Saturday, September 5, 2009

This Kolkata tea seller wants to win Olympic gold

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teenaged tea seller at a roadside shop in Kolkata wants to go to the Olympics, not as a spectator but as a swimmer. And his big dream is to win a gold for India.

Sourav Saha has decided to swim his way to glory. The odds are stacked against him -- he helps his father sell tea at a roadside stall. But he has already won a national gold and is dreaming big.

"To get ahead I have to practice well. Whatever my coaches tell me I have to follow. My dream is to go to the Olympics," Sourav said.

The 14-year-old's family thought swimming was a waste of time, till the medals came pouring in. Now his father and his coach want the government to take over his training.

"I am trying very hard, and sacrificing a lot. I hope to see him succeed one day. He has a dream to go to the Olympics," his father Pinaki Saha.

"We are expecting he will do better. He'll benefit after getting admission at SAI (Sports Authority at India). He'll definitely benefit," Sourav's coach Biswajit de Chowdhury said.

Between selling tea and swimming, Sourav's school attendance is erratic. But he wants to be India's Michael Phelps and is not willing to let his dream die young.

CBI official sent back to state cadre for bungling Arushi case

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UCKNOW - Senior Indian Police Service (IPS) official Arun Kumar, deputed to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), has been sent back to his state cadre Uttar Pradesh following his poor handling of the sensational Arushi murder case.

The decision followed the startling revelation about surreptitious replacement of Arushi Talwar’s vaginal swab that was taken during the course of the post-mortem, a senior police official told IANS here.

CBI director Ashwini Kumar, who was initially all praise about Arun Kumar, posted as a deputy inspector general in the agency and widely known for his uprightness, found the lapse in the high profile case extremely embarrassing.

Arushi was found murdered in her Noida home May 15, 2008. Their domestic help Hemraj, initially suspected of the crime, was later found dead on the roof-top.

A major controversy was sparked off by the statement of then Meerut zone Inspector General Gurdarshan Singh, who pointedly accused Arushi’s dentist father Rajesh of the murders, alleging he had killed the two after finding them in an “objectionable” position.

Talwar’s arrest evoked much hue and cry, following which the case was transferred to CBI with Arun Kumar in command.

Noida government district hospital physician S.H. Dohre had taken the swab sample, and handed it to the CBI, which sent it to the Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics in Hyderabad December 2008. However, the centre found the sample was not of Arushi.

“I told the CBI officials that I had made a slide of the swab, which needed to be sent for DNA test that could also indicate whether she had a sexual intercourse just before the murder, as was being made out by police,” Dohre told IANS over telephone.

While Kumar gave a clean chit to the Talwars and accused three servants, known for their proximity to Hemraj, he allegedly took no action about the replacement of Arushi’s vaginal swab sample, neither finding out who was behind destroying vital evidence nor registering a case for destruction of evidence.

Assam football club creates swine flu awareness

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UWAHATI - With numerous cases of swine flu being detected in different parts of northeast, a local football club in Assam’s Guwahati city has taken up an initiative to create mass awareness about the deadly H1N1 virus through a football tournament.

In a tournament sponsored by Udyan Kristi Sangha, the Rainbow XI Club played the game wearing facemasks with an aim to create awareness about Swine Flu among the villagers, who have little knowledge about the disease.

“We are wearing mask and playing football to create awareness about swine flu among the villagers, so that they can be vigil and take necessary precautionary measures,” said Monoj Basumatary, a Rainbow Club player.

While, T. Medhi, a member of the organising committee, said: “Swine Flu is spreading and in this regard, the club from Odalbakra has done a fine job in creating awareness about the swine flu.”

In the first case of swine flu reported from the northeastern states, a 19-year-old Manipuri woman fencer who returned from a competition in Singapore tested positive for the disease.

While in Meghalaya, five persons have already tested positive for the H1N1 virus and in Assam, a law student who recently came to Guwahati also tested positive.

Authorities in the northeastern region have taken precautionary measures against the spread of swine flu. By Peter Alex Todd(ANI)

Health camp opened to help Assam’s flood victims

JORHAT - A health camp was opened on Saturday for flood-affected people of Phooloni village and in its neighbouring areas in Assam.

The camp has the facilities for medical examination and free distribution of medicines.

Phooloni is one of the many villages in Majuli islands of the state, which was inundated by floodwaters following breach in an embankment of river Brahmaputra last moth.

The flood which displaced thousands of people from 70 villages made people susceptible to waterborne diseases.

The camp is a precautionary measure to give timely medical assistance to the people thereby preventing spread of any disease.

The camp, which will continue for a week, has been organised by the Majuli Sub-Divisional Administration, Jorhat.

The villagers are happy that they are getting free medical assistance.

“We are happy with the government’s initiative to provide free medical checkup and distribute free medicines to people devastated by flood. We also thank those who are helping us at this critical time,” said Dev Singh, a villager.

While many villagers have returned to their houses, many are still living in safer areas. The world’s largest river island was submerged for the second time this year as the Brahmaputra River breached an embankment in Matmora region in August.

The floods were caused by incessant heavy rains for five days when it breached an embankment.

Heavy rainfall, upstream caused the second wave of flooding on the whole Upper Majuli area and displaced around 30 thousand people, and destroyed thousands of hectares of crop. (ANI)

Assembly to meet on Naga political issue

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o discuss the unresolved Naga political conflict, all members of the Nagaland Assembly will meet on September 8.

In a notification, Assembly secretary A E Lotha urged all legislators to attend the meeting considering the magnitude of the issue.

The meeting assumes significance in view of the Union Home Ministry's latest assertion that there must a unified voice among the Nagas, particularly among various underground groups, for finding a lasting settlement to the protracted political conflict.

During the last assembly session there was a consensus among the members cutting across party lines that as elected representatives they should also play a constructive role into the ongoing peace process so that an early settlement could be found to the vexed Naga problem.

Both ruling Democratic Alliance of Nagaland (DAN) and the opposition Congress in the state have maintained that more than a decade of ceasefire and negotiations is sufficient time for the peace process to reach a logical conclusion.

They also believe that it has become imperative for the negotiating parties to expedite the talks in order to fulfill the desires and aspirations of the Naga people.

Meghalaya faces N-reaction over uranium mining

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hree decades after the discovery of high-grade uranium ore deposits in Meghalaya, the state government has paved the way for India's quest to be an atomic energy powerhouse.

But radiation-scared locals and civil rights groups are in no mood to allow the "agents of death" - Uranium Corporation of India Limited (UCIL) to be precise - to carry out their pre-development activities.

The proposed Kylleng-Pyndengsohiong Uranium Project at Mawthabah in Meghalaya's West Khasi Hills district has been hanging fire ever since the Atomic Minerals Divison found 9,500 tons of uranium oxide deposits in 9.22 million tons of ore in 1984. The site is close to the border with Bangladesh.

According to UCIL - it abandoned exploration in 1992 following strong opposition from locals - areas within a 20 km radius of Mawthabah account for 16 per cent of India's uranium reserves at present levels. Besides belonging to a superior grade, the Meghalaya ore has a recovery percentage of 0.1 compared to 0.02-0.06 at Jadugoda in Jharkhand.

UCIL couldn't just let go of the best uranium source among four promising sites - the others are Singhbhum in Bihar, Bhima Basin area of Karnataka and Yellapur-Peddagattu area of Andhra Pradesh - to meet India's target of producing 20,000 MW of electricity from nuclear power by 2020.

It returned in June 2007 with an Rs 814 crore opencast mining proposal subject to environmental safeguards. This entailed a mandatory public hearing involving the stakeholders in 78 villages spread across 351 hectares.

Since the government has no control on community-owned land in Meghalaya, UCIL talked some 500 inhabitants of six villages in the core project area to sell their land to the government at Rs 18 per sq metre. Prodded by pressure groups such as the Khasi Students Union (KSU), the other villagers stood their ground despite UCIL promising a development package.

A series of political upheavals in Meghalaya put paid to UCIL's bid to get started until last month. On August 24, the Congress-led Meghalaya United Alliance government approved UCIL's development package of Rs 209 crore to be spent from the revised project cost of Rs 1000 crore.

"The Cabinet reviewed the proposal on Wednesday, and we don't see any reason why UCIL cannot go ahead with its development activities," said chief minister DD Lapang.

Alleging a sellout, KSU president Samuel Jyrwa said civil rights group would never allow UCIL mine a radioactive mineral at the cost of the safety of tribal people. "Ours is a fairly literate (64 per cent) state, and many in the uranium belt are aware of what has befallen the tribal people in and around Jadugoda," he added.

The KSU has given the government time until September 15 to revoke the August 24 decision to "let UCIL in through the backdoor".

AI plane engine catches fire, 21 injured

AI praises staff for prompt action

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umbai, Sep 5: The Air India CMD denied the flouting of safety norms and praised the staff for promptly handling the 213 evacuated passengers following the fire in the engine of AI flight 829 on Thursday, Sep 4.

"I commend the exemplary manner in which the efforts and response put in by the pilots, cabin crew, the ground staff, the engineers and commercial staff in ensuring the safety of passengers and needs and assisting them to finally leave for Riyadh", said Air India Chairman and Managing Director Arvind Jadhav.



Air India sources told Times Now that the 16-member crew aboard the flight evacuated all 213 panicked passengers via slides in 63 seconds instead of the standard 90 seconds.

DGCA's aviation probe state that the fire broke due to a leak in the plane's fuel struts, which connect the fuel tanks to the engine.

NHPC’s Discrimination

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here was a time when the All Assam Student Union had demanded construction of Lower Subansiri dam projects to bring a solution to perennial flood problem of Assam. But today’s situation is complete opposite. The people of Lakhimpur and Dhemaji have to bear the brunt of the situation created by mega projects. Now AASU has also launched state wide agitation to register its protest against dam projects. Many nationalist organizations are up in the arms against Delhi and Dispur for construction of Lower Subansiri dam project at Gerukamukh in Arunachal Pradesh. It is believed the project will create heavy floods in down stream areas of Subansiri river especially in Lakhimpur and Dhemaji. Of late, the All Assam Students Union (AASU) has also come forward to register their protest against construction of mega dam projects. But there was a time when AASU had demanded construction of the Lower Subansiri dam project. It was 1989 when Prafulla Kumar Mahanta led AGP was in power. Brahmaputra Board had submitted a master plan to control the course of river Brahmaputra at source by constructing Subansiri and Dihang mega projects to ease the perennial flood problem of Assam. But Delhi refused to accord sanction on the project due to strong obstruction from Arunachal Pradesh. The Lakhimpur district unit AASU had launched a vigorous movement for sanctioning the project. The student body had argued that the dam project would ease the flood problem of the state. Notably, then AGP MP Dr Nagen Saikia had also extended his support to the agitation of AASU unit. The student body had also staged dharna in New Delhi for several occasions. It was Gegon Apang who had obstructed the setting up of mega projects in Gerukamukh bordering Lakhimpur and Dhemaji. The student body had also observed a two month long economic blockade to Arunachal for its opposition to the project. Then Arunachal chief minister Apang had opposed the project arguing that it would create flood in down stream areas of both Arunachal and Assam. However, the student body had withdrawn the programme after a meeting with Apang in Itanagar. The joint meeting of AASU and Arunachal government had also decided to conduct a joint survey on the negative aspects of the project. Notably, apan is still opposing the construction of the dam project saying that iNHPC authorities should talk with the people of down stream areas before implementing the project. The student body had also submitted a memorandum to |Delhi on October 16 1989 demanding setting up the Lower Subansiri dam project. Notably, central leaders of the student body had also advocated for construction of the dam projects and criticized the role of Arunachal government for their opposition to it. It is believed that Delhi had cleared the dam projects succumbing to pressures from nationalist groups. Noticeably, the stand of AASU on mega projects is complete opposite. They are now opposing construction of mega projects. It also observed state wide protest against mega project. It shows the double standar policy of the student organization.

Y S Rajasekhara Reddy buried as thousands pay tribute

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here was an outpouring of grief across Andhra Pradesh on Friday with much of the state shutting down to mourn the late chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, whose funeral cortege snaked its way through surging crowds from his home here to the stadium where national leaders and people lined up to pay homage. The flag-draped and flower-bedecked coffin of former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajsekhara Reddy was buried in his native village Pulivendula in Kadapa District on Friday afternoon, amidst a throng of thousands of supporters. The body of the late chief minister, who died in a helicopter crash on Wednesday, was created with full state honours. He was cremated in his native village. The body was then flown to Pulivendula, his native town in Kadapa district, for burial. There, he was buried amidst the gathering of nearly a lakh mourners who came to bid last adieu to their beloved leader. A chaotic situation was created as soon as the IAF chopper carrying his body landed at the cremation ground. Followers of the late chief minister tried their best to go nearer to the casket and see him for the last time. In fact, the TV crew had to face a lots of problems during the cremation due to the crowd gathering. The body was flown in an army helicopter from Begumpet airport after thousands of people paid their last respects at the L S Stadium in Hyderbad. The Andhra Pradesh capital was a sea of grieving humanity as people from all walks of life gathered in tens of thousands on major thoroughfares to give a fitting farewell to their son of the soil, YSR. The last journey began from his house in Begumpet after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress president Sonia Gandhi and top Congress leaders paid homage and placed wreaths on his body. Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul Gandhi were among the many leaders who flew in from New Delhi to condole the death of the chief minister, whose body was found in the forests of Nallamala on Thursday, a day after his helicopter had crashed. They consoled YSR's wife Vijayalakshmi, son YS Jaganmohan Reddy, daughter Sharmila and other family members. The leaders, who were accompanied by nearly a dozen central ministers, also wrote their condolence messages in a book. Union ministers P Chidambaram, A K Antony, V Veerappa Moily, Prithviraj Chavan, AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi besides Chief Ministers Sheila Dixit, Ashok K Gehlot and several senior politicians of different parties consoled the family members. From the camp office, the body of YSR was taken to the Congress headquarters Gandhi Bhavan to enable party leaders to pay respect and from there to the Lal Bahadur Shastri Stadium, six kilometres away, where he had been sworn in for a second term in office only four months ago. Y S Rajasekhara Reddy had taken oath as chief minister for a second term on May 20 in this stadium where his body was now brought to enable people to pay their last respects. Though the gathering was huge on Friday too, this time they came to bid a tearful farewell to him. All the way to the stadium were teeming mourners, lined up along the road, on rooftops and packed into the stadium to bid adieu to the man, who had steered the Congress to victory for a second term and died a sudden, tragic death they were still coming to terms with. Thousands of others accompanied the funeral procession as it slowly made its way to the stadium where leaders from across the political spectrum, including Bharatiya Janata Party's L K Advani, paid tribute. Hundreds of vehicles followed the flower-bedecked truck in which the body, draped in the national flag, was kept. Standing by the side of his father's body was his MP son Y S Jaganmohan Reddy, who was appealing to people to allow the vehicle to move. Grieving men and women were standing on either side of the road in Hyderabad and on rooftops to bid adieu to the man who ruled their hearts through a series of pro-poor schemes. Holding national flags in their hands, some mourners were seen running towards the truck to have a closer look at the casket and console Jaganmohan Reddy. That YSR, as the chief minister was popularly known, was one of the Congress' most powerful leaders was underscored by reports that 67 people had died in the state - either out of shock or by committing suicide - after hearing about the death. At the Stadium, it was looked like a sea of human where several thousand mourners gathered to pay homage to Reddy. Several people were injured in a stampede, forcing authorities to move the body of the late Andhra Pradesh CM an hour before schedule. Police failed to control the surging mourners, who broke barricades at several points to rush towards the body kept on a pedestal in the middle of the ground. In the rest of state, a silence fell with normal life coming to a crippling halt. Schools, colleges, offices, shops and businesses closed as a mark of respect to the leader. The usual morning bustle was missing as the government declared a two-day holiday -- Thursday and Friday. The state government has declared a seven-day mourning period. Cable TV operators took all entertainment channels off air.

Delhi University polls: Results out

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n independent candidate on Saturday won the presidentship of Delhi University Students Union (DUSU) after a gap of 18 years while Samajwadi Party's students' wing opened its account in the varsity body by winning the post of Joint Secretary.

ABVP candidate won the Vice President's seat while NSU(I) bagged the post of Secretary, for which elections were held in colleges yesterday.

Manoj Chaudhury of Department of Buddhist Studies won the president's post while ABVP's Kirti Vadhera (Miranda House) bagged the Vice President's post.

NSU(I)'s Ashradeep Kaur (Campus Law Centre) won the post of Secretary while Samajwadi Chatra Sabha's Anupriya Tyagi (Hansraj College) bagged the post of Joint Secretary.

This is the first time in the last 18 years that the DUSU president is an independent. It was way back in 1991 when DUSU got its 'independent' president Rajiv Goswami, riding on the Mandal wave.

NSU(I) and ABVP received a jolt in the beginning of election process itself as the nominations of three candidates each from both the outfits were rejected by the University election authorities for violating rules.

A total of 29 candidates are in fray for the four DUSU posts of President, Vice-President, Secretary and Joint.

Nearly 30,500 of the total around 88,000 students voted in the polls.
Chief Election Officer Gurmeet Singh said it was one of the cleanest and well-organised polls.

Increased security arrangements were made this time to conduct smooth and violence-free elections, he said.

About 750 EVMs were used for polls at 50 centres.

Panic grips northeast after four tremors

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UWAHATI - Panic has gripped people in the northeast with four earthquakes rocking the region in the past three weeks, including a 5.9 magnitude tremor Friday, the biggest in the past nine years.

Everyone is asking the same question - are we prepared to deal with a major disaster? We have not seen any urgency on the part of the government to activate its disaster management cells, said Arun Mahanta, a doctor.

Friday’s pre-dawn tremor was the fourth to have jolted the region in the past three weeks - an earthquake measuring 5.3 on the Richter Scale took place Monday, while another of 4.9 magnitude was experienced Aug 19, and a tremor of 5.6 intensity shook the region Aug 11.

A major earthquake in the region is due any time. We are saying this on the basis of studies, although earthquakes cannot be predicted as such, said Surjya Kanta Sarmah, a professor of geophysics at Gauhati University.

All the four tremors shook houses and other structures in Assam, Nagaland, Manipur and Tripura, besides being felt in Myanmar as well.

Obviously we are worried and there is a general sense of panic among people in the entire region, said Monto Singh, a college teacher in Manipur capital Imphal.

Authorities in the northeast are yet to react or show any urgency even after frequent quakes rocked the region.

There should have been awareness campaigns and public announcements about the do’s and don’ts in the event of an earthquake. But we have not seen any such steps from the government, said Mrinal Das, a geologist in Guwahati.

The seven northeastern states - Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Tripura, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur - are considered by seismologists as the sixth major earthquake prone belt in the world. The region experienced one of the worst earthquakes, measuring 8.7 on the Richter Scale, in 1897 that claimed the lives of over 1,600 people.