New Delhi, January 22
Former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam today advocated a three-pronged strategy to promote harmony and peace in the world. He was launching an Eastern initiative, the Global Foundation for Civilisational Harmony (India) here.

Kalam, while addressing the gathering of top religious leaders at the Chinmaya Mission Hall, said apart from spreading education with value system, all religions should transform themselves into a spiritual force while removing poverty to create a better society. Children up to the age of 17 years are the right candidates for value-based education to be imparted by mothers, fathers and the primary teachers, he said.

The former President said it was not difficult to transform all religions into a spiritual movement if their leaders sit together regularly and find ways to promote harmony and brotherhood. The pace of economic development in the country is likely to alleviate poverty by 2020, he added.

The Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, said in order to make the 21st century, an era of peace, values of truth, justice and compassion should be promoted. Though the 20th century was marked by violent incidents, humanity faced serious challenges such as population explosion, depleting natural resources and degrading ecology.

Dalai Lama said love, good karmas and secular ethics could help promote compassion among the people. “Anger, hatred, prejudice and fear are eating away into the vitals of the society,” he said, adding that the feelings of “I and me” create ego, which is responsible for self-centred attitude, narrowness, hatred and violence.

Earlier, Subhash Chandra, a trustee of the foundation and chairman of the Essel Group, said Asian cultures, particularly Indian civilisation, could contribute towards promoting dialogue to create harmony as it has the tradition of absorbing all cultures and civilisations of its conquerors. The vision of the foundation is to shift from the present civilisational paradigm centered on conflicts to the one of mutual understanding and harmony.

In his address, Akal Takht’s Jathedar Joginder Singh Vedanti also sought close and fraternal links among various religions.

Mumbai’s Archbishop Cardinal Oswal Gracias said the inter-religious dialogue should permeate to the grassroots level to promote understanding among the people of different faiths.

Rabbi Ezekiel Isaac Malekar, head of the Jewish community in Delhi, said India had been a safe sanctuary for the displaced Jews for the past 2,000 years. “While Israel is in our heart, India is in our blood,” the Rabbi said, adding that “we all are Indians first, then something else”.

In his concluding remarks, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, founder of Art of Living asked people to pledge to plant a tree, stop female foeticide and bring back the Naxal youth back to the national mainstream. He said differences were part of the nature but there was need to globalise the spiritual and secular wisdom to ensure a better living.

Yoga exponent Swami Ramdev, Chief of Deoband Islamic School Mahmood Ali Madani and Paramahamsa Nityananda also addressed the gathering which included people from all walks of life. Former Delhi Lieut-Governor Vijai Kapoor and former IB Director Ajit Doval were among the attendees.

New Delhi, January 22
India and the UK’s strategic partnership is all set to transcend their respective boundaries as they soon embark on poverty eradication projects in third countries. They are planning huge expansion in the Indian higher education sector. They have agreed on a major thrust on education and take several concrete steps in the education sector.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown signed a partnership to fight global poverty at the fourth India-UK Summit here yesterday. This partnership commits both governments to a series of joint actions to improve progress on the Millennium Development Goals, both in India and worldwide.

India and the UK will now work together in third countries where they both have a development interest. They will collaborate on improving the ability of the international system to reduce poverty and on international policies that affect the poor such as trade and climate change. This is in addition to the DFID’s development programme in India of £825 million over the next three years, announced by Prime Minister Gordon Brown on January 20.

The two countries have also decided to cooperate in a big way on such diverse things as infrastructure, scientific research and education. In infrastructure, New Delhi and London agreed to take forward proposals for the establishment of a capacity building programme in India for public-private partnership in infrastructure with the UK support.

Brown announced the opening of a new research council UK (RCUK) office in India. The RCUK office in India would be launched later this year. It would be located at the British High Commission in New Delhi.

Among the successful UK-India collaborations already underway is the Chandrayaan mission - India’s first mission to the moon. The UK’s Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) is building the primary instrument for this mission, an X ray camera, that will map the moon for minerals. This will provide part of the jigsaw that will help scientists discover the true origin of the moon.

The Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) is also engaged in many important partnerships with India and in 2006 launched a UK-India Partnering Award scheme to build long-term partnerships that should ultimately lead to new collaborative research programmes. Early awards include the development of novel targets for antibacterial agents against tuberculosis, computer-aided vaccine design and brassica oilseed crop improvement.

Other successful research council collaborations include joint partnerships on several international climate change programmes and a study between the Medical Research Council’s Cancer Cell Unit and the Kidwai Memorial Hospital Institute of Oncology to find transitional approaches to improving cancer screening and diagnosis.

In the field of education, the two countries are planning huge expansion in the Indian higher education sector that will increase the gross enrolment ratio by 5 percentage points. A range of Central government institutions of excellence, including eight new Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), seven new Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs), five Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research and 30 new Central universities will be established under this effort.

Hyderabad, January 22
The Andhra Pradesh police has filed a charge sheet in connection with the attack on Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen by Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) legislators here in August last year.

In the charge sheet filed at a city court yesterday, the police stated that city MIM legislators Muqtada Afsar Khan and Moazzam Khan and their supporters barged into the Press Club on August 9 last year, damaged the conference hall and attacked Nasreen and the club manager in the presence of several writers and journalists.

The attack took place when Nasreen was attending a book release function. The organisers of the function and journalists saved Nasreen from the attackers before the police arrived on the scene to escort her to the airport.

The police had arrested the two legislators and four others the same day. They were released on bail a few hours later. Two more party workers were held on December 8, while two other suspects are still evading police dragnet.

If convicted, the MLAs could face disqualification under the provisions of the Representation of the People Act.

The police booked the legislators and their supporters on charges of rioting, voluntarily causing hurt, damaging property, house-trespass, assault, criminal intimidation and unlawful assembly.

The police has examined and recorded the statements of 32 witnesses, including some organisers and some journalists who attended it.

The police produced video footage of various news channels and programme organisers, pictures clicked by press photographers and newspaper clippings as evidence against the suspects. 

New Delhi, January 22
Accusing the UPA government of keeping “shameful silence” on steps by Israel to cut off fuel supplies to Gaza Strip, the CPM said today it should call for an urgent session of the Security Council to discuss the matter.

“The UPA government should demand an end to the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip forthwith. It should call for an urgent Security Council session to discuss the matter,” the CPM said in a statement.

The party said the UPA government was keeping a shameful silence on the “criminal” blockade by Israel. “It is instead collaborating with Israel to enhance its military capability. The launch of an Israeli satellite TecSar from Sriharikota shows how India is aiding the military efforts of Israel. The satellite has a capability to track activities in Iran and the region,” the CPM said. Terming the blockade as violation of all international and humanitarian norms, the CPM said the United Nations should intervene and take steps to penalise Israel.

“Israel is treating 1.5 million people in Gaza worse than a colonial power,” the statement said.

Dehra Dun, January 22
To honour the acts of bravery and distinguished services of the officers and jawans of the Indian Army, Lt-Gen T.K. Sapru, General Officer Commanding-in-Chief (GOC-in-C), Western Command, presented gallantry and distinguished service awards to 19 military personnel at the investiture ceremony held at the Golden Key Auditorium, Clement Town, here today.

Complimenting the award winners for their acts of courage, bravery and distinguished service, the GOC presented eight Sena Medals for gallantry, an equal number of Sena Medals for devotion to duty and three Vishisht Sewa Medals (VSMs). Among the Sena Medals for gallantry, one medal was awarded posthumously to brave jawan grenadier Virender Singh, who laid down his life fighting terrorists. The medal was received by his wife Geeta Devi. Geeta Devi has been offered a job by Uttarakhand Purva Sainik Kalyan Nigam Limited.

Calling upon Army personnel to uphold the highest values of courage, integrity and professional honesty, which have always been the hallmark of the nation’s defence forces, Gen Sapru said it was imperative that these cherished values be maintained and raised to further heights. Since the common man looks upon the Army man as a symbol of courage and integrity, it was incumbent upon the forces to ensure that their faith was not let down.

Among others, who received the Sena Medals for gallantry, included Col Vinod Balakrishna Shrikhande, Lt-Col Pankaj Sawhney, Major Upendra Kumar Srivastava, Capt Bimlesh Kumar, Capt Mohiteshwar Thakur, N.K. Govind Singh and Havildar Darbar Singh. Those who received the Sena Medals for devotion to duty were Major-Gen Sanjeev Loomba, Brig Ashwini Kumar Bakshi, Brig Harminderjit Singh Sachdev, Brig Surya S. Daska, Brig Balbir Singh Pama, Col Subhash Chander Panwar, Col Ranjan Mahajan and Col Gajendra Joshi.

Among the three officers awarded VSMs were Brig Om Prakash Singh Pathania, Brig Shiv Darshan Dutta and Col Prabhjot Singh Mangat. The ceremony was attended by a large number of serving and retired officers of the Indian Army and the Air Force, civil dignitaries and families of the awardees.

Bangalore, January 22
A Kannada woman writer, known for her bold writing style, turned journalist, when she carried out a sting operation on an escort service resulting in the arrest of a gigolo by the Bangalore police.

Pratibha Nandakumar, a popular Kannada writer, decided to act on an advertisement in a leading national daily “Crazy escort and massage service and party get-together total entertainment”.

After informing the Bangalore police about her intentions, she gave a ring on the telephone number listed in the advertisement, which led to the arrest of the gigolo and his handler in a hotel room here yesterday.

On ringing the listed number, Nandakumar came in contact with a person, who identified himself as Paresh and assured her that gigolo services could be made available by him in any part of the country and even abroad. Paresh, who is allegedly based in Mumbai, even gave the woman the number of a contact man in Bangalore identified as Venkatesh.

Venkatesh agreed to drop in at a hotel room after due negotiations with Nandakumar along with the “required” gigolo. The woman took the gigolo identified as Balaji into the hotel room, which was then raided by a police team. The gigolo and Venkatesh were arrested.

The police seized the payment of Rs 2,500 made to Venkatesh for his services besides seizing Rs 21,000 and a mobile phone from Venkatesh. A Maruti car used by Balaji to reach the hotel was also seized.

According to the police, the gigolo and his handler immediately changed stories upon being caught by claiming that they had come to the hotel to conduct a property deal. But the gigolo had no answer as to what he was doing alone in the hotel room with the woman and soon broke down.

The police said the gigolo later told them that his company charged Rs 5,000 per hour for his services and that the company received Rs 10,000 for a one-night stand.

As far as the woman writer was concerned, she immediately started getting calls from another contact person in Bangalore, who urged her to tell, which police party had come to make the arrests and demanded to speak to the police personnel.

The man claimed proximity to police officials and tried to intimidate the writer, who had given the telephone number to the police. A case has been registered in this regard.

Bhubaneswar, January 22
The Orissa government today raised the compensation amount for the riot-affected people of Kandhamal district, whose houses were damaged during the recent communal clash.

Official sources here said the government increased the compensation from Rs 40,000 to Rs 50,000 for those whose houses were completely damaged during the communal clash.

The government, the sources said, also announced to provide Rs 2 lakh for reconstruction to each of the educational institutions, hostels and hospitals damaged during the clash.

Earlier, the government had announced a compensation of Rs 1 lakh from the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund to the kins of each of the three persons killed in the communal clash.

The government had also provided polythene, blankets, sarees, dhotis, utensils and opened free kitchens to provide food to the riot victims for a period of three months.

As many as three persons were killed and thousands of houses and places of worship belonging to both Hindus and Christians damaged in the riot. — UNI