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It’s IIM alumni vs Left
ISRO goes commercial
Her legacy finds home in biography
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UP for grabs 2007
PM highlights Maulana Madani’s vision
Business from
dead Human skulls and bones are seen inside a police station in Burdwan town, 200 km north of Kolkata, on Monday. — Reuters photo
Geelani’s demands
SP all set for
non-Cong, non-BJP front
Abducted FCI official alive, says police
Jessica Case
IAF, civil aviation meet over Jammu airport
Telgi, accomplices
convicted
To go it alone in Goa poll
Kalam leaves for Strasbourg today
Now, dispose of waste in eco-friendly way
Mauritius to observe Bihar Day
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It’s IIM alumni vs Left
New Delhi, April 23 Stating that the apex court’s refusal to vacate the stay as “regrettable”, the CPM Politburo in a statement said “given the fact that Parliament amended the Constitution through the 93rd Constitutional amendment to pave the way for such reservation, it is now incumbent upon Parliament, which is meeting soon, to take the necessary steps to ensure that the Constitutional direction is upheld and the legislation gets implemented.” It is now up to Parliament, which would meet soon, to come up with measures to implement the quota in institutions of higher learning, he
added. Legal Correspondent
New Delhi, April 23 An application on behalf of the Pan-IIM Alumni Association was mentioned before the Bench of Justices Arijit Pasayat and Lokeshwer Singh Panta, which rejected the Centre’s application for vacating the stay on implementation of the OBC quota in these institutions, The court, without passing any specific order on the application, said it would consider it on the next date of hearing. The IIM alumni said they had collected information under the Right to Information Act from these institutions to know about the cut-off percentage even between the merits prepared for general category students and SC and ST students for whom the reservation was available at present. The data of past several years showed that there was a wide gap of nearly 20 per cent between the cut off marks in the merit lists prepared for students who got admission in the reserved category and those in the general category. While the cut off marks for the general category was ranging at 60 per cent, it was 40 per cent for the reserved seats. The information under the RTI Act was sought by them only to know the impact of the OBC reservation on the quality of the output in the six IIMs, if it was implemented. Stating that the association was not against uplift of the backward classes, but it could only be done with a positive “affirmative” action. “Providing reservation to OBCs even on the basis of expanding the seats by 27 per cent at the cost of Rs 20,000 crore will not solve the aspirations of backward class youths… rather it runs counter to the national interest as it will be huge wastage of the resources and it is a remedy worse than the disease.”
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ISRO goes commercial
Sriharikota, April 23 It was a prefect launch, and the PSLV-C8 rocket put the 352-kg Italian satellite AGILE in space along with India's 185-kg advanced avionics module (AAM) as it blasted off after a 42-hour countdown from Saturday. A visibly happy ISRO chairman Madhavan Nair said, “This is a historic moment for the Indian space community. The Italian satellite was put into a precise orbit by a totally Indian mission. This is really a remarkable achievement. We proved the reliability of our launch system, made it cost-effective and delivered on time.” Congratulating the entire team of ISRO scientists, Nair said, “We have made a good entry into the launch business.” President of the Italian Space Agency Giovanni Fabrizio Bignami could not hide his happiness as he watched the launch from the mission control room here and later quipped, “It has been a very intense and emotional moment.” Referring to the inclination of 2.5 degrees with respect to the equator in circular orbit in which the satellite was placed, Bignami said, “It was an extremely important achievement and was better than expected from the inclination point of view.” The PSLV has now demonstrated an ability to complete orbital injection at an equatorial orbit as well. He felt that ASI's collaboration with ISRO did not end with the launch and added, “It is the beginning of a new stage of our collaboration. I think you have made a good start.” B.N. Suresh, director of the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, said all components of the AAM like inertial systems, navigation systems and advanced telemetry had worked perfectly and added, “It has paved the way for the induction of the AAM in future missions of the PSLV and the GSLV Mark III.” The PSLV-C8 took 22 minutes to inject the Italian satellite into a 550-km circular orbit. This was the 11th rocket in the PSLV series and as it was carrying a much higher payload it flew without six solid propellant strap-on motors. With this commercial launch, India joins the elite club of four other countries which have commercial satellites in space. AGILE is an X-ray and gamma ray astronomical satellite of the Italian Space Agency and will be placed in a circular orbit 550 km above the earth. It has payloads to investigate gamma ray bursts, pulsars and supernova remnants and is equipped with scientific instruments capable of imaging distant celestial objects in X-ray and gamma ray regions of the electromagnetic spectrum.
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Her legacy finds home in biography
Her
quiet dignity is as stirring as the inspiring lineage she comes from. While her legacy finds a home in a biography, ‘An American in Khadi’ written by her, Asha Sharma nee Stokes reveals glimpses of the same calm, yet dogged determination, that epitomised her grandfather Samuel Evans or Satyanand Stokes’s life so many years ago.
There is very little that has been published on Asha. A point she acknowledged happily while on a visit to The Tribune recently. “The biography was so well appreciated that no-one asked about me. I think it is a compliment to the book,” she smiles. The biography chronicles the life of Stokes, an American who made India his home. While he is best known for bringing apples to Himachal Pradesh and changing the fortunes of the hill state, Stokes’ remarkable life touched upon several other historical aspects of this country. He participated in the freedom struggle, worked tirelessly for the people educating and empowering them, took to wearing khadi (hence the sobriquet ‘An American in Khadi’) and even went to jail for his role in the struggle for Independence. The biography celebrates an extraordinary life sans theatrical eulogies. “He was a simple man and had his faults like any other person. But his was a life of service to others,” says Asha. What is an interesting paradox to this biography is that Asha did not know her grandfather personally. “He passed away in 1946, when I was just six-year-old,” she states. Her mother Champavati was the eldest daughter of the family and her father, a lawyer. The family lived in Quetta in Pakistan and came just for a few months every year on holiday. However, after Partition, the family moved to Simla where Asha completed her schooling and went on to do her Master’s in English from Panjab University and subsequently two more degrees in journalism, including one from Columbia University in the USA. However, the seeds for the book had been sown while Asha was still in her teens. “I had read the letters my grandfather had written to my mother and I was very curious to know more about him,” explains Asha. In fact, it was her mother who was to be an unswerving inspiration for the book.
“She was very keen to see me doing something because she felt people had forgotten all that my grandfather had done.” In 1999, after spending several years for gathering information, browsing through newspapers (like The Tribune that chronicled his trial before he went to jail, extensively), and writing, ‘An American in Khadi: The Definitive Biography of Satyanand Stokes’ was published and followed by a reprint within three months. The response was much more than Asha could have imagined. But not enough because even today, Asha rues the fact that his name does not figure in the list of freedom fighters from the state. “He had Quaker fortitude and a Vedantic spirit and we were lucky to have him as an ancestor. Today, eight years later, she is immersed in researching the impact of Vedantic thought and practices on the West as visiting scholar at Stanford University in California but there is also a Hindi translation and an American edition of her biography on the cards.
So thorough was Asha’s research that all she would like to change is “adding some acknowledgements” that she perhaps forgot then. But the hope remains that some day there will be a more deep-rooted recognition of her grandfather’s contribution in changing the face of the region he lived in and loved so dearly. She grows apples, too, at
Kotgarh, where her grandfather lived, just as he used to do almost a century ago.
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46 pc vote in fourth phase
Lucknow, April 23 Polling had begun on a dull note this morning at 7 am, but picked up in the day despite the scorching heat, state additional chief electoral officer Devesh Chaturvedi said. Till 1 pm, 22 per cent of the voters had exercised their franchise. He said till 11 am, the official figure of voting was 14.5 per cent. Congress candidate from the Mankapur (reserved) seat Sushil, alias Babban Paswan, was arrested last night after firearms were recovered from his vehicle. Several places reported problems due to non-functioning of electronic voting machines, but these were replaced immediately, Election Commission sources said. Reports of names missing from the voter list were received from several constituencies. Names of BJP MP Brij Bhushan Tiwari and his family members were missing from the voter list in Basti district. Rebel SP MP Beni Prasad Verma cast his vote in his native village Sarauli Gauspur under the Dariyabad assembly seat in Barabanki district. A report from Gonda quoting superintendent of police Laxmi Singh said Congress candidate Sushil was arrested on the orders of the central observer following seizure of firearms from his vehicle. Two criminals belonging to Azamgarh district were also nabbed along with Sushil and had a criminal background, the SP said. — UNI
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PM highlights Maulana Madani’s vision
New Delhi, April 23 Through the Justice Sachhar Committee report and the ministry of minority affairs, the Prime Minister said, "We want to address the issue which Maulana Syed Asad Madani had raised during his life time." Making these observations after releasing a book containing the parliamentary speeches of Madani, the Prime Minister described the late Maulana as a staunch advocate of pluralism and secularism. "The themes Madani discussed and the measures the government has been taking now are centred around equity, justice and fair play." Regretting the use of religion for dividing people and getting electoral benefit, he said this dangerous practice needs to be curbed. He said Madani wanted a full discussion on the Gopal Singh report to understand the real social and economic condition of the Muslims in the country and demanded a separate ministry for removing the backwardness of minorities.
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Business from
dead
Kolkata, April 23 The police suspects that the stolen skeletons may also include bodies of prominent persons donated to the hospital authorities for research work but kept unused in morgues. The unearthing the racket and the involvement of the hospital staff has surprised the state government, which has ordered a CID probe into the matter. According to an official report, the Burdwan police, on a tip-off, yesterday conducted raids on two places at Katwa and Purbastali and seized a huge stock of human skeletons, several machines and other equipment. Six persons were arrested in this connection. After interrogating them, it was detected that the gang was selling the human skeletons in different forms to medical students. These stolen skeletons were also frequently smuggled out to some foreign countries at high premiums, said Burdwan SP Pijush Pande. The SP said in most cases, these skeletons were either stolen from graveyards or smuggled out of morgues with the help of the graveyard authorities and the hospital staff.
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BJP hits out at Centre
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, April 23 Addressing newspersons, BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said Geelani's extremely provocative and anti-national statement could not be viewed in isolation, and was directly related to the highly permissive atmosphere created by the UPA government by its ambiguous policies towards terrorists and separatists. “The BJP would like to emphatically state that it shall not permit any compromise with the sovereignty, and complete territorial integrity of Jammu and Kashmir with India,” the spokesman said. “Assam and other areas of the North-East are witnessing a cruel resurgence of ULFA whose cadres feel that overt and covert help to the Congress in the past will be reciprocated by absence of any wrong action action them as happened during the NDA regime,” Prasad said. He added that “now they are so emboldened that even senior officers of government of India undertakings are being kidnapped”. Similarly in case of Jammu and Kashmir, Hurriyat leaders had repeatedly snubbed the Prime Minister for his invitations for talks, the spokesman said, and pointed out that so long as issues of security would be influenced by “alien consideration, as being done by the UPA government, elements like Geelani will continue to get emboldened, whose links with the Lashkar are well-known”.
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SP all set for
non-Cong, non-BJP front
Allahabad,
April 23 Consolidating the gains of
Bareilly a few weeks ago, Yadav today managed to rope in AIADMK
president J Jayalalithaa, who had addressed an Assembly election meeting
earlier, too, in support of the SP. The other leaders of regional
parties present on the dais were TDP’s Chandrababu Naidu, INLD chief
Om Prakash Chautala and AGP leader Brindavan Goswami. Calling the
formation of the Third Front the need of the hour Jayalalithaa, said
that it was a political necessity and it would be formed. Hinting at a
timeframe of the formation for the Third Front former Andhra Pradesh
Chief Minister Naidu said that it would take a definite shape only after
the UP Assembly elections. Technically still a Congress MP, former
External Affairs Minister K Natwar Singh also shared the dais with the
regional leaders and joined them in lashing out at the UPA government.
He focused on the foreign policy and particularly attacked party
president Sonia Gandhi for remaining silent on the execution of former
Iraq President Saddam Hussein, who he referred to as “India’s
friend”. The two Jayas of the Samajwadi party - Jaya Bachchan and
Jaya Prada - also shared the dais with the third Jaya from the AIADMK.
Many other party leaders were also present on the occasion.
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Abducted FCI official alive, says police Guwahati, April 23 “We know the greater area where the FCI official is being moved around by his abductors. He is within the state, not in Bhutan as has been reported in a section of media. Bhutan is no longer a safe area for the banned ULFA as it is under scan,” Inspectors General (Special Branch) of the police, Khagen Sharma told The Tribune. The police official said though the force knew the area where the FCI official who was abducted from the city on April 17 last, was being kept it was difficult for it to pinpoint the precise location as he was being constantly shifted by the ultras. When asked whether there was any imminent threat to the life of Dr Ram from his abductors, the police official said since he had been abducted for money, chances of threat to his life were negligible. The police claimed that the ULFA had demanded Rs 21 crore from the family for the release of the FCI official. Dr Ram’s family, however, denied having received any ransom demand. The senior police official confirmed that city police last night took into custody, Rabiram Basumatary, driver of the abducted FCI official. |
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Justice Sodhi gets anonymous letter
Legal Correspondent
New Delhi, April 23 Handing over the letter to Delhi Police’s standing counsel Mukta Gupta with the direction that it should be thoroughly probed, Justice Sodhi made the disclosure during the hearing of the case against various witnesses, who had turned hostile in the Jessica murder case and issued summons by the court. Justice Sodhi, sitting with Justice H R Malhotra, described the development as a serious one and “disturbing” too, if found to be true, ordered that the issue be posted for further hearing before some other Bench on April 27.
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IAF, civil aviation meet over Jammu airport
New Delhi, April 23 The decision from the Civil Aviation Ministry and the IAF to work out the issue came following the meeting of J&K Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad with officials of the other two agencies who are part of the running of the Jammu airport. The meeting took place today at Rajiv Gandhi Bhawan here in the presence of civil aviation minister Praful Patel. Also present at the meeting were Air Chief Marshal F.H. Major, Ashok Chawla, secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation, K. Ramalingam, chairman, Airport Authority of India (AAI), and the other senior officials of the Civil Aviation Ministry. As part of the effort to resolve the issue all concerned decided to meet soon at the site to work out the problems and find solutions in this regard. The meeting discussed in detail the development works taken up at the Jammu airport which belonged to the Ministry of Defence. A civil enclave is also being maintained there by the AAI. The meeting also discussed the status of the development work being done at the Srinagar airport, which was declared an international airport by the Government of India in 2005. The work is to be completed by 2008. There was also discussion on the development work that is to be carried out at the Leh airport and the possibilities of starting runway operations in areas like Kishtwar and Poonch in J&K.
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Telgi, accomplices
convicted
Bangalore, April 23 This is the second conviction of Telgi and his accomplices by the court in a month after it had found them guilty and sentenced them to 10 years’ imprisonment in another case. Telgi, Anees Khan,
Badurddin, Ilyas and Salik Wazir were awarded 10 years’ imprisonment under Sections 255, 256, 257, 258 and 260 (relating to counterfeiting of government Stamps) of the IPC. Under the IPC Sections 467, 468, 471, 72 to 75 (Forgery and Counterfeiting) 420 (Cheating) and 120B, (Criminal Conspiracy), the five were sentenced to five years imprisonment, Special Court Judge V Virupaksha Angadi said, pronouncing the quantum of judgment.
— PTI |
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To go it alone in Goa poll
Panaji, April 23 “We will contest in at least 32 constituencies... The figure can be more but not less. The party expects to secure majority so that it can rule the state without any hiccups,” leader of opposition Manohar Parrikar, who has been portrayed as chief ministerial candidate, told reporters at the BJP headquarters here. The tourist state has a 40-member assembly. Parrikar, who had bitter experience with alliance partners like the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP), which dumped him halfway to join hands with the ruling Congress, said it becomes difficult for a party to implement its manifesto if it is dependent on allies. “We are looking for a clear mandate,” the former Chief Minister said. The BJP is the second largest party in the present Goa house with 14 legislators. “The final list of candidates would be declared only after April 30 when the party’s state election committee meets,” Parrikar, an IIT engineer-turned-politician,
said. — PTI
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Kalam leaves for Strasbourg today
New Delhi, April 23 Kalam’s visit to Strasbourg is coming in response to an invitation he received from the former President of European Parliament Josep Borrell Fontelles last autumn. The current president is Hans-Gert Poettering, a senior German politician. This will be the first ever address by an Indian President to the European Parliament. Its significance lies in the fact that the Head of State of the largest democracy in the world will address the largest union of democratic states in the world, a senior official of the ministry of external affairs said today while briefing reporters. The 27-nation European Union together comprises almost half a billion people. Kalam will speak on “Dynamics of Unity of Nations”. The April 25-28 state visit to Greece comes after a gap of 21 years.
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Now, dispose of waste in eco-friendly way Panipat, April 23 Interacting with
mediapersons, officials of Exnora and MC said they had included 6,000 households spread over six localities of the city in the first phase of the
project, under which these homes would be provided with red and green bins to dispose of their waste on a daily basis. While the green bin would be used for degradable
waste, the red one would be utilised for recyclable waste like plastic and
paper. The collected garbage would straightaway be sent to the dumping
yard, the site for which had already been identified in Shodhapur. The Exnora Nav Nirman Samiti, a panel formed for the project's
implementation, would soon get its possession. The officials said the necessary infrastructure for the segregation of waste and vermicomposting at the site would be in place within a month. A mass awareness programme to sensitise the residents on the project would be kicked off with a rally from Shivaji Stadium tomorrow. Apart from it street plays would also be
staged. The panel had also approached children in various schools who they think would serve as their ambassadors in their cause. The panel's office was inaugurated today and a phone line will soon be opened for receiving any complaint regarding cleanliness in these localities between 9 am and 5 pm. The residential areas which are being covered under the project include Model Town, Geeta Colony, Prahlad Colony, Sukhdev Nagar and New Sukhdev Nagar. Exnora,
an NGO-based in the South, has successfully implemented this model in various towns of Tamil Nadu and its neighbouring states.
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Mauritius to observe Bihar Day
Patna, April 23 Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had appealed to delegates from Mauritius participating in the Pravasi Bharatiya Sammelan this year in Delhi to create another Mauritius in Bihar to bring back this backward state on the path of development. The reason behind the appeal by the Prime Minister was not only the huge well-settled Bihari population in Mauritius, who were potential investors too, but also because of the fact that a former Mauritius Prime Minister, Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam, originally migrated from Bihar. On its part, the Nitish government already decided to install a life-size statue of Ramgoolam in Patna to further strengthen the bond between the two countries. Manmohan Singh was also said to be keen on this project.
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Her
quiet dignity is as stirring as the inspiring lineage she comes from. While her legacy finds a home in a biography, ‘An American in Khadi’ written by her, Asha Sharma nee Stokes reveals glimpses of the same calm, yet dogged determination, that epitomised her grandfather Samuel Evans or Satyanand Stokes’s life so many years ago.
Lucknow, April 23
In video (
Human skeleton trade racket
busted
