Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Telangana issue: PM talks with Cabinet colleagues, to issue statement

New Delhi, Dec 22 (ANI): The Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh is at present holding a discussion on the Telangana issue with his cabinet colleagues, and the Central Government is most likely to issue a statement on Tuesday on the same.

The Core Group of the Congress party has also met to discuss the issue.

Earlier on Monday, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh assured delegation of MPs from Coastal Andhra and the Rayalaseema region that he would come out with a solution over the issue by Tuesday.

Apprehensive over the Telangana issue, the delegation met the Prime Minister and urged him to take a firm decision in the matter.

Union Ministers Panabaka Laxmi and Subbirami Reddy were among the MPs, who met the Prime Minister.

One of the delegates, K S Rao said on Monday that the people of coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema were worried after Home Minister P Chidambaram announced that the process for the formation of the Telangana State has begun.

The Centre''s decision to initiate the process for the formation of the Telangana State has stirred a hornet''s nest, as various political outfits in Andhra Pradesh have raised objections over the issue.

The Central Government has to consider consequences before making a final statement. The UPA government at the Centre is also under pressure from the pro-Telangana group of MPs and MLAs. (ANI)

Sarah Palin lands title of telling ''biggest lie of the year''

London, Dec 22 (ANI): Ex- vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin has won the title of telling the biggest political lie of the year.

According to a panel of experts, the Republican candidate’s claim that the Obama administration was planning to introduce "death panels" was the most misleading statement of 2009.

The 45-year-old former Alaska Governor made the above comment on her Facebook page at the height of the debate over President Obama''s plans to reform the US health care system.

"My parents or my baby with Down syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama''s ''death panel'' so his bureaucrats can decide whether they are worthy of health care,” the Telegraph quoted her as saying on her Facebook page.

But the website PolitiFact.com ruled out her claims, saying that there were never any plans to introduce so called "death panels" to decide who should live or die.

The website said that Palin''s statement on her Facebook page generated a huge controversy and was mentioned almost 6,000 times over the next two months. (ANI)

Driver arrested for IIM lady professor''s murder

Indore, Dec 22 (ANI): Indore police claims to have solved the murder of Amrita Pancholi, a lady professor at the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Indore, with the arrest of her driver.

The body of 32-year old Amrita Pancholi was found inside the university campus at the Indian Institute of Management Indore (IIM-I) on Friday (December 18) morning with stab injuries.

The victim was a resident of Udaipur and had been living inside the university campus for the last one and a half years.

Amrita Pancholi worked as an associate professor in Human Resources Management. Pancholi was also working as a consultant on behalf of the IIM-I for at least three major Corporate Houses.

The police had sealed her residence inside the campus, and began the inquiry to track down what exactly had happened. (ANI)

In Pak: Smuggled pistols on hire for Rs.150 per hour

Lahore, Dec. 22 (ANI): Illegal arms trade and the easy availability of such smuggled weapons has added to the deteriorating law and order condition of Pakistan.

The extent of this illegal business can be gauzed from the fact that the pistols can now even be acquired on rent, which helps criminals to evade law-enforcement agencies.

“A pistol that costs around 20,000 rupees can now be acquired on rent for 150 rupees an hour … if a person has the right references. Most people get pistols on rent on the pretext that they want to use them at weddings, but they instead use them in roadside snatchings. It’s just like renting a motorbike,” The Daily Times quoted a member of a local gang, as saying.

Sources said there are a number of smugglers who are only involved in the sales of pistols brought from North West Frontier Province (NWFP).

“These people change their addresses every month, and only deal with those with strong references,” they said.

When asked about the issue, town Superintendent of Police (Operations) Ali Nasir Rizvi said the majority of local gangs mostly use arms manufactured in Peshawar or Darra.

“These arms dealers have contacts and they manage to get these weapons transported to the city ... illegal arms dealers have managed to smuggle a number of weapons into the city which they sell from time to time,” Rizvi said. (ANI)

Murthy to resign as Infosys chief in 2011

New Delhi, Dec 22 (ANI): India''s second largest IT firm Infosys is all set for a change in its leadership with Infosys chief NR Narayana Murthy most likely to retire in 2011.

In an interview to a news channel, Murthy shared his opinion on who will take over as the next chief after his retirement, saying that Infosys has a lot of talented people and indirectly hinted out that somebody loyal to the organisation will take the charge, selected mainly on the basis of merit and competence.

"I would not like to rule out bringing talent from outside. Will first assess talent from within and reward loyal people," he added.

Infosys Human Resources Head Mohandas Pai also gave his opinion on who would take over from Narayana Murthy. He said the biggest challenge for Infosys is the transition from a founder-led to a non-founder led firm, but was adamant on his point that the brand equity of Infosys is much larger than those of its founders.

Infosys has created a strong structure and is not dependent on any individual, added Pai. (ANI)

Efforts to preserve 2000-Year old Tulu culture

By I. Ramamohan Rao

The month of December was marked by agitations in different parts of the country for the carving out of separate states like Telangana in Andhra Pradesh, Gorkhaland in West Bengal, Bodoland in Assam, Vidharbha in Maharashtra and Harit Pradesh in Uttar Pradesh.

For a while, the agitations made people ask whether it was time for the appointment of a second States Reorganisation Commission after half a century.

In contrast to all the turbulence, I was witness to another effort along the western coast of India, the South Kanara and Udupi districts of Karnataka, to revive and consolidate the centuries old Tulu culture. According to scholars, Tulu was the first off shoot of the Proto-South Dravidian language family 2000 years ago. The people of the region find mention in Asoka’s edicts, which refer to them as ‘Satiya Puta’ while Tamil Sangam literature refers to them as ‘Kosher’.

The inhabitants of Tulu Nadu, which includes the former district of Dakshina Kannada -- now divided into South Kanara and Udupi districts -- along with the adjacent areas of Kasaragod district of Kerala, have a distinct culture, though their mother tongue, Tulu, has no living script. The original Tulu script, which is over twenty centuries old, is now defunct and has not been in vogue for over 300 years.

The present culture of Tulu areas is composite in nature. People of different communities — Hindus, Muslims-referred to as Beary --Christians, Jains – live together. Besides the famous Sri Krishna Temple of Udupi, the area also has Jain temples, Christian churches and Masjids.

The most famous Jain temple is the 1000 pillar ‘Basadi’ at Moodubidri and the stone statue of Mahabali or Mahaveeera at Karkala, Venoor and Dharmastala. People of the region are keen to conserve the old Tulu culture, which is in danger of being swept away by modernisation.

Tulu Nadu is located west of the Western Ghats, along the Arabian Sea coast from Coondapur in the north to Kasargod in the south. It has retained and absorbed various cultures, for centuries, and grown richer in the process. Today, the languages that are used in the region include Tulu, Kannada (the state language), Konkani , Hindi and Urdu. An estimate is that nearly a million people speak Tulu.

Tulu Nadu is also well known for the banks that have originated there. It was said that people of the area may not be rich, but they know how to manage the money of the rich. The banks, which originated in the area, are the Canara Bank, the Syndicate Bank, the Corporation Bank and the Vijaya Bank – which have all been nationalized -- and the Karnataka Bank, which is still a private holding.

The area is also known for its educational institutions. The Basel Mission was followed by the Roman Catholic institutions. The district was known for the famous St Aloysius College, which is more than a century old. It is now known for its medical, engineering and other professional institutions. The earliest came under the umbrella of Manipal—the Kasturba Mediacal College and the Manipal Institute of Technology – were founded four decades ago.

Many more professional training institutions have mushroomed, including dental, nursing and even fashion technology. Who has not heard of Aishwarya Rai and Shilpa Shetty who belong to the region?

The two coastal districts had the advantage of having colleges within an hours’ bus travel from any village. The spread of education has seen young men from the area settle in almost all parts of the country in banks or professional institutions – as doctors or engineers and now IT experts. A question that must have risen among many elders must have been – is our Tulu culture being swept away?

It was natural that many must have felt that it was necessary to conserve the culture of the region, which has produced authors of the repute of Shivarama Karanth, Muddana, Manjeshwar Govind Pai , Sara Abubakar , and many others

A fallout has been the organization of the International Tulu Convention --Vishwa Tulu Sammelano 2009 – organized from September 19 to December 13 at different centers in Tulu speaking districts. An effort was made to project the Tulu language, attire of the people of the area, their food specialties and life style.

The Tulu Convention was organized by Padma Bhushan Dr Veerendra Heggade. Among the Tuluvas who visited the convention and participated in various events included the Swamiji of Pejavar, the Chief Minister of Karnataka, Mr Yediyurappa, Home Minister of Karnataka, V.S. Acharya, the Central Law Minister Veerappa Moily, the Governor of Uttaranchal Margaret Alva, and former Central Minister Oscar Fernandes, Fifteen persons from Tulu Nadu, who had distinguished themselves in various fields , were honoured at the convention.

Participating in the convention were artistes from the region, who performed traditional Yakshagana episodes, the bootha (or spirit) worship, Tulu dramas and Hari Kathas. A typical Tulu village was erected which depicted how in village schools, temples, masjids and churches co-existed, along with local officials and professionals like teachers and doctors. The village also depicted the crafts that still exist and depend on local crops like rice, sugar cane, areca and cocoanut.

Over seven lakh people participated in the culminating phase of the Tulu convention, which succeeded in instilling in the people a pride in the Tulu culture. The address by Law Minister Veerappa Moily, a prominent Tuluva who was the Chief Minister of the State and a well –known scholar having authored the Ramayana Anveshanam and other works which won him the coveted Moorthidevi award from the Jnanapith foundation, echoed the desire of the listeners.

Veerappa Moily told the listeners that he would try to follow the appeal of the Tuluvas for inclusion of their language in the Eighth Schedule of the constitution. The demand for inclusion was made in 2002, following a conference in the national capital, but it foundered. He said that there have been recent instances when languages which did not have an active script were given the status.

The epilogue to the conference was an address by its President, Veerendra Heggade, a Jain heading the Hindu Dharmastala Manjunatheshwara temple, who said that his greatest satisfaction was to see the active participation of Hindus, Christians and Muslims in the Tulu sammelan, in a spirit of togetherness and feeling that they belonged to a family.

Having witnessed it, I wish the sentiment echoes in other parts of the country as well.

I. Ramamohan Rao, former Principal Information Officer, Government of India.

Ruchika molestation case: Punishment not adequate, says Chautala

Chandigarh, Dec 22 (ANI): Former Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala on Tuesday said on the Ruchika molestation case that the punishment given to the accused-- former Director General of Police (DGP) SPS Rathore-- was not adequate.

Earlier on Tuesday, Chautala had said that he did not have enough time to discuss such frivolous issues.

Chautala''s statement comes in the backdrop of a verdict made on Monday against Rathore, who was handed out a fine of Rs 1000 and a six-month jail term for the crime committed 19 years ago.

Chautala was then chief minister of the state.

The Rajya Sabha also discussed the Ruchika molestation case today.

Rathore allegedly molested teenager Ruchika Girhotra, a promising young tennis star in 1990. He was then an Inspector General of Police and the head of the Haryana''s Lawn Tennis Federation.

Teenager Ruchika killed herself three years later by drinking poison.

Ruchika''s family has said that the police constantly harassed them not to file a case against Rathore. (ANI)

...But no headway on Gorkhaland

The fourth round of tripartite talks on the demand for a separate state of Gorkhaland ended in a deadlock in Darjeeling on Monday.

Although the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) declared victory, the Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee government stuck to its proposal to grant the region autonomy and development.

Union Home Secretary G.K. Pillai, who led the central team, has promised to get back to the GJM after consultations with the government.

Pillai said, “We discussed the legal (constitutional) provisions and political aspects of the formation of a new state. We also apprised the GJM that a political consensus is required for the separate state and that there is no political consensus for ... Gorkhaland at present.”

He said the proposal of a Union Territory status was not discussed at the meeting.

A 16-member GJM team held talks with secretary-level officials from the West Bengal and Union governments.

The next round of talks, to be held within 45 days, should involve the political leadership, the GJM has demanded.

GJM general secretary Roshan Giri said, “Throughout the talks the GJM stuck to the Gorkhaland demand. We have demanded that political talks be initiated.”

GJM chief Bimal Gurung’s prescription to the public was: “Don’t be happy, don’t be sad.”

Addressing a rally at the Darjeeling Chowrasta, Gurung said, “From tomorrow, we will suspend our agitation till December 25
including the indefinite office bandh. From December 26, all our agitational programmes will return.”

The series of protest measures planned include an indefinite office bandh from December 26, a hunger strike from December 26 and a students’ agitation from December 27.

On Monday, state government representatives refused to comment what had transpired in the meeting.

IBM wins Rs 380 cr deal from Digicable

New Delhi, Dec 22: IT major IBM on Tuesday, Dec 22, said it has won a Rs 380 crore deal from cable and broadband player Digicable.


As a part of the 10-year agreement, IBM would provide IT infrastructure services network, support application maintenances services and security services.


IBM's India and South Asia Director (Solutions) K S Raghunandan said, "The firm will help Digicable capitalise on market opportunities, efficiencies and drive additional revenue by facilitating accelerated launch of value-added services."

This is one of the major deals signed by media and entertainment company in India.

King of Bhutan to meet PM, President

The Bhutanese King Jigme Wangchuck arrived in Delhi today on his first official visit to India. He will hold talks with President Pratibha Patil and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on a wide range of bilateral and international issues.

Agreements to enhance cooperation in hydropower, civil aviation and health sectors are expected to be signed.

The King of Bhutan has won a lot of praise recently for his concern for ecology and the environment and his commitment to sustainable development.

Bengali 'should be UN language'

The assembly in the Indian state of West Bengal has passed a resolution backing Bangladesh's call for Bengali to be made an official UN language.

Bangladesh's parliament made its call in April. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina argued in support of the motion before the General Assembly in September.

Bengali is spoken by more than 250 million people around the world.

The UN has six official languages - English, French, Spanish, Russian, Chinese and Arabic.

English and French are the daily working languages of the organisation, although English is more frequently used than French.

'Proud'

The West Bengal state assembly resolution was adopted unanimously on Monday.

"Thousands have died for the cause of this language. It is our mother tongue and we are proud of it," West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharya said after the resolution was adopted.

The West Bengal government has now asked the Indian government to forward the appeal to the UN. India's main language, Hindi, is not one of the UN languages.

"The Bangla bhasha (Bengali language ) is spoken by over 250 million people worldwide, primarily in Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal," Ms Hasina told the UN General Assembly in September.

"Given the rich heritage of Bangla language, and its singular place as a symbol of people's faith in the power of languages to sustain cultures, and indeed the identity of nations, I seek support of the membership of the UN General Assembly for its acceptance as an official language of the United Nations," she said.

Sheikh Hasina requested the West Bengal government and Bengali ministers in the Indian cabinet to "push forward" the case for Bengali.

Support for the plea to declare Bengali as an official language of the UN has come from the Indian states of Assam and Tripura, both of which have a sizeable Bengali-speaking community.

While not widely spoken outside the region, Bengali is the language of famed poet Rabindranath Tagore, who won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1913.

Bangladesh observes a language martyrs day on 21 February to remember those who fell to Pakistani bullets on that day in 1952 as they pushed for recognition of Bengali as an official language of Pakistan.

Bengalis in Assam and north-east India observe 19 May as their language martyrs day to remember the 11 Bengalis who were killed in police firing in the southern Assamese town of Silchar while fighting for their language rights.