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Centre to talk with J&K groups
Tamil Nadu moves SC against seer’s bail
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Remand for Kanchi Mutt accountant
Customs Dept told to destroy 133 containers
Women at receiving end in HP, Uttaranchal :NCW
PM to visit Andaman, Nicobar Islands on January 8
Ban goes on forest felling
in A&N Islands
Better preparations needed for tsunami like disasters
UPA panel on Telengana
NSCN (IM) camp for drug addicts
International Punjabi Council to adopt tsunami-hit kids
Protest against patent ordinance
Hard bargaining for seats in Jharkhand
Minister protests permission denial
‘Mughal-e-Azam’ sparks off craze for Mughal-era jewellery
Activists’ bid to save Bharatpur Park
Two CRPF jawans hurt in mine blast
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Centre to talk with J&K groups
New Delhi, January 5 Sources said Home Minister Shivraj Patil will talk to various groups on behalf of the government and a time-table for such talks was being worked out. The decision was taken at a meeting headed by the Home Minister and attended by senior officials, besides Centre’s interlocutor to Jammu and Kashmir N.N. Vohra. The groups with whom the dialogue at political level will be held include mainstream political parties and social groups representing various communities. Separatist groups, including the Hurriyat Conference, will also be welcome for talks. The sources said the Centre has already extended an invitation for talks to the Hurriyat and the ball was now in their court. Meanwhile, Mr Patil today told a delegation of non-resident Indians and non-resident Pakistanis that India was willing to take more steps to strengthen people-to-people contact between the two countries. Mr Patil told the delegation members from the USA, Canada and UK that it was easier for the two countries to cooperate because of similar culture, background and language. The 20-member delegation, which met the Home Minister under the banner of the ‘Joint India-Pakistan Peace and Goodwill Mission,’ was led by Mr John Prabhudas, Executive Director of the Washington-based Policy Institute for Religion and State. The delegation was accompanied by Gandhian Nirmala Deshpande. The delegation members had also visited Pakistan before coming to India and met several leaders there, including Pakistan Prime Minister Shoukat Aziz.
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J.N. Dixit cremated
New Delhi, January 5 Amidst chanting of Vedic hymns, Dixit’s son Ashok Dixit lit the pyre. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, UPA Chairperson and Congress President Sonia Gandhi, Home Minister Shivraj Patil, Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Sri Lankan Health Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva and Pakistan High Commissioner Aziz Ahmed and a large number of Dixit’s friends were present. ‘Mani’ Dixit, as he was popularly known, died after suffering a massive heart attack. Dixit’s younger son Rahul and four daughters were also present. |
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Tamil Nadu moves SC against seer’s bail
New Delhi, January 5 Tamil Nadu Government counsel K.T.S. Tulsi made a special mention of filing of the appeal before a Bench, headed by Chief Justice R.C. Lahoti, in the morning and sought its hearing along with seer’s bail petition in Shankararaman murder case tomorrow. But the court declined his request for listing the government appeal tomorrow, saying there was no urgency for it as the pontiff was already in prison despite being granted bail in one case. The court said since the required formalities about filing of the petition by the government had not been fully completed, its appeal could not be listed for hearing tomorrow. The Tamil Nadu Government has challenged the grant of bail to the seer in the Radhakrishnan assault case.
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Remand for Kanchi Mutt accountant
Kancheepuram, January 5 The accountant was produced before the Magistrate at midnight at the latter’s residence. — UNI |
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Customs Dept told to destroy 133 containers
New Delhi, January 5 The waste oil imported by some Indian companies in 1998 for preparing emulsion paints was found to be hazardous for human health in laboratory analysis done by the government on court order after a public interest litigation was filed by an NGO, Research Foundation. The court also sought a report about the status of a large number of similar containers lying in Navashiva port in Gujarat within four weeks. The NGO had demanded sending back the consignments to the countries from where these were imported. The court rejected the plea of importing companies that the tests done by them in some private laboratories had found the oil fit for use in the paints industries. |
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Women at receiving end in HP, Uttaranchal :NCW
New Delhi, January 5 This was pointed out in a report compiled by Mr Vijay Vaidya and Prof Susheela Kaushik for the National Commission of Women (NCW). The report on Himachal Pradesh notes that despite the state having enforced the Marriage Registration Act, there are instances of non-compliance. “There is no state policy for women, no proper documentation of the records and creation of database, NGOs are in a nascent stage and most lack institutional capacity. Gender budgeting and auditing needs to move beyond lip service and the state has to take initiative to introduce the concept of gender budgeting to create the gender responsive governance and lead by evidence,” it says. Claiming that the problem of polygamy and polyandry persists, the NCW has sought punitive action for non-registration of marriages and wider publicity for dowry prohibition officers to weed out social evils. To curb the problem of trafficking in women the commission has recommended the need to check all loopholes and inter-state action in joint consultation. Noting that “insensitive and indifferent” attitude of the police towards women results in many cases going unreported, the need for a women’s desk in police stations, toll-free helpline and gender sensitisation of the patwaris were recommended. Regional imbalance manifest by the pace of development, which has been uneven, female literacy is abysmally low at 49 per cent in districts like Chamba. A report of the conditions of women in Uttaranchal, which was also released, cites that health remains an area of concern with a large population of women being malnourished and anemic and healthcare facilities being inadequate. While education level has gone up, girls often find it difficult to reach schools owing to arduous distances from their homes. Shortage of water and no property rights also contributed to the challenges that women have to face. “There is a problem of widows and separated wives, which needs to be addressed”, the report says, pointing out that the region has the maximum number of men being recruited by the Army. The report also cites that crimes against women are rising and alcoholism is the bane of women, especially since the ban on drinking liquor has been lifted. The NCW has also written to the Chief Minister of Uttranachal to set a commission for women of Uttaranchal. |
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PM to visit Andaman, Nicobar Islands on January 8 New Delhi, January 5 The PM’s visit to Andamans — the worst-hit region of India by the December 26 undersea quake disaster — comes at a time when the government today announced the conclusion of the Phase One (relief) of Operation Sea Waves and moving into the next phase (rehabilitation and infrastructure). The Prime Minister is leaving for Mumbai tomorrow evening for the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas and will be in Chennai the day after. He will be going to the Andamans from Chennai. Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran, addressing the
first ever joint press briefing of Ministries of External Affairs and Defence with Vice Admiral Raman Puri, announced that the first phase of relief operations in tsunami-affected areas in the country had been completed and the focus was now on Phase II for bringing life back to normal. Mr Saran also announced the disbanding of the core group formed by the USA, initially comprising of Japan, Australia and India which was later expanded to include the United Nations, Canada and European Union to coordinate international rescue and relief operations in tsunami-hit countries. However, the USA, Japan, Australia and India were still in constant touch with each other on relief operations as and when it is necessary, thus obviating the need for daily tele-conferencing. The Foreign Secretary rubbished reports in the international media that India was refusing international aid even though it was not able to meet the challenges posed by the disaster with its own resources and made it clear that New Delhi’s approach to this was “not dogmatic”. Meanwhile, the region from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands to Sumatra (Indonesia) was rocked since last night by five tremors of medium intensities ranging between 5.2 and 5.5 on the Richter scale. Meanwhile, Union Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss said the Centre had taken all necessary steps to prevent outbreak of any disease and was sending more doctors and paramedics to strengthen surveillance teams in the tsunami affected areas. “Though there were some cases of gastro-enteritis, no reports of outbreak of any disease have come,” he said. The teams, which were earlier sent to Gujarat and Latur during earthquakes in 2001 and 1993, respectively, are cautiously monitoring the situation in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and assessing the disease pattern to prevent outbreak of any disease, he told reporters during his first press conference after visiting the affected areas. “The teams are taking all necessary action and have already started vaccinating children below five years against measles along with vitamin A supplements,” he said. The government is now focusing on providing psychological help as some people were still under shock, he said. “We have sent a team of psychiatrists to provide psychological relief to the traumatised people.” Meanwhile, private doctors have responded to the tsunami tragedy by leaving their practice to work in the affected areas, the Indian Medical Association, today claimed adding that about 5,000 of their members in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Andaman and Nicobar Islands had treated the injured since the disaster struck on December 26. |
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Ban goes on forest felling
in A&N Islands
New Delhi, January 5 A Bench of Mr Justice Y K Sabharwal and Mr Justice D.M. Dharamdhikari said “in view of the urgency of the matter we pass interim order to carry out the rehabilitating work and the May 7, 2002 order banning felling of trees in Andaman and Nicobar Islands is relaxed for limited purpose of extracting timber and non-timber products from the forest areas subject to certain conditions.” The Court had banned cutting of trees in the Islands in view of a large scale theft of precious woods from
their rich forests which had posed a threat to its environment. Warning against use of the forest produce for any commercial purpose, the court said that no felling will be done up to 1000 metres from the sea shore or in the national parks, sanctuaries and mangrove forest. Cutting of trees will be strictly meant for meeting the rehabilitation requirements and the timber will be extracted under the direct supervision of a government committee to be headed by the Chief Conservator of Forests, the court said. The committee was asked to submit monthly details of actual felling and utilisation of wood and the Forest
Department was directed to take all sawmills under its control for next six months to prepare logs for rebuilding purposes. “No contract will be given to any private party,” the Court said. The Union
Environment and Forest Ministry, the Andaman Nicobar Islands Administration and other parties were asked to submit their responses, if any, by January 24. The interim order was passed by the court after Andaman Nicobar Administration counsel Uday Lalit in a special mention made a request for relaxing of the ban in view of the devastated caused in the region by the tsunami fury. The court appointed Central Empowerment Committee (CEC), which had been monitoring the activities in major forests across the country. |
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Affected students can change exam centres
New Delhi, January 5 It was pointed out that if a student from Andaman and Nicobar Islands wants to take test from any other examination centre, the request would be considered favourably by the board. Ruling out the possibility of changing the examination dates, the CBSE office said a change in the schedule would affect lakhs of students across the country. An official in the CBSE told the Tribune, “We have accepted such requests in the past also. For instance when the Gujarat quake occurred we allowed students to change their centres”. There are around 70 CBSE-affiliated schools in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, many of which were damaged in the tsumani disaster.
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Another tsunami off east coast by 2080?
Kolkata, January 5 On December 31, 1881, a submarine earthquake beneath the Andaman and Nicobar Islands generated a tsunami with a maximum crest height of 0.8 metre that was recorded by eight tide gauges surrounding the Bay of Bengal, Mr Dasgupta said. “Wave form and amplitude modelling of the tsunami indicate that it was generated by an earthquake and ruptured the India/Andaman plate boundary resulting in 10-60 cm uplift of the Car Nicobar island,” he said. However, the recurrence time for the 1881-type event is estimated to be 114-200 years on the basis of inferred GPS convergence rates and plate closure vectors, according to the GSI. And if the GSI prediction goes right, another tsunami is feared to rock the east coast, comprising coastal Bengal and Orissa, by 2080. — UNI |
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Kolkata, January 5 Director of the National Atlas and Thematic Mapping Organisation (NATMO) G. N. Saha said here on Monday that the map, made by NATMO in the late ’90s, had shown the possible epicentre in Indonesia and Tsunami waves travelling to hit the Andaman and Nicobar Islands as well as the southern Indian coast. “Though this was no prediction of any sort, it just showed theoretically what would happen if an earthquake of high intensity in Indonesia triggered off a Tsunami,” he said. In view of reports of massive changes in coastline topography, island area shift and territorial gain, the Survey of India along with the National Institute of Oceanography, Goa and the Naval Hydrography wing had already begun ground surveys to verify data pertaining to this, Dr Saha said. “There are unconfirmed reports of land area changes and after the team undertakes an overall survey of the island beginning January 10, we will be in a position to find out if we need to make new maps for the Andaman and Nicobar Islands,” he said. — PTI
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Varsity ‘predicted’ earthquake
Chennai, January 5 Using the planetary configuration as methodology for studying the implications for earthquake predictions, the department had analysed earthquakes that occurred over the past 100 years, before it came out with the latest report. After inferring that planetary configurations triggered earthquakes, the department had checked and rechecked its predicted results in the past eight months and had achieved a success rate of 70 to 75 per cent. Giving details of the mind-boggling studies conducted by the department, Dr N. Rajeswara Rao, said, "The Indonesia earthquake, which measured 9.0 on the Richter scale, was actually predicted by the Madras University team with permissible error." The team, comprising Dr P. Periakali, Head of the Department, Dr K.K. Sharma and research scholar N. Venkatanathan, besides himself, however, could not expect the extent of damage it would cause to the Tamil Nadu coast, he said. "Since we expected that the magnitude to be around 7.0, we never anticipated the tsunami and the damage it would cause in the coastal areas," Dr Rao admitted. He said the department had predicted that the earthquake would occur on December 26, 2004, at 0.30 a.m. (GMT) with 3.54 N latitude and 97.17 E longitude, with epicentre at the coast of Banyak Island, Sumatra, and with a magnitude of around 6.0 to 7.0 on the Richter scale. — UNI
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Better preparations needed for tsunami like disasters
ON the morning of December 26, I was about to go for a swim when I looked out, a massive wave was roaring toward the shore - there were people on the beach - when suddenly the sea simply rose up and smashed into the land, carrying everything and everybody before it like toys.
I was actually witnessing the worst natural disaster in recent history, and was for the first time in my life confronted by the terrifying power of nature. My wife and I are lucky to be alive. The consequences have been appalling. We have all seen the terrible scenes on television, and I have seen many of them in Sri Lanka for myself. Hundreds of foreign holidaymakers have died as well - a dreadful tragedy, but one which has brought the people of their home countries together with the people of South Asia in a sense of shared suffering and determination. Determination - not to prevent natural disasters, for that is beyond our power - but to make sure that when the next one happens, as it surely will, we are much better prepared. First there is the question of warning. Hurricanes and floods can be predicted, and though it may not be possible to predict major earthquakes far in advance, everybody knows about them very quickly when they do happen. How can it be that in the age of non-stop international television, and with radios and mobile phones in the remotest villages, warning of the approaching killer waves did not get to the people in time to save their lives? It took four hours for the waves to reach Sri Lanka but nobody was warned in time. All the governments of the countries affected knew or ought to have known that a massive earthquake had occurred off Sumatra. They also knew or ought to have known that earthquakes in maritime areas cause killer waves. They did not need the Americans or the UN to tell them that their people were in mortal danger. In future, systems must be in place for properly authenticated warnings to reach the public broadcast media and the internet immediately - there is no time for warnings to be filtered through governments whose key people may be absent or asleep or incompetent. Nor should there be any possibility for warnings to be suppressed for fear of damaging the tourist or any other industry. The immediate burden of disaster relief will always fall upon local people, and in Sri Lanka the response from the areas near to but unaffected by the disaster, was magnificent. Even those in the affected areas did whatever they could before help arrived. However, there needs to be a disaster plan for each local-authority area, with basic information in place, so that people know what the warning signal is, as they did in Britain during the Blitz, and know in advance what to do. In tourist hotspots, hotel managers must be under a legal duty to inform their guests in advance. Next, there must be a basic civil defence system in place so that local people are able to take immediate action before help arrives. There is usually no shortage of able-bodied men in disaster areas, but more often than not they have no training, no organisation, and no equipment. A natural disaster will always place overwhelming demands on the medical services, and on the water, sewage, electricity and transport systems. No country can keep adequate stocks of medical supplies and other equipment lying around - perhaps for years - until required, so national and international systems are needed to ensure that the location of supplies and equipment can be quickly identified and accessed, even in the middle of the night or on Christmas Day, with a transport plan to get them where they can do the most good. The big pharmaceutical companies and distribution companies need to be fully involved in the planning, and local people need training in basic medical care so they are not wholly dependent on professionals in the first hours of the aftermath. Much of this planning can be done at national level, with technical and financial help from outside, but we also need effective planning at regional level, co-ordinated by the United Nations. Independent inquiries are needed in each of the affected countries to find out what systems were in place and whether they were effective. The UN should then convene its own inquiry, and set up a specialist disaster-planning organisation. Natural disasters undo all the good work done with the aid budgets of many years, and aid donors such as the EU need to give careful thought to these issues. As a Co-ordinator on the Development Committee of the European Parliament, I intend to see that action is taken as a matter of priority as soon as I can get back to Brussels.
— By arrangement with The Independent, London |
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Convicts offer to donate blood
Dehra Dun, January 5 In a bid to contribute their bit in the relief operations, the jail inmates, including women, have written to the jail in charge in this regard. The 280 convicts have decided to forgo a day’s meal so that the rations can be directed towards the tsunami victims. According to the jail in charge, Mr B.P. Pandey, he had received a consent letter from the convicts and the request has been forwarded to the district administration. Once the administration gives a go-ahead, the wish can be materialised, he said. Besides the convicts, employees from all jails in the state have also decided to collect financial help and send it for the relief operations, officials said. |
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Dalits allege discrimination in relief
Nagapattinam, January 5 Thousands of Dalits were affected by the killer tidal waves and many of their habitations on the Tamil Nadu coastline washed away in the disaster that struck South and South-East Asia on that fateful day. Most of the affected Dalits complain that the fishermen, who are very vocal, block relief from reaching them. Some of the NGOs engaged in relief work concur with this viewpoint. There are also complaints of segregation in the relief camps and of appropriation of the provisions by some sections. Thousands of Dalits affected by the calamity are staying in separate camps where basic amenities are lacking. Like the fishermen, who bore the brunt of the tragedy, the Dalits too have been dispossessed and left without any work, with life coming to a standstill along the coast. However, they are being deprived of their due share of the relief materials, Mr S Karuppaiah of the HRFDL, an NGO engaged in providing relief, said. District Collector Veera Shanmughamani admitted there were problems at some of the relief centres, but said they should not be blown out of proportion. In order to avert division on caste lines and to facilitate relief distribution, affected people of a particular area have been asked to move out to the centres notified for them, he added. After an extensive tour of the affected regions for the past one week, Mr Karuppaiah alleged that the fishermen were not allowing the Dalits to erect shelters even on government waste land where they have settled down now. The situation at Kayalpattinam, near Tharangampadi, would substantiate the charges, he added. He agreed that Dalits had not suffered immense loss of life like the fishermen community, but pointed out that they too had lost their houses and whatever little property they had. Even after the third visit by Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa to this town last week, when she inaugurated supply of the standard relief package, help is yet to reach a vast majority of the victims with the government machinery remaining confused and paralysed in the initial days. Officials readily agree that the NGOs have surpassed the government in extending relief to the people. — UNI
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UPA panel on Telengana New Delhi, January 5 The other members of the team are Union ministers Raghuvansh Prasad Singh (RJD) and Dayanidhi Maran (DMK). The team will submit its report to the UPA chairperson, Mrs Sonia Gandhi, within eight weeks. The constitution of this team is in keeping with the promise made in the UPA Common Minimum Programme. This commitment was considered at the November 26 meeting of the UPA coordination committee where it was decided to set up such a high-level team. However, it has taken the UPA over six weeks to finalise the names. Mr Mukherjee had also headed the Congress party’s internal committee on small states which had recommended that the second states reorganisation commission should be set up to look into this issue in detail. But after the Congress entered into an alliance with the Telengana Rashtriya Samiti (TRS), it was forced to take an exceptional view vis-a-vis Telengana and it found a special mention in the CMP. |
NSCN (IM) camp for drug addicts
Jalukie (Nagaland), January 5 Initiated by Mr David Lungalang, who is a tatar (parliamentarian) in the NSCN(IM) hierarchy, the no-nonsense rehabilitation programme is appropriately called “salvage operation”. A bumpy 3-km drive from this small town of Jalukie, located right at the base of two lush green hills, leads to the cluster of huts in which the addicts stay.
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International Punjabi Council to adopt tsunami-hit kids
New Delhi, January 5 “We will help them rebuild their lives,” ICP chief Manjit Singh said in a statement, adding “There is an urgent need to raise funds for this humanitarian cause.” The council also decided to send a truckload of medicines to the tsunami-hit Indian coastline. |
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Protest against patent ordinance
New Delhi, January 5 The president of CITU Mr M.K. Pandhe, said the proposed legislation, likely to come up in the next Budget Session, would ‘’spell a disaster’’ for the country’s industrial and agricultural sector. He said the Left organisations would stage a ‘’massive demonstration’’ to voice their protest on the second day of the session next month. Criticising the UPA government for “ignoring the country’s interests,” the speakers at the demonstration alleged that the change in the present patent regime Besides the CITU, the other bodies which participated in the demonstration were UTUC, UCC and the AICCTU, the Students Federation of India (SFI), Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) and the All India Kisan Sabha.
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Hard bargaining for seats in Jharkhand
New Delhi, January 5 The Congress, for instance, has staked claim on 50-55 seats. The national executive of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) recently passed a resolution that it will contest 45 seats in next month’s elections. And the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) has demanded 30 seats. In addition, the Left parties have also pitched in with their demand. As formal seat-sharing negotiations between the Congress and the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) got under way today, the negotiaters were faced with the long and arduous task of accommodating these tall and, in most cases, exaggerated demands. JMM leader Shibu Soren along with the Congress team comprising Arjun Singh, M.L. Fotedar, L.P. Sahi and Harikesh Bahadur were sitting late tonight as they began serious bargaining over each seat. These deliberations were preceded by an internal meeting of Congress leaders, which included the state MPs, Jharkhand PCC chief and CLP leader along with AICC leaders Harikesh Bahadur and R.P.N. Singh. Mr Singh said they had identified the constituencies where the Congress is in a winning position but refused to divulge the number of such seats. Notwithstanding the public posturing, both the Congress and the JMM realise these are unrealistic claims and that that they will have to meet each other midway. The Congress, however, has to ensure that it gets a substantial share of seats so that it is not marginalised and remains a dominant force in the state. At the same time, it has necessarily to accommodate the JMM, the RJD and the Left parties. Consequently, the Congress’s objective is to contest as many, if not more, seats as the JMM. The Congress is basing its claims on the fact that it is far better placed this time as compared to the previous poll when it won 11 seats in undivided Bihar. Its leaders claim that after the formation of the UPA Government, the Congress graph is on the rise this time round while the BJP government in Jharkhand is weighed down by the anti-incumbency factor. Even as negotiations got under way today, the Congress and the JMM are also jostling for the Chief Minister’s post in Jharkhand. Both parties publicly maintain that the chief ministership issue will be decided after the election but privately state that they are the best claimants for this post. JMM leader Shibu Soren has said the Chief Minister issue is wide open. At the same time, he made a pointed reference to the JMM’s battle for the creation of a separate state of Jharkhand, a factor which could not be overlooked when the question of leadership is to be decided. This sentiment is reciprocated by the Congress. Its leaders maintain that the Congress too had contributed to the creation of Jharkhand. Playing down the controversy over the Chief Minister’s post, Mr R.P.N. Singh, AICC secretary in charge of Jharkhand, said as much, adding, “Our first aim is to remove the corrupt and communal forces from Jharkhand”.
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Minister protests permission denial
Lucknow, January 5 Mr Khan said he received a fax message yesterday signed by Mr R. Raghunathan, an Under Secretary in the coordination section of the Ministry of External Affairs, stating that he could visit Mecca in his capacity as the Chairman of the Haj Committee due to a “political angle”. In his protest to the Union Minister for External Affairs, Mr Natwar Singh, Mr Khan has sought to know the grounds on which he had been denied permission. A visibly hurt Mr Khan has queried from the central minister if his name was on the list of wanted criminals, gangsters or was he a defaulter of any sort.
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‘Mughal-e-Azam’ sparks off craze for Mughal-era jewellery
New Delhi, January 5 “When 'Devdas' came, consumers suddenly started demanding the designs worn by Paro and Chandramukhi. So, it is no wonder that the designs showcased in 'Mughal-e-Azam' are suddenly in demand,” says G S Pillai, Director, Gold Souk. “Mughal jewellery is known for its beautiful designing, colour combinations, arrangement, enamelling and engraving,” says Varun Arora of Orra, the official jewellery consultant for the new 'Mughal-e-Azam'. “When the Nizam’s jewellery was put on show, people for the first time probably came to know of what designs had existed then and many designers took inspiration from that. However, now with the masses watching the movie, everyone wants to own a Mughal era set,” says Arora. Arora recalls it was very difficult to identify the setting of stones and especially their colours. The jewellery for the movie was originally designed by craftsmen from Hyderabad. Mughal-era designs were basically extravagant jewellery pieces made for royalty, the subject being birds, creepers, flowers and foliage. Colours and motifs were the cornerstone of these collections, says Anuradha Chhabra, a designer. She says while the trend for antique jewellery has been there for a year now, all of a sudden people want Mughal style polki and kundan sets made of 24 ct gold, with a lot of precious and semi-precious stones, heavy bangles, armlets and jhoomers. Pearls, rubies, sapphires and emeralds complement the look. Diamonds too are set with lot of coloured gems both in yellow and white gold, Chhabra says. These are not just being demanded by higher-income groups but also by the middle class, says Chhabra. “As a result, the designs normally start from 100 gram. Those in the range of 400-500 gm are also common, but there is also demand for those weighing 1 kg or more,” says Jatin Mehra another jewellers. Also in demand are tikkas, rani-haars, matha tikka and matha patti, says Mehra adding, the trend has also been sparked by recent elite weddings. The designers are gleaning through family heirlooms, photographs, books and even collections of erstwhile royalty to design jewellery for the ‘Mughal’ look, says Chhabra. PTI
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Activists’ bid to save Bharatpur Park
Jaipur, January 5 A task force has been set up to chalk out the agitation programme for the release of water to the park from Panchana Dam, Tourism and Wildlife Society of India (TWSI) honorary general secretary Harsh Vardhan said. The decision, taken at a meeting of the TWSI, rejected the government proposal for laying a pipeline from the Chambal river to the park, a Ramsar site. It was pointed out that though Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje had decided on September 6 to release water to the park from Panchana Dam, her initiative was thwarted. The park has been facing a severe water crisis for the past few months. Associations representing hotels, guides, advocates, doctors, builders, travel agents, students, teachers, retired forest officials, former judges, industry, mining and other citizen’s groups would be mobilised for different agitation programmes, Mr Vardhan said.
— UNI |
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Two CRPF jawans hurt in mine blast
Latehar (Jharkhand), January 5 The CRPF personnel had left their vehicles at a distance before setting out on an operation against the extremists. A landmine planted by the ultras exploded when two jawans and a civilian driver stepped on it, the police said. Immediately after the landmine explosions the CRPF men faced a hail of bullets fired by the Naxalites. The security men swiftly took positions and returned fire. The exchange of fire continued for an hour during which 300 rounds were fired, one of the injured jawans told newspersons at the hospital, where he was later admitted. The police said the Naxalites faced with the superior gun power beat a retreat but it was not known whether they suffered any casualty.
— PTI |
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