Chidambaram | SilverScorpio.Com

Home ministers to set stage for foreign minister talks: Qureshi

May 11, 2010 By vani Leave a Comment

Islamabad, May 11 (IANS) The home ministers of India and Pakistan will meet here next month on the sidelines of the SAARC meet to lay the groundwork for talks between the foreign ministers of the two countries July 15, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said Tuesday.

Chidambaram will visit Islamabad June 26 for the meeting of the home ministers of the eight-nation South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC).

Qureshi said after a nearly 30-minute telephonic conversation with his Indian counterpart S.M. Krishna that ‘all outstanding issues of mutual concern’ will be discussed when the foreign ministers meet in Islamabad July 15.

Before that, the home ministers of the two countries will hold talks on the sidelines of the SAARC home ministers’ meeting to lay the groundwork for the foreign ministers-level talks.

‘We will not allow terrorism to impede the peace process,’ Qureshi said, adding that both sides should try to make the peace process irreversible.

During the telephonic conversation, Qureshi invited Krishna to visit Islamabad for talks July 15.

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US Ambassador meets Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Update- US Ambassador)

September 19, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

New Delhi, Sept 18 (ANI): The United States Ambassador to India, Timothy J Roemer, today met Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh at his residence.

The meeting took place after Roemer met Union Home Minister P. hidambaram.

Speaking to reporters, after a meeting with Chidambaram, Roemer said bringing the culprits to justice and going after Saeed were important to both India and the United States.

“Swift and mighty punishment for the six Mumbai suspects in Islamabad, is important for United States and is important for India. And going after Saeed is very important and dismantling the infrastructure of LeT in that region is extremely important to the United States and to India,” said Roemer.

The meeting took after reports of two FIR’s against Saeed came late last night.

He has been charged under Pakistan’s Anti-Terrorism Act for making anti-state speeches where he urged activists of the Jamaat-ud-Dawa, the frontline organisation for LeT that he heads, to wage a ‘jehad’.

Saeed has also been charged for heading a charity collection drive during the Ramazan month according to the police.

Earlier, Roemer had called on Pakistan to take action against Saeed.

“There are five, probably six, suspects currently being held in Islamabad in connection with the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks. It is extremely important that these six people be brought to justice and put behind bars and receive sentences commensurate with their crimes against India, US and the world,” a news channel quoted Roemer, as saying

“I hope that in future the action on 26/11 includes people like Hafiz Saeed. Recently he was put into an Interpol red flag list,” he added.

The remarks follows Chidambaram’s visit to US, where he had briefed several ministers under the Barack Obama administration about Islamabad’s inaction against perpetrators of the Mumbai carnage.

The attacks, which drew widespread condemnation across the world, began on 26 November 2008 and lasted until 29 November, killing at least 173 people and wounding at least 308. Among the dead were 28 foreign nationals from 10 countries.

Ajmal Amir Kasab, the only attacker who was captured alive, has disclosed that the attackers were members of LeT, which is considered a terrorist organization by the Government of India, the United States, and the United Kingdom, among others.

Interpol has also issued a Red Corner Notice against Saeed, and Zaki -ur- Rehman Lakhvi (another mastermind of the 26/11 attacks). The notice was issued after a Mumbai court issued non-bailable warrants against both terrorists. (ANI)

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US Ambassador Roemer calls for action against Hafiz Saeed

September 19, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

New Delhi, Sept 18 (ANI): Pressurising Pakistan, the United States said it wanted swift and mighty punishment against the perpetrators of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks.

Speaking to reporters, after a meeting with Union Home Minister, P. Chidambaram, the United States Ambassador to India Timothy J Roemer said, bringing the culprits to justice and going after Saeed were important to both India and the United States.

The meeting took after reports of two FIR’s against Saeed came late last night.

Saeed has also been charged for heading a charity collection drive during the Ramazan month according to the police.

Earlier, Roemer had called on Pakistan to take action against Saeed.

“I hope that in future the action on 26/11 includes people like Hafiz Saeed. Recently he was put into an Interpol red flag list,” he added.

The remarks follows Chidambaram’s visit to US, where he had briefed several ministers under the Barack Obama administration about Islamabad’s inaction against perpetrators of the Mumbai carnage.

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Nuke Sub, Aircraft Carrier in Kalam’s vision 2020 for Andamans

September 4, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Port Blair (Andaman and Nicobar Islands), Sep 4 (ANI): Former President Dr APJ Abdul Kalam on Friday unveiled a vision document for the strategic development of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands by the year 2020.

Inaugurating a national seminar on ‘Security and Development of the Andaman and Nicobar islands’ here, Dr Kalam said that a 250 mw nuclear power station on one of the islands would form the core of the development programme.

Dr Kalam said the islands being a vital part of the country’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), the Andaman and Nicobar Command (ANC) of the Integrated Defence Staff (IDS) would have “enhanced significance” in the next decade.

He further said that the ANC should have bases for static aircraft carrier and a nuclear,

Dr Kalam also called upon the Armed Forces to evolve an effective security plan for underneath the sea, at sea level and in air.

“The security plan which you evolve should ensure that there is no unauthorised occupation of the vacant islands,”said Dr Kalam.

Meanwhile, Commander-in-Chief of the ANC, Vice Admiral Vijay Shankar, said that the location of these islands confers a geostrategic advantage.

“Its economic and forest potential dictates a sound security presence,” he added.

Top defence and security experts, including Deputy National Security Advisor Shekhar Dutt, former Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran and Principal Scientific Advisor to the Government of India R Chidambaram, are attending the two-day seminar. (ANI)

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Before The Rains | Before The Rains Review | Before The Rains 2009 Movie Review | Before The Rains Movie Review

August 17, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Before The Rains | Before The Rains Review | Before The Rains 2009 Movie Review | Before The Rains Movie Review

Director:   Santhosh Sivan
Star Cast : Linus Roache,Rahul Bose ,Nandita Das,Jennifer Ehle,Leopold Benedict,Indrajith,Lal,John Standing,Thilakan,Ejji K Umamahesh
Producer:   Mark Burton, Paul Hardart, Doug Mankoff, Andrew Spaulding, Tom Hardart
Music Director:   Mark Kilian

Review :

The lushing greenery of Kerala never looked more inviting….or erotic. As a tea planter in Colonial India falls into the forbidden arms of a dusky mysterious local girl married to an abusive violent man the screen comes to fragile life with delicate sounds and scents.

The plot in Before The Rains almost begs to be defined as a cliché. And yet, there lies the beauty of this fragile love triangle about the beauty and the Brits and the native beauty’s silent lover whose eyes say it all, and who must do a hasty cover-up job for his lord and master after he leaves his trail of lust(or was it love?) and blood behind.

To View Before The Rains Movie Trailer Click Here

Sivan’s skills behind the camera are so densely poetic you end up wondering if he made this uncommonly-common love story so he could re-visit the vibrant verdancy of Kerala to create poetry out of Nature. He shoots Nandita Das like Smita Patil in G Arvindan’s Chidambaram as an enigmatic creature of the dark whose next move is a mystery her. The greenery is so captivating that the central passion-play often becomes subservient. That, perhaps, is the subtext of the plot. You often find monstrous emotional disturbances tucked away in the non-judgmental folds of the illimitable beauty of Nature.

Before The Rains Not for the first time, Nandita Das, so under-used by our cinema, reminds us of the late Smita Patel’s dusky seductiveness. Nandita is often shot in caressing close-ups that accentuate her aquiline nose and cupid lips in curves and bends that signify the peril of feminine beauty.

Miraculously her chemistry with Linus Roache (stern yet vulnerable) works just fine. We see two people utterly mismatched in their cultural and emotional graphs coming together in a doomed clasp.

Cathy Rabin’s screenplay never makes the mistake of portraying the colonist-lover as a villain. In Before The Rains Henry Moores (Roache) is as much a victim of cruel fate as the fatally ill-fated Sajni (Das). They meet, make love and are ruined by their mutual passion.

Santosh Sivan’s camera takes us through the luscious labyrinth of love lust and loss in no time at all.

Before The Rains The film seems much longer than it actually is. And that’s not a fatal flaw but a fabulous homage to the silences and pauses that punctuate life’s inevitable progression into the unknown.

Sivan is as adept at showing the cross-cultural love relationship as he is in depicting local rites and rituals in Kerala that make adultery a grave crime.

Nandita Das’s eyes convey a hemisphere of mystique and passion. Rahul Bose as the colonist’s right-hand man, whose loyalty to heart and country comes under the scanner, gets the complexities of his character in place.

Before The Rains is a far more accomplished piece of cinema than its routine theme suggests. Carefully crafted and narrated in soft silken tones designed for aesthetic comfort the film shows us how the thin line between passion and tragedy is crossed.

Source – http://www.bollywoodhungama.com/features/2009/08/17/5406/

To View Before The Rains Movie Trailer Click Here

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Senior Secretaries in Jharkhand to monitor anti Naxal operation Home

June 28, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Ranchi, June 28(ANI): Twenty Central Government secretaries, including Cabinet Secretary K M Chandrashekhar and Home Secretary designate G K Pillai have arrived here on a two day visit to monitor anti-Naxal operations in Jharkhand.

Chandrashekhar and secretaries of Agriculture, Power, Water Resources, Mining will assess development-related activities in their respective fields, while Pillai will review security details for developmental projects with state government officials.

The Cabinet Secretary is expected to brief the Prime Minister about the team’s visit on Monday.

The Union Home Ministry is believed to have laid down a plan to flush out Maoists from the so-called liberated zones of Maharashtra, Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, Orissa, and West Bengal before commencing the developmental activities in these areas.

The Ministry is also planning to reduce the strength of paramilitary forces in Jammu and Kashmir and redeploy them in Naxal-affected areas. According to sources, nearly 70,000 paramilitary personnel are currently deployed in Kashmir as against 20,000 in Naxal hit areas.

Union Home Minister Chidambaram has also asked West Bengal Chief Minister Budhadeb Bhattachayaji to instruct the DIG in charge of the Lalgarh operation to remain in the area instead of returning to Kolkata every night.

According to intelligence report there are 11,000 Naxalites operating in 160 districts spread over 15,000square kilometres.

The Maoists are said to be generate between Rs 1,200 to 1,500 crore every year, to buy the sophisticated weapons from Nepal and Myanmar. (ANI)

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Senior Secretaries in Jharkhand to monitor anti Naxal operation

June 28, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Ranchi, June 28(ANI): Twenty Central Government secretaries, including Cabinet Secretary K M Chandrashekhar and Home Secretary designate G K Pillai have arriving here on a two day visit to monitor the anti Naxal operations in Jharkhand.

Chandrashekhar and secretaries of Agriculture, Power, Water Resources, Mining will asses development related activities in their respective fields while Pillai will review security details for developmental projects with the state government officials.

The Cabinet Secretary is also expected to brief the Prime Minister about the team’s visit on Monday.

The Ministry is also planning to reduce the strength of paramilitary forces in Jammu and Kashmir and redeploy them in Naxal affected areas. According to sources, nearly 70,000 paramilitary personnel are currently deployed in Kashmir as against 20,000 in Naxal hit areas.

According to intelligence report there are 11,000 Naxalites operating in 160 districts spread over 15,000square kilometres.

The Maoists are said to be generate between Rs 1,200 to 1,500 crore every year, to buy the sophisticated weapons from Nepal and Myanmar. (ANI)

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Manmohan Singh calls first Cabinet meet today

May 23, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

New Delhi, May 23 (ANI): A day after taking oath as Prime Minister for the second term, Manmohan Singh called a meeting of the Union Cabinet today.

According to sources, it is likely to take a decision on convening a Parliament session to enable new members to take oath. President Pratibha Patil will be addressing a joint sitting of both the houses during the session.

Earlier, Dr. Singh visited Mahatma Gandhi’s memorials besides those of other departed leaders and placed a wreath on them.

He was sworn-in as Prime Minister for a second term along with 19 other Cabinet ministers on Friday.

The 76-year-old, soft-spoken economist is the first Prime Minister since post-independence after Jawaharlal Nehru to be returned to office after completing a full term.

Senior Congress leader Pranab Mukherjee, NCP chief Sharad Pawar, A K Antony, P Chidambaram, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, former Chief Ministers S M Krishna, Ghulam Nabi Azad, and Veerappa Moily were inducted in the Cabinet.

Kamal Nath, Sushilkumar Shinde, S Jaipal Reddy, Meira Kumar, Vayalar Ravi, Murli Deora, Kapil Sibal, B K Handique, Ambika Soni, Anand Sharma and C P Joshi also took oath as Cabinet Ministers.

Friday’s swearing-in would be followed by an expansion of the Council of Ministers on May 26. The expansion would include Cabinet Ministers, Ministers of State (MoS) with independent charge as well as other Ministers of State. (ANI)

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Manmohan Singh takes oath as PM along with 19 cabinet ministers

May 22, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

New Delhi, May 22 (ANI): President Pratibha Patil administered oath of office and secrecy to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh along with 19 Cabinet ministers.

The 76-year-old, soft-spoken economist is the first Prime Minister since post-independence after Jawaharlal Nehru to be returned to office after completing a full term.

Kamal Nath, Sushilkumar Shinde, S Jaipal Reddy, Meira Kumar, Vayalar Ravi, Murli Deora, Kapil Sibal, B K Handique, Ambika Soni, Anand Sharma and C P Joshi also took oath as Cabinet Ministers.

Mukherjee is likely to retain finance portfolio, which he got as additional charge towards the end of the tenure of the outgoing government.

The names of Krishna and Kamal Nath are being mentioned for External Affairs Ministry. Chidambaram and Antony are expected to retain home and defence respectively.

Today’s swearing-in would be followed by an expansion of the Council of Ministers on May 26. The expansion would include Cabinet Ministers, Ministers of State (MoS) with independent charge as well as other Ministers of State.

National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah, Mukul Wasnik, Vilas Muttemwar figure in the list of names, who will likely find place on Tuesday in the expanded Cabinet.

The Congress would also be looking to bring the DMK around by then so as to also include its representatives in the Cabinet.

The grand swearing-in ceremony, which started around 6:30 p.m., took place in Ashoka Hall of the Rashtrapati Bhavan where President Pratibha Patil administered the oath of office and secrecy to Dr Singh and his council of ministers.

The first session of the newly constituted Lok Sabha is expected to begin from June 2, and is likely to continue till June 10. (ANI)

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UPA leads over NDA as counting on

May 16, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

New Delhi, May 16 (ANI): The Congress-led UPA is surging ahead of the BJP-led NDA in early trends as counting is underway for 543 Lok Sabha constituencies.

As per latest reports, the UPA is leading in 214 seats and the NDA in 135 seats. The Third Front is leading in 57 and Others are leading in 28.

The Congress-led UPA is leading in Kerala and Rajasthan while the NDA is ahead in Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Himachal Pradesh. The Congress is also leading in BSP-stronghold of Uttar Pradesh.

Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi is ahead in Amethi, Sachin Pilot in Ajmer, P Chidambaram in Sivaganga and Shashi Tharoor in Thiruvananthapuram were also ahead.

BJP candidate Jaswant Singh is leading in Darjeeling.

From Congress, Janardhan Poojari and Margaret Alva are straggling in Karnataka. Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath is trailing in Chhindwara in Madhya Pradesh while former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda is leading in Hassan in Karnataka.

RJD chief Lalu Prasad is leading in Pataliputra, but trailing in Siwan in Bihar.

Among the Congress candidates who are leading in early trends are Priya Dutt (Mumbai North), Jyotiraditya Scindia (Guna), Pranab Mukherjee (Jangipur) and Sandeep Dikshit (East Delhi).

The BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate L K Advani is ahead in Gandhinagar in Gujarat. Other candidates from BJP including Vinod Khanna, Sushma Swaraj and Varun Gandhi are leading from Gurdaspur, Vidisha and Pilibhit respectively.

Counting began at 8:00 a.m. in all 28 states and seven union territories. Votes polled in elections to state assemblies of Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and Sikkim are also being counted simultaneously.

The results are expected to decide the fate of 8,070 contestants, including 556 women.

Around 1,080 counting centres have been set up across 28 states and seven union territories with 4,260 counting halls.

A little over half of the 71.377 crore registered voters cast their ballots through Electronic Voting Machines in the five-phased elections that began on April 16 and ended on May 13. (ANI)

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Shoe hurled at Indian premier during speech

May 3, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

New Delhi – A protestor threw a shoe at Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during an election rally on Sunday, but it landed several feet short of where he was speaking. Singh was addressing the gathering in the western Gujarat state’s main Ahmedabad city and was momentarily distracted from his speech as a security personnel ran towards the spot where the shoe was lying.

The guard then kicked and later carried away the white sneaker which had landed about 20 feet away from the podium.

Singh continued his speech as the man, identified as Hitesh Chauhan, a city-based computer engineer in his mid-20s, was whisked away by security personnel.

Local news channels which broadcast images of the incident said Singh had forgiven the youth and asked police not to press charges against the man.

Police officials told the IANS news agency that Chauhan did not belong to any political group but were questioning him to determine the provocation or issue he wanted to protest about.

The NDTV network quoting police sources said Chauhan wanted to grab media publicity by doing so.

Shoe-throwing has become a preferred form of protest in the run-up to the month-long elections in India which began April 16.

This is the fourth occasion when shoes have been hurled at Indian political leaders in the past few weeks.

It all started on April 7, when a journalist lobbed a shoe at India’s Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram during a press briefing in national capital New Delhi.

Days later, a retired school principal threw footwear at Congress party candidate Navin Jindal during an election rally in the northern state of Haryana.

Subsequently, a slipper was thrown at Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party’s prime ministerial candidate LK Advani, by a former party worker.

Sunday’s incident was the latest in the series of shoe-attacks on political leaders – shoes have been hurled at former US president George W Bush and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao. (dpa)

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Shoe chucker alarm, police ask Advani supporters to take off shoes

April 14, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Coimbatore, Apr 14 (ANI): Following a recent shoe-chucking incident in New Delhi, the police, as a precautionary measure, asked the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers to remove their shoes when they visited the Coimbatore airport to greet their leader L K Advani.

“The police asked us to take off our footwear outside the airport premises as they believed some untoward incident might take place. We strongly condemn this act. Supposing another day, somebody takes off his dress as a mark of protest, will the police ask all men and women to remove their dress and enter a venue?” asked Vinod Kumar, a BJP activist.

They had come to greet Advani at the airport.

Advani was transiting through Coimbatore on his way to Kerala for a whirlwind poll campaign tour.

Recently, there have been a couple of shoe throwing incidents. A retired school principal threw a shoe at Congress MP Navin Jindal in Kurukshetra.

Earlier, an agitated Dainik Jagran journalist threw a shoe at Union Home Minister, P. Chidambaram during a press conference at the Congress headquarters in Delhi.

In a similar incident, last December, Muntadhar al-Zaidi, an Iraqi journalist with Egypt-based al-Baghdadia television network, had thrown his shoes at former President George W. Bush during a news conference in Baghdad. (ANI)

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Sikhs from India arrive in Lahore to celebrate Baisakhi

April 12, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

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Sikhs from India arrive in Lahore to celebrate Baisakhi
Press Trust of India
Saturday, April 11, 2009, (Lahore)
Hundreds of Sikh pilgrims from India arrived here on Saturday to participate in Baisakhi celebrations during which they will also visit the birthplace of founder of their faith Guru Nanak at Nankana Sahib.

Sikhs arrived in this eastern Pakistani city to participate in Baisakhi celebrations marking the end of the wheat harvesting season at several holy sites.

A total of 180 Sikhs from India arrived in Lahore in the first of several special trains, Evacuee Trust Property Board media manager Jacolin Tressler said. Indian authorities had informed the Board that another 1,500 Sikhs were on their way in more special trains, she said.

During their nine-day stay in Pakistan, the Sikhs will visit Gurdwara Janamsthan at Nankana Sahib, the birthplace of Guru Nanak, Gurdwara Dera Sahib in Lahore, Gurdwara Saccha Soda in Farooqabad and Gurdwara Rohri Sahib in Aimanabad. They will leave for India on April 20.

Officials of the Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee and the Evacuee Trust Property Board, which is responsible for maintaining Sikh shrines, greeted the Sikh yatris or pilgrims at the border.

Several pilgrims crossed the border barefoot as a mark of respect for the land where Guru Nanak, the founder of the Sikh religion, was born. Banners with messages of peace and welcome greeted the pilgrims.

The leaders of different ‘jathas’ or delegations stressed the need for people-to-people contacts and early resumption of the peace dialogue between Indian and Pakistan.

Soon after their arrival, the pilgrims left for Gurdwara Panja Sahib in Hasanabdal, where the main festival is to be held from Monday. The pilgrims are being guarded by police and paramilitary Pakistan Rangers.

The Pakistan government has for the first time deployed Pakistan Rangers to provide security to the Indian pilgrims because of a series of terror attacks across the country.

Besides Sikhs from India, some 1,000 pilgrims are expected to arrive from Europe, the Middle East, the US, Canada and Afghanistan. A large number of local Sikhs and Hindus will also participate in the festival.

Last year, over 4,000 Sikhs from India had attended the festival but the figure is lower this year due to tensions between the two countries in the wake of the Mumbai terror attacks.

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About shoe showers and more in Pakistani newspaper

April 10, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

slamabad, April 9 (IANS) A phenomenon ‘typically requiring the presence of one of more political personages and a crowd of media persons’ is likely to often recur, a tongue in cheek editorial in a Pakistani daily said Thursday, referring to a shoe being tossed at Indian Home Minister P. Chiddambaram by a Sikh journalist in New Delhi.

The combination of politicians and journalists ‘produces a kind of flux from which is expelled an example of the common shoe. The shoe appears to be inexplicably drawn towards the political personage and invariably misses’, The News said.

The editorial was quite appropriately headlined ‘Shoe showers’.

‘Scientists believe that politicians exude a catalytic vapour, a concentration of which builds up in the room where they are ensconced with the media people resulting in the fluxion referred to and the spontaneous fall of shoes.

‘Given the frequency with which the elements (politicians and the press) which produce this effect occur, it is not unreasonable to assume that we will see showers of shoes more frequently in the future.

‘Sales of shoe-proof vests are expected to rise, likewise the sale of socks; as journalists may find that a prerequisite of attendance at any future press conference is the removal of their shoes,’ the editorial maintained.

Jarnail Singh, a reporter with the Dainik Jagran newspaper, Tuesday tossed a sports shoe at Chidambaram during a briefing at the Congress party headquarters because he was dissatisfied with the minister’s reply to a question on the punishment being handed to the perpetrators of the anti-Sikh riots that followed the Oct 31, 1984 assassination of then prime minister Indira Gandhi.

Singh later apologised, saying the manner of protest was wrong but the cause was right.

The Delhi Police didn’t press charges against the journalist after the minister ‘forgave’ him.

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Now, Navin Jindal becomes another shoe gate target

April 10, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Kurukshetra, Apr 10 (ANI): Congress MP Navin Jindal today became another target of a shoe-throwing incident.

A retired school principal threw a shoe at him here on Thursday.

Rajpal, a former teacher, reportedly hurled his shoe while he was addressing party workers.

Later, Rajpal was taken to a local police station for interrogation. The reason behind the incident was not known.

According to sources, the lack of opportunities for teachers was cited as a reason.

Earlier, an agitated Dainik Jagran journalist threw a shoe at Union Home Minister, P. Chidambaram during a press conference at the Congress headquarters in Delhi.

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17 die in Jalaun boat mishap, rescue mission continues

April 8, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

SEVENTEEN BODIES of devotees who had drowned after their boat capsized in Yamuna at Beejalpur Ghat have been fished out during rescue operations, till Sunday evening in Jalaun district. Over 24 hours have passed but the operation has not concluded as the bodies of nearly 20 other devotees are yet to be fished out.

There were over 60 devotees when the boat capsized on Saturday. As many as 17 devotees managed to swim ashore safely while private divers and locals rescued eight others.

The incident occurred when devotees were returning from the ancient Jalauni Mata Temple. Rescue operations were on till Sunday night and thousands of people had gathered at the site to witness those at work.

Nine family members of head constable Mahendra Singh Senger, who is posted at Kudaura police station in Jalaun, died in the incident. Inspector General of Police (Kanpur range) Bhanu Pratap Singh visited the spot and tried to pacify the mob, which was angry at the “irresponsible behaviour” of cops of Auraiyya and Jalaun.

The cops had reportedly shirked taking responsibility on the pretext that the area did not fall under their jurisdiction. IG Singh assured the enraged people that an inquiry would be initiated.

After the boat capsized in Yamuna, villagers, who witnessed the incident, jumped into the river and made efforts to rescue those in the boat. Officials also summoned the divers of Farukkabad Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC), police divers of Etawah, Auraiyya and Jalaun to assist the ongoing operation to fish out the bodies.

SP Auraiyya Nachiketa Jha said as many as 35 persons were missing.
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Origin of sound depicted creatively

April 8, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

New Delhi, Apr.8 (ANI): Noise. That is the first thing that strikes us when we, urban Indians, wake up in the morning. Hardly any of us is blessed to be woken up to the sounds of birds chirping or waves lashing against the shore, or winds crashing against hilltops. More often than not, we wake up to alarms ringing or to dogs barking, vendors shrieking, cars reversing, servants shuffling, kids complaining, pressure cookers whistling. Jarring sounds that bring a frown to the face.

What is the origin of sound? According to Hindu mythology it began with the vibrations of cosmic movements. These movements originated from Lord Shiva’s drum. Noted Bharatanatyam exponent Jayalakshmi Eshwar recently in New Delhi’s India Habitat Centre presented this theme.

Kala Shruti or ‘Sounds of Time’ showcased the origin of sound. According to the scriptures, after the long silence at the end of the last age, out of the deluge gradually rustling movements gather momentum and a powerful sacred sound Om or Aum emerged from the three syllable A-kara (shape), U-kara (shapeless), M-akara (neither shape nor shapeless but existing)…hence Aum or Om. ayalakshmi and her students depicted the five elements that reside in the human body. These five elements are also embodied in Lord Shiva and worshipped in five temples in South India. Many of us would have visited these temples without knowing the significance of the idol or the theme of these temples.

For example, in Chidambaram,in Tamil Nadu, is the Natraja Temple which is probably on every tourists itinerary. In the sanctum sanctorum is what is called the Chidambara Rahasyam. The secret of Chidambaram. What is that secret? It is not visible. But only those who care to research or talk to the priest would know that the secret is that Natraja/Shiva is worshiped as space. The other four temples in this category are: Thiruvanaikaval Jambukeswara (water), Kanchi Ekambareswara (earth), Thiruvannamalai Arunachaleswara (fire) and Kalahasti Nathar (wind).

The concept and choreography for this rather esoteric composition was by the dancer herself. Jayalakshmi is a student of the late Rukmini Devi Arundale of Kalakshetra. Her dance movements are at once graceful as well as textbook correct. Rukmini Devi believed in the purity of style while giving way to innovation and creativity within the limits of tradition. Her students, Jayalakshmi being one of them, adhere that too, in letter and spirit.By Smita Prakash(ANI)

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Journalist hurls shoe at Indian home minister

April 7, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Paris –

New Delhi – A Sikh journalist hurled a shoe at India’s security minister during a press conference on Tuesday after getting angry at a reply to a question about the
1984 riots in which scores of Sikhs were killed.

There was high drama at the conference after the shoe missed Palaniappan Chidambaram, who deftly leaned back to avoid being hit.

“Please take him away,” a smiling Chidambaram told security guards. “It doesn’t matter.”

The journalist, identified as Jarnail Singh, working with Hindi daily Dainik Jagran, was taken to a local police station.

Singh had got into a minor argument with Chidambaram on the circumstances that led to former minister Jagdish Tytler being exonerated by the Central Bureau of Investigation in connection with the riots.

There is anger in the Sikh community which believes that the Congress Party-led coalition government pressured the bureau to give Tytler a clean chit.

More than 3,000 Sikhs were killed by rioting mobs of Congress Party sympathizers after then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was shot by her Sikh bodyguards on October
31, 1984.

Tuesday’s The incident was reminiscent of shoe attacks that have been used as a symbol of protest against leaders including former US President George W Bush and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao.

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Chidambaram discusses security scenario with Advani

April 2, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

New Delhi, Apr 2 (ANI): Home Minister P. Chidamabaram on Thursday met Leader of the Opposition L K Advani and discussed the security scenario ahead of the general elections.

The meeting, which lasted for 20-minutes, took place at Advani’s residence.

According to sources, Chidamabaram advised Advani to refrain from undertaking unscheduled visits to different parts of the country during the campaign trail.

On Wednesday, Chidambaram has written to Chief Ministers of all the states to provide adequate security for nearly two dozen VVIPs during the period of the upcoming general elections.

Chidambaram has urged all the state chiefs to cooperate with security agencies.

The letter has listed out ‘dos and don’ts’ to be ensured by the state police and paramilitary forces during their electioneering, official sources said.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi, All India Congress Committee (AICC) General Secretary Rahul Gandhi and his sister Priyanka Gandhi have already got special security of the Special Protection Group (SPG).

Besides them, the list proposes elite security cover to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader L K Advani, former chief ministers Ghulam Nabi Azad, Farooq Abdullah, All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) leader J Jayalalithaa, Chief Ministers of Jammu and Kashmir, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh –Omar Abdullah, Narendra Modi and Mayawati respectively.

The Home Ministry’s message, written on March 27, has come in the wake of intelligence reports revealing that terrorists may attack prominent leaders in the run up to the polls. (ANI)

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ISI could infiltrate through Sri Lanka: Chidambaram

February 25, 2009 By Dinesh Leave a Comment

New Delhi, Feb 25 (IANS) The government is alive to the threat of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) attempting to infiltrate its operatives into south India via Sri Lanka and has taken steps to counter this, Home Minister P. Chidambaram said Wednesday.

‘There is no specific report of an infiltration attempt via Sri Lanka but we cannot rule this out,’ Chidambaram said during question hour in the Rajya Sabha. ‘We are aware that the ISI has a rather long arm and can reach out to other countries in south Asia.’

In this context, he noted that all applications made in Sri Lanka for an Indian visa were being put through ‘greater scrutiny’.

This apart, coastal vigilance had been ‘significantly strengthened’ in Tamil Nadu and Kerala post the Mumbai terror attacks, Chidambaram said.

He was responding to a supplementary from D. Raja of the Communist Party of India (CPI) whether the government was aware that with the growing cooperation between Sri Lanka and Pakistan, ‘the ISI could become active and target the southern coast’.
Indo Asian News Service

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