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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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.
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