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August14, 2007 - [India Thinkers Net] HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY >> |
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[1] From: justindia <raj.justindia@gmail.com Date: Mon Aug 13, 2007 Subject: Allahabad University cancels Taslima's lecture just_in_dia Offline Send Message Invite to Yahoo! 360° Edit Membership *Allahabad University cancels Taslima's lecture* http://www.newkerala.com/july.php? action=fullnews&id=53257 Allahabad, August 12: The Allahabad University has cancelled the lecture by controversial Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen on August 14 to avoid any unforseen circumstances. Few days back, Dr Nasreen became the victim of MIM activists' fury in Hyderabad at her book release function. The AU authorities decided to cancel the programme after long deliberations, based on the threats issued by various groups. The administration took the decision with a view to maintain peace and order in the varsity, sources said. However, a section of secular groups have described the move as an ''act of cowardice'' and maintained that the administration cowed down to the threats of the fundamentalist organisations. They also maintained that this would give a wrong message to the world and put question marks over the secular fabrics of the country. Meanwhile, the organisations opposing the visit of the authors visit have welcomed the decision. Dr Nasreen was to give a lecture on ''my life and struggle'' at the first anniversary of Women Advisory Board on August 14. UNI ----------- [2] From: Pradip Kumar Datta <pradip200@yahoo.com Date: Mon Aug 13, 2007 Subject: Busy applying make-up, Jacqueline kept Nehru waiting Busy applying make-up, Jacqueline kept Nehru waiting 13 Aug 2007, 1200 hrs IST, PTI NEW DELHI: Former US President John F Kennedy's wife Jacqueline had once kept Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru waiting at the airport, as she was busy applying make-up. "Jackie Kennedy kept Nehru waiting at the airport as she was applying her make-up," former foreign secretary Lalit Mansingh said at a function here recently. Jackie, as Jacqueline preferred to be called, was the First Lady of the United States from 1961 to 1963 and was known for her fashionable dressing. In 1962, she came to India on a solo goodwill tour where she also met Nehru's daughter Indira Gandhi. "Though it was not a protocol but Nehru had still gone to the airport to receive her," Mansingh later said. She was so impressed by the Taj Mahal during a visit there that she decided to return to see the 17th century monument of love at night. Equally popular as her husband on their foreign visits, Jackie as particularly welcomed by the French, making President Kennedy to quip at a state dinner there: "I do not think it altogether inappropriate to introduce myself... I am the man who accompanied Jacqueline Kennedy to Paris and I have enjoyed it." http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/2276877.cms ------ [3] From: rkurian@bgl.vsnl.net.in Date: Mon Aug 13, 2007 Subject: Partitioning India over Lunch.. Partitioning India over lunch Memoirs of a British civil servant never published until now show how much the partition of India was decided by just two men, the BBC's Alastair Lawson reports. In a quiet village in the northern English county of Yorkshire, Robert Beaumont rifles through his father's archives. The various and somewhat tatty pieces of paper he unearths are no ordinary collection of paternal memoirs. They are the thoughts and reflections of his father, Christopher Beaumont, who played a central role in the partition of India in 1947, which resulted in arguably the largest mass migration of peoples the world has ever seen. After the death in 1989 of Mountbatten's Private Secretary, Sir George Abell, Beaumont was probably not exaggerating when he claimed to be the only person left who "knew the truth about partition". 'Bending the border' It is estimated that around 14.5 million people moved to Pakistan from India or travelled in the opposite direction from Pakistan to India. In 1947, Beaumont was private secretary to the senior British judge, Sir Cyril Radcliffe, who was chairman of the Indo-Pakistan Boundary Commission. Radcliffe was responsible for dividing the vast territories of British India into India and Pakistan, separating 400 million people along religious lines. The family documents show that Beaumont had a stark assessment of the role played by Britain in the last days of the Raj. "The viceroy, Mountbatten, must take the blame - though not the sole blame - for the massacres in the Punjab in which between 500,000 to a million men, women and children perished," he writes. "The handover of power was done too quickly." The central theme ever present in Beaumont's historic paperwork is that Mountbatten not only bent the rules when it came to partition - he also bent the border in India's favour. The documents repeatedly allege that Mountbatten put pressure on Radcliffe to alter the boundary in India's favour. On one occasion, he complains that he was "deftly excluded" from a lunch between the pair in which a substantial tract of Muslim-majority territory - which should have gone to Pakistan - was instead ceded to India. Beaumont's papers say that the incident brought "grave discredit on both men". Punjab 'disaster' But Beaumont - who later in life was a circuit judge in the UK - is most scathing about how partition affected the Punjab, which was split between India and Pakistan. "The Punjab partition was a disaster," he writes. "Geography, canals, railways and roads all argued against dismemberment. "The trouble was that Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs were an integrated population so that it was impossible to make a frontier without widespread dislocation. "Thousands of people died or were uprooted from their homes in what was in effect a civil war. "By the end of 1947 there were virtually no Hindus or Sikhs living in west Punjab - now part of Pakistan - and no Muslims in the Indian east. "The British government and Mountbatten must bear a large part of the blame for this tragedy." Personality clash Beaumont goes on to argue that it was "irresponsible" of Lord Mountbatten to insist that Beaumont complete the boundary within a six-week deadline - despite his protests. On Kashmir, Beaumont argues that it would have been "far more sensible" to have made the flash-point territory a separate country. According to Beaumont, the "formidably intelligent" Radcliffe "did not get on well" with Mountbatten. "They could not have been more different," he writes. "Mountbatten was very good-looking and had a well-deserved history of personal bravery but, to put it mildly, he had few literary tastes. "Radcliffe... was very quietly civilised. It was a relationship so like chalk and cheese that Lady Mountbatten had to use all her adroitness to keep conversation between them on an even keel." Beaumont died in 2002 - his son Robert remembers him with great affection. "He was also a man of supreme honesty, who spoke out on numerous occasions against the official British version of events surrounding partition without in any way being disloyal to his country," Robert Beaumont recalls. --------- [4] Women Christian Workers Threatened in Andhra Pradesh and Local Media Misguided the Public New Delhi, August 13, 2007 (AICC) Hindutva fanatics threatened women Christian workers at Nagarkurnool village in Mahabubnagar district in Andhra Pradesh on August 8, 2007. According to sources talking to the All India Christian Council (AICC), the women Christian workers are students of the Asian College of Cultural Studies, Secunderabad, who went to Nagarkurnool for a period of practical training in conducting social activities and literacy classes among the marginalized people. Ms. Sarah, the group leader, told AICC that the team with Pastor Joseph of Mennonite Brethren Assembly went to Tadoor, 35 km away from Nagarkurnool. When they reached Tadoor, they stopped near a teashop and while they were having tea, the school children gathered around the team and team started distributing the Christian literature to the children. Immediately a group of young people, suspected to be Hindutva fanatics came and threatened the pastor and women. Local media with cameras were called and their photos were taken and published in local newspaper with misguiding comments telling the general public the pastor and women were involved with attempted fraudulent and forceful conversion. Rev. Satyam Yellasiri, Coordinator of Good Shepherd Community Church, from Hyderabad told the AICC that reports by Andhra Jyothi Daily paper with photos of the pastor and women are unfortunate and contain baseless allegations. The pastor and women did not commit any crime or any anti-social activities by distributing Christian literature. The names of those threatened Pastor Joseph and women were carried by Andhra Jyothi Daily on August 9, 2007. Their names are Sadanand, Sai Babu, Nagarjuna, Anjaneyulu, G. Laxmaiah and Parwatalu. Reported by Sd/- Madhu Chandra Regional Secretary ------------ [5] From: "EMPOWER INDIA" <ttn_empower@sancharnet.in Date: Mon Aug 13, 2007 Subject: International Youth Day-Message from Mr. Ban Ki-moon Secretary General, United Nations & Mr Matsuura, DG, UNESCO Give Young People Fair, Full Stake in Society's Success - Mr. Ban Ki-moon Secretary General, United Nations International Youth Day is an annual opportunity to recognize the world's 1.2 billion young people, to celebrate their achievements and to push for their participation in all areas of society. This year's commemoration -- Be Seen, Be Heard: Youth Participation for Development -- focuses on the enormous contributions young women and men everywhere can and do make towards national uplift. They are valuable and committed partners in the global effort to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, including the overarching goal of cutting poverty and hunger in half by 2015. They remain at the forefront of the fight against HIV/AIDS. And they bring fresh, innovative thinking to longstanding development concerns. Approaching the midpoint of the race to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, we need their participation more than ever. Their energy and idealism can help make up for lost ground and achieve our development goals in full and on time. In turn, we must fulfill our obligations to youth. The World Programme of Action for Youth asks Governments to consider the contributions of young persons on all policies affecting them. Governments must honour this commitment. They must also increase the financial, education and technical support made available to young people and help them realize their potential. Despite growing recognition of their needs, young people in many parts of the world continue to be marginalized and ignored. Their status as a group experiencing disproportionate levels of poverty and unemployment is frequently overlooked. As a result, the young are three times more likely than adults to lack jobs. In fact, while they constitute one fourth of the world's labour force, young people make up almost half of its unemployed. It is high time that we stopped viewing our young people as part of the problem and started cultivating their promise and potential. On this International Youth Day, let us all resolve to invest in and protect our most valuable resource, and give young men and women a fair and full stake in our society and in its success. Message from Mr Ko?chiro Matsuura, Director-General, UNESCO The theme of this year's International Youth Day is 'Be Seen, Be Heard: Youth Participation for Development'. It is a powerful reminder of the critical importance of the social, economic and political participation of youth in the progress and sustainable development of our societies. In recent years, there has been increasing recognition that today's younger generations are not merely the leaders of the future, but key partners of the present. Young people bring unique perspectives, make invaluable intellectual contributions, and have an unrivalled ability to mobilize support for action at all levels. This is exemplified in countless initiatives all over the world, where young people themselves have developed and implemented active solutions to development challenges faced by their communities. And many successful efforts by governments to engage youth leave no doubt that youth participation in decision-making leads to more effective policies and programmes. However, concerted efforts are needed to ensure that youth participation for development is effectively practiced and not confined to ad-hoc approaches. This implies that young people are provided with the kind of information, skills and training that enables them to make a difference. It also requires that governments and other partners scale-up investments in youth and promote changes in organizational structures to accommodate young people's voices. For UNESCO, the imperative of youth participation has been a long-standing one. It is embodied in the institutionalization of the Youth Forum as an integral part of all sessions of the General Conference, UNESCO's highest decision-making body. It is also reflected in the Organization's firm commitment to involve youth in all initiatives aimed at promoting education for all, poverty eradication and intercultural and interfaith dialogue, a quest, which lies at the core of our mandate. Many inspiring examples of youth-led action resulting from a series of UNESCO Regional Youth Forums related to the promotion of dialogue confirm the benefits of meaningful youth participation. On the occasion of International Youth Day 2007, I therefore call on governments, civil society and development partners to intensify efforts to facilitate the participation of young people in core aspects of social structures, institutions and decision-making processes. And I encourage all young people to make their voices heard and to channel their commitment and creativity into our shared cause of building a world of inclusion. Cross posted: ICYO Forwarded by : Yours in Global Concern A. SANKAR ----------- [6] From: syed rahman <surahman2000@yahoo.com Date: Mon Aug 13, 2007 Subject: BSP to repeat an Uttar Pradesh in Madhya Pradesh BSP to repeat an Uttar Pradesh in Madhya Pradesh http://www.khabrein.info/index.php? option=com_content&task=view&id=4341&Itemid=8\ 8 Bhopal, Aug 13 (IANS) Buoyed by its success in Uttar Pradesh, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) wants to forge a similar political experiment in Madhya Pradesh when it goes to the polls next year. ---------- [7] What About Bombay 1992? By Aijaz Zaka Syed http://countercurrents.org/zaka120807.htm Getting back to Bombay, action against those responsible for the 1993 outrage is welcome, even if it's done under a draconian law like Tada under which you are guilty until proven innocent; and even if questions have been raised about the justness of the system under which they have been prosecuted. But bring those responsible for the shame of 1992 to account too. You do not have to look far to find them. They are right there in Bombay and everyone, including the powers that be, knows them. For justice, as Eleanor Roosevelt argued, cannot be for one side but must be for both --------- [8] From: syed rahman <surahman2000@yahoo.com Date: Mon Aug 13, 2007 Subject: MIM leader faces arrest for threatening Taslima MIM leader faces arrest for threatening Taslima (Update 7) http://www.khabrein.info/index.php? option=com_content&task=view&id=4349&Itemid=8\ 8 Hyderabad, Aug 13 (IANS) Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) legislator Akbaruddin Owaisi is likely to be arrested for allegedly making death threats to Bangladeshi novelist Taslima Nasreen, even as the party reiterated that those committing blasphemy would not be spared. ---------- [9] From: "EMPOWER INDIA" <ttn_empower@sancharnet.in Date: Mon Aug 13, 2007 Subject: States told to keep tab on spurious drug manufacturers e States told to keep tab on spurious drug manufacturers Draft policy for bringing more lifesaving drugs under price control submitted Small-scale makers complain that it is costlier to comply with Good Manufacturing Practice Cancer Assistance Fund will be set up with a corpus of Rs. 200 crore CHENNAI: Union Minister of Steel and Fertiliser Ram Vilas Paswan has urged the State Governments to keep vigil on pharmaceutical firms on a regular basis to stop manufacture of 'spurious' drugs. Talking to newsmen here on Sunday, Mr. Paswan said it was the State Governments that gave permission to pharmaceutical firms to set up manufacturing units. Hence, they had to keep monitoring them. Small-scale drug makers had been complaining that it was costlier to comply with Good Manufacturing Practice under Schedule M (for quality). "Life is precious, so the manufacturers have to produce good quality drugs. They have to invest more. Some of the drugs that are banned abroad are still available in our country," he said. Mr. Paswan said he had submitted a draft policy demanding that more lifesaving drugs be brought under the price control regime, introduction of health insurance scheme for the poor and establishment of Cancer Assistance Fund. "We have already made a note that is pending before the Cabinet. Around 74 lifesaving drugs are already under price control and we have been urging the Centre to bring another 354 under price control [regime]. The Cancer Assistance Fund would be set up with a corpus of Rs 200 crore. As per the scheme, medicines will be given to poor freely, while below the poverty line families will have to pay 50 per cent of it," he said. As per the proposal, a Rs 3,000-crore health insurance scheme would be offered in association with a private insurance firm. The insurer would be eligible for medical treatment up to Rs 35,000 per annum. "The Indian steel sector is booming and Indians are making news globally by acquiring big firms. There is no need for decontrolling mechanism in the steel sector. There is a Monitoring Committee under the Steel Secretary to revive the situation. In the last three years, the prices have not gone up drastically. Moreover, it has been within 3 to 5 per cent band. The price increase depends on the international price movement," he said. http://www.hindu.com/2007/08/13/stories/2007081353820500.htm Forwarded by : Yours in Global Concern A. SANKAR ---------- [10] From: "Bhaskar Dasgupta" <bdasgupta@gmail.com Date: Mon Aug 13, 2007 Subject: RE: [india-unity] India's Agrarian Martyrs.. Are you listening? The World Bank has no authority to impose diddly squat. We can and have told people to bugger off. It is US and our representatives who have done so. And if somebody thinks that we had a self sustainable farming system for thousands of years, then somebody has been smoking banned substances. A perfectly good argument about farmer suicides is ruined because of these frankly incoherent statements. -- From: india-unity@yahoogroups.com To: india-unity@yahoogroups.com; indiathinkersnet@yahoogroups.com Subject: [india-unity] India's Agrarian Martyrs.. Are you listening? India's Agrarian Martyrs: Are you listening? By Jessica Long In 1998, around the inception of mass farmer suicides, the World Bank imposed regulations that opened up India's seed market to corporate multinationals like Monsanto. Non-renewable GM crops now replaced a self-sustainable farming system that had been perfected over thousands of years. http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18168.htm --------- |
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| << August13, 2007 - [India Thinkers Net]Attack on Taslima ,Nehru's speech ,Chinese threat.. |
August14, 2007 - [India Thinkers Net] HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY >> |
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