Medha Patkar leads candlelight march

      New Delhi: Social activist Medha Patkar along with villagers took out a candlelight march here on Monday to protest against the government decision to raise the height of the Narmada Dam in Gujarat. Patkar along with the displaced tribals has been staging a protest outside Central Government offices since earlier this month, demanding height of the 110.64 meter Narmada Dam remains unchanged. Patkar, who has been leading the campaign against the dam project for over a decade, said construction for the 11-meter raising in the dam's height has already begun without any clear resettlement of many more villages that will now be flooded. She had earlier appealed to the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, against the move and courted arrest along with 145 others while trying to block entry to a government office. She said the Government's apathy towards it own people was forcing them to fight. "Thousands of families are in the flooding areas whose life will be in danger this year when the rains hit the plains. Work on the dam is continuing and the State Ministers have refused to stop the work and these people are working towards sacrificing their farmers and labours. So, in such a situation, we have no option left but to fight," she said.

     Arundhati Roy, a known anti-dam campaigner, also joined in the protest singing along and motivating the tribals. Environmentalists have over the years fiercely opposed the Sardar Sarovar dam project on the Narmada, saying the fallout of displacing millions by the project far out-weights the benefits flowing from the dam. Estimate say at least 40,000 families have already been displaced in the reservoir area of the Sardar Sarovar dam and thousands more are in the waiting but Roy said Government was turning a blind eye to what she said is humanitarian crisis. "The NBA (Narmada Bachao Andolan) has detailed information about the fact that in its own report that Government is saying the people have not been re-settled but it does not seem to matter to anyone because once you are doing it, it does not matter, you just close your eyes and just go ahead and build it. It does not seem to matter what is happening to the people," Roy said. Cleared by the Central Government in 1987, the project involves the building of some 3,200 small, medium-sized and large dams on the 1,300 km Narmada River and its tributaries to generate electricity and provide water to millions of people. The dam will largely benefit Gujarat besides Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Maharashtra. The multi-billion-rupee project is expected to be fully completed by 2025.

Prince Charles meets Punjab farmers (Go To Top)

      Bhattmajra (Punjab): Prince Charles visited an organic produce farm and met potters and weavers of a tiny village in Punjab on Monday on the second day of his visit to India. The heir to the British throne and his wife Camilla Parker Bowles are on a six-day private tour of India. Prince Charles was welcomed in traditional Indian fervor with colorful dances as hundreds in the village of Bhatt Majra crowded atop rooftops, balconies and climbed trees to catch a glimpse of England's future King. Prince Charles is known to have a keen interest in organic farming, which has taken up in a big way in Punjab, the country's grain bowl. Prince Charles's own food company, Duchy Originals, has been growing and selling organic produce for nearly a decade and gives the proceeds to charity. Prince Charles and Camilla are also scheduled to visit an ancient fort and a Sikh holy shrine in the state. India's own royalty will get a chance to host the British Prince as he travels to Rajasthan, famous for its royals, forts, palaces and breathtaking desert beauty, where he will be seeing a water conservation project. This is the third visit of Prince Charles to what was once the jewel in the crown of the British Empire, since 1992. The royal couple will be skipping the Taj Mahal, a 17th century- wonder in pure white marble. During the 1992 visit of Charles with his late former wife, Diana had been photographed alone in front of the monument of love, in what became a defining image of their impending split. India is the last leg of the royal couple's month-long foreign tour, which included Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

Bird flue scare as chickens die in Patna (Go To Top)

     Patna: Discovery of dozens of dead poultry birds in stagnating waters created a bird flue scare in Patna on Monday. The poultry industry received another hit as speculations about who threw the dead birds and what disease did the chicken die of, was a matter of locals' interests. "Yesterday about five to six roosters were found dead here and today again another ten to fifteen dead ones were found in sacks. We pass from here and the stench is overpowering. We intimated the civil surgeon and the Municipal authorities. Our guess is that some poultry farm owner has disposed these here, it cannot be one household that could have bred and thrown these in a day," said Maheshwar Prasad, a local resident who also wondered if the poultry farm owner did this to hide some fact about the disease. The municipal authorities were quick to clear the place of the birds and refute any chances of the place being under a bird flu scare. Chandramohan Roy, Bihar's Health Minister, said that these days when one hears quite a lot about the threat from bird flu, it is natural people make wild guesses linking all poultry deaths to the deadly viral disease. "Bird Flu is not the only illness that the poultry birds suffer from. There is the Ranikhet disease (Newcastle Disease) that can kill a large number of poultry birds at a stroke. All these host of diseases hamper the poultry industry. But of course, now that the dead birds have been discovered, the state's animal husbandry department will look into the matter and carry out essential tests, " said Roy. The news about abandoned dead birds in the city had its immediate impact, with the demand for poultry products sliding down drastically.

   India reported its second outbreak of avian influenza early this month in Maharashtra, also the scene of the country's first brush with the virus last month. The recent outbreak of bird flu in chickens in India had come as a jolt to a 300 billion rupee (6.6 billion dollars) poultry industry was still trying to recover from an earlier infection that triggered its worst crisis. Hundreds of thousands of chicken were culled after the first outbreak and authorities said last fortnight they had contained the virus in Nandurbar, which had a flourishing poultry industry.

Navy launches third largest landing ship (Go To Top)
by Ajitha Menon

     Kolkata: The Eastern Command of the Indian navy today launched its third largest landing ship INS Airavat. Maria Teresa Mehta, the wife of Vice Admiral Sureesh Mehta, Fleet Officer Commanding in Chief, Eastern Naval Command, launched the ship, which is the fifth in the LST(L) class of ships built by the Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers. The ship has the capability of carrying more than 500 troops, 12 main battle tanks, 10 army heavy trucks and other armament for performing its amphibious role. The INS Airavat is designed to have a high endurance at sea for more than 45 days. She will be able to fully defend herself against any attack with her indigenous weaponry of WM 18 rocket launchers, CRN 91 naval guns, SAM and Chaff launchers and has staging facilities for MK 42C helicopters and the indigenously built Dhruv helicopters. The 124.8 meters long and 17.5 meters wide INS Airavat is capable of achieving a speed of 15.8 knots. She has a deep displacement of 5600 tonnes. The ship will be capable of beaching for disembarkation of army vehicles and troops. Addressing the gathering on the occasion, Rear Admiral T S Ganeshan, CMD GRSE, said NS Airavat has been named after the divine elephant of Lord Indra. He said substantial design changes have been incorporated in the ship to improve habitability, operational efficiency and safety at sea. Vice Admiral Suresh Mehta said that the indigenous route taken by the Indian Navy for building war ships was a sure way of moving towards a self-reliant India.

Karnal jailer arrested (Go To Top)

     Karnal: The Haryana police have arrested Deputy Jailer Karnal Jail for his links with criminals. Deputy Jailer of Karnal Jail Dharamvir Mallik has been arrested for his links with the hardcore criminals serving their sentence in the jail. Businessmen were being regularly threatened by criminals from inside the jail. After a raid was conducted by the police, around 13 mobile phones were recovered from the criminals. "While interrogating Surinder and Anil Gurana who were kept on remand, the nexus between the jail officials and the criminals was discovered. An investigation was conducted which verified the involvement of Deputy Jail Superintendent Dharamvir Mallik. Mallik used to take money in return for facilities provided to criminals," said Navdeep Singh Wirck, Senior Superintendent Of Police, Karnal. The criminals have been allowed to use mobile phones and SIM cards freely inside the jail. Malik has taken a sop of rupees 10,000 from a criminal to transfer him from Karnal jail to Kurukshetra jail.

Sensex crosses 11,000 mark (Go To Top)

      Mumbai: Indian shares rose more than 1 percent on Monday to close above 11,000 points for the first time, led by consumer goods companies and metal makers on hopes firm product prices would boost quarterly profits. Hindustan Lever Ltd. owned 52 percent by Anglo-Dutch Unilever Plc, was the biggest gainer of the day among index stocks, rising 5.2 percent to 268.55 rupees as the company raised some product prices by 6 percent. Hindustan Lever had reported a 56 percent jump in profit for the three months ended December, the first rise in six quarters. Diversified ITC Ltd. in which British American Tobacco Plc owns 31.7 percent, climbed 3.9 percent to 192.70 rupees and Colgate- Palmolive India Ltd. added 1.6 percent to 415.05 rupees. The benchmark 30-share BSE index ended 1.18 percent higher at 11,079.02 points, after hitting an all-time peak of 11,101.42.

Dalmiya appears for before
economic offence wing (Go To Top)

      Mumbai: Former BCCI president Jagmohan Dalmiya on Monday appeared before the economic offence wing of Mumbai Police, who is probing financial irregularities in bank accounts related to the 1996 World Cup. The Indian cricket board had filed a police complaint against Dalmiya last week over alleged misappropriation of funds on the basis of a report by its treasurer N. Srinivasan. The report said Dalmiya failed to provide records for many transactions when accounts were handed over to the new office- bearers. The complaint also named some senior office-bearers during Dalmiya's tenure and some bank officials. Dalmiya, however, denied the allegations, calling them "false criminal charges". Dalmiya's counsel said he would cooperate with the investigating agencies. "Since the High court has directed the investigating agency, all three including Dalmiya have appeared before the investigating agency. They are going to cooperate with the investigating agency," said Sayyaji Nagle, his lawyer. The issue relates to bank transactions of the Pakistan India Lanka Committee (PILCOM) formed for the event jointly staged by the three countries. Dalmiya was its convenor-secretary.

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