The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Invite to ex-ally Naidu creates ripples
Tribune News Service

Hyderabad, December 25
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s personal invitation to Telugu Desam Party president and former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and his brother-in-law and Telugu actor N Balakrishna to attend the swearing-in ceremony in Ahmedabad has created ripples in political circles here.

Modi’s gesture came as a surprise for the TDP that was once a key ally of the BJP-led NDA but severed links with the saffron party soon after losing power in 2004. Since then, the TDP has been on an image makeover mission.

Modi, seen as a strong contender for the Prime Minister’s post, sent invitations to both Naidu and Balakrishna, the actor-son of legendary Telugu hero and former Chief Minister late NT Rama Rao. However, Naidu, who is currently touring Karimnagar district as part of his marathon state-wide padayatra, decided against attending the ceremony.

According to TDP sources, Naidu called up his brother-in-law and advised him against going to Ahmedabad as such a move would adversely affect the party’s secular image. “The question of our party president attending Modi’s ceremony does not arise as any association with BJP will taint our secular image,” TDP MLC Rajendra Prasad said.

Meanwhile, the CPI has threatened to severe links with the TDP if the latter sent its representative to Modi’s swearing-in ceremony. “Any association with the BJP and its leaders will automatically mean the end of our political relationship with TDP,” state CPI secretary K Narayana said.

The TDP had a six-year long association with the NDA and fought the elections in 1999 and 2004 in alliance with the BJP. However, after losing power in the state in 2004, Naidu parted ways with the saffron party and moved closer to the Left parties in what was widely seen as an attempted image makeover. He even apologised to Muslims for his “past mistakes”.

Once upon a time

* The TDP had a six-year long association with the NDA and fought the elections in 1999 and 2004 in alliance with the BJP

* After losing power in Andhra in 2004, Naidu parted ways with the saffron party and moved closer to the Left parties in what was widely seen as an attempted image makeover. He even apologised to Muslims for his “past mistakes”

* TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu called up his brother-in-law N Balakrishna and advised him against going to Ahmedabad as such a move would adversely affect the party’s secular image

River pollution: House panel slams Environment Ministry
Wants social institutes in plan to clean up Ganga, Yamuna
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, December 25
A Parliamentary panel has criticised the Environment Ministry for its “business as usual passing the buck approach” towards the high level of pollution in the country’s rivers. The panel has asked the ministry to ensure flow in the rivers by looking beyond the engineering approach to clean up the Ganga and the Yamuna, as was being done presently, and involve social institutes in the clean-up plan apart from IITs.

“Unless the flow of the rivers is maintained at a reasonable level, no other effort is going to be successful,” the high-level committee said, advising the Centre to play a more proactive role in coordination with the state governments so that the country’s lifelines could be given a second chance. “The ministry somehow seems reluctant to undertake this challenge (of coordination with states to enhance sewage treatment facilities),” the Standing Committee on Environment and Forests said in its scathing reaction to the ministry’s replies in a report submitted to Parliament recently.

One of the key recommendations of the panel has been to shift approach from engineering to socio-centric approach and utilise services of institutes of social sciences apart from IITs as is being done in the case of both the Ganga and the Yamuna. It said unless the flow of the rivers was maintained at a reasonable level, no other effort was going to be successful.

According to experts, for a healthy river it is essential that 70 per cent of the water must flow in the river. “You must not extract more than 30 per cent from a river. This 30 per cent should be utilsed for whatever it has been extracted for and should not be brought back into the river in any form. However, while in the Yamuna not even 3 per cent is flowing, in the Ganga situation is only slightly better. For an average health of a river, 50 per cent of the water must flow in the river and any volume less than that cannot be considered good whatever you do,” says Manoj Misra of the Yamuna Jiye Abhiyaan, agreeing with the panel’s observation on the flow of the two rivers.

While under the National Ganga River Basin Authority (NGBRA), a Ganga River Basin Management Plan (GRBMP) is being prepared by the Consortium of the Indian Institutes of Technology(IIT), the Supreme Court recently also asked the Directors of Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) in Delhi and Roorkie to explore all possible options for checking the growing pollution levels and treating Yamuna waters in Delhi. The panel, however, feels that equally important to the technical approach is that the Centre should take steps to stop encroachment and illegal commercial activities in the catchment areas of all the major rivers, including the Ganga and the Yamuna.

Going down the drain

* The Ganga and Yamuna clean-up plans have so far been a sad story of crores of rupees virtually going down the drain

* Projects up to Rs 2598.47 crore have been sanctioned so far under the NGRBA in UP, Uttarakhand, Bihar and West Bengal for development of sewer network, sewage treatment and pumping stations, electric crematoria, community toilets and development of river fronts

* The Centre also approved a World Bank assistance to the NGBRA at an estimated cost of Rs 7,000 crore for a project spread over eight years. The World Bank’s technical and financial assistance amounts to $1 billion

4 CRPF jawans shot dead by colleague

Raipur, December 25
Four CRPF jawans were today shot dead and another injured in sleep by their “mentally disturbed” colleague in the naxal-hit Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh, police said.

“The shooting occurred last night at the camp of 111 CRPF Battalion in Aranpur area of the naxal-dominated district, when the constable Deep Kumar Tiwari opened fire on the jawans who were sleeping,” Dantewada SP Narendra Khare told reporters here.

Inspector General, CRPF, Zulfiqar Hasan said a court of inquiry has been initiated into the case.

While three jawans died on the spot, one succumbed to his injuries while being taken to hospital, Khare said, adding that the injured trooper has been air-lifted to Raipur and admitted to MMI hospital here. — PTI

Ex-PM Vajpayee turns 88

New Delhi, December 25
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and BJP veteran L K Advani were among a host of leaders to greet former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee who turned 88 today.

BJP president Nitin Gadkari (R) with M Venkaiah Naidu at the ‘Vishal Jan Sabha’ organised to celebrate party veteran Atal Bihari Vajpayee's birthday as ‘Sushasan Diwas’ in New Delhi on Tuesday. A Tribune photograph

The PM drove to Vajpayee’s 6A, Krishna Menon Marg, residence here and spent about 15 minutes with his predecessor who has been ailing for quite some time and confined to his home. President Pranab Mukherjee sent his best wishes to Vajpayee along with a bouquet of flowers

Besides Manmohan Singh, Advani, BJP President Nitin Gadkari, BJP leaders Sushma Swaraj, Deputy Speaker Kariya Munda were among Vajpayee’s early visitors to greet him. “He received us with a smile,” BJP chief spokesman Ravi Shankar Prasad told reporters after greeting Vajpayee.

Born in the family of a humble school teacher on December 25, 1924, in Gwalior, Vajpayee began his career first as a poet, dabbled in journalism and later rose to become one of the most widely regarded political leaders of the country.

During his six-year tenure as Prime Minister between 1998 and 2004, Vajpayee took the bold step of conducting the nuclear tests at Pokhran in May 1998. He is also considered a guru of coalition politics, who successfully led a government supported by as many as 24 political parties. Among the BJP leaders who greeted him were Rajnath Singh, Shahnawaz Hussain, Kalraj Mishra, Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Vijay Goel and Ananth Kumar.

“Vajpayee is a role model for the whole country for good governance. He is also known as guru of coalition politics. He led the nation on the path of progress,” Ananth Kumar said.

“We all wished him very good health and long life. So that he continues to be an inspiration for all of us,” he said. On the occasion, BJP leaders also distributed blankets to the poor. — PTI

Wrong perceptions about women must change, says President

Allahabad/ Varanasi, Dec 25
Expressing deep anguish over the Delhi gang rape incident, President Pranab Mukherjee today said "negative perceptions" about women which lead to criminal attacks must end and the women should be provided a safe and congenial environment to contribute to the nation.

Addressing students at the 9th convocation of Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology in Allahabad, Mukherjee cautioned that though anger over the "ghastly incident" was "justified", violence was "no solution". Mukherjee also expressed grief over the death of a Delhi Police constable who succumbed to injuries sustained during violent protests at India Gate on Sunday.

He said the government is alert to the situation and is taking necessary action to ensure that such unfortunate incidents are not repeated.

“I pray for the speedy recovery of the brave young girl. Criminal attacks against women often happen in the backdrop of negative perceptions about women harboured and propagated by certain elements in the society. This must end,” he said.

Expressing his "deep anguish" over the incident, Mukherjee, who later addressed a special convocation at the Banaras Hindu University, said “my heart goes out to the young girl and her family, who have demonstrated extraordinary courage amidst the worst adversity and traumatised moment.

“....The nation has been witness to the anger and rage of our youth, who have gathered in the streets of Delhi and other cities to demand stronger measures to ensure safety of women and more stringent laws to provide deterrent penalty to criminals, who endanger our women.

“I am certain that the government will take all necessary steps to ensure that such incidents do not occur in future. The PM has assured that all possible efforts to ensure security and safety of our mothers, sisters and daughters will be made,” the President said.

To the protesters, he said, "We as a society must work toward changing negative perceptions about women. Women must be treated with respect and should be provided a safe secured and congenial environment in which their talent can flower and they can contribute their full share in the building of our nation.”

The special convocation was organised on the occasion of the closing ceremony of the year long celebration of Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya's 150th birthday anniversary.

President of Nepal Ram Baran Yadav was conferred honorary doctorate of Law at the convocation.

A 23-year-old girl was gang-raped and tortured inside a moving bus on December 16 in south Delhi. The incident sparked a wave of protests, leaving the capital paralysed. — PTI

Mumbai girl stabbed by ex-boyfriend dies
Tribune News Service

Mumbai, December 25
Payal Balsara, 19, a BMS student from Mumbai’s Chetana College, died this morning three days after she was stabbed by her ex-boyfriend and classmate Nikhil Bankar, the police said. Bankar who repeatedly stabbed himself after attacking Payal had died immediately.

According to the police, Bankar, 22, accosted Payal outside the classroom and stabbed her repeatedly with a kitchen knife that he had brought from home. Both were rushed to the Guru Nanak Hospital nearby where the boy was declared dead. The girl was kept on a ventilator but her condition remained critical and got worse on Monday night.

The police said both students who were classmates were in a relationship before they were forced to break off by Payal’s family who disapproved of the relationship. While Payal hailed from a well-to-do business family, Nikhil’s father was a government employee.

According to the Kherwadi police, Payal’s family had filed complaints of sexual harassment against Nikhil as the relationship soured and the college administration also stepped in and had urged both students to undergo counselling.

Death for minor’s rapist in UP

Lucknow: A minor's rapist and murderer was on Monday sentenced to death by a Bareilly court even as the state government issued orders to slap charges under the stringent National Security Act on all rape accused. Accused Ashok had raped a 10-year-old girl in Vidhauli village in 2009. After the sexual assault, he strangled the girl. The judge held the accused guilty of murder and rape and sentenced him to death. — IANS

Gayatri Devi’s grandchildren will get her shares: HC
Legal Correspondent

New Delhi, December 25
The Delhi High Court has ruled that late Maharani Gayatri Devi’s grandchildren — Devraj and Lalitya Kumari — will get her shares in the royal family’s companies, including Jai Mahal Hotels Pvt Ltd and Rambagh Palace Hotel.

Gayatri Devi, who died on July 29, 2009, had left a will bequeathing her properties to Devraj and Lalitya Kumari, but the Company Law Board (CLB) had rejected their plea for rectification of the share registers of the companies, which also included SMS Investment Corporation and Sawai Madhopur Lodge Pvt Ltd.

Setting aside CLB’s March 16, 2011, order, the HC ruled that the board’s findings had no legal basis. “The member register of the companies be rectified in the name of the petitioner group and petitioners i.e. Devraj and Lalitya Kumari be substituted in lieu of Jagat Singh,” Justice Indermeet Kaur ordered.

Jagat Singh, son of Gayatri Devi and Maharaja Sawai Man Singh, had held 99 per cent shares in the firms and while dying he had passed on his shares to his mother. Gayatri Devi’s will had been challenged by Sawai Man Singh’s other sons - Prithviraj Singh and Jai Singh - and his maternal grand daughter Urvashi Devi.

“Admittedly, these shares were in the name of Jagat Singh who had bequeathed them to his mother Maharani Gayatri Devi and she in terms of a settlement arrived at between her grandchildren, followed by her will had bequeathed the said share holding thereafter in favour of her grandchildren,” the HC held.

Akademi award for two artistes from Punjab
Vandana Shukla/TNS

Chandigarh, December 25
Two eminent artistes from Punjab have been selected for the National Sangeet Natak Akademi Awards-2012 - Bhai Balbir Singh Ragi (Gurbani Kirtan) under the category of major traditions of music and Nirmal Rishi for theatre (acting).

Bhai Balbir Singh recited gurbani kirtan at the Golden Temple, Amritsar, for 36 years, from 1955 till 1991, and sings nearly 3,000 shabads composed in over 200 ragas. He has recorded nearly 30 albums of shabads. Bhai Balbir Singh is one of the last remaining links to the original gurbani kirtan parampara of the Golden Temple.

Born in Mrigindpura near Bhikhiwind (Amritsar), he received his initial training from his father, a well known pakhawaj player, and his grandfather Bhai Kundan Singh. He began singing at the age of four and made his debut at the Darbar Sahib, Taran Taran, when he was just seven-year old.

Also an accomplished dilruba player, he learnt dhrupad gayaki under the tutelage of Pt Nathu Ram. Later he perfected the art of gurbani kirtan under his uncle, Bhai Sohan Singh, who was a ragi at the Golden Temple.

Nirmal Rishi, a well known Punjabi theatre actor, worked under the guidance of late thespian Harpal Tiwana and his wife Neena Tiwana. She is a graduate from the National School of Drama and has been involved in the promotion of Punjabi theatre and films for more than 40 years.

The general council of Sangeet Natak Akademi, at its meeting held on December 21, elected three eminent personalities in the field of performing arts, namely N. Rajam (violin), T.H. Vinayakram (percussion) and Ratan Thiyam (theatre) as Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellows (Akademi Ratna). There are only 40 existing Fellows of the Sangeet Natak Akademi.

The council also selected 36 artistes from the fields of music, dance, theatre and puppetry for the Sangeet Natak Akademi Awards. In the field of music, nine eminent artistes received the honour for creative and experimental music category.

In the field of dance, nine eminent practitioners of different genres of dance were selected for the national award, namely Priyadarsini Govind (Bharatanatyam), Vijay Shankar (Kathak), Vazhengada Vijayan (Kathakali), Ramalinga Sastry (Kuchipudi), Sharmila Biswas (Odissi), Jai Narayan Samal (Chhau), Painkulam Damodara Chakyar (Kutiyattam), Jwala Prasad (music for dance) and Aditi Mangaldas (creative and experimental dance).

Other artistes from the region who were selected for the award include Chandigarh-based Parvesh Sethi for theatre (acting), Ghulam Rasool Bhagat (bhand pather of J &K) for major traditions of theatre, Prem Singh Dehati for folk theatre (Haryana) and Heera Das Negi for mask making (HP).

It’s raining news channels in AP
Suresh Dharur/TNS

Hyderabad, December 25
With Assembly elections just over 16 months away, the political parties in Andhra Pradesh are smitten by the media bug. There is a growing trend of politicians and their close friends launching news channels to serve as platforms to spread their agenda.

The latest to jump onto the media bandwagon are Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy and the state Congress President B Satyanarayana. Through their close aides, the two leaders have acquired the existing television channels.

While the Chief Minister’s relatives and friends have acquired majority stakes in “I-News” and “A-TV”, which are now giving extensive coverage to Kiran’s programmes, the PCC chief’s family members have taken over another popular channel-“Zee 24 Gantalu”. The channel was originally a part of the Zee Television network but was closed down due to recurring losses. It has now been revived and is giving wide publicity to the Congress leader’s activities.

AP has been witnessing a rapid growth in the electronic media over the past one decade. There are at least 16 news channels in the state, a majority of them having clear political leanings or owned by politicians. “There is a growing trend of political agendas dominating the electronic media with their owners having strong political links,” senior journalist and political commentator T Ravi said.

Yet another news channel, 10TV, is set to go on air next month. Though the channel is supposed to have the backing of the CPM, its management has claimed that the promoters are a group of “progressive intellectuals” led by independent MLC and journalism professor K Nageshwar. Interestingly, this channel has a unique ownership model as the capital was raised through donations from the general public. Over two lakh people, including some daily wage earners, made the contributions to establish the channel, billed as “people’s channel”.

The CPM already has its own Telugu daily called “Praja Sakthi” which gives wide publicity to the party’s ideology and agitations. The CPI, too, is making preparations to launch its own television channel, TV99, sometime in the middle of next year. It also has its own Telugu daily “Visalandhra”, which has been in existence for over five decades.

The BJP is giving finishing touches to its Telugu news channel “Orange TV”, to be run from the party’s four-storied office building at Nampally in the city. “We will go on air within six months. The channel will provide a platform for people to debate the party’s political ideology and promote value-based politics in society,” state BJP President G Kishan Reddy said.

Public outpouring has Congress in a huddle
Anita Katyal/TNS

New Delhi, December 25
Rattled by the outpouring of public anger over the gang rape of a 23-year-old medical student in a moving bus in the Capital and Sunday’s police crackdown on protesters, the Congress core group today held a special meeting to review the situation and discuss the future course of action.

The core group, headed by Congress president Sonia Gandhi, normally meets every Friday but it felt compelled to convene a special meeting on a holiday to discuss the fallout of last week’s developments, as the anger against the government refuses to die down even though the agitation is largely under control.

Already facing flak for its inept handling of this episode, the woes of the government have been further compounded by the unseemly open war between Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and the Delhi Police. While terming the clashes between the police and protesters unfortunate, the general view at the meeting was that the police should display more sensitivity and that violence needed to be avoided.

The government has come in for sharp criticism over the police action on peaceful protesters although the Home Ministry and the Delhi Police maintain they had to resort to the extreme measures as anti-social elements had hijacked the agitation and destroyed public property.

The meeting was also of the view that the protesters could place their suggestions and proposals before the three member committee of jurists, headed by Justice JS Verma, which has been mandated to give recommendations on amending laws to provide speedier justice and enhanced punishment in sexual assault cases.

However, the meeting was also quick to emphasise that the government had not closed its doors on the protesters and that it would be ready to speak to them. Although damage control measures had been initiated, the government was completely at sea when the agitation first began because its crisis managers did not know who they should deal with as the stir was “leaderless, faceless and nameless”.

Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, who has come under attack for his handling of the situation, briefed the meeting held at Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s residence. Others who attended included Defence Minister AK Antony, Finance Minister P Chidambaram and Congress president’s political secretary Ahmed Patel.

Under fire
* The government has come in for sharp criticism over police action on peaceful protesters voicing anger against girl's gang rape

* Home Ministry and Delhi Police claim extreme measures were needed as anti-social elements had hijacked the agitation and destroyed public property