financial assistance to check militancy. The state unit of the BJP charged both of them with "indulging in politics of bandh" for their "narrow partisan ends". No untoward incident was reported from anywhere during the bandh with additional paramilitary forces deployed and patrolling intensified in vulnerable areas, official sources said. Vehicular traffic kept off the road and shops and other business establishment, educational institutions and Tripura University remained closed. Central government offices, banks, financial institutions and insurance offices did not function, while employees of state government offices did not turn up despite departmental circular to attend duty without fail. The Indian Airlines flights to and from Calcutta were suspended, the airport authorities said. The bandh followed the
killing of eight persons and burning of 500 houses in
Kanchanmala, near here, last week. |
No injection, no-stitch technique NEW DELHI, Feb 8 — An Indian eye surgeon performing advanced techniques of cataract surgery using "phakonit technique" would be telecast live in the United States of America. Dr Maniple S. Sachdev, a senior consultant ophthalmologist at the Indraprastha Apollo Hospital, would demonstrate the new technique for cataract removal through a 0.9 mm opening through the new "no injection, no stitch, no pad cataract surgery technique" during an international conference. Dr Sachdev, who is also a medical director at New Delhi Centre for Sight, would perform the surgery during the forthcoming international conference on Cataract, IOL and Refractive Surgery to be held from April 10 to 14th in Seattle, Washington. The new technique does not involve giving an injectable anaesthesia and the cataract removal is done under anaesthetic drops only, Dr Sachdev said, adding the patient walks in and out of the operating theatre with instant visual rehabilitation. The eye surgeon said further advancement from phacoemulsification had been described in this new technique wherein the incision size had been reduced further from the conventional 3 mm incision in phacoemulsification to 0.9 mm in Phakonit. Dr Sachdev said this had been made possible by indigenously developing a safe separation between irrigation and aspiration ports used during phacoemulsification. The advantages of having such a small incision in cataract surgery are that no injection is given, no stitch is needed and no pad/bandage is required. The small wound imparts significant stability to the eye post-operatively. The cataractous lens is emulsified and gently aspirated out through a self sealing small incision. Then through this very incision, a pre-folded is inserted in place of this cataractous lens so removed. The proficiency of Indian surgeons in dealing with supra had cataracts will also be on display during the live surgery telecast. If the cataractous lens is not removed in time, it tends to harden thereby making the procedure extremely difficult. This condition, though uncommon in the West, is not infrequently seen in India. Special techniques have been developed in India to deal with such hard cataracts. These will also be displayed during this live surgery session. In the conference, Dr Sachdev would also demonstrate the LASER In-situ Keratomileusis, which means "to shape the cornea within, using a laser." The technique corrects vision by reshaping the cornea (outer window of the eye) so that light rays focus more precisely on retina, thereby reducing or eliminating refractive errors. Using an instrument known as a microkeratome, a thin flap of corneal tissue is folded back. The excimer laser then removes a pre-determined amount of tissue from the inner cornea to correct the individual’s refractive error. The cornea is made flatter to treat near-sightedness, steeper to treat farsightedness and/or more spherical to correst astigmatism. The corneal flap is placed
back in its original position where it bonds without
stitches. LASIK can treat low to very severe refractive
errors. The visual recovery is rapid and no pad is
applied to the patient’s eye. |
Soldiers ‘may see in pitch dark’ NEW DELHI, Feb 8 (PTI) — Defence scientists in the capital are developing a technology which would enable soldiers to see clearly in pitch dark. The strategic technology, being developed at the Solid State Physics Laboratory (SSPL), under the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), will held soldiers to fight night wars in an efficient way. The night vision technology would help see the target through binoculars and spectacles as well as on display screen inside armoured vehicles, V.K. Jain, Additional Director of the SSPL, said. Presenting a paper at a recent Indo-Russian workshop here, Jain said the technology works on the principle of thermal imaging — a process to produce visible images in dark by analysing infra-red (IR) waves coming out of the human body or other objects. Since human eye and brain are not sensitive to IR rays, the technology needs a screen to project the image, he said. We hope to demonstrate the technology within the next three years,” Jain said. The system will have
components of four types — optical, sensors,
transistors and a screen, he said, adding that the first
two components help capture IR signals which would be
analysed by the electronic control panel. The final image
can be seen on the display. |
‘Samarastha yatra’ launched RAMPUR, Feb 8 (PTI) — The government can reconsider granting of visa to British author Salman Rushdie, whose controversial book “Satanic Verses” has been banned in India, if it hurt the sentiments of the Muslim community, Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said here today. “If necessary, the government can reconsider granting of visa to Rushdie as it would not like to hurt the sentiments of the Muslim community”, Mr Naqvi told reporters here. “Muslims are annoyed about what he has written (in the book) and the government would not like to hurt their sentiments”, the Minister said. Rushdie was not coming to India as a guest of the government, Mr Naqvi added. The Minister earlier launched a “Samarastha yatra” for communal amity and harmony here in his home constituency. The yatra, to cover 45 villages in four days, is being undertaken “to counter the divisive and communal forces trying to destabilise the BJP-led coalition government,” he said. In an apparent reference to Congress President Sonia Gandhi, Mr Naqvi told the yatra that people should be wary of the forces trying to foist a “foreigner” to lead the country. “Certain forces were trying to bring back East India Company into this country and the people should never fall prey to such forces”, the minister said. He alleged that there was an international conspiracy against the BJP-led government and said people should not to be “taken in by the propaganda of vested political interests.” Information and
Broadcasting Minister Pramod Mahajan, BJP general
secretary Venkaiah Naidu, Uttar Pradesh BJP president
Rajnath Singh, and party MP Vinod Khanna, who were to
address the yatra, were unable to reach here due to
inclement weather. |
Orientation course for Delhi MLAs from
today NEW DELHI, Feb 8 — An orientation course will be organised for the Delhi MLAs here from tomorrow to help them understand better the House rules and procedures. The Delhi Assembly Speaker, Mr Prem Singh, told reporters here today though all members have been asked to attend the programme, it was especially aimed at making the first timers to learn the rules so that the House proceedings could be conducted smoothly. He said there are 41 new MLAs in the new House. Two seats are vacant, for which by-elections have been scheduled for February 22. The programme would be inaugurated by former Lok Sabha Speaker, Mr Balram Jakhar with a lecture, followed by lectures and interaction with Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairperson, Ms Najma Heptullah, former Lok Sabha Speaker, Shivraj Patil and former Chairmen of Metropolitan Council, Mr Jag Pravesh Chandra and Mr Purshottam Goel, he said. Besides, constitutional experts, Mr Subhash C. Kashyap and Mr C K Jain, both former Lok Sabha Secretaries-General and present Lok Sabha Additional Secretary, Mr G.C. Malhotra, would also deliver lectures to the MLAs and answer their queries. “The orientation programme will make the members richer in knowledge regarding procedures and help them discharge their responsibilities better,” he said. Mr Prem Singh said that he
had requested Chief Minister, Ms Sheila Dikshit and
Leader of Opposition in Vidhan Sabha, Mr Jagdish Mukhi to
ensure presence of all the MLAs. |
Plea on retirement age of judges fails NEW DELHI, Feb 8 (PTI) — The Supreme Court today dismissed a petition filed by an Additional District and Sessions Judge seeking the raising of the retirement age of judges of lower judiciary from 60 years to 62 years. Petitioner S.M. Aggarwal, who is working at present in the Rent Control Tribunal in Tis Hazari Courts here as an Additional District and Sessions Judge, contended that the central government had raised the retirement age of university lecturers to 62 years and the same benefit should also be given to the judges of lower judiciary. However, a Division Bench comprising Chief Justice A.S. Anand and Mr Justice M. Srinivasan dismissed the petition by Mr Aggarwal, who is to retire this March, observing that there was no merit in it. The Supreme Court by a
1991 judgement had directed the Centre to raise the
retirement age of all judges of lower judiciary to 60
years. |
Christians sweep rail platform THRISSUR, Feb 8 (PTI) — A section of Christians here swept the platform of the railway station today with brooms as a way of expressing their anguish and “helplessness” over the “widespread torture of Christians in the country since last May”. The novel protest was held under the joint aspics of the Kerala Catholic Youth Movement (KCYM) and the Catholic Union. The faithfuls, including women, priests and laymen, carrying brooms, marched in procession to Thrissur railway station from the basilica of “Our Lady of Dolours” and swept the platform. Staging the protest at the
railway station, KCYM chairman and noted journalist David
Kannanaickal urged the authorities to take immediate
steps to ensure the rights of minorities guaranteed under
the Constitution. |
SC to hear plea of Quattrocchi NEW DELHI, Feb 8 (PTI) — Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi, who allegedly received huge kickback from the Rs 1437 crore Bofors gun deal, today challenged the issuance of non-bailable arrest warrant against him in the Supreme Court. Counsel for Quattrocchi, senior advocate Dinesh Mathur, contended before a Division Bench comprising Mr Justice G.T. Nanavati and Mr Justice A.P. Misra during a brief hearing that the arrest warrant was issued without complying with the requisite law. The Bench asked the CBI to produce a copy of the arrest warrant issued against Quattrocchi, who at present is in Malaysia, to examine its validity and posted the matter for further hearing next week. Quattrocchi in his special
leave petition has challenged a Delhi High Court order
refusing to quash the warrant issued against him by a
Delhi court and a red corner alert notice issued by
Interpol (India), the CBI. |
Jagmohan to hold public hearings NEW DELHI, Feb 8 —
The Communications Minister, Mr Jagmohan, will hold
public hearing on every Thursday at 4 pm at Dak Bhavan
here as part of the drive to redress public grievances
speedily and to attain higher level of efficiency in the
Department of Telecommunications and Posts. |
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| Migraine linked to stroke
risk NEW DELHI: Although the risk of stroke in younger women is relatively low, women with a history of migraine have more than three times the risk of an ischaemic stroke as others their age, according to a study. The study data also suggest that 20 per cent to 40 per cent of strokes that occur in women under 44 years of age may be directly linked with migraine. About 80 per cent of all strokes are ischaemic and 20 per cent are haemorrhagic. — INFA 3 electrocuted in
thunderstorm Waterfowl survey
completed Held for raping
dead woman Sarpanch killed,
wife injured Lead levels
alarming: PM Waste-management
rules on anvil |
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