Art of Living silver jubilee underway in Bangalore

     Bangalore: Amid the chanting of Vedic hymns and devotional music, the three-day silver jubilee celebrations of the "Art of Living" movement, founded by millionaire spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, got underway here yesterday. Scores of people, including several heads of states from at least 140 countries across the globe, were among an estimated two million strong crowd of followers who descended on the outskirts of Bangalore, the capital of Karnataka, to attend the celebrations. Speaking at the inauguration, Slovenian President Dr Janez Drnovsek called for a peaceful way to resolve disputes in the world. "We can change the world today without violence in a peaceful way. We can do it all together, all the people who think the same way, who feel the same way," said Drnovsek. The celebrations also coincided with the 50th birthday of Ravi Shankar.

    A mammoth stage measuring 500 X 250 feet, inspired by ancient Indian architecture, has been erected at the venue to accommodate 3500 musicians and around 500 holy men. Organisers said the celebrations would witness a confluence of spiritual and religious leaders from across the globe. Ravi Shankar, who uses the double Sri to avoid confusion with Ravi Shankar, the renowned Indian sitar maestro, is revered by millions of his followers who look up to his message of peace, love and unity in diversity. His widely practised form of spirituality is a combination of ancient breathing techniques, meditation and simple yoga exercises. He has been dubbed as a modern day spiritual guru by millions though there are some people who describe him as a "the guru of the glitterati". Millions of people across the world have benefited from Ravi Shankar's Art of Living course in fighting stress and depression.

Enforcement Directorate grills Natwar Singh again (Go To Top)

    New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate of the Government of India grilled former External Affairs Minister K. Natwar Singh again today about his alleged involvement in the Iraq Oil-for-Food scam that was probed by a UN Committee headed by former US Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker. Saturday's grilling followed nearly two hours of interrogation on the same issue on Friday. Singh was named in the Paul Volcker report as a non-contractual beneficiary of the Iraq Oil-for-Food scam. His son and MLA Jagat Singh also faced the ED in December. Congress leaders Jameel Saidi and Vijay Dhar are among others who have been questioned in the case. The Enforcement Directorate is said to be very close to finishing its investigations and will soon issue show cause notices in the case.

    Named by U.N. Volcker committee as a beneficiary of illegal payoffs in the Iraqi oil scam, Singh was forced to resign from the Cabinet on December 6, 2005. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had appointed him to the cabinet as Minister for External Affairs on May 23, 2004. He had a controversial tenure and was widely criticized for his intemperate remarks. He was removed from the post on November 7, 2005 (though retaining a cabinet role as minister without portfolio) following a controversy over his (and the Congress Party's) alleged involvement in the United Nations Iraqi Oil for Food scandal. The Independent Inquiry Committee under Paul Volcker had reported on October 27, 2005 that Singh and his son Jagat Singh were non- contractual beneficiaries of the Oil for food programme. Allegedly, they along with Jagat Singh's childhood friend and distant relation Andaleeb Sehgal were associated with a company called Hamdan Exports, which acted as an intermediary for illegal sales of oil to a Swiss firm named Masefield AG. In return, Masefield had to pay kickbacks, (termed "surcharges") partly to Saddam Hussain's regime and partly to Natwar Singh and others. It was alleged that such surcharges were Hussain's way of securing support from politicians around the world and that this influenced Natwar Singh to lobby against US policies in Iraq (in particular, US sanctions on Saddam Hussein). This controversy got murkier when Aneil Mathrani, then Indian Ambassador to Croatia, and a close aide to Natwar Singh alleged that Natwar Singh had used an official visit to Iraq to procure oil coupons for Jagat Singh from Saddam's regime. It was then that the Congress party decided to distance itself from Singh by ordering a committee headed by former Supreme Court Chief Justice R.S.Pathak to probe the matter further.

Non-bailable warrant of arrest against Daya Nayak (Go To Top)
by Sushil Pareek

    Mumbai: A special court here issued non-bailable warrant against suspended Mumbai encounter specialist Daya Nayak on Saturday on a plea by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), when Nayak failed to surrender in keeping with Friday's Supreme Court orders. The warrant was issued after public prosecutor R V Kini filed an application to this effect. The court was informed by the ACB that Nayak was not traceable. An Assistant Commissioner of Police in the ACB said that he had gone to Nayak's residence, but the latter was not there. Earlier in the day, family sources said that Nayak would surrender before the ACB today. The ACB is all set to arrest Nayak, but refused to disclose the day of his arrest. The sources added that once Nayak is arrested, he would also be questioned with respect to unconfirmed media reports such as those about his alleged properties in Dubai and Switzerland.

   Yesterday, the Supreme Court had refused to interfere with a Bombay High Court order while rejecting Daya Nayak's anticipatory bail plea in connection with a disproportionate assets case. A Bench comprising Justices Arijit Pasayat and S H Kapadia had asked Nayak to surrender and seek regular bail from the trial court. The Supreme Court had on February 14, extended protection from arrest for two more days to Nayak. Supreme Court Justice K G Balakrishnan had ruled that Nayak would not be arrested till Friday. Nayak had on Monday moved the Supreme Court to counter the Bombay High Court rejection of his anticipatory bail plea. The Bombay High Court had on February 8 rejected the anticipatory bail plea of Nayak, while his wife Komal was granted bail on payment of Rs.25,000. The High Court had also rejected the bail plea of Nayak's associate Rajendra Padte. The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) had opposed the bail plea, saying custodial interrogation of the accused was necessary. The ACB had charged Nayak with possession of assets disproportionate to his known sources of income, while his wife and Padte were booked for allegedly helping him in the laundering of his ill-gotten wealth. Prior to this, Prosecutor R V Kini had opposed the bail plea, saying the ACB had enough material to show that Nayak had assets disproportionate to his income (estimated at nearly two million dollars or Rs. 90 crores) and that the other two applicants had helped him launder the money. Nayak has submitted that the charges of his having wealth disproportionate to his known sources of income were false and that it was a conspiracy hatched by rivals to "finish" his career. Komal had argued that as she was in service, her monetary transactions should not be linked to her husband Nayak. She said that even before her marriage she was working for Deve Paints (formerly Garware Paints) and monetary transactions questioned by the ACB were in her official capacity and had nothing to do with her husband. The ACB has also claimed that co-accused Manivellan, Director of Deve Paints, received Rs 13 lakhs from Komal which supposedly belonged to Nayak. The court had also asked Komal and Padte to submit their passports to the ACB. Nayak s passport was already deposited with the office of the Mumbai Police Commissioner. Meanwhile, the Police are investigating Nayak's involvement in a Punjab petrol-pump scam since his wife Komal is one of the directors of Ojus Housing Finance, one of the firms named in the scam.

Telugu actress Arti Agarwal still critical  (Go To Top)

    Mumbai: Telugu actress Arti Agarwal remains in a critical state in the intensive care unit of the Apollo Hospital here after undergoing surgery for a brain clot. Arti had suffered internal head injuries and multiple fractures in a mysterious fall in her apartment in Banjara Hills on Wednesday night. Doctors, however, said that the fracture to her right leg had been repaired. "Injury is very severe, its very critical, it can be life threatening but its early to comment on it. We should get to know about it as the time goes by definitely it will take few days for us to know," said Dr Alok Ranjan, a neurosurgeon at the hospital.

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