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Monday,
June 30, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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No secret deal over Ayodhya : Mahajan Three injured in communal clash
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Women
lose battle against liquor shop Tripura flood: 1800 rendered homeless Marad: all-party meeting on July 5
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Thiruvananthapuram, June 29 India’s mission to the moon is not just a “fanciful idea” but an important step in fulfilling the country’s ambition of becoming a space power, says Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) Director G. Madhavan Nair. Bollywood hopes rekindle Salman’s trial
on July 2 PM undergoes eye surgery Hardcore criminal arrested Students’ protest
turns violent Innocent chief of movie artistes’ body ULFA ultra shot dead
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No secret deal over Ayodhya : Mahajan Raipur, June 29 “We have clarified it several times over the past week. But the charge is being levelled again and again,” BJP General-Secretary Pramod Mahajan told reporters here. He was responding to queries about the VHP working President, Mr Ashok Singhal, and the General-Secretary, Mr Praveen Togadia’s, allegation that the BJP-led NDA government was trying to strike a deal with the Muslims to settle the Ayodhya dispute, with an eye on the next year’s general elections. “No proposal for providing reservation to the Muslims is under consideration at any level. We are opposed to the very concept of reservation on the basis of religion,” Mr Mahajan said adding that similarly no proposal was being considered for allowing prayers at any religious monument under the control of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). When pointed out that the VHP was opposing the Kanchi Shankaracharya Jayendra Saraswati’s proposal to hold talks with a “fundamentalist outfit’’ such as the All-India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB), Mr Mahajan quipped, “Now everyone is accusing one another of being fundamentalist.” “Is there a clear definition, under the law, as to who is a fundamentalist? Since it is not there, we have to hold talks with everyone concerned,’’ he added. Stating that, unlike Ayodhya, Kashi and Mathura had never been on the BJP agenda, Mr Mahajan said, “There is also an Act, dating back to 1993, which provides for maintaining the status quo on all religious places as in 1947.’’ Fielding a query about the VHP’s demand for a Central legislation to ban conversion, he said, “My party is unopposed to such an act and may consider this suggestion if the need arises.’’ About the VHP charge that conversions were on the rise in Chhattisgarh, the General-Secretary said, An anti-conversion law existed in the region that was part of undivided Madhya Pradesh. The question may be of effective implementation. —
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Three injured in communal clash Etah, June 29 The police said a minor dispute between members of two communities led to a major clash, resulting in a gunbattle. The market was closed after the incident. One of the injured was rushed to Agra while two others were admitted to a local hospital here. Senior police officials rushed to the spot and a large contingent of the PAC was deployed in the area. Meanwhile, agitated traders also gheraoed the local police station. —
UNI
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Women
lose battle against liquor shop Kolhapur, June 29 The women had been agitating for a month for the closure of a liquor shop in the area and had even attacked the shop. To decide the fate of the shop and resolve the controversy, District Collector Hanmantrao Pawar came up with a novel idea. He
ordered an election to resolve the issue with the caveat that at least
50 per cent of women voters of the ward must cast their ballots in
support of withdrawing the shop’s licence. The poll was fixed for
today. Agitating women campaigned for two weeks to garner support for
the shop’s closure. However, on the “D-day” only 35.73 per
cent (1,521 votes) of the total 4,256 women voters of the ward cast
their ballots. Of these, 51 votes were declared invalid. Among the
valid votes, 154 supported the continuation of the shop, while those
opposing were only 1,316, far less than minimum 2,128 votes required
to withdraw the liquor shop’s licence. — UNI |
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Tripura flood: 1800 rendered homeless Agartala, June 29 An eight-year-old boy was buried alive at Rajani Sardarpara in Bilonia subdivision when a large chunk of the earth fell on his house. Incessant rains lashing the district have inundated the low-lying areas leading to displacement of the people. The Mahuri was flowing near the danger level and waterlogging was reported in parts of
Bilonia. Measures have been taken to ensure the safety of the people, the sources said. A wooden bridge on the Gomati connecting Amarpur and Udaipur subdivisions of the district was washed away this morning. The sources said more than 400 persons of 100 families in Amarpur subdivision and about 700 persons of 150 families of Udaipur subdivision and 700 persons of 150 families of Sabroom subdivision were rendered homeless in South district. In Sabroom subdivision, the flood situation remained grim with six villages remaining under the water for the third day today. The District Magistrate Mr M. Nagaraju, said they had arranged many boats for rescue operations which would be pressed into service if the situation worsens. —
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Marad: all-party meeting on July 5 Kozhikode, June 29 “No major decision was arrived at during today’s meeting and the issue will be discussed in detail at an all-party meeting to be held at the Collectorate here on July 5,” State Health Minister P Sankaran, a member of the panel, said here. Asked if the process of rehabilitation would go ahead in spite of the stiff resistance from the local people, he said “if the family members want to leave their home, they will be allowed to do so”. Local people, particularly women, are opposing the rehabilitation and are seeking the removal of a family of minority community, brought back to Marad as part of the rehabilitation process. The Arya Samaj, representing the Hindu community in the beach area, did not participate in today’s meeting, he said, adding that besides the Samaj, all political parties should come forward to attend the July 5 meeting to help restore lasting peace in the area. People from Beypore panchayat area, comprising Marad, met the panel headed by PWD Minister M.K. Muneer and assured him of their cooperation in restoring peace in the area, Mr Sankaran said. The police, he said, would continue to maintain strict vigil in the affected area. —
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Held for selling Harry Potter in Marathi Pune, June 29 A holiday court today remanded the publisher Vinod Sonawane to police custody till July 2 for violating Sections 63 and 65 of the Copyrights Acts. Assistant Commissioner of Police V.N. Deshmane said they were also investigating where materials like butterpaper and stencils, used for the purpose, were obtained from, and the likely places and shops where the copies may have been distributed. The books translated were “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” and “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets”, the first two of the series. Acting on a complaint lodged by Bhagwan Pokarkar, a resident of Sion-Koliwada in Mumbai who also holds the power of attorney on behalf of the original publisher, the police raided the premises of Pushpa Prakashan in the Narayan Peth area late last night, seized 648 copies of the books worth Rs 1,31,600 and arrested the publisher. Vinod had allegedly employed the services of one Vikas Shukla of Chalisgaon near Aurangabad to translate the two books. As the fifth book in the series, “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” hit the stands recently, near hysteria had gripped young readers in the city. Not wanting to be left out, the publisher released the Marathi translations around the same time. —
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Potter’s magic broom sweeps Assam Guwahati, June 29 The kids and their parents are happy, but booksellers and distributers are griping that there aren’t enough prints of the latest offering of J.K. Rowling: ‘’Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix’’ to go around. Given the number of English medium schools in the city — though none are called the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry — the demand for stories of the little boy wonder who has taken over from Enid Blyton’s ‘’Secret Seven’’ and ‘’Famous Five’’ is so much that the distributor has been temporarily put out of business. The next consignment will be more than a week in coming, some booksellers say. Notwithstanding the heat, the dust and the Brahmaputra in spate, the school break is just round the corner and George Gershwin’s ‘’Summer time, the living’s easy,’’ is going to be the mode with children curling up with the “Order of the Phoenix”. But Poonam, an eighth standard student of Holy Child School, will have to wait her turn. ‘’My parents cannot afford the book so I’ll have to wait for my friend Reetu to first read it. That means, I’ll only get to read the book at the fag end of the summer break,’’ she says. ‘’But that is not a problem.’’ Potter mania also seems to have spawned a paradox of kinds; having grown in today’s world of technical wizardry, SFX and media hype, it is giving the other products like television, internet and FM radio of the info revolution a run for their money. But the parents are not complaining. ‘’My child is immersed in the world of Harry Potter. I am happy she’s got into the reading habit and has been shunning TV,’’ Shabnam’s mother says. All roads lead to the bookstore and retailer Ramesh Kumar is left scratching his head. ‘’Every day I return not less than 25 persons which is unthinkable by Guwahati standards,’’ he says, considering that there is no real rush for books. Only the occasional buyer and the window-shopper. Ramesh has been 30 years in the book selling business but has not seen such a craze for any book. Notwithstanding the prohibitive price tag of Rs 795, Potter has invaded the bookshelves in Guwahati and the demand is increasing by the day. ‘’Fifteen copies of the book had been booked yesterday and 24 fresh copies which arrived today were sold out in minutes. Today we have again ordered for more copies.’’ —
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India to reach moon by 2008 Thiruvananthapuram, June 29 Mr Nair, also a member of the Space Commission, told visiting newspersons at the VSSC campus at Veli here that it was wrong to term the Indian lunar mission as a mere flight of fancy. “The mission will give us a chance to perfect several cutting edge technologies. With planetary exploration, the next big step in space development, India cannot afford to lag behind if it wants to be a space power,” he added. India’s lunar mission, first enunciated by the Indian Space Research Organisation
(ISRO) a couple of years ago, has been vetted by a high-powered technical committee and approved by the Space Commission. The project proposal is now to be submitted to the Central Government for clearance. According to Mr Nair, the mission to the moon should be a reality by 2008. Dismissing charges of wasteful expenditure of scarce resources, the VSSC Director said it was a misconception that the mission would cost a lot of money. The entire project would be covered in about Rs 380 crore as many of the essential technologies needed for the mission, including the launch vehicles, satellites and cameras, had already been perfected by ISRO and the main task was to integrate them. —
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Bollywood hopes rekindle Mumbai, June 29 Though the Hindi film industry, which churns out the largest number of movies in the world, is still in doldrums and “champagne time” is far-off, the performance of at least four films, led by “Bhoot”, has re-kindled hopes in the hearts of industry watchers. After a moderate success of Bipasha Basu-starrer “Jism” in January which was followed by a string of over 90 flops, four movies — “Bhoot”, “Andaaz”, “Chalte Chalte” and “Ishq Vishk” — have succeeded in bringing back to theatres a major chunk of the audience. The industry is now pinning hopes on big ticket releases like Sooraj Barjatya’s “Main Prem Ki Diwani Hoon” (released on June 27) and Hrithik Roshan-starrer “Koi Mil Gya” for the much-needed momentum. The Mukesh Bhatt-produced and Amit Saxena-directed skin flick “Jism” did good business, thanks mainly to the bold performance by dusky Bipasha, who has emerged as the new sex symbol in Bollywood. Around the same time, Ramoji Rao-produced “Tujhe Meri Kasam”, starring Ritesh Deshmukh, son of former Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, and newcomer Jenelia D’Souza, received encouraging response from the younger generation. After a lull of four months, Sunil Darshan’s “Andaaz” received good opening and the two former beauty queens Lara Dutta and Priyanka Chopra with Aakshay Kumar in the lead role, were able to woo the audience. The Raj Kanwar-directed film revolved around the time-tested formula of a triangle love story. “Ishq Vishk”, directed by video wizard Ken Ghosh was an unexpected hit. The Shahid Kapoor-Amrita Rao-Shenaz-starrer small-budget college campus love affair film raked in almost Rs 8.5 crore, industry sources said. According to Trade Guide Editor Taran Adarsh, things are looking bright for the industry and this was a good sign for Bollywood. The recent hits are more than just shot in the dark. “Bhoot” and “Chalte Chalte” are trend setters, he says. Aziz Mirza’s “Chalte Chalte” starring Shah Rukh Khan and Rani Mukherjee, which has shades of the hugely hit “DDLJ” and last year’s “Saathiya”, added to the summer hit. But it was “Bhoot” which walked away with the cake and made Ram Gopal Varma the man of the moment for the Bollywood. The film, which reflects on the existence of ghosts, set in a Mumbai apartment, had good performances from Urmila Matondar, Ajay Devgan, Nana Patekar, Rekha, Seema Biswas and Tanuja. Background score, some deft editing and of course memorable performance by Urmila were some of the high points of the film. Apart from these films, others like David Dhawan’s comedy “Ek Aur Ek Gyarah” and “Satta” featuring Ravina Tandon and Atul Kulkarni did moderate business. Sunny Deol-Preity Zinta starrer Rs 55 crore film “Hero — The Love Story of a Spy” proved high on hype and low on substance. “Khawaish” which made Malika Sherawat talk of the town because of 17 kisses in the film, too, failed to impress the audience. —
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Salman’s trial on July 2 Mumbai, June 29 Principal Judge A.J. Dholakia has summoned Salman to appear before him on Tuesday in the hit-and-run case. The first witness to depose against Salman would be his former police bodyguard Ravindra Patil who had reportedly told the police that he had warned the actor not to drive rashly as he was drunk. According to the prosecution, having knowledge that his rash and negligent driving might result in the death of persons was enough to prove its case against the actor. Patil’s deposition may throw light on this aspect, according to legal sources. On May 2, the court held Salman prima facie guilty of culpable homicide not amounting to murder and rejected his plea to drop the charge before framing charges against him. The actor pleaded not guilty to the charges. He had rammed his vehicle into a bakery at suburban Bandra on September 28, killing one person and injuring four who were sleeping outside. The Judge held that Salman appeared to be prima facie guilty of culpable homicide not amounting to murder as he had the knowledge that rash and negligent driving might kill people. Salman had opposed the charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder which attracts maximum punishment of 10 years in jail.
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PM undergoes eye surgery New Delhi, June 29 The surgery was performed by a team of doctors headed by Prof Madan Mohan. “The surgery was a success and the Prime Minister has returned to his residence”, an official press note said. —
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Hardcore criminal arrested
Ahmedabad, June 29 Acting on a tip off, the police raided a spot near Narol highway and nabbed Subramaniam Paneervel
Kavade, alias Gheta, and recovered a country made firearm and cartridges from his possession. The police said this was a prized catch just before the Lord Jagannath Rathyatra on July 1 as Gheta is wanted in more than 18 heinous crimes, including rioting, murders, loots and thefts in several police stations across the city. |
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Students’ protest
turns violent Kanpur, June 29 Rampaging students damaged at least six buses and taxi tempos, blocked traffic for hours and resorted to brick-batting when the police tried to disperse them. At least 28 students have been arrested and senior police officials are camping in the area to keep a vigil over the situation. —
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Innocent chief of movie artistes’ body Kochi, June 29 Malayalam superstar Mohanlal was elected the general secretary of the association. Former state Transport Minister K.B. Ganesh Kumar, MLA, and Maniyan Pillai Raju, who opposed the official panel, necessitating the election, were among the 17 members elected to the executive. —
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ULFA ultra shot dead Jalpaiguri, June 29 Harimohon Roy (38), alias Rustom Chowdhury, known to be close aide of ULFA Chairman Arbinda Rajkhowa, was killed when patrolling policemen retaliated to firing by militants, who were spotted in the area around 1 am, Assistant District Magistrate, Alipurduar, S. Mandal said. A sub-inspector received minor injuries in his leg in the encounter. The security in the area was tightened since the escape by ISI agent Nazrul Islam from the Mekhliganj court police lock-up and the reported efforts by Mr Rajkhowa to cross over to Bangladesh from Bhutan. —
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4 buried alive Allahabad, June 29 |
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Cholera cases Dharmapuri, June 29 |
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Leopard attacks
woman, girl Dehra Dun, June 29 |
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15 killed in road mishap Burundi, June 29 |
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Ten cops suspended Nagpur, June 29 Twentyseven-year-old Sheikh Mushtaque Sheikh Shafi, lodged in the Nagpur Central Jail, was taken to Jalgaon on Friday, where he was facing trial. While being brought back to the jail from Jalgaon, Shafi, pretended to answer nature’s call and escaped. —
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