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UK
Indians Flaunt riches, corner classy London
area
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Britain's
super-rich Indians now have a new destination
- Northwood. They are transforming the quiet
west London suburb into the country's first
'millionaires' row' for a single ethnic
minority. Homes worth over £1 million (Rs
8.5 crore) on Astons Road in Northwood are
being snapped up, and then pulled down to
make way for mansions worth up to £5 million
- complete with indoor pools, sweeping marble
staircases and extravagant landscaped gardens,
reported the Sunday Times. The latest invasion
of Northwood is a natural corollary of British
Indians becoming truly rich, with increasing
political, economic and social worth. Wealthy
Indians have been "infiltrating" many of
London's exclusive upmarket areas, which
even till the late 1970s did not have a
single Indian owning property there. According
to an estimate, Indians now own properties
worth around £1 trillion in Britain. Northwood
residents claim nine out of 10 new buyers
on Astons Road are Indians, eager to take
advantage of the area's classy private schools,
and some of the best golf courses within
the motorway. Keith Vaz, chairman of the
National Ethnic Minority Task Force and
MP for Leicester East, said: "What the Moor
Park community shows us is the real nature
of what happens to first-generation immigration.
They have shown through hard work, dedication
and enterprise that they are first-class
contributors to our country (Britain)."
Lord Bikhu Parekh, who has studied Asians
in Britain extensively, told HT: "The trend
of developing a suburb of their own is typical
of many minorities. They live close to one
another for reasons of security. This was
true of the Jews. Such areas gradually acquire
an Indian ambiance that leads to the building
up of a community. Worship places, communal
halls and associations also crop up." Raj
Loomba, who owns a sprawling house today,
with a foyer resembling a courtyard in a
Rajasthan palace, on Astons Road, had started
off as an ice-cream van driver. He later
made it big in the garment export business.
Rami Ranger, who made his money shipping
cargo, owns a designer house with a manicured
lawn in Moor Park. Kulwinder Dhadwal, a
management consultant and property developer,
has been looking at houses on Astons Road.
"The Indian community is still fairly conservative
about displaying its wealth, but that's
changing," he said.
Courtesy:
www.hindustantimes.com, October 30, 2006
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Full
SC Bench to Review 9th Schedule Scope
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For
the first time in the recent past Supreme
Court is expected to sit in a constitutional
Bench for five days in a row to decide the
scope of judicial review of laws placed
under the Ninth Schedule. As a norm, specially
designated Bench hears matters of constitutional
importance on days except Monday and Friday,
when fresh matters are admitted in court.
The nine-judge Bench headed by Chief Justice
YK Sabharwal will hear and reserve judgement
on the question of law on Ninth Schedule
beginning on Monday. The Bench will also
comprise Justices Ashok Bhan, Arijit Pasayat,
BP Singh, SH Kapadia, CK Thakker, PK Balasubramanyan,
Altamas Kabir, and DK Jain. The hearing
on the bunch of petitions by the nine-judge
Bench assumes significance as the Centre
already submitted its reply suggesting there
is limited scope for judicial review against
legislation placed under the Ninth Schedule.
The Supreme Court's verdict will have a
fallout on several acts passed by the Parliament
and State Legislatures, including one by
Tamil Nadu providing 69 per cent quota for
weaker sections of society in educational
institutions. Already the debate is on to
place all reservation legislation under
Ninth Schedule. The Centre would keenly
watch the final outcome of the nine-judge
Bench hearing to take a decision on this
issue. Parliament had added that the Ninth
Schedule to the Constitution through the
very first constitutional amendment in 1951
as a means of immunising certain laws against
judicial review. Under the provisions of
Article 31, which themselves were amended
several times later, laws placed in the
Ninth Schedule could not be challenged in
a court of law on the ground that they violated
the fundamental rights of citizens.
This
protective umbrella covered more than 250
laws passed by State Legislatures with the
aim of regulating the size of land holdings
and abolishing various tenancy systems.
The Ninth Schedule was created with the
primary objective of preventing the judiciary
which upheld the citizens' right to property
on several occasions. According to previous
judgements delivered by Supreme Court, the
principle of judicial review is well settled.
The court can limit the Parliament's power
to amend if it violates the basic structure
of the Constitution. The affidavit filed
by Centre further illustrates that the court's
review power is to be found on the touchstone
of Article 13 of Constitution, which speaks
of laws inconsistent with or in derogation
of fundamental rights. The Bench will also
examine the issue of whether the Centre
can bypass the courts by placing any act
found to be totally or partly violative
of the Fundamental Rights guaranteed under
Articles 14, 19 and 21 as held by a court
of law, under the Ninth Schedule. Besides,
the Supreme court on Monday will also hear
an application in the multi-crore Bofors
gun deal where two public interest litigations
have been filed challenging a Delhi High
Court order giving a clean chit to the Hinduja
brothers in May 2005. Towards the latter
part of the day, the matter pertaining to
sealing is likely to be mentioned in the
Supreme Court. The Centre is expected to
pray for relief to the 44,000 odd traders
who are facing sealing action from November
1 for failing to honour their undertakings
to shift business out of residential areas
latest by July this year.
Courtesy:
www.dailypioneer.com, October 30, 2006
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'Caring'
NRI Woman Wins British Award
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A
British Indian woman who took on the responsibility
of caring for her two severely disabled
nieces in India has won a national carer's
award. Pratibha Singh, who lives in Town
Moor, Doncaster, has been given the Carer
of the Year award at the Daily Mail Carer
of the Year Awards, set up with carers'
charity organisation, Crossroads. In 1993,
Singh's India-based father-in-law died and
weeks later her sister-in-law Satwant, 44,
was murdered by a burglar at her home. Together,
they were looking after Singh's adult nieces
Ashwant and Tejinder, both mentally and
physically disabled due to cerebral palsy.
After the two deaths in the family, Singh
took on the responsibility of the two nieces
and dedicated her time to caring for the
wheelchair-bound girls, who were both unable
to sit unaided or speak. Singh's family
includes husband Parminder, an engineer,
and daughter Jaswinder, 17, and son Parmajit,
8. Singh, a part-time project worker at
Doncaster's Women's Centre, moved to Doncaster
from New Delhi in 1988. Every year she spent
two months in India helping her sister-in-law
Satwant to care for Ashwant and Tejinder
whose father had long vanished due to their
condition. Singh told the Daily Mail: "My
first thought was for the girls and their
well-being. Both my husband and I had hoped
we could arrange something for them in India
but that proved impossible. "Those first
four months, were very, very hard. And my
own daughter became jealous. She'd had all
my attention until that point and found
it difficult to adjust. I believe we should
all try to love someone who no-one else
loves, especially when we've been blessed
with a body and a brain that works, a marriage
and a family of our own." Tejinder died
last year, aged 35, as a result of a blood
clot but Singh still looks after Ashwant,
now 36, who will require round-the-clock
care the rest of her life.
Courtesy:
www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com, October
29, 2006
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'Crushed
Pill has Reduced Efficacy'
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Former
professor of medicine Dr Anoop Mishra said
crushing a pill could alter its pharmocokinetics
how a drug gets absorbed by the body and
takes effect. "Crushing the pill would result
in its absorption in the body faster, thereby
shortening the drugs' duration of action.
Some pills have special coatings that affect
how the medication is released in the body.
If the coating is crushed, the drug release
pattern is disturbed. Patients may receive
their dose too quickly," Dr Mishra said.
Among common medicines that should never
be crushed are the antibiotic Amplicillin,
blood pressure drug Lisinoprill and pain
killer Ibuprofen. Dr Mishra added another
word of caution: "Crushing some pills known
to be very bitter, like Ciprofloxacin and
Chloroquine, could result in nausea and
vomiting."
Courtesy:
www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com, October
28, 2006
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New
Study to Pinpoint link Between Mobile Usage
and Infertility
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An
Indian American scientist who suggested
that men who use mobile phone face increased
risk of infertility is undertaking a new
prospective study to find out its cause
and effect. While the cause and effect has
not been proved yet, the first observational
study indicated a strong relationship between
mobile phone usage and the quantity and
quality of semen, Ashok Agarwal, director
of the Reproductive Research Centre at the
Cleveland Clinic, Ohio said. It would thus
be prudent for men looking forward to start
a family to avoid long exposure by limiting
call times and switching to wireless devices,
he said, noting that almost a billion people
are using cell phones around the world almost
like a toothbrush. The new study that would
take another 3-4 months to complete would
take a look at other suggested co-factors
like possible interference from other electronic
devices like the PDAs and laptops besides
family history and lifestyles. Agarwal,
who is just back after presenting the results
of the first study at the American Society
for Reproductive Medicine annual meeting
in New Orleans, said the new study would
take into account observations made by his
peers. Although the results of the first
study were "statistically very robust",
the new one would cover factors like obesity,
use of junk food, type and model used, where
it was kept and for how long and the use
of quiet and silent mode. His clinic had
already registered 50 patients for the study
after approval from the institutional review
board and was looking for a sample size
of about 200.
Asked
if the first study was not alarmist as in
his own words they had still a long way
to go to prove the link, Agarwal told IANS
on phone from Cleveland: "Not really. We
are only reporting observations". In the
first study Agarwal's team looked at more
than 361 men undergoing checks at his fertility
clinic who were classified into three groups
according to their sperm count. They were
then split into four groups, with 40 never
using a mobile, 107 men using them for less
than two hours a day, 100 men using them
for two-four hours daily and 114 making
calls for four or more hours a day. Men
who used a mobile for more than four hours
a day had a 25 per cent lower sperm count
than men who never used a mobile. Those
with highest usage also had greater problems
with sperm quality, with the swimming ability
of sperm - a crucial factor in conception
- down by a third. They had a 50 percent
drop in the number of properly formed sperm,
with just one-fifth looking normal under
a microscope. The main finding was that
on four measures of sperm potency - count,
motility, viability and morphology, or appearance
- there were significant differences between
the groups. The greater the use of mobile
phones, the greater the reduction in each
measure, Agarwal said. The damage, Agarwal
said may be due to electromagnetic radiation
emitted by handsets or the heat they generate,
but the cause and effect has not been proved
yet.
Courtesy:
www.hindustantimes.com, October 27, 2006
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An
Indian Among Rolex Enterprise Award Winners
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Chanda
Shroff, a crafts teacher from India, is
among the five "laureates" that Rolex, a
corporate leader, has selected as the winners
of its Awards for Enterprise for year 2006.
These awards will be presented here on Thursday
at a function to be graced by the Singapore
President, S. R. Nathan. The list of winners,
each of whom would receive $ 100,000 and
an inscribed gold Rolex chronometer, was
announced by Rebecca Irvin, awards director,
at a press conference here on Wednesday.
The principal criteria for selection as
a "laureate" were the person's spirit of
enterprise; the feasibility of the plan
for which the award amount would serve as
seed money; the ground-breaking originality
of the endeavour being so supported; and
an assessment of the project's positive
impact on the community being served. The
73-year-old Ms. Shroff was named for pioneering
a movement in the Kutch region of Gujarat
to revive its skills at hand embroidery
and create sustainable means of income for
the poor dependent on this avocation. As
the voluntary manager of `Shrujan,' a charitable
trust, she was cited in appreciation for
"preserving this unique heritage [of embroidery],
while promoting an exquisite art form and
empowering women in conservative societies."
The other 2006 laureates are Alexandra Lavrillier
for work among nomadic group in Siberia;
Brad Norman for whale shark conservation
globally; Pilai Poonswad for saving the
threatened hornbill species by drafting
rural communities in Thailand; and Rory
Wilson for developing an electronic logging
device to track animals worldwide.
Courtesy:
www. hindu.com, October 26, 2006
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Gates
Pledges $23 mn to Fight AIDS in India
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The
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has pledged
$23 million to help fight HIV/AIDS in India,
which has the world's highest number of
people living with the disease, the Health
Ministry said. The funds, to be disbursed
over the next three years, will enhance
the capacity of the government's HIV prevention
response and will target high-risk groups
such as homosexuals, prostitutes and drug
users, a statement said. The money is part
of an additional $58 million committed to
the foundation's 'Avahan' project - a $258
million five-year prevention programme launched
in 2003. According to the United Nations,
5.7 million Indians are living with the
virus. But activists say the true figure
may be far higher as social stigma forces
many of those infected with the virus to
keep their status a secret.
Courtesy:
www.hindustantimes.com, October 26, 2006
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Eat
your Veggies, not Fruits, to Stay Young
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Vegetables
are brain food, according to new study which
found that eating veggies can help prevent
cognitive decline in the elderly. "Compared
to people who consumed less than one serving
of vegetables a day, people who ate at least
2.8 servings of vegetables a day saw their
rate of cognitive change slow by roughly
40 per cent," study author Martha Clare
Morris of Rush University Medical Centre
in Chicago said. "This decrease is equivalent
to about five years of younger age." Researchers
followed the eating habits of 3,718 senior
citizens over a six-year period and found
that consumption especially of green leafy
vegetables were linked to a slowing of cognitive
decline. They also found that the older
the person, the greater the impact of eating
more than two servings of vegetables a day.
Researchers said they were surprised that
eating fruit showed no link to reducing
memory loss. "It may be due to vegetables
containing high amounts of vitamin E, which
helps lowers the risk of cognitive decline.
Vegetables, but not fruits, are also consumed
with added fats such as salad dressings,
and fats increase the absorption of vitamin
E," Morris said.
Courtesy:
www.asianage.com, October 24, 2006
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by
Suman Dubey
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The
first time anyone saw Nanda Devi-which at
7,816 m is the highest mountain in the Indian
Himalaya outside of Sikkim-from close up
was in 1934 when two British explorers,
Eric Shipton and H.W. Tilman, accompanied
by three sherpas, found a way to its base.
They inched their way through the precipitous
gorge of the Rishi Ganga, a tributary of
the Dhauli Ganga in Uttaranchal's Chamoli
district. And at the end of their arduous
journey, they were astonished to find themselves
in a vast amphitheatre of grassland, its
gentle slopes a stark contrast to the vertical
cliffs that had hindered their way at every
step. Their exploration still ranks as one
of the finest ever. It takes eight to nine
days of strenuous walk to reach the sanctuary-the
Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve. Everything
that goes with trekking must be carried
and although there is a rudimentary trail,
traversing the Rishi Ganga gorge is still
a Herculean task. The route appears to defy
logic as it ascends cliffs, cuts across
pastures, skirts birch forests and alternates
between steep ascents and abrupt descents.
All around the way lie the summits of a
protective ring of mountains with glacial
rivers tumbling into the Rishi Ganga, and
finally an inner gorge which can be brutal
and spectacular. The sanctuary has been
closed to regular trekking since 1982; however,
organised treks are permitted up to Dibrughetta.
Courtesy:
India Today 23 October, 2006
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| by
Parvin Dabas |
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Primitive,
pure and pristine, Havelock island is one
of the world's best island getaways. For
starters, this island-a three-hour boat
ride over 30 km east of Port Blair, the
capital of the Andaman and Nicobar archipelago-has
some of the world's most stunning beaches
and dense forests. One of only 36 inhabited
islands in the archipelago, it is far removed
from civilisation but yet close enough for
you to not really miss it. Two years ago,
I spent an exhilarating week at the Wild
Orchid Resort on the island and was frankly
impressed by the quality of food-you don't
expect Thai and Burmese cuisine on a tiny
island. Most tourists head for Havelock's
central attraction, Radhanagar beach, but
I decided to act on a whispered tip from
a foreign tourist and headed for Elephant
beach, a tiny foliage-framed silver sand
strip away from the beaten path. Foreign
tourists have this knack of discovering
places where Indian tourists wouldn't venture
because a car won't take them there. So,
there I was, trudging on the 45-minute trail
of Elephant beach, lugging my snorkeling
equipment. There was a coral reef with clear
water right outside the beach. The experience
was out of this world.
Courtesy:
India Today 23 October, 2006
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Indian
Immigrants, a Fast-Growing Community
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Local
travel agents promise the best airfares
from New York to Mumbai. Shagun Fashions
is selling dazzling Indian saris. And DirecTV
offers "the six top Indian channels direct
to you." Roughly every third person who
lives in Edison, a New York suburb, is of
Asian Indian ancestry. Many are new immigrants
who have come to work as physicians, engineers
and high-tech experts and are drawn to "Little
India" by convenience-it's near the commuter
train-and familiarity. Here they can "get
their groceries and goods from home," says
Aruna Rao, a mental health counselor who
lives in the town. Although a steady stream
of Indians have settled in the US since
the 1960s, immigrants positively poured
into the country between 2000 and 2005-arriving
at a higher rate than any other group. Not
only is the Indian community burgeoning,
it's maturing. Increasingly, after decades
of quietly establishing themselves, Indians
are becoming more vocal in the American
conversation-about politics, ethnicity and
many more topics.
"I've
been studying the community for 20 years
and in the last four or five years something
different has been happening," said Madhulika
Khandelwal, president of the Asian American
Center at Queens College in New York. "Indian-Americans
are finally out there speaking for themselves."
Roughly 2.3 million people of Indian ancestry,
including immigrants and the American-born,
now call the US home, according to the 2005
Census data. And so when Virginia Senator
George Allen was caught on video in August
calling an Indian American man "macaca"-a
type of monkey and an offensive term-the
community quickly responded. Within days
after the reports emerged, Sanjay Puri,
founder of the US Indian Political Action
Committee, and other Indian leaders in the
Washington, DC, area requested and got a
lengthy meeting with Allen, Puri said. The
senator publicly apologized.
If
this had happened 10 years ago?
"It would have been a lot harder," Puri
said. "But this is a prosperous and fast-growing
community. People are beginning to understand
that we are contributing politically, so
that made a big difference." Many Indian
immigrants arrived in the US focused almost
entirely on individual success-getting a
top-notch job, making good money and pushing
their children do the same. But things are
changing. After the September 11 attacks,
many Indian Sikhs, who wear turbans as part
of their faith, were mistaken for Muslims-and
terrorists. Hundreds were harassed or worse:
In Mesa, Arizona, a Sikh gas station owner
was shot and killed on September 15, 2001,
by a man who told the police "all Arabs
had to be shot." Few knew their rights because
few had been engaged politically, said Amardeep
Singh, executive director of The Sikh Coalition
in New York. The group now has two bills
pending in the New York city council-one
would allow city employees to wear turbans
and the other would make city officials
craft plans to prevent hate crimes if another
terrorist attack happened. The community
recently saw three Sikhs elected to low-level
offices around the city. "It's a good first
step," Singh said. The push extends beyond
Sikhs, Puri said. "The question that every
Indian-American is asking lately: Is the
American dream-making a lot of money and
having fancy cars-enough?" he said. "Giving
back and being active is also happening."
In New Jersey, Ready to Run, a Rutgers University-based
project that helps women seek public office,
will next year for the first time court
Asian women, said Reema Desai, an immigration
lawyer who is helping organise the outreach.
Indians
also are working outside politics to influence
the broader society. They are overrepresented
among college professors, engineers and
technology workers. Between 10 per cent
and 12 per cent of all medical school students
are Indians, according to the American Association
of Physicians of Indian Origin, the biggest
physicians' group in the nation after the
American Medical Association. Half of all
motel rooms in the US are owned by Indians,
according to the Asian American Hotel Owners
Association. In New York City, Basement
Banghra, a popular Indian music event that
blends hip-hop rhythms with Indian melodies,
attracts hundreds of partygoers to Sounds
of Brazil nightclub each month.
Courtesy:
www.hindustantimes.com, October 23, 2006
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Indians
are Now More Visible Faces in US
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The
train station billboards tell it all. Local
travel agents promise the best airfares
from New York to Mumbai. Shagun Fashions
is selling dazzling Indian saris. And DirecTV
offers "the six top Indian channels direct
to you." Roughly every third person who
lives Edison, a New York suburb, is of Asian
Indian ancestry. Many are new immigrants
who have come to work as physicians, engineers
and high-tech experts and are drawn to "Little
India" by convenience - it's near the commuter
train - and familiarity. Here they can "get
their groceries and goods from home," says
Aruna Rao, a mental health counselor who
lives in town. Although a steady stream
of Indians have settled in the US since
the 1960s, immigrants positively poured
into the country between 2000 and 2005 -
arriving at a higher rate than any other
group. Not only is the Indian community
burgeoning, it's maturing. Increasingly,
after decades of quietly establishing themselves,
Indians are becoming more vocal in the American
conversation - about politics, ethnicity
and many more topics. "I've been studying
the community for 20 years and in the last
four or five years something different has
been happening," said Madhulika Khandelwal,
president of the Asian American Center at
Queens College in New York. "Indian-Americans
are finally out there speaking for themselves."
Roughly 2.3 million people of Indian ancestry,
including immigrants and the American-born,
now call the US home, according to 2005
Census data. That's up from 1.7 million
in 2000. They have big communities in New
Jersey, New York, California and Texas,
and their average yearly household income
is more than USD 60,000 - 35 per cent higher
than the nation overall. Indian Americans,
along with Indian expatriates worldwide,
sent about USD 23 billion back to India
in 2005, World Bank data show.
And
so when Virginia Senator George Allen was
caught on video in August calling an Indian
American man "macaca" - a type of monkey
and an offensive term - the community quickly
responded. Within days after the reports
emerged, Sanjay Puri, founder of the US
Indian Political Action Committee, and other
Indian leaders in the Washington, D.C.,
area requested and got a lengthy meeting
with Allen, Puri said. The senator publicly
apologized. If this had happened 10 years
ago? "It would have been a lot harder,"
Puri said. "But this is a prosperous and
fast-growing community. People are beginning
to understand that we are contributing politically,
so that made a big difference." Many Indian
immigrants arrived in the US focused almost
entirely on individual success - getting
a top-notch job, making good money and pushing
their children to do the same. But things
are changing. After the September 11 attacks,
many Indian Sikhs, who wear turbans as part
of their faith, were mistaken for Muslims
- and terrorists. Hundreds were harassed
or worse: In Mesa, Arizona, a Sikh gas station
owner was shot and killed on September 15,
2001, by a man who told police "all Arabs
had to be shot." Few knew their rights because
few had been engaged "We were caught with
our pants down," he said. "September 11
created a confrontation. We realized we
now need to actively involve ourselves in
the policy-making process. Otherwise policies
will be made that exclude us." The group
now has two bills pending in the New York
city council - one would allow city employees
to wear turbans and the other would make
city officials craft plans to prevent hate
crimes if another terrorist attack happened.
The community recently saw three Sikhs elected
to low-level offices around the city. "It's
a good first step," Singh said. The push
extends beyond Sikhs, Puri said. "The question
that every Indian-American is asking lately:
Is the American dream - making a lot of
money and having fancy cars - enough?" he
said. "Giving back and being active is also
happening." In New Jersey, Ready to Run,
a Rutgers University-based project that
helps women seek public office, will next
year for the first time court Asian women,
said Reema Desai, an immigration lawyer
who is helping organize the outreach. Indians
also are working outside politics to influence
broader society. They are overrepresented
among college professors, engineers and
technology workers. Between 10 per cent
and 12 per cent of all medical school students
are Indians, according to the American Association
of Physicians of Indian Origin, the biggest
physicians' group in the nation after the
American Medical Association. Half of all
motel rooms in the US are owned by Indians,
according to the Asian American Hotel Owners
Association. In New York City, Basement
Banghra, a popular Indian music event that
blends hip-hop rhythms with Indian melodies,
attracts hundreds of partygoers to Sounds
of Brazil nightclub each month. It will
mark its 10th anniversary next year.
Corutesy:
www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com, October
23, 2006
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to Index
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Global
Warming a Threat to Rice Production in India:
Expert
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Rising
temperature due to global warming is a serious
threat to rice production in the country.
Field trials across the world predict that
we may be worse, with increased level of
carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, experts
believe. "Experiments found that we had
over-estimated the benefits of climate change
to rice production. In fact, field studies
show that climate change will negatively
affect rice yield," said Kazuhiko Kobayashi,
eminent rice expert with University of Tokyo.
Increased carbon dioxide interferes with
the pollination process of rice and leads
to poor seed and lower yield, he said at
the International Rice Research Congress
held last week. Even a small increase in
average temperature in lower latitudes,
as in paddy growing parts of India, will
challenge the plant's threshold to withstand
high temperatures. "Beyond a threshold,
the decline (in crop productivity) will
be quick and significant," Kobayashi added.
"Indian studies on climate change impact
on rice are going on, but our preliminary
analysis shows that production could decline.
We are looking for varieties that will withstand
higher temperature and increased levels
of carbon dioxide," said Magla Rai, director-general
of Indian Council of Agricultural Research.
The meet discussed as length to what extent
man-made atmospheric changes will affect
rice production in Indian and across the
world. Carbon dioxide, emitted from burning
fossil fuel by industries, is largely blamed
for causing global warming and large-scale
changes in weather pattern. Climate changes
could also affect rainfall pattern, which
is crucial to Indian agriculture. Paddy
grown in parts of Bihar and West Bengal
are entirely dependent on rains.
While
in southern India, where the crop is irrigated,
water level in major rivers is dependent
on rainfall. Besides temperature stress,
paddy depend on availability of water. Rice
cultivation is prime occupation of a majority
of agrarian community, who stand to lose
from decreased production. The international
rice meet ended on a sombre warning: "The
large-scale experiments in Japan and China
have shown that the beneficial effects of
higher carbon dioxide may actually be smaller
than we had expected before on the basis
of small-scale experiments. "Deleterious
effects have also been identified. These
include exacerbated heat damages to rice
flower and increased leaf blast epidemics
under higher carbon dioxide concentration."
Studies also found that higher temperatures
will adversely affect grain quality, such
as appearance and aroma. In Asia, the increase
in energy production via fossil fuel burning
has increased the amount of nitrogen oxide
released in atmosphere, and has raised surface
ozone concentration. The increase in ozone
concentration will continue in coming decades
to the production of crops like wheat and
soyabean. "This year, India lost a significant
wheat yield due to higher than average temperature
during the grain filling period in February.
Scientist called for developing agronomic
practices and new varieties that are better
adapted to the climate change and atmosphere.
Corutesy:
www. dailypioneer.com, October 23, 2006
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India
has created a new Guinness record and Madhya
Pradesh has become the single region across
the world where the largest number of people
- a whopping 3.3 million - joined the "Stand
Up Against Poverty" event earlier this week.
The event was aimed at raising mass awareness
about the promise of 189 nations to eradicate
poverty and diseases such as HIV/AIDS by
2015.
Courtesy:
www.hindu.com, October 19, 2006
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Study:
BPL Population up in Delhi, Maha and Haryana
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A
National Sample Survey Organisation's study
suggests that while economic growth is trickling
down very slowly, poverty has declined the
sharpest in the poorer states. Leading them
were Assam and the north-eastern states,
where people below the poverty line decreased
by nearly 4% annually, followed by Jharkhand
(2.51% a year during the five-year period),
Chhattisgarh (2.15% a year) and Bihar (1.69%).
Apart from the slow reduction of poverty,
government also seems worried about a lower
decrease in poverty ratios in urban areas,
compared to rural areas. BPL population
in rural areas decreased 4.68% between 1999-2000
and 2004-05, which was over twice the pace
of the decrease in urban centres, estimated
at 2.12%. The trend of slower poverty reduction
in urban areas, say economists, could be
due to migration of the poor from rural
areas. But they wonder whether if that is
indeed the case, then the rate of actual
decline of poverty in rural areas could
be over estimated. The NSSO findings also
reveal an increase in BPL population in
Haryana, Maharashtra, Delhi, Rajasthan and
Goa. This is possibly because migrant labour
is moving out of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and
Jharkhand to these states in search of jobs.
There
are also fears that dipping state growth
rates, as witnessed in the case of Maharashtra,
have added to the increase in the BPL population.
Among the poorer states, Orissa has the
highest proportion of poor - nearly 40%
of its population is below the poverty line.
The population of poor in Orissa's villages
decreased 8.36% during the five-year period
while the urban BPL population fell 1.2%.
Next in line is Jharkhand, which had a marginally
higher BPL population of 47.40% compared
to Orissa's 47.15% in 1999-2000. At the
end of June 2005, Jharkhand's poor constituted
34.83% of the state's population. Bihar
remained in the third spot with 32.57% population
under BPL. The estimates were prepared using
monthly consumption expenditure of individuals
during 365 days on clothing, footwear, education,
durables in addition to their medical expenses.
This method is called the Mixed Reference
Period Method (MRPM). Going by the other
measure used by NSSO - Uniform Reference
Period which measures poverty based on every
consumption for the last 30 days of the
survey - BPL population accounted for 27.81%
in 2004-05, compared with 35.97% in 1993-94.
Economists, however, believe that the methodology
is suspect as consumption during 30 days
is not the right measure and the government,
too, prefers MRPM.
Courtesy:
www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com, October
19, 2006
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BJP
Defends George, Finally
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For
the first time since CBI lodged an FIR against
JD(U) leader George Fernandes in the Barak
missile deal over a week ago, BJP on Tuesday
came out in full-throated support of the
NDA convenor, considered closer to the saffron
party than many of his partymates. Blasting
the Congress-led government for going after
the former defence minister, BJP spokesperson
Arun Jaitley opened the party's regular
press briefing by backing Fernandes, following
Navy chief Arun Prakash's admission that
the Barak missiles were a good procurement
and their quality could not be questioned.
Hitting out at the government for targeting
Fernandes, Jaitley said: "Political leaders
or CBI and other police agencies cannot
be deciding what is a good missile for India
to acquire." Stating that even defence minister
Pranab Mukherjee had admitted that there
was no complain about the quality of Barak
missiles, Jaitley pointed out that the present
establishment has gone ahead with a second
Barak-II deal with Israel. "The government
will not be able to get any evidence against
Fernandes to prove corruption charges against
him," Jaitley said, adding that such allegations
would act as a deterrent against responsible
decision making in the defence sector. "If
baseless cases are registered against former
admirals and defence ministers, the entire
process of defence procurement and hence
defence preparedness in the country will
suffer," Jaitley said. Surprisingly, it
took the BJP more than a week to back the
NDA convenor, who held two hour-long meetings
with L K Advani in the past week. The two
are believed to have discussed issues concerning
the senior JD(U) leader, who has been sidelined
by the younger lot in his party. The issues
ranged from the Barak issue to Fernandes's
troubles with partymates Sharad Yadav and
Nitish Kumar to his hobnobbing with Samajwadi
Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav.
Courtesy:
www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com, October
18, 2006
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Living
Statues Of Liberty
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by
Pavan K. Varma
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Liberalisation
has made the middle class assertive. Now
shed cynicism, and it can produce model
citizens.
When
I wrote The Great Indian Middle Class almost
10 years ago, this class was emerging from
the shadows of the socialist era, and beginning
to revel in the new consumerism to which
the reforms of 1991 gave both legitimacy
and opportunity. Most middle-class Indians
had only paid lip service to notions of
Gandhian austerity and had little faith
in the efficacy of Nehruvian socialism.
In those early days after liberalisation,
their self-assertive materialism was spontaneous
but tentative. There was still a reticence
in completely disowning the ideological
imperatives of the past.
The
middle class sensed that its time had come,
but was not quite sure whether it should
say so emphatically. Its members were adjusting
very well to plastic money but a little
less well to the ballot box which had empowered
so many of the unwashed masses below them.
What
has changed in the last 11 years? Firstly,
the class has grown in numbers. If a decade
ago it was in the vicinity of over 200 million,
today I reckon it is closer to the half-billion
mark. Secondly, it is a more confident class,
more assured about its ability to swim in
the waters of a more globalised and commercially
competitive India. Thirdly, there is no
longer the slightest tentativeness in its
aspiration for the good things of life,
and certainly, to satiate that thirst, there
is much, much more on offer. And lastly,
it is a more proud class: proud about the
fact that India is perceived to be an emerging
global power, proud of the country's nuclear
prowess, proud about the respect that certain
sectors of the economy now command in the
world, and proud that Indians have done
so well abroad.
In
addition, there are two specific areas where
I think there has been noticeable change
in the way this class now reacts. The first
is to communal provocation. When the agitation
against the Babri Masjid was at its peak
in the early 1990s, a great many middle-class
Indians were effortless recruits to communal
forces. Secularism was the official credo,
but under its rhetoric was a great deal
of angst against the perceived appeasement
of the minorities, and this made for a great
deal of private belligerence about religion.
Today, Gujarat notwithstanding, this class
seems to have largely seen through the use
of religion by political parties. Most of
its members want to swim away from the islands
of religious exclusiveness towards the dividends
of the secular mainstream, and just get
on with their lives. The difference in the
way the middle class reacted in Bombay to
the bomb blasts in 1993 and in 2003 illustrates
my point. Less middle-class Hindus are joining
the RSS or the Bajrang Dal; and more Muslims
at the conservative Darul Uloom at Deoband
are studying computers and English than
ever before. Instability caused by religious
strife militates against the middle classes'
unwavering focus on upward mobility. Political
parties have been forced to contest the
secular ground to woo middle-class Indians,
and this is all for the good.
The
second area relates to civic engagement.
Undoubtedly, the middle class is still very
insular, oblivious to any interests outside
its turf. It remains, as in the past, socially
insensitive to issues of poverty and deprivation.
But, there is, however faint, the first
glimmerings of hope that educated Indians
are willing to break from their individualistic
insularity towards conscious and collective
action in the public sphere. Signs of this
can be seen in the new activism of some
Resident Welfare Associations in the capital
and the bigger cities. The Jessica Lall
murder case showed the willingness of middle-class
Indians to organise themselves for a larger
public good. The new technologies for communication-mobile
phones and television-have become potent
tools for mobilisation.These are still early
days, and, certainly, the motivation is
self-interest, but the trend is visible.
The question is whether this civic consciousness,
and the ability to follow up on it through
concrete action, will strengthen or get
submerged by cynicism. If it is the former,
India will benefit; if it is the latter,
middle-class Indians will continue to prosper,
but remain poor citizens.
Courtesy:
OutLook India, October 16, 2006
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Govt
Okays Wage Negotiations for PSU Workers
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The
government on Monday empowered the managements
of central PSUs to negotiate the wage structure
with unionised workers from January next
year. While the validity of the sixth round
of negotiated wages expires on December
31 this year, the settlement that would
be reached under the seventh round would
be good for 10 years with 100 per cent Dearness
Allowance neutralisation, Information and
Broadcasting Minister P R Dasmunsi told
reporters after the Cabinet meeting. Permission
has been granted for negotiations on the
condition that no burden would be borne
by the government and the companies would
have to generate funds from their internal
resources by improving productivity and
profitability. Further, the wage revision
must not result in any increase in labour
cost per physical unit of output. However,
the PSUs running on full capacity could
be exempted. Public sector companies, which
enjoy monopoly or operate under administered
price structure, must ensure that the wage
revision does not lead to rise in prices
of their products. Dasmunsi said sick CPSUs
that have been referred to the Board for
Industrial and Financial Reconstruction
would continue to work on the existing policy
guidelines. Until BIFR approves the revival
plan for a PSU, in which provision has been
made for additional expenditure on account
of wage revision, no increase would be allowed.
As per the policy guidelines, wage revision
for companies referred to the Board for
Reconstruction of Public Sector Enterprises
(BRPSE) would be considered only on the
basis of the Board's recommendations. CPSUs,
which incurred net loss during any of the
past three financial years but not referred
to either BIFR or BRPSE, may also be allowed
to enter into wage negotiations. But this
permission would be given only if they provide
an estimate to their administrative ministries
as to how resources would be generated to
meet the extra expenditure.
Courtesy:
www.economictimes.indiatimes.com, October
16, 2006
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Hindu
Law: Can Women be Coparceners?
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A
daughter has been given partition right
in the Hindu Undivided Family (HUF) with
effect from September 2005 by an amendment
to Hindu law by the Government. Can a Hindu
woman have two statuses under the Income-tax
Act - individual and HUF after September
2005? Since the Hindu Succession (Amendment)
Act, 2005 gives coparcenary right to a daughter
equal to the right of a son and she can
also demand partition in respect of the
assets of the joint family, it should logically
follow that the amounts so received by her
on partition should be treated as belonging
to the Hindu Undivided Family under her
management, if not as karta, so that the
income from such assets so received need
not be clubbed with her personal income.
As otherwise, there is no real equality
between her and her brother. She can claim
a separate status for assets received from
the Hindu Undivided Family distinct from
her personal status. I believe that it is
possible for her to claim a separate status
for property inherited from joint family
under the new law. Is it correct?
The
fact that the daughter is given equal right
as the son does not make her a coparcener.
What is amended is Hindu Succession Law
and not the Hindu law in all other respects.
Further, she is a member of the father's
family before marriage and husband's family
after marriage. There is no change in law
in this respect. The property, which she
inherits from her father's joint family
cannot be mixed with her husband's joint
family. She cannot also start an independent
joint family. The property, which she will
inherit under the amended law, will become
her absolute personal property. Even prior
to amendment, she was recognised as the
absolute owner of the property to which
she succeeds. Merely because there is a
tax advantage in having dual status of both
individual and joint family for her brother,
it does not follow that she is discriminated
against. In fact, she is in a better position
because she has absolute right over the
property, while her brother takes his share
of joint family property subject to the
rights of the other family members. As karta,
he merely manages the property of the joint
family of which he is the karta and does
not have absolute right over such property.
In fact, it may even be argued that there
is reverse discrimination in favour of the
daughter in view of her absolute right notwithstanding
the tax aspect.
Courtesy:
www.hindu.com, October 16, 2006
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Panel
Probing Godhra Riots Illegal: HC
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Gujarat
High Court on Friday quashed and set aside
the Union government's September 4, 2004,
notification creating the Justice U C Banerjee
committee to probe the 2002 Godhra train
burning incident and nullified its findings.
The committee had attributed the incident
to accidental fire. Justice D N Patel held
the constitution of the Banerjee committee
illegal, unconstitutional and outside the
jurisdiction of the Union government. He
also observed that the panel's interim report
was released just before the Bihar assembly
polls with malafide intentions. The report
had said the train burning was the result
of an accident, which the high court disagreed
with. The judgment was delivered on a petition
by Neelkanth Bhatia which argued that since
Nanavati Shah commission constituted by
the state government was probing the incident
and subsequent carnage, there could not
be another commission probing along the
same lines. Fifty-nine people were burnt
to death in the S-6 coach of the Sabarmati
Express at Godhra on February 27, 2002,
which sparked widespread communal riots
claiming more than 1,000 lives across the
state. Bhatia, who was travelling in the
same coach that day, had sustained injuries.
The court held that the railways had no
authority to appoint such a committee, and
called it a gross violation of the Indian
Railways Act and also the Commission of
Inquiries Act. In January, the Banerjee
committee had said in its interim report,
"With the elimination of the 'petrol theory',
'miscreant activity theory' as well as the
ruling out of any possibility of 'electrical
fire', the fire in S-6 coach of Sabarmati
Express can at this stage be ascribed as
an 'accidental fire'."
Courtesy:
www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com, October
14, 2006
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'It
Feels as if we have Won the Nobel'
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Small
has become big. I heard about the news of
Muhammad Yunus and the Grameen Bank being
honoured with the Nobel Peace Prize for
their work in advancing economic and social
opportunities in the morning and my first
reaction was, "Wonderful, great. Micro-credit
has arrived". It feels as if we have won
the award for we are part of the same movement.
I tried calling him to congratulate but
his line was understandably very busy. Yunus
is an economist in action. What makes his
contribution special is the fact that he
ensured that micro-credit reaches the poorest
of the poor. He is a leader who has given
visibility and voice to the poorest of the
poor. The way I see it, the Nobel Peace
Prize for Muhammad Yunus and Grameen Bank
is also a recognition of the women of Bangladesh,
the small savers, the small borrowers, the
loan re-payers and their integrity and discipline.
Yunus and I have worked together for five
years on the committee of Consultative Group
to Assist the Poor (CGAP), a consultative
group of World Bank. He is a great world
leader in micro-finance which he likes to
call micro-credit. He is a great organiser.
He mobilised support not just with his own
government but also from international development
agencies. While we were working together,
we realised that we need to have a global
summit to bring international attention
to micro-finance which led to the first
Micro-credit Summit in Washington. We in
India are an inspired lot. The micro-finance
sector is expanding very fast and we estimate
that there is an annual credit need of Rs
6,000 per household for eight crore families
in the country. In India, we have been able
to reach micro-finance to roughly 10% of
those who need it and the task is cut-out
before us. The challenge for us is scaling
up and ensuring that micro-finance is reached
to the those residing in the far-flung areas
of the country.
Courtesy:
www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com, October
14, 2006
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Banerjee
Panel on Godhra Riots Illegal:
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In
a significant development, the Gujarat High
Court has declared as illegal the setting
up of the UC Banerjee Committee by railway
minister Lalu Prasad Yadav to probe certain
aspects of the Godhra train carnage. The
court order came on a petition challenging
the constitution of the Banerjee Commission
on the ground that Justice Nanawati Shah
Commission was already on the job. The Banerjee
Committee in its interim report had concluded
that the fire that engulfed the S-6 compartment
of Sabarmati Express on February 29, '02,
killing 58 passengers, was an accident and
it was "not caused by the use of any inflammable
material." The Banerjee panel, while rejecting
any 'conspiracy' angle, had also said, quoting
the Panchmahal SP, that the Muslims in the
Godhra area had helped the local administration
to douse the fire in the train on that fateful
day. Incidentally, the conspiracy angle
is being probed by the Nanavati panel. The
Banerjee Commission came out with the interim
report on the basis of its interaction with
railway and police officials. Ever since
Mr Yadav set up the Banerjee Commission
soon after the UPA assumed office in '04,
it was opposed, both legally and politically,
by the NDA and Modi government, saying it
was a ploy to by-pass the ongoing inquiry
by the Nanawati Commission.
Courtesy:
www.economictimes.indiatimes.com, October
14, 2006
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E-ration
Cards in Madhya Pradesh Soon
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In
a bid to check black marketing in essential
commodities, the Madhya Pradesh government
is planning e-ration cards to streamline
the public distribution system (PDS). "A
computer-based automated ration card and
public distribution management system would
be set up under a pilot project which would
connect the shopkeeper, the warehouse and
the consumer through computers," said an
official. Officials of the Electronic Corporation
of India held discussions with Chief Minister
Shivraj Singh Chouhan and some of his cabinet
colleagues on the issue earlier this week.
The company said the e-ration card system
would enable monitoring of fair price shops
from one place, which in turn would help
checking black marketing of commodities.
As many as 10 million e-ration cards would
be prepared at an estimated cost of Rs 800
million in the first phase under which 23,000
fair price shops would be connected, the
official said requesting anonymity. Beneficiaries
would be provided with a card, to be produced
before the fair price shop owner, to get
any listed commodity. Holes would be punched
on the card to make an entry and thus a
record of the cardholder would be maintained
electronically, said the official. The company
proposes to run the project for five years
and gradually hand it over to the concerned
department tasked with the job.
Courtesy:
www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com, October
13, 2006
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Ramdev
to Deliver Lecture at UN
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After
travelling to many European nations, yoga
exponent Baba Ramdev is now set to fly to
the United Nations to deliver a lecture
on poverty alleviation. Ramdev, who runs
Patanjali Yogpeeth at Hardwar, has been
invited by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan
to visit the world body's headquarters at
New York and deliver a lecture on October
15, sources close to the guru said.
Courtesy:
www.dailypioneer.com, October 13, 2006
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HC
Says Remove Encroachments Around Protected
Monuments
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The
Delhi High Court on Wednesday ordered the
Delhi Government and the Archaeological
Survey of India (ASI) to remove all the
illegal encroachments from all the historical
monuments listed under the category of protected
monuments. The court has also sought an
Action Taken Report on this by November
22. The court also showed concern over the
Government's failure to protect the historical
monuments. The Division Bench expressed
apprehensions on the apparent failure of
the Government to maintain the historical
monuments.
Courtesy:www.dailypioneer.com,
October 12, 2006
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Sex
Education: Catch Them Young
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"Catch
them young", is probably the phrase that
fits best to express the desire of the adolescents
as far as their demand for information,
education and preventive programmes for
enhancing positive sexual health and responsible
behaviour is concerned. In a major recommendation
of the Charter of Adolescent Health and
Development prepared at a two-day Adolescent
Summit, which began on Wednesday, children
asked for prevention of sexual and drug
abuse at primary and secondary levels. The
charter will be presented to the ministry
of human resources development and Planning
Commission for consideration. The summit
was jointly organised by National Progressive
Schools' Conference (NPSC) and Expressions
India of VIMHANS. "The government needs
to put more effort to spread awareness about
drug and sexual abuse of children. There
should be a specific space for life-skill
education in the school curriculum for an
open discussion about these issues from
the primary classes in order to ensure that
no child is misled when he or she becomes
an adolescent," said Neha Aggarwal, a speaker
in the symposium on 'Substance abuse - The
scourge of youth'.
Over
22% of India's population include youth
but we are yet to provide them a proper
platform to raise their voice. "It has been
observed that the youth opt for alternate
pleasures through drugs or unsafe sex out
of anger and depression. There is an urgent
need to sensitise them to these issues at
an early age," said Dr Jitendra Nagpal,
senior consultant psychiatrist, VIMHANS.
A recent survey by Expressions India also
revealed that 82% of the respondents admitted
that they are not comfortable discussing
these sensitive issues with parents and
teachers. Upgrade of the teacher training
programme is also a significant area of
concern, said the charter. "The teacher-training
programme should be strengthened in a manner
that there remains no hush-hush in classrooms
while discussing such issues," said Neha
Ravindran, a participant in the the symposium
titled 'Education system in India - New
understanding, new hope'.
Courtesy:
www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com, October
12, 2006
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Yoga
Guru Ramdev to Address UN Meet
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After
travelling to many European nations, Yoga
exponent Baba Ramdev is now set to fly to
the United Nations to deliver a lecture
on poverty alleviation. Ramdev, who runs
Patanjali Yogpeeth at Haridwar, has been
invited by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan
to visit the world body's headquarters at
New York and deliver a lecture on October
15, sources close to the guru said. The
lecture is part of a two-day conference
on poverty alleviation being conducted by
a standing council of the world body and
attended by social activists from all over
the world. The conference forms part of
an UN initiative in 2000 that pledged to
eradicate poverty by 2015. But Annan is
concerned that several nations have not
taken adequate steps so far. Ramdev had
earlier this year travelled to several European
nations including Britain where he received
appreciation for his work on ayurveda and
yoga.
Courtesy:
www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com, October
12, 2006
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170
from Pak Sindh Apply for Citizenship
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Nearly
170 persons from Sindh in Pakistan who have
been living in Indore for a long time without
possessing Indian citizenship, have applied
for the same at a camp in view of the problems
they faced while getting their stay extended
here. The camp was organised on Sunday by
Indore district administration and inaugurated
by Indore municipal corporation chairman
Mr Shankar Lalwani. A large number of elderly
and ailing persons walked into the camp
to submit their papers to seek Indian citizenship,
he said.These persons had been residing
in Indore for over three decades and over
3,800 persons of the community belonging
to Pakistan had been staying here for a
long time on Pakistani passports. The state
government has forwarded a proposal to the
Union home ministry, seeking that the arrangement
made by the Centre for Gujarat and Rajasthan,
authorising concerned DC to deal with similar
problems in their states, be also extended
to Madhya Pradesh. According to rules, if
a person stays with a valid visa and passport
in India for over seven years, then he is
eligible for Indian citizenship.
Courtesy:
www.asianage.com October 10, 2006
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India
Marks 100 years of Malgudi 'Discoverer'
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For
most Indians, Malgudi is no imaginary village
tucked away in the southern heartland of
India. Just as Swami is not just another
curious and mischievous boy from the neighbourhood
who just can't seem to keep himself away
from trouble. Arguably one of the best English
writers that the country has ever seen,
the memorable lanes of Malgudi and its adorable
characters will be revisited this October
10 as the country comes together to celebrate
the birth centenary of writer R.K. Narayan.
To mark the occasion, a special three-day-long
seminar is being organised in Mysore by
Sahitya Akademi. To be attended by various
national and international figures, the
seminar will cover various aspects of Narayan's
writings. Right from the magic weaved by
Malgudi Days to movies and television serials
that were inspired or based on his writings,
the seminar will host a number of talks.
Being co-hosted by the Central Institute
of Languages, the event gains importance
as Mysore happens to be Narayan's native
place. A century after he was born as Rasipuram
Krishnaswami Aayyar Narayanswami in then
Madras, Narayan spent most of his childhood
here, returning to his parents in Mysore
only during the summer holidays. Unlike
what many may have come to believe, Narayan
was an indifferent student and after graduating
apparently failed the college entrance.
A year later, he gave the exam again and
cleared it. Having started his career with
short stories written for The Hindu, Narayan's
writing stint really took off with the printing
of Swami and His Friends. But Narayan's
journey of getting this work published was
hardy an easy one. After being turned down
several times, it was only after Graham
Greene - who would turn out to be one of
his close associates and friends - saw the
draft that the book eventually saw the light
of day.
Courtesy:
www.asianage.com, October 10, 2006
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Colas
may Cause Bone Loss in Older Women
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An
adverse scientific finding that colas can
cause bone loss in older women is likely
to add to the woes of soft drink manufacturers
in India, already caught in a controversy
over higher than permissible amounts of
pesticide in their drinks. American epidemiologists
have reported that colas are associated
with bone mineral density loss and their
consumption may increase osteoporosis risk
for older women. Osteoporosis is a disease
of porous and brittle bones that causes
higher susceptibility to bone fractures.
Katherine Tucker, director of epidemiology
at Tufts University, and her team of researchers
reports their findings in the latest issue
of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
They analysed dietary questionnaires and
bone mineral density measurements at the
spine and three different hip sites of more
than 2,500 people whose average age was
just below 60. In women, cola consumption
was associated with lower bone mineral density
at all three hip sites, regardless of factors
such as age, menopausal status, total calcium
and vitamin D intake. The authors said that
they were not certain why women who drank
more colas had lower bone mineral density
and not men. In the study, men reported
drinking an average of six carbonated drinks
a week, with five being colas and women
reported consuming an average of five carbonated
drinks a week, four of which were colas.
The authors note that more than 70 per cent
of the carbonated beverages consumed by
people in the study were colas, all of which
contain phosphoric acid, an ingredient that
is not likely to be found in non-cola carbonated
beverages.
Courtesy:
www.asianage.com, October 10, 2006
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Widows
of Parliament attack to meet Prez
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Widows
of security personnel who died during the
2001 Parliament attack will meet President
A P J Abdul Kalam on Tuesday to plead against
clemency for Mohammad Afzal who faces execution
in connection with the case. All India Anti-Terrorist
Front chief M S Bitta said that they would
meet Kalam at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. Last
week, they submitted a memorandum with the
Rashtrapati Bhavan, opposing clemency for
Afzal. "They have now been granted an appointment
with the President and will present their
viewpoint on the execution order against
Afzal," Bitta said. The delegation of nine
such families, which will call on Kalam,
will also include children of the slain
security personnel, he added.
Courtesy:
www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com, October
09, 2006
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BJP
Against Clemency to Afzal
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Top
leaders of the Opposition Bharatiya Janata
Party (BJP) met President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam
on Sunday to demand that Mohammad Afzal,
convict in the December 13, 2001 Parliament
House attack case, be executed as per the
death sentence given to him. "There are
no grounds for clemency which have been
made out. The convict himself has shown
no signs of remorse. He has not even submitted
the clemency petition himself," the BJP
leaders said in a memorandum.
Courtesy:
www.hindu.com, October 09, 2006
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Govt
not Doing Enough to Eradicate Hunger: NHRC
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Dhananjay
Mahapatra
After
10-year-long monitoring of the work to bring
little cheer to the people of backward area
in Orissa's KBK districts where starvation
deaths were a way of life, the National
Human Rights Commission has ticked off the
Centre for not doing enough to eradicate
hunger from the region. In its 20-page report
to the Supreme Court, which had entrusted
the task to the human rights body, NHRC
said the wrong estimation of the below poverty
line (BPL) families by the Centre, which
is 18 lakh less than the actual number of
50.19 lakh, people are not getting adequate
quantity of foodgrains every month under
the Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY). Terming
poverty as the 'greatest violator of human
rights', NHRC requested the Centre to raise
the allocation of rice to 35 kg per month
to each of the 50.19 lakh BPL households,
who are now getting only 25 kg a month so
that the family members can at least be
assured of two square meals a day. It noted
from the reports of its investigation team
that there is a huge pendency of unsettled
claims under the National Family Benefit
Scheme (NFBS) in every districts of the
KBK region. A decision is yet to be taken
on the The Orissa government's request the
to Centre for release of Rs 50 crore to
clear the pending claims of 53,254 beneficiaries,
including 12,268 from KBK region, under
NFBS. NHRC said the Centre is under an obligation
to pay that amount and requested the Women
and Child Development Department to take
urgent action in this regard.
Courtesy:
economictimes.indiatimes.com, October 04,
2006
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S
Shanthi
Is
the Gen-X influenced by movies? Yes, at
least that's what Lage Raho Munnabhai seems
to have done. Places like Rajghat and Gandhi
Smriti Museum, which on a normal day do
not report any rush, were crowded with youngsters,
kids and their families on Monday, the 137th
birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. Every
year, we sell Gandhi books, pens and pendants
and people do buy them. However this year,
the response has been tremendous. I have
already sold 30 pens, said a member of Gandhi
Hindustani Sahitya Sabha (GHSS), who puts
up a stall every year. The day at Rajghat
seemed to be like any other Gandhi Jayanti
day in the morning, with the visits of VIPs
including President A P J Abdul Kalam and
Sonia Gandhi. However, as the day proceeded,
more and more people started coming. This,
in spite of Dussehra falling on the same
day. We thought it's important to teach
children about non-violence and satyagraha.
And, today is the perfect day to do that,
said Mamta Sharma, mother of ten-year-old
Pankaj. Hundreds of people have come here
since morning with their families. Even
some schools had organised trips today,
said Srikanth Tiwari, a security guard at
Rajghat. Those children were then taken
to Gandhi Smriti later and taught about
Mahatma's values.
The
sabha had also put up a pandal in Rajghat
and all its members spent the entire day
there singing bhajans like Raghupati Raghava
Raja Ram. It also saw women and kids sitting
with Charkas and promoting the importance
of Charkas. The main motive of the Sabha
is to spread Gandhian values. Its more important
today than ever to preach non-violence.
It seems people have forgotten about it.
Now, with the release of the movie every
one is talking about it. But, better late
than never. My only wish is that it should
continue. The hype might die in some days,
but people should continue spreading Mahatmas
ideologies, said Gulchand Das, a member
of the sabha. The sabha had also organised
a mela at Gandhi Smriti museum, where it
had put on Bapu's books. Rajghat Samadhi
Committee also organised a Sarva-Dharma
Prarthana in the morning, which was inaugurated
by minister S Jaipal Reddy. However, the
highlight of the day was the presence of
P Mudgill Swami, a freedom fighter, who
turned 96 on Monday. "I feel proud that
I share my birthday with Bapu. Today's kids
don't know anything about Gandhiji. It's
important to teach them, before the world
becomes a bad place to live,"he said.
Courtesy:
economictimes.indiatimes.com, October 04,
2006
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Outsourcing
to India Faces UK Heat
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Rashmee
Roshan Lall
A
leading data protection lawyer, who played
a starring role in a forthcoming British
television documentary that claims thousands
of credit card and passport details of UK
customers were sold to a middleman for as
little as £ 5 each, has told TOI the "evidence
is so compelling" it is bound to trigger
an official chain reaction against outsourcing
to India. Stewart Room, the data protection
lawyer who features in the Channel 4 investigation
and runs Britain's authoritative National
Association of Data Protection Officers,
said the "very impressive evidence uncovered
by Channel 4 will encourage the UK's Information
Commissioner to treat more acutely data
protection breaches from outsourcing". Room
said the documentary, which is sure to cause
"any right-thinking person to be deeply
concerned about outsourcing to India" was
likely to set-off a bolder, brand new and
more bullish movement to stem off-shoring.
Room's dark predictions came as Britain's
largest manufacturing union said it planned
to whip up a political storm and turn up
the volume on its public "concerns" about
poor data protection measures in Indian
call centres. The grim fallout of the Channel
4 television documentary, 'The Data Theft
Scandal', started in the UK on Tuesday,
a full 48 hours before it is broadcast.
In an ominous sign, Silicon.com, UK's net
newspaper for IT that receives a staggering
three-million page impressions a month,
warned that the scale of Channel 4's revelations
meant " India's Nasscom cannot go for a
head-in-the-sand approach".
Silicon.com's
Andy McGue pointed out that the new investigation
was "just the latest in a string of undercover
operations exposing such criminal acts in
Indian call centres". McGue said the Indian
call centre industry needed urgently to
"reassure the British customer and stress
that it has measures in place to catch perpetrators
of such crimes". Channel 4 has also hit
back at Nasscom for questioning its veracity
and motives in undertaking the operation.
Channel 4 confirmed receipt of a legal notice
from Nasscom asking for a clearer picture
of who sold what data to whom. In a crucial
change to the content of its documentary,
it said it planned to include Nasscom's
comments in the broadcast. But it added
that contrary to Nasscom's claims, the "data
(bought and sold by its undercover reporter)
was genuine and only in very small amounts".
It insisted that it was "not encouraging
criminal behaviour" and merely trying to
draw public attention to "serious failures
in Indian call centres". Rejecting allegations
from a section of the Indian call centre
industry that it had played into hands of
British "vested interests" opposed to outsourcing
to India, Channel 4 said the 12-month-long
investigation was undertaken "to find out
if it (criminal sale of customers' data)
was still happening in India this affects
British customers". A spokesman for Amicus,
the UK's largest manufacturing union, with
over one million members in the public and
private sectors, said the documentary merely
confirms its worst suspicions. "We have
been consistently warning British employers,
the Financial Services Authority and the
(British) government that the same level
of data protection does not exist in India",
Amicus said. In a move that experts said
could be the start of long, negative campaign
to discredit the Indian call centre industry,
Amicus said it planned to meet British members
of parliament to ask the right questions
about the rationale of off-shoring to India.
Pointing out that Indian off-shoring had
lost its membership 2,000 jobs over the
years, Amicus said it was angry that this
had resulted in less "well managed change"
with British workers increasingly seeing
their jobs exported to India, whilst Indian
call centres increasingly sold sensitive
personal data belonging to UK customers.
Courtesy:
economictimes.indiatimes.com, October 04,
2006
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Three
UNLF Militants Nabbed at Delhi Airport
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Three
members of Manipuri militant outfit United
National Liberation Front (UNLF), including
two of its self-styled Lt Colonels, were
arrested from the Indira Gandhi International
Airport. Jayant Kumar, Ghanshyan Kumar and
Shyam Kumar were nabbed by Special Cell
personnel of the Delhi Police on Monday
night when they reached the airport to board
a flight to Nepalese capital Kathmandu.
A pen drive containing minute details about
the deployment of army and paramilitary
forces in the north-eastern states besides
information about the outfit's source of
funding and its cadre-strength were seized
from their possession, a senior police official
said. While Jayant Kumar and Ghanshyan Kumar
identified themselves as Lt Colonels of
the outfit, Shyam Kumar said he was a facilitator,
the official said, adding they were going
to Kathmandu to attend a meeting. According
to sources, it was a joint operation by
the Delhi Police, Intelligence Bureau and
the Immigration Department. Significantly,
the arrest comes at a time when Delhi and
several other airports in northern parts
of the country have been put on a high alert
following intelligence inputs that Pakistan-based
terrorists may attempt to hijack an aircraft.
Authorities at the IGI airport and senior
officials of CISF reviewed the security
situation following the arrest of the UNLF
members, sources said.
Courtesy:
economictimes.indiatimes.com, October 04,
2006
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Shooting
in Lal Chowk in Srinagar
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Militants
on Wednesday fired at a CRPF camp in the
busy Lal Chowk area, officials said. The
militants also lobbed a grenade into a hotel
in the area, injuring a civilian, a CRPF
spokesperson said adding that a gunbattle
between the ultras and the security forces
was on in the area. Security forces have
sealed the entire Lal Chowk, Maisuma and
other adjacent localities, he said. The
exact number of militants involved in the
attack was not immediately known, he added.
Many civilians, including employees of some
government and private offices, have been
caught in the gunfire. A staffer of a local
newspaper, Daily Aftab, said they were not
allowed to move out of their offices by
the security forces and that they feared
for their lives due to the ongoing gunbattle.
Courtesy:
economictimes.indiatimes.com, October 04,
2006
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Al-Mansoorian
Behind Srinagar Attack
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Militant
outfit Al-Mansoorian has claimed responsibility
for the attack on a CRPF camp on Akhara
building in Lal Chowk area, in which four
civilians were injured. A caller claiming
to be a spokesman of Al-Mansoorian telephoned
a local news agency Current News Service
to own responsibility for the attack. He
said three militants of the outfit were
involved in the attack and their target
was Akhara building housing CRPF personnel.
Courtesy:
economictimes.indiatimes.com, October 04,
2006
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Karishma
Bhansali-Mehta
Gandhigiri
has spread as far as Belgium this month,
thanks to Antwerps Indian Diamond community.
The theatre production Of "Sammy! The word
that broke an empire," a play about the
life of Mahatma Gandhi will be featured
as part of the grand Brussels Bozar Indian
cultural festival starting this weekend.
The idea of including 'Sammy!' as part of
the Indian extravaganza was initiated by
Gira Gratier, a longtime Brussels resident
born in India. Gratier is the India festivals
cultural adviser. After watching 'Sammy!'
in Mumbai, she took the onus of bringing
the play to Belgium.Gratier organised the
Belgian debut of 'Sammy!' by securing a
large amount of funds from Antwerp's Indian
diamond community and convinced Bozar to
include the play in its official programme.
'Sammy!' has been written by Indian playwright
Partap Sharma. It is a Mumbai-based Prime
Time Theatre production directed by actress.
Lillette Dubey and has won four top Indian
theatre awards this year. The English-language
play will also be translated in Belgium's
two national languages, French and Dutch
to cater to the local audience. Financing
for 'Sammy!' has been jointly provided by
the Antwerp-based diamond brokerage and
consultancy firm, Bonas and Couzyn NV, and
the Antwerp Indian Association.
"Theatre
is the best way to portray today's India
as modern Indian theatre is world class.
Antwerp's Indian community has to be part
of the Bozar festival so we are glad to
be associated with 'Sammy!' It is a good
visiting card for us," said Chetan Choksi
managing director of Antwerp-based diamond
firm Diminco that has co-sponsored the play.
The Indian community and Bonas and Couzyn
have been very helpful in bringing 'Sammy!'
to Belgium, said Choksi who has played an
active part in helping Gratier with production
of Sammy in Belgium. Other co-sponsors from
Antwerp's Indian community are Arjav Diamonds
NV, Beltaj NV, Eurostar Diamond Traders
NV, Gembel European Sales NV and the State
Bank of India. "'Sammy!' is cast in a contemporary
mould and deals with a theme that can be
of relevance for the world today. We sincerely
believe that 'Sammy!' would be a wonderful
way to introduce young Europeans to the
experience of India," said Gratier. "This
play is very inspiring and it is driving
me to spend a lot of time on producing it,"
she continued, "The Antwerp Indian Community
agreed without reservation and fuss to support
and sponsor the play." 'Sammy!' explores
the inner conflict between the enlightened
Gandhi and the young protester in South
Africa. The play has toured internationally
and will be showing in Belgium from the
October 26 to 30.
Courtesy:
economictimes.indiatimes.com, October 04,
2006
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Pakistan
Party Leader has a Book on Kargil
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Pakistan
Muslim League (Nawaz) leader Mohammed Siddiqul
Farooque on Sunday launched his book Kargil:
Adventure or Trap. The book, launched at
a ceremony here, has been written in response
to Gen. Musharraf's book In the Line of
Fire. Released in Urdu and English, the
book reveals that the Indian military knew
about the Kargil operation a year before
it was put into practice. However, this
information was kept secret to catch the
Northern Light Infantry troops and mujahideen
unaware and turn the tables on the Pakistan
Army. Quoting from "authentic" documents,
the book reveals that the Indian military,
on the direction of its political leadership,
kept Gen. Musharraf's Kargil adventure a
complete secret to the extent that when
Brig. Surinder Singh, posted in the region,
tried to make it public, he was silenced
by then Army Chief Gen. V.P. Malik. The
author says that the corps commander of
Siachen had stocked the uniforms used by
the Indian military deployed at the world's
highest battlefield and distributed them
among the troops before the Kargil operation
was launched by Gen. Musharraf.
The
author also mentions the role of the Indian
intelligence agencies which had informed
their Prime Minister, home minister, home
secretary, Cabinet Secretary and DG military
operations about the details of Gen. Musharraf's
Kargil plan. When then Prime Minister Atal
behari Vajpayeee came to Pakistan by the
Lahore bus on a two-day state visit, he
was aware of Gen. Musharraf's plan. The
motive of his visit was to prove it to the
world that India wanted to make friends
with Pakistan with a view to installing
durable peace in South Asia. The author
also claims that Gen. Musharraf had suggested
troop withdrawal from Kargil. In fact, the
decision to pull back troops from Kargil
had been taken during the Musharraf-Zinni
meeting held on June 26, 1999, after which
the two met Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz
Sharif and tried to convince him to withdraw
troops from Kargil. The book also mentions
the benefits reaped by India and the losses
suffered by Pakistan during the operation.
Courtesy:
www.asianage.com, October 03, 2006
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Sitaram
Ayurveda Wins SSE Award
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The
Kerala-based Sitaram Ayurveda Pharmacy Ltd
(SAPL) has been selected for the small-scale
entrepreneur (SSE) national award 2005,
a company release said. The Finance Minister,
Mr P Chidambaram, will present the award,
consisting of a citation, plaque and cash
prize, to SAPL Managing Director, Mr D Ramanathan,
at a function in Delhi on October 7. The
annual award was instituted by the central
government to encourage small-scale industries
to excel in performance and efficiency.
The company is the first to receive the
good manufacturing practices (GMP) certification
in the ayurvedic medicines fiel d. Its factory
in Panamukku in Thrissur district is also
the first ISO 9001-2001 certified ayurvedic-manufacturing
unit in south India, the release said.
Courtesy:
www.thehindubusinessline.com, October 03,
2006
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