Hindustan Times: May 2008

Farm boost to economic health

The growth rate of agriculture, one of the key sectors driving the Indian economy, would be around 3.5 per cent for 2007-08, the government estimated on Thursday The latest estimate, up from . the earlier estimate of 2.6, is the highest since 2002, indicating a much-awaited revival of agriculture.

The higher agriculture growth may push the Gross Domestic Product growth rate - to be released on Friday - to 9 per cent from the initial estimate of 8.7 per cent, and give India economic growth of more than 9 per cent for the third straight year. The UPA government had maintained that for GDP growth to be over 9 per cent, agriculture production should grow at an annual rate of 4 per cent.

The high agriculture growth rate comes at the time when the UPA government is under fire from friends and foes for not being able to control the high inflation rate and is trying to tell people that India's food security was not under threat because of global food crises.

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Labels: agriculture, food crises, global, Gross Domestic Product, growth rate, inflation rate, loan, ndian economy, security, UPA government

Bharati's testimony was crucial

As the court convicted Vikas and Vishal Yadav for the murder of Nitish Katara, the role of Bharti Yadav, the girl Nitish loved, figured prominently in the 1,100-page verdict.

While at one point the court found Bharti to have done "injustice to the soul of Nitish", it also acknowledged she was under immense pressure from her family to save her brother and cousin Vikas and Vishal.

"Her plight is understandable as on the one hand it was her past who was no more alive and on the other hand there were her brothers who were behind bars. She must have been under tremendous pressure from the family to save her brothers by any means," observed Additional Session Judge Ravinder Kaur.

The court also said Bharti has tried to give a very balanced statement before the court by denying her intimate relationship with Nitish but also admitting to exchanging letters and cards.

The photographs, letters and greetings exchanged between Nitish and Bharti proved their intimacy beyond any doubt. The prosecution had produced 79 such documents that were admitted by Bharti in the court during her deposition.

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Labels: Bharti Yadav, injustice, intimate relationship, Judge Ravinder Kaur, love affair, murdered, soul, Vikas Yadav, Vishal Yadav

Drug rap returns to haunt IPL boss Modi

The high profile commissioner of the Indian Premier League, Lalit Modi, was convicted of possessing drugs, kidnapping and assault in the US during his days as a university student. The conviction came after Modi confessed to committing the offences before a North Carolina court.

In his defence, Modi's lawyers say he did not serve the two-year jail sentence as he was let off on probation, and the Durham County Court did not give a final decision on his sentencing for drugs possession.

The Supreme Court has been hearing a petition challenging Modi's position as a cricket official since 2005. But the case has acquired urgency lately after the petitioner asked for a quick resolution, either way.

Despite repeated attempts to contact him for a response through calls and SMSes, and despite explaining the story to him on SMS, Modi, though polite, indicated he would not comment.

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Labels: drugs, Durham County Court, IPL, kidnap, Lalit Modi, Rajasthan Cricket Association, SMS, Supreme Court, US

Jaipur beat Mumbai, help Delhi reach semis

Mumbai are hosting the climax of the inaugural IPL tournament, but they may have been shut out of their own party.

On Monday, an unbeaten sixth wicket stand of 69 runs between Niraj Patel and Ravindra Jadeja took Jaipur to a nail-biting last-ball win.

Even in the beginning of the league, Sachin Tendulkar's forced absence, compounded by Harbhajan Singh's ouster after 'Slapgate', had Mumbai reeling. Only after the Little Master returned that the team hit a purple patch and nurtured hopes of a final-four showing.

Before Monday's contest, with their fate hinging on the outcome of the last two matches, the one team Mumbai would have desperately wanted to avoid was Shane Warne's Jaipur Unbeaten in the fortress of the Sawai Man Singh stadium all tournament, Jaipur cut down Mumbai and confirmed that Delhi, on 15 points, entered the semis.

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Labels: climax, cricket, delhi, harbhajan singh, inaugural IPL tournament, IPL, IPL matches, Mumbai, Niraj Patel, Ravindra Jadeja, sachin tendulkar, semifinals, Shane Warne

Lotus blooms in South

The Bharatiya Janata Party defeated the Congress in Karnataka elections on Sunday, stepping across the Vindhyas to try to rule a southern state by itself for the first time.

A simple but effective "give us a chance" card backed by millionaire candidates and blunders of a faction-driven Congress in the tech-savvy state helped the BJP win 110 seats - three short of a simple majority - in the 224 member legislative assembly . The state was the first to go to polls after the electoral constituencies were redrawn on the basis of new population data.

The Janata Dal (S) of former PM H.D. Deve Gowda, which played a rather trouble some king maker's role after the last assembly polls, was pushed into political wilderness after it was thrashed in most places, winning only 28 seats.

"The UPA government's utter failure to control the prices of essential commodities, its soft and compromising policy on terrorism, and its insensitivity towards the plight of kisans have angered the common people all over the country," BJP's prime ministerial candidate L.K. Advani said in a statement, referring to the Congress-led coalition at the Centre.

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Labels: BJP, Congress, Deve Gowda, election, Janata Dal, Karnataka, Karnataka elections, L.K. Advani, lawmakers, Lotus blooms, South India, UPA government

On eve of Class 12 results, Net message for CBSE,

As Delhi's Class 12 students prepare for euphoria and brace for heartbreak on Friday morning, here's something that both their parents and the CBSE should know.

Many school kids in the city feel extremely pressured by the enormous expectations of their parents, and are frustrated by the way the Boards are conducted. And they would, if only they could, "abolish" these exams ASAP .

These upset and stressed-out youngsters are venting their feelings on social networking web sites - forums where they can hope to be heard, and find sympathy and understanding from similarly-suffering peers.

A host of anti-CBSE communities on Orkut and Facebook were witnessing hectic activity on the eve of the Class 12 results for Delhi. These communities, with names like CBSE Boards are Hell, I Hate CBSE Boards and CBSE Sucks have, for the past few months, have been forums for students to discuss their "shared dislike for exam pressure and stress".

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Labels: anti-CBSE communities, ASAP, CBSE Boards, class 12, Facebook, hectic activity, hell, Orkut, school students, social networking web sites, stress

Marriage forcing women to quit job

The number of working unmarried women in the capital is almost twice that of working women who are divorced or married, says a study by ILO, a finding that blames marriage for scores of women quitting the workforce or stopping them from becoming a part of it. Among working women in the age band 18-60, 43 percent are unmarried, 29 per cent divorced and 19 per cent married, says the study Around 47 per cent of all respondents said they quit work after marriage and childbirth.

Objections from family and too much workload were cited as the main reasons for not joining the workforce by 25 per cent of women.

The survey "Through the magnifying glass: women's work and labour force participation in urban Delhi" carried out by Ratna M. Sudarshan, Director, Institute of Social Studies Trust and Shrayan Bhattacharya, Research Analyst ISST, was released here on Wednesday. Bhattacharya said the survey took a representative sample of 700 households all over Delhi.

Long workdays stretching up to 11-15 hours for women and too much domestic responsibilities were cited as crucial factors influencing work life choices. As many as 29 per cent working women and 36 per cent non-working women cited "children get neglected" as the negative change because of work.

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Labels: childbirth, divorced, economic security, joint family, marriage, quit job, survey, unmarried women, working women

Rs 6,268 crore of tsunami relief funds not yet used

Owing to inefficiency, red tape and procedural issues involving Centre-state relations, the Tsunami Rehabilitation Programme is threatening to go bust with a whopping Rs 6,268 crore, more than 60 per cent of the total outlay, remaining unutilised.

A head of the March 2009 deadline for the completion of the rehabilitation programme launched in 2005-06, state governments of Kerala and Tamil Nadu and the union territories of Puducherry and Andaman and Nicobar Islands have sought extension to complete planned projects. These projects include construction of ports and jetties and multi-storied tenements.

At its fifth meeting on Friday, the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) headed by Home Minister Shivraj Patil - which monitors implementation of rehabilitation work - rejected the appeal.

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Labels: Andaman and Nicobar Islands, EGoM, projects, Puducherry, tsunami, Tsunami Rehabilitation Programme, tsunami relief funds, union territories

Three new IITs coming, but where is the infrastructutre?

Here's another example of the clumsy manner in which the HRD ministry handles India's most prestigious institutions of higher education. Three new IITs are opening next month, but no buildings, infrastructure or faculty befitting the global brand is in place yet.

Three existing IITs - Guwahati, Madras and Delhi - have been made ‘mentor institutions' for the new institutes at Patna, Medak and Rajasthan.

Faculty from the Guwahati and Madras IITs will be deployed to teach at makeshift campuses at Patna and Medak. IIT Rajasthan doesn't even have a ‘makeshift campus', and will debut from its mentor's campus at IIT Delhi.

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Labels: admissions, faculty mess, higher education, infrastructutre, Medak, mentor institution, new IITs, Patna, Rajasthan, students

Mobile phones may lead to problem kids: Study

Pregnant Mothers who use mobile phones are more likely to give birth to children with behavioural and emotional problems, suggests a landmark study The research on the use of handsets can have major implications on public health.

In the study at the universities of California, Los Angeles, and Aarhus, Denmark, researchers surveyed more than 13,000 children. It found that pregnant women using mobile phones even two or three times a day was sufficient to increase the risk of their babies developing hyper activity and difficulties with conduct, emotions and relationships.

Implications on the child's health could be even greater if the children themselves used cellphones before the age of seven.

These findings are in line with warnings against both pregnant women and children using mobile phones issued by the Russian National Committee on Non-Ionising Radiation Protection. The committee, Russia's radiation watchdog body holds that the danger posed by , the use of cellphones "is not much lower than the risk to children's health from tobacco or alcohol".

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Labels: implications, kids, mobile phones, pregnancy, Pregnant Mothers, public health

At a tough time, we expect support and backing

Over this past week, there have been lots of things happening and it's not been a particularly happy time. While I totally understand that everyone's upset about the results (of the Bangalore team in the IPL) so far, as players and professional cricketers, we are all very upset too.

What's important though, is that at this time, you need all the support and backing you can get. You need the people around you, the people who matter, to understand what sport is all about, to realise that no one goes out there to lose.

What's unfortunate is that, invariably, every one starts pointing fingers at the captain. So it stands all the more to reason that people within the camp then stand up and say ‘we believe in you and your team'. That's what's most important in this kind of situation.

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Labels: Anil Kumble, Bangalore team, cricket, India's greatest spinner bats, IPL, IPL players, Rahul Dravid, tough time, Vijay Mallya

Strongest squall in 10 years kills six, hits flights

The strongest dust storm to hit the Capital in more than a decade tore away trees, delayed flights, threw traffic out of gear and claimed six lives besides shrouding the city in a thick blanket of dust in the morning hours of Wednesday .

Police said two children who were playing outside and two office goers were among those who died.

At 81 km per hour wind-speed, the squall started at 9.55 am and took office goers by surprise. The morning sun was covered with dark clouds, bringing visibility down several notches and forcing vehicles to turn on their headlights. Uprooted trees and electric wires caused diversions on several routes. During this period, the city also witnessed 7.2 mm of rains.

Air traffic was the first to be hit by the storm. According to the Met department, the velocity at Palam airport was 104 km per hour much more than that in the city And the storm stayed longer too.

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Labels: Air traffic, delayed flights, hit, New delhi, Palam airport, squall, storm, strongest dust storm

Terror Strikes Pink City

At least 80 people were killed and over 150 injured in seven explosions that took place on Tuesday evening in some of the most crowded areas of Jaipur. The eighth bomb was found and defused.

"We have information that 80 people have died," Rajasthan Home Minister Gulab Chand Kataria was quoted by AFP as saying. Earlier, Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje told reporters that 60 people had died and 150 were injured.

State police chief A.S. Gill said, "Obviously it's a terrorist plot. The way it has , been done, the attempt was to cause maximum damage." He did not rule out the use of RDX and timer devices.

Though no one has claimed responsibility yet, security and intelligence sources said the explosions could be the handiwork of the Bangladesh-based Harkat ul Jehadi Islamia or the Pakistan-based Lashkar-i-Tayyeba.

The home minister said one suspect had been detained and was being investigated.

This was Rajasthan's second brush with terrorism in recent years - the last being a bomb blast at the Ajmer Sharif dargah of Moinuddin Chisti on October 11, 2007 that killed three devotees.

The Tuesday terrorist strike in Jaipur started at 7.25 pm. There were seven explosions at six places - Manak Chowk, Sanganeri Gate Hanuman Mandir, Johri Bazaar, Tripoliya, Chauti Chaupar (two explosions) and Chandpole Hanuman Mandir. Police said another bomb was defused at Chandpole Hanuman temple.

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Labels: Bomb Blast, Harkat ul Jehadi Islamia, injured, Jaipur, Lashkar-i-Tayyeba, Pink City, RDX, terror strike

China Shaken

Within Hours, the official death toll from a massive earthquake that shook China on Monday afternoon shot up from four to 107 to "several thousands". At the time of going to press, more than 9,000 people were feared dead in the earthquake the worst in China in over three decades.

In southwest China's Sichuan province - 100 km from the epicentre - 900 children were feared buried under the rubble of their high school. Rescue operations were on till 1ate night. State news agency Xinhua reported that the children were "struggling to break loose from underneath the ruins while others were crying out for help". Xinhua said 8,533 people died in Sichuan alone. In Beichuan county, near Sichuan's capital Chengdu, 80 per cent of buildings collapsed and about 5,000 people were killed.

The extent of the death and destruction from the magnitude 7.8 earthquake which struck at 2.28 pm was not revealed until evening.

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Labels: 7.8 magnitude quake, china, earthquake, kills, people, President Hu Jintao, Rescue operations

Terror Returns To Jammu

In a dastardly attack, the biggest in Jammu region since 2002, militants struck in the border town of Samba, killing five people, including a woman hostage and a photojournalist.

Two militants holed up in a house were killed on Sunday evening after a fierce, 13 hour encounter. The militants had taken six people, including women and children, hostage.

The attack, the first major terror strike since the one on Raghunath temple in November 2002, came close on the heels of an infiltration bid three days ago, which the Border Security Force claimed to have foiled. Police believed that some militants did manage to sneak in and the location of Sunday's encounter site, close to the Jammu Pathankot highway, indicates that infiltrators were indeed able to negotiate the fence and other monitoring devices.

Inspector General of Police K. Rajendra confirmed to Hindustan Times that both the militants had been killed and that the operation was over.

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Labels: ammu region, Border Security Force, border town, encounter, Jammu Pathankot highway, militants, Raghunath temple, Samba, struck, terror, terror strike

Under attack

Bollywood legend Amitabh Bachchan is fending off attacks from several quarters even as the star gets ready to launch his website. And a series of virulent attacks, including one from the man credited with dialogues that many would say made Bachchan's baritone worth all the claps and cheers, has forced the Big B online to come out fighting.

Salim Khan, who wrote lines for Deewar and Sholay, is the latest to attack the superstar. This week, Salim came out saying that Bachchan had the habit of relying on people for help in desperate times, but that the actor "conveniently forgets" the same people in happier times. Khan commented that Big B had turned out to be very "money centric" and that his advertisement for Uttar Pradesh "says it all".

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Labels: actor, advertisement, Bollywood legend Amitabh Bachchan, launch, money centric, Salim Khan, Uttar Pradesh, virulent attacks

Boy wields magic wand for own treatment

Ashley Vanristell can conjure up a dove out of thin air, but he can't wish his debilitating immune disorder away. So the nine-year-old magician has done the next best thing wielding the magic wand to pay his exorbitant medical bills.

The Mumbai boy stole the show at Vismayam, the National Festival of Magic, held recently in Thiruvananthapuram. Suffering from hypogammaglobulinemia, a rare disorder caused by the lack of B-lymphocytes, which leads to low levels of antibodies, Ashley's monthly medicine bill comes to Rs 64,000.

His father Clive, employed in West Asia, and mom Andrea were devastated when Ashley was first diagnosed at five. But displaying courage and wisdom unusual for his age, he came up with the idea of learning magic. "He understands his condition well. We were surprised when he decided to do something to fund his own treatment," recalled Andrea.

Instead of blaming his fate, Ashley evolved a magic cure of his own, and has performed at more than a thousand stage shows, besides doing modelling assignments for several well known brands. "We should not give up on life. Now that I've got some fame, I want to start a foundation and reach out to children like me who suffer from this rare disease," he says.

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Labels: Ashley Vanristell, B-lymphocytes, diseases, disorder, hypogammaglobulinemia, magician, National Festival of Magic, suffer, Thiruvananthapuram, treatment

Women's quota bill tabled in Rajya Sabha amid high drama

The Landmark but contentious constitutional amendment bill providing 33 per cent reservation to women in Parliament was finally introduced on Tuesday in the Rajya Sabha amid high drama and loud protests. Members of SP tried snatching the papers from Law Minister H.R. Bhardwaj, demanding a sub quota for Dalits, backwards and minorities.

The Congress led UPA put in place a two-fold strategy to bring the bill in the House, which was adjourned for an hour after it was tabled, and subsequently adjourned sine die.

The first part was to ensure the bill's introduction amid the anticipated uproar and commotion. As part of a well-crafted plan, Congress and Left members like Ambika Soni, Kumari Selja, Brinda Karat cordoned off Bhardwaj (who deliberately occupied the second row) as he rose from the treasury benches.

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Labels: bill, Congress, drama, Law Minister H.R. Bhardwaj, Rajya Sabha, reservation, UPA, Women's quota

Speaker relents on unruly MPs

Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee on Monday ended a standoff with the Opposition, by saying that he would withdraw his decision to refer the "disorderly conduct" of 32 MPs to the Privileges Committee. The move followed an understanding reached by Chatterjee, Leader of the House Pranab Mukherjee and Leader of the Opposition L.K. Advani.

As the controversy ended, the three month long budget session of the House was adjourned sine die four days before schedule amid protests by the CPI and without taking up the Women's Reservation Bill.

As the House assembled at 2 pm after a two hour adjournment, Mukherjee and Advani urged the Speaker to reconsider his action against the MPs who had defied his pleas when they were protesting against price rise on April 24.

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Labels: CPI, L.K. Advani, Lok Sabha Speaker, Opposition, parliament, Pranab Mukherjee, Privileges Committee, Somnath Chatterjee, Speaker relents, unruly MPs, Women's Reservation Bill

Water crisis: Delhi getting angry, desperate

An elderly man died of cardiac arrest trying to resolve a fight in the family over dry taps in Shalimar Bagh on Saturday. And in Mukherjee Nagar, three students were beaten up and thrown out by their landlord when they tried to turn on a tap to wash utensils.

These are only two examples of what the water crisis that Delhi is battling for the past fortnight is doing to its people. They are getting angry and desperate. And this is just the beginning of summer. Large areas in west, south-west, north, north-west and outer Delhi have not received water supply since last week.

The staff of the Delhi Jal Board (DJB), which supplies drinking water to the city, also got a taste of the anger over the weekend. Residents of south-west Delhi gathered at a DJB complaint centre on Saturday and heckled the staff for failing to supply water tankers despite logging their complaints.

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Labels: angry, delhi, Delhi Jal Board, desperate, drinking water, Haryana, Officials blame, shortage, summer, water crisis

MBA dream shattered, youth tries to kill self

A 21 year old student tried to kill himself on Friday after realising that a private college he had joined was allegedly not recognised by the government. Kanpur native Arunesh Singh's family had taken a Rs 3 lakh loan to send him to Delhi for an MBA.

Laxmi Nagar-based IIMR is not recognised by the All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE), students alleged. Nor is it affiliated to the University Grants Commission (UGC). AICTE is the apex body that approves courses in engineering, management, architecture, hotel management etc. Many corporate houses do not recognise a degree that is not approved by AICTE.

"Two days ago, I confronted the institute director S.K. Singh, and he assured me that he would soon get affiliation. When I demanded an explanation, I started getting threatening calls on my mobile phone," Arunesh said from his hospital bed. In despair, the young man popped a handful of sleeping pills early on Friday morning.

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Labels: AICTE, Arunesh, delhi, government, institute, kill, MBA dream shattered, not recognised, tries, UGC, youth

Sourav a poor sport, says Warne

After the Slapgate comes another showdown. Just days after the Harbjahan-Sreesanth fiasco, a fresh storm broke in the IPL on Thursday during the Jaipur-Kolkata game, involving two vastly experienced foes.

In something strikingly similar to a controversy that made headlines during Australia's eventful tour of India in 2001, home team skipper Shane Warne tore into Souray Ganguly for being late in leading his side into the ground while batting and fielding. Speaking after the game, Warne also accused Ganguly of violating the spirit of cricket for questioning the validity of a catch claimed by Graeme Smith.

It was a smooth win for Warne's team and he was paying glowing tributes to his players until someone brought up Dada's captaincy The spin legend wasted no time in unleashing a verbal assault.

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Labels: accused, controversy, cricket, Graeme Smith, Harbjahan, IPL matches, Jaipur-Kolkata game, Shane Warne, Sourav Ganguly, Sreesanth, verbal assault

Hindustan Times

Friday, May 30, 2008

Farm boost to economic health

Thursday, May 29, 2008

Bharati's testimony was crucial

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Drug rap returns to haunt IPL boss Modi

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Jaipur beat Mumbai, help Delhi reach semis

Monday, May 26, 2008

Lotus blooms in South

Friday, May 23, 2008

On eve of Class 12 results, Net message for CBSE,

Thursday, May 22, 2008

Marriage forcing women to quit job

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Rs 6,268 crore of tsunami relief funds not yet used

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Three new IITs coming, but where is the infrastructutre?

Monday, May 19, 2008

Mobile phones may lead to problem kids: Study

Friday, May 16, 2008

At a tough time, we expect support and backing

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Strongest squall in 10 years kills six, hits flights

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Terror Strikes Pink City

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

China Shaken

Monday, May 12, 2008

Terror Returns To Jammu

Friday, May 9, 2008

Under attack

Thursday, May 8, 2008

Boy wields magic wand for own treatment

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Women's quota bill tabled in Rajya Sabha amid high drama

Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Speaker relents on unruly MPs

Monday, May 5, 2008

Water crisis: Delhi getting angry, desperate

Saturday, May 3, 2008

MBA dream shattered, youth tries to kill self

Friday, May 2, 2008

Sourav a poor sport, says Warne

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