COIMBATORE. 2 June (asiantribune.com): In the judicial history of Tamilnadu this is the first time a visually impaired judicial officer will hold court. His named: T Chakkaravarthy. He lost his vision when he was a toddler, but he never lost sight of his dream. On June 1, he created a history of sort with his selection.
In March 2009 the Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission (TNPSC) included him in the list of 180-odd candidates for the subordinate judiciary. And his 17-year dream to enter the judicial service materialised. He is now the proud occupant of III additional district munsif's chair in Coimbatore.
Born at Thimiri village near Arcot in Vellore district, this 41-year-old lost his eye sightt at four, when he was down with small pox.
On his first independent day in court on Monday, Chakkaravarthy heard cases on his own. Though he said he had struggled a lot to reach the position, and indicated that he might require the services of an assistant, he did not wish to elaborate on that. He said that being a judicial officer he would require permission from the High Court Registry to speak about himself and other related issues. Perhaps to assist him in his work, Chakkaravarthy's wife Thilaka is studying LLB now.
"This candidate did not require any special arrangements during his training and induction programme," said S Vimala, district judge and former director of the Tamil Nadu State Judicial Academy. Noting that Chakkaravarthy had cleared all requirements before his selection, Vimala said Chief Justice H.L. Gokhale met him during the induction training and assured him of the higher judiciary's all moral support to him.
The issue of visually impaired persons seeking to break into the judiciary is not new in Tamil Nadu. In 2003, authorities rejected a visually disabled candidate's application for a subordinate judiciary post. He had to file a writ petition seeking a direction to the authorities to permit him to write the examination. Though he managed to be short-listed from out of thousands of aspirants, the candidate stumbled at the interview stage, said a jurist who argued for the candidate.
The case, however, had triggered a serious debate on the issue, with questions such as what is handicap?' Referring to the half a dozen outstation judges, who were on transfer from other states, the jurist had argued that language was a barrier/handicap to those judges, and that they had to take the help of either a co-judge or the court staff for translation or interpretation.
When the bench, headed by justice Jayasimha Babu, asked as to how would the disabled person look into the eyes of the accused and assess the demeanour, the jurist argued that it was an old technique as "looks are deceptive nowadays." The bench relented finally and allowed him to write the examinations.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Digital Thirukkural, along with explanatory notes
CHENNAI: Thirukkural, in digital format, along with Kalaigner Karunanidhi’s explanatory note from his “Kuralovium”, has hit the market. Cast in micro chip, the world book of knowledge will capture the present-day global Tamils who are obsessed with western music and computers. . It comes with an attractive design with Thiruvalluvar’s idol and user friendly operation.
Madura Corp, manufacturers of chanting boxes 9 in one, 18 in one, 36 in one, 54 in one, 72 in one, ultimante chanters and madura mantra extreme chanter, under the brand name madura mantra, have now launched ‘Digital Tirukkural’ microchip that can recite all the 1330 couplets of the legendary Tamil savant Tiruvalluvar. It also has explanations in contemporary Tamil.
‘Kalaimamani’ Mutharasi Ravi, general manager, Madura Corp, said she had developed the idea based on the highly popular ‘digital Bible’ introduced in Denmark about a year ago. Her ‘path-breaking’ product that took two years to develop.
“All the three chapters of Aram (deeds), Porul (wealth) and Inbam (pleasure) comprising 133 chapters and holding 1330 kurals have been recorded in song pattern followed by Kalaignar’s explanatory notes,’ says Ms Mutharasi, explaining. She is the daughter of ‘Murasoli’ Sornam, Kalaigner Karunanidhi’s nephew.
The highpoint of the microchip, bearing the ceramic figure of Saint Tiruvalluvar, is that along with the couplet of choice, the user will be able to hear the kurals rendered by Sirkazhi Sivachidambaram. It also contains explanatory notes by Saradha Nambi Arurun, and reading from Kalaignar Urai, penned by DMK chief minister Karunanidhi.
The chip-player allows the user to switch between the desired athikarams (chapters) through the nine-hour rendering. Ms Mutharasi is confident that the microchip would be a great hit amid the 80 million Tamils across the globe — particularly the youth since it has ‘great’ music composed by Sikkil B. Balasubramaniam.
Sirkazhi Sivachidambaram says he worked for six months to match ragas for the 133 adhikarams. “Each adhikaram has been sung in a particular raga. I chose the ragas and experimented them on the various couplets,” he says. Digital ‘Thirukkural’ is priced Rs 3,000, and is available on enquiry to www.thirukkuraldigital .com or it can be ordered through 94449 90152.
Madura Corp, manufacturers of chanting boxes 9 in one, 18 in one, 36 in one, 54 in one, 72 in one, ultimante chanters and madura mantra extreme chanter, under the brand name madura mantra, have now launched ‘Digital Tirukkural’ microchip that can recite all the 1330 couplets of the legendary Tamil savant Tiruvalluvar. It also has explanations in contemporary Tamil.
‘Kalaimamani’ Mutharasi Ravi, general manager, Madura Corp, said she had developed the idea based on the highly popular ‘digital Bible’ introduced in Denmark about a year ago. Her ‘path-breaking’ product that took two years to develop.
“All the three chapters of Aram (deeds), Porul (wealth) and Inbam (pleasure) comprising 133 chapters and holding 1330 kurals have been recorded in song pattern followed by Kalaignar’s explanatory notes,’ says Ms Mutharasi, explaining. She is the daughter of ‘Murasoli’ Sornam, Kalaigner Karunanidhi’s nephew.
The highpoint of the microchip, bearing the ceramic figure of Saint Tiruvalluvar, is that along with the couplet of choice, the user will be able to hear the kurals rendered by Sirkazhi Sivachidambaram. It also contains explanatory notes by Saradha Nambi Arurun, and reading from Kalaignar Urai, penned by DMK chief minister Karunanidhi.
The chip-player allows the user to switch between the desired athikarams (chapters) through the nine-hour rendering. Ms Mutharasi is confident that the microchip would be a great hit amid the 80 million Tamils across the globe — particularly the youth since it has ‘great’ music composed by Sikkil B. Balasubramaniam.
Sirkazhi Sivachidambaram says he worked for six months to match ragas for the 133 adhikarams. “Each adhikaram has been sung in a particular raga. I chose the ragas and experimented them on the various couplets,” he says. Digital ‘Thirukkural’ is priced Rs 3,000, and is available on enquiry to www.thirukkuraldigital .com or it can be ordered through 94449 90152.
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Saga of ‘shoecide’ attacks
Muntadar Al Zaidi’s shoe-flinging act seems to have triggered a domino effect. After the Iraqi journalist threw the shoe at the then US President George Bush, quite a few audacious protestors around the world have emulated his act.
There was an incident in China. While the Chinese media underplayed the ‘shoecide’ attack on its Premier Wen Jiabao, the Indian media seemed to be more than delighted when a Sikh journalist Jarnail Singh flung a shoe at the country’s Home Minister P Chidambaram at a press conference in New Delhi over Congress ticket to an alleged accused in the anti-Sikh riots. Though visibly embarrassed, the Minister excused him, as otherwise, the incident would have been front page news for a long time. After playing the television footage of Singh’s ‘fling the shoe’ act all day and week over and over again, the Indian media is now prompt to record every single such incident.
An unidentified man flung a shoe at Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during an election rally in Ahmedabad recently, but the missile landed well short of the podium from where he was speaking. The Prime Minister stopped momentarily during his speech at Tagore Hall in Paldi locality as one of his Special Protection Group (SPG) personnel ran towards the spot where the shoe had landed. The shoe landed about 20 feet away. Police said the person who flung the white sneaker was near the press gallery in the first row. The man was pinned down by security personnel and taken away for questioning.
Interestingly many Indian politicians have been recently targeted by disgruntled members within their own political parties. First it was BJP leader LK Advani who artfully dodged a slipper hurled at him. And then it was Congress party member Naveen Jindal’s turn to avoid some leather. A retired school teacher decided he had had enough of the party’s political policies and decided to grab Jindal’s attention.
Congress Rajya Sabha MP Shantaram Naik joined the growing list of politicians dodging 'missiles' from the audience, after a food packet narrowly missed him during an election rally in a south Goa town recently. A Congress party worker, identified as Rama Desai, who was incidentally seated in the reporters' box, flung a food packet containing biryani, distributed to the workers, at him. As he flung the packet which narrowly missed Naik, Desai shouted: 'Tumhi sogle fatting (all of you are liars).'
Well, the usual victims of the politicians’ personal troubles – the policemen have an extra job on hand now – to provide ‘netted’ fences on the speaker’s dais as a protective measure. Gujarat’s Narendra Modi now has a occer-style net in front of the dais to stop any unexpected missiles! The journalists would have to remove shoes before going into press conference halls.
And as for the country’s politicians, they too know a thing or two about flinging things in legislatures. That TV camera grabbing gimmick has now trickled down to frustrated and disgruntled voters.
What do the general public think about it? They must be amused. Serves the politicians right, the people must be thinking. Because this kind of culture the politicians practice in the Parliament and Assemblies. In fact, many SMS jokes on the politicians’ latest plight are in circulation.
Sample this:
Q: What do you call a news reporter who hurls a shoe at a minister?
A: A Jarnailist!
Q: What prompted Jarnail Singh to hurl a shoe at Home Minister P Chidambaram?
A: Because his shoe brand said: “Just do it!”
May be it is time to do some “sole searching.”
There was an incident in China. While the Chinese media underplayed the ‘shoecide’ attack on its Premier Wen Jiabao, the Indian media seemed to be more than delighted when a Sikh journalist Jarnail Singh flung a shoe at the country’s Home Minister P Chidambaram at a press conference in New Delhi over Congress ticket to an alleged accused in the anti-Sikh riots. Though visibly embarrassed, the Minister excused him, as otherwise, the incident would have been front page news for a long time. After playing the television footage of Singh’s ‘fling the shoe’ act all day and week over and over again, the Indian media is now prompt to record every single such incident.
An unidentified man flung a shoe at Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during an election rally in Ahmedabad recently, but the missile landed well short of the podium from where he was speaking. The Prime Minister stopped momentarily during his speech at Tagore Hall in Paldi locality as one of his Special Protection Group (SPG) personnel ran towards the spot where the shoe had landed. The shoe landed about 20 feet away. Police said the person who flung the white sneaker was near the press gallery in the first row. The man was pinned down by security personnel and taken away for questioning.
Interestingly many Indian politicians have been recently targeted by disgruntled members within their own political parties. First it was BJP leader LK Advani who artfully dodged a slipper hurled at him. And then it was Congress party member Naveen Jindal’s turn to avoid some leather. A retired school teacher decided he had had enough of the party’s political policies and decided to grab Jindal’s attention.
Congress Rajya Sabha MP Shantaram Naik joined the growing list of politicians dodging 'missiles' from the audience, after a food packet narrowly missed him during an election rally in a south Goa town recently. A Congress party worker, identified as Rama Desai, who was incidentally seated in the reporters' box, flung a food packet containing biryani, distributed to the workers, at him. As he flung the packet which narrowly missed Naik, Desai shouted: 'Tumhi sogle fatting (all of you are liars).'
Well, the usual victims of the politicians’ personal troubles – the policemen have an extra job on hand now – to provide ‘netted’ fences on the speaker’s dais as a protective measure. Gujarat’s Narendra Modi now has a occer-style net in front of the dais to stop any unexpected missiles! The journalists would have to remove shoes before going into press conference halls.
And as for the country’s politicians, they too know a thing or two about flinging things in legislatures. That TV camera grabbing gimmick has now trickled down to frustrated and disgruntled voters.
What do the general public think about it? They must be amused. Serves the politicians right, the people must be thinking. Because this kind of culture the politicians practice in the Parliament and Assemblies. In fact, many SMS jokes on the politicians’ latest plight are in circulation.
Sample this:
Q: What do you call a news reporter who hurls a shoe at a minister?
A: A Jarnailist!
Q: What prompted Jarnail Singh to hurl a shoe at Home Minister P Chidambaram?
A: Because his shoe brand said: “Just do it!”
May be it is time to do some “sole searching.”
Justice Regupathi charges in open court of ‘pressure’ from Union Minister
By Gopal Ethiraj, Chennai
CHENNAI, 30 June (asiantribune.com): Mr. Justice R. Regupathi of the Madras High Court, who is known for his classic judgments, declared in the open court on June 29 that a Union Minister from Tamil Nadu, had “contacted him and tried to influence” him to grant anticipatory bail to a father and son duo. The Judge, however, did not name of the minister.
This is the first time in decades a justice is coming out open in the court about a direct interference with the administration of justice.
The justice referred the case to the Chief Justice H.L.Gokhale requesting him to post the case before another bench for appropriate orders. Justice Regupathi also threatened to write to the government and the Prime Minister about the matter, if the advocate representing the case failed to submit his written unconditional apology by Tuesday.
When the case came up before the Justice on Monday, he said he was not inclined to grant any relief and pointed out to their counsel that their plea had already been rejected by him on June 15. To this, when the advocate complained that the judge was passing orders on the basis of the submission of the prosecutors alone, an enraged Justice Regupathi let out his ire.
The case pertains to a CBI case of forging mark-sheet by a medical college student and his doctor-father. S. Kiruba Sridhar, a third year student of Arupadaiveedugal Medical College in Puducherry, who failed in Ophthalmological paper in the first two attempts, altered the marks in the paper from 9 to 16, in his third and last attempt with the help of a university staff and a middleman.
It was also claimed the father Dr. C. Krishnamoorthy had paid the culprits huge sums for the commission of the fraudulent act. While the university staff and the middleman were arrested in May for inflating the mark, the father and son are yet to be apprehended; and hence the case for anticipatory bail came up before the Justice Regupathi.
The unconditional apology from the counsel did not happen today.
CJI warns central ministers
The breach of judicial propriety had its repercussions everywhere. The Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan has warned Central ministers not to interfere in the judiciary. "Ministers should refrain from contacting judges in matters pending in courts," he said.
The government is on the backfoot, especially with the Prime Minister's focus having
CHENNAI, 30 June (asiantribune.com): Mr. Justice R. Regupathi of the Madras High Court, who is known for his classic judgments, declared in the open court on June 29 that a Union Minister from Tamil Nadu, had “contacted him and tried to influence” him to grant anticipatory bail to a father and son duo. The Judge, however, did not name of the minister.
This is the first time in decades a justice is coming out open in the court about a direct interference with the administration of justice.
The justice referred the case to the Chief Justice H.L.Gokhale requesting him to post the case before another bench for appropriate orders. Justice Regupathi also threatened to write to the government and the Prime Minister about the matter, if the advocate representing the case failed to submit his written unconditional apology by Tuesday.
When the case came up before the Justice on Monday, he said he was not inclined to grant any relief and pointed out to their counsel that their plea had already been rejected by him on June 15. To this, when the advocate complained that the judge was passing orders on the basis of the submission of the prosecutors alone, an enraged Justice Regupathi let out his ire.
The case pertains to a CBI case of forging mark-sheet by a medical college student and his doctor-father. S. Kiruba Sridhar, a third year student of Arupadaiveedugal Medical College in Puducherry, who failed in Ophthalmological paper in the first two attempts, altered the marks in the paper from 9 to 16, in his third and last attempt with the help of a university staff and a middleman.
It was also claimed the father Dr. C. Krishnamoorthy had paid the culprits huge sums for the commission of the fraudulent act. While the university staff and the middleman were arrested in May for inflating the mark, the father and son are yet to be apprehended; and hence the case for anticipatory bail came up before the Justice Regupathi.
The unconditional apology from the counsel did not happen today.
CJI warns central ministers
The breach of judicial propriety had its repercussions everywhere. The Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan has warned Central ministers not to interfere in the judiciary. "Ministers should refrain from contacting judges in matters pending in courts," he said.
The government is on the backfoot, especially with the Prime Minister's focus having
Portal for Kerala Christians launched
By Gopal Ethiraj
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, 28 May (Asiantribune.com): A comprehensive community portal for Keralite Christians entitled “www.christianmalayalee.com” was launched on Wednesday, which offers the Christian community in Kerala and elsewhere a number of innovative services, linking them together.
For example, if a Christian techie who has migrated to the US wants to trace his roots, there will be an option in the site. If he wants to look for alliance it is there. If he wants to news of his community back home it is there.
``A unique feature of our site is that everything will be parish-based. You can register as a member only if you are a member of any of the parishes under the various Christian denominations in Kerala. The name of the parish is a mandatory field to be filled up while registering,’’ said Johny Emmanuel, managing editor, Christianmalayalee.com.
The dream of the architects of Christian Ecumenical Forum, which owns and maintains the website, is to make this site a one-stop destination for all requirements of Malayali Christians.
``We plan to post the pastoral letters issued by different dioceses on the site. In addition to the print version, audio tapes also will be available,’’ said Johny. All church activities will be published on it. Parish-based communities, a section beneficial for Christian matrimonials searches, and articles about rites in various churches will be part of the portal.
There will be a news section that focuses on issues that will be of interest to community members. Debates on issues within the community, informative articles sourced from different publications around the globe and a platform for interaction will be part of the portal. To attract new generation believers, there will be contests like Bible quiz and crossword based on Bible on the site.
``In the long run, our aim is to network all the churches in Kerala and those outside the State, but run by Kerala churches,’’ said Johny.
The formal launch of the site was conducted by Catholicos Baselios Mar Cleemis on Wednesday. Malankara Orthodox Syrian church Bishop Gabriel Mar Gregorios, ADGP Alexander Jacob and D. Babu Paul spoke.
Generally literary rate is high in Kerala, and Malayalees irrespective of their community reaching for newspaper is very great. That is why, even though their state is very small, they have largest selling newspapers many. No doubt their going advance, into web link, is nothing strange.
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, 28 May (Asiantribune.com): A comprehensive community portal for Keralite Christians entitled “www.christianmalayalee.com” was launched on Wednesday, which offers the Christian community in Kerala and elsewhere a number of innovative services, linking them together.
For example, if a Christian techie who has migrated to the US wants to trace his roots, there will be an option in the site. If he wants to look for alliance it is there. If he wants to news of his community back home it is there.
``A unique feature of our site is that everything will be parish-based. You can register as a member only if you are a member of any of the parishes under the various Christian denominations in Kerala. The name of the parish is a mandatory field to be filled up while registering,’’ said Johny Emmanuel, managing editor, Christianmalayalee.com.
The dream of the architects of Christian Ecumenical Forum, which owns and maintains the website, is to make this site a one-stop destination for all requirements of Malayali Christians.
``We plan to post the pastoral letters issued by different dioceses on the site. In addition to the print version, audio tapes also will be available,’’ said Johny. All church activities will be published on it. Parish-based communities, a section beneficial for Christian matrimonials searches, and articles about rites in various churches will be part of the portal.
There will be a news section that focuses on issues that will be of interest to community members. Debates on issues within the community, informative articles sourced from different publications around the globe and a platform for interaction will be part of the portal. To attract new generation believers, there will be contests like Bible quiz and crossword based on Bible on the site.
``In the long run, our aim is to network all the churches in Kerala and those outside the State, but run by Kerala churches,’’ said Johny.
The formal launch of the site was conducted by Catholicos Baselios Mar Cleemis on Wednesday. Malankara Orthodox Syrian church Bishop Gabriel Mar Gregorios, ADGP Alexander Jacob and D. Babu Paul spoke.
Generally literary rate is high in Kerala, and Malayalees irrespective of their community reaching for newspaper is very great. That is why, even though their state is very small, they have largest selling newspapers many. No doubt their going advance, into web link, is nothing strange.
PMK, DMDK file PILs challenging EVMs
By Gopal Ethiraj, Chennai
CHENNAI, 24 July (asiantribune.com): Madras High Court admitted a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) petition challenging the use of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) in the elections filed by Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) president G. K. Mani today and ordered notice to Election Commission of India (ECI).
The first bench comprising Chief Justice H. L. Gokhale and Mr. Justice D. Murugesan directed the ECI to file counter with in a week.
G. K. Mani submitted in his petition the EVMs can be tampered by anybody, and it was tampered in Tamil Nadu in the last Lok Sabha elections. He said that an expert committee proved the malfunctioning of the EVMs. The petitioner sought as his main prayer the court to direct the Election Commission to withdraw the EVMs in future elections.
The petitioner pleaded the court to appoint an expert committee to ascertain and obtain a report on the functioning of the EVMs. Until the reports submitted to court, Mani wanted a direction to the Election Commission not to use EVMs.
A similar petition filed by Desia Murpoku Diravidar Kazhagam (DMDK) led by actor Vijayakanth was also clubbed together by the Bench. The case has been posted on July 30 for further hearing.
CHENNAI, 24 July (asiantribune.com): Madras High Court admitted a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) petition challenging the use of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) in the elections filed by Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) president G. K. Mani today and ordered notice to Election Commission of India (ECI).
The first bench comprising Chief Justice H. L. Gokhale and Mr. Justice D. Murugesan directed the ECI to file counter with in a week.
G. K. Mani submitted in his petition the EVMs can be tampered by anybody, and it was tampered in Tamil Nadu in the last Lok Sabha elections. He said that an expert committee proved the malfunctioning of the EVMs. The petitioner sought as his main prayer the court to direct the Election Commission to withdraw the EVMs in future elections.
The petitioner pleaded the court to appoint an expert committee to ascertain and obtain a report on the functioning of the EVMs. Until the reports submitted to court, Mani wanted a direction to the Election Commission not to use EVMs.
A similar petition filed by Desia Murpoku Diravidar Kazhagam (DMDK) led by actor Vijayakanth was also clubbed together by the Bench. The case has been posted on July 30 for further hearing.
Karnataka Minister donates Rs 45 cr gold crown to Tirupati
BANGALORE: Karnataka's Minister for Tourism and leading industrialist Gali Janardhan Reddy on Thursday presented a diamond-studded gold crown, estimated to be worth Rs.450 million (Rs.45 crore), to the famous Lord Venkateswara temple at Tirupati.
This is the eighth and the largest crown to be presented to the temple, whose annual earnings from offerings and other sources are said to be over Rs.20 billion (Rs.2,000 crore).
The Tirumala temple is considered richest in the world. It owns huge contributions of precious ornaments and jewels made by previous dynasties and the present day entrepreneurs.The temple reportedly owns 11 tonnes of gold ornaments. However, the TTD does not reveal the exact figures due to security reasons.
Janardhan Reddy, who owns Brahmani steel plant and Obulapuram mines in Andhra Pradesh, made this great offering on the occasion of his birthday.He refused to publicly divulge the value of the crown but it is estimated to be Rs.450 million. The crown weighs 30 kg and it took nine months for the diamond workers to make it, it is said.
The businessman, a close ally of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, offered prayers along with his family members at the world's richest temple located over Tirumala Hills and later presented the crown to Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD), which manages the affairs of the temple.
TTD sources said the crown would adorn "Mool Virat", the presiding deity of Lord Venkateswara.
The minister is a regular visitor to the famous shrine and he has already donated several kilograms of gold for TTD's project for gold plating of the sanctum sanctorum.
This project is estimated to cost Rs.500 million (Rs.50 crore). TTD requires 195 kg of pure gold for this work. On completion of the project, the temple would be covered with more gold than the Golden Temple at Amritsar.
Janardhan Reddy told reporters that it was due to the blessing of the Lord of the Seven Hills that he could set up Brahmani Steel plant, which is providing employment to 20,000 people in Kadapa and surrounding districts.
Tight security arrangements were made at Reliance Guest House, where the minister along with his family members stayed and kept the crown before presenting it to the temple.
This is the eighth and the largest crown to be presented to the temple, whose annual earnings from offerings and other sources are said to be over Rs.20 billion (Rs.2,000 crore).
The Tirumala temple is considered richest in the world. It owns huge contributions of precious ornaments and jewels made by previous dynasties and the present day entrepreneurs.The temple reportedly owns 11 tonnes of gold ornaments. However, the TTD does not reveal the exact figures due to security reasons.
Janardhan Reddy, who owns Brahmani steel plant and Obulapuram mines in Andhra Pradesh, made this great offering on the occasion of his birthday.He refused to publicly divulge the value of the crown but it is estimated to be Rs.450 million. The crown weighs 30 kg and it took nine months for the diamond workers to make it, it is said.
The businessman, a close ally of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, offered prayers along with his family members at the world's richest temple located over Tirumala Hills and later presented the crown to Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD), which manages the affairs of the temple.
TTD sources said the crown would adorn "Mool Virat", the presiding deity of Lord Venkateswara.
The minister is a regular visitor to the famous shrine and he has already donated several kilograms of gold for TTD's project for gold plating of the sanctum sanctorum.
This project is estimated to cost Rs.500 million (Rs.50 crore). TTD requires 195 kg of pure gold for this work. On completion of the project, the temple would be covered with more gold than the Golden Temple at Amritsar.
Janardhan Reddy told reporters that it was due to the blessing of the Lord of the Seven Hills that he could set up Brahmani Steel plant, which is providing employment to 20,000 people in Kadapa and surrounding districts.
Tight security arrangements were made at Reliance Guest House, where the minister along with his family members stayed and kept the crown before presenting it to the temple.
Preface for Kavichakaravarthy Kamban
The book Kavichakaravarthy Kamban presents the dialogue in English of the short film made on the same title in Tamil, written, directed and produced by Gunavathy Maindhan, long-time friend of mine. A book on the Tamil version of the dialogue is also being released.
I don’t think any short film on the epic-poet Kambar has been produced earlier; neither a full-length movie for that matter. Here in Tamilnadu where historicals on personalities do have appeared in films and documentaries, but not on Kambar.
Also Gunavathy Maindhan says in his Introduction, as he frequented to Kamban Kazhagam festivals, where symposium and seminars used to be held, the different angles and aspects of Kamba Ramayanam would be focal point of discussions, he noticed nothing quipped on the maker of the great Tamil epic, in whose life there is a streak of tragedy running! This fact has seized my friend, and he comes out with this short film venture.
It needs great courage and confidence to handle generally an historical on personalities, who are filled in the hearts of the people and revered. The trials and tribulations of the epic-poet is shrouded, and to handle is a great challenge. Many friends, well wishers and those associated with Kamban kazhagams looked at him with raised eye brows, when he expressed his desire to make a short film on the life of Kamban. He did it controversy-free. Gunavathy Maindhan deserves all praise for this doggedness in seeing the light of the day his production.
In fact, not many know there is a great tragedy in the life of Kamban. Kamban house’s weaver’s desk (kattu thari) also would sing song, it used to be said; but his son Ambigapathy, a budding poet, who gets the honour of endorsing his own father’s immortal work, churns out hundred songs in one single night (between dusk to dawn), and who would have gone higher than his father, could not sing after him—stunted.
Immersed in his work, his entire belief and faith rooted in his talents, Kambar fails to catch up with the politics of the day, falls a prey to the King’s advisor and Minister, who poison even the magnanimous King. The Indo Sri Lankan connections, the villainy, the ego clash, the Romeo-Juliet and Laila-Majunu like love and its inequity, the climax and anti-climax, the raise and the fall—all elements are there to make the life historical in a fill-length movie even. Gunavathy Maindhan, I believe, has made this production only as a test-film, and is planning to come back with a magnum opus on Kambar very soon.
It may be worth mentioning here of the sweep of the 10 awards, “Jodhaa Akbar,” a historical on the Mohul emperor, has bagged at the 10th IIFA (International Indian Film award) fete at Macau last week. Kambar’s life history has such potential, Gunavathy Mandhan should draw inspiration from that and make it.
I am a Kamban lover. I had a brief participation with the discussion of the film earlier, and when my controversial beliefs, he set aside, it did not irk me; in stead I am happy it worked well. That is the maturity with which Gunavathy Maindhan has handled the subject.
I am fortunate to say the Tamil version of the book was given to me for translation. I think I have done my good work
E.Gopal B.Sc., B.L.,, M.C.J
Dt 15/6/09
Chennai Senior Journalist & Advocate
President, The Hindu Employees Union
I don’t think any short film on the epic-poet Kambar has been produced earlier; neither a full-length movie for that matter. Here in Tamilnadu where historicals on personalities do have appeared in films and documentaries, but not on Kambar.
Also Gunavathy Maindhan says in his Introduction, as he frequented to Kamban Kazhagam festivals, where symposium and seminars used to be held, the different angles and aspects of Kamba Ramayanam would be focal point of discussions, he noticed nothing quipped on the maker of the great Tamil epic, in whose life there is a streak of tragedy running! This fact has seized my friend, and he comes out with this short film venture.
It needs great courage and confidence to handle generally an historical on personalities, who are filled in the hearts of the people and revered. The trials and tribulations of the epic-poet is shrouded, and to handle is a great challenge. Many friends, well wishers and those associated with Kamban kazhagams looked at him with raised eye brows, when he expressed his desire to make a short film on the life of Kamban. He did it controversy-free. Gunavathy Maindhan deserves all praise for this doggedness in seeing the light of the day his production.
In fact, not many know there is a great tragedy in the life of Kamban. Kamban house’s weaver’s desk (kattu thari) also would sing song, it used to be said; but his son Ambigapathy, a budding poet, who gets the honour of endorsing his own father’s immortal work, churns out hundred songs in one single night (between dusk to dawn), and who would have gone higher than his father, could not sing after him—stunted.
Immersed in his work, his entire belief and faith rooted in his talents, Kambar fails to catch up with the politics of the day, falls a prey to the King’s advisor and Minister, who poison even the magnanimous King. The Indo Sri Lankan connections, the villainy, the ego clash, the Romeo-Juliet and Laila-Majunu like love and its inequity, the climax and anti-climax, the raise and the fall—all elements are there to make the life historical in a fill-length movie even. Gunavathy Maindhan, I believe, has made this production only as a test-film, and is planning to come back with a magnum opus on Kambar very soon.
It may be worth mentioning here of the sweep of the 10 awards, “Jodhaa Akbar,” a historical on the Mohul emperor, has bagged at the 10th IIFA (International Indian Film award) fete at Macau last week. Kambar’s life history has such potential, Gunavathy Mandhan should draw inspiration from that and make it.
I am a Kamban lover. I had a brief participation with the discussion of the film earlier, and when my controversial beliefs, he set aside, it did not irk me; in stead I am happy it worked well. That is the maturity with which Gunavathy Maindhan has handled the subject.
I am fortunate to say the Tamil version of the book was given to me for translation. I think I have done my good work
E.Gopal B.Sc., B.L.,, M.C.J
Dt 15/6/09
Chennai Senior Journalist & Advocate
President, The Hindu Employees Union
‘Film News’ Anandan, the mobile encyclopedia on films
By Gopal Ethiraj from Chennai
CHENNAI, 7 June (asiantribune.com): He is film historian, chronicler, librarian and indexer. And a veteran film journalist. His entire life, he has devoted collecting recording information and photos of south Indian cinema with so much passion and patience, that he became a celebrity himself, besides serving the celebrities in the tinsel world. What is more at the age of 87, this one-man movie data-base engine thugs on, still continuing to save and update all information to the posterity. He has an exhaustive information about 18,000 films made in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam, he says. He is Film News Anandan.
Based in Chennai Anandan’s valuable record goes to as back as 1930s. About south Indian cinema, even from silent film days. Born in 1911,Anandan started his career in photography and writing, producing and directing dramas, as a young boy. He came into contact with the film industry in 1954 and became an assistant to C.J.Mohan (who served as N.S. Krishnan's cameraman at the time). Soon afterward, Anandan found himself serving as a photo-journalist for his friend, Devarajan and his publication, Film News. Thus ‘Film News’ got prefixed to his name..
He entered a new phase in his career and his life, when he began his own news service titled Film News in 1958. Even today, the Film News office on Peters Road, Chennai continues to be the one-stop center for all types of cinema news and information. For the media offices and journalists, Anandan is a ready recconer, ready at any time to provide information.
Besides Film News, Anandan's bigger achievement came through his establishment of the post called Public Relations Officer in Tamil Cinema. He served as the very first P.R.O in Tamil cinema for Nadodi Mannan, which was produced and directed by M.G.Ramachandran (MGR) himself. This brand of PROs, who later claimed themselves as film journalists, found greater employment, have been serving as bridge between the film and film personalities and the public through the Press
Anandan’s greatest ambition was to showcase all of his cine collections and memorabilia as a way to educate and arouse the interest of the public. Anandan accomplished it, organizing and presenting his first exhibition on the occasion of the Golden Jubilee of the Film Industry in 1981. He conducted a cinema exhibition as a part of the Tourist Fair on three separate occasions for which he won the ‘Best Stall Award’ three consecutive years. Anandan also has the distinct honor of conducting exhibitions on Telugu and Malayalam films at the International Film Festivals in Hyderabad and Thrivandapuram in 1986 and 1988 respectively. More recently, Anandan was invited to conduct an exhibition celebrating the 50 years of A.V.M. Productions.
For such a man who has tirelessly worked to preserve both the past and present of Tamil cinema, and films of south Indian languages, the awards and accolades have come aplenty. As early as 1986, Film News Anandan received the distinguised Y. Venkanna Clowdary's “Kala Peedam” award for his tremendous contribution to Human Progress as a Film Historian. In 1991, the Tamil Nadu State Government bestowed him with their highest honor in the title of Kalaimaamani. Similarly, in 1989, Anandan was honored as a veteran during the Golden Jubilee of the Film Chamber.
Over the years, Anandan’s awards include Cinema Express, L.V.Prasad, S.S.Vasan, M.G.R., V.G.P, Lions, Ajantha, Mathi Arts Academy and Thums Up, et al . He has also earned a service medallion from Madras Film Fans Association in 1980 and 1988. He was proudly bestowed with the title of “Mobile Film University” by Tamil Nadu Film Fans Association in Raajapaalayam and “Thirai Thurai Agaraadhi” by Kaviyarasu Kannadasan (Kalai Ilakkiya Maiyyam).
He was awarded the “Kalai Selvam” title by the South Indian Artist Association in Chennai. Furthermore, Film News Anandan was given world recognition the year 1998, by The American Biographical Institute of South Carolina (U.S.) as a veteran among 5000 people around the world. Film News Anandan's name was included in the book (Who's Who... ) released in January 1998, while he was awarded the “Man of the Year for 1997” by the same institution.
S. Krishnaswamy’s writing in the then The Illustrated Weekly in 1965 on Anandhan's work is worth quoting here: "The collection is something wonderful. As you look through Anandan's albums, you travel through the years and recollect the faces of stars who have been lost in the shadows, and you feel as though an unbroken thread is connecting all these motion picture efforts together."
In 2003, he wrote to Ms. Jayalalithaa, then Chief Minister of Tamilnadu, to help him bring out the history of film industry in south India. The offer came from the government to acquire his entire collection. In the fag end of his life, he had to accept and the government acquired his priced possession for Rs. 10 lakhs. Also the Jayalalithaa government loaned him Rs. 5.5 lakhs for making film history book. The 8oo page book titled “Sadanai padaitha Tamil thiraipadangalin Varalu” (the glorious history of Tamil films); the book was even released by her and she declared the money paid was not loan, a ‘gift’. Thus he was doubly benefited.
Anandan is now a worried man, worrying on what happened to those stills and books collected from him; is it properly maintained—is 60 years of labour and interest. If he is made until death the Custodian of those priced collection by the present Chief Minister Karunanidhi, Anandan feels he would more than happy.
Film News Anandan deserves to decorated with a doctorate for his works by some university.
CHENNAI, 7 June (asiantribune.com): He is film historian, chronicler, librarian and indexer. And a veteran film journalist. His entire life, he has devoted collecting recording information and photos of south Indian cinema with so much passion and patience, that he became a celebrity himself, besides serving the celebrities in the tinsel world. What is more at the age of 87, this one-man movie data-base engine thugs on, still continuing to save and update all information to the posterity. He has an exhaustive information about 18,000 films made in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam, he says. He is Film News Anandan.
Based in Chennai Anandan’s valuable record goes to as back as 1930s. About south Indian cinema, even from silent film days. Born in 1911,Anandan started his career in photography and writing, producing and directing dramas, as a young boy. He came into contact with the film industry in 1954 and became an assistant to C.J.Mohan (who served as N.S. Krishnan's cameraman at the time). Soon afterward, Anandan found himself serving as a photo-journalist for his friend, Devarajan and his publication, Film News. Thus ‘Film News’ got prefixed to his name..
He entered a new phase in his career and his life, when he began his own news service titled Film News in 1958. Even today, the Film News office on Peters Road, Chennai continues to be the one-stop center for all types of cinema news and information. For the media offices and journalists, Anandan is a ready recconer, ready at any time to provide information.
Besides Film News, Anandan's bigger achievement came through his establishment of the post called Public Relations Officer in Tamil Cinema. He served as the very first P.R.O in Tamil cinema for Nadodi Mannan, which was produced and directed by M.G.Ramachandran (MGR) himself. This brand of PROs, who later claimed themselves as film journalists, found greater employment, have been serving as bridge between the film and film personalities and the public through the Press
Anandan’s greatest ambition was to showcase all of his cine collections and memorabilia as a way to educate and arouse the interest of the public. Anandan accomplished it, organizing and presenting his first exhibition on the occasion of the Golden Jubilee of the Film Industry in 1981. He conducted a cinema exhibition as a part of the Tourist Fair on three separate occasions for which he won the ‘Best Stall Award’ three consecutive years. Anandan also has the distinct honor of conducting exhibitions on Telugu and Malayalam films at the International Film Festivals in Hyderabad and Thrivandapuram in 1986 and 1988 respectively. More recently, Anandan was invited to conduct an exhibition celebrating the 50 years of A.V.M. Productions.
For such a man who has tirelessly worked to preserve both the past and present of Tamil cinema, and films of south Indian languages, the awards and accolades have come aplenty. As early as 1986, Film News Anandan received the distinguised Y. Venkanna Clowdary's “Kala Peedam” award for his tremendous contribution to Human Progress as a Film Historian. In 1991, the Tamil Nadu State Government bestowed him with their highest honor in the title of Kalaimaamani. Similarly, in 1989, Anandan was honored as a veteran during the Golden Jubilee of the Film Chamber.
Over the years, Anandan’s awards include Cinema Express, L.V.Prasad, S.S.Vasan, M.G.R., V.G.P, Lions, Ajantha, Mathi Arts Academy and Thums Up, et al . He has also earned a service medallion from Madras Film Fans Association in 1980 and 1988. He was proudly bestowed with the title of “Mobile Film University” by Tamil Nadu Film Fans Association in Raajapaalayam and “Thirai Thurai Agaraadhi” by Kaviyarasu Kannadasan (Kalai Ilakkiya Maiyyam).
He was awarded the “Kalai Selvam” title by the South Indian Artist Association in Chennai. Furthermore, Film News Anandan was given world recognition the year 1998, by The American Biographical Institute of South Carolina (U.S.) as a veteran among 5000 people around the world. Film News Anandan's name was included in the book (Who's Who... ) released in January 1998, while he was awarded the “Man of the Year for 1997” by the same institution.
S. Krishnaswamy’s writing in the then The Illustrated Weekly in 1965 on Anandhan's work is worth quoting here: "The collection is something wonderful. As you look through Anandan's albums, you travel through the years and recollect the faces of stars who have been lost in the shadows, and you feel as though an unbroken thread is connecting all these motion picture efforts together."
In 2003, he wrote to Ms. Jayalalithaa, then Chief Minister of Tamilnadu, to help him bring out the history of film industry in south India. The offer came from the government to acquire his entire collection. In the fag end of his life, he had to accept and the government acquired his priced possession for Rs. 10 lakhs. Also the Jayalalithaa government loaned him Rs. 5.5 lakhs for making film history book. The 8oo page book titled “Sadanai padaitha Tamil thiraipadangalin Varalu” (the glorious history of Tamil films); the book was even released by her and she declared the money paid was not loan, a ‘gift’. Thus he was doubly benefited.
Anandan is now a worried man, worrying on what happened to those stills and books collected from him; is it properly maintained—is 60 years of labour and interest. If he is made until death the Custodian of those priced collection by the present Chief Minister Karunanidhi, Anandan feels he would more than happy.
Film News Anandan deserves to decorated with a doctorate for his works by some university.
Journalism student dies after fall from terrace
By Gopal Ethiraj, Chennai
CHENNAI, 12 July(asiantribune.com): A 21-year-old student from Rajasthan, who came with big dream of becoming a journalist, died here on Saturday after she accidentally fell off from the terrace of her hostel building in Taramani. Little did she knew her dream would be short-lived.
The victim, Ms Mansi Kothari, had come to Chennai on Friday morning to pursue a one-year course in journalism at the noted Asian College of Journalism (ACJ). She went to the college and was to attend the orientation course the next day. The college was to commence on Monday in the new building they have moved in this year.
Ms. Mansi after doing shopping in the evening, had dinner in the night at 9.30 pm with her new colleagues and went to the fourth floor terrace with a few friends for chatting, although the administration has warned them not to go upstairs. She was trying to sit on the parapet wall when she slipped and fell into the gap meant for taking various pipes and cables. She was rushed to VHS hospital, was stable although with serious head injury. She died of cardiac arrest in the wee hours of Saturday morning. .
Ms Mansi, daughter of Mr Arun Kothari, a businessman in Rajasthan, had completed her B.A degree in Hansraj College of Delhi a few months ago and had secured admission in Asian College of Journalism to do a postgraduate diploma course in radio journalism.
CHENNAI, 12 July(asiantribune.com): A 21-year-old student from Rajasthan, who came with big dream of becoming a journalist, died here on Saturday after she accidentally fell off from the terrace of her hostel building in Taramani. Little did she knew her dream would be short-lived.
The victim, Ms Mansi Kothari, had come to Chennai on Friday morning to pursue a one-year course in journalism at the noted Asian College of Journalism (ACJ). She went to the college and was to attend the orientation course the next day. The college was to commence on Monday in the new building they have moved in this year.
Ms. Mansi after doing shopping in the evening, had dinner in the night at 9.30 pm with her new colleagues and went to the fourth floor terrace with a few friends for chatting, although the administration has warned them not to go upstairs. She was trying to sit on the parapet wall when she slipped and fell into the gap meant for taking various pipes and cables. She was rushed to VHS hospital, was stable although with serious head injury. She died of cardiac arrest in the wee hours of Saturday morning. .
Ms Mansi, daughter of Mr Arun Kothari, a businessman in Rajasthan, had completed her B.A degree in Hansraj College of Delhi a few months ago and had secured admission in Asian College of Journalism to do a postgraduate diploma course in radio journalism.
First woman Home Minister in Andhra Pradesh
By Gopal Ethiraj
HYDERABAD 27 May (asiantribune.com): Patlolla Sabitha Indra Reddy (46) became the first woman Home Minister of Andhra Pradesh after Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy allocated portfolios to all the 35 members of the Council of Ministers on Tuesday.
The three-time legislator Sabitha had served as the Mines and Geology Minister in the earlier government. She will head the 80,000-strong police force in the State at a time when the anti-naxalite operations has reached a decisive stage. Incidentally, her husband late P. Indra Reddy was also Home Minister in the N. T. Rama Rao Cabinet.
‘Thrilled’ over new assignment
“For a moment, I could not believe my ears. It took me some time to realise that it is a fact.” This was how Sabitha Indra Reddy reacted on her being nominated to the crucial Home portfolio.
Ms. Sabitha, who created a record of sorts by becoming the first woman in the State to head the Home department, said she was “thrilled” the moment she realised it was a fact. “Anna (Dr. Rajasekhara Reddy) has always been different. He gave maximum portfolios to women as he firmly believes that women are no less efficient in discharging their duties.”
Brimming with confidence the new Home Minister said, she realised the need to be on alert 24 hours in the light of threat posed by Maoists and terror elements. “We have efficient officers and I will also coordinate with the Central agencies whenever needed to tackle such threats,” she said.
“My husband Indra Reddy struggled hard to get Home portfolio and took it as a challenge. I will try to achieve the goals he cherished,” she said
YSR on pilgrimage to Israel
Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, after swearing in a 35-strong ministry for the Andhra Pradesh, of which six were women members, has left on a four-day holy pilgrimage to Israel with his family on Wednesday by a chartered flight from New Delhi.
HYDERABAD 27 May (asiantribune.com): Patlolla Sabitha Indra Reddy (46) became the first woman Home Minister of Andhra Pradesh after Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy allocated portfolios to all the 35 members of the Council of Ministers on Tuesday.
The three-time legislator Sabitha had served as the Mines and Geology Minister in the earlier government. She will head the 80,000-strong police force in the State at a time when the anti-naxalite operations has reached a decisive stage. Incidentally, her husband late P. Indra Reddy was also Home Minister in the N. T. Rama Rao Cabinet.
‘Thrilled’ over new assignment
“For a moment, I could not believe my ears. It took me some time to realise that it is a fact.” This was how Sabitha Indra Reddy reacted on her being nominated to the crucial Home portfolio.
Ms. Sabitha, who created a record of sorts by becoming the first woman in the State to head the Home department, said she was “thrilled” the moment she realised it was a fact. “Anna (Dr. Rajasekhara Reddy) has always been different. He gave maximum portfolios to women as he firmly believes that women are no less efficient in discharging their duties.”
Brimming with confidence the new Home Minister said, she realised the need to be on alert 24 hours in the light of threat posed by Maoists and terror elements. “We have efficient officers and I will also coordinate with the Central agencies whenever needed to tackle such threats,” she said.
“My husband Indra Reddy struggled hard to get Home portfolio and took it as a challenge. I will try to achieve the goals he cherished,” she said
YSR on pilgrimage to Israel
Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, after swearing in a 35-strong ministry for the Andhra Pradesh, of which six were women members, has left on a four-day holy pilgrimage to Israel with his family on Wednesday by a chartered flight from New Delhi.
Yet another Raja-judge controversy to the fore
By Gopal Ethiraj, Chennai
CHENNAI, 23 July (asiantribune.com): Union Minister Raja-High Court Judge raging controversy is still continuing. Now yet another judge is dragged in for his order.
First, it was Mr. Justice Regupathy’s outburst of being pressurized by a union minister to go soft on a bail case; then the Leader of Opposition Ms. Jayalalitha naming the minister and calling for action against him; ‘Traffic’ Ramaswamy’s PIL for enquiry into the matter by CBI; and the subsequent explanatory letter by the judge to the Chief Justice settled the dust.
Now a group of anonymous advocates have circulated vicious pamphlets against Mr. Justice K Chandru, who had imposed a cost of Rs 10,000 on Union Minister Raja in a defamation case against Tamil bi-weekly “Junior Vikatan”.
The issue relates to a civil suit filed by Raja and his wife seeking to restrain ‘Junior Vikatan’ from publishing any articles or photographs or caricatures about him and his family members. An interim injunction restraining the magazine was issued in April this year, and the magazine, on its part, voluntarily agreed not to publish the pictures of the minister’s minor daughter.
When the matter came up for extension of injunction on July 20, Mr. Justice Chandru, refused to gag the press and said there was no law available to pass prior restraint order against the Press, and he not only rejected the Minister’s application but also imposed a case cost of Rs 10,000 payable to the magazine.
A large number of pamphlets printed in the name of "National Forum for Social Justice" was distributed in the High Court campus since July 22 morning, creating a flutter among advocates. The pamphlet said the judge had earlier argued for the media group when he was an advocate, and that he should not have taken up the case.
The pamphlet, which was distributed to media persons, also said the judge was behaving as if he was the only champion of press freedom and democratic values, and that he should not have awarded the cost on the minister.
Now Mr. Justice Chandru has come under tremendous pressure.
Raja is emerging more powerful with every controversy. He had his say silently with the bail matter, the doctor and his son got anticipatory bail against a CBI case in a surprise move.
At the time of cabinet formation in the Centre, it was suggested Raja’s name and another to be dropped for inclusion. But still he had his way in.
There is a bigger storm getting ready to blow over him at the capital. He might weather it, such is the strong support base he has in the party leadership here.
In New Delhi, it is said, a memorandum addressed to the Prime Minister, is getting ready to relieve Raja from the Council of Ministers. More than 200 MPs cutting across party lines have signed the memorandum, which doing its round for more signatures.
CHENNAI, 23 July (asiantribune.com): Union Minister Raja-High Court Judge raging controversy is still continuing. Now yet another judge is dragged in for his order.
First, it was Mr. Justice Regupathy’s outburst of being pressurized by a union minister to go soft on a bail case; then the Leader of Opposition Ms. Jayalalitha naming the minister and calling for action against him; ‘Traffic’ Ramaswamy’s PIL for enquiry into the matter by CBI; and the subsequent explanatory letter by the judge to the Chief Justice settled the dust.
Now a group of anonymous advocates have circulated vicious pamphlets against Mr. Justice K Chandru, who had imposed a cost of Rs 10,000 on Union Minister Raja in a defamation case against Tamil bi-weekly “Junior Vikatan”.
The issue relates to a civil suit filed by Raja and his wife seeking to restrain ‘Junior Vikatan’ from publishing any articles or photographs or caricatures about him and his family members. An interim injunction restraining the magazine was issued in April this year, and the magazine, on its part, voluntarily agreed not to publish the pictures of the minister’s minor daughter.
When the matter came up for extension of injunction on July 20, Mr. Justice Chandru, refused to gag the press and said there was no law available to pass prior restraint order against the Press, and he not only rejected the Minister’s application but also imposed a case cost of Rs 10,000 payable to the magazine.
A large number of pamphlets printed in the name of "National Forum for Social Justice" was distributed in the High Court campus since July 22 morning, creating a flutter among advocates. The pamphlet said the judge had earlier argued for the media group when he was an advocate, and that he should not have taken up the case.
The pamphlet, which was distributed to media persons, also said the judge was behaving as if he was the only champion of press freedom and democratic values, and that he should not have awarded the cost on the minister.
Now Mr. Justice Chandru has come under tremendous pressure.
Raja is emerging more powerful with every controversy. He had his say silently with the bail matter, the doctor and his son got anticipatory bail against a CBI case in a surprise move.
At the time of cabinet formation in the Centre, it was suggested Raja’s name and another to be dropped for inclusion. But still he had his way in.
There is a bigger storm getting ready to blow over him at the capital. He might weather it, such is the strong support base he has in the party leadership here.
In New Delhi, it is said, a memorandum addressed to the Prime Minister, is getting ready to relieve Raja from the Council of Ministers. More than 200 MPs cutting across party lines have signed the memorandum, which doing its round for more signatures.
Why not ‘Ayyadurai’ M.K. Stalin henceforth?
By Gopal Ethiraj, Chennai
CHENNAI, 24 July (asiantribune.com): Launching the Chennai Corporation’s ambitious gold ring scheme to popularise Tamil names to the newborns at its maternity hospitals, yesterday Deputy Chief Minister M K Stalin, came out with his child-name ‘Ayyadurai’.
Distributing over 250 mothers the government’s gift of one-gram gold ring for their newborns for christening Tamil names at a function at Anbagam, DMK’s youth wing office, Stalin recalled the circumstances under which he was named after Russian Communist leader Josef Stalin.
“Several years ago at a prize distribution function in Dindigul, a girl student asked why I didn’t have a Tamil name. I explained why it was so and now want to share that with all of you,” Stalin said.
“My parents decided to name me as Ayyadurai, a combination of Dravidian leader Periyar (Ayya) and famous Chief Minister C N Annadurai (Durai). But then, news of Russia’s Communist leader Josef Stalin’s death trickled in, which changed my father’s (M Karunanidhi) mind.
“As my father loved Communism, he named me M K Stalin as a mark of gratitude towards the Russian leader,” the Deputy CM added.
He congratulated Mayor M Subramanian and Commissioner Rajesh Lakhoni for coining such a good scheme to promote Tamil names among Chennaiites.
Among the beneficiaries was Rajeshwari, Chennai Corporation’s councillor for ward 19. She received a gold ring for naming her son Thiruchelvan. The other babies had Tamil names like Tamilarasi, Tamilchelvi, Poongodi, Kalaivanan, Malarvizhi, Ilakiya, Tholkappiyan, Nandakumaran, Madhavi, et al.
CHENNAI, 24 July (asiantribune.com): Launching the Chennai Corporation’s ambitious gold ring scheme to popularise Tamil names to the newborns at its maternity hospitals, yesterday Deputy Chief Minister M K Stalin, came out with his child-name ‘Ayyadurai’.
Distributing over 250 mothers the government’s gift of one-gram gold ring for their newborns for christening Tamil names at a function at Anbagam, DMK’s youth wing office, Stalin recalled the circumstances under which he was named after Russian Communist leader Josef Stalin.
“Several years ago at a prize distribution function in Dindigul, a girl student asked why I didn’t have a Tamil name. I explained why it was so and now want to share that with all of you,” Stalin said.
“My parents decided to name me as Ayyadurai, a combination of Dravidian leader Periyar (Ayya) and famous Chief Minister C N Annadurai (Durai). But then, news of Russia’s Communist leader Josef Stalin’s death trickled in, which changed my father’s (M Karunanidhi) mind.
“As my father loved Communism, he named me M K Stalin as a mark of gratitude towards the Russian leader,” the Deputy CM added.
He congratulated Mayor M Subramanian and Commissioner Rajesh Lakhoni for coining such a good scheme to promote Tamil names among Chennaiites.
Among the beneficiaries was Rajeshwari, Chennai Corporation’s councillor for ward 19. She received a gold ring for naming her son Thiruchelvan. The other babies had Tamil names like Tamilarasi, Tamilchelvi, Poongodi, Kalaivanan, Malarvizhi, Ilakiya, Tholkappiyan, Nandakumaran, Madhavi, et al.
Virginity and pregnancy tests at a mass wedding
From Gopal Ethiraj
BHOPAL, 14 July (asiantribune.com): A mass wedding in Madhya Pradesh was being held recently under the 'Mukhyamantri Kanyadan Yojna' -- Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan's pet scheme-- aimed to help girls from poor families tie the knot at government expense.
A shocking incidence took place, following which virginity and pregnancy tests had to be ordered on the 152 prospective brides. Fourteen of them were detected to be pregnant.
Just before the ceremony was to begin, a would-be bride developed stomach pain. On checking it was found to be labour pains, shocking those present. The incident, that left officials, activists and tribals fuming, occurred on June 30 when the brides were assembled for a mass marriage function in Madhya Pradesh's Shahdol district, 350 km from Bhopal.
The organisers immediately stopped the mass wedding and ordered pregnancy tests on the 152 brides assembled for the ceremony.
Later, 138 couples belonging to different religions tied the knot under the scheme.
Local legislator Sunder Singh, the district collector and other government officials were also present during the occasion, sources said.
Marriages under the Chief Minister’s scheme are solemnised free of cost. Every couple is also provided assistance in the form of household items to the tune of Rs.5,000. And all arrangements are made by the district administration.
One onlooker condemned the "fake marriages" was being held for a long time. "Middlemen bring recently married couples as unmarried, get their marriage solemnised at such functions for sizeable 'commission' from them," he alleged.
Faced with allegations of solemnising 'fake marriages', the local authorities ordered the virginity and pregnancy tests. But the move to weed out already-married brides has kicked up a storm with activists taking up the issue.
These tests are an insult to womanhood and it shows how the state machinery violates the human rights and dignity and privacy of women, the women activists said. "The officials should know that in many tribal communities there is a culture of boys and girls living together before they decide to marry," it was protested.
While activists and local media have taken it up as violation of human dignity, the government sources in Shahdol tell another story.
Under Kanyadaan, about 90,000 women of poor families have got married so far. But lured by attractive wedding gifts and monetary incentives, even married couples sometimes sign up for the ceremony. It was regular physical check-up and not a virginity test to ensure married and pregnant mothers don't join the queue.
The state government has allotted Rs.25 crore in the budget for the Mukhyamantri Kanyadan Yojana. The government has also increased the scheme's grant amount payable to a girl after marriage from Rs.5,000 to Rs.6,500 from January 2009. As per the state's Economic Survey (2008-09)- 88,460 marriages were solemnised from April 2006 to March 2009.
BHOPAL, 14 July (asiantribune.com): A mass wedding in Madhya Pradesh was being held recently under the 'Mukhyamantri Kanyadan Yojna' -- Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan's pet scheme-- aimed to help girls from poor families tie the knot at government expense.
A shocking incidence took place, following which virginity and pregnancy tests had to be ordered on the 152 prospective brides. Fourteen of them were detected to be pregnant.
Just before the ceremony was to begin, a would-be bride developed stomach pain. On checking it was found to be labour pains, shocking those present. The incident, that left officials, activists and tribals fuming, occurred on June 30 when the brides were assembled for a mass marriage function in Madhya Pradesh's Shahdol district, 350 km from Bhopal.
The organisers immediately stopped the mass wedding and ordered pregnancy tests on the 152 brides assembled for the ceremony.
Later, 138 couples belonging to different religions tied the knot under the scheme.
Local legislator Sunder Singh, the district collector and other government officials were also present during the occasion, sources said.
Marriages under the Chief Minister’s scheme are solemnised free of cost. Every couple is also provided assistance in the form of household items to the tune of Rs.5,000. And all arrangements are made by the district administration.
One onlooker condemned the "fake marriages" was being held for a long time. "Middlemen bring recently married couples as unmarried, get their marriage solemnised at such functions for sizeable 'commission' from them," he alleged.
Faced with allegations of solemnising 'fake marriages', the local authorities ordered the virginity and pregnancy tests. But the move to weed out already-married brides has kicked up a storm with activists taking up the issue.
These tests are an insult to womanhood and it shows how the state machinery violates the human rights and dignity and privacy of women, the women activists said. "The officials should know that in many tribal communities there is a culture of boys and girls living together before they decide to marry," it was protested.
While activists and local media have taken it up as violation of human dignity, the government sources in Shahdol tell another story.
Under Kanyadaan, about 90,000 women of poor families have got married so far. But lured by attractive wedding gifts and monetary incentives, even married couples sometimes sign up for the ceremony. It was regular physical check-up and not a virginity test to ensure married and pregnant mothers don't join the queue.
The state government has allotted Rs.25 crore in the budget for the Mukhyamantri Kanyadan Yojana. The government has also increased the scheme's grant amount payable to a girl after marriage from Rs.5,000 to Rs.6,500 from January 2009. As per the state's Economic Survey (2008-09)- 88,460 marriages were solemnised from April 2006 to March 2009.
Viduthalai Chiruthaikal headquarters to be evicted
By Gopal Ethiraj, Chennai
CHENNAI, 24, July (asiantribune.com): The Thol.Thirumavalavan MP’s Viduthalai Chiruthaikal Katchi (VCK) headquarters in Ashok Nagar, Chennai, comes under hammer and eviction. The Madras High Court has ordered eviction.
Declaring it an encroachment, Mr. Justice M Jayapaul directed the Commissioner of Police to take back possession of the land in question from the encroachers within 15 days. The case relates to a piece of land at 100 Feet Road, Ashok Nagar, Chennai, where the VCK headquarters is located.
The case was filed by Dittakavi Anantha Padmanabhamoorthy, Kandhukuri Saibaba and Kandhukuri Ramasubramaniam, against Mambalam- Guindy Tashildar, the inspector of police of Ashok Nagar police station, C Vedha Arun Nagarajan, P K Ali Akbar, S Paramanandam, M S Mani and A C Shanmugam.
According to the petitioners they bequeathed the property by the Will of M Lakshmi Devi, their aunt. The property, according to the petitioners, has been under dispute due to a number of encroachment attempts, but the controversy relating to the VCK, however, began in 2007.
On April 13, 2007, an encroachment attempt was thwarted after a complaint was made to the Commissioner of Police. Subsequently, a hearing was held by the Mambalam-Guindy Tehsildar who passed an order on May 25, 2007 in favour of Veda Arun Nagarajan. Since then the VCK headquarters has been functioning from the said property.
The petitioners held that the Tehsildar failed to consider the earlier orders by the civil courts and the Madras High Court in 1997 and 2004, which granted the petitioners the right, title and possession over the said property.
The High Court on Thursday held that the order of the Mambalam-Guindy Tehsildhar was frivolous and nullified the order and directed the Commissioner of Police to remove the encroachers.
CHENNAI, 24, July (asiantribune.com): The Thol.Thirumavalavan MP’s Viduthalai Chiruthaikal Katchi (VCK) headquarters in Ashok Nagar, Chennai, comes under hammer and eviction. The Madras High Court has ordered eviction.
Declaring it an encroachment, Mr. Justice M Jayapaul directed the Commissioner of Police to take back possession of the land in question from the encroachers within 15 days. The case relates to a piece of land at 100 Feet Road, Ashok Nagar, Chennai, where the VCK headquarters is located.
The case was filed by Dittakavi Anantha Padmanabhamoorthy, Kandhukuri Saibaba and Kandhukuri Ramasubramaniam, against Mambalam- Guindy Tashildar, the inspector of police of Ashok Nagar police station, C Vedha Arun Nagarajan, P K Ali Akbar, S Paramanandam, M S Mani and A C Shanmugam.
According to the petitioners they bequeathed the property by the Will of M Lakshmi Devi, their aunt. The property, according to the petitioners, has been under dispute due to a number of encroachment attempts, but the controversy relating to the VCK, however, began in 2007.
On April 13, 2007, an encroachment attempt was thwarted after a complaint was made to the Commissioner of Police. Subsequently, a hearing was held by the Mambalam-Guindy Tehsildar who passed an order on May 25, 2007 in favour of Veda Arun Nagarajan. Since then the VCK headquarters has been functioning from the said property.
The petitioners held that the Tehsildar failed to consider the earlier orders by the civil courts and the Madras High Court in 1997 and 2004, which granted the petitioners the right, title and possession over the said property.
The High Court on Thursday held that the order of the Mambalam-Guindy Tehsildhar was frivolous and nullified the order and directed the Commissioner of Police to remove the encroachers.
Bandipur National Park: ban on night vehicular traffic upsets traders
From Gopal Ethiraj
MYSORE, 10 June (asiantribune.com): The Chamrajnagar Deputy Commissioner Manojkumar Mishra has ordered banning of vehicular movement between 9 pm and 6 am along the 29 km stretch of the national highway through Bandipur National Park, which in the last four years has seen 91 cases of wild animals being killed by speedy vehicles.
The order has brought a sense of relief among wildlife activists. The Forest department district forest officer (DFO) Dr. Raju, who has conducted a detail survey of the Bandipur National Park had recommended closure of vehicular movement during nights and also shifting of the national highway to prevent road killing of animals.
The Bandipur National Park, covered under the Project Tiger from 1973, has registered an increase in its wildlife population, particularly tigers, elephants and deer in recent years. However, there was much pressure from activists to ban vehicular movement. There is also pressure on the government to not permit construction of resorts and hotels near the park.
The ban on movement of vehicles will be apply from June 10 on NH-67, with 12.5 kms of road passing through Gundlupet - Ooty. It will also apply on NH-212, at a stretch of 17.5 kilometres from Gundlupet to Sultanbattare road, leading to Calicut in Kerala.
‘Road deaths’ higher than poaching
Studies conducted by Wildlife Conservation Foundation has proved that the road deaths of animals are higher than poaching in the last four years. The study has revealed that about 90 to 140 vehicles per day pass during the peak season for tourists and about 47 vehicles per day otherwise.
But for hundreds of passengers and traders, who rely on about 300 private and State Road Transport Corporation buses linking Mysore and Bangalore with Kozhikode in Kerala, Ooty in Tamilnadu, this arrangement is reportedly upsetting.
Joint convener of the Bangalore-based Karnataka Kerala Travelers Forum, Kunjappan said road transportation was the only route for people from Wynad and Malappuram regions to reach Bangalore. “The already limited travelling facility to the Northern part of Kerala will be further crippled if the government implements this ban,” he said.
The Chamrajnagar district authorities said a meeting of the stake holders was called on June 11 to discuss the issue. The Malabar Chamber of Commerce said that since Wyanad and Karnataka had no direct railway link, people are dependent on road transport. “ The ban will be detrimental to businessmen in Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. It will also cause considerable inconvenience to IT professionals and students from north Kerala in Bangalore,” PV Gangadharan, president of the chamber, said.
Kerala Chief Minister VS Achuthananthan is learnt to have got in touch with Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa in this regard.
To launch an agitation
While merchants and transport operators in North Kerala appealed to the Centre, an all-party action committee was formed by the Wyanad District Panchayat to launch an agitation.
This panel reportedly was preparing to block the National Highway on Wednesday. A district-level hartal is planned to be held on Thursday.
MYSORE, 10 June (asiantribune.com): The Chamrajnagar Deputy Commissioner Manojkumar Mishra has ordered banning of vehicular movement between 9 pm and 6 am along the 29 km stretch of the national highway through Bandipur National Park, which in the last four years has seen 91 cases of wild animals being killed by speedy vehicles.
The order has brought a sense of relief among wildlife activists. The Forest department district forest officer (DFO) Dr. Raju, who has conducted a detail survey of the Bandipur National Park had recommended closure of vehicular movement during nights and also shifting of the national highway to prevent road killing of animals.
The Bandipur National Park, covered under the Project Tiger from 1973, has registered an increase in its wildlife population, particularly tigers, elephants and deer in recent years. However, there was much pressure from activists to ban vehicular movement. There is also pressure on the government to not permit construction of resorts and hotels near the park.
The ban on movement of vehicles will be apply from June 10 on NH-67, with 12.5 kms of road passing through Gundlupet - Ooty. It will also apply on NH-212, at a stretch of 17.5 kilometres from Gundlupet to Sultanbattare road, leading to Calicut in Kerala.
‘Road deaths’ higher than poaching
Studies conducted by Wildlife Conservation Foundation has proved that the road deaths of animals are higher than poaching in the last four years. The study has revealed that about 90 to 140 vehicles per day pass during the peak season for tourists and about 47 vehicles per day otherwise.
But for hundreds of passengers and traders, who rely on about 300 private and State Road Transport Corporation buses linking Mysore and Bangalore with Kozhikode in Kerala, Ooty in Tamilnadu, this arrangement is reportedly upsetting.
Joint convener of the Bangalore-based Karnataka Kerala Travelers Forum, Kunjappan said road transportation was the only route for people from Wynad and Malappuram regions to reach Bangalore. “The already limited travelling facility to the Northern part of Kerala will be further crippled if the government implements this ban,” he said.
The Chamrajnagar district authorities said a meeting of the stake holders was called on June 11 to discuss the issue. The Malabar Chamber of Commerce said that since Wyanad and Karnataka had no direct railway link, people are dependent on road transport. “ The ban will be detrimental to businessmen in Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. It will also cause considerable inconvenience to IT professionals and students from north Kerala in Bangalore,” PV Gangadharan, president of the chamber, said.
Kerala Chief Minister VS Achuthananthan is learnt to have got in touch with Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa in this regard.
To launch an agitation
While merchants and transport operators in North Kerala appealed to the Centre, an all-party action committee was formed by the Wyanad District Panchayat to launch an agitation.
This panel reportedly was preparing to block the National Highway on Wednesday. A district-level hartal is planned to be held on Thursday.
Tamil as Tamil Nadu court language soon
By Gopal Ethiraj, Chennai
CHENNAI, 1 July (asiantribune.com): Union Law Minister Veerappa Moily promised to take steps to make Tamil the official language in the Madras High Court.
The appeal for the same came from the Chief Minister, M. Karunanidhi, when the former met him at his Gopalapuram residence, where they had a brief rendezvous on Monday morning. “The ministry would discuss and take appropriate action on the matter,” he told media persons after the meeting.
The ruling DMK had been demanding the Centre for sometime to make Tamil the official language of Madras HC, besides making it one of the official languages of union government.
Moily said that it was a ‘courtesy call’ after the thumping victory in the Lok Sabha elections.
Moily also used the occasion to invite the Chief Minister for the release of Tamil version of the book Ramayanam Mahaveshanam. The translated book is to be released in the city on July 19.
When media persons asked him about repealing section 377 of Indian Penal Code that criminalises homosexuality, the Law Minister said that the issue cannot be rushed through and had to be decided only in consultation with all the sections of the society.
This question was asked in the backdrop of Sunday’s rally by the gay, lesbian, bi-sexual and transgender community held in the city urging the union government to repeal section 377 of the IPC that bars sex between people of the same gender.
CHENNAI, 1 July (asiantribune.com): Union Law Minister Veerappa Moily promised to take steps to make Tamil the official language in the Madras High Court.
The appeal for the same came from the Chief Minister, M. Karunanidhi, when the former met him at his Gopalapuram residence, where they had a brief rendezvous on Monday morning. “The ministry would discuss and take appropriate action on the matter,” he told media persons after the meeting.
The ruling DMK had been demanding the Centre for sometime to make Tamil the official language of Madras HC, besides making it one of the official languages of union government.
Moily said that it was a ‘courtesy call’ after the thumping victory in the Lok Sabha elections.
Moily also used the occasion to invite the Chief Minister for the release of Tamil version of the book Ramayanam Mahaveshanam. The translated book is to be released in the city on July 19.
When media persons asked him about repealing section 377 of Indian Penal Code that criminalises homosexuality, the Law Minister said that the issue cannot be rushed through and had to be decided only in consultation with all the sections of the society.
This question was asked in the backdrop of Sunday’s rally by the gay, lesbian, bi-sexual and transgender community held in the city urging the union government to repeal section 377 of the IPC that bars sex between people of the same gender.
‘Slumdog’ child stars yet to breathe ‘Million’ air
By Gopal Ethiraj from Chennai
MUMBAI; 23 May, (asiantribune.com): ‘Slumdogs’ don’t make it to Millians; maybe one ‘slumdog’ out of millians go millionaire. In films, it is possible; in reality making few bucks is sure. Being exploited, is more than sure. But the makers of ``Slumdog Millionaire'' sure made millions with the film. The child stars who fetched them millions are not on their ‘pillions’ yet.
The child stars of ``Slumdog Millionaire'' which won eight Oscars and brought in more than US$326 million for its makers, Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail and Rubina Ali, are still underdogs. Both of them are in the streets now.
The success of ``Slumdog Millionaire'' has done little so far to improve the lives of the film's two impoverished child stars. The shanty slum house of Rubina Ali was torn down by Mumbai authorities a few days back as they demolished part of the slum where she lived.
Dozens of police with bamboo batons patrolling the lane where Rubina's house was located, the corporation workers wielding sledgehammers and metal rods tore down the shanty homes.
The stepmother of 9-year-old Rubina Ali, who played the film's heroine Latika in the Oscar-winning film, Munni Qureshi said her husband was beaten up by police who were supervising the demolition. She said he was taken to a hospital with minor injuries. ``How can they do it without giving us notice,'' Qureshi asked, as she wept and wept.
``I'm feeling bad,'' Rubina said. ``My house has been demolished. I'm thinking about where to sleep,'' she said after the demolition was over, standing amidst the debris.
A week before bulldozers demolished the house of child star Azhar, who played as Salim in the film, in a similar cleanup drive as part of pre-monsoon drive. He lived in a different part of the same slum. “There is no point protesting. We will continue staying as we used to be,” he said.
Both the demolitions were telecast on all electronic media, and all print media published them. For they are celebrities now. They caught the media attention, things should improve around them.
Rubina and Azhar were discovered on the Mumbai streets by the film-makers and cast them in the film. Whereas, the film's adult stars, Dev Patel and Freida Pinto, have since shot to international fame. May be their purses fattened. The lives of the two poor child stars, who live in the slum called Garib Nagar (the town of the poor), haven't changed much so far.
MUMBAI; 23 May, (asiantribune.com): ‘Slumdogs’ don’t make it to Millians; maybe one ‘slumdog’ out of millians go millionaire. In films, it is possible; in reality making few bucks is sure. Being exploited, is more than sure. But the makers of ``Slumdog Millionaire'' sure made millions with the film. The child stars who fetched them millions are not on their ‘pillions’ yet.
The child stars of ``Slumdog Millionaire'' which won eight Oscars and brought in more than US$326 million for its makers, Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail and Rubina Ali, are still underdogs. Both of them are in the streets now.
The success of ``Slumdog Millionaire'' has done little so far to improve the lives of the film's two impoverished child stars. The shanty slum house of Rubina Ali was torn down by Mumbai authorities a few days back as they demolished part of the slum where she lived.
Dozens of police with bamboo batons patrolling the lane where Rubina's house was located, the corporation workers wielding sledgehammers and metal rods tore down the shanty homes.
The stepmother of 9-year-old Rubina Ali, who played the film's heroine Latika in the Oscar-winning film, Munni Qureshi said her husband was beaten up by police who were supervising the demolition. She said he was taken to a hospital with minor injuries. ``How can they do it without giving us notice,'' Qureshi asked, as she wept and wept.
``I'm feeling bad,'' Rubina said. ``My house has been demolished. I'm thinking about where to sleep,'' she said after the demolition was over, standing amidst the debris.
A week before bulldozers demolished the house of child star Azhar, who played as Salim in the film, in a similar cleanup drive as part of pre-monsoon drive. He lived in a different part of the same slum. “There is no point protesting. We will continue staying as we used to be,” he said.
Both the demolitions were telecast on all electronic media, and all print media published them. For they are celebrities now. They caught the media attention, things should improve around them.
Rubina and Azhar were discovered on the Mumbai streets by the film-makers and cast them in the film. Whereas, the film's adult stars, Dev Patel and Freida Pinto, have since shot to international fame. May be their purses fattened. The lives of the two poor child stars, who live in the slum called Garib Nagar (the town of the poor), haven't changed much so far.
By Gopal Ethiraj, Chennai
CHENNAI, 11 July (asiantribune.com): Cleaning Cooum river, one of the two rivers running through the Chennai city, will again kick start soon. The Buckingham canal running through the city is also being desilted and cleaned. PWD Minister Durai Murugan told the State Assembly on Thursday the project report is getting ready to clean the stinking Cooum river.
He was replying to a query by AIADMK member R Sekar Babu. The Minister said the Central government had approved a mega plan for cleaning up Buckingham canal at a cost of Rs.1,447 crore. Rs.633 crore had been sanctioned for the first phase and the work on desilting the canals in North Chennai areas was already underway. Precautionary measures to prevent flooding during rainy seasons were also being taken, he said.
The Buckingham Canal is a 420 km long salt water navigation canal, running parallel to the Coromandel Coast of South India from the Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh to Villupuram District in Tamil Nadu. The canal connects most of the natural backwaters along the coast to the port of Chennai (Madras). It was constructed by the British Raj, and was an important waterway during the late nineteenth and the twentieth century.
Apart from this, a plan for repairing waterways in the city had been submitted to the World Bank and the bank had advised the State government to take up the cleaning of Cooum river as a separate project, he said. Following this, a Special Officer has been appointed for preparing the plan for cleaning Cooum.
A river akin to Cooum was cleaned up in America, Durai Murugan said, and a team of experts would visit the place to know how the project was achieved there. The State government was paying special attention for cleaning Cooum.
Cooum River is one of the two rivers of Chennai, the other being the Adyar River. It originates from a place called Koovam in Tiruvalluvar district. It is one of the shortest rivers draining into the Bay of Bengal. This once fishing river and boat racing ground has borne the brunt of the city's unplanned explosion.
Several attempts have been made over forty years to clean up the river, once a fresh water source. But more stinking and a big eye and nose sore it is. It looks like just another big sewerage, collecting surpluses of 75 small tanks in its course. The length of the river is about 65 km, of which 18 km, fall within the Chennai city limits. By different names projects were launched but to no avail.
In 1967, it was the then Chief Minister C N Annadurai who first launched a clean Cooum project at a cost of Rs 118 lakh. In 1973 Chief Minister M Karunanidhi wanted pleasure boat services on the Coovum river and made some effort to improve, but it could not be maintained.
In 1976, P Sivalingam Committee recommended projects worth Rs 22 crore to improve the waterways of Chennai and in 1991 a consultancy firm was commissioned to look at ways to improve the water courses in the city. A study by Mott MacDonald proposed projects worth Rs 34.8 crore for improving the Cooum in 1994.
Finally the River improvement project was launched in 1998; Rs 19 crore was earmarked for improving the quality of Cooum water. In 2004 Chennai City River Conservation Project was launched with an outlay of Rs 720 crore. In 2008, the state government sought World Bank aid to clean the river. And the project was to commence in March 2009 and finish in 2010.
CHENNAI, 11 July (asiantribune.com): Cleaning Cooum river, one of the two rivers running through the Chennai city, will again kick start soon. The Buckingham canal running through the city is also being desilted and cleaned. PWD Minister Durai Murugan told the State Assembly on Thursday the project report is getting ready to clean the stinking Cooum river.
He was replying to a query by AIADMK member R Sekar Babu. The Minister said the Central government had approved a mega plan for cleaning up Buckingham canal at a cost of Rs.1,447 crore. Rs.633 crore had been sanctioned for the first phase and the work on desilting the canals in North Chennai areas was already underway. Precautionary measures to prevent flooding during rainy seasons were also being taken, he said.
The Buckingham Canal is a 420 km long salt water navigation canal, running parallel to the Coromandel Coast of South India from the Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh to Villupuram District in Tamil Nadu. The canal connects most of the natural backwaters along the coast to the port of Chennai (Madras). It was constructed by the British Raj, and was an important waterway during the late nineteenth and the twentieth century.
Apart from this, a plan for repairing waterways in the city had been submitted to the World Bank and the bank had advised the State government to take up the cleaning of Cooum river as a separate project, he said. Following this, a Special Officer has been appointed for preparing the plan for cleaning Cooum.
A river akin to Cooum was cleaned up in America, Durai Murugan said, and a team of experts would visit the place to know how the project was achieved there. The State government was paying special attention for cleaning Cooum.
Cooum River is one of the two rivers of Chennai, the other being the Adyar River. It originates from a place called Koovam in Tiruvalluvar district. It is one of the shortest rivers draining into the Bay of Bengal. This once fishing river and boat racing ground has borne the brunt of the city's unplanned explosion.
Several attempts have been made over forty years to clean up the river, once a fresh water source. But more stinking and a big eye and nose sore it is. It looks like just another big sewerage, collecting surpluses of 75 small tanks in its course. The length of the river is about 65 km, of which 18 km, fall within the Chennai city limits. By different names projects were launched but to no avail.
In 1967, it was the then Chief Minister C N Annadurai who first launched a clean Cooum project at a cost of Rs 118 lakh. In 1973 Chief Minister M Karunanidhi wanted pleasure boat services on the Coovum river and made some effort to improve, but it could not be maintained.
In 1976, P Sivalingam Committee recommended projects worth Rs 22 crore to improve the waterways of Chennai and in 1991 a consultancy firm was commissioned to look at ways to improve the water courses in the city. A study by Mott MacDonald proposed projects worth Rs 34.8 crore for improving the Cooum in 1994.
Finally the River improvement project was launched in 1998; Rs 19 crore was earmarked for improving the quality of Cooum water. In 2004 Chennai City River Conservation Project was launched with an outlay of Rs 720 crore. In 2008, the state government sought World Bank aid to clean the river. And the project was to commence in March 2009 and finish in 2010.
Coimbatore CoP helps 32 children with financial aid
By Gopal Ethiraj
COIMBATORE, 17 July (asiantribune.com): To foster good police-public relationship, the Coimbatore City Police hit on a drive to sponsor education of poor children.
Roping in the charitable trusts into the scheme, the 15 police stations in the city extended financial aid to two children each to carry on with their education.
P. Sivanandi, Commissioner of Police, Coimbatore City, launching his pet scheme yesterday, said “An educated society can only ensure a crime-free atmosphere.” He distributed financial aid of Rs. 2.06 lakh collected so far.
People need not look at police with fear, he said adding that this exercise was aimed at bringing out the humane face of the police force by displaying compassion and concern.
It would help people repose confidence in the police. Police stations should not any longer look like interrogation centres. The police force should get the image of a social institution.
A total of 32 poor children studying in Standard V to college were being adopted. He said that the City Police on consultation with the Government will evolve a policy/programme for creating a corpus fund for continuing this gesture.
He wanted the sponsors and donors to make sure that the number of children adopted increased in the years to come.
A sum of Rs. 20,000 was given to P. Umamaheswari of Ramanathapuram police station limits to pursue B.Sc Biotech course.
Abdul Rahim (10) and Abdul Rashid (6), whose family was killed in a road accident at Palladam recently, were given Rs. 7,000 to pursue school education. Of the 32 students adopted, 18 were girls.
COIMBATORE, 17 July (asiantribune.com): To foster good police-public relationship, the Coimbatore City Police hit on a drive to sponsor education of poor children.
Roping in the charitable trusts into the scheme, the 15 police stations in the city extended financial aid to two children each to carry on with their education.
P. Sivanandi, Commissioner of Police, Coimbatore City, launching his pet scheme yesterday, said “An educated society can only ensure a crime-free atmosphere.” He distributed financial aid of Rs. 2.06 lakh collected so far.
People need not look at police with fear, he said adding that this exercise was aimed at bringing out the humane face of the police force by displaying compassion and concern.
It would help people repose confidence in the police. Police stations should not any longer look like interrogation centres. The police force should get the image of a social institution.
A total of 32 poor children studying in Standard V to college were being adopted. He said that the City Police on consultation with the Government will evolve a policy/programme for creating a corpus fund for continuing this gesture.
He wanted the sponsors and donors to make sure that the number of children adopted increased in the years to come.
A sum of Rs. 20,000 was given to P. Umamaheswari of Ramanathapuram police station limits to pursue B.Sc Biotech course.
Abdul Rahim (10) and Abdul Rashid (6), whose family was killed in a road accident at Palladam recently, were given Rs. 7,000 to pursue school education. Of the 32 students adopted, 18 were girls.
Jadugar Anand’s spell-binding magic shows
By Gopal Ethiraj, Chennai
CHENNAI, 26 July (asiantribune.com): He probably can create money out of thin air. However, people are only too willing to pay him. You will be, too, if you have him in your town performing. That is Jadugar Anand. The magic show of his Mayalok.
“Performance of magic is all about perception. Making impossible possible is impossible. So magicians make the impossible seemingly possible,” he says.
By his quick tricks and lightning speed, Jadugar (magic) Anand has earned the reputation of being the fastest magician. His magic show is best running stage show in the country.
The king of magic, he keeps coming back in a periodic manner to all the cities and important centres to enthrall his fans, who range from kids to old. He endears himself with his audience so closely that a large crowds linger around even after his shows are over to talk and shake hands with him, also have a click of photo with him with their children.
Children enjoy it the best, because they are the least skeptical about reality and different perceptions of reality. Adults too enjoy, because a willing, though temporary, suspension of disbelief is a highly satiating escape from hard realities.
Anand says “magic is a pleasing and amusing art and an exhibition of “practiced skills”, where the laws of Nature are seemingly set aside for an innocent entertainment.” But he maintains that his magic is not hypnotism or group hypnotism or mass hypnotism.
However, in some of his items he uses hypnotism, he agrees. He enlightens that magic is only an illusion created to hide from the eyes. In illusion, it is the eye which sees a thing and conveys the message to the brain; whereas in hypnotism it is the brain which dictates the eyes to see it in the way it interprets, the Jadugar says.
The art of quick performance and ‘misdirecting’ the audience makes magic very deceptive. But to Anand it is a thrilling and interesting profession and certainly it is no cakewalk. He says it is a team work with around 90 people who are involved in making the show perfect and a hit.
“They take up various responsibilities and the success of the show depends on their coordination. It is like a mega film production and involves the selection of the venue, publicity, ticket sales, stage designing, lights, costumes and so on,” he says.
“Once the show starts, there has to be a minimum break between any two items. All this is taken care of by a well planned and precise team. But all the sweat and struggle, tension and toil is forgotten, the moment I hear the applause of the crowd. That is a very satisfying reward and it truly makes our day,” he says.
Anand, in a soft tone, remembers his days when his parents almost killed him for showing interest in magic and for deciding to take it as a profession. His father was a practicing doctor.
He was bitten by the magic bug when he was seven year old, watching jugglers perform in the streets. They brought laddus from the thin air. Young Anand wanted to learn that art so that he can have any number of laddus he can, that dragged him deep into the magic perfection.
Anand hails from Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh. He learnt hypnotism from spiritual guru Rajneesh (Osho), who also hails from the same place. “In turn, I taught him magic. It was more like a barter system,” he smiles.
“Around 16, I chanced upon a film on Harry Houdini’s underwater escape, and told myself ‘I can do this too’ And, did it!” At 18, he freed himself from the fetters and surfaced out of the Narmada River in a mere 40 seconds, a world record then. (Houdini did it in six minutes; PC Sorcar in 90 seconds, and more recently, his son Akash in 14 seconds in Kerala.) The feat shot him to global fame. Over the years he has innovated a lot of tricks.
Jadugar Anand has just completed his ‘magic’ tour of Tamilnadu cities and towns, and right now he is having his shows at Tirupati.
So far Anandji has completed about 27,500 stage shows traveling length and breadth of the country and also across 36 countries. He is into the profession for more than 40 years.
Aakash, his heir apparent
Before opening the show in a town, Anand does one of these things—blind-fold driving of motor bike or underwater escape or fire escape—with his Aakash Awasthi. Which is like announcing he is in city. A good publicity.
Aakash, the heir apparent of Mayalok, performs the riskiest stunts, in all of which the chance of survival is 50-50. In the fire-escape event, Aakash would be tied with 40 ft thick steel chain, locked with 40 locks, taken by a crane to 120 ft high and thrown into a huge burning haystack. He comes out of the flames after releasing himself from the chains, unscratched. This he has performed 11 times, a Limca book record.
In the blindfolded bike rides in the city, Aakash would ride covering about 20 kilometres in the busiest roads. This is performed to highlight safe driving and create traffic awareness—if blind-folded person can navigate safely on busy roads, why should normal driving lead to accidents.
In underwater escape event, Aakash would be hand-cuffed, chained and locked. Then he would be put into a gunny bag, tied, sealed and placed into a wooden box, locked and thrown into water. Aakash would untie and come out safely. This he has done twice—one at the Hussain Sagar Lake in Hyderabad and another at Trivandrum in Kerala a couple of months back.
Anand has many new magic tricks in his box, including making the Statue of Liberty and the Taj Mahal disappear, making an elephant appear from thin air, and bringing characters of movies alive from the screen and sending them back, floating a girl in mid air, cutting a body into two, etc.
Incidentally, Anand, also the national president of the All India Magic Federation, and he says that the number of the members from across the globe exceeds 16,000. He’s planning to set up an Academy of Magic in every State capital.
“Russian circus” and “Indian magic” are of great repute across the globe. No other art brings in so much of foreign currency as does magic, he claims. Sadly, there are no great facilities to learn this art, nor is there a social status in it.
“The State and Central Government should lend an encouraging hand, so that the new generation can learn it. Prospective magicians should not go through the difficulties I went through,” he says.
CHENNAI, 26 July (asiantribune.com): He probably can create money out of thin air. However, people are only too willing to pay him. You will be, too, if you have him in your town performing. That is Jadugar Anand. The magic show of his Mayalok.
“Performance of magic is all about perception. Making impossible possible is impossible. So magicians make the impossible seemingly possible,” he says.
By his quick tricks and lightning speed, Jadugar (magic) Anand has earned the reputation of being the fastest magician. His magic show is best running stage show in the country.
The king of magic, he keeps coming back in a periodic manner to all the cities and important centres to enthrall his fans, who range from kids to old. He endears himself with his audience so closely that a large crowds linger around even after his shows are over to talk and shake hands with him, also have a click of photo with him with their children.
Children enjoy it the best, because they are the least skeptical about reality and different perceptions of reality. Adults too enjoy, because a willing, though temporary, suspension of disbelief is a highly satiating escape from hard realities.
Anand says “magic is a pleasing and amusing art and an exhibition of “practiced skills”, where the laws of Nature are seemingly set aside for an innocent entertainment.” But he maintains that his magic is not hypnotism or group hypnotism or mass hypnotism.
However, in some of his items he uses hypnotism, he agrees. He enlightens that magic is only an illusion created to hide from the eyes. In illusion, it is the eye which sees a thing and conveys the message to the brain; whereas in hypnotism it is the brain which dictates the eyes to see it in the way it interprets, the Jadugar says.
The art of quick performance and ‘misdirecting’ the audience makes magic very deceptive. But to Anand it is a thrilling and interesting profession and certainly it is no cakewalk. He says it is a team work with around 90 people who are involved in making the show perfect and a hit.
“They take up various responsibilities and the success of the show depends on their coordination. It is like a mega film production and involves the selection of the venue, publicity, ticket sales, stage designing, lights, costumes and so on,” he says.
“Once the show starts, there has to be a minimum break between any two items. All this is taken care of by a well planned and precise team. But all the sweat and struggle, tension and toil is forgotten, the moment I hear the applause of the crowd. That is a very satisfying reward and it truly makes our day,” he says.
Anand, in a soft tone, remembers his days when his parents almost killed him for showing interest in magic and for deciding to take it as a profession. His father was a practicing doctor.
He was bitten by the magic bug when he was seven year old, watching jugglers perform in the streets. They brought laddus from the thin air. Young Anand wanted to learn that art so that he can have any number of laddus he can, that dragged him deep into the magic perfection.
Anand hails from Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh. He learnt hypnotism from spiritual guru Rajneesh (Osho), who also hails from the same place. “In turn, I taught him magic. It was more like a barter system,” he smiles.
“Around 16, I chanced upon a film on Harry Houdini’s underwater escape, and told myself ‘I can do this too’ And, did it!” At 18, he freed himself from the fetters and surfaced out of the Narmada River in a mere 40 seconds, a world record then. (Houdini did it in six minutes; PC Sorcar in 90 seconds, and more recently, his son Akash in 14 seconds in Kerala.) The feat shot him to global fame. Over the years he has innovated a lot of tricks.
Jadugar Anand has just completed his ‘magic’ tour of Tamilnadu cities and towns, and right now he is having his shows at Tirupati.
So far Anandji has completed about 27,500 stage shows traveling length and breadth of the country and also across 36 countries. He is into the profession for more than 40 years.
Aakash, his heir apparent
Before opening the show in a town, Anand does one of these things—blind-fold driving of motor bike or underwater escape or fire escape—with his Aakash Awasthi. Which is like announcing he is in city. A good publicity.
Aakash, the heir apparent of Mayalok, performs the riskiest stunts, in all of which the chance of survival is 50-50. In the fire-escape event, Aakash would be tied with 40 ft thick steel chain, locked with 40 locks, taken by a crane to 120 ft high and thrown into a huge burning haystack. He comes out of the flames after releasing himself from the chains, unscratched. This he has performed 11 times, a Limca book record.
In the blindfolded bike rides in the city, Aakash would ride covering about 20 kilometres in the busiest roads. This is performed to highlight safe driving and create traffic awareness—if blind-folded person can navigate safely on busy roads, why should normal driving lead to accidents.
In underwater escape event, Aakash would be hand-cuffed, chained and locked. Then he would be put into a gunny bag, tied, sealed and placed into a wooden box, locked and thrown into water. Aakash would untie and come out safely. This he has done twice—one at the Hussain Sagar Lake in Hyderabad and another at Trivandrum in Kerala a couple of months back.
Anand has many new magic tricks in his box, including making the Statue of Liberty and the Taj Mahal disappear, making an elephant appear from thin air, and bringing characters of movies alive from the screen and sending them back, floating a girl in mid air, cutting a body into two, etc.
Incidentally, Anand, also the national president of the All India Magic Federation, and he says that the number of the members from across the globe exceeds 16,000. He’s planning to set up an Academy of Magic in every State capital.
“Russian circus” and “Indian magic” are of great repute across the globe. No other art brings in so much of foreign currency as does magic, he claims. Sadly, there are no great facilities to learn this art, nor is there a social status in it.
“The State and Central Government should lend an encouraging hand, so that the new generation can learn it. Prospective magicians should not go through the difficulties I went through,” he says.
Friday, July 24, 2009
Dr. Rishi Tiwari specilises in ‘trance therapy’
By Gopal Ethiraj, Chennai
CHENNAI, 12 July (asiantribune.com): Here’s a doctor tinkering with the mind and sub conscious mind. That is the method of his new treatment. .He takes a stressed person to trance level and does something to de-stress. And the person’s distress is disturbed, he is de-stressed. In his system of treatment there is no medicine; he meddles with the mind, registers some message he wants to, and the patient is cured.
Dr. Rishi Tiwari calls his treatment “trance therapy” and he has been practicing trance therapy for the past nine years. There are certain sickness where medicine wont work, alternative medicine will. Dr. Rishi discovered this cure, and he has been healing several cases of stress and its related problems with remarkable success.
R.Rishi says, “Stress is recognized as the twenty-first century disease. Stress is the root cause of most physical and mental maladies suffered by people of present-day technological world. Those who suffer stress go from pillar to post seeking a solution to their problem. They swallow pills, perform yoga asanas and meditate too. But all these gives temporary relief.”
When asked why it is so, Dr. Rishi explains: “The problem is partly due to mental make-up of a person and partly due to the way he or she reacts to the social environment around them. If the root cause is not found any solution found is superficial; and the stress returns with a great vengeance.”
Stress is the real killer, and it must be killed before it kills one, the doctor says. Where an individual has been under sustained stress for a long period of time, has suffered serious life crises, or has reached a stage of exhaustion and demoralization, then ‘breakdown’ may occur, he says. “This may show itself physically as a heart attack, angina or a stroke, or may show as ‘nervous’ or ‘mental’ breakdown.”
“Peace of Mind” is a proven skill to manage stress, according to him. “This helps us to remain calm and effective in high pressure situations, and also helps us to avoid the problems of long term stress.”
On his method of treatment he says, “ there are four patterns of brain wave—beta, alpha, theta and delta. ‘Beta’ level is conscious level. When a man is taken from ‘beta’ to ‘alpha’ level ( mild relaxed level) to ‘theta’ level (trance and tranquility level) the mind is in deep trance level, and the mind is receptive. At this level certain instruction is placed so that the cure is effective.”
In that receptive state of mind, the doctor says he implants positive messages and uses the technique of visualisation to change the software of the mind. Also a key word is registered so that one can practice himself, which is called auto command. “That key word acts as ‘password’ so that you must become your own guru. Must not be dependent on doctor all the time. You must be able to control yourself and learn to dispel at your will. This mental password will take you instantly into depths of your mind and switch off the triggers of the stress,” Dr. Rishi says.
He says ‘trance therapy’ can be used not only for changing thoughts, behaviour, attitudes and motivation structure, it can also be used for curing physical ailments that defy treatment through medicines, such as : sleep disorders, poor concentration, anxiety, sex problems, chronic headache, irritable bowel syndrome, peptic ulcers, irrational fears and phobias, stuttering, diabetes, etc.
Dr. Rishi is an experienced physician, having 36 years of illustrious professional career. He is an MBBS, DPH, M.Sc (Occupational Health), FICA (USA), MRSH (London). Hailing from Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh, Dr. Rishi Tiwari went to Tanzania in Africa for practice where he spent 16 years. He was Director of Health with the Tanzania Government. The doctor was on general practice with specialization in Industrial health.
He came to India in 1990, and chose to settle in Chennai, where he started his own hospital with his wife Dr. Tanuja Tiwari and both were coming up with a successful practice. But Dr. Rishi had an inner call to try the alternative system of medicine, based on his encounter with a Gujrathi sage, Maharishi Manu in 1983 in Tanzania.
Dr. Rishi said, one day the sage from India walked to his diabetics camp in Tanzania, and said he could cure diabetes without medicine. In the midst of the camp the doctor silenced him. When he again said he can cure the diabetes, Dr.Rishi said he asked him to come the next day. He was given a patient who was on 20 units insulin to handle. The sage demonstrated the sugar level could be brought down by de-stressing and with his power of mind. And he also demonstrated his heart beat could be brought down while on trance—while the doctor monitored it came down from 80 to 60 to 50. Beyond that the doctor did not have courage to continue; whereas the sage challenged he could bring down to nil.
A rishi inspired Dr. Rishi found the “rishi moolam” (the secret of mind power). Dr. Rishi being from land of rishis (Madhya Pradesh), although with none to teach him on ascetic and mind sciences there, he was ruminating on that; his mind probing and unraveling the mystery of the mind. Back home in India, he bought more books on mind power and ancient yogic practice of meditation. The result was the ‘trance therapy’.
From the year 2000, Dr. Rishi switched over to the new system of cure for stress and its related ills. His specialization of this system of treatment is the first of the kind in the country. He had doubt in a country where peoples mind set on medicine for cure, his sans medicine treatment is going to click. But it did click. He is flooded with patients from all walks of life—from judiciary to government services. So far in nine years he has treated more than 7000 stressed cases.
From 2005 Dr. Rishi started group programmes where he goes on mass de-stressing to the stressed executives. He has given programmes to police officers, judiciary, fire service personnel, executives, journalists, corporate executives, et al. This has given him more popularity; he is known from ordinary official to the Governor. Besides this he is part of any health programme conducted by the Lions Club or any society, treating diabetes, ostoporosis, cardiac and general check ups.
Both husband and wife are Lions and into the Club movement and seen all positions including cabinet status. They have two prosperous sons, one of them is married.
Dr. Rishi holds a lot of testimonies from the top echelons—all are big names.
.
IPS officer standing tall with his prison reforms
By Gopal Ethiraj, Chennai
CHENNAI; 15 June (asiantribune.com): Here’s one standing tall with his recent prison reforms in Tamil Nadu. As DIG Prisons, R. Nataraj eclipses almost the Raman Magsaysay award winner for prison reforms in Tihar jail in the 90s, Kiran Bedi, I.P.S.
If the former IG Prisons Kiran Bedi for the first time brought transparency in prison administration and worked for the personal liberty of convicts and cared for their mental health, R. Nataraj went beyond to revamp the ‘prison industry’, (as he views so the prisons in general) brought in the NGOs to make use of the prisoners’ labour and skill and made prison an income generating ‘organisation’ for the inmates. He proved the convicts had better talents.
In a chat with Asian Tribune, R. Nataraj, who last week took charge as DIG Fire Services, says he believed in the philosophy of 4Rs in the matter of punishment and retribution—reformation, rehabilitation, reintegration and re-socialisation. “Theory of punishment is based on the notion that the punishment is to be inflicted on an offender so as to reform him or her or rehabilitate them so as to make their re-integration into the society is easy,” he says.
“Crime might have been committed for various reasons—circumstantial; emotional, accidental—for which they undergo punishment, according to law, confined in secluded place, but their right to life, equality, personal liberty should not be affected,” he says, who based his philosophy of reformation in the prisons on that lines. Theory of punishment and retribution says there should be opening for reformation and rehabilitation; Nataraj has only added reintegeration in the society and resocialisation for which he equipped them with a trade.
He says there are 134 prisons in the state, and nine are central prisons and two open air prisons, and at any given time about 6500 convicted prisoners undergo punishment, serving punishments from one year to life term. “And so it is an industry of a sort,” he says.
Through the NGO, the prisoners in Puzhal are baking bread, running a Bakery, that is being marketed for the general public. Having given them the benefit of education, Nataraj made them journalists too; they are publishing a weekly titled “Insider” that is being circulated among the prison mates all over the state.
To discourage unauthorized cell smuggled into prisons, he granted permission for them the chat with their family members on phone once a week.
In Tirunelveli last year, 17 life convicts received their postgraduate degrees, the first of its kind in the country; 16 of them had passed MA in History, the other did his PG in Tamil through distance education. And for the first time in the country that a convocation was conducted in jail premises.
In an attempt to keep in touch with ordinary people and share his ideas with them, the former director general of police (Prisons) Nataraj has set up a website (http://www.natarajips.in) and started blogging (natarajips.blogspot.com) as well. His blog can also be accessed through his website.
Stating that he enjoyed receiving emails and comments on his blog, Nataraj pointed out that students aspiring to enter the civil services had sought his guidance. "A few others asked me to clarify some of the complicated cases. They are sending me emails and contacting me on my mobile to ask queries. I spend at least 15 to 20 minutes a day to update my blog and expect it to turn out to be a discussion forum," he said.
Nataraj's blog is inspiring and informative. In Paran', he mentions about instances that have left an impact in his mind. In another column Kannottam', he writes about human trafficking, traffic regulation, security during important occasions and other social issues. In Nigazhchigal', he writes about the functions he has participated in.
Whichever department Nataraj had handled in his 34 year of service, he created a niche for himself by making a mark. He has maintained professional ethics of a high order
Such police officers could be counted by a single hand.
A 1975 batch IPS officer, he holds Masters degree in Physics, Masters degree in Public Administration and a Degree in Law. He is currently pursuing PhD in Madras University.
In his First Charge as Sub-Divisional Officer in Tirunelveli, a notorious outlaw “Sivalaperi Pandi” who was evading the police for nearly a decade was nabbed by a Special Party under his Command. He distinguished himself as the Head of the Combined Police Expedition to hot springs in Ladakh in September, 1980.
He was deputed to Government of India in 1986 and served as First Secretary in the Embassy of India, Kathumandu, where he co-ordinated several security related issues. He served as Deputy Inspector General of Police, C.R.P.F from 1994 – 1996 and supervised the Operations of C.R.P.F troops deployed in terrorists affected areas in Jammu & Kashmir and in North East India.
Posted as Additional Director General of Police, S.T.F., in December 2001, he evolved a Tribal-friendly approach as a focal point of overall strategy to nab the Veerappan gang through the willing cooperation of the people in over 400 villages spread over the districts of Nilgris, Cimbatore, Erode, Salem and Dharmapuri.
He served as Commissioner of Police, Greater Chennai from November 2003 to April 2006, when he initiated a scheme to make ‘Chennai City’ the safest and ‘Chennai City Police’ the most efficient.
As Additional Director General of Police in State Human Rights Commimission from May 2006, he initiated awareness programme on Human Rights. He was deputed to attend International Conference on Human Rights in Vienna in February 2008. He served as Additional Director Of Police, Economic Offences Wing, where he organized mega distribution of recovered money to the depositors in two major Non Banking Financial Companies. He served as Additional Director General of Prisons and promoted as a Director General of Prisons and is now heading the Fire services administration.
He was awarded President’s Police Medal for Meritorious Service in 1993, President’s Police Medal for Distinguished Service on the occasion of Independence Day -1999, S.T.F Gallantry Medal in 2004..
CHENNAI; 15 June (asiantribune.com): Here’s one standing tall with his recent prison reforms in Tamil Nadu. As DIG Prisons, R. Nataraj eclipses almost the Raman Magsaysay award winner for prison reforms in Tihar jail in the 90s, Kiran Bedi, I.P.S.
If the former IG Prisons Kiran Bedi for the first time brought transparency in prison administration and worked for the personal liberty of convicts and cared for their mental health, R. Nataraj went beyond to revamp the ‘prison industry’, (as he views so the prisons in general) brought in the NGOs to make use of the prisoners’ labour and skill and made prison an income generating ‘organisation’ for the inmates. He proved the convicts had better talents.
In a chat with Asian Tribune, R. Nataraj, who last week took charge as DIG Fire Services, says he believed in the philosophy of 4Rs in the matter of punishment and retribution—reformation, rehabilitation, reintegration and re-socialisation. “Theory of punishment is based on the notion that the punishment is to be inflicted on an offender so as to reform him or her or rehabilitate them so as to make their re-integration into the society is easy,” he says.
“Crime might have been committed for various reasons—circumstantial; emotional, accidental—for which they undergo punishment, according to law, confined in secluded place, but their right to life, equality, personal liberty should not be affected,” he says, who based his philosophy of reformation in the prisons on that lines. Theory of punishment and retribution says there should be opening for reformation and rehabilitation; Nataraj has only added reintegeration in the society and resocialisation for which he equipped them with a trade.
He says there are 134 prisons in the state, and nine are central prisons and two open air prisons, and at any given time about 6500 convicted prisoners undergo punishment, serving punishments from one year to life term. “And so it is an industry of a sort,” he says.
Through the NGO, the prisoners in Puzhal are baking bread, running a Bakery, that is being marketed for the general public. Having given them the benefit of education, Nataraj made them journalists too; they are publishing a weekly titled “Insider” that is being circulated among the prison mates all over the state.
To discourage unauthorized cell smuggled into prisons, he granted permission for them the chat with their family members on phone once a week.
In Tirunelveli last year, 17 life convicts received their postgraduate degrees, the first of its kind in the country; 16 of them had passed MA in History, the other did his PG in Tamil through distance education. And for the first time in the country that a convocation was conducted in jail premises.
In an attempt to keep in touch with ordinary people and share his ideas with them, the former director general of police (Prisons) Nataraj has set up a website (http://www.natarajips.in) and started blogging (natarajips.blogspot.com) as well. His blog can also be accessed through his website.
Stating that he enjoyed receiving emails and comments on his blog, Nataraj pointed out that students aspiring to enter the civil services had sought his guidance. "A few others asked me to clarify some of the complicated cases. They are sending me emails and contacting me on my mobile to ask queries. I spend at least 15 to 20 minutes a day to update my blog and expect it to turn out to be a discussion forum," he said.
Nataraj's blog is inspiring and informative. In Paran', he mentions about instances that have left an impact in his mind. In another column Kannottam', he writes about human trafficking, traffic regulation, security during important occasions and other social issues. In Nigazhchigal', he writes about the functions he has participated in.
Whichever department Nataraj had handled in his 34 year of service, he created a niche for himself by making a mark. He has maintained professional ethics of a high order
Such police officers could be counted by a single hand.
A 1975 batch IPS officer, he holds Masters degree in Physics, Masters degree in Public Administration and a Degree in Law. He is currently pursuing PhD in Madras University.
In his First Charge as Sub-Divisional Officer in Tirunelveli, a notorious outlaw “Sivalaperi Pandi” who was evading the police for nearly a decade was nabbed by a Special Party under his Command. He distinguished himself as the Head of the Combined Police Expedition to hot springs in Ladakh in September, 1980.
He was deputed to Government of India in 1986 and served as First Secretary in the Embassy of India, Kathumandu, where he co-ordinated several security related issues. He served as Deputy Inspector General of Police, C.R.P.F from 1994 – 1996 and supervised the Operations of C.R.P.F troops deployed in terrorists affected areas in Jammu & Kashmir and in North East India.
Posted as Additional Director General of Police, S.T.F., in December 2001, he evolved a Tribal-friendly approach as a focal point of overall strategy to nab the Veerappan gang through the willing cooperation of the people in over 400 villages spread over the districts of Nilgris, Cimbatore, Erode, Salem and Dharmapuri.
He served as Commissioner of Police, Greater Chennai from November 2003 to April 2006, when he initiated a scheme to make ‘Chennai City’ the safest and ‘Chennai City Police’ the most efficient.
As Additional Director General of Police in State Human Rights Commimission from May 2006, he initiated awareness programme on Human Rights. He was deputed to attend International Conference on Human Rights in Vienna in February 2008. He served as Additional Director Of Police, Economic Offences Wing, where he organized mega distribution of recovered money to the depositors in two major Non Banking Financial Companies. He served as Additional Director General of Prisons and promoted as a Director General of Prisons and is now heading the Fire services administration.
He was awarded President’s Police Medal for Meritorious Service in 1993, President’s Police Medal for Distinguished Service on the occasion of Independence Day -1999, S.T.F Gallantry Medal in 2004..
Recent elections saw good support for 49 (o) “no vote” option
Gopal Ethiraj
Chennai (Asiantribune): The recent general elections saw many, at least in Tamilnadu, opting for exercising their right to register ‘ not voting for anybody’. In Chennai alone more than 10,000 people opted for Rule 49 (o), which confers right to register “no vote”. Throughout the State registering of such option in large numbers worries the political parties and their candidates.
Many voters were not aware of such a provision in our Constitution. Obviously our leaders would not enlighten the voters on this; only NGOs and rights forums should. Still it is surprising so many had opted for this option in the recent elections. What is shocking is many poll officers were ignorant of such a provision. At least the election department should have briefed the poll officers on this. It was found many of them were clueless; some officials who had knowledge of it, were not familiar with the correct procedure to followed. Hence for those who asked for it, it was en embarrassment. Corporation Commissioner and District electoral officer Rajesh Lakhoni later admitted that the turnout was unexpectedly big.
The voters have right to weigh the merits and demerits of the candidates. And if the electors decide that none of the candidates is worth their vote, can they officially register their decision so. The Election Commission had said it. Even the Tamilnadu Chief Electoral Officer Naresh Gupta said before the elections, when some non-governmental organisations wanted the option of "negative voting" by providing an extra button in the electronic voting machines that says "none of the above" clause, that there was no scope for negative voting now, as the issue is before the Supreme Court, and there were provisions for electors to register their decision not to vote.
Rule 49-O of the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961, says:
Elector deciding not to vote.--If an elector, after his electoral roll number has been duly entered in the register of voters in Form-17A and has put his signature or thumb impression thereon as required under sub-rule (1) of rule 49L, decided not to record his vote, a remark to this effect shall be made against the said entry in Form 17A by the presiding officer and the signature or thumb impression of the elector shall be obtained against such remark.
Since the Electronic voting machine (EVM) contains only the list of candidates, a voter cannot record his vote under Section 49-O directly. He must inform the presiding officer at the election booth. This violates the secrecy of the ballot. However, with paper ballot a different method is used to "waste" one’s vote, which is stamping on multiple candidates. In fact this was the standard method of giving null votes without violating secrecy before the advent of the EVM.
At present, in an election, a winner will be declared irrespective of the number of 'non-votes'. However, a note of every 'non-vote' will be made with the Election Officer, and the total number of non-voters will, presumably, be available under the Right to Information Act.
How safe it is? Since there is no “secrecy” you would be marked by the party poll agent and you may be in for trouble from them. So, incorporating the option in the voting machine itself at least by next elections is better.
However, exercising one’s franchise is a must. “No vote” is a civil resistance to provoke response. One who is registering so is definitely doing it for he is hurt in some way or some respect. This should correct the situation, society, system. Had not the Father of the Nation Gandhiji said: “the function of a civil resistance is to provoke response. Continue to provoke until they respond or they change the law”.
In
S. Ve. Shekher to launch party for Brahmin welfare
From Gopal Ethiraj
CHENNAI, 10 June (asiantribune.com): Yet another political party is to take birth in the state. All set to be launched for the welfare of the Brahmins in the state, the founder of the new party will be S.Ve.Shekher, film and drama actor and AIADMK MLA from Mylapore constituency.
Shekher, who belongs to the Brahmin community, was reportedly being sidelined in the AIADMK by some of the influential OBC leaders.
Seeing the minority forward community which is splintered, if brought under one umbrella, it could be some force to reckon with, the actor-politician, it seems, has jumped on to start a party. It should be noted the traditional 26 years old body, Thamiznadu Brahmin association (Thambraas), which is said to have over one lakh members, is yet to decided on its stand to start a party.
The recent success of experiment story in Utter Pradesh where the Dalit leader and BSP chief Mayavathi came out with the “social engineering” theory where Dalits and Brahmins came forward to share power. That worked, and the convergence of the two communities, restored power in the state. No strange, the emergence of a Brahmin party is next only that.
According to Shekher, the party would be called All India Arya Munnetra Kazhagam or Arya Munnetra Kazhagam and would be launched at least a year ahead of the 2011 state Assembly elections.
He launched the Federation of Brahmin Associations (FEBAS) earlier this year to demand seven per cent reservation for Brahmins and also met the Chief Minister, M. Karunanidhi, to press this demand.
Shekher says: “Brahmins in the state are living in pathetic conditions. Their children are forced to become child labourers. This is the result of suppression of the community in Tamil Nadu for the past 50 years.”
Shekher is confident of making a difference in the way politics is conducted in the state. “An estimated 20 lakh Brahmins live in the state,” he said.
CHENNAI, 10 June (asiantribune.com): Yet another political party is to take birth in the state. All set to be launched for the welfare of the Brahmins in the state, the founder of the new party will be S.Ve.Shekher, film and drama actor and AIADMK MLA from Mylapore constituency.
Shekher, who belongs to the Brahmin community, was reportedly being sidelined in the AIADMK by some of the influential OBC leaders.
Seeing the minority forward community which is splintered, if brought under one umbrella, it could be some force to reckon with, the actor-politician, it seems, has jumped on to start a party. It should be noted the traditional 26 years old body, Thamiznadu Brahmin association (Thambraas), which is said to have over one lakh members, is yet to decided on its stand to start a party.
The recent success of experiment story in Utter Pradesh where the Dalit leader and BSP chief Mayavathi came out with the “social engineering” theory where Dalits and Brahmins came forward to share power. That worked, and the convergence of the two communities, restored power in the state. No strange, the emergence of a Brahmin party is next only that.
According to Shekher, the party would be called All India Arya Munnetra Kazhagam or Arya Munnetra Kazhagam and would be launched at least a year ahead of the 2011 state Assembly elections.
He launched the Federation of Brahmin Associations (FEBAS) earlier this year to demand seven per cent reservation for Brahmins and also met the Chief Minister, M. Karunanidhi, to press this demand.
Shekher says: “Brahmins in the state are living in pathetic conditions. Their children are forced to become child labourers. This is the result of suppression of the community in Tamil Nadu for the past 50 years.”
Shekher is confident of making a difference in the way politics is conducted in the state. “An estimated 20 lakh Brahmins live in the state,” he said.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Subbu Arumugam’s name is synonym with ‘villu pattu’
By Gopal Ethiraj, Chennai
CHENNAI, 19 July (asiantribune.com): About the 1000 year old villu pattu folk music tradition, if it is still alive today, it is because of people like Subbu Arumugam. He has dedicated himself to this folk musical art form for more than 5o years. His name is today synonym with Villu Pattu.
This popularly known Villu Pattu (translated literally in English “bow-song”) is a simple and catchy folk music form which still stands as a symbol of a cultural wealth of the Tamils.
Bow-- the age-old weapon of warriors - paradoxically lends itself to be used as a primary musical instrument for the Villu Pattu artists. Udukku, Kudam, Thala, Kattai are used as supplementary instruments in performances. The two ends of the bow are tied by a strong high tension string. The centre of the convex side of the bow is made to rest on the neck of a large sized earthen pitcher. There are numerous bronze bells hanging from the bow in a row from top to bottom.
Subbu Arumugam as the chief vocalist or the main story teller of the party sits in the centre of the bow, with two slender wooden rods called the Veesu kol with cymbals attached, one in each hand . “Thanthanana yendru solliye…,” so saying he commences his programme. While singing well, artfully he raises and moves his hands, holding the rods as to express the mood and the bhava portrayed in song, and deftly strikes against the bow string producing the tala or the time beat, synchronizing it with the stresses and the time beats in the song. After he completes a line of the song, the persons accompanying on Udukku and other instruments repeat the last phrase of the line or they say in chorus 'aama', 'aama' . The whole ensemble is an interesting fare. He is much sought-after, and heavily booked.
Media might have developed into many branches over the years, but nothing can replace the ‘reach’ of the folk lore form of communication in landing the message to the people. That is why even the government policies and programmes are carried to the people through the folklore art form. No doubt Subbu Arumugam is invariably the choice of the government to carry its mass media programmes.
For the government mass media communications, Arumugam has performed programmes such as Family Planning, Aids awareness, tree plantation, pollution control, small savings, old age literacy, farm activity, etc
Music, especially, is inter-twined with every activity of our daily life, and one can say that Tamil and Music are inseparable. Subbu Arumugam says ‘Muthamizh’ (Tamil in its three aspects)—Eyal (prose), Iyasi (music) and Natakam (drama)—is in-built in his folk art. A person who is versatile and expert in all the three alone can render well. Besides one has to be a spontaneous poet and sail with rhythm and music.
Arumugam is a Tamil Vidwan and thus a poet himself, bestowed with sharp acumen and presence of mind. “Half the script only I prepare, the rest flows automatically on the stage. I am cut out for this role, thanks to God,” he says.
Subbu Arumugam’s katcheri is mostly on “Ramayana,” “Maha Bharatha,” “Bhagwat Geeta,” “Silapathikaram,” “Periapuranam” and “Thiruvalluvar”. He does other programmes based on the need of the people. A Gandhian to the core, he never ends a performance without mentioning Gandhiji, the Father of the Nation. “Gandhiism is grousing through my blood,” he says proudly.
His message of patriotism, moral values, philosophy are impeccable in that he gives them in the language of common man with music and rhythm. “My body language is the ‘drama’ and my literary ‘spill’ is the flavour,” he says.
The minimum required strength for villu pattu is six persons, he says. When less in number, the performers in ancient times divided into two groups and rendered as question-answer session, it was called lavani pattu; in ancient times women had exclusively folk music art form, called ammanai (sung by women playing seeds thrown into air and catching) and kummi (singing by group of women with claps and dance in a circle.) In all these versatility, literacy, music and rhythm plays a main role, he says.
His wife, daughters, son and son-in-law all are part of his performing team. Subbu Arumugam has given more than 6000 villu pattu performances so far. “I am proud my three generations are into the folk art. Initially my daughter Bharathy Thirumagan and son S.Gandhi were in my team. Later my so-in-law Thirumagan, who is a principal of a college, also joined us. Now my grand son who is doing his Plus Two is coming up as star performer, and people are asking for his inclusion whenever we are booked.”
Subbu Arumugam, who hails from Tirunelveli, performs Villu paattu to this day with the same verve and sense of humour that he showed at the initial stages of his career. "Our ancestral place is Sathirapudhukulam near Thirunelveli. Villupaattu was born here and I grew up in a sorrounding where I could hear Villupattu throughout the day", explains Subbu Arumugam as to how he was attracted to the art form.
When he was 14, Arumugam chanced upon Bharatiar’s ‘Kannan Paattu,’ which left a deep impression on him. From this was born his first book ‘Kumaran paattu,’ in which Subbu Arumugam composed songs about Lord Muruga, seeing him just as Bharati saw Lord Krishna — as mother, father, child, lover, friend and servant. The book had a foreword by his teacher, Navaneethakrishna Pillai, and it received excellent reviews
He adds further that the great poet Subramanya Bharathi belonged to Tirunelveli and one could hear the sound of a bow in his songs. There was a semblance of villu paattu in all his songs, especially in 'Naladisandham', 'Kummi sandham', 'Kaavadi sindhu', 'Nondi sindhu', 'Kili paattu', 'Uzhavan paattu', and 'Padagu paattu'.
The turning point in his life came when N S Krishnan visited '
N S Krishnan, impressed by Arumugam's spontaneity, invited him to Chennai. Subbu Arumugam was then 19 years old.N S Krishnan provided the necessary comforts to Subbu Arumugam in Chennai. His first Villupaattu written was about the Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi, under the title 'Gandhi Mahan Sarithiram', which NSK presented on the stages besides being busy in films. After NSK’s death Subbu Arumugam picked up the role on stage.
Slowly, he came into the limelight and became popular. He conducted a Villupaattu programme on Mahatma Gandhi on Sundays, in AIR Chennai, and the duration of the programme was 55 minutes. His programmes are being broadcast even now. Through his Villupaattu, he promotes many ideas on various subjects.
'Chinnanjiru Ulagam' was the first film through which Subbu Arumugam entered the tinsel world. The story and the comedy track of the film were contributed by him. The movie, which had popular stars like Nagesh and K R Vijaya, was a big hit. Later, he penned the dialogue for comedy scenes of several films.
Subbu Arumugam was presented the 'Kalaimamani' award by the Tamil Nadu Government and later he was approched by the
He was conferred with D.Litt degree by the 'World Academy of Arts and Culture',
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