Student crippled by ragging
Bargarh
(Orissa): Yet another case of gruesome ragging in professional
colleges has surfaced in Orissa. Tapan Jajati Chhuria, a
second year engineering student, has been bed-ridden ever
since he was mercilessly beaten up two months ago. The 22-year-old
is a student of Padma Shree Krutartha Acharya Institute
of Engineering and Technology at Bargarh. Tapan, who has
lost hearing in one ear, said that he was targeted by seniors
as he belonged to a low caste. "That day, when I was returning
from my practical classes with another first year student,
three students came and started beating me with shoes and
belts," said Tapan. He was rushed to a local hospital by
the teachers and later on his parents took him to a speciality
hospital in Vellore. "For treatment, I took him to Krishna
Hospital in Vellore. Doctors there told us that he had lost
hearing in one ear. He also has to undergo thigh bone replacement
surgery, otherwise his leg would have to be amputated,"
said Soukilal Chhuria, Tapan's father. Santosh Acharya,
the Principal of the college however said that the altercation
was initiated by the victim. "After assessing the situation
completely, I found out that Churia (the victim) first started
the fight, and attacked a first year student. But because
Churia was beaten up so mercilessly, we have decided to
suspend all the three students from the institute," said
Acharya. Ragging has become a social problem and several
students have ended up spending days in hospital beds with
traumatic experiences. Unofficial estimates say that nearly
25 per cent of the students who join professional courses
drop out as they are not able to cope with severe ragging
by their seniors.
PWG responds to YSR, may offer cease-fire
(Go
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Hyderabad:
Andhra Pradesh's extremist People's War Group (PWG)
has reportedly responded positively to state Chief Minister
Y S Rajasekhara Reddy's (YSR) decision to ask the police
to go slow on anti-Naxal operations and make peace. A national
television channel today quoted Koteswara Rao, the PWG's
second-in-command as saying that the militant outfit has
offered to declare a cease-fire, provided the Andhra Pradesh
Government reciprocates. "We are ready for talks. We are
not asking the government to declare a ceasefire unilaterally
and we are not ready to declare unilaterally either. Both
sides, government and the People's War, should declare at
the same time," Koteswara Rao was quoted as speaking from
an undisclosed location. For the first time in nine years,
the state police finds itself on a tight leash. YSR's directive
to the police to observe restraint means anti-Naxal operations
throughout the state have been curtailed. "We have not instructed
them to stop combing operations altogether. While earlier,
we used to do aggressive policing, now we have decided to
tone it down a bit,'' S R Sukumara, Director General of
Police, Andhra Pradesh was quoted as saying by the television
channel. For the police, a cease-fire would mean an about-turn
in its strategy against the People's War. In the past five
years, 142 policemen and 569 Naxals have been killed in
encounters.
ICSE and ISC results to be announced
today (Go
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New
Delhi: The results for the ICSE or the Class X exams
and ISC or the class XII exams will be declared some time
today. The fate of over 1.2 lakh students from across the
country will be determined, even as board sources told a
television channel that the pass percentage for the class
X examinations this year is 93.29 per cent and for class
XII its 94.48 per cent. In the past, the class X, the pass
percentage for girls is 94.50 per cent while for the boys
its 92.35 per cent. In class XII, the pass percentage for
girls is 96.54 per cent while for boys it's 92.98 per cent.
Students can also avail their results by smsing on 6388
after the results are declared at noon. To get your results
simply type ICSE or ISC, leave a space and then type your
roll number without any slashes or hyphens, and then SMS
it to 6388. Results will be available on www.ndtv.com from
12 pm in the afternoon.
Indian Navy team scales Everest (Go
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New
Delhi: The Indian Navy set a new record by summitting
Mt. Everest using the North Face route, making it the first
Navy in the World to achieve this feat. The Indian Navy
is also the first from the Indian Armed Forces to successfully
summit from the North face route via Tibet, which is considered
much more difficult than the South Col route via Nepal.
Viking Bhanoo, a navy doctor plunged into the summit top
the ice axe with the Indian tri-colour and the Indian Navy's
flag. He was assisted in his efforts by Medical Assistants
Rakesh Kumar, and Vikas Kumar supported by three sherpas.
This is to be followed by a second summit attempt tomorrow,
by three Naval personnel and three sherpas. This group comprises
of the Expedition leader Commander. Satyabrata Dam, Lieutenant
Commander A Kankan and Lieutenant Lijo Stephen Chacko. If
successful, yet another first would adorn the Navy's list
of achievements - Cdr. Satyabrata Dam would become the First
Submariner-Mountaineer in the world to have achieved this
feat without the use of supplementary oxygen.
Russian court jails 3 Pak citizens for
kidnapping Indians (Go
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Moscow:
Three Pakistani citizens have been sentenced here to
serve prison terms of eight to ten years for being involved
in the kidnapping of nine Indian nationals. According to
the News, Maqsood Ahmad Bhatti, his brother Khalid Nadim
Bhatti and Zaman Qamar Abdul Qayum were awarded jail terms
of 10, nine and eight years respectively by a Russian court.
Russian security police rescued the nine Indian nationals
from Tula, about 200 kms south of Moscow. The security police
was quoted as saying that the kidnappers had plans to smuggle
the Indians into Western Europe and had demanded ransom
from their relatives outside Russia. The three men were
considered ringleaders of group engaged in abductions and
were found guilty of extortion and kidnapping. They had
admitted that they had taken part in the illegal trafficking
of the nine Indians but denied to have extorted money. Investigators
stated that the Pakistanis ran a trafficking network that
transported citizens of South Asia to Western Europe via
Russia, Ukraine and Belarus.
Women in Pak increasingly turning into
suicide bombers (Go
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Islamabad:
A widow of a foreign terrorist is training Pakistani
women to become suicide bombers. After being trained, these
female terrorists might unleash terrorism in big cities
of the country and important personalities associated with
the government could be targeted, the Daily Times reported
Tuesday. Identified as one Aziza, the Uzbek woman is reportedly
training female suicide bombers at a base in Pakistan's
mountains, the paper quoted unidentified sources as saying.
Aziza is said to be the widow of Ubaidullah, an active member
of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan. Ubaidullah was killed
in January 2004 during an operation in South Waziristan
conducted by the armed forces of Pakistan. The sources further
said this was the first time in Pakistan that females were
being trained for suicide missions. Quoting reports, the
paper said that Aziza had told her relatives that she intended
to avenge her husband's death by committing terrorist acts
in Pakistan. Meanwhile, the federal interior ministry has
reportedly directed the home secretaries of the four provinces,
as well as the chief commissioner of Islamabad and provincial
police officers, to hunt down Aziza and increase security
at sensitive places and for VVIPs in their provinces. Besides,
high-ranking officials of the interior ministry have directed
the secretary for security for Federal Administrative Tribal
Area (FATA) to launch a vigorous campaign to destroy Aziza's
hideouts and training camp.
Shoaib heads for London for treatment
(Go
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Karachi:
Even as his rib cage stress problem refuses to die down,
Pakistan's fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar is likely to see a
specialist in London, The News reported on Tuesday. "I am
still feeling stiff and some pain in my side muscles due
to the rib cage stress. After playing against Somerset and
then against Worcestershire in the one-dayer on Sunday,
the pain has increased," the paper quoted Shoaib as saying.
Currently in Durham to play county cricket, the fast bowler
is under constant medical care of the Durham medical panel.
But he has also been advised to consult a specialist in
London. He said: "I have also asked my county management
to rest me for the four-day match against Glamorgan starting
on Wednesday and for the rest of the season to play me selectively
because of the rib cage problem." The fast bowler once again
reiterated that he had never 'faked' any injury or let down
the national team at any stage.
Sonia meets Kalam, told to submit letters
of support on Wednesday (Go
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New
Delhi: Congress president Sonia Gandhi finally met President
APJ Abdul Kalam here today to submit a list of 317 Lok Sabha
MPs supporting her United Progressive Alliance (UPA) and
to stake her claim to form the next government. The meeting
took place at 12.15 p.m., 10-minutes after she had left
her official 10, Janpath residence in a convoy of eight
cars amid tight security. Gandhi, who was accompanied by
her trusted lieutenant and former Finance Minister Dr Manmohan
Singh, met the President for about 10 minutes, and later
told waiting reporters that the President had asked her
to meet him again on Wednesday with all the letters of support,
including from those parties giving outside support.
Earlier,
after lengthy deliberations with her Congress party's allies
and a fair amount of dithering over whether to accept or
not to accept the historic offer of becoming India's first
foreign-born Prime Minister, Gandhi agreed to meet President
Kalam at an earlier scheduled time of 9 a.m. as the leader
of the largest political formation. It was thought then
that the ensuing discussions between the two would culminate
in an announcement of a timetable for her being sworn in
as the Prime Minister on Wednesday. Rashtrapati Bhavan sources
had also confirmed that arrangements for the swearing-in
ceremony were being made, and that there was every likelihood
of the ceremony taking place between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m. However,
after meeting the media, Sonia and Dr. Singh returned to
her residence where the party leadership and the leaders
of the UPA are to take stock of the emerging situation before
deciding their next course of action.
For
several hours on Monday, there was speculation and rumour
over whether Gandhi would or would not become India's next
Prime Minister following demonstrations by right-wing groups,
including the BJP, over whether a foreigner should occupy
the nation's highest constitutional posts. This was finally
scotched when leaders of the newly formed United Progressive
Alliance (UPA), notably Laloo Prasad Yadav, Ram Vilas Paswan
and Manmohan Singh came out and told reporters that Gandhi
and finally bowed down to the wishes of the alliance and
had accepted President Kalam's invitation to meet him on
Tuesday. The news resulted in Congress and other supporters
shouting slogans and bursting firecrackers in front of the
Congress Party headquarters and in front of her residence.
Prior to her acceptance, Sonia had reportedly told the allies
that she was ready to step aside if her becoming Prime Minister
embarrassed the allies in any way. However, the allies made
it clear that there was no question of Sonia backing out
at this stage. The UPA has also decided to counter the vilification
campaign against Gandhi.
