Main Page                                                 Archives

 

SAARC's Dhaka summit postponed

     New Delhi: The 13th South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) summit, which was scheduled to be held in Dhaka, Bangladesh from January 9 to 11, has been postponed indefinetely in the wake of the Boxing Day tsunami tragedy striking coastlines of at least 11 nations in South East Asia and Africa. Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran received a phone call from his Bangladeshi counterpart Shamsher M.Chowdhury in which the latter said that in view of the ongoing rescue and relief efforts in three of the seven SAARC affiliated countries -- India, Sri Lanka and the Maldives -- the Bangladesh Government has in a humanitarian gesture decided to defer the holding the summit to another date.

      It may recalled that earlier this week, the Bangladesh Government had said that the summit would not be postponed despite the tsunami disaster, and added that all arrangements for the signature event were going ahead as planned.

Food, medicines and now 'yagnas' for tsunami victims (Go To Top)
by Vrishti Beniwal

     New Delhi: The tsunami disaster that struck the southern coast of India and other islands on December 26 has taken a toll of around one lakh innocent people across the Asia and the counting is still on. Probably, it was impossible to avert this particular catastrophe, but to prevent the destruction caused by such natural calamities in future, the meteorological department is planning to install systems to detect such threats. On the other hand, others are performing "Yagnas" and "Hawans" to pray for the safety of the people and the country, and most importantly to avert such disasters.

     "We have performed Mahayagna at MahaShani Temple here to pray for the departed souls and to avoid Tsunami in near future. I feel that instead of celebrating this New Year with a great pomp and show, we should just organize havans and prayers for the benefit of the mankind," said Dinesh Sharma, the general secretary of the Janata Sangharsh Samiti. Experts also attach great importance to Yagnas in reducing the loss of life and property caused by natural calamities. "While performing Yagnas, we recite mantras, which have a very scientific implication because the theory of sound applies here, and the vibrations from each syllable have a specific impact. But if pronounced incorrectly, then they may have a reverse effect. I must say that mantra is a very scared word charged with a lot of positive energy. After all our Universe also emerged with a sound," said Madhurima Sil, a spiritual writer. Mantras have always existed in nature in a latent state, as sound energies, and cannot therefore be created or tailor-made for the individual. Just as gravity was discovered, but not invented, by Newton, mantras were revealed to the ancient masters in the deepest meditations when they tuned into higher levels of consciousness, Sil adds. Whatever the effect of religious rituals be, every person need to pray to God to give the victims strength to endure the hardship they are going through. Let's pray that the affected victims find ways to go through the ordeal. This should be our prayers on this New Year.

More shocks for Andamans, Indonesia (Go To Top)

     New Delhi: Four earthquakes, measuring over five on the Richter scale, jolted the disaster hit Andaman and Nicobar and Indonesia early today. According to the Indian Meteorological Department, A moderate intensity earthquake, measuring 5.2, hit near east coast of Little Nicobar at around 0426 hrs IST with the epicentre at 7.4 degree north latitude and 93.9 degree east longitude. However, no casualty or damage was reported due to them. Thereafter, it was followed by a similar quake with its epicentre northwest of Great Nicobar. Another quake jolted northern Sumatra with its epicentre at 5.9 degree north latitude and 94.6 degree east longitude, measuring 5.8, at around 2.43 am (IST). Simeulue Indonesia was also rattled by a quake measuring 5.5 on Richter scale at 0634 hrs IST. The epicentre was at 2.3 degree North latitude and 96.2 degree East longitude. All together sixty aftershocks have jolted the area since the devastating earthquake off Indonesia coast on Sunday set off the killer Tsunami waves.

Radio Pakistan's propaganda on Sikhs nailed  (Go To Top)
by Arunoday Prakash

     New Delhi: Senior leaders and general public of the country have refuted claims of discrimination with Sikhs in the India. It was alleged in a programme by a Pakistani Radio Broadcaster that India discriminates with Sikhs. Punjabi Durbar, a radio programme aired on Radio Pakistan recently claimed that India discriminates with Sikhs. "The irony of Radio Pakistan's programme cannot be greater if one considers the fact the Prime Minister of India Manmohan Singh is a Sikh," said Dr Ved Pratap Vaidik, a foreign policy analyst. Dr Vaidik further added, "Moreover, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission of India, one of the highest economic decision making body, too is a Sikh. The next army chief designate of India, Lt. Gen. Joginder Jaswant Singh, is also a Sikh. Singh will become the first Sikh ever to head the Indian army. We have had Sikhs as our President and on other important posts earlier also". The analyst termed such programmes being broadcast by Pakistan as a sign of frustration. "Time and again Pakistan has tried to damage and weaken India's secular fabric and character. The Pakistani propaganda machine efforts are indicative of their inbuilt frustrations at India's unity in diversity. This malicious propaganda by Pakistan radio, like the earlier attempt too is doomed to fail," said he.

     The radio programme called Punjabi Durbar, has been termed as a programme aimed at misguiding young Sikhs in India in general and Kashmir Valley in particular by the people. The Sikhs univocally agree to the fact that the government has gone out of the way to ensure that they do not face any problem and the malicious propaganda does not make any difference to them. About 2% of India's population are Sikhs. The highest body for the Sikhs of India, Sri Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee also refuted these charges.

Budget session of Parliament not before Feb 20 (Go To Top)

     New Delhi: The Budget session of the Parliament will not begin before February 20, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said today in the Capital. He said the Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs would decide the date. The Budget session is very crucial since the Railway Budget and the General Budget are announced during this session before March 31. But, this time due to the Assembly session in three states - Bihar, Jharkhand and Haryana - the date of commencement of the session has not been finalised yet. The three-phased polls begin on February 3, and end on February 23. The counting of votes in all the three States will be held on February 27 and the election process would be completed by March 5. In the just concluded winter session of the Parliament, several political parties, especially the Opposition, had demanded an increase in the number of parliament sessions. They said that there should be at least 100 days of parliamentary proceedings in a year.

Naxalites kill four in Patna (Go To Top)

    Patna: Naxalites cracked down in the state capital today, killing four persons, including a woman. The victims were shot dead by CPI (Maoist) extremists in Paliganj area of the state capital. A number of heavily armed naxalites blasted three houses before opening fire on the victims, killing them on the spot at Mauri are last night, SP (Rural) G. P. Sinha said. According to the police, the incident is believed to be in retaliation to the recent murder of Naxalite activist Siaram Manjhi. The police are conducting raids to nab the assailants.