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Nepal arrests kingpin of attack on Pashupatinath priests

September 6, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Kathmndu, Sep 5 (ANI): The Nepal Government on Saturday arrested the Maoists leader who led the attacks on Indian priests and provided a personal security officer to the chief priest of the famous Pashupatinath shrine.

The Nepalese Government has also deployed an extra-armed platoon of security forces in and around the shrine.

In New Delhi, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson, Vishnu Prakash said: “The Nepal Government has told us that the ringleader of the attack has been arrested and policemen have been posted outside the temple. The head priest has also been given a personal security officer.”

Earlier in the day, speaking to the media in Bangalore, External Affairs Minister, S.M. Krishna reacted strongly to the attack on two Indian priests at the famous shrine in Kathmandu, and asked the Nepal Government to ensure safety and security of the priests.

Krishna also said, “India shares historical bond with Nepal. In Kashi the priests from Nepal perform the poojas and in Pashupatinath, the Indian priests. It is a tradition being followed for centuries.”

” The Maoist elements in that country are pressurizing the government and temple authorities against continuing the tradition,” Krishna added.

Meanwhile, the Indian Ambassador to Nepal, Rakesh Sood took the matter with Nepal Home Minister Bhim Bahadur Rawal and Culture Minister Sarat Singh Bhandari and registered strong protest against the attack on Saturday.

It was reported that, two priests -Girish Bhatt and Raghavendra Bhatt belonging to the Karnataka-were severely thrashed and their clothes and sacred thread cut by dozens of Maoists on Thursday in Kathmandu. The priests were badly injured in the attack.

The police and temple authorities with the help of the locals rescued the priests from the attackers, sources said. (ANI)

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Krishna asks Nepal to ensure safety of Indian priests

September 5, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Bangalore, Sep 5 (ANI): Minister of External Affairs (MEA) S.M. Krishna on Saturday reacted strongly to the attack on two Indian priests of the famous Pashupatinath Temple in Kathmandu, and asked Nepal Government to ensure safety and security of the priests.

Speaking to reporters here, Krishna said “The Government of India is in touch with the Nepal Government and asked it to ensure security to the priests of Pashupatinath Temple.”

Krishna said that the authorities of the Pashupatinath Area Development Board informed him that, the Board has also put security cover in and around the temple premises and also provided security to the priests.

Krishna also said, “India shares historical bond with Nepal, in Kashi the priest from Nepal perform the poojas and in Pashupatinath it is the Indian priests. It is a tradition being followed from centuries.”

“The Maoist elements in that country are pressurizing the Nepalese Government and temple authorities against the continuing the tradition,” he added.

Meanwhile, in Kathmandu, taking a serious view of the incident, Indian Ambassador to Nepal Rakesh Sood took the matter with Nepal Home Minister Bhim Bahadur Rawal and Culture Minister Sarat Singh Bhandari on Saturday.

The Nepal Ministers have assured Sood that steps will be taken to ensure safety of the priests.

Earlier, it was reported that, two priests -Girish Bhatt and Raghavendra Bhatt belonging to the Karnataka-were severely thrashed and their clothes and sacred thread cut by dozens of Maoists on Thursday in Kathmandu. The priests were badly injured in the attack.

The police and temple authorities with the help of the locals rescued the priests from the attackers, sources said. (ANI)

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Exotic vegetable cultivation picks up in Jammu and Kashmir

August 29, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Gopalpura (Jammu and Kashmir), Aug 29(ANI): Vegetable farmers in Jammu and Kashmir have opted for cultivation of exotic vegetables, as it has turned out to be more beneficial to them than growing the indigenously grown varieties.

Mohammed Shafi, a farmer and a seed dealer from capital Srinagar has been experimenting with the cultivation of exotic vegetable varieties bringing most of the seeds from European Union nations.

Shafi has been growing varieties like red cabbage, savoy type cabbage, green rocket, Broccoli, B Sprouts, red fire lettuce and a host of others.

He also claims that the medicinal values of these vegetables are very high and are used in curing different kinds of ailments like the stomach ulcer.

“It has good medicinal values. I read in an American journal about the medicinal value of Broccoli which helps to cure a big disease like stomach ulcers. It has food value and medicinal value hence people are now slowly getting aware of its benefits,” said Shafi.

Meanwhile, Bashir Ahmed Dar, Director of Agriculture department of Jammu and Kashmir, believes that the farmers in the state are steadily getting aware of the potential in cultivating these varieties.

Dar also said that the clientele of these vegetables is the upper middle class due to which the prices are high.

“They are very good vegetables hence we thought of introducing it here. We have broccoli, lettuce, Chinese cabbage and gradually people are consuming it. However, its consumption is among the people from the high society. There is a demand of these vegetables in hotels and also from the tourists coming here,” Dar said.

It is believed that Jammu and Kashmir can be a vast market for such vegetables as the valley has a seasonal edge over other states

These vegetables have an advantage of withstanding temperature fluctuations during the spring in Kashmir. They mature in lesser number of days than the open pollinated types. By Parvez Bhatt(ANI)

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Sangeet Akademi Awards presentation today

July 14, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

New Delhi, July 14 (ANI): President Pratibha Patil will confer the prestigious Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowships and Akademi Awards for 2008 at a special ceremony at Vigyan Bhavan today.
The Akademi Fellowship (Akademi Ratna) and Akademi Awards (Akademi Puraskar) are recognized as the highest national honour conferred on practicing artists, gurus and scholars and have come to stay as the most coveted honour, which the artistes aspire to.

This year, the most coveted honour of Akademi Fellowship (Akademi Ratna) will be conferred on eminent personalities in the field of performing arts namely Sitara Devi, eminent Kathak exponent from Mumbai, Khaled Chowdhury, eminent stage designer from Kolkata, R.C. Mehta, eminent scholar of performing arts from Vadodara and Bhupen Hazarika, eminent personality in the field of performing arts and noted folk musician from Guwahati.

The Akademi Fellowship (Akademi Ratna Sadyasta) carries a purse of Rs 1, 00,000/-, besides a citation, an angavastram and a tamrapatra.

The Akademi Fellowship is restricted to 30 living persons at any given point of time.

The General Council of the Akademi also selected 34 practitioners of music, dance and theatre for 33 awards including one joint award for the Akademi Puraskar (Akademi Award) for the year 2008.

The Akademi Award carries a purse money of Rs 50,000/-, citation, angavastram and tamrpatra.

In the field of music, eight eminent artists namely Ulhas Kashalkar and M.R. Gautam for Hindustani Vocal Music; Ramesh Mishra (Sarangi) and Krishna Ram Chaudhary (Shehnai) for Hindustani Instrumental Music; Puranam Purushottama Sastri for Carnatic Vocal; B. Sasi Kumar (Violin) and Manrgudi A. Easwaran (Mridangam) for Carnatic Instrumental Music and Ningombam Ibobi Singh (Nata Sankirtana, Manipur) for Other Major Traditions of Music have been selected.

In the field of dance, nine eminent practioners namely Saroja Vaidyanathan, Bharatanatyam; Shashi Shankhla, Kathak; Kalamandalam Kuttan, Kathakali; Ramani Ranjan Jena, Odissi; M. Vasanthalakshmi and M.V. Narasimhachari (Joint Award), Kuchipudi; Kalamandalam Leelamma, Mohiniattam; Yogsunder Desai, Creative and Experimental Dance and Ramhari Das, Music for Dance (Odissi) have been selected.

In the field of theatre, eight eminent persons namely Markand Bhatt and Arundhati Nag for Acting, S. Ramanujam and Probir Guha for Direction, Mudra Rakshasa (Hindi) and Narsingh Dev.

Jamwal (Dogri) for Playwriting, Amba Sanyal for Allied Theatre Arts (Costume Designing) and Bansi Lal Khilari (Khayal, Rajasthan) for Major Traditions of Theatre have been selected.

For their contribution to other traditional/folk/ tribal music/ dance/ theatre, Shakuntala Nagarkar, Lavani (Maharastra); Birabar Sahoo, Gotipua (Orissa); Mangi Bai Arya, Mand (Rajasthan); L. Heramot Meitei, Thang-Ta (Martial Art, Manipur); Lakha Khan Mangniyar, Folk Music (Rajasthan); Hilda Mit Lepcha, Lepcha Music (Sikkim); Kartar Singh, Gurbani (Punjab) and Lakshman Das, Hari Katha (Karnataka) have been selected.

R. Satyanarayana of Kartanaka has been selected his Scholarship in Performing Arts. (ANI)

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Uttarakhand ministry expanded

July 1, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Dehradun, July 1 (ANI): Uttarakhand Chief Minister Dr. Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank on Wednesday inducted eight new ministers, including four Cabinet ministers. This has taken the strength of the Uttarakhand Ministry to 12.

State Governor B.L. Joshi administered the oath of office and secrecy to Prakash Pant, Diwakar Bhatt, Trivendra Singh Rawat and Rajendra Singh Bhandari (all Cabinet ministers) and Vijaya Barthawal, Govind Singh Bist, Khajan Singh and Balwant Singh Bhoryal (all ministers of states).

Bist and Barthawal have been inducted as Ministers of State with independent charge.

Major Gen (retired) B C Khanduri resigned as chief minister owning moral responsibility for the party’s poor performance in Uttarakhand in the recent general elections. (ANI)

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Kashmiri girls all set to be airhostesses

May 11, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Srinagar, May 10 (ANI): Many Kashmiri girls have opted to explore career options in aviation industry by undertaking courses in aviation sector to be airhostesses and enjoy travelling across the world.

Several young girls and also boys are now joining courses to get training for flight attendants and other related jobs in the aviation sector to fulfill their dreams.

First airhostess academy named ‘Viinzs’ has recently opened in Srinagar aims to provide quality education in the aviation sector to Kashmiri youth.

Kashmir girls, who had earlier just dreamt of being airhostess and flying High, are now actually seeing their dreams getting fulfilled.

“It’s very nice that air hostess training is being given here. Girls and boys both should forget all the fear from their heart and minds and study this course to make their life. And this was my dream to become an airhostess. I think my dream will be soon fulfilled now,” said Rizwana Akhtar, one of the girl students.

Kashmiri youth also believe that the inauguration of the International Airport in February last year, would open up new opportunities for them.

“An international airport has been made, which means, we are getting an opportunity. And if we are not able to get jobs here we can go outside and work there. So I think I can fulfill my dreams by doing this course,” said Saima Jan, another girl student.

Such facilities were not available in Kashmir following insurgency till recently.

The academy officials now wish to impart quality education to youngsters here.

“They were not in a position to get training because of the turmoil conditions since 1989. Then we decided since…. in Kashmir, progress is going on from all sides. So we decided that we will establish a very good institution here. And the students are getting training outside Kashmir; they are being trained there.

Now we have established an institution here and we will provide them, more sophisticated training than outside,” said Manzoor Ahmad, a trainer at the airhostess academy.

The setting up of the training institution for women and the response from the people marks an important milestone in Kashmir. By Afzal Bhatt (ANI)

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Apiculture popularising in Kashmir

May 5, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Hiranagar Border (Kathua), May 5 (ANI): Farmers in Hiranagar, which fal in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kathua District, have taken to apiculture in a big way.
Hiranagar, which is near the Indo-Pakistan border, has adopted apiculture as a profitable venture for farmers.

Farmers said that initially they started the profession with 10 boxesf honeybees, which they have now increased to 60. Earnings from processed honey sales have been good.

“When the season is favourable and the crop yields are good, weroduce good amount of honey, almost two to three times. We produce honey worth about Rs. 50,000 to 60,000 rupees,” claimed Daya Ram, a bee farmer.

The Gandhi Sewa Sadan in Hiranagar encourages beekeepers to take care about the marketing of honey. An automatic honey-processing unit has been installed in Jammu and Kashmir.

The raw honey is purified and cleanly packed in different sizes of jars.nce packed, the honey jars are then supplied to various parts of the country as per the demands.

The manager of Sri Gandhi Sewa Sadan, Surinder Kumar, said the plantas provided to maintain the quality of honey.

“We send the processed honey to various states like Delhi, Mumbai,ajasthan, Haryana. We face no problems in marketing. Though state government is not providing any aid to us, it is the Government of India which has provided the plant to us. This is our first plant in the Jammu Province, which is to maintain the quality of honey,” said Surinder Kumar.

Farmers say they are receiving orders for honey from all over India and itreates ample opportunity to give employment to the unemployed youth.

India produces a total of 70,000 tons of honey every year, of which 25,000 tons is exported the world over. By Parvez Bhatt (ANI)

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Separatists take to street against elections

April 18, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Srinagar, Apr 18 (ANI): Separatists affiliated to the moderate faction of the All Party Hurriyat (Freedom) Conference took to the street here on Saturday to protest against the ongoing general elections.

They held up banners and raised anti-election slogans in the Lal Chowk area of Srinagar.

“The Election is not a solution to Kashmir problem. Our reason to protest is that those who are agitating for the Kashmir cause should neither participate nor fight elections,” said Zaffar Akbar Bhatt, an executive member of the moderate faction.

Saturday’s protest comes two days after Hurriyat Conference acting chairman Maulana Abbas Hussain Ansari announced that his party would not boycott elections.

In a surprise development, the APHC faction led by Ansari had on Thursday reiterated that the elections were no alternative to ‘the right to self-determination’ but did not specifically call upon the people to keep away from the polls.

Last week another key Hurriyat leader Sajjad Gani Lone declared he would contest the polls.owever, the hard-line Hurriyat group headed by Geelani and the United Jehad Council (UJC) of the armed separatist groups have called for an election boycott. (ANI)

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Nageen Lake to reclaim its glory soon

April 6, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Srinagar, Apr. 6 (ANI): Jammu and Kashmir’s famed Nageen Lake is being cleaned under the conservation drive of Nageen Lake Conservation Organization, which is a forum of several voluntary bodies.

NLCO that started its cleaning drive on March 31 has reached in its sixth day.

“NLCO and others have started this drive here. It has been six days. And we have taken out a lot of polythene. It has been six days. Today people from NLCO and SMC were also here. We have done a lot of cleaning,” Jan Mohamed a volunteer in the drive said.

Kashmir has a number of lakes and water bodies, which are getting polluted due to constant dumping of non-degradable polythene and other waste materials.

Srinagar Municipality Corporation (SMC) is also participating in the campaign.

“The real motive was to make the people aware. Many of our water bodies are almost dead. Mansbal Lake, Pokribal and a few others are almost gone. So we started this programme to save Nageen. All of us have got together in this drive,” observed Manzoor Ahmad Wagnoo, President, NLCO, Srinagar.

Dal Lake and Nageen Lake are Kashmir valley’s main tourist attraction.

NLCO’s initiative will not only help these lakes to regain their past glory, but help make people aware of the need to keep the lakes clean.

A large number of school children and some locals also took part in the drive showing their spirit for conserving the water bodies.

Tourism is the major source of income and employment generation in Kashmir valley. By: Afzal Bhatt (ANI)

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Apex court seeks Mahesh Bhatt’s view on smoking in films

April 3, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

New Delhi, April 2 (IANS) The Supreme Court Thursday sought noted film director Mahesh Bhatt’s view on a government lawsuit for scrapping a Delhi High Court ruling that allowed cigarette smoking scenes in films for the sake of art.

A bench of Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan and Justice P. Sathasivam sought Bhatt’s response on the central government’s lawsuit and sent him aotice for it.

Earlier on a suit by Bhatt, the Delhi High Court had given its thumbs up to on-screen smoking and junked a government order that banned smoking scenes in films together with smoking in public places.

The high court had endorsed on-screen smoking on the ground that it was part of artistic expression and banning it would amount to violation of the fundamental rights of speech and expression.

The government, in turn, challenged the high court ruling in February, contending that allowing on-screen smoking would ‘glamorise’ it and make youngsters fall prey to the health hazard.

The ban on smoking scenes was imposed by the government in 2006 under the provisions of the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act, 2003.

Banning on-screen smoking was the brain-wave of former health minister Anbumani Ramadoss.

The health ministry in its petition has cited several grounds to challenge the high court verdict.

The government has contended that the high court quashed the anti-smoking rules despite holding the legislation itself legally valid.

Indo Asian News Service

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Indian delegation in Pakistan to promote peace

February 23, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Lahore, Feb 23 (ANI): A 13-member Indian delegation, comprising eminent civil society members, journalists, peace and human rights activists, crossed the Wagah border on Sunday in a bid to promote peace and friendship between India and Pakistan.

The delegation includes eminent Indian personalities like former Indian diplomat and journalist Kuldip Nayar, renowned filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt, social activist Swami Agnivesh, historian and academician Prof KN Panikar, former diplomat Salman Haider, human rights activist Prof Kamal Mitra Chenoy, journalist Seema Mustafa, Sandeep social activist Pandey, social scientist Kamla Bhasin, etc.

Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) Chairperson Asma Jahangir, South Asian Free Media Association (Safma) Secretary-General Imtiaz Alam and many other representatives of the civil society at the border warmly welcomed the delegation on Sunday.

The News quoted Bhatt as saying that the main objective of the mission was to promote peace and build trust between the two countries.

He symbolised the Indo-Pak situation with a long dark night but hoped that there was a silver lining in every cloud.

The days of tension between the two countries were numbered, he said, adding that peace and friendship would prevail over the region. He said the Indian delegation had come to light candle of peace across the border to shed bad omens of the Mumbai attacks.

SAFMA Secretary-General Imtiaz Alam said his organisation had welcomed the Indian delegation, as it was really a great peace mission. Peace missions in India and Pakistan were aimed at promoting peace and harmony between the two countries after the Mumbai attacks, he said.

HRCP Chairperson Asma Jhangir said going to war was not an option for both the countries.

Talking about the role of peace activists and peace missions, she said the basic objective of any peace mission was to play a role as a peace-builder, as a peace mission always helped promote understanding between the two countries.

The delegation members said they had come to Pakistan at a difficult time, as the Mumbai attacks had shocked and angered India, which had severely affected relations between the two countries and there was an uncertainty what lay ahead.

They also welcomed the recent steps taken by Pakistan to move against some of the persons responsible for the Mumbai attacks. They also underscored the need for repairing broken ties between the two countries. They resolved not to allow anyone to create any untoward situation. (ANI)

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Gujarat speaker revokes suspension of 16 Congress MLAs

February 20, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Gandhinagar, Feb 20 (ANI): Gujarat Assembly Speaker Ashok Bhatt on Friday revoked the suspension of 16 Congress MLAs, three days after they had created disturbance during the budget session.

The MLAs had shouted slogans and displayed placards in the House on February 17 when the Governor began his speech.

Following that, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs, Amit Shah, moved a motion to suspend the 16 MLAs.

After the MLA’s suspension, the Congress boycotted Assembly proceedings and held a sit-in demonstration outside the Speaker’s office.

The speaker called for a meeting of representatives of both parties and the issue was sorted out amicably. (ANI)

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Gujarat speaker revokes suspension of 16 Congress MLAs

February 20, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Gandhinagar, Feb 20 (ANI): Gujarat Assembly Speaker Ashok Bhatt on Friday revoked the suspension of 16 Congress MLAs, three days after they had created disturbance during the budget session.

The MLAs had shouted slogans and displayed placards in the House on February 17 when the Governor began his speech.

Following that, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs, Amit Shah, moved a motion to suspend the 16 MLAs.

After the MLA’s suspension, the Congress boycotted Assembly proceedings and held a sit-in demonstration outside the Speaker’s office.

The speaker called for a meeting of representatives of both parties and the issue was sorted out amicably. (ANI)

Ramadoss to challenge court’s decision lifting the ban on smoking in films

January 29, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

New Delhi, Jan 29 (ANI): Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare Dr. Anbumani Ramadoss has said that he will challenge the decision of the court overturning a central ban on smoking in films.

Ramadoss said the court decision was divided and the Central Government’s decision to ban smoking in films was based on the decision of the World Health Organisation (WHO) not to glorify smoking by projecting it in movies.

“Definitely we are going to challenge it because in the High Court it was a divided decision like, divided verdict like. …one judge was accepting and one judge was not, then it went to other judges but we are taking a decision based on scientific evidence,” he said.
On January 23, the Delhi High Court had struck down the Central Government’s plea of banning smoking scenes in films on the ground that onscreen smoking is a part of the artist’s creative licence.

The ruling came after film director Mahesh Bhatt challenged the government’s order to ban smoking scenes in films.

Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul struck down the rules framed by Centre, saying, “Director of films should not have multifarious authorities breathing down their necks when indulging in a creative act.” (ANI)

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SBI To Mop Up Rs 500 Cr Via Retail For Tier II Bonds

January 4, 2009 By Rajiv Gupta Leave a Comment

State Bank of India (SBI) plans to raise about Rs 500 crore from retail investors as Tier II capital. This capital will be a part of the Rs 5,000 crore, which the bank plans to raise in January.

According to the SBI Chairman, O P Bhatt, the bank is now giving this opportunity to the common man as earlier it was raising Tier II capital only through big investors.

He said, “The minimum investment required will be anywhere between Rs 10,000 and Rs 1 lakh. We are planning to do this in the current quarter.”

The Tier II capital is raised by issue of bonds with maturity between 2 years and over 15 years. However Bhatt did not say anything about the period of maturity of the bonds and about the interest that SBI shall offer.

Mentioning about the bank’s examination to raise Tier I capital after March, Bhatt said, “If we do not raise Tier I capital in 2009-10, we will have to raise it in the year after that.” He also admitted that SBI’s net interest margins for the quarter ending December are under pressure.

He further said, “Prime lending rate (PLR) has come down and interest rates on deposits haven’t come down as much. In order to take care of this pressure on margins we will have to raise more current and savings account deposits (CASA). For some time now, SBI has been getting Rs 1,000 crore a day in deposits; I would bet that the share of deposits as a mode of investment will not come down.”

He mentioned that the SBI life Insurance may be listed in the next 18 months but there is no immediate plan to merge the remaining SBI subsidiaries.

The government had approved the merger of SBI with State Bank of Saurashtra in July 2008.

Bhatt said that sectors such as export, gem and jewellery, textile, handicrafts, logistics, commercial vehicles etc are under stress.

He stated, “Some of this might translate into the December quarter. However, our loan officers are examining the accounts on a case by case basis.”

Mentioning that 25,000 new employees shall join the bank from January 5, he said, “We will continue to be as aggressive in our branch opening as we have been in the recent past.”

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