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600 ultras waiting to cross LoC
OBC quota is fine, but where are the teachers?
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Vacant posts at PGI, AIIMS
Maharashtra proposes Sea World in
Sindhudurg
House panel picks holes in foodgrain management
Karuna accuses PMK of scuttling industrialisation
Janata Party leader to oppose Nalini’s petition for release
Poll officials told to keep watch on candidates’ expenses
BJP seeks ban on pre-poll surveys
N-Deal
Govt nod to IIT fee hike
Notice to Uttarakhand’s political bigwigs
Remark on food habits
16 die on Mumbai-Pune Expressway
16 killed in Orissa
Recognition to Bhojpuri
Video games can mislead young minds, say experts
Devotees throng Hardwar for Amavasya
Uttarakhand to deploy tourist police
Infosys HR boss tops Co director’s pay list
16-yr girl abandons baby after giving birth in toilet
Police not to take action against Mallika
British Gas to invest $1 b in India
Stray-dog menace in Dehra Dun
Partially blind youth gets call from 3 IIMs
23 mediapersons honoured
Man ‘lynched’ for rape bid
Two shot dead over Rs 200
Uttarakhand CM’s effigy burnt
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Nandigram erupts again, 400 displaced
Kolkata /Nandigram May 4 Official sources said, the displaced villagers had been sheltered in two relief camps near the BDO office in Nandigram and adjacent Maheshpur for the past few days. They had come from Sonachura and Garchakrabaria villages. The police said two groups of the rival political parties lashed with bombs at Sonachura this morning, but no one was injured. Senior Congress leader and information and broadcasting minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi today accused the West Bengal Government of being responsible for the current violence in Nandigram and said it had made the CRPF “inactive” in the area, Dashmunshi said at a meeting of party workers at Nandakumar, about 40 km from here. Meanwhile, Dasmunshi today openly campaigned for the Trinamool Congress as an alternative to the Congress candidates in the panchayat poll against the CPM in those places, where the Congress did not have much winning prospect. He wanted that the Trinamool Congress and other anti-CPM parties should also take the same electoral stand for the larger interests of all these parties and the people of the state. He was talking to mediapersons at the Calcutta Press Club at “meet the press session” in the morning, where he answered the questions raised relating to the UPA-left parties relations, the state’s panchayat poll vis-à-vis the Trinamool Congress’ policy of “fighting the elections alone” (akla chlo niti). Dasmunhsi said their purpose was to defeat the CPM in the panchayat poll and subsequently in the Lok Sabha and assembly elections and bring the Congress back to power along with other anti-CPM secular parties by making an end to the CPM’s prolonged misrule of 33 yeas in Bengal. He said the CPM might have supported them at the Centre but it was not certainly because of their love for the Congress but for the CPM’s own political interests for preventing the BJP from coming to power. Dasmunshi said the Congress would not make any compromise with the CPM in the panchayat poll and subsequently the Lok Sabha and assembly elections. Mamata, however, criticised that Dasmunshi was misleading the people on the eve of the elections only to help the CPM to once again come to power and that was why he did not respond to her call for joining the democratic front. Mamata claimed she had specific information that the Congress had already signed a pact with the CPM for defeating the TMC and other anti-CPM parties and accordingly, they made some seat adjustments in the poll. The CPM leader Biman Bose and Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, however, did not give much importance to Dasmunhsi’s campaign But the Chief Minister was glad that Dasmunshi had agreed to co-operate with the state government in solving the on-going Darjeeling problems.
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600 ultras waiting to cross LoC
New Delhi, May 4 The Army has pulled out a few units from the valley and stationed them at the LoC to curb any attempts by militants to enter India. This is part of the new method the Army and security agencies will be adopting to tackle militants, for whom the polls could be a rallying point. Jehadi groups have already announced that they will attempt to disrupt the polls, while an “anti-India” rhetoric can be fanned with vigour if the number of militants increases in the valley. Polls in the troubled state are scheduled to be held in October. The last elections held in the state were praised by international observers for being free and fair. The ongoing summer months are the preferred time for attempting an entry into India through the high mountain passes when the snow melts. Rising temperatures have meant the snow in the high mountain passes has melted faster than before. Sources in the South Block told The Tribune that this matter was also discussed during the half-yearly Army Commanders conference that concluded in the national capital on Friday. The focus on militancy was also necessitated as reports have been coming in that the 742-km-long fence at the LoC had submerged under snow at many places. The fence has been damaged and in April alone there were about 14 bids to cross over into India. Though Pakistan has a democratically-elected government in place, security agencies believe that militants are out of its control. The resurgence of the Taliban in Afghanistan and its possible impact on militant groups operating in Jammu and Kashmir is also not being ruled out. Militants are at places in POK that are referred to as “launching pads” in security parlance. There 18 such launching pads, a source added. There are said to be 26 militant training camps, including 21 along the LoC and four along the international border, in Pakistan where armed militia-men are trained.
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OBC quota is fine, but where are the teachers?
New Delhi, May 4 A major hurdle in the path of government’s “ambitious quota roll-out” from the current session will be posed by the vacant teaching positions in the existing central universities and institutions. Out of the 8,723 sanctioned teaching posts in the 24 central institutions in India, almost 20 per cent -- 1707 -- are vacant. Considering 30 central universities are proposed to be set up in 2008-2009 and they will all have to make arrangements to reserve 27 per cent seats for OBCs, the reigning issue of teachers’ vacancies may emerge as “the big irritant” to the quota plan, unless addressed effectively. The irritant has been surfacing year after year, with the parliamentary standing committee on human resource development yet again stressing the point in its 207th report submitted to the Parliament on April 17. The committee noted: “The problem of large number of vacancies particularly in teaching positions of the central universities has been engaging the attention of the committee for a long time”. The department of higher education, for its part, says it can’t do much about the problem as teachers’ recruitment is done through the executive councils of universities. The department has been saying that the only measure the central government can take is superannuation of the age of teachers in its universities from 62 to 65 years - a proposal the committee does not take very lightly to as it would block employment opportunities at entry-level. The committee has said this measure must only be adopted temporarily. As for vacancies - the committee had hammered the point in its 172nd report on University and Higher Education as also in the subsequent 193rd and 202nd reports on Demands for Grants for 2007-2008. It had called upon the government to ensure that vacant positions were filled up at the earliest. The progress has, however, not been satisfactory - a fact noted by the committee in its latest report. What’s more - several posts of teachers had to be re-advertised because suitable candidates could not be found. This happened in cases of the Assam University, University of Hyderabad, North-Eastern Hill University, Mahatma Gandhi Antarrashtriya Vishvavidyalaya, Tripura, Pondicherry and Nagaland Universities. “The most surprising fact about the newly-created university of Allahbad was that the information with respect to teachers’ vacancies was not available either with the UGC or the department,” observes the committee, voicing its apprehensions on how the government was going to manage the teaching positions in the 30 central universities proposed to be set up this year.
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Vacant posts at
PGI, AIIMS
New Delhi, May 4 The 27th report of the Committee on Demands for Grants of the Department of Health and Family Welfare was presented to the Rajya Sabha on April 30. It was tabled in the Lok Sabha the same day.While pointing out that 15 per cent of the 6,477 sanctioned posts in the PGI are vacant, the committee chaired by Rajya Sabha member Amar Singh has warned that “vacancies in a premier medical educational institute like
PGIMER, Chandigarh, will affect the quality of medical professionals passing out from there.” Voicing similar concern over the large number of vacancies in
AIIMS, the committee has warned that this would affect the quality of services rendered by the institute. After examining the status of sanctioned medical and para-medical posts and vacancies in AIIMS, the committee has drawn attention to 165 vacancies against the sanctioned strength of 620 for faculty (Group A) and 48 vacancies against the sanctioned strength of 304 in Group A of the non-faculty category. Apart from these, there are 160 vacancies in Group B, 1,164 vacancies in Group C and 363 vacancies in Group D in the non-faculty category. The committee has also urged the PGI to augment the staff strength by providing better perks/salary and incentives along with conducive working environment. The same advice holds good for
AIIMS. The committee has said the exodus of faculty members/doctors and nurses, from the nation’s premier medical institute, are a cause of serious concern. citing figures, the report points out that 40 doctors and 580 nurses left AIIMS between 2003 and 2008. While six faculty/doctors left AIIMS in 2003, 11 left in 2007. The number of nurses who left AIIMS in 2003 was 73 and rose to 160 in 2007. The committee has suggested urgent measures to ensure an ideal working environment for young talented doctors along with all incentives comparable to those enjoyed by private-sector doctors. It has suggested some policy or enactment to minimise the exodus of doctors and nurses from the institute.
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Maharashtra proposes Sea World in
Sindhudurg
Kankavli, May 4 Sarang Kulkarni, Marine Biologist and consultant to Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC) has prepared a concept paper for the ambitious Rs 700 crore project for which 45-acre land has already been identified. “The master plan will take one to two years as it has to be foolproof before the actual implementation begins,” Kulkarni told PTI. “The Sea World will have the longest tunnel in the world and will showcase Konkan’s rich marine life through it. It will also have the world’s largest water quantity which is about ten million gallons,” Kulkarni said, adding that he has held consultations with the state government in taking the project forward. Sindhudurg was declared ‘tourism district’ in 1997. “But a declaration will not attract tourists. The need of the hour is to market the district’s beaches, backwaters, forest/wildlife,” he said. States like Goa and Kerala have been marketing same products and have been very successful at it, he said. Kulkarni said attempts have been made to create a sea world in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Goa. “But I have seen their project papers and found many lacunae in it. Our concept paper is better and I am confident that it will be a profitable venture,” Kulkarni said. Sea World will be feasible in Sindhudurg and will provide unique means to access marine environment. “The hidden wonders of the ocean are revealed through diverse and exciting exhibits. Sea world has the power to create awareness of marine conservation and make citizens proud of our ocean heritage,” he added. He said the project will have value added services like amusement park and entertainment-cum-tourism city. Other facilities planned include lagoons having snorkeling facility with shallow water rich marine life, scuba diving facility in the Arabian Sea, discovery pool which comprises exclusive facility for underwater movie and documentary shootings, Tropical Island, which will have underwater hall for special events, Blue Planet, a special underwater hotel and a kids interactive programme. “Investors are showing interest after going through the concept paper. I have begun work on the master plan and if everything goes well, Sindhudurg should have its own sea world by 2013-14,” he added. On sea world in the other parts of the world, Kulkarni said every state in the US has more than two sea worlds, the European Union alone has more than 140 sea worlds. Asia Pacific countries such as Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Australia also have their own sea worlds.
— PTI
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House panel picks holes in foodgrain management
New Delhi, May 4 Taking serious view of shortcomings and irregularities in the existing system, it said multiple agencies involved in procuring, storing, distributing and selling commodities as well as those formulating policies on the operations of the PDS include a range of Central and state authorities that have created overlapping lines of accountability, resulting in distortions in the delivery system. Calling for a complete revamping of the PDS for better monitoring and accountability, it said lack of this was affecting potential for follow-up action in cases of investigation and enforcement action against observed cases of irregularities. The Public Accounts Committee report on Parliamentary audit, conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of the system for management of food in the country, clearly said the vigilance division of the Food Corporation of India and the Vigilance Committee means to oversee the targeted public distribution system (TPDS) was almost non-functional. The committee, headed by MP Vijay Kumar Malhotra, examined the management of foodgrain involving aspects of efficiency in system of procurement, economy in storage and movement operations and effectiveness of distribution arrangements of the government. In the report tabled in Parliament recently, it emphasised that delivery mechanism be streamlined and better coordination ensured among different agencies involved so that accountability could be established. Expressing apprehension that if price rise was not controlled, the number of persons in the below poverty line (BPL) category may swell to alarming proportion. While the committee recommended the vigilance committee of the PDS to be strengthened and made operational for better enforcement, it also called for effective counter-measures for rampant diversion of foodgrain. “Rampant diversion and leakage of foodgrains to the open market from the TPDS was a menace that needed to be checked on top priority. Therefore the enforcement wing and anti-hoarding of the TPDS should be strengthened, people engaged in the operation of the system be made accountable,” it added. “Inspection parties acting as flying squads be constituted to inspect the movement and distribution of foodgrains. Instances of malpractices ought to be dealt with firmly and severely,” the committee said, recommending that IT be put to use for providing end-to-end automated system for bringing about transparency in the distribution. The vast price difference between essential commodities made available through PDS and ones in open market would inevitably increase chances of pilferage and diversion, thereby compounding the problem further. The government has therefore been asked to take prompt and effective measures to control price rise, including deterrent action against hoarders, if necessary by amending the Essential Commodities Act and imposing a ban on futures trading in essential commodities.
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Karuna accuses PMK of scuttling industrialisation
Chennai, May 4 Karunanidhi said his government, in the past two years, had helped to provide employment to 37,499 persons in the industrial section and 1,26,610 in the IT sector, braving all odds. The Chief Minister said the government, after coming to power in May 2006, had signed MoUs with 13 companies, of which six had commenced production and six others have started civil work. He said on one hand Ramadoss wanted industrialisation and generation of employment but on the other hand he creating hurdles whenever the government wanted to create SEZs or help set up industries. The Chief Minister asked, “How could it be possible for the government to start industries and provide employment to the youths, if the PMK leader opposed the creation of SEZs in the city and allowing Tatas, Kishores and Guhas to set up industries in the state?” He pointed out that when the government desired to start industries in the backward Tuticorin district and create a SEZ in Hosur, Ramadoss had opposed them.
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Janata Party leader to oppose Nalini’s petition for release
Mumbai, May 4 Swamy accused the DMK-led government in Tamil Nadu of being “pro-LTTE” and said he himself would fight against it in the court. He alleged Congress president Sonia Gandhi was supporting the education of daughter of Nalini through the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation. Swamy alleged Sonia Gandhi was supporting the education of daughter of LTTE activist Nalini Sriharan, serving death sentence in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case. The Rajiv Gandhi Foundation, headed by Sonia Gandhi, was funding Nalini’s daughter’s higher education, Swamy alleged. “Sonia had also congratulated Nalini’s child for passing the examinations which is equivalent to SSC,” Swamy told PTI. On the High Court’s notice to the Tamil Nadu government on Nalini’s ‘mercy petition’ for her release from prison, Swamy said the DMK-led government was pro-LTTE and he himself will fight against it in the court. Nalini had also sent a telegram to Gandhi, wishing her speedy recovery, when she was hospitalised recently, Swamy said. “I shall also make Sonia and her daughter Priyanka Vadra, as respondents, as their Italian family including Ottavio
Quattrocchi, have maintained commercial relations with LTTE through the latter’s Milan and Palermo offices in Italy,” the former union
minister said. Priyanka met Nalini at the Vellore prison on March 19. Nalini was sentenced to death along with her husband Murugan and two others, stated to be activists of the
LTTE. Her sentence was later commuted to life term after Sonia Gandhi intervened. — PTI
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Poll officials told to keep watch on candidates’ expenses
New Delhi, May 4 “During the campaign phase, there is large-scale mass procurement and movement of campaign material such as flags and banners. Such expenditure may go unaccounted, unless specifically monitored,” the EC said in its letter to the chief electoral officer of the state. The commission has directed that each candidate shall give details about the purchase of campaign material in the Indent Letter format available with the returning officer, district election officer and the CEO. The details should include the description, quantity, price, source and destination of the campaign material along with an indicative date of transportation of such package, the EC said. If the political party procures campaigning material for distribution to candidates, then the concerned party could apply to the concerned DEO or with CEO with the relevant details, it said.
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BJP seeks ban on pre-poll surveys
Udupi:
Stung by the Election Commission’s deleting a reference to price rise issue in the BJP TV campaign for the Karnataka assembly poll, the party today asked the poll watchdog to ban all pre-poll surveys.
Former Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa said today he would soon write a letter to the EC seeking a ban on pre-poll media surveys. Speaking to reporters here, he described as “totally biased and baseless” a recent pre-poll survey by a national television channel that projected the Congress winning the poll. Another channel also planned to come out with a survey. “For whose favour are these surveys?”, he said. Yedddyurappa said he had been touring the state extensively in the past two months and claimed the response from people all over the state was “overwhelming and much above BJP’s expectations”. “Our party will definitely get a majority of seats in the state and form the government. The people need not have to bother or give any credence to all such pre-poll predictions”, he said.
— PTI
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N-Deal
New Delhi, May 4 The meeting also assumes significance as it comes close on the heels of the statement of US President George Bush blaming India’s growing demand for the spiralling global food prices. This will be the eighth meeting of the political mechanism that was constituted by the Congress-led Manmohan Singh government an year ago to sort out the differences on the deal with the Left parties, which provide the crucial prop to the government from outside. The Committee last met on March 17 when the government shared with Left the details of the draft safeguards agreement reached with IAEA in February this year. Today’s meeting is expected to deliberate whether or not India should sign the IAEA safeguards agreement. The signing of the IAEA safeguards agreement and clearance from the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) are essential ahead of the signing of the 123 agreement with the United States to operationalise the nuclear deal. At the last meeting, the Left parties had conveyed that they would study the agreement and spell out their position at the next meeting. CPM sources said the Left would seek more clarifications from the government on May 6. The government has already indicated that it might concede the demand of the Left parties to seek the sense of Parliament before signing the deal.
— UNI
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New Delhi, May 4 Human resource development minister Arjun Singh, who is also the chairperson of the IITs’ Council, cleared the fee hike yesterday. The new fees structure would become effective from the new academic session, the official said. The annual fees have been raised from Rs 25,000 to Rs 50,000 for B.Tech. and M.Tech. courses on the recommendations of the C.N.R. Rao Committee, constituted by the IIT management. Despite doubling the fees, the IITs would be spending about Rs 1,50,000 on every student annually, the official said. An official notification would be sent to all seven IITs, apprising them of the government’s approval of the fee hike. The seven IITs, at Kharagpur, Mumbai, Chennai, Delhi, Kanpur, Guwahati and Roorkee, wanted to hike fees after some of the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) made a similar move. The IITs last raised their fees in 1998 and their managements were complaining of inadequate funds. — IANS
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Notice to Uttarakhand’s political bigwigs
Dehradun, May 4 Earlier, during past couple of months, the high court had issued show cause notices to two MLA’s for allegedly indulging in unlawful activity. Now, with the high court asking Bhatt, the state minister and MLA of the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (UKKD), to file reply pertaining to a case of allegedly establishing illegal possession of over 2,200 square yards of land in Haridwar; four cases had come to light, wherein high court had taken strong notice of offence alleged committed by political bigwigs. The first incident was reported in March, wherein the high court took suo motto and issued show cause notice to Uttarakhand water sources and irrigation minister Matbar Singh Kandari for allegedly “protecting” a defaulter from the revenue officials. Thereafter the BJP MLA from Bajpur (Udham Singh Nagar) constituency Arvind Pandey was also issued a show cause notice by the high court on charges of allegedly getting released an accused from the police custody using his political influence. Besides, Gadarpur (Udham Singh Nagar) MLA Premanand Mahajan of the BSP was also directed by the Nainital High Court to file a reply for allegedly indulging in similar act of getting an alleged accused released from the police. Now, with high court issuing notice to Bhatt, it becomes clear that the court is very seriously taking cognisance of any alleged act of “omission and commission” by politicians. Meanwhile, in the latest case, entertaining the PIL against Bhatt; the division Bench of the high court comprising Chief Justice V.K.Gupta and Justice J.C.S.Rawat had directed Bhatt to file a reply in the form of an affidavit in four weeks. However, it is learnt that Bhatt had filed a caveat in the high court in this regard.
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Remark on food habits
New Delhi, May 4 “Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has truly proved that he is the PM on deputation and is just taking responsibilities like one does during deputation period,” Naqvi added. He also said “as Prime Minister, it was Dr Singh’s duty to uphold the national pride at any cost and he should make a strong statement on the comment of US President on Indian eating habits.” “There are 350 million people in India who are classified as middle class. Their middle class is larger than our entire population. And when you start getting wealth, you start demanding better nutrition and better food. And so demand is high, and that causes the price to go up,” the US President said during a visit to World Wide Technology, Inc. in Missouri. While commenting on the economy, President Bush said an increase in demand worldwide had led to “prosperity in the developing world, which is good.” “It’s going to be good for you because you’ll be selling products to countries, big countries perhaps, and it’s hard to sell products into countries that aren’t prosperous. In other words, the more prosperous the world is, the more opportunity there is. It also, however, increases demand,” Bush added. Thiruvananthapuram: Defence Minister A.K Antony today termed US President Bush’s statement as a “cruel joke”. Large scale conversion of agriculture land for commercial and bio-fuel cultivation purposes has resulted in food shortage at the global level, Antony told reporters here. “Policies of USA were also responsible for foodgrain shortage,” he said. The countries, including the USA, should rectify their mistakes, he said. It was true that the production of rice and wheat have come down in the country resulting in shortage of these items, Antony said on the sidelines of a convention here. Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacherjee also lashed out at US President saying “he has gone out of his mind as his downfall is near.” “It is preposterous for anyone to say that global food crisis, including in the USA, is because of Indians. It is needless to say what the Indians get to eat or what they (Americans) eat. This only shows how he has lost his senses,” Bhattacherjee, a CPI(M) Politburo member, told a Bengali news channel. — UNI/PTI
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16 die on Mumbai-Pune Expressway
Mumbai, May 4 The mishap occurred this morning at Shedung village near Panvel shortly before the route opened into Mumbai, the police said. Five others were injured in the accident. According to the police, the impact of the crash was so intense that the Land Cruiser was smashed. Vehicles are not allowed to stop on the expressway nor are they allowed to slow down suddenly. The Land Cruiser was overloaded and was carrying more people than its actual capacity. The victims were from Chavneshwar village in Satara district, the police said. So far only 13 of the victims have been identified. Their names have been given as Sunanda Yashwant More (32), Bhai Surender Shere (1), Sail Lakshman Shere (15), Shankuntala Dagdu Sakbol (15), Gangubai Ganganamse (52), Lakshman Sudam Shere (40), Vaishali Dayanand Shere (35), Sadashiv Shere (62), Shubhangi Lakshman Shere (40), Kalabai Sahebrao Gaikward (55), Raji Sunderbai Shere (35), Kanchan Sadashiv Shere (50) and Alka (45). The dead included the driver of the Land Cruiser. No arrests have been made so far, the police said.
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Bhubaneswar: At least 16 persons have died in the heat wave sweeping Orissa with the maximum temperature in several parts of the state crossing 44 degrees Celsius, officials here said Sunday. Titlagarh recorded 44 degrees, Sundergarh 44.4, and both Angul and Jharsuguda 44.1, an official of the Bhubaneswar meteorological office told IANS. The state government has received reports of at least 73 deaths due to sunstroke from different regions during this summer. — IANS
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Recognition to Bhojpuri
New Delhi, May 4 As per the existing provisions, candidates appearing for the civil services (mains) examination are allowed to write exams in any of the languages included in the Eighth Schedule. Faced with difficulties in conducting examinations in so many languages, the UPSC had, earlier, approached the government asking them to delink the Eighth Schedule languages from its scheme of examination. The decision on Bhojpuri and Rajasthani becoming a part of the Eighth Schedule, which has been pending for long, has now been deferred till the time the government takes a view on the UPSC’s request. The matter, however, is far from dead, with several MPs of the Lok Sabha supporting “due recognition” to the above-mentioned languages. Earlier, Prabhunath Singh of the JD-U tabled a calling attention motion on the subject in the Lok Sabha. In response to the motion last week, the government made a statement in the Lok Sabha.
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Book ‘Mission to Mars’ ticket, virtually
Ahmedabad, May 4 Along with the Hall of Space, the Hall of Science, another exhibit, which will also become open for public, will provide a hands-on experience to visitors and help learn science through a process of discovery. The leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, L K Advani will inagurate them and dedicate it to the country today evening. Both the halls, which are spread across 20,000 sq feet area were built at a cost of Rs 20 crore. It took a dedicated team of experts more than two years to complete the exhibition, which is the largest of its kind in the country. “This is for the first time in India that an exhibition on space and science of this magnitude has been set up which will allow the visitors to discover science themselves. They will turn the handles, press the buttons, look through peep holes, perform experiments and be amazed at their own capabilities of making things work,” said advisor to Gujarat Science City, Dr Saroj Ghose, who conceptualised the two halls. One of the major attractions in the Hall of Space is the ‘Mission to Mars’, which uses virtual reality and simulators to give an out of the world experience to the visitors. “The Mission to Mars is divided into two stages-the motion simulator and event simulator. The motion simulator makes you experience what an astronaut feels inside a space shuttle,” said Ghose. He said just like any other space mission, the ‘Mission to Mars’ would have the visitors seated in a space shuttle like simulator, where they will experience what an astronaut would feel during a mission. “The sequence will start with the take-off of the shuttle, which will then enter space orbit and go round the Earth, shoot out towards Venus for a gravity boost, zigzag through the asteroid belt, fly by Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, get trapped in a churning motion on the outer periphery of a massive Black Hole, escape and return back to land safely on Mars,” Ghose said. After landing, the visitors will walk on an artificially created Mars surface, enter into a Mars station and perform experiments to find traces of life on the planet before returning back to Earth, added Ghose.
— PTI
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Video games can mislead young minds, say experts
New Delhi, May 4 Targeting this huge market are software companies, who are now organising competitions for ‘gamers’, offering attractive prizes. What is worrying psychologists and intellectuals, however, is a trend to politicise the video games by introducing themes that can mislead the new generation. “Children are very much vulnerable as they easily start identifying themselves with the characters of these kind of video games. The games divert their delicate mindset in negative direction, which could be reflected in their emotional attitude and thought process in long run,” says Roma Kumar, psychiatrist at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital. A video game ‘Crysis’, by a US software company, shows US army fighting against North Korean army in order to take control over a colossal asteroid on an island. The story line of the video game ‘Crysis’, suggests the US army equipped with their futuristic and sophisticated weapons fight with the very low powered North Korean Army. However, later in the game, US and North Korean army unite to fight against the alien forces. ‘Crysis’ incidentally is one of the five games listed in a countrywide gaming championship organised later this month for the first time in India. The organisers claim the championship as a start of new era in Indian ‘Gaming’ scenario. “US and other western countries have long history of using media for propaganda. The only difference is that they keep changing the target and tools as per their strategic and diplomatic needs and interests,” says Arun Mohanty, a Professor of Russian studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University, commenting on the success of ‘Crysis’, the new video game launched last year and is said to have sales of over one million copies. “Its not new. The US has been using Hollywood and its mass access as a tool to spread their message against Russia across the globe during the cold war. “Now with the changing power equations in the world and the changed behavioural pattern of the new generation, the propaganda tools have also been changed, video game being the new one,” he says. “The new can generation easily get misguided through this new form of Information war across the boundaries in the form of entertainment,” he adds terming these things as the negative side of the IT revolution. But some experts see nothing wrong in it. They advocate the concept for its soothing affect on the post-9/11 trauma of the American people. “It only boosts up the confidence of the people, who had started being sceptical about their security after 9/11 episode. The concept suggest that American people are very much secure and their military is capable enough to fight any opponent including the so called ‘untrustworthy’ countries and alien forces howsoever strong,” says an expert on US and International relation. Software developers deny of any such ideas in conceptualising the game and dismiss any suggestion of involvement in propagating any particular message. “We are entertainment providers not politicians and it’s none of our business to involve in the international relation or foreign policies in our professional life,” says Yashdeep Bali, marketing manager of the EA Games, the company involved in distribution and promotion of the game in India. “It’s only a coincidence that the two sides in this fighting video game has been named as USA and North Korea. Our only motive is to innovate the concepts to provide more ‘fun’ and ‘excitement’, so that gaming becomes more adventurous to the passionate gamers worldwide,” he adds.
— PTI
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Devotees throng Hardwar for Amavasya
Hardwar, May 4 According to the saints, this rare combination of Amavasya on Monday is considered as the poise occasion to take dip in the River Ganga. Officials manning the arrangements are expecting around six to eight lakhs of devotees to take a dip in the Ganges at Har-Ki-Pouri (Stairs leads to God), but the inflow of pilgrims has started much before the event. Due the weekend and hot wave in neighbouring Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Jammu and Uttar Pradesh many people have already reached here not only for the holy dip but also for the outing with their parents. “More than two lakh devotees stayed at Haridwar on Sunday,” the Shri Ganga Sabha members informed. Allmost all hotels have registered 100 per cent occupancy and places marked for vehicle parking is almost packed. Thick jamming was witnessed on the roads connected to Haridwar from the surrounding areas, today afternoon. The Shri Ganga Sabha (registered committee to look after all the religious arrangements at Har-Ki-Pouri) spokesperson Dr Prateek Mishrapuri informed The Tribune that the committee members were ready to welcome the devotees with all arrangements. “Our committee is in touch with the district police to avoid any untoward incident,” he said and added, “But it is a record that during every religious occasion, Har-Ki-Pouri was always a safe point and the credit goes to the management.” He further added that more than 600 members of the Shri Ganga Sabha are here to look after the holy dip for the whole day.
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Uttarakhand to deploy tourist police
Dehra Dun, May 4 But after gruelling three week training these one hundred police personnels of Uttarakhand were ready to take the challenge of becoming the first batch of the tourist police of the state. Uttarakhand in a bid to showcase its’ rich tourism potential and to serve the tourists thronging the cool surroundings of the Himalayan state has introduced the tourist police for the first time. The first batch of a hundred tourist police personnel were trained by the private institutes that train young girls and boys to become air-hostesses or cabin crew members. They were trained by experts in language, communication skills and hospitality besides being told about various tourist places in the state. Since, these police personnel had come from various police stations known for their rude behaviour, another private institute was romped in by the Uttarakhand director-general of Police Subhash Joshi to impart behavioural training, self-control and personality grooming. “We want to put our best foot forward in deputing the tourist police,” said Joshi. Out of these hundred police personnel, 3 are sub-inspectors, 13 head constables and 73 constables, including 25 women constables. On the completion of their training, they were asked to undergo an examination to check their levels of acquired knowledge. Aspirates test was conducted for behavioural training. “The women police personnel excelled in the tests and were awarded,” said Ashok Kumar, inspector general of police Garhwal range, who was the man behind the entire exercise. “The tourist police will be deployed at 22 places known to attract tourists particularly on the Char Dham yatra route from May 5. The annual Char Dham yatra to Hindu pilgrimage places of Gangotri, Yamunotri, Badrinath and Kedarnath starts from May 7,” added Ashok Kumar. Equipped with tourist literature provided by the state police and added confidence after their specialised training, most of the tourist police personnel were confident to take the challenge. “I feel confident after the training and hope to help the tourists,” hoped Manpreet Kaur, a police constable who stood first in the tests.
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Infosys HR boss tops Co director’s pay list
Bangalore, May 4 According to Infosys’s recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Pai receives a salary of $82,033 and a bonus of $3,08,625 in a year, the highest among the 15 members of the board. The Board is chaired by the firm’s chief mentor N R Narayana Murthy while one of the co-founders and director Nandan M Nilekani is the co-chairperson. While Nilekani receives $51,414 salary and $1,22,841 as bonus, Narayana Murthy does not take home any of them but $1,25,000 in annual compensation. Other members of the board include chief executive officer S
Gopalakrishnan, chief operating officer S D Shibulal, lead independent director Deepak M
Satwalekar, head (communication, design group, information systems and quality and productivity) K Dinesh and head (delivery excellence) Srinath
Batni. Pai, who is also the head of administration, education and research, Finacle and Infosys Leadership Institute,
happens to be the youngest among board of directors. Further, Gopalakrishnan and Dinesh gets salary and bonus as same as that of Nilekani whereas Shibulal receives a salary of $50,061 and $117,220 as bonus. However, Marti G
Subrahmanyam, Omkar Goswami, Rama Bijapurkar, Claude Smadja, Sridar A
Iyengar, David L Boyles and Jeffrey Sean Lehman, who are also directors, do not take home any salary or bonus. The IT major pays Pai $31,916 under ‘other annual compensation’ and the amount accrued for long-term benefits stands at $20,805. However, senior vice-president (banking and capital markets) Ashok
Vemuri, and senior vice-president (manufacturing) B G Srinivas, get more salary and bonus than Pai in the company’s top brass. Vemuri is
paid a salary of $393,380 and a bonus of $292,789. — PTI
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16-yr girl abandons baby after giving birth in toilet
Aizwal, May 4 The 16-year-old mother from Durtlang had left her baby in the toilet of the Presbyterian Hospital a few days ago, hospital sources said. However, they were unable to trace her, they added. Initially, the nurses were not sure of who the mother of the baby was, but later they remembered that she had came earlier and complaining of a stomach ache, for which they had given her an analgesic. “Later, she went into the toilet and must have given birth to the baby prematurely and abandoned it there,” the
nurses said. Despite being eight months pregnant, she had somehow concealed the bump from the school and the hostel authorities and even from her companions and went to the hospital’s emergency ward
to get herself checked for pain. Sources said nurses on duty at the emergency room had heard cries of the baby from the toilet and found the baby wrapped in wet cloth.
— UNI
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Police not to take action against Mallika
Chennai, May 4 A functionary of a Hindu fundamentalist organisation had lodged a complaint with the city police alleging that Mallika had “hurt the sentiments of the people of Tamil Nadu by wearing a revealing mini skirt, exposing her back and sitting cross legged in front of the Chief Minister at Dasavatharam movie audio launch. Our party urged the police to take severe action against the actress to save the culture of our soil”. The city police after consulting legal experts had decided to send a notice to Mallika. But after the instruction from the “higher authorities” the police has decided to drop any action against the actress. According to the Chennai police, there will be no action taken against Mallika for her stage behaviour and dressing sense since it is her personal affair, no one had the right to question her. A few weeks ago, “Sivaji” starrer Shreya was condemned by the same organisation for wearing a mini skirt at a function where Karunanidhi was present and she was forced to apologise. However, since Mallika is not a resident of this metropolis she could ignore these moral police and continue with her image as a sex symbol.
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British Gas to invest $1 b in India
Mumbai, May 4 “We have firm plans to invest $1 billion in exploration in India. We are into full gas chain, both upstream and downstream, and our intent would be to expand in India,” BG India managing director Kapil Garg told PTI on the sidelines of a conference to inaugurate British Gas Petroleum Geosciences Lab at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) here. British Gas has funded the geosciences lab at IIT in Mumbai to facilitate high quality research facility in the field of oil exploration.
— PTI
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Stray-dog menace in Dehra Dun
Dehra Dun, May 4 The growing number of stray dogs in the capital has become a matter of concern not only for the Municipal Corporation of Dehra Dun (MCD) but is also proving fatal for the helpless residents. Jumman, a resident of Pathribagh was going to the fields when a stray dog attacked him. He was badly injured and died at the spot. After this incident, the infuriated residents thrashed some stray dogs residing in that locality. Similarly, one-and-a-half-year-old Maahi was sleeping below a tree when a stray dog attacked her at Lakhibagh. She was badly injured and was admitted to Doon Hospital. The newly-elected Mayor, Vinod Chamoli taking a harsh stand on the issue ordered that stray dogs roaming in the city be captured. The Corporation has neither the means to sterilise the dogs nor does it have enough space to accommodate them. Speaking to The Tribune, senior health officer Gurupal Singh informed, “We have caged around 9 stray dogs from Lakhibagh area. We will leave the stray dogs in the outskirts of the city”.
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Partially blind youth gets call from 3 IIMs
Ahmedabad, May 4 Ganganbir Singh, 21 from the city with only 15-20 per cent vision suffers from rare ailment called Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP) in which a person loses eyesight with age. “I scored 92.93 per cent in the Common Entrance Test (CAT) and had received call for group discussion and interview from four IIMs,” said Singh. “Now after receiving the confirmed admission calls from three IIMs, I have decided to do my post-graduation from Bangalore,” Singh added. He said he prepared for CAT with someone reading the material aloud to him and he dictated the answers to the writer. According to Singh, he has been suffering from RP since childhood and has been subjected to discrimination all his life. “When I first went to a professional coaching class to prepare for my CAT, I was out rightly rejected,” said Singh, remembering his difficult days. “But I asked them to test me first and then take a decision. In the first session, when the instructor started asking questions, I was the only one who could answer the questions. The instructor later told me to continue with the class,” Singh added. Singh gave credit of his success to his family, especially his mother who passed away last year. “I have reached this stage a year late. I wanted my mother to see my success. But it is unfortunate that she is not with us. It’s because of the support and encouragement of my family that I have been able to achieve so much,” said Singh.
— PTI
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23 mediapersons honoured
New Delhi, May 4 Among the other awardees, Kanak from Bhasha, Prashant Soni from the Nav Bharat Times, Shashi Kant from Hindustan and Shobhan Singh from Punjab Kesri received the awards. The Shahrukh Khan starrer ‘Chak De’ was given the award for the Best Film. The awards were given away by India TV managing editor Rajat Sharma and Sat Soni, editor, Sandhya Time at a function at the Russian Cultural Centre here.
— UNI
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Man ‘lynched’ for rape bid
Jamshedpur, May 4 According to sources Khoka Gope, alias Padam Lochan Gope, had barged into the house of Vishnu on Friday night and allegedly tried to rape a woman. But the woman managed to free herself from the clutches of Khoka. Khoka then allegedly set the barn on fire. The woman after freeing herself described the incident to her relatives. The villagers then dragged Khoka out of his house and beat him up mercilessly and tied him to electric poll the whole of Friday night. Khoka was, however, found dead tomorrow. A police team rushed to the village and recovered Khoka’s body on being informed, sources said adding that the body was sent to M G M Hospital for post- mortem. The police has lodged a named FIR against some villagers on the statement of Khoka’s 10-year-old son and started investigation into the incident.
— PTI
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Two shot dead over Rs 200
Lucknow, May 4 The issue snowballed at Navali village, where Om prakash had asked Swaraj to return Rs 200, which he had lent him some times back. Both had a heated exchange over the
same and later Om Prakash’s associates Kunvarpal and Mahendra released
trigger on Swaraj (36), Satbir (35), Dhanto (65) and Vikas (8). The quartet were admitted to hospital, where Satvir and Dhanto succumbed. A case had been registered and manhunt was launched.
— UNI
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Uttarakhand CM’s effigy burnt
Roorkee, May 4 The committee president accused the BJP government of failing on the development front across the state. "The state government lacks a vision for development and does not have any pro people policies those could help lessening the miseries of people,” he said.
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Body of missing girl found in Bihar Country-made bombs
recovered Maoists shoot at two
CPM members Bumper mango production expected 3 youths drown in MP Double murder accused dies
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