Allahabad, Jan 1 (IANS) The Sangam here reverberated with chants of priests after a large number of devotees took a dip on the second day of the annual Hindu festival of Magh Mela to ward off the “adverse impacts” of the lunar eclipse that coincided with the New Year.

After bathing at the Sangam – the confluence of the Ganga, Yamuna and mythical Saraswati rivers – the faithful performed yajna.

“Bathing at the confluence of the three rivers following a solar or lunar eclipse holds special significance for Hindus as it is believed it helps them gain salvation,” Devi Dayal Sharma, a priest, told IANS.

“I took a dip at the Sangam before 4 a.m. and since then a large number of devotees have come to me to conduct special prayers for them in order to minimise the adverse impacts of lunar eclipse,” he added.

After prayers, devotees provide the poor with money, food, clothes and so on.

“It’s a ritual that needs to followed after an eclipse. As per Hindu tradition, the donation to the poor made after an eclipse brings prosperity to the donors and their families,” Mangal Prasad Bajpai, another priest, said.

“Mythology says that a lunar eclipse generates negative energy. It is inauspicious to invoke the deities during an eclipse. So, the idols are covered by grass, neem leaves, or raw silk shroud to prevent the natural aura from being destroyed,” he added.

To participate in the Magh Mela, pilgrims have arrived from across the country and abroad and are staying at the marquees put up in the Mela area of around 1,400 acres.

“I am quite happy to start 2010 with a holy dip at the Sangam. It gives me a unique sense of satisfaction that I cannot express,” said Manoj Kumar, who along with his family members has come from Bikaner in Rajasthan to participate in the Magh Mela.

It is believed that taking a holy dip at the Sangam at this time strengthens life and makes it disease free. The Magh Mela will end Feb 12 on Mahashivratri.

Heavy security arrangements have been made for the festival.

“The entire area where the mela is being organised has been divided into five circles with 10 police stations,” Allahabad Deputy Inspector General of Police Chandra Prakash said.

“Officials from the Local Intelligence Unit (LIU), Special Task Force (STF) and Intelligence Bureau (IB) are also be assisting us,” he added.

Health authorities have made special arrangements for tackling swine flu at the place where thousands mingle close together.

“For handling swine flu cases, we have reserved 20 beds in the district hospital, while four beds have been reserved at the government hospital that has come up at the mela site,” Allahabad Chief Medical Officer R.D. Dwivedi said.

–Indo-Asian news Service

asit/sam/jg

Mumbai, Jan 1 (IANS) Bollywood star Bipasha Basu enthralled the audience with her dance performance at the Sahara Star hotel here on New Year’s Eve.

She took the stage twice, grooving to a vibrant mix of foot tapping numbers. During her first appearance she made the audience jig to title songs of her films “Race” and “Bachna Ae Haseeno”.

The second time she took the stage 10 minutes before midnight and charged up the atmosphere by performing to a medley of hit songs.

Actress Anjana Sukhani who acted in the movie “Golmaal Returns” was the other attraction of the night. She performed to a couple of popular tracks from her films along with “Marjawa”, a famous song from the movie “Fashion”.

Singer Sudesh Bhosle regaled the crowd with his songs and mimicry with Preety Pinki. The Indipop duo belted out some of their major hits.

By the time DJ Amann took the consol, the mood was already set so he just pepped up the night by churning out some hit numbers.

Shimla, Jan 1 (IANS) The Municipal Corporation of Shimla has started installing energy-saving streetlights in the city, an official said Friday.

“We are installing LED (light emitting diodes) streetlights in Shimla to save power. Initially, the lights were installed around Town Hall (housing the corporation office on the historic Ridge),” Shimla’s Assistant Municipal Commissioner K.K. Sharma told IANS.

He said 214 conventional streetlight points on the Mall, the pedestrian street between Chhota Shimla and Boileauganj, and from Scandal Point to Sanjauli would be replaced by LED fixtures.

“As many as 130 additional energy-efficient light points would be installed in various locations of the city. The entire replacement process would be completed by March this year,” the official said.

A Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board official said the power-saving streetlights have been financially supported by the Bureau of Energy Efficiency.

He said with the installation of new lights, the government is expected to save energy worth Rs.15-20 lakh per annum.

The ‘Queen of Hills’, as Shimla was fondly called by the British, was the summer capital of British India. Some of the monuments and buildings constructed by them in typical Tudor style – all wooden frames and shingled eaves – are still in existence.

More than 60 years after the British left, this Himalayan town still attracts their descendants who are eager to know their roots.

Kolkata Jan 1 (IANS) The euphoric mood in the city over Christmas and the New Year has rubbed off on the world’s oldest profession. Sex workers from different states and West Bengal’s small towns and villages have descended in Kolkata to make a quick buck, while the locals are also minting more money.

North Kolkata’s red light area Sonagachi, considered Asia’s largest, has become the temporary residence of a large number of outstation sex workers. Every year from Christmas to New Year’s Eve, there is a sharp rise in number of sex workers coming from outside.

“Every year during Christmas and New Year, hundreds of sex workers from different parts of the country come to Sonagachi to earn more as during the festive season, there is a sharp rise in the number of customers. The sex workers from Sonagachi also move to other metros and cities,” said an official of Durbar Mahila Samannay Committee, one of the largest NGOs working in the city’s red light areas.

During the season, the income of a sex worker in Kolkata goes up by 50 percent.

Anju (name changed), a commercial sex worker, has come from a remote district in West Bengal to earn more so that she can bring up her three children who are back home in the safe custody of their grandmother.

“Every year during New Year’s Eve I come to Kolkata with a hope to earn more so that I can bring up my children in a better way. The city has never deserted me,” she said.

New Delhi, Jan 1 (IANS) The other half of the capital who were denied access to the glitzy venues of New Year eve parties in lighted mansions and five-star hotels huddled on the chilly streets with bonfires, packets of junk food, cheap liquor and and a bit of compassion.

For those who did not have anyone to party with even on the streets, it was just another freezing night under a threadbare blanket on the road sides and in makeshift shelters.

In a dark corner of South Extension Part 1, just outside the windows of sprawling lifestyle stores and jewellery shops, 17-year-old Ram Shankar and five of his teenage friends, who push carts for a living, lit a small bonfire with dry maize stalks and leaves to celebrate the close of 2009.

Between them were three packets of potato wafers, a bottle of Coca Cola, a pack of beedis and lots of goodwill, but little cash because of a lull in business.

The boys belong to a village in north Bihar near Kishanganj.

“Every year for the past seven years we have been partying in our own little way on the street side,” Ram Shankar told IANS. The group exchanged notes on the day’s earnings, broke into Bhojpuri songs at the stroke of midnight and talked about their home in Bihar.

Seventy-year-old Anand Bihari, a tsunami survivor from Kerala, did not have anyone to share his joy with. Anand, a resident of Asshray Adhikar Abhiyan, an old age home near the Old Delhi Railway station, mourned the family he lost in the tsunami in silence Thursday night.

“I have been here for the past four years since I left home in 2005 soon after the tsunami struck the coast and devastated my village in Kerala. I lost my home and my family to the storm. I went around the country looking for shelter and a job – but after one year, I realised that no one was ready to give me a job. I begged for a year and then found shelter here,” Bihari told IANS.

For 67-year-old Roshan Lal, another inmate of the Asshray Adhikar Abhiyan, his New Year Eve’s incentive was money for a meal from his employer and a few minutes on a mobile borrowed from the owner of the shop where he works to talk to his family.

Cart-pusher Krishna Murti who came to the capital from Agra in 2008 met his son after four months Thursday. The reunion was nostalgic. “My son, a daily wage earner, had been saving money to come to Delhi. We went round the city and saw all the historical relics,” Murti told IANS.

The week since Christmas has been tough for 250 homeless children of the Salaam Balak Trust, a non-profit organisation that provides shelter and vocational training to 250 inmates of a destitute boys’ home and supports 3,000 street children in the capital.

There were no celebrations at the boys’ home managed by the trust in Old Delhi.

“We have been almost going around with a begging bowl over the last month as we lost 50 percent of our funding during the year as our donors in the US and UK stopped contributing because of the economic slowdown,” social activist-filmmaker Sanjoy Roy, who is associated with the trust, told IANS.

“Our annual budget is Rs.2.2 crore, but we could only raise Rs.60 lakh. This month we were down to our lifeline of Rs.500,000. It was difficult to take care of the kids. We even thought of shutting down several training centres,” Roy said.

He hoped that the “trust would be able to raise enough funds this year”.

New Year’s Eve in general was a bleak affair for the 100,000 homeless people, mostly men, in the capital with shrinking incomes and a paucity of night shelters.

Unlike previous years, the number of street parties and way side bonfires were few – and the bonhomie was missing.

“Night shelters accommodate a maximum of 7,000 people which is only a fraction of the homeless. The rest of the destitute have nowhere to go, but occupy the pavements. The good samaritans have all disappeared,” an official of Asshray Adhikar Abhiyan told IANS.

However, exceptions like MSAAS – an NGO – made up for the sense of desolation that gripped the other half in the capital over the last week.

The organisation, which rehabilitates child labourers and street children – hosted an open party at the New Delhi Railway station.

New Delhi, Jan 1 (IANS) Relatively warm weather greeted Delhiites on the first day of the New Year Friday. There was a rise in the mercury, with the minimum temperature settling at 6.6 degrees Celsius.

Shallow fog engulfed the capital early Friday, delaying a few morning flights to and from the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA).

“Skies will remain clear during the day with the maximum temperature settling around 21 degrees Celsius,” an India Meteorological Department (IMD) official said.

The weatherman has forecast a further rise in the temperature Saturday with the minimum likely to hover around 7 degrees Celsius.

Delhi last weekend saw the minimum temperature dropping to 5.2 degrees Celsius, the season’s lowest so far.

New Delhi, Jan 1 (IANS) To study the impact of global warming on marine life in the seas around India, the government has embarked on a major project to give them DNA barcodes to “create inventories of biodiversity”.

The earth sciences ministry has asked the Centre for Marine Living Resources and Ecology (CMLRE) at Kochi to start the work on DNA barcoding of marine biodiversity.

DNA barcoding is a method that uses a short genetic marker in an organism’s DNA to identify it as belonging to a particular species. Barcoding a species costs Rs.10,000-15,000.

“We have initiated a scheme for DNA barcoding as part of our efforts under Census of Marine Life to create inventories of biodiversity. We had some meetings and a framework document has been prepared for initiating the project,” V.N. Sanjeevan, director CMLRE, told IANS.

Barcoding initially began with butterflies and fish. It worked well, and attempts have been made to apply this technique to other marine organisms.

In India barcoding of marine organisms began with a hands-on training, the first of its kind in the world, organised three years ago during the Indian Ocean Census of Marine Life (IOCOML). Since then quite a few teams have taken this up in earnest and have come out with gene sequences for about 200 marine organisms from the seas around India.

“Among the several government agencies in India, the Ministry of Earth Sciences has recognised the value of barcoding of marine organisms and is in the process of initiating a national project on this. The Ministry of Agriculture has barcoding projects for freshwater fishes and domesticated animals,” Mohideen Wafar, chairperson IOCOML, told IANS.

Barcoding allows researchers to track changes in the environment due to human influence, pollution and global warming.

“Barcoding also provides advantage in wildlife conservation – even when a protected organism is butchered and beyond visual identification, DNA sequence from a few milligrams of tissue can confirm its identity,” said Wafar.

“The best example in India is the case of whale shark. This is a protected species but recently one was caught by some fishermen in Kerala and pieces of its flesh, under a different name, were sold in the market. The wildlife authorities arrested the people and, in the absence of other evidence, could get the confirmation that the meat is indeed that of a whale shark by DNA sequencing,” he added.

Barcoding began in 2006 in India. As of now, the efforts are confined to groups like Annamalai University’s Centre of Advanced Study in Marine Biology and the National Institute of Oceanography in Goa.

“Less than 200 out of the 14,000 species known from Indian seas have been barcoded. This translates to about one percent. Given the number of potential marine species and the difficulties of barcoding some groups, it is difficult to set a time limit. But I would hope that at least 80-90 percent of known marine species get their barcodes in a decade,” said Wafar.

The scientists are also in the process of developing a hand-held barcode reader in which a tissue sample will be placed. Then the instrument automatically extracts the DNA, processes it, sequences it, compares with a set of data already stored in its memory and comes out with identification of the species.

“The year 2010 will be celebrated as the International Year of Biodiversity and that is one key reason the International Barcode of Life (iBOL) Project is scheduled for activation in mid-2010. India plans participation in this project as a regional node together with 25 other nations,” Wafar said.

(Richa Sharma can be contacted at richa.s@ians.in)

Toronto, Jan 1 (IANS) An Allahabad-born scientist of Indian origin has been given Canada’s highest civilian award – the Order of Canada.

Shrawan Kumar was honoured Thursday for his three decades of pioneering research on workplace injury and the spine at the University of Alberta.

Born in Allahabad, Kumar is an alumnus of Allahabad University where he did his masters in zoology. After his higher studies in Britain, he worked from 1971 to 1973 at the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences where he set up the first biomechanics laboratory.

Before landing in Canada in 1974, he was an assistant director at the Central Labour Institute in Mumbai.

Kumar is among 57 prominent Canadians who have been given the nation’s highest civilian award for their excellence in various fields.

Bestowing the highest Canadian award on Kumar, Governor General Michaelle Jean said he has been honoured for “his contributions to the field of rehabilitation ergonomics, in Canada and abroad, notably in his research and teachings on the causation, prevention and treatment of musculo-skeletal injuries”.

Kumar, who joined the faculty at the University of Alberta in Edmonton in 1977, has done path-breaking research, published and taught on ergonomics, occupational health and lower back pain for three decades. He retired from the Canadian university two years ago and moved to Fort Worth in Texas to join the faculty at the University of North Texas.

“I feel honoured as well as humbled by the award. It is Canada’s highest honour…the feeling has not yet sunk in,” Kumar told IANS on phone from Texas.

“I am an inter-disciplinary scientist and my research covers various disciplines from engineering to medicine to biology. My work involves orthopaedic research, occupational health, rehabilitation health etc,” he said.

Kumar said he was looking forward to his February visit to India where he is to deliver talks at the Lucknow Medical College and the Defence Institute of Physiology and Applied Sciences in Delhi.

The Order of Canada was established in 1967 to mark the centenary of the formation of the Canadian Confederation.

Over the last 40 years, more than 5,000 people, including many Indian-Canadians, have been given this honour.

Recipients will be formally given the honour at a special ceremony in Ottawa later.

Berlin, Jan 1 (DPA) Getting over a broken heart begins with a pair of wool socks at Elisabeth Stoffel-Laeufer’s practice.

Stoffel-Laeufer counsels people who have suffered a break-up in an old building in Freiburg, south-western Germany which has long windows that let in plenty of daylight. The first thing her broken-hearted patients must do is take off their shoes and put on fluffy warm socks. By their last session, most have talked their frustrations out and have new hope for the future.

That is how Stoffel-Laeufer presents her psychological counselling services, saying nearly everyone has to go through the experience of a broken heart at some point in their life.

“Some people survive this phase without much hurt, while others need help,” according to the counsellor. She runs her practice in an upscale Freiburg neighbourhood. “People who come to me first want to talk,” she said. More than anything, she gives them her ear as an active listener.

“Disappointment in seeking love or a sudden break-up of a relationship can send a person crashing into a deep crisis. Many feel incapable of action, no longer take interest in anything and isolate themselves,” said Stoffel-Laeufer in describing the symptoms she sees in her patients. They refuse invitations, their jobs become aggravating and they are threatened with social isolation.

“The danger of heartsick people becoming depressed is great,” said Stoffel-Laeufer who discovered a market niche in lovesickness and developed it into a business idea.

“In this area there is obviously a need,” said Werner Weishaupt, president of Germany’s association of psychotherapists, alternative medicine practitioners and psychological counsellors. The person who is left in many cases feels alone with his or her worries and needs the help of experts.

“The social support in society has declined,” said Weishaupt, adding that advice doled out by the family is often unsolicited and can be seen as partial. This is why people who have gone through a break-up seek professional counselling.

Stoffel-Laeufer got into the field in a roundabout way. She studied philosophy, the German language, literature and geography, then taught German to foreigners. She then returned to school, pursuing an education in psychological counselling. That led to a job in a religious organisation.

She opened her practice for the lovesick a little over six months ago. Since then she has had 11 clients, mostly women between the ages of 30 and 50, who pay 60 euros ($86) an hour for a place on her couch.

“Of course, men are not immune from lovesickness,” she said. “They are just less inclined to talk about it.”

Her consultations are without pressure. There’s no fingers raised in accusation. It’s much more about opening an ear and when appropriate offering restrained advice.

“Lovesickness is often just the first trickle from an entire bucket of problems that spill out,” said Thordis Bethlehem, vice president of Germany’s professional association for psychologists. It is not, however, a true sickness and therefore cannot be treated by therapeutic methods. In severe cases regular and open conversations can help.

Usually the pain disappears on its own, said Bethlehem. Above all it’s important not to close oneself off and to talk about the problems with friends.

San Francisco, Jan 1 (DPA) While most dog pounds in the US complain of having too many pitbulls and large mongrels that are difficult to find homes for, dog pounds on the west coast are crowded with fashionable Chihuahuas.

“We’re busy looking after Chihuahuas. It’s driving us crazy,” complains Deb Campbell, spokeswoman for San Francisco’s dog shelter.

A third of all dogs in San Francisco’s pound are Chihuahuas. It is the same story in Los Angeles, Oakland, Berkeley and San Jose where the small trendy dog with pointed ears and oversized eyes is taking up space to a degree never seen before. The problem has become so big it now has its own name: “Paris Hilton Syndrome”.

The phenomenon is one that only affects California. “People from the east coast to the southern states who heard about our problem have been calling us asking if we can send them a Chihuahua,” says Campbell.

Adam Goldfarb, from the US animal protection organisation The Humane Society, told the San Francisco Chronicle he has been “totally surprised” by the flood of Chihuahuas in the west. “They would be happy just to see one of those dogs in Minnesota, Maine or Kentucky.”

Animal rights activists in California have put part of the blame for the problem on Hollywood. Celebrities such as Paris Hilton, Britney Spears, Hillary Duff and Mickey Rourke are often seen in public sporting Chihuahuas. Actress Reese Witherspoon’s character in the movie “Naturally Blond” had a Chihuahua called Bruiser, and Chloe the star of Beverly Hills Chihuahua has helped turn the breed into a fashionable accessory.

According to the latest figures gathered by Los Angeles’ city authority, Chihuahuas hold the number one spot for newly registered dogs. Dog breeders managed to react quickly to the demand but it turns out there is a bitter side to the boom in Chihuahuas.

“People who bought Chihuahuas thought that because they are so small and can fit into a handbag that they would have a cool companion. They didn’t think that having a dog means giving it a lot of care and training or that the breed is susceptible to sickness and costs a lot of money to keep healthy,” explains Kim Durney of the animal protection organisation, Grateful Dogs Rescue.

It appears high veterinary costs at a time of economic crisis have ruined the fun of

having a cute Chihuahua.

About half of the 66 Chihuahuas in the care of Grateful Dogs Rescue seeking new homes are stray dogs. Eight-year-old Madge was found on the streets of San Francisco and has been looking for a new owner since November. Seven-year-old Chico was deposited at the pound in October by his owner.

“A few years ago they would have been adopted straightaway because there used to be so few of them. But now they have to wait,” says Campbell.

California’s dog pounds are concentrating on finding prospective Chihuahua owners far from Hollywood. The city of Oakland has already transported more than 100 Chihuahuas to Oregon, Washington and Arizona with the help of volunteers. There is talk of establishing Chihuahua “Air Bridges” to other states where the breed is in demand.

Hollywood actress Katherine Heigl recently donated some of her own money to help 25 stray Chihuahuas who were scheduled to be put down. It cost her $25,000 to transport them by air from Los Angeles to New Hampshire where they were received by fans of the lap dog.