uneditednews

mY pEEPLI-LiVE mOMENT

2011-09-09T11:56:00.002+05:30

Some were sipping tea before entering the court while others were talking to their clients but many of them suddenly turned eye-witnesses to earn their two-minute fame on national television. An opportunity at a time of disaster or was it Love in Times of Cholera!

It was almost the 'Peepli Live' moment outside the Delhi High Court on September 7 soon after a briefcase bomb exploded infront of the crowded reception centre near Gate No 5. The bomb exploded at 10:14 am, according to Home Minister P Chidambaram and in 15 minutes, all the injured were in hospital with area cordoned off.

Then came the lawyers, whom their colleagues claim were not near the site when the blast took place, looking for media crew as investigators were looking for that hidden truth.

It was like a meeting of bats, all in their lawyer gowns and started talking imprompti. "I just heard the defeaning sound. I was just 10 metres away. I saw the smoke. I saw the man. What was police doing. We don't have CCTVs," everybody sounded similar.

At least three-four lawyers were seen giving their "eye-witness" accounts to each and every news channel which came their way but some of their colleagues were seen laughing at them saying they were no were near the site.

Another lawyer was seen taking his stunned woman client to TV cameras to tell that his clerk had taken her to get a pass made. When reporters started asking her, she was in such a misery that she could not speak but the lawyer kept going on and on to ensure that his two-minute fame does not fade away.

"This is their craze for getting into TV. They are trying to capitalise on a tragedy. These are not the real people who were there at the gate to help victims. I know at least one lawyer who lost his hearing ability for a while but did not want to be infront of cameras," said a lawyer laughing at the ongoing 'tamasha'.

By 1:30 pm, the media frenzy was over and Chidambaram had come and gone. Reporters and cameramen were lazing around as there was no work. The latecomers, the regional channels from Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, haven't got their eye-witness accounts. The litigants have gone. Then again came the same lot of lawyers to save the regional reporters from losing their job.

Mediapersons also had to share the blame as they kept pestering whoever was in a black gown asking whether they were at the spot and give an update on what was happening.

A TV reporter was seen pestering a young lawyer who was helping the injured and ask him to give his version. When he refused, she shouted at him, "it is your duty to help media" but the lawyer shot back, "I know what I am doing and now I should help the victims.

As reporters went searching for eye-witnesses, some went to a security guard who repeatedly told them that he had not left his gate though he was standing bang opposite the blast site. "I did not leave the gate. I cannot go. If I had gone to check, I would have lost my job," the guard, hailing from Bihar and in his late 50s said.

Did you see smoke? asked one reporter and he said "yes". The reporter, a senior in the field, told his colleagues, it could be potassium nitrate. Suddenly, the other reporters started dialling police officers to check the components of the explosive. It was just 10:45 am, just 30 minutes into the blast and officials were at the spot for 15 minutes. Experts were not there. Without confirmation from a police officer, the story was ran by a reporter and he was later heard telling his colleagues, this Deputy Commissioner of Police told me this information.

Don't play the victim card, Don't be a suicide bomber

2010-09-18T13:57:00.003+05:30

Last night as I hit the bed well past midnight, I could not stop thinking those 17 people.

I don’t know them – their names or faces. They were not my friends or relatives, colleagues or neighbours. All of them were Muslims. All of them were killed in protests across the Kashmir valley. So told the newspapers.

The protests which led to the deaths were triggered following a conservative Christian in the United States tearing off some pages from Quran, the holy book of Muslims. A school was torched in Kashmir, a church in Punjab.

Outrageous act, it was -- the desecration of Quran (or any book, for that matter) and the torching of the school and church. Devotees and lovers of letters have every right to protest any such act. Everybody has the right to be outraged for one reason or other. But I could not fathom the loss of life in a distant Kashmir valley following a mad, I would say, conservative bigot's illogical and foolish act to counter Islam.

Condemn the tearing, desecration or burning of Quran or any book -- holy or unholy -- which is a violent act, anyway. I call it violence though no blood was then shed. But violent because it was a violent act committed on the minds of the faithful and on a philosophy, which one may agree with or disagree.

But my point is something else. How can one answer the deaths of so many people following the foolish act of an American Christian or Iranian Muslim or Indian Hindu or a Jew or anyone from any other planet?

Do the faithful think that desecration of Quran by a fool or an illiterate would jeopardise Islam, which has a standing of centuries?

Is Islam so vulnerable? Is the philosophy so vulnerable that it needs brawn rather than the brain to protect it?

Does the tearing of some pages from a copy of Quran in possession of a single man will erase the philosophy which has trickled down through centuries, which has withstood many challenges through the centuries?

My answer is no.

I read Quran for the first time 12 years ago. I tried to make sense of the Communist Manifesto 13 years ago. I eagerly witnessed the Mahatma's The Story of My Experiments with Truth 15 years ago. I finished Crime and Punishment 18 years ago. I enjoyed the first pulp fiction 23 years ago.

The impact it left, from the Malayalam pulp I read when I was eight to Quran when I was 18 to Dr Axel Munthe's The Story of San Michelle when I am 31, is still there.

Tearing a page or two from that Malayalam pulp fiction -- Anchu Sundarikal (The Five Beautiful Girls) by Mathew Mattom -- or San Michelle or the Manifesto or The Holy Quran will not take away that charm, which I experienced while reading. By just tearing a page, by burning a chapter, by spitting on a book, no one can take away the printed word and its impact on human mind.

Does the protesting Muslim think that his religion or his philosophy will become extinct due to a foolish act by some mad man?

If he thinks so, then he is mistaken and he is doing a great disservice to his religion. Just don't get provoked by a Terry Jones, the US evangelist who was little-known till a few weeks back. Then what will Jones do or the any other guy who tore the Quran pages?

If you just tell them, "brother, you burn as many Qurans as you can. Tear as many pages as you can. Nothing will happen to my religion, my way of life, my philosophy. It has withstood the challenges of so many centuries. Your ideology (Jones cannot claim he is a Christian and his philosophy has nothing to do with Christ) is going to die as your hatred is killing your faith. Your violence and ignorance is not moving me.” Give them a smile.

Oh! you may call me a fool who takes a leaf out of the Bollywood masala Munnabhai MBBS and his 'Gandhigiri'.

But just imagine, let your imagination go wild. What will happen, IF you do that? Think. Think. Think.

Does it will have the impact you desire? What will the Terry Jones variety feel? Will they be disappointed that you are not provoked? Will the ruthlessly anti-Islam fundamentalist be so pissed off with you that you did not fall into the trap?

The courage you show, the confidence you breathe into your religion will just defeat the Terry Jones variety. Just give a try.

That, I believe, is a better option than the stereotype role of a victim. Or a suicide bomber.

(PS: I know the 17 lives lost has more to do with the tearing of pages of Quran though a TV report on this triggered the protests. Hardline Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani had his agenda. He wanted to reclaim the leadership of the protests which for a brief while went to "softliner" Mirwaiz Umar Farooq.)
Shemin/Sep15-Sep17

(Thanks to my 'dost' Anand Haridas for careful reading and editing)

Kalmadification of Commonman's Wealth

2010-09-17T22:40:00.003+05:30

"KALMADIFICATION of Commonman's Wealth" or is it "some people in ruling party converting COMMON WEALTH to INDIVIDUAL WEALTH" -- the first one is from a post in Face Book and the other from seasoned BJP wordsmith M Venkaiah Naidu. These remarks seem sum up what the upcoming Commonwealth Games is all about and nothing about sports at all.

It was incidentally the watermouth Congress nominated Rajya Sabha MP, Manishankar Shankar Aiyer, (India Today called him Mani Shankar IRE) who opened the can, the pandora's box with craftly worded utterings -- that he wants it to rain cats and dogs during the Games here and that he would be unhappy if the sporting extravaganza was successful. He was called anti-national by the Games Organising Committee Chairman Suresh Kalmadi. (Aiyer retorted, Suresh Kalmadi is Suresh Calamity).

Aiyer's ire is nothing new. He used to speak against the Games and was always against the huge spending saying it is not going to help in the growth of sports in the country. He was particularly angry that the government was not bothered about his pet project of developing sports infrastructure in villages across the country.

Then came the Central Vigilance Commission, the anti-corruption force, smelling rot in the projects, tenders, procurement and what else. Kalmadi hiring treadmill for Rs 9.75 lakh. Yes he is hiring one for this amount when he can buy the best in the world for Rs seven lakh.

It is not Kalmadi alone who is under the scanner. The Municipal Corporation of Delhi, Delhi Government and the Union Urban Deveopment Ministry all are responsible for the corruption.

Leaking stadia, substandard preparations, ongoing work -- a mess. The mess being there, everybody is confident that everything will be in place before the event. Before the event, yes on October two by 5 pm. Thanks to THE GREAT INDIAN JUGAAD.

But the question is should the Games be held here. Why not the Commonwealth Games Federation withdraw the Games? Not because the preparations are bad, leading no where. Because of the corruption.

Is this the way Kalmadi and Co bringing "prestige" to the country by pocketing millions and millions of rupees looted from the pockets of Actors and Accountants, Beggars and Butchers, Clerks and Comedians, Doctors and Domestic helps, Engineers and Enigmatists, Foodies and Fashion designers, Greedy and Gorgeous, Housewives and Honeymooners, Idiots and Idols, Journalists and Jockers, Keralites and Kashmiris, Lawyers and Librarians, Models and Musicians, Nurses and Novuveau Riche, Oracles and Opthalmologists, Pimps and Priests, Quacks and Quizmasters, Rickshaw pullers and Readers, Scientists and Soldiers, Teachers and Traders, Ugly and Utopians, Vegetarians and Vetinerarians, Writers and Wrestlers and all XYZ.

One of my friends, Sreeparna, told me, We are being BLACKMAILED to support the Games. We will be called names -- like anti-national -- if we don't support the Games. In the name of the Games, we are being asked to pay for more and have to pay more. Prices of everything has gone up. Name it, everything has become costlier in Delhi -- bus fare, petrol, daal, water, electricity, tomato, salt, milk...

Anand Haridas, another friend, tweeted: My God, earlier there were anti-nationals speaking only for adivasis and displaced, now they oppose Commonwealth Games!

August four morning, my senior colleague Deepika told me about a sweeper working in my organisation. He might be earning something around Rs 3,000 per month. Before the bus fares were revised, she used to meet him in the same bus. But from one day, suddenly he disappeared. She used to meet him everyday in office and never found anything strange in not meeting him in bus or bus stop. He might be coming in another bus, his shift might have changed, reasons could be endless. She left it there but only to discover him, one day, cycling to office. Struggling to find some space, his way through the maddening traffic on the Vikas Marg. A long 12 km cycle ride through the rough Delhi streets where no driver care for anyone else (and even sometimes dont care oneself). She just rewinded herself. When did he stopped boarding the bus? Why did he stop travelling in a bus? The bus fares were revised and he had to shell out another extra Rs 300 per month. A Rs 300 extra to get to office, he would say sorry to that luxury. His luxury would mean less daal, less rice to his household.

Yes, he is living in a world class capital, Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit will remind him. He has to pay, if he needs a flyover, if he wants to see his city in flying colours.

Kalmadi is looting this Rs 300, Dikshit is snatching this Rs 300, XYZ in the power corridors are fleeing with this Rs 300.

Do we really need the Games here? I would say NO and you can hurl any abuse at me -- traitor, anti-national, ba@#&d. I won't object.
Shemin/Aug 4

The Bihar Fixation

2010-09-17T22:38:00.007+05:30

I think I have a fixation for Bihar, a place I never have been to. I have been thinking about Bihar and Biharis for the past few days. Whenever I think about writing about something for the Delhi Jottings, Bihar is what is coming to my mind. Nostalgia, girls, films, friends -- nothing fascinating me at this moment. It's Bihar and Biharis.

I don't know much about Bihar, other than Nitish Kumar is Chief Minister, Patna is its capital, Mohd Shihabuddin used to muscle his way around Siwan, Pappu Yadav's wife is an impressive speaker, Lalu Prasad ate a lot of "fodder" and became rich, a lean scribe Varghese C George posted in Patna by Indian Express became a hero because of his expose on Lalu's fodder. That Jharkhand was carved out of the state where the writ of Sibu Soren, the alleged messaiah of tribals, runs. Then the under-development, the usual contempt for "the uncivilised Biharis", the usual stories. Yes, my GK on Bihar has its limit.

So occasionally I talk to Biharis (I use it not as an insult, but to identify) about Bihar, their understanding, their feelings about their home.

The other day, I was talking to Krishnakumar, a "Bihari" colleague in PTI's legal bureau. The conversation somehow soon turned to and circled around Bihar and Biharis. A well-meaning, well-intentioned Krishna told me abruptly, "hei dost, from rickshaw walas to the mighty IAS wala, you name it and we have it from from Bihar." I had no option but to agree with him.

I asked him why so? You are churning out the largest number of IAS guys and girls, then why these rickshaw walas, why can't they become something else other than rickshaw walas. I told him, we have a huge number of "Bihari" journalists and some so big name as Shekhar Gupta, the Indian Express CEO. He nodded and continued listening.

I became a little naughty and told him Biharis are so innovative. He laughed and said Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit has a complaint about them that they just take a train to Delhi the moment they have some money and get going here. Can she complain when you get some cheap labour, I wondered. Bihari labourers have now crossed the Vindhyas and even reached the southern tip.

I stuck to my point on Biharis being innovative. I said, Soren when he was in undivided Bihar, gave suitcases a new status during the 1990s when Narasimha Rao was in power. He again laughed. I told him, you just come, get a rickshaw, or an auto, or go to JNU, or to a media house. You are here. Biharis have arrived.

Krishna brought back me from my sarcasm or poor jokes or bad humour. He said, we did have nothing there. Last 15-20 years when other states progressed, we were left far behind. Fifteen years, Lalu plundered and before that others. I countered, the IAS v/s rickshaw wala was there then also. So what is the problem? Suddenly, a telephone rings and he rushed. It was a call from his boss, another Bihari but now belongs to Jharkhand.

Many say, people flee from Bihar to get more education, facilities. Yes, those who can afford do so. Others flee to ply the cycle rickshaws and autos.

My friends who want me to get married soon always tell me that I should go to some Bihar village. I used to tell them that I am not getting a girl as girls don't like me (and the other option is not going to work as I am not interested in men). They say go to Bihar and announce your qualifications. Someone will kidnap you for their girl and get married.

What is ailing Bihar? My tryst with Bihar to continue.
Shemin/Jun 6

Bihar, Biharis: Saddam Opens a Window

2010-09-17T22:36:00.005+05:30

For the past few hours, I was thinking of Saddam, a 15-16 year-old boy from Bihar. Which village, I dont remember. I was talking to him around midnight two days ago. He had come upstairs to get some cold water from the "fridge" (refrigerator) to beat the Delhi heat. The night temperatures were on a high. Next days newspapers were to say that the minimum has touched a 15 year old high. But Saddam seemed undetered by this heat. He was upbeat about himself.

He suddenly started talking about his work, work ethics. And the provocation was my pleasantry "kaam kaise chal raha hei?" (how is your work going?). I was just trying to be nice to him though I was in no mood to for a conversation. I was talking to myself and at that point I did not want to talk to anyone. But Saddam suddenly struck me with his conversation.

Saddam came to Delhi two-three years ago. He is now living in the "posh colony" of Priyadarshini Vihar near Laxmi Nagar. Priyadarsini Vihar is a posh colony set up by a society formed by employees of American embassy long back. And our landlord, an MCD contractor bought a bunglow. The ground floor is where around 15 teenagers and adults eat, work and sleep. They do embroidery on clothes and sell it at the cloth market in Gandhi Nagar.

Saddam cleared his throat after gulping the "fridge water". He says, I dont go to my house every year. Aijas Bhai, who taught him the work, is now on a holiday. "Acha nahi lagta hei ghar jaaane mein (I dont like going home) ". I was surprised. He says, "my friends don't recognise me there. I have become taller by one feet in two years. I have become fair. If I go home, I become more darker."

I looked at the boy, lean as me, with astonishment. Is it just that he becomes dark makes him think so. No.

He thinks, I am what I am now is because of Delhi. Delhi taught me a lot. I am good at my work in two years. Here, the water quality is good, he feels. He said inserting some english words which he learnt during his Delhi days. Saddam had madrassa education, learnt Urdu (or was it Arabic), he can't read it now. But whenever he saw me reading English papers, he used to come and sit near me, watching me flipping through the pages. He will then ask some questions. And many times, I have seen a sense of disappointment in his eyes. He can't read English and he is not a journalist, I always thought that he was thinking so. I used to tell him, start reading papers.

Suddenly, he starts talking about his work ethics. If you are working, work with passion. He did not say this in as many words. That was what we meant. He continued, If I am working, I am fully into it. My mind won't digress. May be after two hours, I take a break and during that period, I do many other things. I don't mix work and fun.

He then told me about another guy who was there for the past six years and still not allowed to do work on his own. "I was fortunate. I learnt fast. That too in two years. The ustad now does not check my work. He knows that I am good at my work," he sounded jubiliant.
(I am not good at telling stories. So there are so many gaps in the story)

What struck me was his idea about Delhi. He says, like me, Delhi made me and I can't leave this city. It has become a part of his/my life. But I never say I won't go to Kerala. Perumpally. Kochi. Yes, the other day I was missing the rains. My friend Santosh Babu was telling me last night, it was raining. I just missed it. Fortunately or unfortunately, i was the second person to know, other than the MET people, that the monsoon hit Kerala coast (PTI broke the story, my friend and PTI Science correspondent confirmed it first in India from MET people. He phoned me to give the alert and it was on wires within a flash of a second).
Shemin/Jun 3

I was raped and now I don’t want to be victimized by the Orissa Police

2008-10-27T10:10:00.001+05:30

Sister Meena

On 24th August around 4.30 pm, hearing the shouting large crowd, at the gate of Sivyajyoti pastoral centre, I ran out through the back door and escaped to the forest along with others. We saw our house going up in flame. Around 8.30 PM, we came out of the forest and went to the house of the Hindu gentleman who gave us shelter.

On 25th August, around 1.30 PM, the mob entered the room where I was staying in that house; one of them slapped on my face, caught my hair and pulled me out of the house. Two of them were holding my neck to cut off my head with axe. Others told them to take me out to the road; I saw Fr. Chellan also being taken out and being beaten. The mob consisting of 40-50 men were armed with lathis, axes, spades, crowbars, iron rods, sticks etc. They took both of us to the main road. Then they led us to the burnt down Janavikas building saying that they were going to throw us into the smoldering fire.

When we reached the Janavikas building, threw me to the verandah on the way to the dining room which was full of ashes and broken glass pieces. One of them tore my blouse and others my undergarments. Father Chellan protested and they beat him and pulled him out from there. They pulled out my saree and one of them slepped on my right hand and another on my left hand and then a third person raped me on the verandah mention above. When it was over, I managed to get up and put my petticoat and saree. Then another young man caught me and took me to a room near the staircase. He opened his pants and was attempting to rape me when they reached there.

I hide myself under the staircase. The crowd was shouting “Where is that sister, come let us rape her, at least 100 people should rape.” They found me under stair case and took me out to the road. There I saw Fr. Chellan was kneeling down and the crowd was beating him. They were searching for a rope to tie both of us together to burn in fire. Someone suggested to make a us parade naked. They made us to walk on the road till Nuagaon market, which was half a kilometer from there. They made to fold our hands and walk. I was with petticoat and saree as they had already torn away my blouse and undergarments. They tried to strip even there and I resisted and they went on beating me with hands on my cheeks and head, and with sticks on my back several times.

When we reached market place, about a dozen of OSAP police men were there. I went to them asking to protect me and I sat in between two policemen. They did not move. One from the crowd again pulled out from there there and they wanted to take us in their temple mandap. The crowd led me and Fr. Chellan to the Nuagaon block building, saying that they will hand us over to B.D.O. From there along with the block officer, the mob took us to police outpost Nuagaon, other policemen remained far.

The mob said that they will comeback after and one of them who attacked me remained back in the police outpost. Policemen then came to police outpost. They were talking very friendly with the man who had attacked me and stayed back. In police outpost we remained until the inspector incharge of Balliguda with his police team came and took us to Balliguda. They were afraid to us straight to the police station and they kept us sometimes in jeep in garage, from there they brought us to the station. The inspector incharge and other two government officers took privately and asked whatever happened to me. I narrated everything in detail to the police, how I was attacked, raped, taken away from policement paraded half naked and how the plicemen did not help me when I asked for help while weeping bitterly. I saw the inspector writing down. The inspector asked me “Are you interesting in filing FIR? Do you know what will be the consequence?” At about 10 PM, I was taken for medical check up accompanied by a lady police officer to Balliguda hospital” They were afraid to keep us in police station, saying the mob may attack police station. So the police took us to I. B. (Inspection Bungalow) where CRPF men were camping.

On 26th around 9 AM we were taken to Balliguda police station. When I was writing the FIR, the I/C asked me to hurry up and not to write in detail. When I started writing about the police, I/C told me this is not the way to write FIR. “Make it short.” So I rewrote it for the third time in one and half page. I filed the FIR, but I was not given a copy of it.

At around 4 PM the Inspector In charge of Balliguda police station along with some government officers put us in the OSRTC bus to Bhubaneswar along with other stranded passengers. Police were there till Rangamati, where all passengers had their supper. After that I did not see the police. We got down near Nayagarh and traveled in a private vehicle and reached Bhubaneswar around 2 AM on 27th August.

State police failed to stop the crimes, failed to protect me from the attackers, they were friendly with attackers, they tried their best that I did not register a FIR, not make complaints against police, police did not take down my statement as I narrated in detail and they abandon me half of the way. I was raped and now I don’t want to be victimized by the Orissa Police. I want CBO enquiry. God bless India, God bless you all.

Sr. Meena
(Sr. Meena was working at Divyajyoti Pastoral Centre at K. Nuagaon, Kandhamal District, Orissa before anti-Christian violence broken out in Kandhamal district of Orissa after the killing of Lakshmananada Sarawati on August 23, 2008 allegedly by Maoists.)

Thumps Down --- Autos, Buses

2008-06-29T22:01:00.003+05:30

Shemin Joy

New Delhi, Sep 23, 2007 (PTI) Buses and autos plying in the capital have got a thumps down from Delhi women, with a whopping 70 per cent of the fairer sex claiming that these were the high-risk areas for them.

Fifty per cent of the respondents of a government- backed study -- "How Secure or Insecure are Women in the City of Delhi" by the National Institute of Criminology and Forensic Science -- said they consider buses as most unsafe for women.

The study suggested that government should ensure that the drivers and conductors of blueline buses have no criminal background and get them registered with the authorities.

Autos came a distant second with 20 per cent in the study conducted for Bureau of Police Research and Development by interviewing 630 respondents in markets, colleges, railway stations, malls, ISBT, airport, slums and villages.

Ten per cent of the women felt that roadside was an area of high insecurity. Interestingly, Old Delhi ranked fourth in this regard with seven per cent of the respondents perceiving this part of the capital as scary.

The survey, conducted to stidy the perception level of insecurity among women in the capital, also found that market places and colleges are the places where capital's women feel most insecure. About 80.40 per cent of women interviewed at marketplaces said they felt insecure at the place while the figurefor colleges was 72.10 per cent.

Shopping malls came third where 60 per cent of respondents said they felt insecure. Level of insecurity was lowest among slum dwellers (8.70 per cent) followed by respondents from village (22.8 percent).

The study said personal factors like low level of confidence and alcoholic spouses made slum dwellers (80 per cent of the respondents) insecure.

The feeling of insecurity sank in 85 per cent of women in markets and railway stations due to low level of confidence, it said. In colleges, 70 per cent of the girls had lower level of confidence. Respondents from villages have higher trust in the police while those from markets and airport trusted police the lowest, it said.

The study suggested that small bottes of pepper spray be made available at a very low price for enhancing the security of the fairer sex.

"Every girl should carry pepper spray and it should beavailable in a small bottle at a very low price ... easilyavailable in the market," it said.

The study also recommended that women should always move in groups if possible and should carry contact numbers of women helpline and police besides having "some basic knowledge" of law.

CRPF women earn praise for work in Liberia

2008-06-29T20:14:00.002+05:30

Shemin Joy

New Delhi, Dec 25, 2007 (PTI) A "five-star" performance bywomen personnel of the CRPF in strife-torn Liberia has earned them the praise of the African nation's President for motivating the country's women to join police, besides a year's extension

Completing a year in Liberia next month, the 125-strong contingent led by Commandant Seema Dhundiya, was entrusted with the security of the President, joint patrolling and general area domination besides riot control and training ofofficers of the National Police in the crisis-hit West Africannation

Impressed by their performance, the United Nations has sought an extension for the force, and a fresh batch of 125personnel, part of the CRPF's women battalion, will be heading to Liberia next month to replace the existing team

"It was for the first time that a female contingent was sent to Liberia in January this year to handle the local unrest and this is the first female contingent of police to be deployed by the UN," CRPF Director General S I S Ahmed toldPTI.

"The day the first batch landed in Liberia, there was a big demonstration. They did exceedingly well in containing the unruly mob. It created a big impact," Ahmed, who recently visited Liberia, said.

The "outstanding" performance by the squad, Ahmed said, also prompted the authorities to entrust the security of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf with the CRPF.

"Sirleaf told me that the CRPF has created an outstanding impact on the Liberians and a large number of women now are wanting to join the police. She said it was unparallelled as Liberian women never wanted to come and join police," Ahmedsaid.

The specialised Formed Police Unit, comprising 125 female officers of the paramilitary force, has received training in crowd control, handling of weapons and teargas and unarmed combat.

The team will be armed with pistols, INSAS and AK-47rifles and light machine guns.

The contingent will be equipped with bulletproof vehicles, indigenous riot control vehicle Vajra, night vision devices and GPS systems.

The UN Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) took over peacekeeping duties from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in October 2003 to bring about a thaw among warring ethnic groups.

The existing contingent also received praise from UNMILCommander Lt Gen Chikadikia Obiaka and Deputy SpecialRepresentative of UN Secretary General, Henreitta Joy, who commended the CRPF work as "five star" performance.

Asked why the CRPF force was selected for the job, Ahmed said, "there were many demonstrations in which women were participating in large numbers and the government was finding it difficult to handle that."

He said the CRPF contingent is encouraging other countries to raise exclusive women contingent and "dignitaries visiting Liberia are interacting with our contingent to findout the mode of working".

"Like their male counterparts, they are into everything like counter-insurgency and counter-militancy. This kind ofexposure, I think, no women contingent in the world evergets," Ahmed said.

UN approaches India for CRPF contingent in Haiti

2008-06-29T20:09:00.003+05:30

Shemin Joy

New Delhi, Dec 21, 2007 (PTI) The United Nations hasapproached India for the deployment of a CRPF contingent inthe trouble-torn Latin American nation of Haiti to help its peacekeeping mission, a proposal which is being considered by the government.

The Home Ministry received the UN proposal seeking CRPF personnel for the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (UNSMIH) some time back, a senior official told PTI.

"The government is considering the proposal. Discussions are on the preliminary stage," the official said without elaborating the number of CRPF personnel sought by the UN to strengthen its existing force. No decision has been taken so far, the official added.

If the government accepts the invitation, this will be the second CRPF contingent to be deployed with UN peacekeeping mission now. A 125-member strong women contingent of the CRPFis presently in Liberia as part of the UN mission there.

The 123-men strong Rapid Action Force, a constituent of the CRPF, was earlier deployed in the trouble-torn Latin American nation in 1995 to assist the election process there. There were also a few Indians serving in the Mission inHaiti on the civil side.

The UN mission started functioning in Haiti in 1993 tos upport the country, the first indpendent nation in Latin America, which was in the midst of chaos and anarchy.

Presently, there are 8,889 personnel in Haiti as partof the UN mission. This include 7,060 military personnel,1,829 police personnel, 482 international civilian personnel,1,102 local civilian staff and 194 UN volunteers.

The personnel are from Pakistan, China, Sri Lanka,Nepal, United States, France, Brazil, Argentina, Turkey,Nigeria and Philippines among others nations.

According to official statistics, a total of 32 personnel of the UN Mission have lost their lives in the violence-hit nation, including 19 military and three police personnel in the past.

Personnel of CRPF were also deployed in Sri Lanka aspart of the India Peace Keeping Force. In 2000, RAF sent its 240 personnel as part of anIndian contingent on UN mission to strife-torn Kosovo.

This unit provided special secuirty to the UN officials, assistedthe local police in controlling crowd during violentdemonstrations and civil unrest. CRPF contingent were also pressed into action by various UN Missions in Namibia, Somalia, Haiti, Maldives andBosnia. These contingents won praises from the UN for its professionalism and steadfastness to duty, the official said.

Noida police asks Delhi counterparts for missing persons info

2008-06-29T20:06:00.002+05:30

Shemin Joy
Noida, Jan 2, 2007 (PTI) Noida police have asked their Delhicounterparts to provide them with details of missing personsin their areas even as people from far and near are coming toNithari village, where a gruesome tale of serial killing ofchildren has come to light, in search of their missing kin.

Circle Officer (Noida) Dinesh Yadav held a meetingwith SHOs of Anand Vihar and Vivek Vihar in East Delhi andrequested them to give details of missing persons in theirareas, including the complaints and their photographs.

More and more persons from nearby areas in the National Capital Region (NCR) as well as from places likeMuzaffarnagar are thronging Nithari village in search of theirmissing kin after the discovery of skeletal remains there.

Yadav said special arrangements have been made forpeople coming from outside Noida and a sub-inspector has beenspecifically assigned to listen to their complaints at Sector20 police station.

One of the several parents who have come to Nithari village is Zaheer Khan, a motor mechanic from Muzaffarnagarin UP

Khan's 12-year-old son went missing three years agowhile he was staying at his uncle's house in Ghaziabad that is not very far from the scene of the crime

"I have been searching for my son for the last three years and even lost my job," Khan said.

Phool Kaur came to Nithari fearing that her missing sister Hans Kaur, a resident of Kalyanpuri area of East Delhi,could be among the victims of the alleged serial killers Moninder Singh and his servant Surendra.

Hans Kaur had gone missing in January, 2003 and was last spotted in Sector 11 of Noida.

An FIR was registered in both the Sector 11 andKalyanpuri police stations.

"Police had called us a few days after the FIR was registered and said a body had been found. But it was not Hans," said Phool Kaur.

A large number of people have been coming to Nithari village with copies of FIRs and photographs of their missing kin since the serial killings have come to light.

Several parents showed photographs of their missing children and showed them to the police officials even as they braced themselves to hear bad news.

Yadav said a large number of people were approaching Noida police since the lust-cum-murder case came to light. The people were asked to provide with photograph,copies of FIR filed earlier with relevant police stations and other details, he said.

Fighting AIDS, the Gandhian way

2008-06-29T20:01:00.002+05:30

Shemin Joy

New Delhi, Oct 7, 2007 (PTI) Inspired by Bollywood characterMunnabhai, a group of Gandhians in the capital have declared a"Gandhigiri" against HIV/AIDS by urging people to keep awayfrom illicit relationship by spreading the teachings of the Father of the Nation on moral and family values.

Activists of the 'Universal Peace Foundation' aredistributing "Gandhigiri" pamphlets, which contains messages of Mahatma Gandhi on values like being trustworthy in relationships and on the institution of wedding.

The pamphlet urges people to take a pledge that they will keep away from illicit relationships before or after marriage and will be faithful to the partner in the entire life. It also contains passages from sacred texts of various religions like Hinduism, Christianity, Islam, Jainism,Zorastrianism and Ba'ahai.

The campaign was designed under the guidance ofeminent jurist L M Singhvi, who died yesterday.

"We are trying to reach out to the masses using theMahatma's teachings to fight against HIV/AIDS," DavidMcLackLand, a Britisher associated with the campaign, told PTI.

MacLackland, also a consultant with a charitable trust'Interreligious and International Federation for World Peace',said they chose the principles of Mahatma because his idealshave an universal appeal. Gandhiji also spoke on length about the need foradhering to family values, he added.

"We thought why not use his eternal principles in the fight against the deadly disease. The pamphlet also contains quotes from religious texts which talks about values,"MacLackland said.

He said it was "good to copy good things from abroadbut copying bad ideas like the western family values could create problems here". "Being from the West, I can say this with some conviction," McLackland said.

Women in police force unknown entity: Kiran Bedi

2008-06-26T09:53:00.002+05:30

Shemin Joy

New Delhi, Dec 26, 2007 (PTI) She made a mark as the country's first IPS officer. And bidding the police service adieu, Kiran Bedi [Images] lamented that her sisters in the force continued to be an unknown entity.

"Women are still an unknown entity in the force. They remain anonymous and the government thinks they are unpredictable," Bedi, who ended her 37-year-old eventful career in the police force on Wednesday, said.

Bedi had alleged in July, when she was overlooked for the post of Delhi police commissioner, that the government was biased towards women in the police force.

She was relieved of her duties on Wednesday after the government accepted her one-and-half month-old application for voluntary retirement.

Bedi was also critical of the "negative" political interference in policing, saying it was affecting the efficiency of the police force in the country.

"There are no debates in the country about the police and its reforms. We had a number of police commissions. What did they achieve? Have you done any audit? There are no police officers who speak out against this and there is nobody to speak for policemen. This is despite the best being there in the service," she said.

Asked how she assesses her illustrious and sometimes controversial career, the 1972-batch officer said she remembers the service with "nostalgic gratitude".

"There were milestones, valleys, mountains, plains and sometimes trenches also," she said.

"I was in a service where I truly belonged to. I was never a misfit. I was fitting beautifully in the system. I grew up for this," she added.

On criticism that she was the "most pampered" officer, she said, "If I was a pampered officer, I would not have spent four years in the training department. Not a single pampered officer goes to Tihar."

Bedi, who has been an Asian Tennis champion, said she imbibed many a thing from the game.

"Tennis was never my goal. But it taught me what books did not. I travelled with books. I attended exams after my matches. My priority was something else," Bedi said, adding she knew that the game has a shelf life.

She was ready to acknowledge what tennis taught her. "It taught me how to manage stress and time, what to eat, when to sleep, how to exercise and many other things."

She said her travel to various places in the country in general women compartments of trains made her come close to realities of life.

Asked what she did after receiving the relieving letter from the home ministry on Christmas eve, Bedi said she went to a temple to say, "God, Thank you and now take care of me."

Indo-China to hold 2nd joint military exercise this year

2008-06-26T09:50:00.002+05:30

Shemin Joy

Laungewala (Rajasthan), Feb 24, 2008 (PTI) Though India and China have differing perception on the boundary line in Arunachal Pradesh, the two armies will go ahead with their second joint military exercise on Indian soil this year.

"For the first time, we had an exercise with China in their territory. Next joint exercise will be held in India this year. You can wait for it," Defence Minister A K Antony told reporters in Laungwala at Rajasthan on Sunday.

Asked about the Chinese incursions in Arunachal Pradesh, the defence minister said, "There exists an established channel to sort out such matters."

Antony said the India-China border was not demarcated yet. "It is not settled yet. There is always some scope for confusion," he said.

Antony was speaking to reporters after a visit to Laungwala, the historic site where about 100 Indian soldiers thwarted an attack by Pakistani troops during the 1971 Indo-Pak war.

New Delhi and Beijing carried out their first-ever joint military exercise in China's southwestern province of Yunnan in December last year, which was helpful in building mutual trust and promoting cooperation between the armies of the two countries.

The purpose of the joint military exercise with China was aimed at taking the ties between the armed forces of two countries to a new high.

Antony also expressed hope that the pay commission will give armed forces the best.The defence minister strongly argued a case in the favour of the armed forces. "I hope pay commission will favour us," he said.

Is Jamia Millia a minority institution?

2008-06-26T09:47:00.002+05:30

Shemin Joy

New Delhi, Dec 18, 2006 (PTI) In a setback to Jamia Millia Islamia University Vice-Chancellor Mushirul Hasan, the National Commission of Minority Educational Institution has said his contention of varsity not being a minority establishment 'does not appear to be true'.

The Commission asked the renowned historian to reconcile the 'apparent inconsistency' in the position taken by Hasan and the stand of the 86-year-old institution in this regard.

"The contention of the respondent (Hasan) that the said University is not a minority educational institution does not appear to be true," the Commission headed by Justice M S A Siddique said.

The observation was made during a hearing on the petition filed by Jamia Old Boys Association seeking disciplinary action against the Vice Chancellor and varsity Registrar S M Afzal for allegedly diluting the minority status of their alma mater.

The former students have alleged that Hasan and Afzal were 'intentionally' depriving Muslim students in Jamia of their educational rights for 'petty gains' by allowing a 27 percent quota for OBCs in line with the recently enacted Education Bill.

Strongly criticising the Vice Chancellor for his 'diametrically opposite' positions on the issue, the Commission noted that a resolution unanimously passed by the majlis-i-muntazimah (executive council) of Jamia under the chairmanship of Hasan himself on May 9, 1997 said that the University should be declared a minority educational institution.

In another application filed by the Jamia Teachers Association seeking that authorities should be restrained from implementing the 27 per cent OBC quota in the university till the pendency of the case relating to the minority status, the Commission issued notice to the Vice Chancellor and listed the matter on January 10 next year.

Meanwhile, Jamia Teachers Association, Administrative Staff Association, School Teachers Association and Old Boys Association have sent a joint representation to President A P J Abdul Kalam, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh [Images] and United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi [Images] seeking their intervention in the issue.

"The present vice chancellor's move to implement the OBC quota in Jamia when the Education Bill is not applicable on a minority educational institution has created strong resentment and anger in Jamia in particular and Muslim masses in general," it said.

The memorandum also urged the President and prime minister to help clear the ambiguity 'created by the present vice chancellor with regard to the minority status of Jamia.'

Kerala's Kannur registers the largest number of rioting cases

2008-06-26T09:40:00.003+05:30

Shemin Joy

New Delhi, Jan 13, 2008 (PTI) It may be one of the most literate states, but Kerala has the highest crime rate in the country and one of its districts, which is currently the flashpoint of the clashes between Communist Party of India Marxist and the Rashtriya Swyamsevak Sangh, tops the list in riot cases.

According to the latest statistics on crime in India, Kerala has the highest crime rate of 20.19 per one lakh population regarding offences committed against public as against the national average of 5.82.

The state also registered a total of 6,365 riot cases in 2006, which is third in the ladder behind Bihar (8,259) and Maharashtra (7,453).

Regarding arson, Kerala with 435 cases is behind Maharashtra (1,188) Andhra Pradesh (1,012) Madhya Pradesh (815) and Bihar (785).

But Kannur in the state's north had 737 riot cases in 2006 and this is the highest number registered by any police district in the country.

The district, a bastion of the Marxists for long, had been witnessing frequent clashes between the activists of CPI-M and BJP-RSS, with both sides claiming to have lost at least 150 cadres each.

A number of political clashes were charged under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code relating to rioting and this is the reason behind this kind of figures, a Kerala government official said.

The majority of the present state leadership of the CPI-M, including state party secretary Pinarayi Vijayan, hails from Kannur. State Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan also hails from Kannur.

Prominent Marxist leaders like A K Gopalan, who was the first Opposition Leader in Lok Sabha, kickstarted their political career in this district.

According to the National Crime Records Bureau, cases of rioting and arson are the major components under the category of crimes against public order and it constitutes 3.5 per cent of the total crimes registered under the Indian Penal Code.

Incidence of crimes under this head has increased by 0.7 per cent from 64,686 in 2005 to 65,121 in the next year.Bihar, Maharashtra, Kerala and Karnataka account for about 47 per cent of cases of rioting and arson in the country. In the national capital, 87 cases of rioting and 33 cases of arson were registered in 2006.

Noida: Skeletal remains of 8 kids found; 2 held

2008-06-26T09:34:00.002+05:30

Sarvottamjee M Jaipuriar and Shemin Joy

Noida, Dec 29, 2006 (PTI) In a gruesome discovery, police on Friday found skeletal remains of at least eight children who are believed to have been sexually abused before being murdered in Noida on the outskirts of Delhi.
The suspected serial killer Surender alias Satish, a domestic help, has been arrested along with his master Mohinder Singh Pandher, a factory owner from whose house the skeletons were found in gunny bags.
The victims appeared to be among some 38 missing children in the past one year from Nithari village in Sector 31 of Noida indicating that the number of those murdered could be much higher.
Senior Superintendent of Police R K S Rathore said the 30-year-old domestic help from Almora in Uttarakhand confessed to killing six children and a 20-year-old girl Payal by strangulating them after sexual abuse.
Surender had lured the children, under 12 years, by offering sweets and toffees.
Investigations were on to find out the role of his employer Pandher who owns a factory in Noida and in Chandigarh.
The saga of the missing children came to light when skeletal remains were recovered from a drain abutting the house of Pandher.
The remains were found in gunny bags. Not far away from this area, the kidnapping of Anant Gupta, a nursery student and child of a multinational executive, last month made news headlines.
The child was recovered after a ransom of Rs 50 lakh was paid.
Rathore said Surender was in possession of the girl Payal's mobile phone and further interrogation revealed that he had killed seven persons, including her.
A C Sharma, additional director-general of police, Uttar Pradesh, said investigations were on to find out whether Pandher had any role in these killings as the girl was suspected to have had an affair with him.
Jagmohan Yadav, inspector-general of police (Meerut Range), who inspected the house, said parents of two girls who had gone missing about a year ago reported to police three days back that they had found clothes and slippers belonging to the children in the drain.
Talking to reporters, he said police had since then kept the house under surveillance and last night a team of the Special Operation Group had picked up Surender.
Asked about the number of skeletons found in the house, Yadav said the exact number could not be given right now.
No perfect skeletons were found and the exact number of bodies could be given only after scientific tests, he added.

Aarushi case hogs prime time TV coverage: Study

2008-06-25T22:36:00.002+05:30

Shemin Joy

NEW DELHI, JUNE 18, 2008 (PTI) The 'whodunnit' mystery over the sensational Noida twin murder seems to have caught the news channels in a big way, with a media watchdog claiming that six leading TV networks devoted half of their prime time to the case.

A study by Centre for Media Studies (CMS) said six channels beamed news and special programmes on the double murder for 39.30 hours out of a total 92 hours prime time -- from 19:00 hrs to 23:00 hrs -- between May 16 and June 7.

The CMS study analysed 23 days of prime time coverage of the May 16 murders of teenaged Noida girl Aarushi Talwar and her family help Hemraj, the investigation of which invited national attention after allegation of botch-up by UP Police.

The channels -- DD News, Zee News, Aaj Tak, Star News, NDTV 24X7 and CNN-IBN -- telecast 234 news reports and 62 special programmes during the period, the study said.

The news reports consumed about 17 hours of the prime time while specials ran into over 22 hours.

While Zee News topped the list with a coverage of close to 11 hours with 48 reports and 21 special programmes, DD News coverage of the crime was at the bottom with 24 reports running into just 41 minutes over 23 days under review.

"The Arushi murder case was overplayed. If you consider the time for advertisements, I wonder how much time was devoted to other stories," Prabhakar, Head of CMS Media Lab, told PTI.

"We feel the Gujjar agitation, having more national ramification, did not get adequate TV coverage so also the crucial developments in Nepal when it turned into a republic," he said.

'Honour J&K farmer with national award for Kargil information'

2008-06-25T22:34:00.001+05:30

Shemin Joy
New Delhi, Jan 22, 2008 (PTI)
This illiterate Kashmiri farmer was the first to inform the army about the presence of Pakistani troops on the Kargil hilltops in April 1999, but he continues to remain a face in the crowd.
Tsering Samphel, a member of National Commission for Scheduled Tribes, has asked the government to honour Tashi Namgyal of Garkhon village in Kargil with the "highest national level award" for his meritorious services.

The Ladakh resident twice spotted "dubious and suspicious" human movement on the high mountains when he went looking for his lost yak and informed the army about it.
The contribution of 40-year-old Namgyal is similar to Mohd Sherwani's in 1947. Sherwani had misled Pakistani tribesmen heading towards Baramulla.

Samphel told PTI that Namgyal was the "real informer who escorted the army from May 3 to May 12 in 1999 to the difficult hilltops where he had seen the Pakistanis."

In a letter to Defence Minister A K Antony, Samphel said, "Namgyal was the first to inform the army about the presence of Pakistani troops in the high mountains on our side of Line of Control."

Though the army authorities have acknowledged his contributions through various commendations, including a cash prize of Rs 50,000, Samphel said, "Namgyal's service has not been given national appreciation which he deserves."

"Therefore, I once again invite your (Antony's) kind attention for consideration of a national level award to him," Samphel said.

He had in a letter to then defence minister George Fernandes [Images] in 2003 asked for the highest national level award for Namgyal.

Reminding Antony about his previous recommendation to Fernandes, he complained that not giving due recognition to the Ladakhi peasant would send a wrong message to the locals, who are always vigilant on the borders.

Samphel said that had Namgyal not informed the army about the presence of the Northern Light Infantry, the intruders could have encroached further into vulnerable and strategically crucial road links and bridges.

The army gave Namgyal a merit card on 2001 and a certificate of commendation in 2002, which substantiate his contribution as a "vigilant and patriotic son of the soil despite being an illiterate farmer".

In a certificate given in July 2001, by Col Bijoy Mukherjee, commanding officer of first battalion of Bihar Regiment has said Namgyal has always been an "active source and an excellent informer".

"He is in possession of a pair of excellent private binoculars, which he used to search his cattle. He is honest and sincere," the certificate said.

Contact details of police stations a click away

2008-06-21T23:43:00.000+05:30

Shemin Joy
September 04, 2007 (PTI) Are you searching for the telephone number of the Rangpo police station in Sikkim or the residence number of the officer-in-charge of Kiltan police station in Lakshadweep?
The contact details of the police stations and officials across the country are now just a click away, the first time in the history of policing in the country.
The Bureau of Police Research and Development, government's police think-tank, has already uploaded contact details of police stations of six states and four Union territories on its website www.bprd.gov.in.
The postal address of police station with phone and fax numbers and residential phone numbers of station in-charges can be accessed through the Internet now, a senior BPRD official said.
It also has the contact details of offices of assistant police commissioners and deputy superintendents of police of respective areas. Some police stations have provided their e-mail IDs also.
The contact details of Andaman and Nicobar (20 police stations), Daman and Diu (2), Dadra Nagar Haveli (2), Delhi (116), Lakshadweep (9), Goa [Images] (24), Meghalaya (30), Mizoram (37), Sikkim (26) and Tripura (58) are provided in the site.
"This is a beginning to get police stations connected through the Internet which will improve connectivity and access and making policing in the country transparent," Kiran Bedi, BPRD director general, told PTI.
Bedi said BPRD envisages a scenario when all police stations across the country could be connected through e-mails where people can sent information to investigators and lodge complaints.
"We should develop a software such that a mail, which is a complaint or information, received at the police station is acknowledged automatically," Bedi said.
Incidents like refusal by officials to file FIRs on missing children and women in Uttar Pradesh's Nithari could have been avoided if there was a "fool-proof" mechanism to ensure accountability, she said.
"We should utilise available technology to plug the loopholes in the system and open it up," she said.
BPRD feels that providing contact details of police stations across the country would bring people and police together.
"We are now providing postal and telephone contacts. We are looking at a time of e-connectivity and e-interaction, a time when common people can come on a group chat and interact with the local Station House Officer," she said.
The BPRD is expected to provide contact details of police stations in the remaining states and union territories soon.

Expect more infiltration bid in JK :Antony

2008-06-21T23:38:00.002+05:30

Shemin Joy
Hussainiwala (Punjab), May 13, 2008 (PTI) As militants unleashed a renewed blood-letting campaign in Jammu and Kashmir, Defence Minister A K Antony today warned the country to gear up for more similar infiltration bids from across the border. "There will be stepped up infiltration attempts in the run up to the crucial elections to the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly," Antony said as he emphasised on security forces to maintain the highest level of vigil on the borders.
Undertaking a tour of forward areas on the International Border with Pakistan in the Punjab Sector, the Defence Minister said, "Don't expect any let up." "We have to be on our guard in the coming summer months as the melting of snows will make infiltration more easier," he said, while ruling out any fresh infusion of forces in the election-bound state.
His remarks assume significance as according to reports Army has withdrawn some forces from the state for deployment in their erstwhile locations on the Sino-Indian border. Talking tough on dealing with militancy, the minister told reporters that the renewed large scale infiltration campaign was apparently aimed at disrupting the election process.
Referring to recent encounters with the militants close to international border in Jammu and Kashmir, Antony said the pattern was not new. He said in the past also militants had made moves to attack security and civilian installations close to the highway linking Jammu and Kashmir with other parts of India.

Soldiers rerun desert battle of 1971 Indo-Pak war

2008-06-21T23:32:00.002+05:30

Shemin Joy
Laungewala (Rajasthan), Feb 24, 2008 (PTI) The desert reverberated with heavy artillery fire today as soldiers recreated one of the most decisive battles of the 1971 Indo-Pak war when a handful of 'faujis' took on a 2,500-strong advancing column.
Witness to the replay of the "Laungewala Epic" of December 5-6, 1971, was Defence Minister A K Antony on his first visit to this historic spot.
About 120 soldiers of Punjab Regiment's 23rd battalion held back the 51st Infantry Brigade and 22nd Armoured Regiment of the Pakistani army until the IAF flew in and repulsed the first major attack on Indian soil.
Two Indian soldiers made the supreme sacrifice during the intense two-day battle which saw the Pakistani side lose over 100 soldiers and 37 tanks.
One Pak tank, battered and soot-covered, was on display during a 20-minute live presentation at the battlefield in Jaisalmer district, about 15 km from the border.
Highlights of the battle rerun were an intercepted message in which a Pakistani soldier tells his superiors about the worsening situation and the killing of three Pakistani officers who had come to assess their strength.
It also recalled the emotionally charged address of Area Commander Maj Kuldeep Singh Chandpuri to his soldiers not to run away from the battle and to fight to the finish.
"If some wants to run away, they can do it now," he had said.
Antony suggested that the presentation be made available for the public.
"By sheer determination and dedication, a 100 soldiers under the valiant leadership of Maj Chandpuri were able to defeat a large segment of the Pakistani Army in 1971," the Defence Minister said.
Addressing the soliders, he said the government was committed to their welfare and working towards ensuring accomodation for married couples in the forces.
Noting that the nuclear family has become the norm of the day, he said the first phase of construction of houses for married couples was expected to conclude this year.
"We have already moved a proposal for the second phase which is being scrutinised by the Finance Ministry. I have also written to chief ministers asking them to settle on priority basis the soldiers' problems," he said.
Interacting with journalists later, Antony expressed the hope that the Sixth Pay Commission will give the armed forces the best. "I hope the pay commission favours us," he said.
Asked whether he will argue for segregating service personnel from Central government employees in the pay panel, the minister said, "I am not here for an academic discussion."
On the modernisation programme, he assured the forces that money will not be a problem. "Because of a lot of controversies in the past, the modernisation process was slow. But in last four-five years, things have changed. Convince me (for procurement), money will not be a problem," he added.
He underscored the need to make the armed forces an attractive option for youngsters as the open market was a strong temptation.
"Armed forces are not the first or second preference of youngsters. If we want to attract the youth, we must give them a better deal," he said.
Antony also emphasised the need for an "effective deterrent" to safeguard the interests of the country.
"We have to modernise our armed forces. This is not to confront anybody. We want to safeguard the interest of the country and even for economic growth, we need an effective deterrent," he said.
"The GDP is growing and now we have to concentrate more on the modernisation of the armed forces," he said adding the government is committed to give the forces whatever modern equipment they need.

Youngsters not losing interest in arts

2008-06-21T23:28:00.002+05:30

Shemin Joy
New Delhi, May 30, 2005 (PTI) Danseuse Yamini Krishnamurthy begs to differ with those who feel India's youth are less motivated to master classical Indian arts and are moving towards Western popular culture which is 'easier.'
"Please, don't tell me this. Some 200 children in Delhi alone came to my dance school. Why are they also going to other artistes to learn the arts?" asks the Bharata Natyam and Kuchipudi exponent, who plans a comeback to the arangu (stage) this year.
Unlike many of her contemporaries, Krishnamurthy dismisses the argument that the major stumbling block is the time required for mastering these art forms.
"It is ridiculous to say the time factor and hard work required are acting as a deterrent. I won't say more and more people are coming. But don't say youngsters are losing interest," she says and points out she has taught hundreds of students in the last two to three years.
The renowned dancer also refuses to accept that Western arts are dwarfing Indian classical arts. She categorically asks people to stop thinking "such nonsense."
Krishnamurthy, who had taken a sabbatical from her "passion" to attend to her "commitments", will be seen on stage in August or September this year. In her new "garland-like composition", she will "try to interpret" the Indian poets' understanding of Goddess Kali.
"Our poets dealt with Kali in different ways. Rabindranath Tagore's understanding was different from Kalidasa's as was Subramanya Bharati's," says the dancer, who had her arangetram (debut performance) in 1957.
"The choreography for my new show is almost complete. Now, the music is being composed. We are going to use a different kind of music," she says.
The dancer, who had been honoured with the Padma Shri in 1968 at the age of 28, says she was doing multiple things all these years which stifled the "creativity" in her.
"For many years, I have been a bit out of touch with the creative and performance aspects of dance. I gave all my energy to setting up my dance school in Delhi and teaching dance. Now, I want to return to the stage."
When asked why she abandoned the stage for so long, Krishnamurthy says she cannot have "two focal points. I cannot concentrate on performance and teaching at the same time. I have certain commitments to my students and I cannot leave them in the lurch, so I decided to be with them."
Krishnamurthy, who is the 'Asthana Narthaki' of the Tirumala Tirupathi Devasthanam, feels dance is a personal experience and it is the duty of the teacher to help her student experience it.
"I concentrated on grooming the Yaminis of the future. I don't make any stars but I make as many dancers as possible. I believe every household should have a dancer," she says.
The dancer, who won the Sangeet Natak Akademi award way back in 1977, began learning dance at the age of five.
Rukmuni Arundale gave her first lessons in Bharatanatyam at the Kalakshetra School of Dance, Chennai. Then, she learnt the art from Kanchipuram Ellappa Pillai, Thanjavoor Kittappa Pillai, Dhandayudhapani Pillai and Mylapore Gouri Amma.
"I was lucky to learn two schools of Bharata Natyam -- Pandanallur, which sticks to the classical text and Kanchipuram, which is liberal," she says.
The dancer, who mastered Odissi under Guru Kelucharan Mahapatra and Guru Pankaj Charan Das, says she owes her success to her father M Krishnamurthy, who was a Sanskrit scholar.
Her grandfather was an Urdu poet and she was the first in the family to take up dance. "My father totally supported my pursuit and showed me the right direction."
She also learnt Carnatic vocal from M D Ramanathan and the veena from Kalpakam Swaminathan.
The danseuse, who knew from her childhood that she was moving towards a "fixed destiny," says, "dance wrested control of my life and I meekly surrendered to its power.
"I owe everything to my gurus. Whatever I have it is theirs. My mentors had insight and they trained me with affection," she says gratefully.

Noida cops ask Delhi counterparts for help in serial killings case

2008-06-21T23:23:00.002+05:30

Shemin Joy

Noida, 02, 2007
Noida police have asked their Delhi counterpart to provide them with details of missing persons in their areas even as people are coming to Nithari village, where a gruesome tale of serial killing of children has come to light, in search of their missing kin.

Circle Officer (Noida) Dinesh Yadav held a meeting with SHOs of Anand Vihar and Vivek Vihar in East Delhi and requested them to give details of missing persons in their areas, including the complaints and their photographs.

More and more persons from nearby areas in the National Capital Region as well as from places like Muzaffarnagar are thronging Nithari village in search of their missing kin after the discovery of skeletal remains there.
Yadav said special arrangements have been made for people coming from outside Noida and a sub-inspector has been specifically assigned to listen to their complaints at Sector 20 police station.
One of the several parents who have come to Nithari village is Zaheer Khan, a motor mechanic from Muzaffarnagar in UP.
Khan's 12-year-old son went missing three years ago while he was staying at his uncle's house in Ghaziabad, which is not very far from the scene of the crime. "I have been searching for my son for the last three years and even lost my job," Khan said.
Phool Kaur came to Nithari fearing that her missing sister Hans Kaur, a resident of Kalyanpuri area of East Delhi, could be among the victims of the alleged serial killers Moninder Singh and his servant Surendra.
Hans Kaur had gone missing in January, 2003 and was last spotted in Sector 11 of Noida.
An FIR was registered in both the Sector 11 and Kalyanpuri police stations. "Police had called us a few days after the FIR was registered and said a body had been found. But it was not Hans," said Phool Kaur.
A large number of people have been coming to Nithari village with copies of FIRs and photographs of their missing kin since the serial killings have come to light.
Several parents brought photographs of their missing children and showed them to the police officials even as they braced themselves to hear bad news.
Yadav said a large number of people were approaching Noida police since the case came to light. The people were asked to provide with photograph, copies of FIRa filed earlier with relevant police stations and other details, he said.

Make pepper spray available at low price: Police study

2007-09-22T11:33:00.000+05:30

New Delhi, Sep 20 (PTI) Making small bottles of pepper spray available at a very low price is a "key strategy" for enhancing the security of the fairer sex proposed by a police- backed study, which found that markets and colleges are the places where the capital's women feel most insecure.

This and many other recommendations form part of the study "How secure or insecure are women in the city of Delhi" conducted by the National Institute of Criminology and Forensic Science for the police think-tank Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPRD).

"Every girl should carry pepper spray and it should be available in a small bottle at a very low price ... Easily available in the market," said the study, for which 70 women each were interviewed in markets, colleges, railway stations, malls, ISBT, airport, slums and villages.

The study recommends that women should always move in groups if possible and should carry contact numbers of women helpline and police besides having "some basic knowledge" of law.

About 80.40% of women interviewed at market places said they felt insecure at the place while the figure for colleges was 72.10 per cent. Shopping malls came third where 60 per cent of respondents said they felt insecurity.

Level of insecurity was lowest among slum dwellers (8.70 per cent) followed by respondents from village (22.8 per cent).

Personal facts like low level of confidence and alcoholic spouses made slum dwellers (80 per cent of the respondents) insecure, the study said.

I want to teach men what their mothers didn't

2007-09-11T01:29:00.001+05:30

Shemin Joy

New Delhi, Aug 29 (PTI)

"I am here to teach men what their mothers didn't teach them," declared Women and Child Development Minister Renuka Chaudhury at a function in New Delhi on Wednesday. Chaudhury has been at the receiving end of numerous hate mails after taking certain pro-women initiatives.

"Women are the worst sufferers of verbal and physical abuse and they need protection," said Chaudhury. She added that she got the distasteful mails after the recent implementation of the Domestic Violence (Prevention) Act.

Chaudhury was speaking at a function to award the ISO 9001:2000 certificate for Delhi Police's Parivartan, an initiative to combat voilence against women.

The choicest abuses used by men during altercations are based on women and their relationships with them, she said, adding that pro-women initiatives aimed at teaching men what their mothers have not taught them.

"People say pro-women legislations are often misused and abused. Yes, there is a handful of them, but one thing that we should keep in mind is that millions of women also need help," she said.

Many men were "upset" at the implementation of the Domestic Violence (Prevention) Act, claimed Chaudhury. "Gauging by the number of e-mails I have received and their content, I think I need the maximum security in the country," she added in a lighter vein.

"You see many things in Hindi movies. It is okay in movies but not in real life," she said. Men often assume that women have always played second fiddle to them and will continue to do so, she added.

"Can you think of life without women? Now, it is the era of feminisation of the globe and you see women everywhere. They lead the struggle for a decent livelihood," said Chaudhury.

"It is not that we don't want men. We need their help and they need to understand that women are not mere objects," she said.

Contact details of police stations a click away

2007-09-06T13:48:00.000+05:30

Shemin Joy

New Delhi, Sep 04 (PTI)

Are you searching for the telephone number of the Rangpo police station in Sikkim or the residence number of the officer-in-charge of Kiltan police station in Lakshadweep?

The contact details of the police stations and officials across the country are now just a click away, the first time in the history of policing in the country.

The Bureau of Police Research and Development, government's police think-tank, has already uploaded contact details of police stations of six states and four Union territories on its website www.bprd.gov.in.

The postal address of police station with phone and fax numbers and residential phone numbers of station in-charges can be accessed through the Internet now, a senior BPRD official said.

It also has the contact details of offices of assistant police commissioners and deputy superintendents of police of respective areas. Some police stations have provided their e-mail IDs also.

The contact details of Andaman and Nicobar (20 police stations), Daman and Diu (2), Dadra Nagar Haveli (2), Delhi (116), Lakshadweep (9), Goa [Images] (24), Meghalaya (30), Mizoram (37), Sikkim (26) and Tripura (58) are provided in the site.

"This is a beginning to get police stations connected through the Internet which will improve connectivity and access and making policing in the country transparent," Kiran Bedi, BPRD director general, told PTI.

Bedi said BPRD envisages a scenario when all police stations across the country could be connected through e-mails where people can sent information to investigators and lodge complaints.

"We should develop a software such that a mail, which is a complaint or information, received at the police station is acknowledged automatically," Bedi said.

Incidents like refusal by officials to file FIRs on missing children and women in Uttar Pradesh's Nithari could have been avoided if there was a "fool-proof" mechanism to ensure accountability, she said.

"We should utilise available technology to plug the loopholes in the system and open it up," she said.
BPRD feels that providing contact details of police stations across the country would bring people and police together.

"We are now providing postal and telephone contacts. We are looking at a time of e-connectivity and e-interaction, a time when common people can come on a group chat and interact with the local Station House Officer," she said.

The BPRD is expected to provide contact details of police stations in the remaining states and union territories soon.

If you are a woman, be ready to face problems in filing FIR

2007-08-09T23:09:00.000+05:30

If you are a woman, be ready to face problems in filing FIR

Shemin Joy

New Delhi, Aug 8 (PTI) If you are a woman approachinga police station to get an FIR lodged, chances are that youmay go unheard or be ill-treated by the men and women inkhaki.

But if a person is accompanied by a group of socialactivists or local politicians, the treatment he or she getsat the police station is different, according to a studycommissioned by the Bureau of Police Research and Development(BPRD).

The pilot study on "Registration of FIRs by Police ina Metropolitan City" was conducted by Mumbai's Tata Instituteof Social Sciences.

"If a woman goes on her own then she is abused or notheard...foul language is sometimes used and uncomfortablecomments may be passed when a woman visits police station,"the report authored by Vijay Raghavan and Kavisha Mann states.

BPRD Director General Kiran Bedi says this trend isnot confined to a particular region or area. "You can see itall across the country. To get an FIR registered is aherculean task for anyone these days."

Advocating the need for reforms in police, Bedi toldPTI, "the common man is individually weak and FIR is a statemonopoly. Everyone cannot approach a magistrate to get his orher complaint registered and even organised groups have theirlimitations."

The study, which covered a number of police stationsin an undisclosed region in Mumbai, also says the behaviour ofwomen constables was "equally rude and not different" fromthat of their male counterparts.

The educational and social background of thecomplainant also influences the police in how they deal withthe case, says the report.

It also states political pressure from within thesystem not to file FIRs was "high" as the registration ofcrime was an indicator of the performance of the ruling party.

"One of the police personnel interviewed hinted thatthere is no freedom with the police at the ground level toregister FIRs as this leads to 'rising crime rates' which isfrowned upon by their seniors and political bosses," it says.

There were also instances that FIRs were not filedbecause the accused had a "very good rapport" with the policeand a "regular source of income" for them.

The study states police informers could also influencethe registration of case.

In one particular incident recorded in the report, aninformer got a woman arrested in a case of kidnapping, wherethere was a possibility that he was taking revenge for a fightthat took place between two parties.

"Factors such as overload of cases, under staffing,cumbersome procedures and red tape, mischievous and falsecomplaints, pressure from political masters to under reportcrime...(are) leading to the reluctance on the part of thepolice to register complaints," it says.

The Supreme Court, in its judgement last year, had said that it is the "statutory" duty of the police to registerand investigate a case on receipt of an information. PTI

(Photo: FIR on Indira Gandhi's assassination)

Mahatma Gandhi Assassination FIR - 1948

2007-07-26T00:05:00.000+05:30

I could not resist when I saw this in some one else's blog. This is the English translation of the FIR...

Rgds Shemin

English translation of original F.I.R. of Mahatma Gandhi Assassination Case - 1948

First Information of a Cognizable Crime Reported under Section 154, C.P.C.Police Station : Tughlak RoadDistrict : CentralNo. : 68Date and hour of occurence : 30.1.1948 / 5:45 P.M.

1. Date and hour when reported

2. Name and residence of informant /complainant: Shri Nand Lal Mehta, son of Shri Natha Lal Mehta, Indian, Building Lala Suraj Prasad M Block, Connaught Circus

3. Brief description of offence (with section) and of property carried off, if any:302 I.P.C.

4 . Place of occurence and distance/ direction from Police Station: Birla House, distance 2 furlongs

5. Name and address of the criminal:

6. Steps taken regarding investigation/ explanation of delay in recording information

Statement of Shri Nand Lal Mehta, son of Shri Natha Lal Mehta, Indian, resident of Connaught Circus Building Lala Sarju Prasad:

Today I was present at Birla House. Around ten minutes past five in the evening, Mahatma Gandhi left his room in Birla House for the Prayer Ground. Sister Abha Gandhi and sister Sanno Gandhi were accompanying him. Mahatma was walking with his hands on the shoulders of the two sisters. Two more girls were there in the group.

I alongwith Lala Brij Kishan, a silver merchant, resident of No. 1, Narendra Place, Parliament Street and Sardar Gurbachan Singh, resident of Timar Pur, Delhi were also there. Apart from us, women from the Birla household and two-three members of the staff were also present. Having crossed the garden, Mahatma climbed the concrete steps towards the prayer place.

People were standing on both the sides and approximately three feet of vacant space was left for the Mahatma to pass through. As per the custom the Mahatma greeted the people with folded hands.

He had barely covered six or seven steps when a person whose name I learnt later as Narayan Vinayak Godse, resident of Poona, stepped closer and fired three shots from a pistol at the Mahatma from barely 2 / 3 feet distance which hit the Mahatma in his stomach and chest and blood started flowing. Mahatma ji fell backwards, uttering "Raam - Raam".

The assailant was apprehended on the spot with the weapon. The Mahatma was carried away in an unconscious state towards the residential unit of the Birla House where he passed away instantly and the police took away the assailant.

Sd/-N.L. Mehta/30.1.1948.

Having received the information I rushed to the Birla House to find the dead body of the Mahatma at room No. 3. Met Shri Nand Lal Mehta, his statement recorded and got confirmed after reading it out to him. Copy of the statement handed over to him. Came to know that the assailant was whisked away by the Assistant Sub-Inspector. It was a case of Section 302 Indian Penal Code. All the case papers were sent to the Police Station Tughlak Road and I got engaged in conducting investigations. A special report may be forwarded through the police station.

Sd. in English/30 January

R u a journalist?

2007-07-22T23:51:00.000+05:30

One of my friends SMSed me:

Are you emotionally numbed?

Creativley challenged?

Artistically void?

Socially outcast?

and

Financilally zero?

Congratulations

YOU ARE A JOURNALIST!!!

FCI official Ram's family demands CBI probe

2007-07-13T21:57:00.000+05:30

Shemin Joy/PTI

New Delhi, July. 13 (PTI): The family of FCI official P C Ram today demanded a CBI probe into the gunbattle between police and ULFA in which he was killed, claiming the operation was aimed at eliminating him and not the militants who had kidnapped him.

Ram's son Prabin Gautam claimed photographs and video from the scene of yesterday's gunbattle suggested that his father was "brutally" murdered after he shouted to police that he was the kidnapped FCI official.

"It was a planned operation aimed at eliminating my father. Police knew he was in the house but went ahead with the operation. If they really wanted to save him, they could have. But their target was my father and not the ULFA," Prabin told PTI.

He said the family wanted a CBI inquiry into the gunbattle at Borkapanitenga village in Assam yesterday as it felt that it was a "pre-planned, purposeful mission to esure that Ram is killed". Two ULFA militants were also killed in the gunbattle.

Prabin also said the family is conducting another autopsy of Ram's body to "prove" that he was "deliberately" killed. "They have not provided us the post-mortem report. He was hit by bullets in the head and other parts of the body and we don't think this was accidental," he claimed.

"Assam Police faced embarrassment when they went to town saying that Ram's body was found on June 30 but ULFA said he was alive. And we think the embarrassment the police faced in this case was the reason for his killing," he claimed.

July 12: Kidnapped FCI official P C Ram died on Thursday after being caught in crossfire between a police team and a group of ULFA cadres in Assam's Kamrup district. (READ THE FULL STORY)

Wonder Taj! Nothing Official About It

2007-07-08T17:10:00.000+05:30

By Shemin Joy/PTI

NEW DELHI: The Taj getting voted as one of the seven wonders in a worldwide poll may make many an Indian heart swell with pride, but the campaign has also drawn criticism for using sentiments of people around the world for commercial gains.

The UNESCO, which has the official mandate for recognising and preserving world heritage, has taken pains to distance itself from the campaign, saying the initiative cannot in any significant and sustainable manner contribute to the preservation of sites elected by the public.

There has been a big rush by Indians to register their vote for the Taj through SMS and the Internet.

There were also a number of promotional campaigns exhorting the people to vote for the white marble monument over the last one month, many of them involving Bollywood stars and other celebrities.

But critics of the campaign complain that while there is nothing official about the new seven wonders of the world, the mobile phone companies and the Swiss organisation that conducted the poll have made a lot of money.

Mobile company Airtel offered the first SMS to its users to cast their vote for the Taj for free, but the subsequent SMSes were charged at Rs three. Normally, the SMS rate ranges from 50 paise to Rs one.

Asked if the company shared the revenue with the organisers of the campaign or with anyone else, an Airtel official refused to divulge the details.

However, generally, in case of such 'premium SMSes', there is an in-built system for sharing the revenue.

Media critic Sudhapradha Sengupta criticised the campaign, saying the media is celebrating non-news. "People will vote for sentimental reasons. And the organisers are cashing in on the hype that has been created by the media and using the sentiments of the people," he said.

UNESCO clearly dissociated itself from the campaign, saying, "There is no comparison between Mr (Bernard) Weber's mediatised campaign and the scientific and educational work resulting from the inscription of sites on UNESCO's World Heritage List."

The world cultural body said in a statement that attaching sentimental or emblematic value of sites and inscribing them on a new list is not enough. The list of seven new wonders of the world will be the result of a private undertaking reflecting only the opinions of those with access to the Internet and not the entire world, the UNESCO said.

Countering the criticism, I media Corp, the India representative of the Swiss organisation 'New7wonders of the World', said the campaign was aimed at increasing awareness of world heritage, which would help in preserving the monuments.

"The tourism industry and the government will benefit from it. Due to the campaign, more tourists would be attracted to India," said R D Bhatnagar, Vice President of I media Corp.

About the revenue earned through the campaign, Bhatnagar said 15 per cent of the amount earned would be given to the government, while 75 per cent was to be retained by the telecom operators. The rest ten per cent was to be shared by the technical associates and the organisation.

The organisation, he said, would in turn utilise its share of the earnings in preservation of heritage monuments around the world.

A free market for journalists!!!

2007-07-06T23:59:00.001+05:30

Hammer and Tongs
ALOKE THAKORE

When companies decide that they agree not to hire from their competitors, it is clear that they are forming a cartel designed to suppress wages

A complaint often heard about journalists and how greedy they have become, especially the younger lot, comes in the form of: He took the offer letter from us and then showed it to his present employers and then took double the hike. How unethical. And then there is the other one who took our offer letter, showed it to her bosses, got a hike, came back to us and then asked for an even better offer. Presumably the listener is supposed to sympathize with the predicament of these senior journalists or the HR executives in the face of such practices.

Such complaints were heard when Divya Bhaskar was launched in Gujarat, when DNA was launched in Mumbai, and whenever there is talk of hiring good journalists. Presumably that is what the cricket coach did when he went back with the BCCI offer and negotiated his terms with Kent. Or at least that is what one newspaper reported.

But this is not about cricket and coaches. It is about the seeming horror of journalists at such a practice by their colleagues. Let us start with what is now the acknowledged position of most newspapers in their editorial pages and also in the way they run stories on the news pages: the belief and commitment to the idea that free markets are efficient in addressing economic problems and needs. One of things that those who write on the efficiency of markets talk about is the manner in which free markets, unfettered by government regulations and other coercive mechanisms, allow for the price discovery to take place. It is only in conditions of free market that the seller of a good or service is able to get the highest price that the buyer is able to afford. Since there will be numerous buyers and numerous sellers, so we are informed, the proper price will be found and given to the seller of the service. It is for this reason that reducing the number of buyers, or sellers, or collusion among buyers or among sellers is seen as being an impediment to the free market process. Such a primer would not be necessary were it not for the fact that journalists are apparently horrified at the prospect of journalists who have nothing better than their skills moving from buyer to buyer trying to command the right price. They are just trying to discover the price of their skills.

But what about ethics or double-crossing, or the like? It is certainly less unethical than companies who decide, for example, not to poach from each other. That to me is collusion. When companies, necessarily fewer in number and hence with the ability to both agree and enforce such agreements, decide that they agree not to hire from their competitors, whether it be in the news business or in any other business, it is clear that they are forming a cartel designed to suppress wages. It is analogous to the mandi where middlemen often keep the procurement price of a perishable commodity low by refusing to buy above a certain price.

One can understand the anxiety of those charged with profit and loss responsibility in news organizations or the human resource executives charged with getting competent candidates at racked down wages in moaning about the uppity journalist who is merely following the logic espoused in their newspapers and magazines. It is the journalist that one is surprised about and concerned.

Do these journalists not get it? If today they are bothered about junior journalists trying to find out what is the cost of their wares, it may well be that these senior journalists’ price is also likely to be depressed. After all, it does not take a lot of imagination to realize that if there is a problem with those lower down the rung finding their right price, so there would be with those higher in the hierarchy seeking a reasonably right recompense for their services.

But then again it may be not be a question of imagination. It may be simply a case of false consciousness. Marx has his uses. While the logic of free market is fine for the company, for the economy, for the country, it does not seem to be that there should be a free market for labour, which allows someone to get the highest price for her skills and services. If at all there should be any sympathy, it should be for those who cannot poach and get the right candidate and for those journalists stuck in such no-poaching markets, and any lack of formal recorded knowledge prohibits one from naming them, which do not allow them to command the wages they deserve.

Contact: hammerntongs@fastmail.com

BORN IN CHAINS by Lemyao Shimray

2007-07-06T23:59:00.000+05:30

After long time, I am back on the blogosphere... this time with my naga friend's Lemyao's piece.
Rgds
Shemin

BORN IN CHAINS
Lemyao Shimray

'My name is Thilaw
I am ten years old.
I go to school and I am in class – III.
The name of my school is Somra Government Junior High School.'

Smile

Those are the only common lines he and his school shares with other of the world. For him, the young boy's picture in his Social Studies book, combing hair, with smart school Uniform lives in another world. Thilaw have never seen school uniform in his life nor has he worn shoes to school.

His daily routine starts before the rooster goes for hip-hop atop the tree and ends after the owl hoots. He collects wood or work at fields for his teachers after school. He has to compete with time by kicking the early dust. With his meager lunch and books, a bit- too-tight-pants which clings to his narrow, undernourished body, slimy green snake-like fluid rubbed away from his shirt sleeve, Thilaw gets ready to face another 15 kilometer of journey by foot through the forest to attend school.

Gone is the buffoonery line- 'Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and strong'.

Unlike other good boys, Thilaw hates vacation because during vacation he was not allowed to play. He has to work for his teachers as a mode of payment in spite of the fees paid by his parents to the teachers. No one questions the forced labour because people like Thilaw are not supposed to ask such thing; they are destine to do it as a volunteer work. Yes! Ten years old boy performing manual labour for his teacher after school is a volunteer work inspite of the urge to play 'warlord' like in his English-I book.

No one questioned the force labour. Like Thilaw's parents, many other Burmese had accepted the law since 1962. Gen Ne Win's draconian era, where the wicked General believes in Force labour and military regime.

His says his books were brought by his parents from far-far away place and that they are very precious.

Another Irony of truth.

His parents like many parents who reside in Eastern Nagaland in a village known as Phungtiere. They have to make two days journey to a place known as Layshi (North of Burma) to collect books for their children. It's a constant struggle. The thirst to educate their children makes them seek schools in the bordering villages of neighbouring country. It was not easy task as it's a constant struggle from getting books to trying to hire teachers for an abandoned school. Children monthly mid day meals were cut off to feed the teachers, Village development schemes are deducted to pay teachers salary and above that they sacrifice their sons and daughters for THE forced labour.

In the end when their children gain education they were frisk away by junta army to get enroll in Army schools and college, where they have to work under Military regime.

Some how it's hard to sing – We don't need no EDUCATION.

This child seems to have forgotten what its like to be free. They seem to have no fear of the prowling earthlings in the forest. Thirst and quest for knowledge were implanted on them so strongly, without them knowing. Sleep and darkness, play and day...all were robbed gently without them noticing.

Come children, angels from earth!
Let me cradle you to sleep.
place you
on the lap of the thunder.
Hear its roar and be afraid for once
'cos'
i saw in you
the lost of horrors.

As the schoool bell rang, Thilaw closes his books. He walks silently with a beaming smile to greet the terrace field of the Somra forest. Down below he saw what he had been seeing always - Chains and human beings, bending down, working hard, forced to please their masters.

June, 2007
Somra Village
Eastern Nagaland.

Lemyao Shimray

Interesting Material...Read On

2006-05-02T02:10:00.000+05:30

Friends, I got a mail from FRIENDS OF TIBET on 'The Hindu'. It made some interesting reading and raised some interesting points about journalsim --- Shemin/Rgds

Save The Hindu Campaign --- The Hindu, one of the most credible and trusted newspapers in the country has many things to its credit. Chief among them is the appointment of an Ombudsman or a Readers' Editor in a newspaper for the first time in the history of Indian journalism. This 127-year-old newspaper with 3.8 million readers has a different story to tell ever since N Ram, who describes himself as "An Indian who has no sympathy for the Dalai Lama's separatist and backward looking agenda", took charge as the editor-in-chief of the newspaper on July 1, 2003.

Friends of Tibet has learned that the editorial board of The Hindu led by N Ram has instructed their centres not to carry any 'Tibet', 'Dalai Lama' and 'Falun Gong' stories criticising the policies of the Chinese government. Instead of depending on reliable news agencies like PTI, UNI, IANS, Reuters, AP and AFP, The Hindu has found a Beijing-based news-agency to fetch stories - The Xinhua - world's biggest propaganda agency belonging to the Chinese Communist Party. Probably The Hindu is the only newspaper in the country to reproduce Xinhua reports. Today The Hindu has virtually become a mouthpiece of the Chinese Communist Party.

Perhaps unique in the world because of its role, size, and reach, Xinhua reports directly to the Chinese Communist Party's Propaganda Department and employs more than 10,000 people. The head of the Xinhua has the rank of a minister. Successor to the agency, Red China that was founded by Mao Zedong, Xinhua adopted its current name in January 1937. Since October 1949, this state-run news-agency has been completely subordinate to the Chinese Communist Party and remains the voice of the sole party.

A card-holding member of the Communist Party in India who had been to China and occupied-Tibet at least fifteen times in junkets mostly arranged by the Chinese Embassy in New Delhi, N Ram is also the mastermind behind 'India-China Association of Journalists', an embassy-sponsored organisation specialising in arranging pleasure trips for Indian journalists. This new strategy of Beijing has already won the hearts of some of our best journalists. Ironically it is only when the Tamil Nadu Police entered The Hindu office premises in Chennai, N Ram who calls the killing of a million Tibetans by China's occupying forces 'a myth', got enlightened about freedom.

We believe that it is immoral from the side of an Editor to drag some of the eminent journalists to do ethically-wrong reporting for The Hindu and Frontline and also to use a democratic forum - freedom of the press - to advance the cause of an autocratic regime.

'Save The Hindu' Campaign is an attempt to save the newspaper and also to expose Xinhua - Chinese government's propaganda agency to its readers. Let us use the opportunity to write to the newly-appointed Readers' Editor about our concerns on The Hindu policies on various issues including Tibet.

Source:

www.friendsoftibet.org/save/

Real Life Laws

2006-03-24T01:45:00.000+05:30

LORENZ'S LAW OF MECHANICAL REPAIR
After your hands become coated with grease, your nose will begin toitch.

ANTHONY'S LAW OF WORKSHOP
Any tool, when dropped, will roll to the least accessible corner.

KOVAC'S CONUNDRUM
When you dial a wrong number, you never get an engaged one.

CANNON'S KARMIC LAW
If you tell the boss you were late for work because you had a flat tire,the next morning you will have a flat tire.

O'BRIEN'S VARIATION LAW
If you change queues, the one you have left will start to move fasterthan the one you are in now.

BELL'S THEOREM
When the body is immersed in water, the telephone rings.

RUBY'S PRINCIPLE OF CLOSE ENCOUNTERS
The probability of meeting someone you know increases when you are withsomeone you don't want to be seen with.

WILLOUGHBY'S LAW
When you try to prove to someone that a machine won't work, it will.

ZADRA'S LAW OF BIOMECHANICS
The severity of the itch is inversely proportional to the reach.

BREDA'S RULE
At any event, the people whose seats are furthest from the aisle arrivelast.

OWEN'S LAW
As soon as you sit down to a cup of hot coffee, your boss will ask youto do something which will last until the coffee is cold.]

HOWDEN'S LAW
You remember you have to mail a letter only when your'e near the mailbox.

(Courtesy: My friend who mailed me this)

India: One Country, Two Worlds

2006-03-24T01:29:00.000+05:30

Girish Mishra

gmishra@girishmishra.com

Two reports have appeared simultaneously. One report has been carried by the American magazine Forbes and the other by the German journal Der Spiegel’s English version. These two reports underline that India, despite being one country, is getting divided into two worlds, which may have disastrous consequences... It emerges from the perusal of the list that as many as 27 billionaires are from India, who include 10 new entrants. No other country barring the US has so many new billionaires...

In the case of India too, rise in stock market prices by 54 per cent over the year have thrown up so many new billionaires...

It needs to be noted that most of these new billionaires and millionaires from India are from the services sector. They have been dealing in information technology and financial services. Only a handful of them have anything to do with the production of goods...

The German newspaper Der Spiegel's report begins with the concrete case of Ramakrishna Murthy, who after working for 10 years as a food chemist has just been thrown out by his employer, Hindustan Lever, a subsidiary of the Anglo-Dutch multination, Unilever.

The company has told him that, at 52 years of age, he is “too old, too inflexible and too expensive” for it to afford him. Finding no alternative but to vacate his apartment he has moved to a long abandoned dilapidated house.

To quote the report, "Now he and his family are living without any kind of appreciable social safety net in an abandoned house that is falling apart on the edge of Bangalore. They struggle to make ends meet with his wife’s salary."

Murthy regards himself "as one the victims of the 'Indian economic wonder' and, as such, one of the 'losers of globalization' – those who have lost their jobs as a result of India’s economic liberalization."

FULL TEXT

(Article from www.zmag.org)

Baby Bush Go Home

2006-03-05T03:40:00.000+05:30

Arundhati Roy

On his triumphalist tour of this part of the world, where he hopes to wave imperiously at people he considers potential subjects, President Bush's itinerary is getting curiouser and curiouser. For his March 2 pit stop in New Delhi, the Indian government tried very hard to have him address our Parliament. A not inconsequential number of MPs threatened to heckle him, so Plan One was hastily shelved. Plan Two was that he address the masses from the ramparts of the magnificent Red Fort where the Indian prime minister traditionally delivers his Independence Day address. But the Red Fort, surrounded as it is by the predominantly Muslim population of Old Delhi, was considered a security nightmare. So now we're into Plan Three: President George Bush speaks from Purana Qila, the Old Fort.

Ironic, isn't it, that the only safe public space for a man who has recently been so enthusiastic about India's modernity should be a crumbling medieval fort?Since the Purana Qila also houses the Delhi zoo - George Bush's audience will be a few hundred caged animals and an approved list of caged human beings who in India go under the category of "eminent persons". They're mostly rich folk who live in our poor country like captive animals, incarcerated by their own wealth, locked and barred in their gilded cages, protecting themselves from the threat of the vulgar and unruly multitudes whom they have systematically dispossessed over the centuries.

So what's going to happen to George W Bush? Will the gorillas cheer him on? Will the gibbons curl their lips? Will the brow-antlered deer sneer? Will the chimps make rude noises? Will the owls hoot? Will the lions yawn and the giraffes bat their beautiful eyelashes? Will the crocs recognise a kindred soul? Will the quails give thanks that Bush isn't travelling with Dick Cheney, his hunting partner with the notoriously bad aim? Will the CEOs agree?

Oh, and on March 2 Bush will be taken to visit Gandhi's memorial in Rajghat. He's by no means the only war criminal who has been invited by the Indian government to lay flowers at Rajghat. (Only recently we had the Burmese dictator General Than Shwe, no shrinking violet himself.) But when George Bush places flowers on that famous slab of highly polished stone, millions of Indians will wince. It will be as though he has poured a pint of blood on the memory of Gandhi.

We really would prefer that he didn't.

It is not in our power stop Bush's visit. It is in our power to protest it, and we will. The government, the police and the corporate press will do everything they can to minimise the extent of our outrage. Nothing the Happy-news Papers say can change the fact that all over India, from the biggest cities to the smallest villages, in public places and private homes, George W Bush, incumbent president of the United States of America, world nightmare incarnate, is just not welcome.

Bush in India: an email exchange with the BBC

2006-03-05T03:19:00.000+05:30

Friends
This is an exchange of e-mails between Gabriele Zamparini and the BBC editors. See, for yourselves how Zamparini teaches us a little bit of journalism...read on...

--- Another BBC News website article reads:

Communist parties and Muslim groups are opposed to the visit and are leading protests across India, but Mr Bush is being welcomed by many other Indians. (Bush finalises India nuclear deal, BBC News Website, Thursday, 2 March 2006)

QUESTION: Could I ask you and Sanjeev Srivastava who are these “many Indians who will welcome him” ? This is more than a simple curiosity; since you reported the numbers, the place and political and religious affiliation of the protesters, I assume you will care to do the same with the Bush’s supporters.

Thank you for your time and I look forward for your comments.

Kind regards
Gabriele Zamparini

FULL TEXT OF THE e-mail EXCHANGES

THE CAT'S DREAM

Friends, someone needs your support, solidarity

2006-03-03T23:15:00.000+05:30

(TALES OF WOE Shiny Rajan from Wayanad district of Kerala narrates her woes outside the Kerala House in New Delhi on Saturday. Her husband had committed suicide as he was not able to repay loans. Photo: V V Krishnan/The Hindu/05 Mar 2006)

Dear Friends,

About seventy five women from north-Kerala have started an indefinite dharna in front of Kerala House from 2/03/06. All of them are demanding the state to write of their debts due to which their husbands had committed suicide. No way can they repay those massive debts.

Due to continuous harassment from the authorities these women have decided to take the battle to the state. They are of the opinion that they would not leave till their demands are met with.This struggle also brings to sharps relief the acute socio-economic crisis that have gripped the Kerala society.

What these women need is your valuable solidarity. If you can take time and visit the dharna site it would be tremendous boost to the resolve of these people.

In Solidarity,
Rona

FROM NEWSPAPERS/WEBSITES
NEW DELHI: "If you trouble me I will follow my husband to his grave and take my two children with me," 32-year-old Shiny Rajan told the village money lender — called "blade" locally — in Wyanad district of Kerala when he came calling for the nth time for the return of the loan taken by her farmer husband who had committed suicide. He had consumed the very pesticide he used to spray his banana plantation with, after the crop failed in the drought of 2002.

"I said it in sheer desperation because of the shame of not being able to cope," she told The Hindu here, tears welling up in her eyes. She parted with her small savings and eight sovereigns of gold but could not even clear the interest on the debt.

Shiny is one of the 53 farmers' widows and destitute farmer women who have come here from Wyanad district to knock at the door of the Central Government for relief and redress.
THE HINDU -- 05 MAR 2006
FULL TEXT

New Delhi: An angry Arundhati Roy, on Monday, put her voice behind a group of poor widows from Kerala who are in the capital to demand that they should not be asked to pay the loans taken by their dead farmer-husbands.

''I am very, very angry,'' said Roy after visiting the tent in front of the Kerala House where nearly 50 widows from the Wayanad district of Kerala are staging protests.

The author-activist saw the agitating widows when she was passing by the venue of their agitation, during the protests against the visit of US President George W. Bush last week.

''Bush was here for three days and I don't understand why the mainstream media is taking a holiday,'' she said apparently referring to the lack of coverage of the widows compared to acres of columns on the Bush visit.
FULL TEXT

New Delhi: Social activist Arundhati Roy Monday voiced her support to 53 women from Kerala's Wayanad district who were here seeking the government intervention to spare them the burden of clearing debts that drove their farmer husbands to suicide.

Even as Suresh Kurup of the Communist Party of India-Marxist from Kerala raised the matter in parliament, Booker Award winning author Roy said: "I share their concerns and support their causes."

Finance Minister P. Chidambaram, meanwhile, assured parliament that he would look into Kurup's demand to use the compensation of Rs.50,000 offered by the agriculture ministry to settle the loan owing and waiving the interest amount due.

"It should not be a problem," the finance minister told the house.

Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar also promised to send a team to Wayanad district for a report into the conditions of farmers.

The loan amounts are, however, much larger than the government compensation package worked out so far, said Mary Mathai from Kalpatta, who faces the task of repaying Rs.85,000 to the Kottathara Cooperative Bank.
FULL TEXT

Laura, How About a Photo-op with Iraqi Children?

2006-03-03T22:56:00.000+05:30

Statement of Bela Malik
Resident of 6/6 Jangpura B, New Delhi 10014

2 March 2006 -- The day Laura Bush visited Missionaries of Charity, Jangpura 'B' Delhi

Today, Laura Bush, first lady, United States of America, visited Missionaries of Charity, Mother Teresa, an orphanage in Jangpura B, a building away from my residence. My friends and I had hung a white banner over the balcony of my flat, within private premises. The hand-made white banner read --

LAURA BUSH, HOW ABOUT A PHOTO-OP WITH THE ORPHANED, MAIMED, DEAD CHILDREN OF IRAQ?

The Delhi Police first asked my friends and me to remove the banner. We told them that legally we were within our rights to hang a banner in my residential premises.

The matter lay until half an hour before Laura Bush's motorcade arrived. The neighbourhood was over-run with US secret service agents, sniffer dogs, and all manner of US security, in addition to Delhi Police, CID, and other Indian security personnel, who were taking orders from the US personnel. At 3 p.m. Inspector, Delhi Police, Harsh Charan Varma, Delhi Police, SHO, Nizamuddin, said that he had to enter the premises for a routine check and that he would leave in a short while. The Delhi Police had already stationed a constable on the balcony of my house. The Inspector asked me not to shout any slogans. He personally removed every broken piece of tile from the balcony. We assured him that we did not want to shout any slogans, or hamper her visit in any way. We just wanted our banner to be displayed.

The Inspector came and ordered the constable and a sub-inspector who followed the Inspector to remove the banner.

We objected and said that this was a violation of individual rights because the banner was within my premises. They confiscated the banner. When my objection became more vocal, they became threatening and began to question the residents in my house with threatening body language, before finally leaving. The sub-inspector, however, remained stationed in the balcony of my house.

In a while, another banner was ready and put up which read,
What about Iraqi children?

We were allowed to put it up after Laura Bush left.

In our own country, in my own residence, I am denied the right to speak the truth in a peaceful, non-aggressive manner. A white banner was a security threat to the Bush establishment.

Residents were not allowed to leave their homes, or to arrive at their homes, during the period of her visit. A US security man was telling people not to go to their own homes, in their own country, in their own neighbourhood. The security had not given prior information to residents about their programme.

My friends and I wonder if we are living in a sovereign, independent republic of India? We also wondered what the Bush administration is so scared about.

Bela Malik
bela.malik@gmail.com

ALSO READ 'THE HINDU' REPORT

Jangpura bats for Iraq
Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI: The Delhi police confiscated a banner hanging over the balcony of a house close to Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity orphanage that U.S. First Lady Laura Bush visited on Thursday. Bela Malik, a resident of Jangpura, and her friends had hung a banner that read, 'Laura Bush, how about a photo-op with the orphaned, maimed, dead children of Iraq?'

"The police first asked my friends and me to remove the banner. We told them that legally we were within our rights to hang a banner at my residential premises," she said.

Well before Ms. Bush's motorcade arrived there, the neighbourhood was virtually taken over by U.S. secret service agents, sniffer dogs and Delhi Police personnel. "They were taking orders from the U.S. personnel," said Ms. Malik.

Around 3 p.m., the area Station House Officer entered Ms. Malik's residence on the pretext of a routine check. "A constable had already been stationed in the balcony of my house. The Inspector asked me not to shout any slogans. We assured him that we did not want to shout any slogans or hamper Ms. Bush's visit in any way. We just wanted our banner to be displayed," said Ms. Malik.

But the police officer allegedly ordered the constable and a sub-inspector to remove the banner, said Ms. Malik. "We objected and said that this was a violation of individual rights because the banner was within my premises. But they confiscated the banner. When we objected, they began questioning the occupants in a threatening manner. The sub-inspector remained stationed in the balcony."

"In our own country, in my own residence, I am denied the right to speak the truth in a peaceful, non-aggressive manner. A white banner was a security threat to the Bush establishment!" she said, adding that local residents were not allowed to leave their homes during the period of her visit.

The Death of Handwriting

2006-02-15T04:10:00.000+05:30

Stuart Jeffries
Guardian

We spend our working days tapping into computers. We communicate with each other via email rather than letter. And today, as chip and pin technology becomes compulsory on the high street, even our signatures have become obsolete. Could it really all be over for handwriting?

...Yesterday afternoon I received a lovely letter from a correspondent that began: "Please forgive scribbled note. I can no longer type." But why, with all due respect, should anyone ask forgiveness when favouring me with the personal touch of their penmanship? When did typing become better than handwriting? (To which question an irritatingly good reply is: If you're so clever, why didn't you write this article by hand?)

Our very personalities seems to be slipping away when it comes to determining our identities. True, even signatures can be hellishly commodified (think of how Picasso's signature became the imprimatur of the boring Citroën people carrier), but they do at least remain distinctive to each of us, and an expression, whether we understand it or not, of some aspect of our character. As the website for the British Institute of Graphology says on its home page: "As a child you were taught to write. Why don't you continue to write the way you were taught?" The fact that you don't, it postulates, is the reason graphology exists.

Elaine Quigley, psychologist and chairwoman of the institute, says: "Pen and paper will always be necessary. Everything changes but I think writing will survive." She would say that, wouldn't she? Her discipline depends on people disclosing their personalities via handwriting... (FULL ARTICLE)

Why I Chose Journalism?

2006-02-13T05:12:00.000+05:30

My firend Shivani, a journalist send me this SMS and I thought it was for this precise reason that I chose journalism.

I had many options --
- poison
- electrocution
- sleeping pills
- hanging by neck
- slashing wrist
- jumping from building
- coming under train
-
-
-
but I chose
JOURNALISM

Press freedom in 2005

2006-01-07T08:18:00.000+05:30

Reporters Without Borders Annual Roundup

(Released 4 January 2006)

In 2005
- 63 journalists and 5 media assistants were killed
- at least 807 journalists were arrested- 1,308 physically attacked or threatened
- and 1,006 media outlets censored

On 1 January 2006, 126 journalists and 70 cyber-dissidents were in jail around the world

In 2004… 53 journalists and 15 media assistants were killed… at least 907 journalists were arrested… at least 1,146 physically attacked or threatened … and 622 media outlets censored.

JOURNALISTS IN JAIL

CHINA: 32
CUBA: 24
ETHIOPIA: 17
ERITREA: 13
BURMA: 5

CYBER-DISSIDENTS IN PRISON
CHINA: 62
VIETNAM: 3
IRAN: 1
SYRIA: 1

FULL TEXT

THE HOOT

Face to Face: Richard Stallman

2006-01-05T21:09:00.000+05:30

Free Software as a Social Movement
Justin Podur interviews Richard Stallman

Richard Stallman is one of the founders of the Free Software Movement and lead developer of the GNU Operating System. His book is 'Free Software, Free Society'. I caught up with him by phone on December 1/05.

JP: Can you first of all explain the "Free Software Movement'.

RMS: The basic idea of the Free Software Movement is that the user of software deserves certain freedoms. There are four essential freedoms, which we label freedoms 0 through 3.
Freedom 0 is the freedom to run the software as you wish. Freedom 1 is the freedom to study and change the source code as you wish. Freedom 2 is the freedom to copy and distribute the software as you wish. And freedom 3 is the freedom to create and distribute modified versions as you wish. With these four freedoms, users have full control of their own computers, and can use their computers to cooperate in a community. Freedoms 0 and 2 directly benefit all users, since all users can exercise them. Freedoms 1 and 3, only programmers can directly exercise, but everyone benefits from them, because everyone can adopt (or not) the changes that programmers make. Thus, free software develops under the control of its users.

Non-free software, by contrast, keeps users divided and helpless. It is distributed in a social scheme designed to divide and subjugate. The developers of non-free software have power over their users, and they use this power to the detriment of users in various ways. It is common for non-free software to contain malicious features, features that exist not because the users want them, but because the developers want to force them on the users. The aim of the free software movement is to escape from non-free software.

JP: What was your history with the free software movement?

RMS: I launched the movement in 1983 with a deliberate decision to develop a complete world of free software. The idea is not just to produce a scattering of free programs that were nice to use. Rather, the idea is to systematically build free software so that one can escape completely from non-free software. Non-free software is basically antisocial, it subjugates it users, and it should not exist. So what I wanted was to create a community in which it does not exist. A community where we would escape from non-free software into freedom.

The first collection of programs you need in order to escape non-free software is an operating system. With an operating system, you can do a lot of things with your computer. Without an operating system, even if you have a lot of applications, you cannot do anything -- you cannot run them without an operating system. In 1983 all operating systems were proprietary. That meant that the first step you had to take in using a computer was to give up your freedom: they required users to sign a contract, a promise not to share, just to get an executable version that you couldn't look at or understand. In order to use your computer you had to sign something saying you would betray your community.

Thus, I needed to create a free operating system. It happened that operating system development was my field, so I was technically suited for the task. It was also the first job that had to be done.
The operating system we created was compatible with Unix, and was called GNU. GNU stands for "GNU is Not Unix", and the most important thing about GNU is that it is not Unix. Unix is a non-free operating system, and you are not allowed to make a free version of Unix. We developed a free system that is like Unix, but not Unix. We wrote all the parts of it from scratch.
In 1983, there were hundreds of components to the Unix operating system. We began the long process of replacing them one by one. Some of the components took a few days, others took a year or several.

By 1992, we had all of the essential components except one: the kernel. The kernel is one of the major essential components of the system. In GNU, we began developing a kernel in 1990. I chose the initial design based on a belief that it would be a quick design to implement. My choice backfired and it took much longer than I'd hoped. In 1992, the Linux kernel was liberated. It had been released in 1991, but on a non-free license. In 1992 the developer changed the license for the kernel, making it free. That meant we had a free operating system, which I call "GNU/Linux' or "GNU plus Linux'.

However, when this combination was made, the users got confused, and began to call the whole thing "Linux'. That is not very nice.

First of all, it isn't nice because there are thousands of people involved in the GNU project who deserve a share of the credit. We started the project, and did the biggest part of the work, so we deserve to get equal mention. (Some people believe that the kernel alone is more important than the rest of the operating system. This belief appears to result from an attempt to construct a justification for the "Linux" misnomer.)

But there is more at stake than just credit: the GNU Project was a campaign for freedom, and Linux was not. The developer of Linux had other motives, motives that were more personal. That does not diminish the value of his contribution. His motives were not bad. He developed the system in order to amuse himself and learn. Amusing oneself is good -- programming is great fun. Wanting to learn is also good. But Linux was not designed with the goal of liberating cyberspace, and the motives for Linux would not have given us the whole GNU/Linux system. tens of millions of users are using an operating system that was developed so they could have freedom -- but they don't know this, because they think the system is Linux and that it was developed by a student "just for fun'. (FULL TEXT)

A New Year SOS from a Naga friend

2006-01-01T00:34:00.000+05:30

Dear friends,

An interesting year-ender. As a journalist, I had the opportunity to read, edit and transmit year enders. But this one from one of my friends Lemyao was entirely different.

So this is my first post this year... Happy New Year

Shemin Joy

S.O.S
Lemyao Shimray

14th June 2005: The racial and communal discrimination towards people from different North East nationalities saw its heights when the fraternal organisations of the Hindu nationalist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sang (RSS) called for uprising against "the vulgarity" as they said, "spread by Christian girls from North East in Delhi". The pamphlets were put up all across the campuses in Delhi. The translation read, "Christian girls belonging to the terrorist organisations of North East region roam around naked, and drunk late at night on the streets of Delhi. This is basically done to trap the men and then falsely accuse the men of rape in order to malign the image of Delhi and Delhi University…That, some Christian girls from Nagaland falsely accused some Bihari men of raping them in train."

One of the most serious social threats in Delhi is the increasing rape and molestation of women. The women from North East are targeted the most. When any case of woman from the North East is either raped, molested, or abused, the prejudice of the society in Delhi is such that the dress code and culture of different North East nationalities are blamed. Targeting people from North East is seen when the Kirori Mal College administration imposed a dress code only for North East students which was also publish in Times of India about his comment on it.(June 10, 2005).

22.June.2005: A letter was submitted by authorities of Delhi University to Naga Student justifying nothing to discriminate against any Gender , caste , region , religion were said regarding about the dress code for North East girl in Delhi University. And that the matter be treated as closed.

10. July.2005: A testimony from Manhoihkim "I was returning from Dwarka after Church service. When I reach Chirag, Delhi I was eve teased by a man, when I ignored he said something in Hindi and caught my hand. Then when I tried to resist he slapped me thrice on my face. I started walking away crying but he came to me again , caught me on my breast and slapped me repeatedly saying that he resides in Chirag and it is his area. He threatened me with life and modesty if I complain.

11. July.2005: In Hindustan times it was mention that on Sunday 3.30 pm a 24 years old North East girl along with her friend, while coming back to her rented room was misbehaved and molested by a Taxi service owner….and that, it is the third incident in the couple of months involving girls from North East.

13 Oct.2005: FIR was filed by North East girl A.Gunlu who stays in North Delhi hostel complaining against a person who physically assaulted and molested her while coming back from NSUD sports week.

12. Nov.2005: Two women and a man from Nagaland were attack by two young men.

15. Nov.2005: A Manipuri girl was molested by three youths in Nehru Vihar, Delhi. When the girl raise alarm, a crowd gathered but no one made any move to chastise the three men, who in turn raised voices and started threatening the victim before running away. The police were reluctant to file an FIR as the three youths were from the same locality which led to a mass protest by Manipur Student Association Delhi (MSAD).

17.Nov.2005: North East girl from Delhi University student was misbehaved by 20 years old youth when the girl had gone to the market accompanied by her brother and a friend which led to the protest from North East student.

18. Nov.2005: HINDU "Two young men have been arrested on charges of harassing a North East girl.

21. Nov.2005: TIMES OF INDIA "Two youth arrested on Sunday for allegedly assaulting North East woman on Saturday night. They beat up her cousin brother after he tried to intervene.

14. Dec.2005: A Manipuri woman in Gurgoan was almost dragged into truck on 12.Dec at 6.30pm. She manages to escape at the last minute. According to the police the woman was walking through main gate when a truck started following her. The driver offered a lift which she refused, but the truck continued to follow her as she walks into the colony of Sun City. After a while the truck driver and his cleaner started passing lewd remarks, forcing the woman to run into a narrow lane. Her pursuers got off from the vehicle and began chasing her and tried to drag her into the vehicle. The Manipuri women, however, manage to break free and run towards a nearby house. She rang the bell and sought refuge there. Said the investigating officer "neither the Sun City management nor the resident informed police and thus the investigation got delayed and the truck driver managed to flee and the guard could not chase them."

Now the situation has worsened and the women in Delhi are not safe at all even in broad daylight. The police are reluctant to work on it if it is to do with North East which gives more courage for the culprit, the public watch as a mere spectator if we defend ourselves and judge us as outcaste and uncivilised if we create scene while defending ourselves.

Such is the case when I broke a finger of an Indian man in a crowded bus when he grope and try to squeeze my buttock. When I threatened to gouge his eyes out next time I was left with a comfortable space in that crowded bus by the public inside with a clear message that there is one insane, uncivilised, wild North East girl among the well mannered ladies and gentlemen. No one judge him but they make a point to recognise me as an outcaste.

Most of the women who are the victims are either those working late as in call centre or showroom or student staying in rent. The mindset of the young generation in Delhi about North East is that we are too liberal in every way and that we should be more conservatives are lame excuses and have nothing to do with culture and upbringing. There are many Indians who wear only Salwar Kameez and still work as a call girl, many who don’t touch a drink but still give free sex! This outrage alarming gesture is a plain Gender, caste; region, religion and sexual discrimination which even the administrator are in hand encouraging the Indian youth.

It is an appeal to organisation from back home to at least take an immediate initiative to black out such mentality and for the safe guard of North East women in Delhi. The above mention incident are few that were spotted within half a year and many were left unreported and unspotted, which cannot und ermined as not serious. Support and initiative from back home is only the hope the NorthEast women can rely on this New Year for their safety.

KUKNALIM!!!!!

Is Prejudice a Mental Illness?

2005-12-23T07:55:00.000+05:30

Stephen Soldz

Bigotry and extreme prejudice are repugnant to many, including the victims and those engaged in furthering progressive social values. Various attempts have been made to encompass that reaction in social mores and attitudes. A new approach among certain mental health professionals to get extreme prejudice to be declared a diagnosable mental illness included in the official list of diagnoses superficially bears promise in objectivizing that repugnance.

A recent article in the Washington Post, “Psychiatry Ponders Whether Extreme Bias Can Be an Illness,” discusses this attempt to create a new diagnosis for extreme racism and other forms of extreme prejudice. It presents the argument of some that extreme prejudice is so compulsive and damaging to the prejudiced person that it should be viewed as a mental illness deserving its own diagnosis.

While radicals and progressives may be tempted to jump on this bandwagon as a weapon in their battle to have racism and prejudice recognized for the personal and social harm they cause, this effort is unjustifiable intellectually and is politically likely to backfire....(FULL ARTICLE)

www.dissidentvoice.org

An Open Letter To the Congress of the United States

2005-12-09T03:04:00.000+05:30

Monica Benderman

...My husband sits in a military prison because he dared to speak the truth. This war did not need to happen. He didn't care if he had the support of the American people. He risked everything to tell the truth, his health benefits, his children's college education, his career, and everything he had worked for, including ten years of honorable service, and a combat tour in Iraq. The truth was more important to him, and he was sent to prison on trumped up charges because he was not afraid to stand alone and speak it. His command presented false testimony, manipulated evidence and lost witnesses and ultimately sent him to prison, to keep him from telling the truth. BUT he persisted – and today we persist together – the TRUTH matters – and in the end the TRUTH wins.

What are you doing to tell the truth? What are you willing to risk? Not one thing.
You sent our soldiers to war to protect your elected office. You banded together because you saw the polls and you knew it was what the American people wanted. Why did they want it? Because a president, vice president, secretary of defense, secretary of state and a myriad of tongue-wagging, drooling groupies all gathered together and told them this administration could be trusted. Somewhere in the mix, people forgot – POWER CORRUPTS – and most assuredly makes those who believe they have the power forget.

You forgot that the American people put their trust in you to lead them well, as one of us – with integrity, and honesty – with the TRUTH... Read the Full Text

Kevin Benderman Defense Committee
Kevin Benderman Timeline

Also Log on to
URUKNET.INFO
HAROLD PINTER NOBEL SPEECH

'Clandestine in Goa'

2005-12-08T23:01:00.000+05:30

Faizal Khan/UNI

He was a close friend of Salvador Allende once. Later he became a daring exile who defied General Pinochet and subject of a Marquez book. Today, he is one of the most famous Latin American directors ever.Chilean Miguel Littin has come a long way ever since that horrible moment in his life when his country's President and his own hero, Allende, was assassinated in a coup by Pinochet in 1973.

Ask him what he feels about slipping into Pinochet's Chile disguised as a wealthy Uruguayan businessman shooting a commercial for a French cosmetics company, and he starts to feel uneasy. ''It's all over. All that is past. I live in the future,'' Littin, who is in Goa as the chairman of the jury for the 36th International Film Festival of India (IFFI), told UNI.

Littin's emotions are understandable --- his best friend dead and gone, a decade-and-a-half in exile and his hatred for Pinochet. He shrugs his shoulders and starts to move away at the very mention of the Chilean dictator and you start to wonder whether this grey-haired man was the same person who shot footage inside Pinochet's private office.

Littin was the head of the Chile Films when 9/11 happened to his own country three decades before it happened to the United States, which was blamed for backing the General. As Communist leader Allende's friend, he was right on the top of the list of the 'most wanted' people after the coup on September 11, 1973. After he fled, he became one of the 'most wanted' exiles.

Twelve years after he left his country, Littin returned to Chile to direct three foreign film crews to tell the outside world what was happening under military dictatorship. Make-up artists altered his face and hairstyle and linguistic experts changed his Chilean accent. The result: his own mother did not recognise him in Chile.

For Gabriel Garcia Marquez, a fellow Latin American, Littin's 'illegal' film had behind it another film that would probably be never made. "This may not have been the most heroic action of my life, but it was the most worthwhile," Marquez quotes the filmmaker in the introduction to his book on the adventure --- 'Clandestine in Chile'. Chilean authorities impounded and burned 15,000 copies of the book in 1986.

Salman Rushdie called Littin's return to Chile an underground adventure, which ''contrives to represent and dramatize the heroic resistance of countless other Chileans, some successful, many other tortured or disappeared'' during Pinochet's rule.

Littin, whose 2005 film 'La Ultima Luna' (The Last Moon) is part of the Cinema of the World section at IFFI, is living every moment of freedom in Chile. ''It's a democracy now. There is freedom of expression. The people can speak whatever they want to speak,'' says Littin, who likes India, the world's largest democracy, more than its films.

Miguel Littin

Miguel Littin Interview

Films NYT reviews

Art, Truth & Politics

2005-12-08T02:22:00.000+05:30

Harold Pinter Nobel Lecture

...As every single person here knows, the justification for the invasion of Iraq was that Saddam Hussein possessed a highly dangerous body of weapons of mass destruction, some of which could be fired in 45 minutes, bringing about appalling devastation. We were assured that was true. It was not true. We were told that Iraq had a relationship with Al Quaeda and shared responsibility for the atrocity in New York of September 11th 2001.

We were assured that this was true. It was not true. We were told that Iraq threatened the security of the world. We were assured it was true. It was not true.

The truth is something entirely different. The truth is to do with how the United States understands its role in the world and how it chooses to embody it.

But before I come back to the present I would like to look at the recent past, by which I mean United States foreign policy since the end of the Second World War. I believe it is obligatory upon us to subject this period to at least some kind of even limited scrutiny, which is all that time will allow here...

Click here for FULL TEXT

HAROLD PINTER

Pinter demands war crimes trial for Blair -- Guardian

Pinter rails against US in Nobel prize speech -- Telegraph

Filmmaker turns poster boy for IFFI

2005-12-06T05:22:00.000+05:30

Tony Tharakan

When filmmaker Albert arrived for the 36th International Film Festival of India, he was amazed to find not a single poster of his Malayalam film 'Kanne Madanguka' had been put up at the venue. Although discouraged by the apparent mismanagement, the enterprising director decided to take matters into his own hands.

"I began putting up my film's poster when anotherman arrived and asked me to put up a poster. I had toexplain to him that I am a filmmaker, not a posterboy," recalls Albert. Despite the lack of publicity, 'Kanne Madanguka'opened to a full house at IFFI 2005, forcing thefirst-time director to tone down his criticism of theorganisers.

"It's no big deal. I have done similar things formy film even in Kerala. The film is my child and Ihave no complaints," the filmmaker, who uses only hisfirst name, said. The low-budget 'Kanne Madanguka' was shot in 15days and features newcomers in every sense of the word- with the director, scriptwriter and actors makingtheir debut with the film.

Inspired by a true story, the film narrates thedark tale of a ruthless society forcing girls to earntheir living through prostitution. The success of the film in the Indian Panorama section here has reinforced Albert's belief in himselfand he now plans to re-release it in Kerala.

"It was not marketed properly the first timearound and we think the film now has a better chancewith added publicity," he said. Next up for the Malayali director is ahard-hitting film which tries to analyse the reasonsfor the growing number of divorces and suicides inGod's own country.

"We boast of cent per cent literacy in Kerala. Atthe same time, we have the highest rate of divorcesand suicides. My new film will delve into reasons forthis," Albert said.

INSTANTS a poem by jorge luis borges

2005-12-04T19:26:00.000+05:30

If I could live again my life,
In the next - I'll try,- to make more mistakes,
I won't try to be so perfect,
I'll be more relaxed,I'll be more full - than I am now,
In fact, I'll take fewer things seriously,
I'll be less hygenic,I'll take more risks,
I'll take more trips,I'll watch more sunsets,
I'll climb more mountains,
I'll swim more rivers,
I'll go to more places - I've never been,
I'll eat more ice creams and less (lime) beans,
I'll have more real problems - and less imaginaryones,
I was one of those people who live prudent
and prolific lives -each minute of his life,
Offcourse that I had moments of joy - but,if I could go back
I'll try to have only good moments,
If you don't know - thats what life is made of,
Don't lose the now!
I was one of those who never goes anywhere
without a thermometer,
without a hot-water bottle,
and without an umberella and without a parachute,
If I could live again - I will travel light,
If I could live again - I'll try to work bare feet
at the beginning of spring tillthe end of autumn,
I'll ride more carts,
I'll watch more sunrises and play with more children,
If I have the life to live - but now I am 85,
and I know that I am dying ...

biography -- jorge luis borges

quotations -- jorge luis borges

Premieres rock the boat at IFFI

2005-12-04T11:00:00.000+05:30

Tony Tharakan

Premieres and controversiesseem to go together at the 36th International FilmFestival of India. The hubbub over 'Parzania' and'Apaharan' had hardly died down when the premiere offilmmaker Aditya Bhattacharya's 'Dubai Return' got off to a rocky start today (Dec 3).

The screening had been delayed by 15 minutes and the restive audience was in no mood to accord latecomers Bhattacharya, producer Manya Patil,filmstars Irrfan Khan and Ritu Shivpuri a patienthearing.

When an audience member vehemently asked the organisers to do away with the presentation ceremony,director Bhattacharya lost his cool and asked the protestor to "Go home." Organisers managed to salvage the situation andthe screening went on as scheduled but the director'soutburst managed to rub several people the wrong way.

Defending himself at a press conference laterthis evening, Bhattacharya said the man's behaviour had upset him. "A movie theatre is like a temple and that man was disturbing the sanctity of the temple for me," he said.

IFFI 2005 has been plagued by similar instancesof world premieres being beset by altercations. Earlier this week, 'Parzania' a controversialfilm based on the post-Godhra riots led to a fracasinside the auditorium after some persons alleged thefilm was biased and portrayed the Hindu community in a bad light.

Filmstars Sarika and Om Puri could only stand andwatch as certain members of the 300-strong audienceraised slogans against director Rahul Dholakiafollowing the screening. Two days ago, irate scribes and spectators ventedtheir anger on 'Apaharan' director Prakash Jha, actors Ajay Devgan and Bipasha Basu after they arrived anhour late for the screening.

The commotion only ended after Jha, Devgan and Basu apologised to the audience and left the auditorium.

Scribes allege discrimination at IFFI

2005-12-03T20:18:00.000+05:30

Tony Tharakan

Media personnel at theInternational Film Festival of India here today voicedconcern over several "outside agencies" being handedthe mandate of fixing up interviews with celebrities.
"It has been seen that these outside agencies arediscriminatory and have allowed only select mediaorganisations access to celebrity delegates forinterviews," several journalists told Directorate ofFilm Festivals (DFF) Director Afzal Amanullah at a feedback session here today.

"The same situation exists when it comes to filmparties wherein invitation cards are given only to afew journalists," they claimed. The journalists demanded that media interactionswith celebrity delegates should be set up only throughthe Press Information Bureau.

"If any outside agency is to be involved, itscommitment has to be fixed in consonance with theoverall control and functioning of the PIB," they said. Refuting the charges, Amanullah said only the PIBhad the mandate to fix up interviews with celebritydelegates at the film festival. However, the DFF chief said that he would lookinto the matter.

Motorcycle taxis lifeline for IFFI delegates

2005-12-03T20:16:00.000+05:30

Stuck in Goa with notransport and little money to spare? Flag down amotorcycle taxi and snatch a pillion ride to anywherein the state. Hundreds of visitors at the International Filmfestival of India are doing just that - forking outfrom just Rs 10 upwards to reach their destinations inGoa.

The two-wheeler taxi, known locally as the Pilot,is the most popular mode of transport in a statenotorious for its abysmal bus service. "Try and take the motorcycle taxi. It's much morereasonable," Goa Secretary for Information andPublicity, Debashree Mukherjee, advises delegates atthe International Film Festival of India here.

Ideal for short distances, the yellow-huedmotorcycle taxis are a welcome alternative to buses and autos in Goa. Even Chief Minister Pratapsingh Rane agrees it'snext to impossible to find a bus in the evenings whileseveral delegates complain of the times auto-drivershere have fleeced them.

'Apaharan' premiere at IFFI rocked by ruckus

2005-12-01T13:57:00.003+05:30

Tony Tharakan

The world premiere offilmmaker Prakash Jha's film 'Apaharan' at theInternational Film festival of India was marred by afracas this evening after the director and filmstarsAjay Devgan and Bipasha Basu arrived an hour late forthe screening.

Irate scribes and spectators vented their anger onthe trio and the commotion only ended when Jha, Devganand Basu apologised to the audience and left theauditorium. The screening, already delayed by an hour, wasstarted only to be interrupted ten minutes later.

Organisers were miffed with television crews whowere filming scenes from the movie despite beingwarned not to do so. The screening resumed only afterthe braodcast journalists left the auditorium. The high-profile premiere, seemed doomed from thestart, with more than five hundred people being giveninvitations in a 300-seat auditorium, which resultedin the hall being jampacked and many people with validinvites being turned away by organisers.

Several people had been waiting in line at theINOX multiples here since five in the evening for themovie which was scheduled to begin an hour later. Confusion reigned supreme with mediapersonswaiting in one auditorium for the stars of the filmeven as the celebrities were ushered into theadjoining hall which was screening the filmsimultaneously.

UK tourist in Goa to relive 'Taal' heyday

2005-12-01T13:57:00.002+05:30

Tony Tharakan

Seven years ago, a Britishtourist in India walked on to the set of SubhashGhai's 'Taal,' worked as an extra for a day and walkedaway. Circa 2005, Pip Gascoigne is back. In Goa for theInternational Film Festival of India, the 41-year-oldhopes to hobnob with the stars once again.

He hadn't realised it at the time but the two-bitsequence in the Bollywood blockbuster was to be hisclaim to fame years later. "One day I was walking down a street in New Delhiand this kid kept pointing to me and mouthing 'Taal,'"says Gascoigne.

"It was then that I realised the power of cinemain India. My face was shown in the movie for someseconds and yet this kid managed to identify me fromamong the thousands of foreigners around," he says. Gascoigne, who has his own construction businessin London, had been introduced to the casting agent of'Taal' by a mutual friend and decided to do the moviefor a lark.

"It certainly wasn't for the money although theydid paid me Rs 3,500 for the day's work. I just wantedto have some fun," he says. The Briton did two scenes in the movie for whichhe had to cut his hair short and put on a fakemoustache. For his first scene, Gascoigne was requiredto make some women members of the cast laugh. "I have no idea who they were but Aishwarya Raiwas certainly not one of them," he says.

"I was supposed to be talking and making themlaugh in that particular sequence. I didn't know howto do that so I ended up telling them some jokesinstead," he adds. Gascoigne's second scene featured a close-up ofhim speaking to actor Anil Kapoor.

"I realised how professional the Indian actorsare. They do so many takes to get the perfect shot,"he said adding that he got the scene right afterseveral takes. A white suit specially stitched for him has beenkept by Gascoigne as a reminder of his short stint inBollywood.

Back in London, he watches Hindi movies on cabletelevision, harking back to the one moment when heshared screen space with Indian filmstars. Now in Goa for IFFI 2005, Gascoigne hopes to getanother chance to perform under the arclights.

Indian documentary to premiere in New York

2005-12-01T13:57:00.001+05:30

Tony Tharakan

IFFI's loss is New York'sgain. An Orissa filmmaker's documentary which didn'tmake it in time for the International Film Festival ofIndia will now be screened at the Big Apple. Santosh Gour's 'Sakhi Pila' (Odissi Boy Dancer) is part of the South Asian International Film Festivalbeginning in New York on December 7, and has baggedthe rare honour of being screened at Ziegfeld - thelargest movie theatre in the US.

The 35-minute documentary in English depicts thecenturies-old Gotipua tradition of boys dressing up aswomen and dancing in the temples of Orissa. Shot on a limited budget of Rs 20 lakh in Puri,Konark and Bhubaneswar last year, the film waspremiered at the Ebensee International Film Festivalat Austria where it caught the eye of SAIFF organisers.

Gour now has bigger plans up his sleeve for 2006. "I am currently working on a feature film to beproduced by a Spanish producer which deals with thetravails of a village youth who arrives in the big badworld of Mumbai," the ex-FTII graduate told PTI.

'Sadheikala Chhau dance' - Gour's documentary onthe Chhau dance form of Orissa is ready for release.The filmmaker is currently working on three otherdocumentaries to be completed in the coming year. Gour has previously shot eight films in the 35 mmformat making his directorial debut with 'The SilentDusk' in 1993. Retrospectives of his films were heldat Cologne in Germany and Jamshedpur in 2002.

MIFF 2006 does away with censor stipulation

2005-12-01T13:57:00.000+05:30

Tony Tharakan

In a major victory forvotaries of free expression, films selected for theMumbai International Film festival will no longer haveto produce a censor certificate to be eligible for thebiennial event. "The film festival has done away with thecriterion of having a Censor Board certificate forsubmitting entries," Festival Director Raghu Krishna told reporters here today.

Last year's edition of MIFF had been mired incontroversy after several filmmakers withdrew theirsubmissions from the festival and held a parallel filmfestival titled 'Vikalp'. The 2006 Mumbai International Film Festival willkick off on February 3 and is the ninth in the seriessince its inception in 1990.

Organised by the Films Division of the Ministryof Information and Broadcasting, the festivalshowcases documentaries, short films and animationfilms from around the world. "We are attempting to show films which are notshown anywhere. This year, there are 186 entries inthe international category and 388 submissions in thenational competition," Krishna said.

Outstanding films in various categories areselected by an International Jury for Golden andSilver Conches with cash prizes aggregating to Rs 27.5lakh. "This year, the panel for the internationalsection includes filmmakers Lisa Goldwin, Sato Makoto,Lasse Noukharinen and John Akomfrah. An Indianfilmmaker will also be part of this jury," Krishna said.

"Filmmakers Gautam Bora, K Hariharan and ManjiriDutta will be judging the national competition," headded. A veteran documentary filmmaker will be conferredthe V Shantaram Lifetime Achievement Award during thefestival.

MIFF 2006 will include retrospectives on filmsfrom the SAARC nations, Iran, Germany as also specialscreenings of Oscar winners and nominees. A collection of films on various dance forms will also be showcased at the festival.

According to Krishna, the festival aims to serveas a platform where the filmmakers can meet, exchangeideas, explore the possibility of co-production andmarket their films.

Chance encounter with journos led to 'Page 3'

2005-11-30T14:38:00.000+05:30

Tony Tharakan

The rather insipid scene of acouple of journalists getting into an auto-rickshawsparked off filmmaker Madhur Bhandarkar's creativeinstincts at a time when he was grappling with theidea of making 'Page 3'. "I had this vague idea about doing something onthe party circuit, but was stumped about the point ofview to be used in the film," Bhandarkar told reporters here today.

The acclaimed director of 'Chandni Bar' and'Satta' was driving back from a party in Mumbai someyears ago when he saw some journalists haggling withan auto-rickshaw driver. "They had also just come from the party.Half-an-hour back, they were in the midst of filmstarsand immmediately afterwards, these journalists wereback in the real world of autos and buses," Bhandarkar recalled.

The incident struck the filmmaker strongly and hedecided to capture the lives of the rich and famousthrough the eyes of a journalist, played by actressKonkona Sensharma in the film. Bhandarkar's film - a cynical portrayal ofcelebrity party culture - achieved both critical andcommercial success when it was released early thisyear.

It also garnered an automatic place in the IndianPanorama section of the International Film Festival ofIndia here by virtue of its winning the National Awardfor Best Film this year. "The film was very much appreciated at the Pragueand Los Angeles film festivals and we intend to takeit to many such festivals abroad," Bhandarkar said.

First Indo-Italian film to roll in 2006

2005-11-30T08:01:00.000+05:30

Tony Tharakan

The saga of an Indian urchinwho realises his dreams is set to become the first Indo-Italian project under the film co-productiontreaty signed by the two nations this year. The film, an adaptation of a book by Italianfillmaker Sergio Scapagnini, is to be directed by India's Goutam Ghose and will go on the floors in2006.

The Story of Lala - based symbolically on thelegend of Ulysses - is in the first stages of production and Ghose is working on the script," Scapagnini told PTI on the sidelines of the 36thInternational Film Festival of India here.

The 59-year-old filmmaker said he was pleased to bethe first beneficiary of the May 2005 co-productiontreaty between India and Italy. "We are currently location-hunting for the film,which is to be shot in India and at Naples in Italy,"Scapagnini said.

Renowned actor Omar Sharif, who also stars in thefilmmaker's project 'Fire At my Heart,' is expected tobe part of the new venture. "As for Indian stars, Ghose has worked with top-notch Bollywood stars in the past and I'm sure there would be several in the film. However, that's the director's call," Scapagnini said.

At the moment, the filmmaker is on the lookout fora talented Indian boy who would play the title role ofLala in the film. Apart from 'The Story of Lala,' no other project isin the pipeline for Scapagnini as of now. "The film is such a great challenge that I don'tdare put other initiatives in my mind," he said.

According to an Italian Embassy official, theco-production treaty seeks to remove any obsatcles tofilmmkaing and provided various incentives forIndo-Italian co-productions. "The interest in the Italian filmmaking industryhas to be seen to be believed. We brought around 1,300kg of books and material for the IFFI Film Bazaar andit's disappearing fast," Italian Embassy CulturalCentre Director Patrizia Raveggi told PTI.

Sergio Scapagnini maintains that Indian and Italianfilmmakers have been collaborating on projects evenbefore this year's treaty. "The first such film 'Vrindavan Film Studios' - afilm entirely shot in India - was made ten years agounder the direction of Italy's Lamberto Lambertini,"he said.

The film featured several Indian stars includingSonali Kulkarni and was premiered at the 1996 editionof the film festival. "Half the cast and crew had been from India," saysScapagnini, whose production house 'IndrapurCinematografica' had produced the movie.

The filmmaker went on to produce a documentary 'The Impermanence, a journey into the world of the DalaiLama', directed by Ghose, which had its world premiereat the Venice Film Festival last year.

Scapagnini has also distributed several Indianclassics in Europe, including those made by thelegendary Satyajit Ray, and also roped in Bengaliactor Soumitro Chatterji to speak at several Rayretrospectives abroad.

The filmmaker feels that Goa is a fabulous venuefor holding the International Film Festival of India. "The government should think of giving facilitiesfor film aficionados to come here so that it can also become the hub of cine lovers like the Venice FilmFestival," he said.

An Indophile, who believe it or not, is currentlyon his 62nd visit to India, Scapagnini says he lovesthe country and its people. "I make it a point to visit Indore whenever I come,as my closest Indian friends, whom I met 20 years ago,are based there," he said. Incidentally, the filmmaker has named hisproduction house 'Indrapur' after the ancient name ofthe city of Indore.

Parzania -- Filmmaker, actress stands by film

2005-11-30T07:54:00.000+05:30

Tony Tharakan

Filmmaker stands by controversial film on Godhra riots
Despite the strong reactionevoked by his film based on the Godhra riots,filmmaker Rahul Dholakia has said he is ready toscreen 'Parzania' in Ahmedabad. "If we filmmakers do not express our thoughts, weare as guilty of the crime as those that committedit," he told reporters at the International FilmFestival of India here.

Dholakia, who hasn't managed to find a distributorfor the film, said he wanted more people to see thefilm and was ready to take it to schools anduniversities for private viewings. "I am ready to show the film even in Ahmedabad,"he said.

The world premiere of 'Parzania', depicting thetravails of a Parsi couple who lose their son to theGodhra riots, had been marred by a fracas on Saturdayafter some audience members alleged it was "biased andportrayed Hindus in a bad light."

The film, based on a true story, had been passedby the Censor Board with only a few minor audio cuts,Dholakia said. "I don't think a screening of my film will lead toviolence. It's not a pro-community film. It'spro-humanity," he said. "Everyone is entitled to their opinion. It's afilm bound to provoke discussions," he added.

However, the director blamed the media for playingup the reactions of a minor section of the audience. "We made the film with a great sense ofresponsibility as we didn't want to miss with it. Itis sad that the media forgot about all the audiencememebers who praised the film," Dholakia said.

Sarika bats for the controversial 'Parzania'
Standing by her controversialEnglish film 'Parzania,' actress Sarika has said sheagreed to act in the flick because of its strongscript. Based on a real-life incident during thepost-Godhra riots of 2002, filmmaker Rahul Dholakia's'Parzania' portrays the travails of a Parsi couple(Sarika and Naseeruddin Shah) trying to trace theirmissing 10-year-old son.

"The riots are a delicate issue and it is not easyto make a film on such a topic. I agreed to do itbecause the script had been written with maturity anda sense of responsibility," Sarika said yesterday. 'Parzania' also stars Emmy-award winning actor Corin Nemec, Raj Zutshi and Parzaan Dastur.

Famous for her roles as a child star in the 1970s,Sarika recently returned to face the camera after adecade-long hiatus. "I have signed five more films although I am not ina position to reveal more about them," the actress told PTI here.

After power-packed performances in 'Parzania' andRuchi Narain's 'Kal - Yesterday and Tomorrow', Sarikaseems to have many more filmmakers queuing up outsideher door.

Film on Godhra leads to fracas at IFFI

Italian maestro misses date with IFFI

2005-11-30T07:46:00.000+05:30

Tony Tharakan

In yet another setback forthe International Film Festival of India, renownedItalian filmmaker and actress Lena Wertmuller wouldnot be making it to Goa this year. The 77-year-old director, who is being honouredhere with a retrospective, forgot to obtain a visa andhad to return to Rome after being stopped by officialsat Frankfurt airport.

A name to be reckoned with, Wertmuller's absencehas come as a great disappointment to all lovers ofworld cinema at IFFI 2005. "It's a great loss. She is an avant-gardedirector. We were waiting to receive her at theairport when we received the sad news," ItalianEmbassy Cultural Centre Director Patrizia Raveggi told PTI today.

In a telephonic message from Italy, Wertmullerexpressed her disappointment at not being able tovisit India and exhorted Italian representatives hereto "embrace all Indians and share her love" on her behalf.

The screenings of Wertmuller's films as part ofthe retropective will go on as scheduled, Raveggiadded. According to Italian filmmaker Sergio Scapagnini,it is really sad "this stupid world still relies on visas at a time when we are dreaming of a world without passports."
"Lena had been very enthusiastic about her trip toGoa," Scapagnini, who is here for the premiere of hisItalian film 'Fire at my Heart,' said.

Wertmuller's iconoclastic approach to cinema hadearned her a sizeable cult following in the mid-70s. Her 'The Seduction of Mimi,' a comic examinationof sexual role-playing and political manoeuvering, hadgarnered Wertmuller the best director award at the1972 Cannes Film Festival.
Five of the Italian maestro's films - 'A ComplexPlot', 'The End of the World', 'The Lizards', 'SevenBeauties' and 'Swept Away' are being screened as partof a retrospective here.

Read LENA WERTMULLER

Ruskin in movie theatre after 25-year hiatus

2005-11-30T07:41:00.000+05:30

Tony Tharakan

Thanks to the InternationalFilm Festival of India, writer Ruskin Bond came out ofhibernation to watch his first film in a movie theatreafter 25 years. Incidentally, his choice - 'The Blue Umbrella' -which premiered here yesterday was director Vishal Bharadwaj's screen adaptation of a short story writtenby Bond himself.

"It's after 25 years that I found myself inside amovie theatre. Although an avid film buff, I live inMussoorie where there are unfortunately no theatresnow," the 71-year-old author said today. 'The Blue Umbrella,' slated for a May 2006release, is set in Himachal Pradesh and revolvesaround an eleven-year-old girl's quest for a lostumbrella believed to have magical powers.

"The film is based on a story I wrote 20 yearsago. I knew some children there and wove this fablearound them," he said. "The umbrella is symbolic of what people want inlife. It's about how human generosity ultimatelyovercomes greed," Bond added.

However, this is not his first tryst withBollywood. Back in 1980, his novel 'A Flight ofPigeons' became the basis for Shyam Benegal'sacclaimed film 'Junoon.' But Bond may not have to wait too long for anotherrendezvous with the desi box-office.

"Vishal has evinced interest in making anotherfilm based on one of my horror stories. But right nowhe's busy with his film on Othello," the author told PTI. The only point of contention seems to be whetherBond's stories are scary enough in the 21st century.

"It's funny how children come up to me and saythey don't find my horror stories scary enoughcompared to the stuff they see today," the authorsaid. Although Bond hasn't been able to catch up onother films at the film festival, he's happy that IFFIis being held here.

"This would give me an excuse to come to Goaagain," he said. Born in Himachal Pradesh in 1934, Bond has writtenover a hundred short stories, essays and novels. His first novel 'The Room On The Roof,' writtenwhen he was seventeen, garnered the John LlewellynRhys Memorial prize in 1957. The acclaimed author alsowon the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1992.

Film on Godhra leads to fracas at IFFI

2005-11-27T16:03:00.000+05:30

Tony Tharakan

The world premiere of acontroversial film based on the Godhra riots, at theInternational Film Festival of India here, led to afracas inside the auditorium.

Filmstars Sarika, Om Puri could only stand andwatch as certain members of the 300-strong audienceraised slogans against director Rahul Dholakiafollowing the screening of his English film 'Parzania'. The persons alleged that the film was biased and portrayed "only the Hindu community in a bad lightholding them responsible for the Godhra riots."

"Has Dawood funded this film?" was one audiencemember's query, who called the director a"pseudo-secularist." Defending his movie, the director said thatdespite being a Hindu himself, he had merely narratedthe story of a family and "what actually happened" inthe aftermath of the Godhra carnage.

"Were I to make a movie on 9/11, I would showMuslim fundamentalists in it," Dholakia said.

Coming to the director's rescue, Om Puri who waspresent at the screening as a guest, said that peoplewere also against the movie 'Tamas' when that filmbased on Partition was released. "The difference between 'Tamas' and this movie isthat the state participated in the riots. The stateshould not be partial. That is what made it horrid.This is the reason why the BJP lost the elections," hesaid.

Urging people to keep their cool, Puri said thatalthough he respected the feelings elicited by themovie, people should not react to a movie in this manner. "You can write about it if you want and shareyour viewpoint," he said.

Speaking to reporters outside the hall, Sarika said the reaction was on expected lines. "This did not come as a surprise. We wereexpecting this reaction from some people even whilemaking the movie. However, I stand by the film," she said.

Inspired by the true story of a family's lossduring the infamous Godhra riots of 1992, the filmstars Sarika and Naseeruddin as a Parsi couple wholoses their ten-year-son Parzan to the riots. "I am not trying to make a popcorn movie herewith the theme of national integration. I am trying oshow things as they really happened. The son of theman who inspired this movie is still missing,"Dholakia said adding that he would like to premierethe movie in Ahmedabad.

The director also said that his film had got aCensor Board certificate without any problems, barringa few minor audio cuts. When asked whether the movie would reopen healingwounds, Dholakia compared the Godhra riots togangrene.

"If you ignore gangrene in your foot, you mighthave to finally amputate it," he said. According to Dholakia, the film costing Rs threecrores was shot in the span of 45 days using live syncsound, although the scripting and research took oneand a half years.

"We were not sure whether we will be able torelease the film in India, that is why I made it inEnglish. The entire riot-sequence was shot withhand-held cameras. We also used a lot of footage fromreal life," Dholakia said. (Nov 26)

Links:
Pusan International Film Festival, the largest and most prestigious film festival in Asia, has invited 'Parzania', a film by Rahul Dholakia, to have its world premier. (More)

I’m not making a commercial popcorn film where Hindus kill Muslims who kill them backbut in the end both come out with national integration flags.’ (More)

Journalists stage walkout at IFFI press meet

2005-11-24T23:10:00.000+05:30

From today, u can read reports on IFFI 2005 from Panaji, Goa. My friend and collegue Tony Tharakan is there in Panaji reporting for Press Trust of India.

Tony Tharakan

Panaji, Nov 24 (PTI) Hours before the curtain rises on the 36th International Film Festival of India, a press conference called to discuss media arrangements for the inaugural ceremony ended on asour note with several television and photojournalists staging a walkout.
Tempers ran high after organisers announced that television crews would not be allowed to carry cameras inside the high security INOX multiplex where the inaugural ceremony is scheduled to be held later today.
Refusing to heed Directorate of Film Festivals (DFF) Director Afzal Amanullah's pleas to maintainorder, irate scribes decided to boycott the press conference and staged a walkout.
According to an I&B ministry official, only the official television sponsor would be showing the livetelecast of the ceremony whereas other channels would have access to live and deferred live footage from outside the venue.
However, broadcast journalists were not pleased with the organisers' decision.
"We have been covering the film festival for years. Even when it was previously held in Delhi, wewere allowed to carry the cameras inside," a miffed TV journalist said.
"They expect us to go and keep our equipment somewhere and not even take responsibility for it. Weare not pirates. This is really unfair," he added.
The media walkout at the press meet is not expected to affect the IFFI inaugural ceremony as thejournalists have said they would be not be boycotting the function.
The inaugural ceremony today would be preceded by a carnival, which would include floats, culturalpageantry and other festivities.
Yesteryear actor Dev Anand will be the Chief Guest whereas South Indian cinestar Chiranjeevi will be the Guest of Honour at the function.
Union Minister of Culture and Urban Development Jaipal Reddy would be present at the opening ceremony with film actresses Bipasha Basu and Tara sharing the honour of being the 'Thali Girl' for the function.
The ten-day film festival would kick off with the screening of Brazilian film 'Olga'.

Indiaaaaaaaaaa 2020

2005-11-24T22:20:00.000+05:30

the india of 2020

my friend leena forwarded this photo to me saying stop dreaming about india...
(sorry, i dont know who is the photographer or the artist who done the imaging).

Why Jehanabad?

2005-11-21T05:50:00.000+05:30

Nandita Haksar

The dramatic jailbreak by the Maoists in Jehanabad has been front-page news in all the newspapers and lead story in the TV channels. I have been reading the papers and hearing the news coverage hoping to understand the reasons behind this extreme action by the Naxals. Every TV Channel showed a pamphlet that they distributed on the occasion that enlisted their demands. But no one gave us the details of those demands or commented on whether they were just or unreasonable.

The event is being looked upon as a problem of law and order. Discussions on the jailbreak center on questions of national security. In fact if we hear any discussions we only hear the views of various security agencies and the debates are all concerned with dealing with the "Naxalite problem". Some security experts even think it is problem linked to global terrorism.

In my opinion the problem is not with the naxalites but with the problems they seek to address. What are these problems? The naxalites were the first to focus on the adverse effects of big development projects on the poor. In fact it has been my privilege to represent several Naxalite leaders and organizations in the Supreme Court as well as in other courts. It was in the course of doing these cases that I learnt about the terrible conditions of the landless labourers, adivasi forest dwellers, dalits and urban poor. As a human rights activist I had an opportunity to travel to many parts of the country to document human rights violations by the State on the poorest citizens of our country.

I still remember travelling to Santhal paragnas in the 1980s to discover that thousands of adivasi miners had become unemployed after the nationalization of coal. As a protest they had organized themselves into Jan Mukti Morcha and started a peoples’ coal mine. That coal mine had better safety record than the neighbouring nationalized mine. In addition the Naxalites ran a school and a small dispensary. Their only demand was that the government to take over their mine and provide employment to the people. The mine ran for more than a year and then one day it was bull dozed, the leaders were all put into jail and the school and dispensary shut down. Is this justice?

Then there was the agitation by the Mazdoor Kisan Sangram Sangathan (MKSS) for land rights of the poor in Jehanabad. Once again the State responded with a police firing which resembled the infamous Jallianwala Bagh in more ways than one. Poorest of the poor died, some were permanently injured. I filed the case in the Supreme Court and the court did award some paltry sum to the victims of the police firing but how could they claim the compensation when the Government had banned MKSS and claiming the compensation would result in his arrest. Is this justice?

I have traveled to remote areas of Bihar and Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh and more recently to Tamil Nadu, UP and Karnataka. I have been deeply impressed by the fact that the Naxalites are constantly learning from their past mistakes. In the beginning their emphasis was on individual annihilation today they are an integral part of open, mass organizations and democratic movements. They have shown a deep commitment to the cause of fighting the root causes of poverty, a dedication to constantly analyzing the causes of socio-economic injustice and courage to identify themselves with their fellow citizens. Many of the Naxalites give up the comfort of their homes to live in leach infected forests without food and with constant threat of arrest, torture or death.

It was their very real concern for the lives of ordinary people that they kept making announcements over a loud speaker to reassure them before carrying out the jailbreak. Is this concern about the safety of the people a reflection of a terrorist ideology? And yet the national media invariably equated the acts of the Maoists with the "activists" of the Ranvir Sena. In fact the naxalites are a part of the democratic movement for socio-economic justice while the Ranvir sena is an illegitimate militia supported by the State to crush the voice of the people.

The real question that we should all be asking is why do Naxalites have to conduct militant struggles to enforce the legal and Constitutional righ ts of our people? Why do people living next to a dam have no portable drinking water? Why do people living next to a gigantic steel mill have no employment and why are adivasi forest dwellers treated as thieves if they go their ancestral homes to gather minor forest produce.

The second question we should be asking is why do so many people support the naxalite movement and are willing to go to jail, suffer torture and even face police firings in support of the movement which has spread from four states in 1998 to 13 states in 2005?

Has this spread to do with the new economic policy that was introduced in 1990. A policy which has severely undermined the economic sovereignty of our country. It has resulted in making self respecting farmers into destitute. A destitution which has forced many of them to commit suicide leaving their wives and children on the edge of starvation. It is a policy which has disenfranchised millions of our citizens making the constitutional fundamental rights meaningless for them.

The dramatic jailbreak should be seen as an opportunity to address the problems of institutionalized poverty, injustice, oppression and exploitation. If we do not our national security is indeed in danger.

## Translation of Nandita Haksar's column in Hindustan, Hindi daily. Haksar is a senior Supreme Court lawyer

Al-Qaeda the Database Unbound

2005-11-21T03:00:00.000+05:30

I was searching for something on the web and chanced upon this article in www.rinf.com

In a lengthy excerpt posted on Wayne Madsen’s site, Pierre-Henry Bunel, a former agent for French military intelligence, explains the origins of the word “al-Qaeda.” As previously noted by British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook, “al-Qaeda” has nothing to do with a terrorist organization, as the neocons and the corporate media tell us over and over, ad infinitum, but is in fact a database.

“In the early 1980s the Islamic Bank for Development, which is located in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, like the Permanent Secretariat of the Islamic Conference Organization, bought a new computerized system to cope with its accounting and communication requirements,” Bunel explains.

“It was decided to use a part of the system’s memory to host the Islamic Conference’s database. It was possible for the countries attending to access the database by telephone: an Intranet, in modern language. The governments of the member-countries as well as some of their embassies in the world were connected to that network.”

Files associated to the database were called “Q eidat il-Maaloomaat” and “Q eidat i-Taaleemaat” in Arabic. “Those two files were kept in one file called in Arabic ‘Q eidat ilmu’ti’aat’ which is the exact translation of the English word database. But the Arabs commonly used the short word Al Qaida which is the Arabic word for ‘base.’” (For More Click Here)

Quake -- An opportunity for embedded journalism?

2005-11-21T00:06:00.000+05:30

Friends

Here, I am reproducing an email I got last month. Being a journalist, I thought I should share this view with you. But sorry for not revealing the identity of the writer right now as I had not told my friend that I will be publishing his mail. SO READ on...

Dear friend,
Lies make the headlines; more so, when the dateline is a conflict zone. it hardly matters, even if the newspeg is a massive earthquake.

the impressions:
1 indian army is doing a great job, even if they'd lost 40 soldiers in the tremour.
2. things are so bad in PoK.
3. Indian army is taking care of help in IoK
4. confusion in rescue operations in PoKand so on...

And the star indain journalists who at the moment report with the IoK datelines are taken around in the army craft. just to name a few, Burka Dutt got all her visuals in her embedded trips. The Week's defence reporter, R. Prasannan was army's choice when one seat was empty in the military aircraft carrying tents from Delhi. just some thoughts. couldn't resist when a Kashmiri reporer on the ground sent this mail.
best A

('A' got an email from a Kashmiri reporter 'B')

Hi A,
Sriangar had a narrow escape. yeah it was too narrow. we shaked badly. BUt it is bad in the peripheries. from the news (indian) it seems that on this side of kashmir relief has reached to people and the government has moved in. I wish it were true.

For military/political reasons indian army is using indian media to spread this lies. There are at least 13 villages (cut off after the landslide) where outsiders haven't reached yet. Most of the people are without tents in the affected zone and it is raining and snowing over there.
Regards B

So friends... Its food for thought

Counter Point: SANIA, KHUSHBOO AND MEDIA

2005-11-20T05:09:00.000+05:30

Vir Sanghvi/HINDUSTAN TIMES

On Wednesday afternoon, Sania Mirza participated in a session at the Hindustan Times Summit in Delhi. Also participating were Narain Karthikeyan, the racing car driver, and Natalie Glebova, the current Miss Universe. I was the moderator.

Because the session was meant to be free-flowing, we touched on a variety of issues. About ten minutes into the discussion, however, it became apparent to me that the only person the audience wanted to hear was Sania. Narain is a nice guy but he’s been around for so long that most of us know what he has to say. And as for Miss Universe, well, she said what any Miss Universe would have been told to say by her minders.

Inevitably, the discussion turned to some of the controversies that have swirled around Sania. Because I did not want to needlessly hassle a 19-year-old girl by forcing her into a situation where she had to criticise Islamic clerics, I asked her only the most indirect questions about the controversies. (To read the complete story -- click on the headline)

Non-Hindu present, Guruvayur temple repeats pujas

2005-11-20T02:45:00.000+05:30

Don Sebastian/Daily News and Analysis

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The famed Sree Krishna temple in Guruvayur on Saturday repeated pujas it did during the last five days after it found that a non-Hindu had been present in the temple.
After discovering on Friday evening that a non-Hindu was present during the five days, the temple authorities repeated all the 15 poojas that were conducted during that time in a marathon six and a half hour exercise on Saturday.

At Guruvayur, a Davis from Kuttimukku near Thrissur gave away his identity when questioned by temple warders. Apparently mentally deranged, he made a commotion in the temple when he jumped the queue for the palpayasam, the temple’s prasadam.

“Since he admitted he was a non-Hindu, we had to abide by the rituals. We handed him over to the police and they released him soon after that. He was neither fined nor charged with any offence,” Guruvayur devaswom deputy administrator PV Subramanian said on Saturday.
(To read the complete story -- click on the headline)