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| Monday, February
12, 2001, Chandigarh, India   
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Manipur ministry reduced to minority SILIGURI, Feb 11 — Sporadic arson and violence today marred the start of an indefinite bandh called by the GNLF to protest against the attack on party chief Subhas Ghising as the shutdown paralysed normal life across Darjeeling district of West Bengal, the police said. Now it’s poisonous gas
MORBI (GUJARAT), Feb 11 — The silver-haired population of this taluka, which witnessed massive floods in the Macchu river way back in 1979, saw the dance of death again on January 26.
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| Hurriyat plans 4
overseas offices NEW DELHI, Feb 11 — The Hurriyat Conference will soon set up four new offices abroad as part of its programme to create awareness about the Kashmir issue, former Chairman of the conglomerate Mirwaiz Umer Farooq said here today. Samata, Janshakti stand-off in Bihar HC: Ilyasi natural
guardian of child
Fakhruddin remembered Airport killing: CM orders probe Pig heart for humans!
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Manipur
ministry
reduced to minority IMPHAL, Feb 11 —
Manipur Sports Minister M. Hemanta Singh and seven other MLAs broke away from the MSCP and said they had withdrawn support to Nipamacha Singh ministry reducing its strength to 27 in the 60-member House with an effective strength of 59. The minister said Mr Nipamacha Singh should now quit as he was heading a minority government. The development comes two days day after the MSCP decided to pull out of the NDA the Centre in the wake of remarks by some central leaders that President’s rule be imposed in Manipur. The party also instructed its only representative in Atal Behari Vajpayee ministry and Union Minister of State for Food Processing, Chaoba Singh, to quit his post. “Our future course of action will be decided after the arrival of Mr Chaoba Singh from Delhi,” Mr Hemanta Singh told PTI soon after the split. Meanwhile, sources close to Speaker S. Dhananjoy Singh said he was likely to reconvene the House on February 14. The Assembly had been adjourned sine die since December by the Speaker after admitting a no-trust motion against the Nipamacha Singh ministry. Among the eight who walked away from the MSCP, disqualification cases under the anti-defection law were pending with the Speaker against four — Sericulture and Labour Minister Hangkhanpao, Minister of State for Public Health Onjamang Haokip, Minister of State for Minorities, Mohammad Allaudin and Deputy Chairman of State Planning Board L. Jatra Scingh. Mr Hemanta Singh and his supporters were now
ensconced in the Opposition camp at the Speaker’s bungalow but had not joined the five-party Manipur Democratic Front. Splinter group sources said the MSCP split because supporters of the Nipamacha Singh wanted to quit the NDA if the Chief Minister or his nominee was not authorised as the MSCP spokesman in the alliance. —
PTI
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Violence mars bandh in Darjeeling SILIGURI, Feb 11 — Sporadic arson and violence today marred the start of an indefinite bandh called by the GNLF to protest against the attack on party chief Subhas Ghising as the shutdown paralysed normal life across Darjeeling district of West Bengal, the police said. The Inspector General of Police, North Bengal, Mr N.R. Das, said bandh supporters set on fire an office of the All-Gorkha Students’ Union (AGSU) in Darjeeling this morning. Pro-bandh activists stoned the house of Mr C.R. Rai, President of the Bharatiya Gorkha Janashakti (BGJ), and set ablaze three cars two of which belonged to Mr Rai, he said. Both the AGSU and the BGJ were political rivals of the GNLF. Describing the bandh as total, Mr Das said all modes of transport went off the roads and shops and markets remained closed. Altogether 15 persons were held for interrogation, he said. Mr Das said the police was “almost sure” that yesterday’s ambush was a Gorkha Liberation Organisation’s plot. The police expected to bring the culprits to book by exploiting some clues left on the spot where Mr Ghising was ambushed yesterday. A mobile telephone recovered from there proved to be a very useful clue. Meanwhile, the Kurseong branch committee President of the
GNLF, Mr Pradhan demanded action against the District Magistrate and the Superintendent of Police of Darjeeling, as according to him, yesterday’s ambush was a “failure” on the part of the district police and administration. —
PTI |
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Now it’s poisonous gas PATNA, Feb 11 — Moreover, the outbreak of underground poisonous gas in the Lodna area has been the major concern. Fearing the deadly impact of the poisonous gas, many locals have fled from the area. The BCCL management has not even checked whether the gas is really there and, if so, is it poisonous? Lack of help and information has made the miners panicky. The terror-stricken miners of the BCCL area have been witnessing the landslides and poisonous gas since February 5 and they reported it to the top officials of the BCCL, but were told that till the Bagdigi episode was not cleared, they were unable to help them. Current landslide has affected Keshonagar, Kabristan, Ghati Patti, Islampur, Hanuman tola and Ghaura basti of the Lodna area. It is to be mentioned here that the entire Lodna area is situated above the massive underground fire raging in the Jharia area, the twin town region of Dhanbad, for the past 40 years or so, and has been declared unsafe following threat of imminent collapse any moment. The Dhanbad-Patherdih rail line that connects the Eastern Railways with the South-Eastern Railways and is the lifeline of coal transport to entire India is threatened as only 50 metre away from the rail tracks landslides are taking place. A World Bank expert team that studied the massive underground fire in the Jharia area, the largest in the world and still raging, had in 1996 itself declared the said rail line in danger of collapse. The then CMD of the BCCL, Mr A.K. Gulati, too had in his letter to the Railways in 1996, warned that the area was threatened by the raging underground fire. |
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Seeing the dance of death again MORBI (GUJARAT), Feb 11 — The devastation caused within 30 seconds in this taluka, famous for the ceramic industry, about 65 kms from Rajkot, haunts the aged survivors more than the young. They recall with horror the disaster caused by the floods in which over 2,000 persons drowned and property worth crores was washed away. “It was like the dance of death before me for the second time as I was lucky to escape the fury of the Macchu river and also escaped from the killer quake this time,” 70-year-old Channibhai said sitting on a broken chair in front of his damaged house. Though the loss of lives in the quake is far less than it was during the floods, in terms of damage to property it is much more this time, officials and locals say. The quake has affected over 2.7 lakh persons here, though there were only 201 deaths. Injuries were sustained by 2,545. However, thousands of houses fell like a pack of cards. Preliminary official figures indicate that over 20,000 houses collapsed and huge cracks and damages were reported in over 67,000 houses. The impact of the quake could also be assessed from the irreparable damage caused to the majestic Darbargarh Palace and Mani Mandir, architectural marvel, on the banks of the now dry Macchu. Darbargarh Palace of Lakdirsinhji Jadeja dates back to 1628 and is known for the rich blend of Greek, Mughal and traditional Hindu architecture. While more than 70 per cent of the 150-room palace, housing a private primary English school and income tax office, caved in due to the quake, Mani Mandir developed numerous cracks. A small block of Darbargarh, facing the Macchu, is, however, safe. A school is being run in that block. “There was not even a single crack or any damage to the palace during the floods, but it could not withstand the quake,” palace officer Manohar Singh Jadeja, who has been working there for the past 30 years, said. The area around the palace was visited by Union Home Minister L. K. Advani on February 8 and among those he met was the descendent of Morbi’s royalty, Vijaya Kunwarha. After the 1979 floods, the determined locals built new Morbi across the Macchu with the help of the state government. Since then, Morbi has emerged as one of the leading industrial townships in the country. Though the January 26 quake flattened most of the old Morbi, some symbols of its glorious past like the hanging bridge behind Darbargarh Palace remained intact. |
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Neglected, the elderly await their kin AHMEDABAD, Feb 11 — “Our children wear expensive designer clothes, but they are not bothered to find out whether their mother has survived the quake or not,” Manibhen said with resentment. However, some defend their wards. “My children know that we are more safe here than in their high-rise apartment. Perhaps, that is why they did not call on us,” said Anandibhen of the Keshavlal Trikamdas Trust-run old-age home. “Our children are busy. They hardly have any time. So, when they find some time they would certainly come and see us,” she said with moist eyes. Not all inmates of the old-age home are ready to defend the indifferent attitude of their children. “When they could throw us out when everything was normal, why would they want to know what happens to us now,” said Haribhai. The managing trustee of Virbala Nagarwadia, an old-age home, said all inmates had been “discarded” by their families. If their families had cared for them, they would not have left them here in the first place. “People only send relatives here. No one comes to take them back,” said Mahendra Patel of an old age-home. The quake resulted in a fresh influx of people in these homes. Vinodbhai, whose legs were fractured, was left in an old-age home on January 26. He was asked how he would run if another quake struck. However, after that day nobody has bothered to find out how he is recuperating. Some sound morbid. “As all of us are waiting for death to come. How does it matter if somebody comes to meet us or not,” Hansmukhbhai said. “We own two houses and still we have to spend our last days as a destitute in an old-age home,” he said with anger. The Vikas Gruh-run Shrimati Maniben Tribovandas old-age home has developed some cracks and the inmates have been forced to sleep in the open. However, some inmates insist on sleeping inside. “It does not matter what happens now. We are least bothered if a quake occurs,” said Ashok Patel. “Many of our inmates are worried about their sons and daughters in the city and want us to call them up, but it is never the other way round,” said Geetabhen, in charge of an old-age home. Despite being neglected by those whom they consider to be their own, the inmates are making an effort to contribute to the relief and rehabilitation of the victims. Financial contribution from their meagre pension, personal savings and their skills in handicraft and other things are being put to full use to generate revenue for the victims. While the Centre and the state government have been talking about the kind of policies that should be adopted for the rehabilitation of the orphans, the aged seems to have been forgotten. “Everybody is oblivious to the older generation. So what if they are not economically ‘productive’ now, they do form part of the family,” said Ashabhen. The Centre has stated that the Gujarat Government should wait for
at least another six months before allowing the adoption of orphans. Even Unicef has stated that India should be cautious in allowing orphans for adoption abroad as international child traffickers might adopt them. Social workers said the emotional and physical problems of elderly in such a crisis had not been considered by any one. “While orphans face danger from child traffickers, nobody is considering the thriving market for human organs. These aged persons can come under attack from these persons,” said Anil Vaghela. |
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West sets standards for relief work BHUJ, Feb 11 — If the quake has been a leveller of sorts, it has also brought to the fore the great divide between the developed and the developing world, amply evident from the resources the relief workers from these countries command — from tents to trays. So stark is the contrast about the means available between the developed and the developing world, that on the one hand there is an Indian seismologist putting up a temporary sensor in a makeshift tent made of thick cotton material and on the other social workers from the developed countries are operating from closed tents made of superior synthetic material keeping the heat and dust of desert ‘‘miles’’ away. A visit to the various camps in the city, the relief hub of the Republic Day earthquake hosting thousands of relief teams and social institutions from across the world, is a great eye-opener. “You see their material and kits and then you realise the concept of the developed. How much backward we are and how much more we have to improve,” says Mihir Desai, a volunteer working as an interpreter with the French medical team at the Jubilee Ground here. Desai does not have to go too far to substantiate his statement as he points towards an upcoming prefab facility, that is to be the “interim” civil hospital of Bhuj till such time that the new one is put in place by next year. This prefab facility, now partially operational with the basic equipment only to keep infections away, still looks a poor sister of the tents of the Europeans, whose state-of-the-art emergency response units are only to be seen to be imagined. All their equipment, like stretchers, medicine boxes and other monitoring equipment as also the tents with poles made of light metal alloys takes only minutes to put in place, without compromising on the hygiene. A walk into it is a revelation for it sets the standards of what an emergency response unit should be in sharp contrast to “our very own operation theatre which was built from the pandals of local caterers soon after the earthquake and in which hundreds of surgeries were performed till the prefab facility came up seven days after the quake,” observes Dr S. R. Rao, vice-president of the city branch of the Indian Medical Association. A similar site is presented at the Lallan College grounds, where the International Federation of Red Cross has put up an amazing 350-bed hospital tent facility, replete with its stand- alone water purification and sanitation units. The medicos from the Nordic and European nations, who are running the facility with the help of local volunteers, do not in the least appear to be tired or bogged down with the additional burden of having to brave the natural odds. Their spotless white tents are fully equipped with state-of-the-art electronic devices for carrying out various tests that do not buckle under hot temperature, shows Dr Teddy of Finland, as she communicates back home on her laptop, courtesy Internet. Folding furniture, packed fruits and dishes, with little or no dependence on the world outside, reads like sheer adventure, notes Desai. But it also has lessons to offer. The water-purification plant for the entire facility, which cleanses about four big tankers daily in less than five hours has made it possible for them to maintain high standards of cleanliness without being a burden to the already hard pressed local administration. Sanitation arrangements offer even more lessons. Neat prefab cubicles in one corner of the grounds offer privacy with the user easing himself out in a wheel barrow lined with a sanitary bag, which is removed after use and consigned to an incinerator or other treatment plant. As he shows round the purification facility, Suresh Yadav also shows the “aadhunik technology ka kamal (technological wonder)” which ensures warm water for bathing in the completely ravaged environs.
—PTI |
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Treasure unearthed in Bhuj BHUJ, Feb 11 — The treasure that helped the city to become the commercial hub of Kutch district is gradually coming to the fore, with the rescue agencies begin digging deeper into the rubble. The Army discovered a heap of gold coins yesterday from a razed house along side a decomposed body of a man who probably was the proud owner of these gold, copper and brass coins dating back to hundreds of years. “Our rescue team was attracted to a heap of rubble from the foul smell emanating from it,” said Major R.C. Joshi of 108 Engineering Regiment of Pune. The team dug deep into the rubble, which was once a over 100-year-old house built of mud and water, and found the body of a 55-year-old man, beside him lay a few coins. “Probably the man, who had buried the coins on the floor of the house was trying to take it out in the middle of the January 26 rumblings which finally made the house crumble on him, the Major surmised. The team which dug the floor six inches near the body found a heap of coins — over 3,000 pieces weighing over 1 kg. There were no experts here to put a price on this, but from the inscriptions on the coins, which are in Urdu, English and even in Afghan, any layman could make out that these were priceless. The Army handed over the coins to the district administration today. There were also bodies which the Army found adorned with a lot of jewellery. “In a touching scene a mother and her daughter were found dead hugging the idol of Amba Devi, one of the prime deities of the region, Major Joshi said. They might be praying to the Goddess for their rescue on the fateful day. The ornaments on the Goddess weighed between 1 and 2 kg, he said. Narrating another incident, the officer said a goldsmith of the old city area, Mr Yogesh Manilal Soni sought the help of the Army to recover the body of his wife from his house at Khaduri Chowk. When his wife’s body was recovered, he broke down seeing a 50-tola necklace still intact on her body, he said, adding that the ornaments was presented as a New Year gift to her. To the surprise of the rescue team the man insisted his wife be cremated along with the necklace and the authorities had no choice but to honour the wishes of a grief-stricken husband. —
PTI |
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Advani: no bias in relief distribution AHMEDABAD, Feb 11 — Union Home Minister L.K. Advani today asserted that there was no discrimination in the distribution of relief material among the earthquake victims in Gujarat. Praising the efforts of voluntary agencies and non-government organisations (NGOs) in reaching relief to the quake-hit, Mr Advani told reporters at a relief camp here said people irrespective of their background were helping each other in the hour of tragedy. He said the Centre and the Gujarat Government were jointly trying to work out a concrete reconstruction and rehabilitation plan for the people who have been rendered homeless in the earthquake. Stating that tentage could not be an alternative to housing, the minister said the new model of houses for the quake-hit areas should be such that they stood the test of the vagaries of nature including that of the earthquake. During his fifth visit to the earthquake ravaged parts of Gujarat since January 26, Mr Advani today went to Chiloda village in his Lok Sabha constituency of Gandhinagar. He also visited a relief camp in the Gujarat University campus here. Later in the evening, Mr Advani held a meeting with the legislators, officials of the Ahmedabad Urban Development Authority, Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation, Ahmedabad district Collectorate, various departments of the Gujarat Government and experts and engineers from the Centre for Environment Planning and Technology. NEW DELHI: A series of aftershocks continued to rock the quake-ravaged Kutch region in Gujarat throughout the Saturday night and Sunday morning, with the most powerful one touching 4.7 on the Richter scale, the Indian Meteorology department said here on Sunday. Eleven aftershocks ranging between 3 and 4.7 on the Richter scale were felt in the area since Saturday night, and one with the maximum magnitude struck at 1:01 am. The last tremor, measuring 3.4, was recorded at 5:45 a.m. With these, the total number of aftershocks measuring more than three on the Richter scale since the devastating January 26 earthquake has gone
up to 268. —
PTI, UNI |
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They are a bundle of nerves AHMEDABAD, Feb 11 — A deceptive calm continues to camouflage an undercurrent of fear in Gujarat with tremors being felt even a fortnight after the January 26 killer quake devastated the state. The prospects of a slow return to normalcy were marred on Thursday night when a moderate intensity tremor, measuring 5.3, hit the state, triggering fresh panic and self-inflicted injuries to about 50 persons in Ahmedabad, who took a desperate plunge from their multistoreyed apartments, unmindful of the consequences. Fifty-year-old Bharat Parekh, who fractured both his legs when he jumped off the second floor of his apartment in Ahmedabad, said from his hospital bed: “I was in deep sleep when my cot started vibrating. With the nightmare of January 26 still haunting, I just came out and jumped off the balcony without a second thought”. A Frightened woman in another building took the same step, leaving her child who was asleep by her side, ending up with a broken spine. Nine tremors, with magnitude ranging between 4.1 and 3, were recorded by the Meteorological Department here yesterday with the epicentre at Bhuj. Continuing aftershocks have turned people into a bundle of nerves, with 90 per cent of those living in high-rise buildings still preferring to sleep out in the open at night. Bizarre
as it may sound, over 500 patients at the municipal V.S. Hospital leave their hospital beds with the help of their relatives as the night descends and sleep in the garden outside. “Medical staff and attending doctors and nurses have to administer treatment to patients outside during the night and even those who are on saline drips are carried out of their wards by anxious relatives, who hold the bottles in their hands,” a hospital staffer said. But some of the younger lot have decided to beat the fear psychosis by returning to their favourite evening outing, frequenting the fast food joints in the city. Asked why they chose to be on the streets at a late hour, a couple seated on a two-wheeler with their plates and glasses of juice, said: “The Republic Day disaster and Thursday’s tremor and continuing aftershocks have now changed our mindset. If life is so uncertain, why not enjoy every moment?” — PTI |
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Old river channels emerge NEW DELHI, Feb 11 — The emergence of old river channels in the Rann of Kutch area, as seen in satellite imageries after the January 26 quake, is not surprising as it was an old delta which submerged after several earthquakes changed the topography of this area, a senior scientist has said. A scientist at the National Geophysics Research Institute
(NGRI) in Hyderabad, the Janardhan Negi, said in 1819 there was a massive earthquake of magnitude eight on the Richter scale in which 4,500 square km of this area submerged by five metres and 1,500 square km of it rose by about 10 metres. In the process, a long fissure of 100 km was created which obstructed the Indus. The river, which was making its delta at Rann of Kutch during that period, then formed a lake of 100 square km area for seven years, he said. The lake existed till 1826, he said adding that the river finally changed its course to Goricreek, where it went now. Changes in the course of the Indus and the Saraswati started from neo-tectonic activities nearly 10,000 years ago in the Delhi-Arawali ridge, the Cambay rift and the Kutch rift. Kutch fell on the tripple junction of these structures, he said. The estimates of energy released during 1819 and 2001 quakes in this area were of the order of 225 mega tons of
TNT. The energy was so huge that it could change the geomorphological structures and drainage patterns completely, he said. The Kutch was a tropical grassland and more than 60 Indus-Saraswati valley civilisation cites had been dug up by archaeologists. The submergence of the area allowed the salt water to penetrate and destroy the grassland completely. With the emergence of old river channels, it should be possible to turn Rann of Kutch into a grassland by reviving the fresh water channels, he said. According to a report from Ahmedabad, scientists at the Space Application Centre (SAC) here are still analysing the data received from the Indian remote sensing satellite’s between January 26 and February 4 to conclude that the water source as seen in the photos was permanent. “No doubt water has been observed to be present at three major areas of Kutch district in the aftermath of the earthquake,” Dr Sailesh Nayak, Head, Marine and Water Resources, sac, said. “But until our analysis is complete we cannot for sure say that there was a permanent source of water around western and eastern boundaries of the Rann and central region of Kutch where it was observed to be present through the images” he said, adding that an sac team would be going to Kutch soon in this regard. —
PTI |
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Sushma: Quake not national calamity ALLAHABAD, Feb 11 — Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Sushma Swaraj today ruled out declaring the Gujarat earthquake a national calamity, saying the nation had already been lending considerable help to the quake victims. ‘‘What is the need to declare the Gujarat quake a national calamity when the government and other agencies are providing all help to the victims there?’’ she asked. Mrs Swaraj, who visited quake-hit areas of Gujarat yesterday, told newspersons here that she was impressed to see how people of different religious and regional origins stood united to extend help to the victims. —
UNI |
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CBSE sends team
to Gujarat NEW DELHI, Feb 11 —
CBSE officials told UNI yesterday, “Our team is in Gujarat to assess the situation. It will talk to the Principals and state education officials.” Though the CBSE officials do not admit, the team is understood to have been sent to assess whether board examinations for class X and XII can be held as per schedule from March 7. There have been demands from parents and guardians that the board exams be postponed in the state in view of the earthquake which has rendered millions homeless and hundreds orphan. However, the CBSE had earlier categorically said the board exams can not be deferred keeping in mind the academic career of lakhs of other students. It had offered the students from the state to get their examination centres changed to a more suitable one, if they so desired. The CBSE has already extended the last date for sale and submission of application forms for the all-India pre-medical and pre-dental entrance test for students living in the quake-ravaged Gujarat. A CBSE official said this had been done to help the students of the quake-affected state not to miss the opportunity to appear in important competitive examinations like this. —
UNI |
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Hurriyat plans 4 overseas offices NEW DELHI, Feb 11 — The Hurriyat Conference will soon set up four new offices abroad as part of its programme to create awareness about the Kashmir issue, former Chairman of the conglomerate Mirwaiz Umer Farooq said here today. “The four offices will be set up in Brussels, New York, London and Saudi Arabia as part of our efforts to mobilise global opinion about the Kashmir issue,” Mr Farooq, who was in the Capital, said PTI. He said a decision to this effect was taken at a recent Hurriyat executive meeting. Mr Farooq said the offices were likely to be opened in March this year and the issue was likely to be further discussed at the Hurriyat executive meeting scheduled for Monday. These places had been chosen for setting up offices because Brussels is the headquarters of the European Union, New York houses the United Nations and Saudi Arabia was the richest Muslim country, which has considerable influence on Pakistan. The former Chairman criticised the Centre for its continued delay in issuing passports to the five-member Hurriyat delegation, which was to visit Pakistan and hold talks with the military government and militants. “You see the situation is very interesting. Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee wants to resolve the issue but certain hawks are preventing him,” the former Hurriyat Chairman claimed. The Hurriyat has made its stand clear that if India moves one step forward in solving the issue, “We will move two as our main aim is to resolve it and not to grab any seat of power,” he added. Appreciating the response of the Pakistani Government, he said “India should also shun its rigid stand and work for building better relationship and bring peace in South Asia.” When asked as to why the Hurriyat Conference was not making its agenda for discussion in Pakistan public, Mr Mirwaiz, who is the religious head of Muslims in the valley, said the issue was likely to figure in the executive meeting. “But why create such a hue and cry over our agenda when we have clarified that peace is our aim and solving the Kashmir issue is our goal,” he said. However, he did not also rule out the possibility of calling off the proposed trip because of what he termed as continued indifferent attitude of the government and said: “The Hurriyat conference cannot clap with one hand, we need another.” —
PTI |
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Samata, Janshakti stand-off in Bihar BIHARSHARIF, Feb 11 — The stand-off in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in Bihar continues with Union Minister and Lok Janshakti President Ramvilas Paswan ruling out the possibility of withdrawing his candidate for February 19 bye-poll to Asthawan Assembly seat. “I outrightly reject any suggestion to pull out Lok Janshakti candidate for Asthawan. We have a genuine claim to the seat”, Mr Paswan told an election meeting at Asthawan late last evening. Asthawan has become a bone of contention between the Lok Janshakti and the Samata Party with both the alliance constituents fielding their nominees. Mr Paswan said his party’s nominee Arun Singh was a three-term former member of the state Assembly, while the Samata Party (SP) which had contested the seat in the last Assembly poll had lost it. Mr Paswan claimed he had the backing of the BJP in the by-poll and asserted his party’s candidate would win the election. Bihar Assembly opposition leader Sushil Kumar Modi yesterday said he had written to senior Samata leader and Defence Minister George Fernandes to settle the dispute. Being the convener of the NDA, Mr Fernandes should convene a meeting of alliance partners and announce a common candidate for Asthawan, he said, adding in case of settlement remaining elusive the BJP will have no option but to remain neutral. Samata leader and Union Agriculture Minister Nitish Kumar rubbished the Lok Janshakti’s claim to the seat and favoured Samata nominee Satish Kumar, a former MLA from Asthawan. —
PTI |
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HC: Ilyasi natural guardian of child NEW DELHI, Feb 11 — In a significant ruling, the Delhi High Court has said the maternal grandmother is not the natural guardian of a child under the Muslim law as long as his or her father is alive. “Under the Muslim law, the maternal grandmother may be entitled to the custody of the minor up to a certain age, but even according to the Muslim law, she is not the natural guardian in the presence of the father,” a Division Bench comprising Justice Devinder Gupta and Justice Mukul Mudgal has ruled. Dismissing an appeal by the mother-in-law of Suhaib Ilyasi, producer of popular television crime serial ‘India’s Most Wanted’, for the court’s intervention in a Single Judge Bench order restraining her from taking custody of his three-year-old daughter Aailya, the court said, “The father alone is the natural guardian” of the child. The court said, “Under the Guardian and Wards Act, the word guardian is used in a wide sense. It does not necessarily mean a guardian duly appointed or declared by the court.” Ilyasi’s mother-in-law Rukma Singh, who lives with her daughter in Canada, had challenged the Single Judge Bench order restraining her from taking custody of Aailya. The main contention of Rukma Singh, a Hindu, was that she was entitled to the custody of the daughter of Ilyasi, who is a Muslim, as under the Muslim law the maternal grandmother has such a right. Ilyasi challenged her writ on the ground that he and his wife Anju had a registered marriage in 1993 in a London court and, therefore, provisions of the Muslim law would not be entirely applicable in this case. —
PTI |
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Fakhruddin remembered NEW DELHI, Feb 11 — Warm tributes were paid to late President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed on his 23rd death anniversary today with laying of Velvet on his mazaar here on behalf of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Congress president Sonia Gandhi. A prayer meeting attended by Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, who laid a wreath on the mazaar on behalf of Sonia Gandhi, prayed for peace in Jammu and Kashmir and well being of Gujarat earthquake victims. The meeting was attended, among others, by late President’s wife Begum Abida Ahmed, her family members and relatives, All-India Religious Leaders Association president Maulana Peerzada Shabbir Naqshbandi and several Islamic scholars, poets and writers. —
PTI |
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Airport killing: CM
orders probe KOLKATA, Feb 11 —
Chief Minister, Buddhadev Bhattacharyya, who went to the bereaved family, said each one of the members of the victims would be provided with government employment. Adequate monetary compensation would also be granted. Mr Bhattacharyya said an inquiry had been ordered. Pig heart for humans! NEW DELHI, Feb 11 —, Pig heart for humans could become a reality with some scientists claiming that a colony of transgenic pigs in Scotland was ready to serve as heart donors for humans, Executive Director of Escorts Heart Institute and Research Centre Naresh Trehan has said. Trehan, however, said when a foreign protein enters the human body it elicited an immune response from the body, in the form of production of antibodies, to counter it. The donor pigs were, therefore, made immune neutral by taking out their “genetic imprint” so that the human body does not reject the transplant, he told PTI. Trehan said besides the question of ethics, the most important issue at hand was the danger of transmission of unknown diseases through transplantation. —
PTI |
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