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LeT terrorists chop off man's tongue in Doda district

     Jammu: In a heinous incident, terrorists belonging to the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) today chopped off the tongue of a villager, suspecting him to be an informer of security forces. The incident occurred in Doda district. A group of heavily armed terrorists kidnapped a villager Abdul Majeed from Sariliya-Sumi area of Gandoh tehsil and took him to a forest belt where he was tortured. The terrorists later chopped off his tongue and let him off. On finding the villager in an unconscious state, the locals admitted him to a hospital. No other grievous injuries were reportedly found on his body.

UP Govt contemplating ban on Mangal Pandey (Go To Top)

     Ballia: Following protests in Uttar Pradesh against some "distorted historical facts" regarding the life of Mangal Pandey shown in the recently released film "Mangal Pandey - The Rising", the State Government is considering to ban screening of the film across the state. State Minister for State for Cooperatives Shardanand Anchal today said: "The government will consider a ban on the screening of the film in the state if distorted historical facts are not taken out." He said that the state government had taken a strong exception to a few scenes in the film showing Mangal Pandey habitual of drinking and womanizing, and would ask the film producer to remove them or face ban in the state. The Samajwadi Party, the ruling party in the state, is also learnt to be planning to raise the matter in the Rajya Sabha. Meanwhile, several cultural and social groups in the state have been staging protests against the film for the past three days in front of cinema halls where the film was slated to be released on Friday. Later, the management cancelled the shows.

Deshmukh faces flak as dance bar ban takes effect tonight (Go To Top)

     Mumbai: Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, who has been criticised for not responding to people's needs during the recent deluge in the State, is now facing flak for closing down the dance bars. The Bill to close the dance bars with effect from tonight is being seen as a retrograde step, which will render a large number of State's bar dancers unemployed, besides affecting the hotel trade in the City. State Governor S. M. Krishna had given his assent to the Mumbai Police (Amendment) Bill, 2005, on August 9 after it was unanimously passed in both the houses of the State Legislature during the Monsoon session last month. Earlier, the Government sought to impose ban on the dance bars by promulgating an ordinance. But the Governor returned it on June 23. The Bill prohibits staging of dance of any kind in an eating- house, (liquor) permit room or beer bar in the State. However, it does not bar high rated hotels (three stars and above), drama theatres, cinema halls, auditoriums, sports clubs and gymkhanas from hosting a dance performance. Several NGOs are also opposing this ban. They opine that the Government has done very little to provide alternative means of livelihood to the bar dancers.

      Meanwhile, the association of the dance bar owners has decided to approach the Bombay High Court against the imposition of ban. "We were waiting for the notification to be issued before seeking legal help. Our petition is ready and we will move the High Court on Tuesday," said Manjit Singh Abrol, Spokesperson of Fight for Rights of Bar Owners Association. "Our petition mainly focuses on two issues. One is loss of employment for over 100,000 people, who have been associated with this trade for long and the second is the discriminatory nature of the ban order," Manjit added. The representatives of the dance bar association said that a large number of people were associated with the bar business in the State and that the owners of the bars wanted complete relief from the ban. "If we don't get relief then we are prepared to take our fight to the Supreme Court," said Manjit. There are around 1500 dance bars across the State, out of which only Mumbai has 700 bars. Closure of these bars would render around 75,000 bar dancers jobless.

Nathpa-Jhakri project shut down by Narendra Ranta (Go To Top)

     Jhakri/Shimla (Himachal Pradesh): All six units of the country's largest hydro-electric power project, Nathpa- Jhakri project, were shut down today due to high silt level in the river Sutlej. Project Manager Er. J. K. Sharma told ANI that the silt level suddenly increased this morning to 30,000 ppm (particles per million) due to localised flash floods. State Power Minister Vidya Stokes expressed hope of restarting the units in next two-three days. "Due to flash floods silt deposit was enhanced. Nearly 30,000 ppm silt has been deposited in the Nullah. That is why we have to shut it down. We hope in 2-3 days we will be able to restart the unit. As soon as water subsides, we will start the units," said Vidya Stokes. Though the silt level has begun receding but is still higher than the permissible level of 5,000 ppm. At 2.30 pm this afternoon, it was 12,000 ppm. Stokes further said that the project was the biggest silt filtering power project in the world and such kind of disruptions are bound to occur. "We can not fight with the nature. We can only ensure the strengthening of the necessary areas and embankment. We can plant tress to prevent soil erosion. The government is trying to reduce silt deposition from rivers and canals," said Stokes. The 1500 MW project generates about 38 million units of electricity per day during the peak season. It supplies electricity to Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand. In June, the project was shut for nearly 20 days as the flash flood in Satluj due to the formation of artificial lake in Tibbet had increased the silt content upto 1.50 Lakh ppm against maximum permissible limit of 5000.

Life insurance to ensure regular attendence of school children  (Go To Top)
by Sarda Lahangir

     Bhubaneshwar: You have heard of sales promotions offering life insurance policies for purchases of motor vehicles. Now the Orissa Government is beaming to offer life insurance policies to school children, if they attend schools regularly. The step has been taken on over 60 per cent children drop out in rural Orissa. Orissa has nearly 6.8 million school students studying in Government and State-aided schools. The Government, keen on increasing the literacy rate in the State, plans to introduce an insurance cover of 25,000 rupees ( 574 dollars) per head to all the school students. The plan, however, excludes students studying in private-run schools. Negotiations with insurance companies are underway and Government would soon come up with a foolproof plan, says Nagendra Pradhan, School and Mass Education Minister, Orissa. " We wish to bring all the children to school. If we launch such a scheme, it would encourage parents to send their wards to schools. We are going to take the decision , but we are examining different aspects thoroughly," says Pradhan. Teachers and students have welcomed this move. While teachers feel that such a step could give a fillip to the literacy rate in the State, students opine that the insurance cover would prove to be a boon to their families during any emergency. "Parents would be attracted towards the scheme and they would regularly send their wards to schools. This will help education in the State," says Arun Kumar Jena, a teacher in Government school. The dropout rate is over 60 per cent in rural parts of Orissa. To keep the number of dropouts to the minimum, government has come up with innovative schemes such as providing them with free uniform, text-books and mid-day meals.

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