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Indian students take out peace rally in
Australia against racist attacks Melbourne:
Hundreds of Indian students in Australia have embarked on a peace rally aimed
at curbing racist violence. The march comes in response to a recent spate of violent
attacks on Indian students. More than 300 protesters left the Royal Melbourne
Hospital on Sunday afternoon. They will march to Parliament house. The Federation
of Indian Students in conjunction with Melbourne University’s Graduate Student
Association has organised the rally. Graduate Student Association president Paul
Coats called on the Australian Government to immediately implement policy aimed
at curbing a growing culture of racial intolerance. “I am opposed to calls for
more police, as it appears that the police have been part of the problem... they
blame Indian students for making themselves targets,” The Herald Sun quoted Coats,
as saying. “Rather than blaming the climate of racism in Australia and racist
governments that exploit Indian international students through the commodification
of education,” he said. Australia has recently seen a series of attacks against
Indian students, the most serious being the assault of Shravan Kumar, a 25-year-old
student from Andhra Pradesh who is battling for life in a hospital after being
stabbed by a screwdriver by a group of teens in a weekend attack that also left
three of his friends injured. On Sunday night, hospitality graduate Rajesh Kumar
received 30 percent burns after a petrol bomb was flung into his home in Sydney
that he shared with other Indians. Yadu Singh, a cardiologist and community leader
in Sydney, said there have been at least 20 incidents of “curry bashing” in his
city in the past month but most attacks on Indian students went unreported out
of fear. First
session of 15th Lok Sabha to begin Monday Top New
Delhi: The first session of the 15th Lok Sabha will begin on Monday with the
Congress heading the country and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) sitting in the
opposition. The senior-most member of the Lok Sabha Manikrao Gavit has been appointed
Protem Speaker by President Pratibha Patil. Nine-term member Gavit has a cumulative
Parliamentary experience of 27 years and eight months. Gavit was elected from
the tribal constituency of Nandurbar in Maharashtra and had served as Minister
of State for Home in the UPA Government. Protem Speaker will administer oath to
the new members and will also oversee the election of the Speaker and the Deputy
Speaker. Major
tragedy averted at Mumbai airport Top Mumbai:
In a horrendous incident which could have turned disastrous at the Mumbai
airport, two flights - Jet Airways and Air India - were given signal to take off
simultaneously on intersecting runways on Sunday. The incident took place as the
Air Traffic Control (ATC) gave take off clearance to both the flights at the same
time, which was reported to be around 10 am. The accident was averted when the
Jet Airways flight was asked to stop just moments before take off. Air
Chief Marshal PV Naik takes over as new IAF chief Top New
Delhi: Air Chief Marshal Pradeep Vasant Naik assumed office as the new chief
of the Indian Air Force (IAF) here on Sunday. He succeeds Air Chief Marshal Fali
Homi Major. The 'change of guard ceremony' held in Air Headquarter was attended
by all the Air Officers Commanding-in-chief of the seven commands of the IAF.
The new chief reviewed a ceremonial 'guard of honour' presented to him by a contingent
of air warriors at the foyers of the Air Headquarters before assuming charge.
Naik, born on July 22, 1949 in Nagpur, is a graduate of Sainik School Satara,
the National Defence Academy, the Defence Services Staff College and the National
Defence College. Commissioned on June 21, 1969, he has a long distinguished career
in the IAF spanning 40 years wherein he has flown all MiG-21 variants and MiG-23-BNs.
He has held many important command and staff appointments. He was commanding a
MiG-21 Bis squadron at Pathankot in Punjab. He was the chief operations officer
at Air Force Station Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh. He has also commanded Air Force
bases in Srinagar and Bidar in Karnataka. Apart from these, he has been a Directing
Staff at the TACDE and the Air Combat Development Establishment as well as the
Defence Services Staff College, as battalion commander at the National Defence
Academy, Air-I of Western Air Command and air defence commander of South Western
Air Command. He is also a qualified flying instructor. He had been functioning
as the Vice Chief of the Air Staff prior to taking over the Chief of Air Staff.
For distinguished service, Air Chief Marshal Naik was awarded the Vishisht Seva
Medal (VSM) on January 26, 2003, and also appointed honorary ADC to the President
in July 2007. Noted
writer Kamala Das passes away Top Thiruvananthapuram:
Noted Malayalam and English writer Kamala Das, also known as Kamala Suraiya, passed
away in a Pune hospital on Saturday night due to pneumonia. She was 75. She was
best known for her poetry and also authored some short fiction, a novel and autobiography.
Born into a Nair family of literary and freedom fighters in Malabar of Kerala,
Kamala gained prominence in literary circles after publication of her autobiography
novel "My story" in 1976. Kamala was the daughter of V. M. Nair, a former Managing
Editor of the widely-circulated Malayalam daily Mathrubhumi and Nalappatt Balamani
Amma, a renowned Malayali poetess. One of the leading poets of India, with several
poetry collections to her credit, Kamala Das used to write in Malayalam and English.
While writing in Malayalam, her mothertongue, she wrote under Madhavi Kutty as
her pen name, but in writing in English she initially used "K Das" but received
international recognition as Kamala Das. In 1984, she also contested parliamentary
election but lost. Despite being born into a Hindu family, she confessed to have
undergone a change of heart, leading to a shift in her religious beliefs. Abandoning
her inherited Hindu beliefs, she embraced Islam, made public appearances clad
in traditional burqa and changed her name to Kamala Suraiya. State minister for
Education and Culture, M.A. Baby, has said that her body would be brought to Kerala
tomorrow and cremated on Tuesday in Thiruvananthapura as per Muslim rites and
with official honour. |
