The Cabinet Secretary is reported to have returned the draft reservation bill that the Law and HRD Ministries had forwarded.
The bill, which is apparently found to be lacking in some regards, will ultimately be sent for the approval of the Union Cabinet.
NDTV has learnt that the Cabinet Secretary B K Chaturvedi has told the HRD Ministry to take the Election Commission's view on whether the decision can be pushed through right now or whether it should wait till the assembly elections get over in five states.
Arjun Singh defiant
But HRD Minister Arjun Singh appears to be defiant.
Sources close to him say he plans to send the cabinet note and draft bill back to the Cabinet Secretariat at the earliest possible so that the Cabinet can take it up soon.
On Sunday, Singh had denied that he violated the model code of conduct by announcing reservations for OBCs in centrally funded universities ahead of assembly elections in some states.
The Election Commission had raised objections that the proposal has been announced while elections are on and therefore violates the model code of conduct.
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Delhiâs good samaritans
 <b>Delhiites lend a helping hand to relatives of victims </b>
 Priya Kapoor
New DelhiÂ
ON WEDNESDAY one saw the humane side of Delhi at Safdarjung Hospital when many good Samaritans were found lending a helping hand to the relatives of the Meerut fire who have been waiting anxiously here since Tuesday morning.
âItâs our duty to help these victims in time of crisis. How can we forget the bomb blast that took place in Sarojini Nagar last year. At that time also we lent a helping hand.
There is already a tent set up where people are taking rest, we will be putting up another tent. Fifteen more beds have been arranged for relatives of the patients,â said Ashok Randhava, who has a shop of bedsheets in Sarojini Nagar.
Mr Randhava is not alone in his mission. He is joined by Ravinder Kumar Sahani and Sanjeev Sharma.
âIf someone is in need of blood, we are ready to help. There are more people with us who would like to donate blood,â said Ravinder, who has a sweets shop in Munirka.
Sanjeev added, âMy house is nearby. All those people who do not have any relative in Delhi can stay at my place. I have told this to the medical superintendent. The condition of relatives of victims is also bad. They have been here since Monday. And they are not being able to take proper rest too.â The victimsâ relatives at the hospital too were satisfied with those lending them a helping hand.
âThese people are themselves coming to us and giving us food and water. They have also made arrangements for tea and coffee. We are very thankful to them. Our only concern is the health of the people who are inside,â said relative of one victim.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Frequent contributor to IF
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Dr. Babu Suseelan, Psychologist and author, talks about the nature of terror and the specific methods terrorist groups use to maintain power over their members, such as trageting fringe or vulnerable groups.
Dr. Suseelan takes a psychological approach to terrorist groups and countries, suggesting that terrorist leaders have an addictive personality. Their members, which Dr. Suseelan likens to capturs in a bank robbery, themselves become addicted to the ideology and program of the terrorist group. Just as an addict is weaned off a substance, so capturs must break free from their wall of denial and be psychologically de-programmed.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
The Indian state of Andhra Pradesh has passed legislation weakening its laws against bigamy.
The move is said to be designed to make it easier for people involved in bigamous relationships to reach an informal compromise or settlement.
It is thought to be the first state to introduce such an amendment.
But it has also raised concern over its possible impact on women.
Bigamy is illegal throughout India, with the exception of the Muslim community which is exempted from the anti-bigamy law on religious grounds.
For a spouse to be prosecuted, the case against them can only be brought by a wronged spouse.
For example a first wife may file a complaint against her legal husband who has subsequently married a second woman.
But once the case is filed, the state then prosecutes the bigamous spouse, under criminal law.
Legal battle
The amendment now introduced in Andhra Pradesh gives the accusing spouse the right to withdraw charges and end a prosecution, even once it is under way.
The state's Law Minister, P Chandrashekhar, told the BBC that he wanted to make it easier for parties to reach an informal compromise or settlement out of court, especially because legal proceedings could drag on for many years.
He said instances of bigamy had not increased but did exist in rural areas.
As a result of poverty and lack of education at village level, some people thought, he said, that they could divorce a spouse on the authority of the village council or even by rejecting their wife and sending her back to her family's home.
Many did not realise they had to apply formally to the courts for a divorce to be legalised.
Most of the cases are of men taking a second wife, rather than women taking a second husband.
The legal amendment, making it possible for an accuser to nullify a case under prosecution, will also apply to dowry harassment cases.
The law minister said this was also an attempt to make it possible for the parties to reach an informal settlement outside the court.
Concern
But one women's rights lawyer in Delhi told the BBC that she was concerned about the impact these amendments might have on women.
In both bigamy and dowry harassment cases, women in rural areas are often subject to pressure from their own families, worried about social stigma, or from their husbands, worried about criminal proceedings against them, not to file charges.
Some may even face verbal or physical threats or abuse as part of attempts to stop them pursuing a prosecution.
In other states, once the case is filed, the women is powerless to stop the prosecution and is less liked to be intimidated.
But in Andhra Pradesh, she could now face continuing pressure to withdraw charges and reverse the action.
<!--emo&<_<--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/dry.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='dry.gif' /><!--endemo--> Govt promises to end power woes
- NDTV Correspondent
Saturday, May 6, 2006 (New Delhi):
On a day when the capital sweated it out at 44 degrees Celsius, representatives from eight states, which draw power from the northern grid held a meeting with the Union Power Secretary.
The meeting came as a desperate measure to restore the power balance in northern India.
Maintenance work in 15 power plants has been put off as north India cannot afford any of these power plants to go offline.
"I agree that the health of the power plants might be affected in the long run but looking at the scenario right now and the demand supply ratio, this is the best we can do," said R V Shahi, Union Power Secretary.
Overdrawing power
North India is reeling under power cuts but the Power Secretary says things will look up soon.
The Naptha Jhakri project and Rajasthan windmill project will add another 1,600 MW to the northern grid in one week.
In the meantime those drawing power from the grid have been warned not to overdraw, especially Uttar Pradesh.
"After May 15 all our power plants will be in shape so we will not overdraw power from the northern grid anymore," said Ashok Kumar, Power Secretary, UP.
Traders relieved
The Delhi government meanwhile, clarified that shops in the city do not need to shut by 7:30 pm (IST) in the evening.
"From today we have started receiving 109 MW of power from Himachal Pradesh and we will get additional supply of 41 MW from Monday. Also as I had mentioned, we were supposed to get 210 MW of power from the Dadri power plant from May 15. We will start getting it now from May 12.
"I had also mentioned that if the situation improves, as it has as of today, the recommendation of the shops shutting down by 7:30 pm and commercial establishments to shut from 6:30 pm to 12:30 pm stands cancelled. But the decision over neon signs still continues. Neon signs will not be allowed to run between 7:00 pm and 11:00 pm," said Haroon Yusuf, Power Minister.
Another meeting will be held on May 31 to review the implementation of today's decisions.
<!--QuoteBegin-ben_ami+May 4 2006, 09:59 PM-->QUOTE(ben_ami @ May 4 2006, 09:59 PM)<!--QuoteEBegin-->i read a disturbing article about the bigamy scene in india in today's TOI. i could not find it in their online edition, but did find a BBC article.
HYDERABAD/CHENNAI/BANGALORE: That engineer K Suryanarayana had two wives became public only after his murder in Afghanistan, but the revelation isn't surprising in Andhra Pradesh, indeed in most of south India.
<b>In Tamil Nadu, bigamy is pretty much institutionalised and even has a name - Chinna veedu, which translates as 'small house' or second home. It is an age-old tradition surviving to this day despite its illegality.</b>
When DMK was in power in the state, security agencies had a tough time providing security to two houses for many ministers, as each of them had two wives.
Whether it was the late M G Ramachandran, or M Karunanidhi, they have all had it, and flaunted it. Karunanidhi has married at least three women, the first of whom is dead.
The DMK chief now divides his time in the houses of both wives - spending mornings at the Gopalapuram residence with Dayaluammal while moving to the house of his other wife, Rajathiammal, at CIT Nagar in Chennai in the afternoons.
Another towering Tamil actor, Gemini Ganesan, married five times while his first wife was alive. <b>The Chinna veedu concept is fairly common in Krishnagiri and Salem districts of TN, where males believe in more the merrier.
</b>
Actor-director K Bhagyaraj even made a Tamil movie called Chinna Veedu.
At least one top Union minister from Tamil Nadu is known to have two wives and so does a senior DMK official, <b>who married his daughter's classmate.</b> An academic said, <b>"The social sanction for two wives can be traced to religion and mythology. Lord Muruga, for instance, had two wives."</b>
In Andhra, bigamy doesn't have the traditional sanction it enjoys in TN, but the practice is fairly widespread among the powerful and even a status symbol.
the newspaper article also supplied a picture of a male andhra dancer with his two wives, who live as a happy three some (pic pissing in online version).
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->The DMK chief now divides his time in the houses of both wives - spending mornings at the Gopalapuram residence with Dayaluammal while moving to the house of his other wife, Rajathiammal, at CIT Nagar in Chennai in the afternoons.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
They should arrest him. It is illegal.
Tamil people around the world are being intimidated and threatened into giving money to Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels, according to a new report.
The extortion of money from Tamils living in North America and Europe has been stepped up recently to fund a "final war", says Human Rights Watch.
The rebels said the allegations were untrue and designed to discredit them.
A recent upsurge in violence between the rebels and security forces in Sri Lanka has cost at least 120 lives.
Sri Lankan officials and leaders of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) have agreed to curb the unrest and hold more talks in April on a threadbare truce.
Fear
Human Rights Watch says a new "aggressive and systematic fundraising drive" was launched by the Tigers in late 2005, coinciding with a sharp rise in violence in Sri Lanka.
Its report said some Tamils living overseas were being coerced and intimidated into giving the LTTE money.
About 800,000 Sri Lankan Tamils live abroad, mostly in the UK and Canada.
The report said many members of the Tamil diaspora or their relatives had "suffered human rights violations at the hands of the Sinhala-dominated Sri Lankan government" and actively supported the Tamil Tigers.
"But the culture of fear is so strong that even Tamils who don't support them [the rebels] still feel they have no choice but to give money," the New York-based group said.
It called on the governments of Canada and Britain to protect Tamils living there.
Those interviewed for the report talk of door-to-door teams making frequent visits and threatening violence against family members.
They say those collecting the money claim it is to fund a so-called "final war", although the rebels and the Sri Lankan government restarted are supposed to be in the middle of peace talks.
"Sri Lankan Tamils living in the West fear that if they speak out about Tamil Tiger abuses, they may put themselves and their families at risk," said Jo Becker, author of the report.
But rebel political leader SP Thamilselvan said the report was baseless.
"The LTTE does not have any agents or its members to go and collect money from anybody anywhere in the world," he told the BBC.
"What happens is the Tamils living overseas collect money because they know that these people are affected by war and therefore deserve assistance by their own brethren."
The Canadian Tamil Congress, a prominent expatriate group, said the report was based on "anecdotal evidence and misguided assumptions".
"There has not been a single prosecution for extortion in Canada amongst the Tamil community," it said.
Talks
Correspondents say financial contributions have made the Tamil Tigers into one of the world's richest militant organisations, as well as one of the most lethal.
The rebels are proscribed as a terrorist group in both the UK and the US.
The Tigers and the Sri Lankan government met in Geneva last month and agreed to abide by the fragile 2002 ceasefire. More than 60,000 people died during two decades of conflict in Sri Lanka.
The Tamil Tigers want autonomy for minority Tamils in the north and east.
President Mahinda Rajapakse has said the solution to the conflict lies in a unitary state.
I don't trust these reports, the fact is every Tamil I talked to in Toronto supports LTTE and Tamil Eelam and Toronto has the biggest Lankan Tamil community outside of Lanka. The Tigers may extort money but a lot of Tamils fund them voluntarily because they see them as the saviour of Tamils in Srilanka without whom the Srilankan gov't would have butchered them.
This is probably a dumb idea.. <!--emo&--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif' /><!--endemo--> <!--emo&--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tongue.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tongue.gif' /><!--endemo--> but I got this in an email from a colleague at work (she's not Indian)...in the form of a question. I did explain what the dress is called etc. but do read the comments in this post.
<!--emo&:angry:--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/mad.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='mad.gif' /><!--endemo-->
<b> Hindu-Muslim wedlock, up for a deadlock</b>
indianexpress.com
Press Trust of India
Posted online: Monday, June 12, 2006 at 2005 hours IST
Updated: Monday, June 12, 2006 at 2108 hours IST
Ahmedabad, June 12: The wedding between a Hindu girl and a Muslim man in Gujarat has run into trouble after the girl claimed that she was "forced into the marriage and kept in confinement."
The girl, Hetal Dave, who had married Allauddin on April 22, returned to her parentsâ house on June 7 after her parents approached the Gujarat high court, police officials probing the case said.
Both of them live in a village in Sabarkantha district but got married in Ahmedabad.
<b>"I was forced into this wedding by Allauddin. He took me to a Masjid on some pretext and forced me into marriage",</b> Dave said.
"When I protested, he threatened to kill my family members. After the Nikah I was taken to Anand, Surat and Vadodara. They did not allow me to communicate with my parents," Dave said.
Following the incident her parents had filed a police complaint and also approached a VHP functionary Babu Bajrangi who found out her whereabouts and claimed to have traced her out from the Sarkhej Roza mosque in Ahmedabad.
Bajrangi, who has in the past also claimed to have `rescued' Hindu girls who got married to Muslim men, said when contacted on the issue, "the girl was kept in a very bad condition. She was rescued on June 7 from Sarkhej Roza by VHP workers and the help of police."
hi i am a translator from Iran and i am searching for meaning of charan in this paragraph
âIn medieval India, for example, traditions like pad paintings of Rajasthan combined with royal eulogies sung by the charans and their counterparts informed popular history and the hegemony of the ruling ordersâ¦â
What is the meaning of charan in this paragraph? Leg and foot have no meaning here
<!--QuoteBegin-kami+Jul 6 2006, 07:51 PM-->QUOTE(kami @ Jul 6 2006, 07:51 PM)<!--QuoteEBegin-->hi i am a translator from Iran and i am searching for meaning of charan in this paragraph
âIn medieval India, for example, traditions like pad paintings of Rajasthan combined with royal eulogies sung by the charans and their counterparts informed popular history and the hegemony of the ruling ordersâ¦â
What is the meaning of charan in this paragraph? Leg and foot have no meaning here
The word you are talking about is "chAraN" in ITRANS transliteration scheme. This is an old hindi/rajasthani word. The sanskrit word for foot is "charaNa" .
chAraN's were court poets who wrote their kings' eulogies and also sang them. One of the most famous chAraNs was "chand-bardAI" who wrote Delhi king PrithvIrAj chauhAn's life story and his fights with Muhammad Ghori in his famous "prithvIrAj rAso", a 12th century classic, also called first major epic in Hindi language.
Posted on 29 June, 2006 # ANI
Ex-cricketer Sidhu's `Great Indian Laughter' show has no Indore fans
Indore: Actor Shekhar Suman and former Test cricketer-turned-politician
Navjot Singh Sidhu's "Great Indian Laughter" show may be popular across the
country, but has no takers in Indore.
<b>Indian and Pakistani bonhomie took a beating on Wednesday, when supporters
of a socially underprivileged community in Indore organised a massive
protest rally against derogatory remarks made by Pakistani comedians Irfan
Malik and Ali Hasan during the June 16 episode of the "Great Indian Laughter
Show".</b>
Holding placards and burning effigies of Suman, Sidhu and the two Pakistani
comedians, the protesters demanded an unqualified apology. The protesters
also confirmed that a complaint has been registered at the Ajak Police
Station on June 20 against Star One, the TV channel that aired the offending
episode on June 16.
<b>The director of the programme, Pankaj Saraswat, Suman, Sidhu, film star
Sunil Shetty, Ali Hasan and Irfan Malik were charged with hurting the
sentiments of the Valmiki caste.</b>
So furious was the protest, that police had to be summoned to convince the
demonstrators to end their agitation.
Rakesh Narwale, the general secretary of the Dalit Sewak Samaj, said: " "A
Pakistani contestant named Irfan Malik made derogatory remarks in the Great
Indian Laughter show, which was telecast on 16 June. He hurt the sentiments
of our whole community. <b>We cannot tolerate this and we will hold nation-wide
protest against the five persons Sunil Shetty, Shekhar Suman, Navjot Singh
Sidhu, Pankaj and Irfan Malik. </b>We have filed complaint against them. If they
are not arrested, we will organise a nation-wide protest."
Vijay Begde, a leader of the Youth Valmiki Samaj Sewa, said: "Irfan had said
that he will not visit the basti (the area) of Dalits. If the serial had
been shot in advance why did they not censor the avoidable words that has
hurt the sentiments of the people."
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/sad.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='sad.gif' /><!--endemo--> Cabinet Secretary returns draft reservation bill
--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif' /><!--endemo--> <!--emo&
--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tongue.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tongue.gif' /><!--endemo--> but I got this in an email from a colleague at work (she's not Indian)...in the form of a question. I did explain what the dress is called etc. but do read the comments in this post.