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Python drags away girl, disappears Unnao
(UP): In a bizarre incident, a 17-year old girl was dragged into
a pit by a mammoth python in Unnao village near Kanpur. And even after
digging the ground ten feet down, neither the python nor the girl could
be found. The girl's siblings are in a grip of fear as they recount
the horrific incident that took place on Thursday night. Sukhbir, younger
brother of the victim, said they had gone to collect firewood when they
heard their elder sister Guddi screaming for help as the reptile dragged
her. "We were standing at the boundary when I heard my sister shouting
"snake, snake." I saw the snake drag her away into a hole. Her scarf
was left behind," said Sukhbir. Forest authorities were immediately
called in after the wailing children raised an alarm. A 10-feet pit
was dug to look for the python but the reptile seems to have disappeared.
Residents say the python has been in the village for years but has never
before attacked human beings. Move to upgrade Rajaji National Park as a tourist sport (Go to Top) Rajaji National Park: Rajaji National Reserve authorities plan to launch a publicity blitz to make the wildlife sanctuary a hot tourist destination. Uttaranchal State Forest Minister Nav Prabhat said the aim was to make the park a revenue-earner. "First effort is to create an awareness about the Rajaji Park among the people. In the second phase, we will increase facilities for tourists. Our aim is that this park should contribute financially to the state's income," Prabhat told ANI TV. Visitors to the park have welcomed the move, saying it would give a big boost to the state's potential as a tourist destination. "This is a very good step because until now Jim Corbett was the only park in Uttaranchal where foreign and domestic tourists could go to see animals. But here also they are trying to provide their buses and other facilities. It will be a big attraction. For tourism and Uttaranchal it will be a very good step," a tourist said. Less
than 30 km from Dehra Dun, the sanctuary is known for its herd of over
150 Asiatic elephants. The park is spread over 820 square km of reserve
forest. The presence of human habitation close to the park has led to
man-animal friction and rampant poaching. Wildlife experts want the
authorities to increase patrolling and improve intelligence gathering
before the situation worsens. Forests are a major natural resource in
Uttaranchal, as the state has at least 65 percent forest cover. Air India launches inaugural flight to Shanghai (Go to Top) New
Delhi: Air India on Thursday launched its inaugural flight to Shanghai.
The bi-weekly flight left Mumbai at 6.10 a.m., stopped at New Delhi
at 9 a.m., before embarking on its nine-hour flight with 201 passengers
to Shanghai. The flight includes a stopover at Bangkok and the introductory
return fare is Rs. 18,000. V.K. Khosla, captain of the flight, said:
"It is a very special flight because it is a an opening of a new route
for us. It will improve relations between the two countries. It is special
for us also, because it is full." Passengers also expressed their delight
with the launch. "It will be beneficial and time saving, will be much
cheaper and explore the possibility of business," Sandeep Jain, a passenger,
said. Flights to Shanghai have reportedly been booked for two months.
The airline plans to raise the frequency of the services to four times
a week. India opens airways for 10 S.E. Asian nations (Go to Top) New Delhi: The Union Cabinet has approved the operation of daily flights connecting 10 South East Asian nations with four Indian metros on a reciprocal basis. The flights will operate to and from New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai. Civil Aviation Minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy said the modalities will be in line with the existing commercial agreements with the Association of South East Asean Nations (ASEAN) countries. "Our flights, to and from ASEAN countries...the Cabinet has approved that there should be a daily service to and fro from the ASEAN countries from the four metros. That is, this should be with the reciprocal rights and commercial agreement," Rudy told reporters. Daily
services to and from Sri Lanka would also be permitted to six cities
- Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad - along with
18 tourist destinations. Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee had at
the recent Bali summit announced an "Open Sky" policy for carriers of
the ASEAN nations - Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar,
the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. The decision comes
as a major boost for private domestic and foreign carriers, who will
now gain enchanced revenues. Sri Lanka will also now have clearance
for daily services to and from the six Indian cities along with 18 other
tourist destinations. Women in Kerala offer prayers to their favourite deity (Go to Top) Tiruvalla (Kerala): Hundreds of thousands of Hindu women thronged the Chakkulathukavu temple here to perform a special ritual called "Pongal." The temple is known as women's Sabarimala, another famous hilltop temple and pilgrimage centre in the state where only men can offer prayers. The main deity at the Chakkulathukavu temple is goddess Chamundeswari of Durga. Women across Kerala, neighbouring Karnataka and Tamil Nadu converge in the courtyard of the temple to offer "Pongal", a ritualistic porridge prepared of jaggery, coconut and other ingredients. The devotees prepare the pongal in a new earthen pot on a make-shift hearth with three bricks. Amidst chanting of prayers, the chief priest lights the first hearth and the fire is passed on to the long lines of hearth prepared along the roadsides. The devotees believe that they would be relieved of all the pain and sufferings with the ritual. "After my visit in which I got many blessings from Bhagavati (goddess), I started coming here every first Friday of every month. I persuade others also to come to this temple," said Usha. For Ponnamma, another devotee who claims to have become a faithful only after the goddess had worked "miracles", the offerings were for thanksgiving. "When my first son-in-law was ill, I took a vow that I would come here and offer the prayers every year during this season. Now my son-in-law is perfectly all right and going for a regular job. So I come here every year to do the special offerings," she said. Some women devotees keep an 11-day-long fast before their visit to the temple while others maintain a three-day ritual abstension from meat and fish for three days. As
devotees began considering the Chakkulathukavu temple as women's Sabarimala,
more and more Hindu women in southern states are attracted to the temple.
Over 10 million men visit Sabarimala during the annual pilgrimage which
begins in December and culminates by the middle of January. Pilgrims
to Sabarimala come from all over the country, most of them from the
four southern states of Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. Samjhauta Express likely from Jan 1 (Go to Top) Lahore:
The Samjhauta Express, the only rail link between India and Pakistan,
is likely to be revived on January 1. The two countries are expected
to sign an agreement in this regard on December 18, the Dawn said on
Wednesday. All formalities have reportedly been completed and the two
sides would, in all likelihood, finalise the technical details when
a four-member Pakistan Railways delegation holds talks with its Indian
counterparts on Dec 17-18 at the Northern Railways Headquarters in New
Delhi. Headed by Additional General Manager Mohammad Iqbal Khatri, the
Pakistan Railways delegation is scheduled to leave for India by road
on Dec 15. The paper quoted Khatri as saying that technical details
like the number of coaches, train timings, the number of staff to be
employed, fare from Lahore to Delhi and frequency of the operation of
trains would figure during the discussion with the Indian railway officials. Samjhauta: A hope anew for those on the divide (Go to Top) Amritsar: Hope has sprung anew among the locals here about the resumption of the Samjhauta Express between Attari and Lahore. "It's a matter of great joy. A lot of people will get employment, right upto Delhi.Everyone will be happy. We want the border to be reopened, the rail to restart. There's so much in it for so many," says Ram Singh, a dry-fruits trader. "Faces have brightened up at the news and hopes of the train restarting. It will benefit both countries," says tea stall vendor Dhyan Kumar. For those who have relatives on both sides of the border, the train serves as a lifeline. Its suspension for two years has been a cause for much angst and disillusionment. Now, with the governments of India and Pakistan re-introducing certain confidence-building measures like air links, interactions between coast guard establishments etc., there is hope of early resumption of the train servic "It's been a long, painful two years of separation. My elder daughter had a child, and we were unable to visit her. The restarting of the train will mean we can be in touch with our children again. Coming and going on both sides can restart," says Mumtaz Begam. "Though
we prefer to stay in India, with all the love we have received here,
we eagerly want the Samjhauta Express to be resumed. The suspension
of the train has been a cause of a lot of mental tension. My heart prays
that it is restarted, so that we can keep alive relations with people
in Pakistan."Imtiaz, her husband says. It may be a mere four kilometre
line from Wagah on the Pakistan side to Attari in India, but the weight
of what it stands for and what it means to millions, far overides literal
measurements. Konark festival enthralls (Go to Top) Konark (Orissa): Traditional Indian dancers performing in the backdrop of the historic 13th century Sun Temple dazzled audiences during the three-day Konark festival in Orissa earlier this week. Hundreds of artists from within the country and outside participated in the event, which transforms the historic town into a haven of art and culture every year. The festival was inaugurated by chief minister Naveen Patanaik who termed it as a landmark event, greatly promoting the region's rich culture. "The Konark festival, a dance festival, is a very very important cultural event in our annual calendar. People from all over India as well as from abroad come . I can see the few years that I have been attending the festival, that it really does promote not only our classical and our folk dance forms and theatre but also is very inventive with new themes," Patnaik said. Foreigners in particular were enthralled by immensely colourful and diverse range of Indian dance tradition. Lee, a British tourist, was particularly impressed with the Sanskrit interpretation of Shakespear's King Lear performed in traditional Odissi dance style. "Absolutely fabulous, the interpretation of King Lear absolutely wonderful, the effects, the music, the dancing, superb, absolutely superb," he said. Lillian, another tourist, added: "I find it very nice, very beautiful, very special." The
800-year Sun temple, located 60 km from Bhubaneswar, is devoted to the
Sun god and is in the shape of a stone chariot with 24 gigantic wheels
at its base. Seven mighty stone horses haul the chariot-shaped temple
and the immense structure is covered with carvings, sculptures and figurines.
Tourism is the mainstay of impoverished Orissa's economy with the Sun
temple attracting thousands of visitors, both from India and abroad
every year. UK
Indians get travel tips about India in their own language (Go
to Top) London: British citizens of the Indian community in the UK, who wish to travel to India, can now get official "Traveller's Tips" from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in one of the main Indian languages. "Traveller's Tips" are part of the travel advice available for every country where the UK has a consular service. They aim to give a picture of life in the country concerned and advise on what travellers should and should not do. For example: "Those without somewhere to stay can fall prey to rogue taxi and rickshaw drivers ..."; "Eat only recently prepared food that has been thoroughly cooked, and take sufficient liquids in the form of water that has been boiled..."; "Nude bathing is illegal, even in holiday resorts such as Goa." One
would have thought that people of Indian origin, returning to their
native or ancestral country, would not need to be given such advice
- in any language. But Baroness Symons, Foreign Office Minister for
Consular Affairs, said: "We know from our contacts with the ethnic communities
in the UK that they would welcome moves on our part to provide consular
information material in minority languages." So, Indians can now get
their "tips" in Punjabi, Gujarati, Hindi or Bengali. Pakistanis can
get theirs in Urdu, and Bangladeshis in Bengali. The tips can be downloaded
from the FCO's website. Fake passport racket busted in Hyderabad (Go to Top) Hyderabad: Five persons involved in a fake passport racket have been arrested in Hyderabad. During a raid on Wednesday, a special task force of the city police seized several passports and fake documents used in getting visas. "The five accused are from Malakpet and we seized 186 genuine (and fake) passports, 143 fake rubber stamps, 36 fake documentation files including fake Income Tax papers and financial statements and many other related documents, which are used to get a visa," said R.P. Singh, Commissioner of Police. According
to police, the accused had managed to send 11 people abroad. They used
to charge around Rs, 200,000 from each person. The main accused Shaik
Abdul Rasheed used to prepare the documents with his Chennai-based accomplice.
Police are on the look-out for more people involved in the racket. Overflights will boost tourism: Pak Tourism Secretary (Go to Top) Islamabad: Pakistan's Tourism Secretary Khalid Latif Choudhry has said that the revival of overflights with India would bring tourists back to Pakistan. "I am sure it will have good impact on tourism. The decision will increase the flow of tourists as the lifting of the ban will reduce travel time for people coming to this area. More people from abroad will now like to travel to Pakistan," the Dawn quoted Choudhry as saying. Islamabad-based
tour operators said the revival of overflights from India and London
sent positive messages to the outside world about Pakistan as a tourist
destination. "We expect a very good season next year. Tourists from
India, Nepal and East Asia can easily travel to Pakistan. Many did not
come due to the detour and long connecting flights," the paper quoted
Mushir Anwer, Manager of Nazir Sabir Expeditions, as saying during an
interview with an international news agency. -ANI |
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