Daily Times India

Jaipur, Mar 11(ANI): Music lovers in Rajasthan had a festive time when many of them attended the ongoing ‘Anunaad’ -the National Folk Instrumental Festival- held at Jawahar Kala Kendra in Jaipur.

Over 150 folk instruments were displayed in the three-day-long festival, which started on Tuesday.

Artists from six states participated in the event to showcase rare and antique folk instruments of their respective states. (more…)

Bokaro, Marach 12 (IANS) A cache of weapons and explosive material was recovered from Jharkhand’s Bokaro and Hazaribagh districts and a Maoist commander and an arms supplier arrested, police said Thursday.

“In a joint operation in bordering areas of Bokaro and Hazaribagh district, we have seized 1,250 kg of ammonium nitrate, 343 cartridges, two .303 rifles looted from police, 50 detonators, 235 meter explosive wire and Rs.4 lakh cash,” Bokaro’s Superintendent of Police Saket Kumar Singh told reporters.

Bhuneshwar Mahto, a sub zonal commander of the banned Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) was arrested, and on his tip off, police arrested Kutubdidin, an arms supplier to Maoists.

Ranchi/Kolkata, March 11 (IANS) Backed by air cover, security forces Thursday pursued Maoists in eight districts of West Bengal and Jharkhand in a major crackdown, seizing a huge quantity of arms and destroying concealed rebel camps in thick forests.

Director General of Police Neyaz Ahmad told IANS: “Yes, operations have been launched in many places in Jharkhand. West Bengal has also joined the inter-state operation against Maoists.”

Officials said the drive against the outlawed Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) was on in West Singhbhum, East Singhbhum, Bokaro, Hazaribagh and Seraikela districts in Jharkhand as well as Purulia, West Midnapore and Bankura districts in nearby West Bengal.

An unspecified number of police and paramilitary personnel were involved in the coordinated operation that one Jharkhand police officer said began three days ago.

“Initially, the operation was kept a secret,” the officer told IANS on the condition of anonymity.

“The paramilitary forces and state police are sanitising the jungle areas. Some landmines have been recovered and four Maoist camps destroyed.

“The operation has air surveillance. Security forces have made a makeshift helipad in Saranda jungle area (in Jharkhand),” the officer added.

According to police sources, at least two helicopters, one each belonging to the Indian Air Force and the Border Security Force were providing aerial support to the security forces.

Ahmed added that the results of the operation were “very good”. “We have recovered a huge cache of weapons while security forces have entered deep into jungle areas.”

In Kolkata, however, Inspector General of Police Zulfiqar Husan told IANS that the offensive started only Thursday. He said three helicopters were used for aerial surveillance.

Said another official: “The move is to zero in on Maoists in bordering areas.”

West Bengal and Jharkhand are among half a dozen states most acutely affected by Maoist violence that have claimed thousands of lives. The four other states are Bihar, Orissa, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh.

Orissa could join the campaign soon, a police source added.

The offensive follows a surge in violent attacks blamed on the increasingly aggressive Maoists, who have repeatedly rejected appeals from the government to give up violence.

Vijay Raman, the special director general of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Wednesday met the Jharkhand police chief here to reportedly discuss the inter-state operations against Maoists.

On Feb 9, Home Minister P. Chidamabram met the chief ministers and top officials of Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Orissa, reportedly to give a final shape to the anti-Maoist drive.

Washington, Mar 11(ANI): United States President Barack Obama has appointed Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as the new certification authority to verify the Indo-U.S. civilian nuclear agreement after every six months.

“By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including section 301 of title 3, United States Code, I hereby delegate to you (Secretary of State) the functions conferred upon the President by section 204(c) of the United States-India Nuclear Cooperation Approval and Nonproliferation Enhancement Act (Public Law 110-369),” Obama said in a signed memorandum issued to the Secretary of State on Wednesday.

The section 204(c) of the United States-India Nuclear Cooperation Approval and Nonproliferation Enhancement Act (Public Law 110-369) states: “Not later than six months after the date of the enactment of the Act, and every six months thereafter, the (U.S) President shall transmit to the appropriate congressional committees a report on efforts by the United States pursuant to subsections (a) and (b).”

The Indo-U.S. civilian nuclear agreement, known also as the Indo-U.S. nuclear deal, refers to a bilateral accord on civil nuclear cooperation between the two countries. (more…)

New Delhi, March 11 (IANS) The Mughal Gardens at Rashtrapati Bhavan will be open to specially abled persons Friday, an official statement said Thursday.

Special arrangements have been made for differently abled persons to view the gardens Friday, a statement issued by the President House said.

The gardens will be open to defence and paramilitary personnel March 13 while farmers can visit March 14 from 10 a.m. onwards.

The gardens spread over 15 acres were opened to the public for a month on Feb 13.

Chandigarh, March 11 (IANS) The Haryana government has proposed setting up a migrants resource centre in the state to check illegal immigration and facilitate migration of skilled and unskilled workers to other countries, an official said Thursday.

Haryana Chief Secretary Urvashi Gulati Thursday sent a communication to the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in this regard.

“We have appealed to the UNODC to set up migrants resource centre in Haryana with the help of International Organisation for Migration (IOM). Earlier, we had also sent a proposal to the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs to set up pre-departure orientation centres at Panchkula and Gurgaon towns to assist prospective migrants,” Gulati said.

She added: “To curb illegal migration to other countries, we had set up overseas placement bureau, in 2007. It also helped the youth to get overseas employment by providing expert guidance to cater to the growing demand of both skilled and unskilled workers like technicians, IT professionals, engineers and doctors in foreign countries.”

According to official records, so far the overseas placement bureau has successfully placed applicants in Middle East countries. They have also received inquiries for physiotherapists in the US through its consultants.

Gulati said the practice of illegal immigration in Haryana is mainly prevalent in districts adjoining Punjab, like Ambala, Karnal, Kurukshetra and Kaithal.

“To keep a tab on unscrupulous agents, we have made it mandatory for the recruiting agencies and agents, who are facilitating job seekers to get an overseas job, to get registered with the government. Even in case of any marriage of an Indian citizen with a person of foreign domicile, we verify his/her details from the embassy of the respective country,” Gulati said.

Bhubaneswar, March 11 (IANS) Orissa plans to borrow at least 300 megawatts of electricity from three states to ease its power crisis caused due to the scanty rains last year, an official said Thursday.

“We are in talks with the governments of Assam, Uttarakhand and Punjab and they have assured to provide us about 300 MW power daily from April 1,” a state energy department official told IANS.

“They have assured us to provide the power on the condition that they will get it back when the situation in our state improves in July-August,” he said.

The demand for electricity in Orissa has gone up to more than 3,000 MW during peak hours, the official said, adding that there was a daily shortage of about 400 to 500 MW power.

The state has been witnessing power cut for more than two hours every day since the past over two weeks as the generation from its hydro power plants has come down to 300 MW and it is getting only 2,000 MW power from other sources.

Since March 9, the government has been reducing power supply to industries by up to 25 percent to deal with the shortage. It has also asked industries not to use electricity for at least one day in a week. The power cuts have led to protests from both industries and the people.

The state government this week asked the central government to allocate at least 500 MW of power daily from the unallocated share of the central generating stations till the situation improves, he said.

Gandhinagar, Mar 11 (ANI): Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi has been asked to appear before a Special Investigation Team (SIT) on March 21 to explain his role in a 2002 Gujarat riots case. (more…)

New Delhi, March 11 (IANS) India needs 57,847,217 more hygienic toilets to counter the practice of manual scavenging, attributed mainly to use of dry latrines, especially in rural areas, the government said Thursday. The practice is still rampant in many parts of the country despite a law abolishing it.

Around 23 states and all union territories have adopted the Employment of Manual Scavengers and (Prohibition) Act of 1993, which abolishes the age-old practice in which mostly Dalits clean faeces and carcasses with their bare hands.

“Two states, namely, Manipur and Mizoram, have reported that there are no dry latrines and the states are scavengers free. Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh have enacted their own act. Jammu and Kashmir is yet to adopt the act,” Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation Minister Kumari Selja told the Rajya Sabha in a written reply on the status of adoption and implementation of the law.

Although no fresh survey has been conducted to assess the implementation of the act, Selja presented some alarming figures that indicated that India lags far behind its target of constructing around 120 million toilets. It has constructed only 63,125,445 hygienic toilets in the total of 30 states and union territories as of March 8, 2010.

The minister said only the Uttar Pradesh government had reported 32,314 prosecutions under the act since April 2002, but fine was imposed on offenders only in 5,206 cases, just a sixth of the total cases.

Selja added that the central government’s Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC), which aims at ensuring sanitation facilities in rural areas and eradicating the practice of open defecation was “a demand driven project” implemented in 593 districts out of around 626 districts in the country.

The TSC is implemented by the department of drinking water supply while the rural development ministry has no data on dry latrines in rural households, Selja said.

“However, all households with dry latrines are required to be covered under the TSC for construction of individual household latrines,” she said.

Chennai, March 11 (IANS) As the bill reserving one-third of seats in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies awaits to be passed by parliament, Tamil Nadu’s ruling DMK party is planning to hold camps across the state to empower its women cadres in governance.

“We plan to train DMK party women in various aspects of governance. We want to groom our party women so that they are ready as and when the 33 percent reservation for women comes into effect,” Kanimozhi, party Rajya Sabha member and daughter of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.Karunanidhi, told IANS.

Tamil Nadu has already reserved 33 percent of seats in the local body elections for women and such camps will be useful for DMK cadres, she said, adding that a three-day camp was held in Nilgiri district in October for women party cadre from Coimbatore, Tirupur and Nilgiri districts.

Participants at the workshop were briefed on the role of women in public life and politics, the Indian Constitution and topics like women and media, elections, globalisation, the world food shortage, leadership and administration.

The workshop also covered government schemes from a feminist view point and the role of women in public life and politics were among the topics discussed.

“We will be holding such camps in other parts of the state,” Kanimozhi added.