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Kolkata, April 7 A cyclone hit Kolkata last mid night causing havoc in many areas. Two persons (three according to UNI) were killed and several hundred residents in the low-lying areas were rendered homeless as their houses and hutments collapsed. The cyclone accompanied by gale and storm, which began around 2 am, lasted about an hour.
NDA agenda of governance to have Ram Temple
issue
Gujral for NDA manifesto sans temple issue
Virbhadra’s wife to contest
from Mandi
Abhay Chautala to contest from Kurukshetra |
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Ordinance banning exit, opinion polls likely
Talks on bus to Muzaffarabad
deferred
Trial court can order reprobe in riot case, rules apex
court
SC upholds life term for 2 in murder
case
SC pays tributes to Justice
Tarkunde
Mallya wields sword of Tipu
Sultan
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister in India
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Cyclone claims 3 lives in
Kolkata
Kolkata, April 7 Two persons (three according to UNI) were killed and several hundred residents in the low-lying areas were rendered homeless as their houses and hutments collapsed. The cyclone accompanied by gale and storm, which began around 2 am, lasted about an hour. The most affected areas were in the central parts of the city, including Salt Lake, EM bypass, College Street, Manicktala and the adjoining areas in Dum Dum, Kasba and Tollygunge. Office-goers had a tough time as most of the streets in the central Kolkata’s office areas remained water-logged till this noon following a record rainfall of 50 mm within one hour time since last night. Hundreds of trees were uprooted in Kolkata and Howrah and power supply was snapped in the affected areas. Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee said dry food stuffs and tarpaulin had been sent to the affected areas of Beleghata, Belgacchia, Kashipur, Beniapukur, Tiljala and Tala in Kolkata and Malipanchghara and Bali in Howrah. Mr Bhattacharjee said Finance Minister Asim Dasgupta and Minority Affairs Minister Mohammad Salim had visited the affected areas. “Efforts are now being made to repair the houses which were damaged in last night severe cyclone,” Mr Bhattacharjee said. An Eastern Railway release said train services on the Circular Railway in Eastern Railway’s Sealdah Division had been disrupted since today morning due to water-logging on the tracks between Dum Dum junction and Ultadanga stations. Three pumps had been pressed into service to clear the water. |
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NDA agenda of governance to have Ram Temple
issue
New Delhi, April 7 The NAG in 1999 had kept aside the contentious issues of Ayodhya, the Uniform Civil Code and the Article 370 but framers of the new NAG have decided to mobilise the Hinduatva brigade for garnering votes in the Hindi heartland by including the Ram Temple issue with emphasis on its resolution through dialogue, a NDA leader said. The issue of foreign origin may also be reflected in the document with a promise to enact a law for banning non-natural born citizens from holding high constitutional offices. “The NDA agenda for governance would include the suggestion made in the Vision Document of the BJP that the Ayodhya issue be resolved through dialogue between the two communities,” a BJP leader said adding that “our partners have too realised the electoral importance of the issue”. It was felt that keeping the issue aside would not help in bringing about better relations between the two communities and that there was need to settle it amicably and as soon as possible, the sources said. A suggestion of BJP to incorporate the item this time has found favour with the NDA constituents, the sources pointed out. With the foreign origin issue of Congress President Sonia Gandhi being taken up by not only BJP leaders but also by members of the ruling coalition and supporting parties like the Telugu Desam Party, the agenda is expected to have it a suggestion to bring a legislation in Parliament barring persons of foreign origin from holding high constitutional posts like the President, the Prime Minister and the Chief Justice of India. “In the event of NDA getting a majority in the coming Lok Sabha elections, we would bring a legislation in this regard barring persons foreign origin from holding these high constitutional offices,” the sources said.
New Delhi, April 7 "The BJP should not force the temple issue into the NDA agenda if they want to come to a majority," Mr Gujral said in a note of caution. NDA convener George Fernandes had yesterday said at a public rally at Hajipur in Bihar that the issue of the construction of a Ram temple would find place in the NDA manifesto, which is slated to be released tomorrow. Mr Gujral told a group of newspersons that it would not be possible to accomplish such an agenda by leading the coalition, he reasoned. His son Naresh Gujral is contesting the Jalandhar Lok Sabha seat on the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) ticket. He said development had now occupied the centrestage in the elections, which was amply proved by the people's verdict in last year's Assembly elections. |
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Virbhadra’s wife to contest
from Mandi
New Delhi, April 7 The central election committee of the party also cleared the name of former Uttar Pradesh Chief Secretary Mata Prasad from Saidpur (Reserved) in UP. |
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Abhay Chautala to contest from Kurukshetra
New Delhi, April 7 Releasing the second list of 15 candidates in Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Rajasthan, Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala told newspersons here that the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) was in a “comfortable position” in Haryana. The INLD today announced its candidates for five Jat/Gujjar-dominated constituencies in Rajasthan. Mr Dalip Singh Marwal has been fielded from Bikaner from where Bollywood star Dharmendra is contesting on a BJP ticket. The party fielded Rohtash Sharma from the Dausa constituency where the BJP is expected to field Kartar Singh Badana, who had left INLD recently. While Chandrabhan Gurjar will contest from Alwar, Damodar Mishra will contest from Churu and Mr Vijendra Singh, son of MLA Kalu Ram from Bayana. Party candidates in western Uttar Pradesh are Ms Anju Singh (Mathura), Naseer Khureshi (Moradabad), Shakeel Ahmed (Bareilly), Dinesh Chahar (Agra), Samarpal Singh (Baghpath), Mohsin Chaudhary (Sharanpur), Mohd Ishrat Ansari (Amroha) and Bhagwan Sahay Dhankar
(Hathras). |
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Ordinance banning exit, opinion polls likely New Delhi, April 7 When this poser was put to Union Law and Justice Minister Arun Jaitley, he refused to comment except for saying, “I will let you know at the appropriate time”. The commission is learnt to have recommended to the government that it should find ways and means of promulgating an ordinance banning opinion and exit polls. After the all-party meeting yesterday, the commission sources had indicated that a way out could be found by promulgating an ordinance to ban opinion and exit polls. At that meeting, there was unanimity that opinion and exit polls should be banned. The commission had then said that it would take a few days to decide the matter. There was a consensus that the opinion polls should be banned from the first day of notification. In the case of exit polls, the parties felt that the results should not be announced before 5 pm on May 10. Meanwhile, on the issue of personal attacks, the BJP sources said political parties should not indulge in this but that the question of foreign origin of Congress President Sonia Gandhi was an issue. |
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Talks on bus to Muzaffarabad
deferred
New Delhi, April 7 A decision to defer the two-day talks — which was first reported by The Tribune — has been taken by both sides after mutual consultations, the Ministry of External Affairs announced today. Fresh dates for the talks would be worked out through the diplomatic channels, the MEA said. It is understood that the Pakistani side wants more time for putting the necessary infrastructure in place for starting the bus service between Srinagar and the Capital of the Pakistan occupied Kashmir. There have been reports in the Pakistani media suggesting that National Security Advisor Brajesh Mishra had accused Pakistan of dragging its feet on starting the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad and Khokhrapar-Munabao bus services. Official sources here, when asked to comment on these reports, dismissed them as “baseless and speculative”. |
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Trial court can order reprobe in riot case,
New Delhi, April 7 “Further probe is not altogether ruled out merely because cognisance has been taken by the court when defective investigation comes to light during the course of trial,” a Bench of Mr Justice Doraiswamy Raju and Mr Justice Arijit Pasayat has ruled. The ruling came on an appeal by Hasanbhai Valibhai Qureshi against the Gujarat High Court order rejecting his petition for reinvestigation in the case relating to an attack by mob on the shops of minority community. The petitioner had alleged that from the very beginning the role of the prosecuting agency was “tainted with suspicion and there was visible leaning in favour of the accused”. The police had arrested 53 persons and levelled various charges against them, including that of criminal conspiracy. But the charge of criminal conspiracy was later dropped against most of the accused, Qureshi said in his appeal. Though the apex court did not issue a specific direction for a fresh investigation and left it to the wisdom of the trial judge, saying “the delay in concluding the trial should not stand in the way of further investigation if that can help the court in arriving at the truth”. “If there is necessity for further investigation, the same can certainly be done as prescribed by law,” the Bench said. The petitioner said though the high court had admitted that specific charges were levelled against the MLA and about the biased probe by the police, it failed to take note of the fact that the police had deleted the charges. The DGP, Gujarat, in his report to the high court had said that the police had “fairly accepted” the deletion of the conspiracy charge. The sessions court had already framed charges in the case and any further probe would hamper the trial, the DGP said in his report. He had also stated that a departmental inquiry was on against the investigating officer to find out whether there was any lapse on his part or not. |
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SC upholds life term for 2 in murder
case
New Delhi, April 7 Upholding the conviction of two brothers by the Punjab and Haryana High Court for murdering their brother-in-law in Sirsa 11 years ago, the apex court said a duty was cast upon the appellate court to re-appreciate the evidence where the accused had been acquitted by ignoring vital evidence. “The high court as the court of first appeal is obliged to go into greater details of the evidence to see whether any miscarriage of justice has resulted from the order of acquittal,” a Bench of Mr Justice Doraiswamay Raju and Mr Justice Arijit Pasayat said. The high court had reversed the trial court’s order acquitting Jas Ram and Main Pal, who had murdered their brother-in-law, Hans Raj, out of revenge. They believed their sister was forced to commit suicide by him. Hans Raj was gunned down by the duo in the Sirsa market on November 15, 1993, as he had married another woman few days after the death of their sister. “Generally the order of acquittal shall not be interfered with because the presumption of innocence of the accused is further strengthened by acquittal... and where two views are possible the one that favours the accused has to be accepted,” the apex court said. This principle was laid down to prevent miscarriage of justice. But “miscarriage of justice which may arise from acquittal of the guilty is no less than the conviction of an innocence,” the court said. |
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SC pays tributes to Justice
Tarkunde
New Delhi, April 7 Describing him a leading constitutional lawyer, great humanist and prolific writer, Chief Justice Mr
V.N. Khare said his contribution to the cause of human rights would always be
remembered. Sorabjee said Tarkunde, who resigned as the Bombay High Court judge to serve the cause of humanity, was the real force behind the People’s Union of Civil Liberty’s crusade against exploitation of a man by a man. |
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Mallya wields sword of Tipu Sultan
Bangalore, April 7 The majestic sword, which was a part of the personal arsenal of the illustrious monarch, has been bought in an auction in London by liquor baron Vijay Mallya. This was disclosed by him at a news conference here today. Engraved border of the blade reads: “The sword of Tipu Sultan found after Srirangapatnam was taken by storm on May 4, 1799, and presented by the Army to Major-General Baird through their Commander Lieut-General Harris as a token of their high opinion on his courage and conduct in the assault which he commanded, and in which Tipu Sultan was slain". Mallya said he bought the sword for around Rs 1.5 crore at the auction in London in September last year from his personal funds from the descendants of Baird. Asked why he took more than six months to make the announcement, he said he had to bring it from London and he did so just 15 days back. The sword of the high-ranking warrior during whose rule Srirangapatnam, near Mysore, was the capital, has a calligraphic hilt with a broad, straight, wide single-edged blade and a velvet covered silver gilt-mounted scabbard. The timing of Mallya’s disclosure — a few days before the elections in Karnataka — has not gone unnoticed, but Mallya insisted that it was not done with an eye on the elections. “This is not political. It is personal. This is not an election meeting.I brought it from London 15 days back”, the working president of the Janata Party said. Describing the sword as a “unique piece of history”, he said he bought it to restore the “rightful legacy” to Karnataka as he “is a proud Kannadadiga”. —
PTI |
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Russian Deputy Foreign Minister in India
New Delhi, April 7 Mr Safonov heads an inter-agency Russian delegation for the meeting which is likely to focus on terrorism and the security situation in South Asia and Central Asia. The meeting is taking place against the backdrop of the recent terrorist attacks in Uzbekistan in which 22 persons were killed. The Uzbek authorities have blamed radical Islamists linked to Osama bin Laden’s Al-Qaida of masterminding the strikes. India had condemned the attacks. |
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OBIT
IT was a strange place I was visiting although I had visited this place innumerable times. Everytime I was welcomed by the wide toothless grin of Guru Kelucharan showing mudras to his disciples, playing with his little granddaughter, folding betel leaves for his guests or crushing betel nuts in a pestle for himself! Today there was a huge crowd but no Guruji to tower over everybody else. There was a sepulchral silence punctuated by the loud wailing of his inconsolable grand-daughter that was making everyone realise with a start that the Odissi guru who was a legend in his lifetime was no more.
Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra lay there, his eyes closed and his body still in the final mudra. It was as if like Sylvia Plath, he were saying-”Dying is an art like everything else/I do it exceptionally well”. Till his last breath, he lived in dance, teaching, guiding his son Ratikant at ‘Srjan’ the Odissi institute he founded and even performing on stage! After he was conferred the Padmavibhushan a few years ago I met him and he said. “All these honours have come through the grace of God but I pray to Lord Jagannath that I do not die before death! Let him keep me alive as long as I am able to dance.” The Lord obviously heard him and fulfilled the wish. In the morning of April 7, he complained of breathlessness and within an hour it was all over. He breathed his last on his way to the hospital leaving his innumerable students and admirers in a state of shock. True Guru Kelucharan’s dying is more the survivors’s affair. The last bastion of Odissi has fallen. He was the last of the redoubtable triumvirate of Odissi dance — Guru Debaprasad Das, Guru Pankaj Charan Das and himself. It was Guru Kelucharan with his extraordinary sense of form and technique, his deep spiritual sense and creative urge who enriched and perfected what is known as Odissi dance today. He respected the Odissi idiom but was not afraid of innovations without breaking grammar; no wonder under him the form flowered gracefully and bountifully. Today a performance of Odissi without a Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra choreography is almost unthinkable. Guruji’s death is just one moment but his life was so many of them! Born to Chintamani Mohapatra and Siri Nani, Kelucharan had very humble beginnings in the artists’ village Raghurajpur near Puri and he grew up in the rich cultural enviornment of pattachitra painting, wooden craft work, gotipua dancing and ‘raasa-leela’. Young Kelucharan began as a ‘gotipua’ dancer and then participated in ‘raasa’ performances. After the disbanding of the ‘raasa’ party, Kelucharan moved to Cuttack and then Puri to work at theatre parties. There his genius flourished. He played the tabla,the pakhwaj and even danced. There he met his future wife Laxmipriya Mohapatra then a star-dancer and soon their duet off and on the stage blossomed. After marriage and birth of a child Laxmipriya, who is the first female dancer to present Odissi on stage, left dance. But for Guru Kelucharan, there was no looking back. He had began giving private tuitions since the late forties and with his star pupil the late Sanjukta Panigrahi he established Odissi classical dance in the fifties against heavy odds.The rest, as they say, is history. The man who worked as a mason and labourer in the betel farm to earn a living became the toast of the cultural cognoscenti the world over. As a gotipua dancer, he had trained under Guru Balabhadra Sahu and then honed his skill during his 12 years of association with the ‘raasa’ troupe of the great Mohan Sundar Debagoswami. He had studied the temple sculptures and was ever alert to all creative stimuli. All this combined to give him an enviable grasp of the medium and he had loads of talents. Even while pushing 80 when he took the stage he kept the audience spellbound and his majestic expressional display made one cry and laugh with him as if hypnotised. His mesmerising presence on stage made an ardent dance scholar remark. “On stage the sepptuagenarian guru is transformed into a lissom 16-year-old lass!” But ever-willing to learn, the guru was ready to be an apprentice once again. Padmashree,doctorate by the Akhil Bharatiya Gandharva Mahavidyalaya, Kalidas samman from the Madhya Pradesh Government, Padma Bhushan, Shankar Dev award and even Padma Vibhushan later he did not feel that he has become a master;he was a true guru because he remained a disciple at heart. More than anything else Guru Kelucharan was a good and loving soul,the perfect host as well as the perfect teacher. Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra Award given away every year since 1995 to an artist for his contribution to arts bear out the man’s greatness. He had struggled but reached the acme of success. But he knew that many others could not be as lucky though their contribution could be great. He wanted to give something back to them and the underlying principle of the award was to generate a fellow feeling among the artistes. No wonder that impressed by this philosophy great artistes like Pandit Jasraj, Pandit Birju Maharaj, Pandit Shivkumar Sharma, Girija Devi, Pandit Vishwamohan Bhatt — a virtual artistes’ who’s who — have come over the years and endorsed the Guru’s endeavour. They respected the humble guru but more than that they loved him with all their heart. Guru Kelucharan has not died; he has just left off dancing and did it once and for all. Bibhuti Mishra is a dance critic based in Bhubaneswar and has been pretty close to Guru Kelucharan and his family. |
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New Delhi, April 7
I
T was a strange place I was visiting although I had visited this place innumerable times. Everytime I was welcomed by the wide toothless grin of Guru Kelucharan showing mudras to his disciples, playing with his little granddaughter, folding betel leaves for his guests or crushing betel nuts in a pestle for himself! Today there was a huge crowd but no Guruji to tower over everybody else. There was a sepulchral silence punctuated by the loud wailing of his inconsolable grand-daughter that was making everyone realise with a start that the Odissi guru who was a legend in his lifetime was no more.
