Centre to give bereaved Orissa tribals Rs 5 lakh
by Sarada Lahangir

     Kalinganagar (Orissa): The Congress party president and Chairperson of the ruling United Progressive Alliance, Sonia Gandhi, on Wednesday announced that the Centre would give Rs. five lakh to each of the tribal families whose male members had fallen victim to police firing in Kalinganagar in Orissa's Jajpur District on January two. Talking to reporters here during her day-long visit to the area, Gandhi said that the Central compensation would be in addition to that being given by the Orissa Government. Describing the incident as a "great tragedy", Gandhi expressed her sympathies with the bereaved families, and said that the Congress had always been with the tribals since the days of former Prime Ministers Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi. Earlier, Gandhi and Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil had arrived at Kalinganagar by an Indian Air Force helicopter to commiserate with the bereaved tribals.Home Secretary V K Duggal and other Central and State Government officials were also present on the occasion. The two leaders met the family members of the tribals and also interacted with the tribals who have been on an indefinite dharna on the Daitari-Paradip Expressway since the day of the incident. They also paid floral tribute at the spot where the slain tribals were cremated.

Deepak Chopra for Jerusalem concert (Go To Top)

    Karachi: India's best-selling author Deepak Chopra is among the celebrities who would participate in the peace concert "One World Concert for Peace" to be held in Jerusalem this summer. The concert will focus on boosting peace efforts in the Middle East and other global flashpoints, and would feature top American and Middle Eastern entertainers, as well as other performers from around the world. Besides, Pakistani pop group "Junoon" of "sanyo-ni" fame would also perform on the occasion, the Daily Times quoted a Jerusalem Post report as saying. Los Angeles-based producer Traci Szymanski, also one of the organizers, said that Pakistani pop star and UN Goodwill Ambassador Salman Ahmed, who is the lead guitarist of pop band Junoon, is among the foreign celebrities who would be participating in the concert "Junoon" had raised millions of dollars to aid the victims of last year's earthquake, and also drew attention in the disaster's aftermath by criticizing the Pakistani government for not accepting aid from Israel. According to the report, the event is loosely based on the 1985 charity recording 'We Are the World', which brought together dozens of major musicians and raised tens of millions of dollars to fight famine in Africa.

Film-maker Rakesh Sharma sues NY city (Go To Top)

     New York: An award winning Indian film producer, Rakesh Sharma has sued the New York city administration after the city police didn't allow him to shoot a scene last year in a street for his forthcoming film based on taxi drivers in New York. Filed on Rakesh Sharma's behalf by the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU), the suit said that the New York police had infringed upon his constitutional rights, and that he was "held by police and searched and harassed before being told he needed a permit", a BBC report said. "It's a sad day when the police think they can detain and mistreat someone simply for making a film on a public street in New York City. I cooperated with them and answered all their questions, but they treated me like a criminal. It was wrong, and I was scared and humiliated," the report quoted Sharma as saying.

   Sharma won several awards for his documentary "Final Solution" made in 2002 on Gujarat communal riots that killed around three thousand people. According to the report, Sharma had come to New York last November and applied for a permit to film but was denied permission. Restrictions on taking photos and filming in public have come into force in the city since 9/11 attacks.

Dalai Lama to help Shekhar Kapur make 'Buddha' (Go To Top)

     Washington: Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama is reportedly so impressed with movie-maker Shekhar Kapur's biopic about him, that he has extended help to the director in making the multi-million dollar film. The Buddhist religious head has asked his assistants to assist Kapur, who even met the Nobel laureate in 2004 to take his permission to turn his life story into a film and gather information as part of his research on the subject, in the making of "The Buddha", a 120 million dollar venture that will detail the life, times and teachings of the fountainhead of Buddhism, reports Contactmusic. Kapur is expected to pay tribute to the Dalai Lama by creating his movie double using computer generated images, rather than ask an actor to play him.

IIM-B's plan for campus in Singapore rejected (Go To Top)

    New Delhi: The Human Resource Development Ministry has rejected the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore's (IIM-B) proposal of setting up a campus in Singapore. The HRD ministry turned down the plan in a letter sent to the IIM-B holding that the prestigious B-schools should meet the domestic demand. The ministry said that there was a huge demand within the country and that IIMB should not set up an overseas campus. IIM-B, however, maintained that its overseas operations would not affect its activities adversely within the country. The Bangalore-based premier business institution had sought the consent of the ministry to open the campus with a plan to bring management education within each reach of businesses and executives in Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, Japan, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines and Indonesia. Had the institute been allowed to set up its campus in Singapore, it would have been the first time in the history of the country India that an IIM would be opening a campus outside the country, in the form of a Research and Management Education Center.

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