Dateline New Delhi, Saturday, Feb 25, 2006


Home

Window on India
Ayurveda
Yoga

Cuisines
Art & Culture
Pilgrimage
Religion
Fashion
Festival
Cinema
Society
History & Legend

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Satyarthi for Nobel Prize

     New Delhi: Art of Living founder Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and child rights campaigner Kailash Satyarthi have been nominated for this year's Nobel Peace Prize. In 1982, spiritual guru Ravi Shankar had developed the 'Sudarshan Kriya', a powerful rhythmic breathing technique, for regaining peace and happiness. Currently, the program is taught in over 140 countries as part of the Art of Living Course. Satyarthi heads the Global March against Child Labour, a conglomeration of 2000 social-purpose organizations and trade unions in 140 countries. He had left his career as an electrical engineer and decided to devote his life for those children who are forced into slavery. The five-member Norwegian awards committee keeps the nomination list secret. In all, there are 168 individuals and 23 organisations that have been nominated. The list of 191 people also includes rock stars U2 frontman Bono and Bob Geldof, former US Secretary of State Colin Powell, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and American entertainer Oprah Winfrey. The ceremony will take place in October.

Fatwa against Prophet's cartoonist (Go To Top)

    Gorakhpur: Describing the Prophet Mohammed's cartoon as a misuse of freedom of expression, the Muslim organisations in Gorakhpur today issued a fatwa against the Prophet's cartoonist and protested against the publication of cartoons of Prophet Mohammed in European newspapers. Thousands of Muslims took to the streets here today to protest against the Prophet Mohammad cartoons and said that the Danish cartoons were not about freedom of opinion but smack of hatred and disrespect against their faith. Agitated Muslims shouted anti-US slogans and blamed the Western countries for projecting the peace-loving Muslims as terrorists and said they would not tolerate any kind of insult to their Prophet. "We want to say that the freedom of expression does not mean to dishonor any religion. Muslims have been tolerating unlawful acts for many years, now we will not tolerate insult against our Prophet," said Maulana Junaid, chief cleric of Gorakhpur.

    The cartoons were first published in a Danish newspaper in September. Other European newspapers, saying press freedom was more important than religious taboos, began reprinting them last week. The agitation had been fuelled by reprinting of the cartoons by newspapers and magazines in Europe in what they termed as defence of free speech. "If you (cartoon supporters) term it as freedom of opinion then you are mistaken. Respect of freedom of opinion means not force one's religion or faith on others but to degrade and disrespect one who is the greatest after Allah is not freedom of thought, it is not acceptable," Maulana Junaid added. Denmark's prime minister earlier this week said the row over cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad was calming down but a latest call by the far-right British National Party (BNP) to distribute leaflets showing one of the caricatures could provoke violence again. The Danish paper Jyllands-Posten first published the cartoons last September, but Danish Muslims brought them to the attention of Imams (clerics) in the Middle-East in December and January.

   Many Muslims believe it is blasphemous to depict the Prophet and angry protestors have since set fire to the Danish embassies in Syria and Lebanon and at least 50 people have been killed during demonstrations around the world. Earlier last week, a minister in Uttar Pradesh government had announced a reward of 510 million rupees to anyone who killed the Danish cartoonists, while a Pakistani Muslim cleric offered more than 1 million dollar to anyone who killed any of the Danish cartoonists. Several religious leaders in the country have, however, condemned announcement of a prize for the head of the cartoonists, saying it as "un-Islamic." The tiny fringe party, which has no seats in the British parliament but a handful on local councils, said its use of the image was not intended to cause offence, but illustrated how Islam and Western values did not mix. In India, top clerics have called upon the community to boycott Danish goods. While expressing concern about the growing controversy over the publication of the offending cartoons, the Central Government had said any action that hurt the sentiments of any part of its people were not acceptable.

Hindu protest against Hussain paintings  (Go To Top)

    Mangalore: A Karnataka-based outfit Hindu Janajagruthi Samiti will today hold a dharna here to protest against M F Hussain's paintings that insult and hurt the sentiments of thousands of Hindus across the country. "The Samiti will hold a dharna in front of the Deputy Commissioner's office here to protest against the paintings and to demand a ban on their sale and exhibition," Samiti Convener, Shivananda Prabhu said. The Samiti has also demanded arrest and legal action against the celebrated painter M F Hussain for obscenely portraying Hindu Gods and Goddesses in his paintings. Besides this, the Samiti has also demanded withdrawal of all the honours including Padamshri, Padmabhushan and Padmavibhushan conferred on the acclaimed artist by the Government. The Hindu Personal Law Board had also announced a reward for anyone beheading Hussain for hurting Hindu sentiments. Hussain is being hauled up for allegedly portraying deities and Bharat Mata in the nude. According to the Board President, Ashok Pandey, people endangering religion and the nation should be eliminated for everyone's good. Anyone who kills Hussain for making obscene paintings of goddess Sarswati and Bharat Mata, the Danish cartoonist, those in the German company printing pictures of Ram and Krishna on tissue paper and the French filmmaker desecrating Lord Shiva will be given Rs 51 crore in cash. The protests by Hindu Janjgruti Samiti (HJS) and Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) against Hussain follow the displaying of the painting on websites, and in an exhibition in New Delhi. M F Hussain had apologised for his controversial painting depicting Bharat Mata in bad light, and promised to withdraw it from an auction. The HJS had filed a case with Mumbai and Thane police and appealed to the President A P J Abdul Kalam and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to take action against such "anti-national and perverse attitude of the great artist". The outfit had held demonstrations against Hussain in Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.

Delhi policeman kills his colleague, himself (Go To Top)

    New Delhi: A policeman posted at Iraqi embassy here ran amok in his quarters and allegedly killed one of his colleagues before shooting himself, police said on Saturday. In the incident, which took place late on Friday at the servant quarters of the embassy, two soldiers of Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) had a verbal fight after which Satpal, one of the deceased, shot dead Balkishen. Police said that gunshots were heard around 10 p.m. (local time) from the quarters where bodies of the two policemen in their early 20s were found and were immediately shifted to a local hospital where the two were declared brought dead. "The names of the two deceased are Balkishen and Satpal. Both were off duty and there was an argument between the two over some issue at around 9 p.m. After that it looks to us that Satpal killed Balkishen first and then shot himself," said Shalini Singh, Additional Deputy Commission Of Police, Delhi South Zone. In the past also there have been reports of such incidents, which were often attributed to stress.

Jharkhand girl married to dog (Go To Top)
by Girija Shankar Ojha

     Ranchi: Four-year-old girl Tannu has married a dog as part of a ritual to ward off the evil eye. The event took place in Jharkhand's West Singhbhum District. Tannu's tribal Santhal family became concerned when the girl took out a joint teeth which they believe is extremely inauspicious in tribal tradition. Tribals consider this joint teeth as dog's teeth which is bad for the child. Nandini, mother of Tannu said, "To remove the evil eye on Tannu, I had to marry my daughter to a dog." Geeta, a local said, "If the child is born with joint teeth, it's a sign of bad omen which harms the fortunes of the child. So, a girl who takes out joint teeth is bound to marry a dog." Sunil who enacted as the dog's father said they follow traditional marriage customs and celebrate such marriages in the same way as real marriages. Sunil said, "We are performing all the rituals that take place in a real marriage. We perform all rituals with full enjoyment and commitment." In Singhbhum district, a baby girl who takes out joint teeth gets married to a dog and baby boy to a kitten before real marriage is solemnised.

Buddhadeb supports Ganguly (Go To Top)

    Kolkata: A day after batting legend Sunil Gavaskar stood up for former skipper Saurav Ganguly, fans of Ganguly took out a silent march on Saturday after national selectors left him out of the team for the first Test against England beginning on March 1. West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya joined Gavaskar in urging Ganguly not to quit and fight his way back in the team. Bhattacharya slammed the national selectors for dropping Ganguly and said: "He has been insulted and humiliated and we feel the whole community, each individual, has been insulted. But we feel for him not because he is a Bengali but because he is Saurav Ganguly. Gavaskar also admits and even I will tell Saurav that he should play till the time he is able to and capable of playing," Bhattacharya said. Gavaskar had yesterday said: "Out in the middle, it's your performance that counts and yes, sometimes it doesn't count. But that's the way life is. But all I want to say to Saurav is that 33 is no age to quit. If 33 was the number where you stop, then I wouldn't have scored my 34th century". One of the greatest opening batsmen in the history of cricket, Gavaskar held several records, including the record for the most (34) number of centuries until Sachin Tendulkar broke it in 2005. He was also the first batsman to reach 10,000 Test runs. BCCI's selection committee dropped Ganguly and focused on up-and- coming batsmen and bowlers for the home series that starts on March 1 in Nagpur. Analysts say India's formidable middle-order led by Sachin Tendulkar had remained untouched for a decade and the removal of Ganguly, seen as the weakest link, could trigger wide-reaching change. The left-handed batsman, with 5,221 runs in 88 tests and a record 21 victories as India captain, had been under pressure due to poor batting form and fitness.

   Ganguly was sacked both as captain and one-day player in October during a damaging row with coach Greg Chappell and was replaced by Rahul Dravid. Chief selector Kiran More made it clear that India must invest in youth, a policy based on recent one-day performances including this month's 4-1 defeat of Pakistan. The five-man panel introduced change from top to bottom. In-form Mumbai opening batsman Wasim Jaffer looks set to partner Virender Sehwag, having played the last of his seven tests four years ago. One-day batsmen Mohammad Kaif and his Uttar Pradesh teammate Suresh Raina, also superb fielders, can grab a middle-order berth in the absence of injured Yuvraj Singh. The selectors showed they had lost patience with pacemen Zaheer Khan and Ajit Agarkar after they struggled in Pakistan by including S. Sreesanth and uncapped Vikram Rajvir Singh. The selections also bore the stamp of Chappell. The former Australian captain has backed the young bloods since taking over in September and has insisted on teamwork. The choice of 17-year-old leggie Piyush Chawla exemplified the thinking of the selectors. He is now the understudy to Anil Kumble, 35, who is into his 15th year of international cricket. He was key to Uttar Pradesh claiming their maiden Ranji Trophy recently and then grabbed four for eight in the under-19 World Cup final defeat against Pakistan.

Back to Headlines                  Go To Top

Leading Indian News Papers



Travel Sites

Visit Goa, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh
in South India,
Delhi, Rajasthan,
Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh in North India, Assam, Bengal, Sikkim in East India

Overseas Tourist
Offices

Tourist offices
in India


News Links
Travel News
Crime Reports
Aviation
Health & Science
In The News
Weather Reports

 

Home    Contact Us
NOTE:
 Free contributions of articles and reports may be sent to editor@indiatraveltimes.com

DISCLAIMER
All Rights Reserved
©indiatraveltimes.com